Published: Sunday | September 27, 2009
Friday, September 25 marked the beginning of the University's Fall Week of Prayer. It continues to Saturday, October 3. The speaker for the services is Florida-based pastor, Henoc Lawrence Paulicin Sr. Regarded as a spiritual feast by members of the NCU family, Fall Week of Prayer provides the opportunity for students and workers of all creeds and age to dedicate or rededicate their lives to God. Additionally, Week of Prayer facilitates fellowship, reflection, and spiritual enlightenment.
The theme for Fall Week of Prayer 2009 is 'Growing in Grace'. In the days to follow, Pastor Paulicin Sr and his team are expected to prepare a spiritual feast which will leave members of the NCU family and the wider community yearning for more from God's cookbook.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Ritual Bath Path to Enlightenment
Sep 26, 2009 04:30 AM
Brendan Kennedy
Staff Reporter
Standing on a small bridge in North York, where the Don River winds under Bathurst St., an Orthodox Jewish man bows his head and prays quietly. A few feet away, a 10-year-old in a yarmulke rips off a piece of crusty bread, cocks his arm and launches the morsel into the river like a baseball, laughing with his brother and sister as a group of ducks jostle for the tidbit below.
At turns solemn and playful, the custom of Tashlich is being performed this week by members of the Jewish community at bodies of water across the city.
The ritual is usually performed on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which was celebrated last weekend, but may be permissible until the last day of Sukkot (Oct. 9). It's a way for Jews to atone for sins committed in the previous year by symbolically casting them into a flowing body of water and asking God for absolution.
"Overall it's a time of introspection," said Yaron Derman, who performed the ritual with his wife, Bracha, and their four children. "It's another opportunity to think about how you can be a better person."
Since it is held at Rosh Hashanah, one also typically asks God for good fortune for the coming year.
"Before Yom Kippur (which begins tomorrow night) we try to wash away our sins," said Riva Sochaczewski, who was saying prayers on the Bathurst Park bridge with her 15-year-old daughter, Shoshana. "It's cathartic."
At the bridge Wednesday evening, people of all ages came and went, by themselves or with their families, to practise the ritual.
The children especially seemed to enjoy throwing bread into the water.
Martin Lockshin, professor of humanities and Jewish studies at York University, said the ritual falls somewhere between a folk custom and a religious law.
"It's become a social event also, as opposed to just being a prayer service," he said. "It's just a pleasant way of thinking for a short time about self-improvement, about sin, about new starts."
The water is significant on multiple levels. It's viewed as a place of contemplation, and it's also symbolic of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to God, when Satan tried to deter Abraham by putting waterways in his way.
Lockshin said water is also seen cross-culturally as a purifying agent.
"But I have to admit that the creek that we go to in the G. Ross Lord Park (also in North York) isn't the cleanest body of water in the world," he said.
For Tzibi Perl, who came to the Don at Bathurst St. with her husband, Chaim, and their three children, Tashlich is a way to get into the high holiday spirit.
"And (the children) like to throw the bread," added Chaim.
Brendan Kennedy
Staff Reporter
Standing on a small bridge in North York, where the Don River winds under Bathurst St., an Orthodox Jewish man bows his head and prays quietly. A few feet away, a 10-year-old in a yarmulke rips off a piece of crusty bread, cocks his arm and launches the morsel into the river like a baseball, laughing with his brother and sister as a group of ducks jostle for the tidbit below.
At turns solemn and playful, the custom of Tashlich is being performed this week by members of the Jewish community at bodies of water across the city.
The ritual is usually performed on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which was celebrated last weekend, but may be permissible until the last day of Sukkot (Oct. 9). It's a way for Jews to atone for sins committed in the previous year by symbolically casting them into a flowing body of water and asking God for absolution.
"Overall it's a time of introspection," said Yaron Derman, who performed the ritual with his wife, Bracha, and their four children. "It's another opportunity to think about how you can be a better person."
Since it is held at Rosh Hashanah, one also typically asks God for good fortune for the coming year.
"Before Yom Kippur (which begins tomorrow night) we try to wash away our sins," said Riva Sochaczewski, who was saying prayers on the Bathurst Park bridge with her 15-year-old daughter, Shoshana. "It's cathartic."
At the bridge Wednesday evening, people of all ages came and went, by themselves or with their families, to practise the ritual.
The children especially seemed to enjoy throwing bread into the water.
Martin Lockshin, professor of humanities and Jewish studies at York University, said the ritual falls somewhere between a folk custom and a religious law.
"It's become a social event also, as opposed to just being a prayer service," he said. "It's just a pleasant way of thinking for a short time about self-improvement, about sin, about new starts."
The water is significant on multiple levels. It's viewed as a place of contemplation, and it's also symbolic of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to God, when Satan tried to deter Abraham by putting waterways in his way.
Lockshin said water is also seen cross-culturally as a purifying agent.
"But I have to admit that the creek that we go to in the G. Ross Lord Park (also in North York) isn't the cleanest body of water in the world," he said.
For Tzibi Perl, who came to the Don at Bathurst St. with her husband, Chaim, and their three children, Tashlich is a way to get into the high holiday spirit.
"And (the children) like to throw the bread," added Chaim.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Israel is Down for Spiritual Enlightenment
By MATTI FRIEDMAN (AP) – 6 hours ago
JERUSALEM — The start of the Jewish Day of Atonement at sundown Sunday marked the beginning of a day like no other in Israel, on which even Israelis with no connection to religion tend to put their normal lives on hold.
This year Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, comes at a particularly somber time following revelations of a previously hidden Iranian nuclear facility and more missile tests by the Revolutionary Guard.
"That proves to whoever was still in doubt that Iran is the most serious threat today on the peace of the world and its security," said Israeli Deputy Foreign Ministry Danny Ayalon, speaking to Israeli Channel 10.
Israel considers Iran a strategic threat due to its nuclear program, missile development and repeated references by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Israel's destruction.
When Yom Kippur began at around 5 p.m. local time, TV and radio stations blinked off the air, flights in and out of Israel's international airport ceased, and nearly all businesses closed. The streets emptied of cars and cities and highways were eerily quiet.
The country's ordinary bustle receded to the cities and towns that are home to the one-fifth of Israelis who are Muslims and Christians.
But the holiday's apparent calm conflicted with many Israelis' fears about the perceived Iranian threat.
Israel has long said Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, while Tehran insists its facilities are only for producing fuel for power plants.
Many Israelis felt vindicated this week, however, when evidence of a clandestine facility was presented on Friday by President Barack Obama and the leaders of Britain and France at the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh.
The facility enriches uranium fuel to power nuclear reactors. Highly enriched fuel, however, can also be used to make weapons.
Israel is widely believed to have a nuclear arsenal of its own.
Even inside Israel, the run-up to the holiday was less than calm. Israeli police used stun grenades to disperse Palestinian rioters on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, police said.
The incident took place during a visit by a Jewish group to the site. Deadly violence has erupted there several times in the past.
Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said around 150 Palestinians threw stones at the Jews visiting the site, which is open to non-Muslims at certain hours.
Police dispersed the rioters using stun grenades, and two policemen were lightly injured.
Rabah Bkirat, an official with the Muslim religious body in charge of managing the site, said some of the protesters had come because of rumors of an "invasion" by Jewish settlers. When a group of some 15 Jews entered the grounds accompanied by police, the protesters began chanting slogans and only threw stones after police used force, he said.
Eleven Palestinians sustained minor injuries in the clashes, Bkirat said.
Sunday's violence did not affect prayers at the Western Wall ahead of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, which starts Sunday at sundown and ends sundown Monday.
According to tradition, Jews must spend Yom Kippur day fasting, praying and repenting for past sins in the hopes of receiving divine forgiveness before God seals their fate for the upcoming year.
Israel has a large population of religious Jews who observe all the Jewish festivals, but Yom Kippur is unique among Jewish holidays for its resonance among people who are distant from religion during the rest of the year. Most Israeli Jews say they fast, and almost no one dares drive a car. Many will not even talk on the phone, surf the Internet or turn on a television.
"For the average secular Israeli, this is a day to connect with his spirituality and his Judaism, even though he is not religious," said Rabbi David Stav, one of the founders of Tzohar, an organization dedicated to making Judaism more accessible to secular Israelis.
"He fasts, he prays, he doesn't work or watch television — the day is dedicated to matters of the spirit," Stav said.
In the days leading up to the fast, some Orthodox Jews perform a ceremony known as "kaparot," or "atonements," in which a person's sins are symbolically transferred to an animal, usually a chicken, which is then slaughtered and eaten.
Fainting, dehydration and other fasting-related complaints are common, and Israeli emergency services went on high alert.
While the day is largely solemn, it has its lighter side. The streets, emptied of cars, fill up with children on bicycles and skateboards taking advantage of the rare opportunity to ride down the middle of the road.
The Israeli military says the West Bank will be under closure until the holiday's end due to security concerns.
A military spokesman said the closure will be in effect from midnight Saturday until after the holiday.
Israel has imposed West Bank closures during most Jewish holidays in recent years due to concerns that Palestinian militants could take advantage of the festival to carry out attacks inside Israel.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
JERUSALEM — The start of the Jewish Day of Atonement at sundown Sunday marked the beginning of a day like no other in Israel, on which even Israelis with no connection to religion tend to put their normal lives on hold.
This year Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, comes at a particularly somber time following revelations of a previously hidden Iranian nuclear facility and more missile tests by the Revolutionary Guard.
"That proves to whoever was still in doubt that Iran is the most serious threat today on the peace of the world and its security," said Israeli Deputy Foreign Ministry Danny Ayalon, speaking to Israeli Channel 10.
Israel considers Iran a strategic threat due to its nuclear program, missile development and repeated references by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Israel's destruction.
When Yom Kippur began at around 5 p.m. local time, TV and radio stations blinked off the air, flights in and out of Israel's international airport ceased, and nearly all businesses closed. The streets emptied of cars and cities and highways were eerily quiet.
The country's ordinary bustle receded to the cities and towns that are home to the one-fifth of Israelis who are Muslims and Christians.
But the holiday's apparent calm conflicted with many Israelis' fears about the perceived Iranian threat.
Israel has long said Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, while Tehran insists its facilities are only for producing fuel for power plants.
Many Israelis felt vindicated this week, however, when evidence of a clandestine facility was presented on Friday by President Barack Obama and the leaders of Britain and France at the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh.
The facility enriches uranium fuel to power nuclear reactors. Highly enriched fuel, however, can also be used to make weapons.
Israel is widely believed to have a nuclear arsenal of its own.
Even inside Israel, the run-up to the holiday was less than calm. Israeli police used stun grenades to disperse Palestinian rioters on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, police said.
The incident took place during a visit by a Jewish group to the site. Deadly violence has erupted there several times in the past.
Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said around 150 Palestinians threw stones at the Jews visiting the site, which is open to non-Muslims at certain hours.
Police dispersed the rioters using stun grenades, and two policemen were lightly injured.
Rabah Bkirat, an official with the Muslim religious body in charge of managing the site, said some of the protesters had come because of rumors of an "invasion" by Jewish settlers. When a group of some 15 Jews entered the grounds accompanied by police, the protesters began chanting slogans and only threw stones after police used force, he said.
Eleven Palestinians sustained minor injuries in the clashes, Bkirat said.
Sunday's violence did not affect prayers at the Western Wall ahead of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, which starts Sunday at sundown and ends sundown Monday.
According to tradition, Jews must spend Yom Kippur day fasting, praying and repenting for past sins in the hopes of receiving divine forgiveness before God seals their fate for the upcoming year.
Israel has a large population of religious Jews who observe all the Jewish festivals, but Yom Kippur is unique among Jewish holidays for its resonance among people who are distant from religion during the rest of the year. Most Israeli Jews say they fast, and almost no one dares drive a car. Many will not even talk on the phone, surf the Internet or turn on a television.
"For the average secular Israeli, this is a day to connect with his spirituality and his Judaism, even though he is not religious," said Rabbi David Stav, one of the founders of Tzohar, an organization dedicated to making Judaism more accessible to secular Israelis.
"He fasts, he prays, he doesn't work or watch television — the day is dedicated to matters of the spirit," Stav said.
In the days leading up to the fast, some Orthodox Jews perform a ceremony known as "kaparot," or "atonements," in which a person's sins are symbolically transferred to an animal, usually a chicken, which is then slaughtered and eaten.
Fainting, dehydration and other fasting-related complaints are common, and Israeli emergency services went on high alert.
While the day is largely solemn, it has its lighter side. The streets, emptied of cars, fill up with children on bicycles and skateboards taking advantage of the rare opportunity to ride down the middle of the road.
The Israeli military says the West Bank will be under closure until the holiday's end due to security concerns.
A military spokesman said the closure will be in effect from midnight Saturday until after the holiday.
Israel has imposed West Bank closures during most Jewish holidays in recent years due to concerns that Palestinian militants could take advantage of the festival to carry out attacks inside Israel.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
High Holiday Spiritual Enlightenment
RABBI IRWIN KULA (National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership): The central ritual on Yom Kippur, besides prayer itself, that’s most well-known, is fasting. What fasting does is it says I’m not going to concentrate on my physical body right now. I’m going to concentrate on a different kind of food. Rather than nutrients for my body, I’m going to concentrate on the nutrients for my spirit, and my heart, and my ethical way.
So when you feel hungry at two o’clock in the afternoon, the feeling of hunger is not so that you’ll be in pain. The feeling of hunger is to stimulate two things: What am I really hungry for—because it’s more than just food. What am I really hungry for in my spiritual and ethical life? And who really is hungry that I need to feed? And if you take those two insights from the practice seriously, it’s working. That’s what atonement—that is what “at-one-ment” means.
Kol Nidre is the first prayer of the Yom Kippur service. What we do on Kol Nidre is the confrontation and the challenge of having to look at every promise and obligation and commitment that I have in my life and starting by saying okay, fine. You have none of them. You have no obligations, no promises. Kol Nidre—all the promises are null and void. Okay, now what? It’s very frightening to imagine that we have no obligations, because it is our obligations, our promises that define who we are.
The rest of Yom Kippur, in a sense, is taking back the obligations, reassessing them. Okay, I am married—do I want to be married? What does it mean to have that obligation? Hey, I am a father—what are the obligations that come with being a father that may have gotten distorted in between last Yom Kippur and this Yom Kippur? What are my obligations to my work and my craft and my calling? What are my obligations, what are the promises that I’ve made to myself? So Kol Nidre is a very profound method and technology for stripping us of all promises and obligations that may distort us, so that we stand there naked, just us, with the ability to take back promises, take back obligations over the next 25 hours.
The focus of the High Holiday period is not on death. The focus is on life. It turns out that one of the great ways to focus ourselves on life is to think about death. That just turns out to be the paradox. So if on Yom Kippur we fast, if on Yom Kippur we deny ourselves certain bodily pleasures and engage in a kind of deep introspection on the moral, psychological, and spiritual level, well, it turns out we will become better people. I mean, that’s just what happens. But, again, there are no guarantees. You can go through everything on Yom Kippur and go through the motions, and on the other hand you can sit in Yom Kippur and never use a prayer book but just really think about who you are and it can make a difference in your life.
So when you feel hungry at two o’clock in the afternoon, the feeling of hunger is not so that you’ll be in pain. The feeling of hunger is to stimulate two things: What am I really hungry for—because it’s more than just food. What am I really hungry for in my spiritual and ethical life? And who really is hungry that I need to feed? And if you take those two insights from the practice seriously, it’s working. That’s what atonement—that is what “at-one-ment” means.
Kol Nidre is the first prayer of the Yom Kippur service. What we do on Kol Nidre is the confrontation and the challenge of having to look at every promise and obligation and commitment that I have in my life and starting by saying okay, fine. You have none of them. You have no obligations, no promises. Kol Nidre—all the promises are null and void. Okay, now what? It’s very frightening to imagine that we have no obligations, because it is our obligations, our promises that define who we are.
The rest of Yom Kippur, in a sense, is taking back the obligations, reassessing them. Okay, I am married—do I want to be married? What does it mean to have that obligation? Hey, I am a father—what are the obligations that come with being a father that may have gotten distorted in between last Yom Kippur and this Yom Kippur? What are my obligations to my work and my craft and my calling? What are my obligations, what are the promises that I’ve made to myself? So Kol Nidre is a very profound method and technology for stripping us of all promises and obligations that may distort us, so that we stand there naked, just us, with the ability to take back promises, take back obligations over the next 25 hours.
The focus of the High Holiday period is not on death. The focus is on life. It turns out that one of the great ways to focus ourselves on life is to think about death. That just turns out to be the paradox. So if on Yom Kippur we fast, if on Yom Kippur we deny ourselves certain bodily pleasures and engage in a kind of deep introspection on the moral, psychological, and spiritual level, well, it turns out we will become better people. I mean, that’s just what happens. But, again, there are no guarantees. You can go through everything on Yom Kippur and go through the motions, and on the other hand you can sit in Yom Kippur and never use a prayer book but just really think about who you are and it can make a difference in your life.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Yom Kippur Spiritual Enlightenment
Yom Kippur which begins this Sunday, is neither physically nor mentally a comfortable holiday to observe. The Day of Atonement consists of a 25 hour fast combined with a hyper-intense period of soul-searching and introspection, during which supplicants beg God to pardon their iniquities and inscribe their souls in the Book of Life for another year.
Yet while the Jewish calendar is filled with far more celebratory and joyous festivals, Yom Kippur remains the most widely-marked event amongst world Jewry, with secular and religious alike coming together as one to conduct a moral inventory and wipe clean their slates in preparation for the year ahead.
The concept of teshuva is central to the Yom Kippur experience; literally translated as "returning", teshuva is the Jewish term for repentance, an action that cannot be truly complete until a thorough spiritual process is undertaken in earnest. Teshuva closely resembles the 12 Steps of AA, which is no accident: the 12-Steps are largely based on Maimonides' Laws of Teshuva, and both begin with a frank and full admission that one has sinned and is prepared to turn to a higher power for assistance in improving one's behaviour and actions in the future.
Jewish law instructs adherents that it is not enough simply to make one's peace with God during the Ten Days of Awe (which begin on Rosh Hashanah and culminate in the Yom Kippur fast). Rather, it is first and foremost incumbent on individuals to apologise to their fellow men for any injustices they may have committed during the past year – and only then may they approach God and offer up their prayer for forgiveness from above.
Judaism is by no means alone in the use of ascetic means to achieve a heightened state of self-awareness as part of the repentance process – all the major religions use the power of abstention and self-denial to this end. On Yom Kippur there is a tangible sense of detachment from the ordinary world, which is made even more pronounced by the inclusion of ancient rituals and symbols into the synagogue service.
All year round, Jews are forbidden from kneeling during prayer, since the practise is thought to too closely resemble idol worship – but on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur the ban is lifted several times, in order to forcefully remind worshippers of their subservience to God. A ram's horn is blown like a trumpet at several points during the Rosh Hashanah service, its haunting notes acting as a clarion call to those within earshot to encourage them to wake up to their wrongdoings settle their spiritual account.
During the most intense periods of prayer we are reminded "But repentance, prayer and charity remove the severity of the decree", a maxim intended to give heart to all those who believe their past sins have put them beyond salvation. Even outside the religious sphere, repentance and charity are key concepts for the successful rehabilitation of former offenders.
Whether it's Rowan Williams calling on bankers to atone for their sins, politicians expressing true remorse for their avarice, or individual citizens endeavouring to become less self-centred and pay more attention to the needs of the less well-off, everything begins with repentance, and must be accompanied by a switch to a charitable, benevolent state of mind if any real and lasting change is to occur.
Those flooding synagogues around the world this weekend are, for the most part, recognising that spending the day praying, fasting and repenting is a first step on the road to spiritual recovery. Whether they are successful or not in bettering their actions for the year to come depends on their ability to sustain their good intentions for longer than just an intensive 25 hour session. But, as with AA – as with any other rehabilitative model – the first and most crucial step is admitting one has a problem, and Yom Kippur provides the perfect occasion for just such a confession.
Yet while the Jewish calendar is filled with far more celebratory and joyous festivals, Yom Kippur remains the most widely-marked event amongst world Jewry, with secular and religious alike coming together as one to conduct a moral inventory and wipe clean their slates in preparation for the year ahead.
The concept of teshuva is central to the Yom Kippur experience; literally translated as "returning", teshuva is the Jewish term for repentance, an action that cannot be truly complete until a thorough spiritual process is undertaken in earnest. Teshuva closely resembles the 12 Steps of AA, which is no accident: the 12-Steps are largely based on Maimonides' Laws of Teshuva, and both begin with a frank and full admission that one has sinned and is prepared to turn to a higher power for assistance in improving one's behaviour and actions in the future.
Jewish law instructs adherents that it is not enough simply to make one's peace with God during the Ten Days of Awe (which begin on Rosh Hashanah and culminate in the Yom Kippur fast). Rather, it is first and foremost incumbent on individuals to apologise to their fellow men for any injustices they may have committed during the past year – and only then may they approach God and offer up their prayer for forgiveness from above.
Judaism is by no means alone in the use of ascetic means to achieve a heightened state of self-awareness as part of the repentance process – all the major religions use the power of abstention and self-denial to this end. On Yom Kippur there is a tangible sense of detachment from the ordinary world, which is made even more pronounced by the inclusion of ancient rituals and symbols into the synagogue service.
All year round, Jews are forbidden from kneeling during prayer, since the practise is thought to too closely resemble idol worship – but on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur the ban is lifted several times, in order to forcefully remind worshippers of their subservience to God. A ram's horn is blown like a trumpet at several points during the Rosh Hashanah service, its haunting notes acting as a clarion call to those within earshot to encourage them to wake up to their wrongdoings settle their spiritual account.
During the most intense periods of prayer we are reminded "But repentance, prayer and charity remove the severity of the decree", a maxim intended to give heart to all those who believe their past sins have put them beyond salvation. Even outside the religious sphere, repentance and charity are key concepts for the successful rehabilitation of former offenders.
Whether it's Rowan Williams calling on bankers to atone for their sins, politicians expressing true remorse for their avarice, or individual citizens endeavouring to become less self-centred and pay more attention to the needs of the less well-off, everything begins with repentance, and must be accompanied by a switch to a charitable, benevolent state of mind if any real and lasting change is to occur.
Those flooding synagogues around the world this weekend are, for the most part, recognising that spending the day praying, fasting and repenting is a first step on the road to spiritual recovery. Whether they are successful or not in bettering their actions for the year to come depends on their ability to sustain their good intentions for longer than just an intensive 25 hour session. But, as with AA – as with any other rehabilitative model – the first and most crucial step is admitting one has a problem, and Yom Kippur provides the perfect occasion for just such a confession.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment Important to UCLA Students
Key findings in UCLA study
Researchers at The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA surveyed 14,527 students attending 136 colleges and universities nationwide, first as entering freshmen in the fall of 2004 and again in the late spring of 2007 at the end of their junior year.
Their study, "Spirituality in Higher Education: Students' Search for Meaning and Purpose," examined data from those surveys and found:
The percentage of students who considered "seeking beauty in my life" as very important or essential rose from 53.7 percent in freshman year to 66.3 percent in junior year.
The percentage of students who considered "becoming a more loving person" as very important or essential rose rom 67.4 percent in freshman year to 82.8 percent in junior year.
The percentage of students who considered "developing a meaningful philosophy of life" to be very important or essential rose from 41.4 percent in freshman year to 55.4 percent in junior year.
While 62.1 percent of entering freshmen rated "helping others in difficulty" as very important or essential, 74.3 percent of the students believed that three years later.
"Reducing pain and suffering in the world" was endorsed by 54.6 percent of students in 2004, compared to 66.6 percent in 2007.
Key findings in Notre Dame study
The National Study of Youth and Religion conducted telephone surveys of 3,290 youths ages 13 to 17 and followed up with personal interviews and phone surveys of most of the respondents in 2005 and again in 2007 and 2008, when the respondents were 18 to 23.
The results are published in the book Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults ," by Christian Smith (with Patricia Snell) of Notre Dame University, published this year by Oxford University Press.
The percentage of respondents who consider themselves "nonreligious" almost
doubled in size to 24 percent over the five-year span.
Few non-LDS teens converted to the Mormon faith by the time they were 18 to 23, and the few who converted came from the Jewish and nonreligious groups.
In the five-year span, half or more of all respondents in every major religious tradition stayed in their "baseline" tradition.
More than 77 percent of emerging adults say they believe in God, 16.1 percent are unsure and 6 percent say they do not. As teens, more than 84 percent believed in God.
About 44 percent of the emerging adults say that religious faith is very or extremely important in their lives, while less than 27 percent say it is not very important or not important at all.
http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_13411196
Researchers at The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA surveyed 14,527 students attending 136 colleges and universities nationwide, first as entering freshmen in the fall of 2004 and again in the late spring of 2007 at the end of their junior year.
Their study, "Spirituality in Higher Education: Students' Search for Meaning and Purpose," examined data from those surveys and found:
The percentage of students who considered "seeking beauty in my life" as very important or essential rose from 53.7 percent in freshman year to 66.3 percent in junior year.
The percentage of students who considered "becoming a more loving person" as very important or essential rose rom 67.4 percent in freshman year to 82.8 percent in junior year.
The percentage of students who considered "developing a meaningful philosophy of life" to be very important or essential rose from 41.4 percent in freshman year to 55.4 percent in junior year.
While 62.1 percent of entering freshmen rated "helping others in difficulty" as very important or essential, 74.3 percent of the students believed that three years later.
"Reducing pain and suffering in the world" was endorsed by 54.6 percent of students in 2004, compared to 66.6 percent in 2007.
Key findings in Notre Dame study
The National Study of Youth and Religion conducted telephone surveys of 3,290 youths ages 13 to 17 and followed up with personal interviews and phone surveys of most of the respondents in 2005 and again in 2007 and 2008, when the respondents were 18 to 23.
The results are published in the book Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults ," by Christian Smith (with Patricia Snell) of Notre Dame University, published this year by Oxford University Press.
The percentage of respondents who consider themselves "nonreligious" almost
doubled in size to 24 percent over the five-year span.
Few non-LDS teens converted to the Mormon faith by the time they were 18 to 23, and the few who converted came from the Jewish and nonreligious groups.
In the five-year span, half or more of all respondents in every major religious tradition stayed in their "baseline" tradition.
More than 77 percent of emerging adults say they believe in God, 16.1 percent are unsure and 6 percent say they do not. As teens, more than 84 percent believed in God.
About 44 percent of the emerging adults say that religious faith is very or extremely important in their lives, while less than 27 percent say it is not very important or not important at all.
http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_13411196
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Today is the Time to Listen for Spiritual Enlightenment
Published: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 1:28 PM EDT
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
It is now the period of time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This ten-day period is known as the Ten Days of Teshuvah, or repentance. During this time Jews become more contemplative, more serious, and more given to internal dialogue.
It is a time for each of us to look within, and to give special attention to those inner voices which call upon us to correct past mistakes, to redress past offenses, and to resolve to do better in the year to come.
There is another voice, which can be heard at this time of year, although not many of us are sufficiently spiritually sensitive to hear it. It is the voice of God. For you see, the Talmud tells us that this ten-day period is especially propitious for seeking out the divine and for hearing His voice. This is a time when God is to be found, when he is very near.
Chassidim use the following parable to explain this unusual theological phenomenon. Imagine, the parable goes, a king who spends most of his year isolated in his royal castle. It would be no wonder that he would wish to become more familiar with his people, and with what they were all about. Imagine further, the parable continues, that he would decide to disguise himself in ordinary clothing and travel about the countryside, visiting the common folk and becoming acquainted with their lives, their problems, and especially what they really thought of their king. And so the king, totally unidentifiable, wandered through the countryside and visited his constituency. The king was now close, extraordinarily close, to many of his countrymen. Few, if any, realized however, that it was the king who was wandering among them, and that he was accessible in a very unusual manner.
The Almighty himself now "wanders" among us, just as the king of the parable. During these ten days, the first ten days of the Jewish New Year, we have the opportunity to address Him in ways that were totally unavailable to us while He was in His royal castle. If we are aware of the presence of the Almighty in our midst, in this unique way, during this time of year, it is no wonder that we might just hear His divine voice.
And what would it say? What does the inner voice of our conscience say?
I think that these voices, divine or the better part of our human selves, have a threefold message; three messages that apply to every one of us, Jewish or non-Jewish, religious or otherwise.
The first message that I hear from the voice is a protest against our tendency to want gratification now. But the inner spiritual voice, more clearly audible at this time of year, says, "Wait." This spiritual voice stresses the need to postpone gratification, to work long and hard toward distant objectives, to set long-term goals and to work toward them ambitiously. This voice transcends the present and orients us towards the future with an attitude of optimism and hope.
The second message objects to the word "me." It wants to counter the tendency we all have to be self-centered, to live a life based upon "me first." This second component of our inner voice encourages us to be concerned with others. To realize, as the sainted Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin writes, that we are placed on this world not to fulfill our selfish needs, but to help others achieve their needs. The second message of the voice wishes to counter the culture of narcissism within which we find ourselves. It emphasizes charity, compassion, and social concern.
And the third message of the voice is such a simple one. It says, "Be happy." It encourages us to celebrate life with joy, to cultivate that most important of biblical emotions, simcha. How succinctly, but how stirringly, the spiritual genius Nachman of Braslav put it: "It is a great mitzvah to be b'simcha, to be happy...always!"
These are the voices that I hear when I listen carefully during this time of year. Perhaps these voices are divine in origin. More likely they are simply being expressed by a part of me that intuitively knows what is right and how I should guide my life in the coming year. But one thing is for certain: These voices are not auditory hallucinations. They are signs of clarity and expressions of valuable inner truths.
I am sure that you too can hear these voices if you but allow yourselves to listen. Do listen. Follow the messages of this inner voice. And enjoy, each and every one of you, a happy and sweet, successful and peaceful New Year.
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is executive vice president emeritus of the Orthodox Union (OU).
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
It is now the period of time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This ten-day period is known as the Ten Days of Teshuvah, or repentance. During this time Jews become more contemplative, more serious, and more given to internal dialogue.
It is a time for each of us to look within, and to give special attention to those inner voices which call upon us to correct past mistakes, to redress past offenses, and to resolve to do better in the year to come.
There is another voice, which can be heard at this time of year, although not many of us are sufficiently spiritually sensitive to hear it. It is the voice of God. For you see, the Talmud tells us that this ten-day period is especially propitious for seeking out the divine and for hearing His voice. This is a time when God is to be found, when he is very near.
Chassidim use the following parable to explain this unusual theological phenomenon. Imagine, the parable goes, a king who spends most of his year isolated in his royal castle. It would be no wonder that he would wish to become more familiar with his people, and with what they were all about. Imagine further, the parable continues, that he would decide to disguise himself in ordinary clothing and travel about the countryside, visiting the common folk and becoming acquainted with their lives, their problems, and especially what they really thought of their king. And so the king, totally unidentifiable, wandered through the countryside and visited his constituency. The king was now close, extraordinarily close, to many of his countrymen. Few, if any, realized however, that it was the king who was wandering among them, and that he was accessible in a very unusual manner.
The Almighty himself now "wanders" among us, just as the king of the parable. During these ten days, the first ten days of the Jewish New Year, we have the opportunity to address Him in ways that were totally unavailable to us while He was in His royal castle. If we are aware of the presence of the Almighty in our midst, in this unique way, during this time of year, it is no wonder that we might just hear His divine voice.
And what would it say? What does the inner voice of our conscience say?
I think that these voices, divine or the better part of our human selves, have a threefold message; three messages that apply to every one of us, Jewish or non-Jewish, religious or otherwise.
The first message that I hear from the voice is a protest against our tendency to want gratification now. But the inner spiritual voice, more clearly audible at this time of year, says, "Wait." This spiritual voice stresses the need to postpone gratification, to work long and hard toward distant objectives, to set long-term goals and to work toward them ambitiously. This voice transcends the present and orients us towards the future with an attitude of optimism and hope.
The second message objects to the word "me." It wants to counter the tendency we all have to be self-centered, to live a life based upon "me first." This second component of our inner voice encourages us to be concerned with others. To realize, as the sainted Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin writes, that we are placed on this world not to fulfill our selfish needs, but to help others achieve their needs. The second message of the voice wishes to counter the culture of narcissism within which we find ourselves. It emphasizes charity, compassion, and social concern.
And the third message of the voice is such a simple one. It says, "Be happy." It encourages us to celebrate life with joy, to cultivate that most important of biblical emotions, simcha. How succinctly, but how stirringly, the spiritual genius Nachman of Braslav put it: "It is a great mitzvah to be b'simcha, to be happy...always!"
These are the voices that I hear when I listen carefully during this time of year. Perhaps these voices are divine in origin. More likely they are simply being expressed by a part of me that intuitively knows what is right and how I should guide my life in the coming year. But one thing is for certain: These voices are not auditory hallucinations. They are signs of clarity and expressions of valuable inner truths.
I am sure that you too can hear these voices if you but allow yourselves to listen. Do listen. Follow the messages of this inner voice. And enjoy, each and every one of you, a happy and sweet, successful and peaceful New Year.
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is executive vice president emeritus of the Orthodox Union (OU).
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment Through Religious Spirit
Voices of faith: Is a spiritual teacher essential for salvation?
WE'RE ALL MINISTERS
The Rev. Holly McKissick, pastor of St. Andrew Christian Church, Olathe, Kan.: If we had time for coffee, we'd have to first define salvation. Is it freedom from the world: reaching a state of enlightenment, living in blissful union with God? Or is it transformation of this world: creating a world with no hungry children, no war?
Once we've settled that (it might take two cups of coffee), then the answer to your question at least in my tradition is straightforward: No, a spiritual teacher is not necessary for salvation.
My tradition, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), grew out of the Presbyterian Church 200 years ago. Today, along with Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans and the other mainline churches, we speak of "the priesthood of all believers." That means everyone is a "minister." A person does not need a pastor or spiritual guide to reach God. The journey is something we share with all of our faith and doubts.
On the other hand, while a "spiritual guide" is not necessary, I'd be hard-pressed to grow without a challenging, supportive community. And certain individuals have been invaluable "guides" for me, from my parents to my youth sponsors to my teachings pastors in seminary. Other people help guide us, too: therapists, spiritual directors, study groups, dear friends. While these people may not be necessary for my "salvation," they shape my understanding of it and model the transformation I seek.
FIND YOURSELF A TEACHER
Rabbi H. Scott White of Congregation Ohev Sholom in Prairie Village, Kan.: Before I address the question of the necessity of a spiritual guide, here's a primer on the Jewish view of salvation. Judaism does not profess the notion of "personal salvation"; it has no official doctrine regarding heaven and hell not only about getting to or going to, but even whether they exist at all. Salvation is a word you're not likely to hear in a Jewish prayer service, and not just because it's mostly Hebrew.
The closest analogous term in Jewish teachings is kapparah, atonement, or "at-one-ment" oneness with God. The Holy Day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, stems from a Jew's quest for oneness with God. At the end of life, the teaching of meetah m'khapperret death atones for sin alludes to the idea that one's very life, at its end, is given to God as a means of atoning for sin.
Yet - and this is crucial one needn't (and shouldn't) wait for that moment to be at one with God. Oneness can be accomplished even early in life, albeit with much concentrated effort.
Getting there, and staying there, does indeed require a spiritual guide, as is covered in the eternally popular ancient collection of teachings, Ethics of the Fathers, where it is taught: "K'neh l'kha Rav" acquire for yourself a master teacher (rabbi).
VOICES OF FAITH
Send your questions for one of our panels of religion columnists to Helen Gray at The Star, 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64108. Send e-mail to hgray@kcstar.com.
WE'RE ALL MINISTERS
The Rev. Holly McKissick, pastor of St. Andrew Christian Church, Olathe, Kan.: If we had time for coffee, we'd have to first define salvation. Is it freedom from the world: reaching a state of enlightenment, living in blissful union with God? Or is it transformation of this world: creating a world with no hungry children, no war?
Once we've settled that (it might take two cups of coffee), then the answer to your question at least in my tradition is straightforward: No, a spiritual teacher is not necessary for salvation.
My tradition, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), grew out of the Presbyterian Church 200 years ago. Today, along with Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans and the other mainline churches, we speak of "the priesthood of all believers." That means everyone is a "minister." A person does not need a pastor or spiritual guide to reach God. The journey is something we share with all of our faith and doubts.
On the other hand, while a "spiritual guide" is not necessary, I'd be hard-pressed to grow without a challenging, supportive community. And certain individuals have been invaluable "guides" for me, from my parents to my youth sponsors to my teachings pastors in seminary. Other people help guide us, too: therapists, spiritual directors, study groups, dear friends. While these people may not be necessary for my "salvation," they shape my understanding of it and model the transformation I seek.
FIND YOURSELF A TEACHER
Rabbi H. Scott White of Congregation Ohev Sholom in Prairie Village, Kan.: Before I address the question of the necessity of a spiritual guide, here's a primer on the Jewish view of salvation. Judaism does not profess the notion of "personal salvation"; it has no official doctrine regarding heaven and hell not only about getting to or going to, but even whether they exist at all. Salvation is a word you're not likely to hear in a Jewish prayer service, and not just because it's mostly Hebrew.
The closest analogous term in Jewish teachings is kapparah, atonement, or "at-one-ment" oneness with God. The Holy Day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, stems from a Jew's quest for oneness with God. At the end of life, the teaching of meetah m'khapperret death atones for sin alludes to the idea that one's very life, at its end, is given to God as a means of atoning for sin.
Yet - and this is crucial one needn't (and shouldn't) wait for that moment to be at one with God. Oneness can be accomplished even early in life, albeit with much concentrated effort.
Getting there, and staying there, does indeed require a spiritual guide, as is covered in the eternally popular ancient collection of teachings, Ethics of the Fathers, where it is taught: "K'neh l'kha Rav" acquire for yourself a master teacher (rabbi).
VOICES OF FAITH
Send your questions for one of our panels of religion columnists to Helen Gray at The Star, 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64108. Send e-mail to hgray@kcstar.com.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment with the Planets
http://www.examiner.com/x-15700-Atlanta-Spiritism-Examiner~y2009m9d21-Unknown-creature-in-Panamalife-on-other-planets
The headline I saw the other day about the “unknown creature” that had been found in Panama caught my eye and I, presumably like many other people around the world, went online to view amateur video recounts of this possible close encounter with an “alien”. Although in this particular case it might very well be, according to the opinions of some biologists, a strange, slightly decomposed sloth that is common to that region of the world instead of a distant relative of ET, it did make me stop and think about the idea of life on other planets as presented in the Spiritist Doctrine.
In questions 54-58 of The Spirits’ Book, Allan Kardec examines the concept of the multitude of planets:
54. Are other planets inhabited? Yes. And the people of the Earth are far from being, as you suppose, the leaders in intelligence, goodness and enlightenment. Many people, some very erudite among them, believe that only Earth is inhabited by intelligent beings and that God has created the universe only for them. It is a presumptuous idea.
God populated all of the planets with beings in order to carry out the Divine Will. If we, as humans, erroneously believe that these “beings” all fall within the limited constraints of human reality, we would be greatly underestimating Divine Wisdom. All of the stars and planets serve a purpose in the greater realm of eternal life; they are not there just to decorate the night sky for us here on Earth. There is also nothing special about the Earth’s location or make-up that would suggest that we are in any way superior to other planets, or that we are the only life form in the universe.
56. Is the physical composition of all planets the same? No, they may differ greatly.
57. Since planets are physically different, can we assume that their inhabitants are differently constituted? Absolutely. The situation is similar to one on your planet where fish are organized for living in water and birds for living in air.
58. Are the planets farthest removed from the sun deprived of light and heat, given that the sun is like a distant star to them? Do you think that there are no sources of light and heat other than the sun? Would you discount, for instance, the action of electricity, which on certain planets plays a very much more important part than it does on Earth? How do you know that the beings on those planets have an organic structure that resembles yours? The matter that composes their bodies could well be of a nature completely unknown to you.
Obviously, for us to accept the notion that there is life on other planets, we must also accept the fact that these life forms had to adapt to their surroundings in order to survive. If we had never ourselves seen fish with their physical adaptation to their surroundings, we would never have been able to explain how they can survive underwater. In the same way, we have to agree that there are other life forms on other planets that are, as of yet, unknown to us.
How are they to survive in such extreme conditions? It would be physically impossible…physically impossible for whom? Yes, for you or me in our present human form it would undoubtedly be impossible. But, wouldn’t someone a century ago have said the same thing if you had told them that there would be an online mega system that would be able to connect people from all over the world instantaneously? They would probably have believed the concept to be too fantastical to even consider at the time. But here we are today; all interlinked on this Internet “super highway” like it were as natural as breathing.
But how can life forms on other planets communicate? We would be naïve to believe that these life forms look like us, function like us and communicate like we do. On more spiritually advanced worlds the enlightened spirits there have actually eliminated the need for verbal communication, using a form of telepathy or mental/magnetic communication. According to the Spiritist Doctrine, telepathy is the language of spirits.
282. How do spirits communicate with each other? Spirits need only see each other to communicate their ideas. Their language is more meaningful than yours as their thoughts are reflected in themselves. In addition, the Cosmic Principle acts as a medium that conducts their thoughts through the universe, much like air conducts sounds. By means of the Cosmic Principle, spirits can send their thoughts across different worlds.
As humankind continues to improve with scientific and technological advances, certain ideas or concepts that we once deemed impossible or far-fetched will come to be seen in a different light. Although there are many things about the spirit world that will remain a mystery to us in this life due to our own spiritual enlightenment as well as God’s will, with continued learning and spiritual development we can aspire to one day have a better understanding of our own world and life in the various realms of the universe with each of our subsequent reincarnations both here in Earth, as well as on other planets.
To receive notification of future Atlanta Spiritism Examiner articles, scroll to the top of this article, and click on SUBSCRIBE. Your e-mail address will not be shared!
Other similar articles you might enjoy by the Atlanta Spiritism Examiner:
The headline I saw the other day about the “unknown creature” that had been found in Panama caught my eye and I, presumably like many other people around the world, went online to view amateur video recounts of this possible close encounter with an “alien”. Although in this particular case it might very well be, according to the opinions of some biologists, a strange, slightly decomposed sloth that is common to that region of the world instead of a distant relative of ET, it did make me stop and think about the idea of life on other planets as presented in the Spiritist Doctrine.
In questions 54-58 of The Spirits’ Book, Allan Kardec examines the concept of the multitude of planets:
54. Are other planets inhabited? Yes. And the people of the Earth are far from being, as you suppose, the leaders in intelligence, goodness and enlightenment. Many people, some very erudite among them, believe that only Earth is inhabited by intelligent beings and that God has created the universe only for them. It is a presumptuous idea.
God populated all of the planets with beings in order to carry out the Divine Will. If we, as humans, erroneously believe that these “beings” all fall within the limited constraints of human reality, we would be greatly underestimating Divine Wisdom. All of the stars and planets serve a purpose in the greater realm of eternal life; they are not there just to decorate the night sky for us here on Earth. There is also nothing special about the Earth’s location or make-up that would suggest that we are in any way superior to other planets, or that we are the only life form in the universe.
56. Is the physical composition of all planets the same? No, they may differ greatly.
57. Since planets are physically different, can we assume that their inhabitants are differently constituted? Absolutely. The situation is similar to one on your planet where fish are organized for living in water and birds for living in air.
58. Are the planets farthest removed from the sun deprived of light and heat, given that the sun is like a distant star to them? Do you think that there are no sources of light and heat other than the sun? Would you discount, for instance, the action of electricity, which on certain planets plays a very much more important part than it does on Earth? How do you know that the beings on those planets have an organic structure that resembles yours? The matter that composes their bodies could well be of a nature completely unknown to you.
Obviously, for us to accept the notion that there is life on other planets, we must also accept the fact that these life forms had to adapt to their surroundings in order to survive. If we had never ourselves seen fish with their physical adaptation to their surroundings, we would never have been able to explain how they can survive underwater. In the same way, we have to agree that there are other life forms on other planets that are, as of yet, unknown to us.
How are they to survive in such extreme conditions? It would be physically impossible…physically impossible for whom? Yes, for you or me in our present human form it would undoubtedly be impossible. But, wouldn’t someone a century ago have said the same thing if you had told them that there would be an online mega system that would be able to connect people from all over the world instantaneously? They would probably have believed the concept to be too fantastical to even consider at the time. But here we are today; all interlinked on this Internet “super highway” like it were as natural as breathing.
But how can life forms on other planets communicate? We would be naïve to believe that these life forms look like us, function like us and communicate like we do. On more spiritually advanced worlds the enlightened spirits there have actually eliminated the need for verbal communication, using a form of telepathy or mental/magnetic communication. According to the Spiritist Doctrine, telepathy is the language of spirits.
282. How do spirits communicate with each other? Spirits need only see each other to communicate their ideas. Their language is more meaningful than yours as their thoughts are reflected in themselves. In addition, the Cosmic Principle acts as a medium that conducts their thoughts through the universe, much like air conducts sounds. By means of the Cosmic Principle, spirits can send their thoughts across different worlds.
As humankind continues to improve with scientific and technological advances, certain ideas or concepts that we once deemed impossible or far-fetched will come to be seen in a different light. Although there are many things about the spirit world that will remain a mystery to us in this life due to our own spiritual enlightenment as well as God’s will, with continued learning and spiritual development we can aspire to one day have a better understanding of our own world and life in the various realms of the universe with each of our subsequent reincarnations both here in Earth, as well as on other planets.
To receive notification of future Atlanta Spiritism Examiner articles, scroll to the top of this article, and click on SUBSCRIBE. Your e-mail address will not be shared!
Other similar articles you might enjoy by the Atlanta Spiritism Examiner:
Monday, September 21, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment is Rosh Hashana
As new rabbis of Congregation Har Shalom in Fort Collins, meeting Jews on those paths is exactly what she and her husband, Rabbi Ben Newman, plan to do.
"We want to reach people where they are," Leis said, describing ideas for services on the bank of the Poudre River, hikes with her congregation and integrating more music into the services because "music helps souls to understand," she said.
Leis and Newman were busy preparing for Rosh Hashanah on Thursday and said they were excited to observe the Jewish new year with their new synagogue. Leis and Newman were married three years ago and moved in early August, along with their 2-year-old daughter, Sophia, from Riverdale in the Bronx borough of New York City. A major part of their mission in Fort Collins, they said, is reaching out to young families.
"A lot of places in New York, you have to harangue people," Newman said.
He explained that he was happy to see that isn't so for the Congregation Har Shalom. The passion and commitment of Jews in Fort Collins were evident to Newman and Leis from their initial visit last winter.
Rosh Hashanah is a time for deep reflection and self-analysis, said Leis and Newman. It begins the 10 "Days of Awe" and culminates in Yom Kippur or "the day of forgiveness," as the pair translates it.
This is a time for "denying our physical needs so we can focus on our spiritual needs," said Leis, explaining that many Jews will practice a 25-hour period of fasting to help bring them closer to God.
"We want to reach people where they are," Leis said, describing ideas for services on the bank of the Poudre River, hikes with her congregation and integrating more music into the services because "music helps souls to understand," she said.
Leis and Newman were busy preparing for Rosh Hashanah on Thursday and said they were excited to observe the Jewish new year with their new synagogue. Leis and Newman were married three years ago and moved in early August, along with their 2-year-old daughter, Sophia, from Riverdale in the Bronx borough of New York City. A major part of their mission in Fort Collins, they said, is reaching out to young families.
"A lot of places in New York, you have to harangue people," Newman said.
He explained that he was happy to see that isn't so for the Congregation Har Shalom. The passion and commitment of Jews in Fort Collins were evident to Newman and Leis from their initial visit last winter.
Rosh Hashanah is a time for deep reflection and self-analysis, said Leis and Newman. It begins the 10 "Days of Awe" and culminates in Yom Kippur or "the day of forgiveness," as the pair translates it.
This is a time for "denying our physical needs so we can focus on our spiritual needs," said Leis, explaining that many Jews will practice a 25-hour period of fasting to help bring them closer to God.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment by Taoist Chinese
http://www.nba.com/wizards/news/china_blog_090909.html
Wizards in China Blog Part IV: Chengdu, Sichuan Province
If Shanghai was history and culture, and Beijing was pomp and ceremony, then Chengdu was emotion. It was in Sichuan Province near the capital of Chengdu, where the earthquake devastated cities and towns last spring. We had a chance to visit some of the affected areas and meet with some the people who had their lives completely changed by the events of May 8th, 2008. Chengdu and Sichuan Province are renown for other historical and cultural features in this part of the world. Also, Randy Foye and his lovely fiancé, Christine joined us for the remaining days of our trip. Of course, Randy is one of our newest Wizards. Just based upon the little time spent with him and Christine in China, it is easy to conclude that we are fortunate to have them in the Wizards family. They threw themselves into the activities, and they were always enthusiastic in participating in all the events. Basically, they fit into the group seamlessly, and added enormously to the good cheer that surrounded our delegation.
Our trip commemorates the visit of the Washington Bullets 30 years ago to China. This important event was only possible because of the establishment of full diplomatic relations between China and the US a few months earlier. The Sichuan Province is the home of Deng Xiao Ping, the Chinese Premier who opened talks with the US which lead to diplomatic relations. Deng Xiao Ping was a proud native son of Chengdu and the Sichuan Province and his birthplace is a proud footnote of history and feature to the people of the area. He was known as a pragmatic leader who differed with the ideologues of the Communist Party. It was Deng Xiao Ping who initiated the reforms that led to China’s re-engagement with the West and are responsible for the new China that we experienced these past ten days.
Sichuan Province is also known for its spicy cuisine. In truth, there really is no true national Chinese food. Rather, Chinese cuisine is made up of myriad of regional cuisines, like Italian cooking, that use local ingredients, contributions from ethnic groups and their cooking in the region, and traditional recipes. A word of advice to the adventuresome foodie who wishes to sample the hottest of Sichuan cooking, the dry dishes that feature meats, poultry, or fish that are mixed in spices or peppers do not really represent the heat of Sichuan cooking. Watch out, trust me, for the so-called wet dishes with the apparently less threatening ingredients like tofu, bean curd, or noodles, that simmer in a broth of red or brown liquids. They are the ones that will blow the top of your head off.
Sichuan Province is the home of Taoism, an ancient Chinese spiritual philosophy that seeks balance and harmony with the physical world. In the foothills of Sichuan Province is the temple that has been the epicenter of the development of Taoism for thousands of years. The temple is open to visitors and it is one of the most beautiful, lush areas in all of China. After a very spicy lunch, we decided to visit the Temple. When our bus stopped on the grounds of the Temple we were led by the Pied Piper of all China, Gheorghe Muresan. Big Gheorghe draws a lot of attention wherever he goes due to his great stature, but he was absolutely the rock star of our group no matter where we went in China. Folks of the highest station to the regular guy on the street wanted to meet him, or take a picture with him, often times without his knowledge or agreement. In fact, I don’t know how he deals with the constant crush of people who flock to him incessantly, yet the “Big Fellow” has a heart of gold, and a warm pleasant temperament that permits him to deal with the situation with incredible grace. Here at the Temple, it was no different, even the Taoist monks left their prayer to flock to Gheorghe as well as the everyday visitor. It was a highlight of our trip to watch Gheorghe with a crowd of people trailing in his wake as he led them to spiritual enlightenment to the gates of the Taoism Temple; all the while he was smiling, touching the people in that particular way that is “Big Gheorghe”. It was is easy to see that Gheorghe has found the “chi“ that leads to harmony and balance.
The last and most enduring memory of Sichuan Province was our visit to the new Youai Primary & Middle school to meet with students displaced by the earthquake last spring. In certain areas the devastation was complete as whole sections of a town or village had collapsed due to the force of the quake. With millions of people homeless and displaced, there is an atmosphere of desperation in the area. In Duijiangyan City, there is an oasis for young students who were displaced as a result of the tragic events. A new school with dormitories built to house the students during the school week so they could resume their studies and then return to their parents on the weekends. The comfort of the school during the week improves their situation as most return to parents struggling to rebuild lives after the destruction of their homes and businesses.
Fortunately, many of the youngsters escaped the quake without physical injury. They were able to participate in our basketball clinic learning basic basketball skills; passing, shooting, dribbling and team play. The more adept had the opportunity to challenge Randy and Gheorghe to shooting games on their new rubberized outdoor basketball court. Randy showed the range and accuracy of a NBA guard in his demonstrations and during the shooting games with the kids. Big Gheorghe got his legs under him during this clinic and hit some shots. Until that time, the “Big Fellow” was zero for China in mid-range jump-shooting. While the kids were impressed with Randy’s obvious NBA skills, they howled with delight when Big Gheorghe started to knock down shot after shot.
After working with the healthy youngsters, it was now the turn of the injured and disabled youngster to try their hand at basketball skill development. Some of these children were confined to wheelchairs, or used crutches and prosthesis to move as a result of devastating injuries suffered during the collapse of school buildings. Many had lost limbs as a result of the quake. There was particularly poignant story of an eleven year young girl who when trapped for days under rubble was forced to cut-off her own leg to crawl to safety when she heard rescue workers digging in her area. When she rolled on to the court to make a shot, tears flowed from everyone as her face lit up with a smile after Gheorghe lifted her up to make a shot. For certain, we had an impact here with our visit, and hopefully we made a small difference in the lives of these courageous young people.
On to Guanzhou.
Wizards in China Blog Part IV: Chengdu, Sichuan Province
If Shanghai was history and culture, and Beijing was pomp and ceremony, then Chengdu was emotion. It was in Sichuan Province near the capital of Chengdu, where the earthquake devastated cities and towns last spring. We had a chance to visit some of the affected areas and meet with some the people who had their lives completely changed by the events of May 8th, 2008. Chengdu and Sichuan Province are renown for other historical and cultural features in this part of the world. Also, Randy Foye and his lovely fiancé, Christine joined us for the remaining days of our trip. Of course, Randy is one of our newest Wizards. Just based upon the little time spent with him and Christine in China, it is easy to conclude that we are fortunate to have them in the Wizards family. They threw themselves into the activities, and they were always enthusiastic in participating in all the events. Basically, they fit into the group seamlessly, and added enormously to the good cheer that surrounded our delegation.
Our trip commemorates the visit of the Washington Bullets 30 years ago to China. This important event was only possible because of the establishment of full diplomatic relations between China and the US a few months earlier. The Sichuan Province is the home of Deng Xiao Ping, the Chinese Premier who opened talks with the US which lead to diplomatic relations. Deng Xiao Ping was a proud native son of Chengdu and the Sichuan Province and his birthplace is a proud footnote of history and feature to the people of the area. He was known as a pragmatic leader who differed with the ideologues of the Communist Party. It was Deng Xiao Ping who initiated the reforms that led to China’s re-engagement with the West and are responsible for the new China that we experienced these past ten days.
Sichuan Province is also known for its spicy cuisine. In truth, there really is no true national Chinese food. Rather, Chinese cuisine is made up of myriad of regional cuisines, like Italian cooking, that use local ingredients, contributions from ethnic groups and their cooking in the region, and traditional recipes. A word of advice to the adventuresome foodie who wishes to sample the hottest of Sichuan cooking, the dry dishes that feature meats, poultry, or fish that are mixed in spices or peppers do not really represent the heat of Sichuan cooking. Watch out, trust me, for the so-called wet dishes with the apparently less threatening ingredients like tofu, bean curd, or noodles, that simmer in a broth of red or brown liquids. They are the ones that will blow the top of your head off.
Sichuan Province is the home of Taoism, an ancient Chinese spiritual philosophy that seeks balance and harmony with the physical world. In the foothills of Sichuan Province is the temple that has been the epicenter of the development of Taoism for thousands of years. The temple is open to visitors and it is one of the most beautiful, lush areas in all of China. After a very spicy lunch, we decided to visit the Temple. When our bus stopped on the grounds of the Temple we were led by the Pied Piper of all China, Gheorghe Muresan. Big Gheorghe draws a lot of attention wherever he goes due to his great stature, but he was absolutely the rock star of our group no matter where we went in China. Folks of the highest station to the regular guy on the street wanted to meet him, or take a picture with him, often times without his knowledge or agreement. In fact, I don’t know how he deals with the constant crush of people who flock to him incessantly, yet the “Big Fellow” has a heart of gold, and a warm pleasant temperament that permits him to deal with the situation with incredible grace. Here at the Temple, it was no different, even the Taoist monks left their prayer to flock to Gheorghe as well as the everyday visitor. It was a highlight of our trip to watch Gheorghe with a crowd of people trailing in his wake as he led them to spiritual enlightenment to the gates of the Taoism Temple; all the while he was smiling, touching the people in that particular way that is “Big Gheorghe”. It was is easy to see that Gheorghe has found the “chi“ that leads to harmony and balance.
The last and most enduring memory of Sichuan Province was our visit to the new Youai Primary & Middle school to meet with students displaced by the earthquake last spring. In certain areas the devastation was complete as whole sections of a town or village had collapsed due to the force of the quake. With millions of people homeless and displaced, there is an atmosphere of desperation in the area. In Duijiangyan City, there is an oasis for young students who were displaced as a result of the tragic events. A new school with dormitories built to house the students during the school week so they could resume their studies and then return to their parents on the weekends. The comfort of the school during the week improves their situation as most return to parents struggling to rebuild lives after the destruction of their homes and businesses.
Fortunately, many of the youngsters escaped the quake without physical injury. They were able to participate in our basketball clinic learning basic basketball skills; passing, shooting, dribbling and team play. The more adept had the opportunity to challenge Randy and Gheorghe to shooting games on their new rubberized outdoor basketball court. Randy showed the range and accuracy of a NBA guard in his demonstrations and during the shooting games with the kids. Big Gheorghe got his legs under him during this clinic and hit some shots. Until that time, the “Big Fellow” was zero for China in mid-range jump-shooting. While the kids were impressed with Randy’s obvious NBA skills, they howled with delight when Big Gheorghe started to knock down shot after shot.
After working with the healthy youngsters, it was now the turn of the injured and disabled youngster to try their hand at basketball skill development. Some of these children were confined to wheelchairs, or used crutches and prosthesis to move as a result of devastating injuries suffered during the collapse of school buildings. Many had lost limbs as a result of the quake. There was particularly poignant story of an eleven year young girl who when trapped for days under rubble was forced to cut-off her own leg to crawl to safety when she heard rescue workers digging in her area. When she rolled on to the court to make a shot, tears flowed from everyone as her face lit up with a smile after Gheorghe lifted her up to make a shot. For certain, we had an impact here with our visit, and hopefully we made a small difference in the lives of these courageous young people.
On to Guanzhou.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment at End of Ramadan & Beginning Rosh Hashana
As Eid ul-Fitr approaches, marking the end of Ramadan, I would like to offer warm regards to all who are observing this religious holiday.
The right to worship and observe the tenets of one’s faith is a basic right and is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Eid ul-Fitr, marks the end of Ramadan and the spiritual enlightenment gained through fasting. It is a time to celebrate with family and friends and to make peace with ones fellow man. It is also important to celebrate the peace and security that we share as a nation.
Eid ul-Fitr Murbarak.
This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 3:39 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
http://voiceoftoronto.com/wp/2009/09/eid-ul-fitr-murbarak-jim-karygiannis/
The right to worship and observe the tenets of one’s faith is a basic right and is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Eid ul-Fitr, marks the end of Ramadan and the spiritual enlightenment gained through fasting. It is a time to celebrate with family and friends and to make peace with ones fellow man. It is also important to celebrate the peace and security that we share as a nation.
Eid ul-Fitr Murbarak.
This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 3:39 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
http://voiceoftoronto.com/wp/2009/09/eid-ul-fitr-murbarak-jim-karygiannis/
Friday, September 18, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment in a Laugh
Once there was a conference of Buddhist monks on the meaning of true spirituality.
Each monk went onto the stage and gave long speeches.
Finally, it was the turn of a Zen monk to speak.
He went on the stage and simply started laughing! He laughed and laughed…from his Being.
The laughter just rose from his belly. He started shaking uncontrollably with laughter.
And his laughter was so infectious that soon all the others in the room started laughing, without even knowing why!
Without their even being aware of it, the laughter of all the monks produced a huge wave of positive energy in the room.
The monks reached a state of tremendous elevation.
Their thinking was shattered and their Being was filled with bliss.
The Zen monk finally spoke, "This is true spirituality."
Laughter is the highest spiritual quality. It can lead you to enlightenment! Laughing is a great healing energy. If you laugh at your sickness, you will become healthy. Laughter is a beautiful way of connecting with the Energy of Existence, which is pure healing Energy.
Each monk went onto the stage and gave long speeches.
Finally, it was the turn of a Zen monk to speak.
He went on the stage and simply started laughing! He laughed and laughed…from his Being.
The laughter just rose from his belly. He started shaking uncontrollably with laughter.
And his laughter was so infectious that soon all the others in the room started laughing, without even knowing why!
Without their even being aware of it, the laughter of all the monks produced a huge wave of positive energy in the room.
The monks reached a state of tremendous elevation.
Their thinking was shattered and their Being was filled with bliss.
The Zen monk finally spoke, "This is true spirituality."
Laughter is the highest spiritual quality. It can lead you to enlightenment! Laughing is a great healing energy. If you laugh at your sickness, you will become healthy. Laughter is a beautiful way of connecting with the Energy of Existence, which is pure healing Energy.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment on the Radio
Chicago, IL, September 16, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Darnell T. Glover, President/CEO of Darnell T. Glover Communications/Media Productions has announced the launching of Speak On It Radio Program on Blogtalkradio every Monday & Friday at 11:00 AM (CST) at htttp://www.blogtalkradio.com/Dr-Kofi-Maalik talking about local and global issues. For more information: Dr. Kofi Maalik, Ph.D. Official Web Site http://drkofimaalik.com/
Dr. Kofi needs your support in assisting his outreach ministry to the Homeless, Elderly, Youth and others in need of good listeners and strong lifters by becoming a “Sustaining Friend” for less than 4 cents a day, a quarter a week, a dollar a month by donating $12.00 a year and participate in an authentic spiritual re-connections through the ministry and services, states Glover. Make donations to his email: lincoln.ashford@yahoo.com via http://www.paypal.com/
Dr.Kofi Maalik, Ph.D. (aka) Lincoln Ashford received his AA from Central YMCA College (1974) his BA from Governors State University (1975) earned/awarded his Ph.D. from Union Institute (1981).
Dr. Kofi is a consultant in the areas of relevant education, youth and family issues (gangs, drugs, teen parenting, etc.) Attitude Development, Spiritual Enlightenment. Rites Of Passage and other Community concerns. Dr. Kofi has over 30 years of experience in the areas of human development and services.
His doctoral project include the development of a trilateral educational/learning institution for African American youth and families consisting of The Institute For Attitudinal Change, Temple For Univerial Truth/Shrine Of Ancestral Remembrance and The Center For Balanced Expressions.
Dr. Kofi Maalik frequently travels to West Africa and has sponsored visits for several African traditional priests to Chicago. He currently spends much of his time mentoring, facilitating analysis for spiritual empowerment, and providing Prescriptions For Success to those challenged by the social obstacles of our times.
His specialties include remedies for alleviating arthritis/rheumatism, male-female relationship issues and rituals of remembrance to ancestors, folk heroes and the living dead.
Additional Specialties includes Host of Chicago's CAN-TV "Speak On It Live" "You Are The Power" and "The Real Deal."
He is a Licensed/Ordained Christian Minister and Initiated African Traditional Priest (BoKo). Public and Private sessions are also available. Call 773/430-6361 for more information.
Dr. Kofi needs your support in assisting his outreach ministry to the Homeless, Elderly, Youth and others in need of good listeners and strong lifters by becoming a “Sustaining Friend” for less than 4 cents a day, a quarter a week, a dollar a month by donating $12.00 a year and participate in an authentic spiritual re-connections through the ministry and services, states Glover. Make donations to his email: lincoln.ashford@yahoo.com via http://www.paypal.com/
Dr.Kofi Maalik, Ph.D. (aka) Lincoln Ashford received his AA from Central YMCA College (1974) his BA from Governors State University (1975) earned/awarded his Ph.D. from Union Institute (1981).
Dr. Kofi is a consultant in the areas of relevant education, youth and family issues (gangs, drugs, teen parenting, etc.) Attitude Development, Spiritual Enlightenment. Rites Of Passage and other Community concerns. Dr. Kofi has over 30 years of experience in the areas of human development and services.
His doctoral project include the development of a trilateral educational/learning institution for African American youth and families consisting of The Institute For Attitudinal Change, Temple For Univerial Truth/Shrine Of Ancestral Remembrance and The Center For Balanced Expressions.
Dr. Kofi Maalik frequently travels to West Africa and has sponsored visits for several African traditional priests to Chicago. He currently spends much of his time mentoring, facilitating analysis for spiritual empowerment, and providing Prescriptions For Success to those challenged by the social obstacles of our times.
His specialties include remedies for alleviating arthritis/rheumatism, male-female relationship issues and rituals of remembrance to ancestors, folk heroes and the living dead.
Additional Specialties includes Host of Chicago's CAN-TV "Speak On It Live" "You Are The Power" and "The Real Deal."
He is a Licensed/Ordained Christian Minister and Initiated African Traditional Priest (BoKo). Public and Private sessions are also available. Call 773/430-6361 for more information.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment in Westend London
http://westend.broadwayworld.com/article/Shakespeare_Goes_Bollywood_POPO_GIGI_Musical_Comedy_Premieres_At_The_Ashcroft_Theatre_September_15_20090915
Shakespeare goes Bollywood - Popo Gigi is an all-singing, all-dancing musical comedy masala mix of Shakespeare and Bollywood, which world premieres at the Ashcroft Theatre, Fairfield Halls, Croydon on 15 September 2009.
Prepare to have more fun than a super hot tikka. Be charmed by the camp and delicious antics of a rag tag bunch of sexy seducers, scintillating Bollydancers, giggly guru, evil twin brothers, titillating transvestite and much, much more.
Hot on the tail of Slumdog Millionaire (to which this show bears absolutely no resemblance!) Anglo-Indian writer/producer/comedian Sam Sterling makes his bid for fame, future Oscars, Grammies, free lunches and groupies with Popo Gigi.
Popo Gigi tells the zany tale of how a Bollywood icon arrives in London with the intention of placing a Bollywood spin on Romeo and Juliet - hoping to take a record-breaking show from Brixton to Broadway and ultimately back home to Mumbai. In a multi-layered Bollywood farce, which covers everything from call centres to the Karma Sutra, the 2012 Olympics to hip swerving Bollywood dances, Popo Gigi promises spiritual enlightenment, the keys to happiness and the ending of the global credit crunch.
Popo Gigi is a Jolliwood Production, written/produced by Sam Sterling, directed by Anthony Shrubsall, Music Composed by Julian Chown, Musical Director Mark Smith, Royal Academy of Music, Art & Set Design by Jiro Osuga and featuring the hot Choreographer Ash Mukherjee, UK Critics' Circle National Dance Award Nominee, Dance Europe Best Indian Classical Dancer and Time Out London's Young Rising Talent of 2009.
Cast include: Sam Khan as Popo Gigi, Ms Shilpa Sweetie as Itchy Bitchy, Natasha Staples as Yogi Boo, Susan Cummins as Guru Bibi, Richard Loosemore as Ramyou, Zoe Swenson-Graham as Viola, Khavita as Juliet, Rain De Rye-Barrett as Popo Kitten 1, Sam Harrison as Popo Kitten 2.
!!FREE BONUS!! Popo Gigi also offers FREE Bollywood dance lessons and Yoga Laughter therapy on the night. Come along in your Bollywood gear, dancing shoes, saris, and a box of tissues to wipe away the tears of laughter. Unlike most Bollywood shows: live singing guaranteed ... no lip synchs! Shows will be in English (Queen's, Raj and Indian).
Popo Gigi opens on 15 September 2009 (Press Night) at the Ashcroft Theatre, Fairfield Hall, Croydon, and runs from 15-26 September 2009. Tickets are now on sale at www.fairfield.co.uk Earlybird discount £20.00. Box Office 0208 688 9291
To get a hot spicy taste of Popo Gigi in advance see our wonderful music video.
Click on GigiPlex on www.popogigi.com
Shakespeare goes Bollywood - Popo Gigi is an all-singing, all-dancing musical comedy masala mix of Shakespeare and Bollywood, which world premieres at the Ashcroft Theatre, Fairfield Halls, Croydon on 15 September 2009.
Prepare to have more fun than a super hot tikka. Be charmed by the camp and delicious antics of a rag tag bunch of sexy seducers, scintillating Bollydancers, giggly guru, evil twin brothers, titillating transvestite and much, much more.
Hot on the tail of Slumdog Millionaire (to which this show bears absolutely no resemblance!) Anglo-Indian writer/producer/comedian Sam Sterling makes his bid for fame, future Oscars, Grammies, free lunches and groupies with Popo Gigi.
Popo Gigi tells the zany tale of how a Bollywood icon arrives in London with the intention of placing a Bollywood spin on Romeo and Juliet - hoping to take a record-breaking show from Brixton to Broadway and ultimately back home to Mumbai. In a multi-layered Bollywood farce, which covers everything from call centres to the Karma Sutra, the 2012 Olympics to hip swerving Bollywood dances, Popo Gigi promises spiritual enlightenment, the keys to happiness and the ending of the global credit crunch.
Popo Gigi is a Jolliwood Production, written/produced by Sam Sterling, directed by Anthony Shrubsall, Music Composed by Julian Chown, Musical Director Mark Smith, Royal Academy of Music, Art & Set Design by Jiro Osuga and featuring the hot Choreographer Ash Mukherjee, UK Critics' Circle National Dance Award Nominee, Dance Europe Best Indian Classical Dancer and Time Out London's Young Rising Talent of 2009.
Cast include: Sam Khan as Popo Gigi, Ms Shilpa Sweetie as Itchy Bitchy, Natasha Staples as Yogi Boo, Susan Cummins as Guru Bibi, Richard Loosemore as Ramyou, Zoe Swenson-Graham as Viola, Khavita as Juliet, Rain De Rye-Barrett as Popo Kitten 1, Sam Harrison as Popo Kitten 2.
!!FREE BONUS!! Popo Gigi also offers FREE Bollywood dance lessons and Yoga Laughter therapy on the night. Come along in your Bollywood gear, dancing shoes, saris, and a box of tissues to wipe away the tears of laughter. Unlike most Bollywood shows: live singing guaranteed ... no lip synchs! Shows will be in English (Queen's, Raj and Indian).
Popo Gigi opens on 15 September 2009 (Press Night) at the Ashcroft Theatre, Fairfield Hall, Croydon, and runs from 15-26 September 2009. Tickets are now on sale at www.fairfield.co.uk Earlybird discount £20.00. Box Office 0208 688 9291
To get a hot spicy taste of Popo Gigi in advance see our wonderful music video.
Click on GigiPlex on www.popogigi.com
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Gilroy Garlic Path to Spiritual Enlightenment
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/259200-from-garlic-to-grapes
"Everybody in San Francisco, they think of garlic and then outlets when they think of Gilroy," said Tim Slater, owner of Sarah's Vineyard. "My hope is that they think of wine, and then garlic, and then outlets."
Seventeen wineries lie within minutes of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy, but south Santa Clara Valley faces challenges in marketing itself as a new wine country.
Vinegar Alley
In the early 1900s, Santa Clara and Napa counties were the two earliest premier grape-growing regions in California. Vines were first planted in Gilroy by Italian immigrants who settled along Hecker Pass Highway because the rich soil and warm climate reminded them of their homeland.
The nearly half-dozen wineries along the winding highway were small, family-owned operations quietly making many of the traditional red wines from Burgundy. At Live Oaks winery, wine was sold by the half-jug and tastings were offered in shot glasses.
"It was an old Italian style of making wine," said Vic Vanni, owner of Solis Winery on Hecker Pass Highway. "It wasn't super-high quality, and it was very inexpensive."
Meanwhile, Napa was exploring new grape varietals and revving up its marketing engines.
"Napa in the '80s and early '90s really took off," he said. "We were behind the curve in this area."
Gilroy's wine industry is breaking from tradition thanks to a younger generation taking over the established wineries and countering the lingering perceptions that led one wine critic to call the Hecker Pass area "Vinegar Alley."
Brothers Mike and Vic Vanni took ownership of Solis in 2007 from their parents, who operated the winery since 1989. The brothers invested in new equipment, remodeled the tasting room and added a courtyard for picnicking. Mike Vanni became the winemaker.
"We've narrowed the scope of our product line," Mike Vanni said. "We're focusing more on the high-end stuff, whereas before we had some value wines that we've done away with. Basically, we're working with only super-premium wines."
"Everybody in San Francisco, they think of garlic and then outlets when they think of Gilroy," said Tim Slater, owner of Sarah's Vineyard. "My hope is that they think of wine, and then garlic, and then outlets."
Seventeen wineries lie within minutes of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy, but south Santa Clara Valley faces challenges in marketing itself as a new wine country.
Vinegar Alley
In the early 1900s, Santa Clara and Napa counties were the two earliest premier grape-growing regions in California. Vines were first planted in Gilroy by Italian immigrants who settled along Hecker Pass Highway because the rich soil and warm climate reminded them of their homeland.
The nearly half-dozen wineries along the winding highway were small, family-owned operations quietly making many of the traditional red wines from Burgundy. At Live Oaks winery, wine was sold by the half-jug and tastings were offered in shot glasses.
"It was an old Italian style of making wine," said Vic Vanni, owner of Solis Winery on Hecker Pass Highway. "It wasn't super-high quality, and it was very inexpensive."
Meanwhile, Napa was exploring new grape varietals and revving up its marketing engines.
"Napa in the '80s and early '90s really took off," he said. "We were behind the curve in this area."
Gilroy's wine industry is breaking from tradition thanks to a younger generation taking over the established wineries and countering the lingering perceptions that led one wine critic to call the Hecker Pass area "Vinegar Alley."
Brothers Mike and Vic Vanni took ownership of Solis in 2007 from their parents, who operated the winery since 1989. The brothers invested in new equipment, remodeled the tasting room and added a courtyard for picnicking. Mike Vanni became the winemaker.
"We've narrowed the scope of our product line," Mike Vanni said. "We're focusing more on the high-end stuff, whereas before we had some value wines that we've done away with. Basically, we're working with only super-premium wines."
Monday, September 14, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment is a State of Mind - Sometimes
"A person is truly free, even here in this embodied state, if he knows that God is the true agent and he himself is powerless to do anything" Ramakrishna
"She's got Betty Davis eyes." Kim Carnes
http://www.examiner.com/x-2773-SF-Spiritual-Examiner~y2009m9d12-Are-you-a-Pluto-person
When I was nineteen, I was lucky to be taken by a college roommate to an astrologer who knocked my socks off. I arrived at her home filled with confusion, insecurity, and self-doubt, and left with a map of potential. It was the first experience I'd ever had of being 'seen'.
To this day I feel gratitude to her and remember much of her description. I prayed to one day be even remotely as helpful to others.
I remember her saying this was a 'short-leash' incarnation. When she saw my chart had many aspects with very tight orbs, especially to Saturn and Pluto, she knew little wiggle-room was available.
"If you do good, you'll get good." she warned. "And if you do bad....I know it sounds simplistic, but that's how it is. Your horoscope has quick karmic turnaround. Some charts choose to delay the consequences of their actions for another lifetime, they're here for a rest. Your kickback is pretty immediate. We're all on different payment plans for our actions. Just don't forget you wanted it that way. You're dealing with it now. We pick it."
I was filled with relief. Until then I didn't know why such crazy things were always happening. Like the time I slightly dinged this polished black BMW in the middle of the night that was parked in front of my dorm. "Oh the owner is so loaded, I'm not going to worry about it, " my eighteen-year old self thought.
The next morning my window had been smashed and the stereo stolen.
That kind of stuff.
Pluto people tend to have that immediacy of karma.
So, how do you know if you're Plutonic?
Well, if you could relate to that story.
But also if you're Scorpio Sun, Moon and/or Ascendant since Pluto rules that. Or if you have Pluto making strong angles to any of those points and/or Venus, Mars, or Mercury. Or If you have a bunch of planets all located in the 'House of Scorpio," number eight. (And if you have any of these, yesterday's forward motion of Pluto affects you big time).
So you could be a Pisces or Gemini who behaves like a double Scorp simply because Pluto sits on your horizon or squares your sun.
Even if you don't know your chart fully, you're also likely to be this type if you've been asked your whole life, "Why are you so intense? Can't you chill? Can't you be normal?"
Luckily Plutonic sorts usually find each other in their semi-obsessive search for depth and transformation. (Good thing because other people can find them a bit...unnerving.)
You also may be Plutonic if you don't evoke neutrality. People will tend to either love you or hate you.
Or if you have X-ray eyes that look right to the bottom of anything.
Or if you're a sensation-freak of sorts. Being ruled by the planet of death and rebirth, the goddesses Kali and Durga, Pluto people are often seeking profundity and intensity spiritually, sexually, intellectually, creatively, or just in any blessed way possible.
They also may stir up a lot of 'trouble' without even trying, including evoking other people's psychological shadows. Deciding to hold your energy in a place of compassion no matter what the reaction is invaluable.
On the lowest level, Plutonic sorts can get embroiled in petty power struggles, manipulations and resentments galore. But when that is abandoned, other options bloom. At the highest level, this drive can focus on spiritual enlightenment, awakening to one's true nature, a burning away of identification with the small self. Pluto can create a drive for transcendence from the cage of ego. Even people who wouldn't call themselves conventionally 'spiritual' may feel this pull.
So can you relate?
Are you Plutonic?
"She's got Betty Davis eyes." Kim Carnes
http://www.examiner.com/x-2773-SF-Spiritual-Examiner~y2009m9d12-Are-you-a-Pluto-person
When I was nineteen, I was lucky to be taken by a college roommate to an astrologer who knocked my socks off. I arrived at her home filled with confusion, insecurity, and self-doubt, and left with a map of potential. It was the first experience I'd ever had of being 'seen'.
To this day I feel gratitude to her and remember much of her description. I prayed to one day be even remotely as helpful to others.
I remember her saying this was a 'short-leash' incarnation. When she saw my chart had many aspects with very tight orbs, especially to Saturn and Pluto, she knew little wiggle-room was available.
"If you do good, you'll get good." she warned. "And if you do bad....I know it sounds simplistic, but that's how it is. Your horoscope has quick karmic turnaround. Some charts choose to delay the consequences of their actions for another lifetime, they're here for a rest. Your kickback is pretty immediate. We're all on different payment plans for our actions. Just don't forget you wanted it that way. You're dealing with it now. We pick it."
I was filled with relief. Until then I didn't know why such crazy things were always happening. Like the time I slightly dinged this polished black BMW in the middle of the night that was parked in front of my dorm. "Oh the owner is so loaded, I'm not going to worry about it, " my eighteen-year old self thought.
The next morning my window had been smashed and the stereo stolen.
That kind of stuff.
Pluto people tend to have that immediacy of karma.
So, how do you know if you're Plutonic?
Well, if you could relate to that story.
But also if you're Scorpio Sun, Moon and/or Ascendant since Pluto rules that. Or if you have Pluto making strong angles to any of those points and/or Venus, Mars, or Mercury. Or If you have a bunch of planets all located in the 'House of Scorpio," number eight. (And if you have any of these, yesterday's forward motion of Pluto affects you big time).
So you could be a Pisces or Gemini who behaves like a double Scorp simply because Pluto sits on your horizon or squares your sun.
Even if you don't know your chart fully, you're also likely to be this type if you've been asked your whole life, "Why are you so intense? Can't you chill? Can't you be normal?"
Luckily Plutonic sorts usually find each other in their semi-obsessive search for depth and transformation. (Good thing because other people can find them a bit...unnerving.)
You also may be Plutonic if you don't evoke neutrality. People will tend to either love you or hate you.
Or if you have X-ray eyes that look right to the bottom of anything.
Or if you're a sensation-freak of sorts. Being ruled by the planet of death and rebirth, the goddesses Kali and Durga, Pluto people are often seeking profundity and intensity spiritually, sexually, intellectually, creatively, or just in any blessed way possible.
They also may stir up a lot of 'trouble' without even trying, including evoking other people's psychological shadows. Deciding to hold your energy in a place of compassion no matter what the reaction is invaluable.
On the lowest level, Plutonic sorts can get embroiled in petty power struggles, manipulations and resentments galore. But when that is abandoned, other options bloom. At the highest level, this drive can focus on spiritual enlightenment, awakening to one's true nature, a burning away of identification with the small self. Pluto can create a drive for transcendence from the cage of ego. Even people who wouldn't call themselves conventionally 'spiritual' may feel this pull.
So can you relate?
Are you Plutonic?
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment in the Holy Land
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2009/September/theuae_September241.xml§ion=theuae
Silvia Radan
12 September 2009,
ABU DHABI — Wasel Safwan drove smoothly as he led the way to Al Jimi Mall in Al Ain.
Once there, he picked a table at one of the closed cafes and opened his laptop.
“I need to look back at the pictures to overcome my feelings and get the flow of events right,” he explained.
Wasel is one of UAE’s most prominent artists, but our meeting is not about his latest art creation, but his first experience of Umrah.
“Long time ago, when I was a child, I did go with my father to Makkah, but back then I was busier getting his attention rather than paying attention. So this time was my first proper spiritual experience of the holy land,” stated Wasel.
About 70 per cent of the Muslim population in Makkah is non-Arab.
Dr Deen, Wasel’s neighbour in Al Ain, is a British citizen.
Wasel and Dr Deen decided to go to Makkah together, at the beginning of Ramadan, where they were also joined by Dr Deen’s parents, coming from England.
Umrah (meaning to visit a populated place) is a pilgrimage to Makkah that can be performed at any time of year, although many Muslims prefer it during Ramadan.
Unlike Haj, which has to be undertaken at least once in a lifetime, Umrah is not compulsory, but it is highly recommended.
It all starts with declaring your intention to perform Umrah.
“When I decide to do it, I have to take a good shower first, shave, use the best perfume because once I start I can’t do any of these things. I can’t do anything, in fact, not even kill an insect – if I do, my Umrah would be cancelled”, said Wasel.
Like most pilgrims, he declared his intention in the aircraft, while flying towards Jeddah.
“The holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) put several stations, called Miqat, around Makkah, which are like borders for travellers coming from different directions. Once you reach one of these stations you can no longer declare your intention of Umrah – it has to be done before” Wasel said
‘‘So 15 minutes before, the pilot announces that we are going to fly over the Miqat, and all the men in the aircraft start to change into their ‘ihram’, if they are not already wearing it. This is a two-piece white seamless garment that covers the upper and lower body. It makes us all equal, rich or poor from any nationality or from any part of the world.Then they make their intentions by shouting Allahu Akbar – God is great or Oh God, I’m all here for you! Imagine an airplane full of people all doing this,” described Wasel.
These declarations have to be made constantly, in loud voice, until Kaaba is in sight.
“When I told my father I want to start Umrah from here he told me ‘No, go there and do it! What would people say when they see you on the street,” he remembered laughingly.
As his story gets closer to Makkah and the emotions he experienced there, his eyes started shining and his hands trembled.
“There it is totally different. I couldn’t find that feeling in any other mosque in my life. If I talk from here until tomorrow and make it in beautiful words and poems, you cannot feel it physically, until you are there,” he said.
The next ritual of Umrah is the Tawaf of Kaaba – the circling of Kaaba seven times in counter clockwise direction, meant to symbolise the Tawaf that runs in the Seventh Heaven, where the Arsh, Allah’s throne, is situated and where angels continuously fly around it.
“Entering Kaaba is like entering any mosque, which is with your right foot first and saying: ‘In the name of Allah, blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. O Allah, forgive me my sins and open to me the gates of Your mercy. I seek refuge with Allah the Almighty and in His noble Countenance and His eternal power from the accursed Satan’,”explained Wasel.
When doing the Tawaf — the first three circuits have to be rushed and the following four at a leisurely walk — the praying can be for anything and anyone.
“Only when I reach the Yemeni corner, which is before the black stone, there is one verse I should say: ‘Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire’.”
According to Islamic belief, Kaaba was the house of Adam, later on rebuilt by Ibrahim (or Abraham). The foundation of the building is still believed to be have been laid by Ibrahim, but the walls have been reconstructed.
The door of Kaaba is locked and the key is still kept by the descendants of the same family who owned it in the times of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Since the Holy Prophet allowed the family to keep the key, nobody ever dared to make a claim on it.
The four corners of Kaaba roughly face the Black Stone. In the eastern corner is the Rukn-ul-Aswad, believed by Muslims to be a piece of star fallen from Heaven, initially white, but turned black in time by the sins of people. Scientists agree that the composition is that of a meteor.
“The Black Stone is shiny and it smells of perfume. It is inside the wall and surrounded by stainless steel to protect it. When we circle around it we must touch it and kiss it. In Islam, though, we believe it is not good to push people, so those who are too far from it must just raise their right hand and say God is Great,” adds Wasel, who did just that, as he was too far away from the Black Stone.
After the evening prayers, during which everyone has to interrupt the Tawaf, people run to the walls of Kaaba, trying to touch it with their hands and body. Wasel had the fortune of reaching the Clinging Multazem, a spot between the Black Stone and the door of Kaaba, where he placed his chest, face, forearms and hands, praying for that he wished most.
“Some people were crying. Some were praying in Arabic, others in their own language. They were asking for success in life, for forgiveness. I too wished for success – everybody needs that. But I also prayed for my family and friends; I tried as much as I could to remember names,” he says.
And then a miracle started. A gentle breeze cooled his neck and as he looked up, Wasel saw clouds gathering, quickly followed by thunder, lightning and finally rain.
“In Islam it is said that when it rains, make prayers because rain is a blessing. So imagine the two together – you are there, in Makkah, and it rains! The crowd became one body – all crying Allahu Akbar and all hands were up in the sky. And the more they cried, the more it rained. It was like an answer – you call for more, you get more,” described Wasel. Umrah can be performed in less than two hours. After the Tawaf of Kaaba, prayers must be made at the “feet of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH,)” a stone on which the Holy Prophet used to stand on and where his footprints were embed, is still visible today. The next step is Zamzam, the water with healing properties, said to cure even cancer, and which never ends.
“How many have drank from it, not from the days of Prophet Mohammed, but from the days of Prophet Ibrahim, and the quantity has always stayed the same”, Wasel said.
After drinking as much as he could, he also got 10 litres to bring home with him. Zamzam is the only item that regional airlines carry for free, without charging passengers for its weight.
Although the water is not commercialised, at Makkah it is possible to buy it, in order to avoid the very long queues.
“You cannot be cheated because you can taste it. And Zamzam doesn’t taste of water – it tastes of Zamzam,” Wasel said.
The last ritual of Umrah is the Sa’i (the Run) between the Safa and Marwah mountains, about 450 metres apart. This is the place where Hajar, wife of Ibrahim, and their son Ismail, were left alone. In desperation to find water for her son, she ran between the mountains, asking God for help.
It was then that Zamzam sprang to the surface, right next to where Ismail was sitting.
Again, the run between the two mountains has to be done seven times.
“Now it is different. You don’t get the real feeling as Hajar did, when she ran in the heat, all alone. The area is now covered and it has air conditioning, so if you feel tired now, then how was it for Hajar?” Wasel asked.
Finally, when everything is done, the men have to shave their head or cut the hair on their entire body.
There are plenty of barbers around and they make sure you notice them by calling you. No matter how long your hair, the whole process is quick and cheap – Dh 1 for a head shave, done with a blade in a couple of minutes.
“I just sat down and I wanted to ask him how is he going to do it, but in less then two minutes he finished. Like ha! My hair! It’s gone! No talk, no tea, no getting relaxed,” Wasel remembered, amused by the experience. The next day, he, Dr Deen and his parents embarked on a new spiritual adventure, this time to Madinah, which left a different, but equally deep impact on his soul.
silvia@khaleejtimes.com
Silvia Radan
12 September 2009,
ABU DHABI — Wasel Safwan drove smoothly as he led the way to Al Jimi Mall in Al Ain.
Once there, he picked a table at one of the closed cafes and opened his laptop.
“I need to look back at the pictures to overcome my feelings and get the flow of events right,” he explained.
Wasel is one of UAE’s most prominent artists, but our meeting is not about his latest art creation, but his first experience of Umrah.
“Long time ago, when I was a child, I did go with my father to Makkah, but back then I was busier getting his attention rather than paying attention. So this time was my first proper spiritual experience of the holy land,” stated Wasel.
About 70 per cent of the Muslim population in Makkah is non-Arab.
Dr Deen, Wasel’s neighbour in Al Ain, is a British citizen.
Wasel and Dr Deen decided to go to Makkah together, at the beginning of Ramadan, where they were also joined by Dr Deen’s parents, coming from England.
Umrah (meaning to visit a populated place) is a pilgrimage to Makkah that can be performed at any time of year, although many Muslims prefer it during Ramadan.
Unlike Haj, which has to be undertaken at least once in a lifetime, Umrah is not compulsory, but it is highly recommended.
It all starts with declaring your intention to perform Umrah.
“When I decide to do it, I have to take a good shower first, shave, use the best perfume because once I start I can’t do any of these things. I can’t do anything, in fact, not even kill an insect – if I do, my Umrah would be cancelled”, said Wasel.
Like most pilgrims, he declared his intention in the aircraft, while flying towards Jeddah.
“The holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) put several stations, called Miqat, around Makkah, which are like borders for travellers coming from different directions. Once you reach one of these stations you can no longer declare your intention of Umrah – it has to be done before” Wasel said
‘‘So 15 minutes before, the pilot announces that we are going to fly over the Miqat, and all the men in the aircraft start to change into their ‘ihram’, if they are not already wearing it. This is a two-piece white seamless garment that covers the upper and lower body. It makes us all equal, rich or poor from any nationality or from any part of the world.Then they make their intentions by shouting Allahu Akbar – God is great or Oh God, I’m all here for you! Imagine an airplane full of people all doing this,” described Wasel.
These declarations have to be made constantly, in loud voice, until Kaaba is in sight.
“When I told my father I want to start Umrah from here he told me ‘No, go there and do it! What would people say when they see you on the street,” he remembered laughingly.
As his story gets closer to Makkah and the emotions he experienced there, his eyes started shining and his hands trembled.
“There it is totally different. I couldn’t find that feeling in any other mosque in my life. If I talk from here until tomorrow and make it in beautiful words and poems, you cannot feel it physically, until you are there,” he said.
The next ritual of Umrah is the Tawaf of Kaaba – the circling of Kaaba seven times in counter clockwise direction, meant to symbolise the Tawaf that runs in the Seventh Heaven, where the Arsh, Allah’s throne, is situated and where angels continuously fly around it.
“Entering Kaaba is like entering any mosque, which is with your right foot first and saying: ‘In the name of Allah, blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. O Allah, forgive me my sins and open to me the gates of Your mercy. I seek refuge with Allah the Almighty and in His noble Countenance and His eternal power from the accursed Satan’,”explained Wasel.
When doing the Tawaf — the first three circuits have to be rushed and the following four at a leisurely walk — the praying can be for anything and anyone.
“Only when I reach the Yemeni corner, which is before the black stone, there is one verse I should say: ‘Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire’.”
According to Islamic belief, Kaaba was the house of Adam, later on rebuilt by Ibrahim (or Abraham). The foundation of the building is still believed to be have been laid by Ibrahim, but the walls have been reconstructed.
The door of Kaaba is locked and the key is still kept by the descendants of the same family who owned it in the times of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Since the Holy Prophet allowed the family to keep the key, nobody ever dared to make a claim on it.
The four corners of Kaaba roughly face the Black Stone. In the eastern corner is the Rukn-ul-Aswad, believed by Muslims to be a piece of star fallen from Heaven, initially white, but turned black in time by the sins of people. Scientists agree that the composition is that of a meteor.
“The Black Stone is shiny and it smells of perfume. It is inside the wall and surrounded by stainless steel to protect it. When we circle around it we must touch it and kiss it. In Islam, though, we believe it is not good to push people, so those who are too far from it must just raise their right hand and say God is Great,” adds Wasel, who did just that, as he was too far away from the Black Stone.
After the evening prayers, during which everyone has to interrupt the Tawaf, people run to the walls of Kaaba, trying to touch it with their hands and body. Wasel had the fortune of reaching the Clinging Multazem, a spot between the Black Stone and the door of Kaaba, where he placed his chest, face, forearms and hands, praying for that he wished most.
“Some people were crying. Some were praying in Arabic, others in their own language. They were asking for success in life, for forgiveness. I too wished for success – everybody needs that. But I also prayed for my family and friends; I tried as much as I could to remember names,” he says.
And then a miracle started. A gentle breeze cooled his neck and as he looked up, Wasel saw clouds gathering, quickly followed by thunder, lightning and finally rain.
“In Islam it is said that when it rains, make prayers because rain is a blessing. So imagine the two together – you are there, in Makkah, and it rains! The crowd became one body – all crying Allahu Akbar and all hands were up in the sky. And the more they cried, the more it rained. It was like an answer – you call for more, you get more,” described Wasel. Umrah can be performed in less than two hours. After the Tawaf of Kaaba, prayers must be made at the “feet of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH,)” a stone on which the Holy Prophet used to stand on and where his footprints were embed, is still visible today. The next step is Zamzam, the water with healing properties, said to cure even cancer, and which never ends.
“How many have drank from it, not from the days of Prophet Mohammed, but from the days of Prophet Ibrahim, and the quantity has always stayed the same”, Wasel said.
After drinking as much as he could, he also got 10 litres to bring home with him. Zamzam is the only item that regional airlines carry for free, without charging passengers for its weight.
Although the water is not commercialised, at Makkah it is possible to buy it, in order to avoid the very long queues.
“You cannot be cheated because you can taste it. And Zamzam doesn’t taste of water – it tastes of Zamzam,” Wasel said.
The last ritual of Umrah is the Sa’i (the Run) between the Safa and Marwah mountains, about 450 metres apart. This is the place where Hajar, wife of Ibrahim, and their son Ismail, were left alone. In desperation to find water for her son, she ran between the mountains, asking God for help.
It was then that Zamzam sprang to the surface, right next to where Ismail was sitting.
Again, the run between the two mountains has to be done seven times.
“Now it is different. You don’t get the real feeling as Hajar did, when she ran in the heat, all alone. The area is now covered and it has air conditioning, so if you feel tired now, then how was it for Hajar?” Wasel asked.
Finally, when everything is done, the men have to shave their head or cut the hair on their entire body.
There are plenty of barbers around and they make sure you notice them by calling you. No matter how long your hair, the whole process is quick and cheap – Dh 1 for a head shave, done with a blade in a couple of minutes.
“I just sat down and I wanted to ask him how is he going to do it, but in less then two minutes he finished. Like ha! My hair! It’s gone! No talk, no tea, no getting relaxed,” Wasel remembered, amused by the experience. The next day, he, Dr Deen and his parents embarked on a new spiritual adventure, this time to Madinah, which left a different, but equally deep impact on his soul.
silvia@khaleejtimes.com
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment Through Japan's Zen Gardens
Toby Musgrave visits six of the finest classical gardens in the ancient capital of Kyoto.
The gardens of Japan have fascinated Westerners since the 1854 Treaty of Kamagawa opened the country and they first came to the attention of the garden-making cognoscenti. Imitations are now commonplace but they cannot be anything more than that - this is an exquisite art form that needs to be experienced in context.
Only in Japan will you find those existential elements - climatic, luminance, topographical, architectural, cultural, psychological and agedness - that are as intrinsic to the garden as its physical form. Japanese gardens draw heavily on the country's natural landscapes, literature and elements of religion and philosophy.
The country's garden capital is Kyoto and this seat of the imperial court from 794 until 1868 (when the capital was transferred to Edo, now Tokyo) is still home to more than 60 gardens.
Spring is often trumpeted as the time to visit Japan to enjoy the shows of cherry blossom. This is a wonderful experience but can be difficult to time correctly; just a day or two differentiates success from failure. More forgiving, and arguably no less spectacular, is the show of autumn colour. In mid-November the foliage of Japanese maples sets the gardens aflame with vivid reds, oranges and yellows.
KATSURA IMPERIAL VILLA (KATSURA RIKYU)
The Katsura Imperial Villa is considered to be one of the finest examples of Japanese architecture in existence. It was built for Prince Toshihito, brother of Emperor Goyozei, and was completed in 1645 by his son Toshitada. Covering some seven hectares and the first of its type, the stroll garden became the archetype for such landscapes throughout the Edo period (1603-1868). In contrast to the Zen style of viewing gardens, stroll gardens are entered and progress is made along a prescribed route by means of gravel paths, stepping stones and bridges, with an expanse of water always to the viewer's right and garden buildings carefully positioned along the route.
Onward movement creates a succession of opened and closed vistas of an idealised natural landscape of rock and lakes, lanterns and fences, hedges, shrubs, trees, rustic buildings and teahouses. The positioning of all the elements prevents the whole garden being visible at once and keeps the eye constantly stimulated. The garden is also filled with literary images, in particular, from The Tale of Genji.
Open daily but only on booked tours. Entry is free. Visitors must be over 18 and carry their passports. Permission must be obtained at least four days in advance from the Imperial Household Agency next to Kyoto Imperial Palace. See sankan.kunaicho.go.jp/sankan/servlet/recept/initPlace.
RYOAN-JI
The grounds of Ryoan-ji, originally the estate of a nobleman of the Heian period, became a temple of the Myoshinji school of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism in the mid-1470s. The buildings were burned down during the Onin War (1467-1477) and rebuilt at the end of the century. The rectangular garden (10 metres wide by 25 metres long) in front of the abbot's residence (hojo) is an arrangement of 15 rocks set in a bed of carefully raked, coarse white granite gravel that symbolises landscape and water. This supreme example of the kare-sansui or dry garden style (there are no plants except the moss at the foot of the rocks) is believed to date from about 1499, although the designer remains unknown.
The garden was used by the monks as a ''meditative tool'' and because its true meaning was a personal, mental one achieved through disciplined study, there can be no all-encompassing meaning for the arrangement of the rocks. Their arrangement is such that from whatever viewing point is taken, only 14 are visible. It was believed that when spiritual enlightenment is attained the 15th rock will become visible.
Open daily, March-November, 8.30am-5pm; December-February, 8.30am-4.30pm. Entry cosdts ¥500 ($6.20).
GOLDEN PAVILION (KINKAKU-JI)
The garden of the Golden Pavilion dates from about 1395, when the three-storey building was erected by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as part of his retirement villa and garden complex. The whole was influenced by the artistry of the Chinese Song dynasty and it was Yoshimitsu's son who converted the pavilion into a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect. The temple has been burnt down several times, most recently in 1950. The current structure is the first to be gilded.
The pavilion is the focal point of the 1.8-hectare landscape and enjoys prime position on the edge of the mirror pond, whose stillness produces perfect reflections. The scale of the scatter of small islands, enhanced by shaped pine trees and arrangements of rare Hatakeyama rocks, together with the pond's sinuous outline are designed to emphasise the pavilion, while creating the illusion that the garden is larger than it is. The garden ascends the steep hillside behind the pavilion to the tranquillity pond and the Sekkatei Teahouse and when viewed from across the mirror pond, the perspective ingeniously makes full use of distant Mount Kinugasa. Also worth a visit is the garden of Ninna-ji, a 15-minute walk down the hill.
Open daily, 9.30am-5pm. Entry costs ¥600.
SILVER PAVILION (GINKAKU-JI)
On the foothills of Daimonjiyama, this Zen temple complex began life as a retirement villa - in this case for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (grandson of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu). It was converted after his death in 1490.
The garden has a particularly complex series of ''wet and dry'' contrasts, whose juxtaposition creates a harmonious balance. Put into a Zen context, the opposites are not so much differentiated as considered elements of the same whole. The pavilion overlooks a picturesque landscape of pond, rocks and plants, designed to be seen from multiple viewpoints, while in the front are two sculpted mounds of sand. At the start of the Edo period, the Sea of Silver Sand was added. In the moonlight it looks as its name suggests, while the truncated cone of the moon-viewing heights implies lofty peaks - possibly even Mount Fuji.
From its formal approach along a path flanked by stone walls and tall clipped hedges of camellia, through the second gate and into a less formal court and finally entering the garden itself, Ginkaku-ji provides an excellent example of shin-gyo-so; or progression from formal to semi-formal and, finally, informal. The Silver Pavilion is at the northern end of the Philosopher's Path, a stroll by a stream that also passes a number of temple gardens.
Open daily, 8.30am-5pm; December-mid-March, 9.30am-4.30pm. Entry costs ¥500.
KONCHI-IN
A sub-temple of the Nanzenji-in complex, which nestles at the foot of the city's Higashiyama or eastern hills, Konchi-in is famous for its Tsurukame garden. Made between 1611 and 1632, it is one of few gardens unequivocally attributable to the renowned designer Kobori Enshu. The horizontal foreground of the dry garden contrasts with the verdant verticals beyond. A cluster of stones evoking the mountain islands of Horai (the home of Daoist immortals) harmonises with the heavily planted natural slope and two rock formations, suggesting the crane (tsuru) and the turtle (kame) - symbols of longevity, beauty and eternal youth - which give the garden its name.
To the east is the recent addition of the Benten Ike, a pool in the shape of the Japanese character for spirit or heart (kokoro). Surrounded by plants growing in a sea of moss, this has echoes of a mini stroll garden.
Open daily, 8am-5pm; December-mid March, 9.30am-4.30pm. Entry costs ¥400.
DAITOKU-JI
The Daitoku-ji was established in 1319 by Shohomyocho as the head temple of the Rinzai sect and one of the largest precincts in Kyoto. Surrounding the main temple are 24 sub-temples. Many of the original buildings were destroyed during the Onin War and most now date from the early Edo period. However, the concentration of high-quality art, architecture and gardens makes this a great Japanese garden experience. Among them, Ryogen-in (1502) has five gardens of differing sizes, including both the complex's oldest (Ryugin-tei) and Japan's smallest (Totekiko). With its crane-and-tortoise imagery, the large dry garden (Isshidan) was created in the 1980s and provides an interesting modern take on an ancient tradition.
Zuiho-in (1546) is noted for its natural simplicity. It has an interesting Garden of the Cross, which was designed by Mirei Shigemori in the 1960s.
Daisen-in (1509) has an exquisitely small rock garden (3.6 metres wide by 14 metres long) which was laid out by the temple founder, Kogaku Shuko, in about 1513. Sadly, photography is prohibited.
Open daily, 9am-4.30pm. Entry costs ¥400-¥600.
FAST FACTS
Getting there
From Tokyo Central, take the bullet train, or Shinkansen, to Kyoto, 513 kilometres away. The Nozomi train takes about 21/2 hours; the cheaper Hikari and Kodama trains take at least 25 minutes longer.
Staying there
Kyoto's hotels are fully booked in mid-November, so make reservations well ahead. There are many Western-standard hotels. Less expensive but with no-frills service and tiny rooms are business hotels. Or try one of the reasonably priced Japanese inns, or ryokan.
Visitors' tip
In autumn, the most famous gardens - in particular, the Silver and Golden Pavilions and Ryoan-ji - become very crowded. Aim to visit on a weekday and arrive at opening time. At weekends, visit some of the less well-known ones.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
The gardens of Japan have fascinated Westerners since the 1854 Treaty of Kamagawa opened the country and they first came to the attention of the garden-making cognoscenti. Imitations are now commonplace but they cannot be anything more than that - this is an exquisite art form that needs to be experienced in context.
Only in Japan will you find those existential elements - climatic, luminance, topographical, architectural, cultural, psychological and agedness - that are as intrinsic to the garden as its physical form. Japanese gardens draw heavily on the country's natural landscapes, literature and elements of religion and philosophy.
The country's garden capital is Kyoto and this seat of the imperial court from 794 until 1868 (when the capital was transferred to Edo, now Tokyo) is still home to more than 60 gardens.
Spring is often trumpeted as the time to visit Japan to enjoy the shows of cherry blossom. This is a wonderful experience but can be difficult to time correctly; just a day or two differentiates success from failure. More forgiving, and arguably no less spectacular, is the show of autumn colour. In mid-November the foliage of Japanese maples sets the gardens aflame with vivid reds, oranges and yellows.
KATSURA IMPERIAL VILLA (KATSURA RIKYU)
The Katsura Imperial Villa is considered to be one of the finest examples of Japanese architecture in existence. It was built for Prince Toshihito, brother of Emperor Goyozei, and was completed in 1645 by his son Toshitada. Covering some seven hectares and the first of its type, the stroll garden became the archetype for such landscapes throughout the Edo period (1603-1868). In contrast to the Zen style of viewing gardens, stroll gardens are entered and progress is made along a prescribed route by means of gravel paths, stepping stones and bridges, with an expanse of water always to the viewer's right and garden buildings carefully positioned along the route.
Onward movement creates a succession of opened and closed vistas of an idealised natural landscape of rock and lakes, lanterns and fences, hedges, shrubs, trees, rustic buildings and teahouses. The positioning of all the elements prevents the whole garden being visible at once and keeps the eye constantly stimulated. The garden is also filled with literary images, in particular, from The Tale of Genji.
Open daily but only on booked tours. Entry is free. Visitors must be over 18 and carry their passports. Permission must be obtained at least four days in advance from the Imperial Household Agency next to Kyoto Imperial Palace. See sankan.kunaicho.go.jp/sankan/servlet/recept/initPlace.
RYOAN-JI
The grounds of Ryoan-ji, originally the estate of a nobleman of the Heian period, became a temple of the Myoshinji school of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism in the mid-1470s. The buildings were burned down during the Onin War (1467-1477) and rebuilt at the end of the century. The rectangular garden (10 metres wide by 25 metres long) in front of the abbot's residence (hojo) is an arrangement of 15 rocks set in a bed of carefully raked, coarse white granite gravel that symbolises landscape and water. This supreme example of the kare-sansui or dry garden style (there are no plants except the moss at the foot of the rocks) is believed to date from about 1499, although the designer remains unknown.
The garden was used by the monks as a ''meditative tool'' and because its true meaning was a personal, mental one achieved through disciplined study, there can be no all-encompassing meaning for the arrangement of the rocks. Their arrangement is such that from whatever viewing point is taken, only 14 are visible. It was believed that when spiritual enlightenment is attained the 15th rock will become visible.
Open daily, March-November, 8.30am-5pm; December-February, 8.30am-4.30pm. Entry cosdts ¥500 ($6.20).
GOLDEN PAVILION (KINKAKU-JI)
The garden of the Golden Pavilion dates from about 1395, when the three-storey building was erected by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as part of his retirement villa and garden complex. The whole was influenced by the artistry of the Chinese Song dynasty and it was Yoshimitsu's son who converted the pavilion into a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect. The temple has been burnt down several times, most recently in 1950. The current structure is the first to be gilded.
The pavilion is the focal point of the 1.8-hectare landscape and enjoys prime position on the edge of the mirror pond, whose stillness produces perfect reflections. The scale of the scatter of small islands, enhanced by shaped pine trees and arrangements of rare Hatakeyama rocks, together with the pond's sinuous outline are designed to emphasise the pavilion, while creating the illusion that the garden is larger than it is. The garden ascends the steep hillside behind the pavilion to the tranquillity pond and the Sekkatei Teahouse and when viewed from across the mirror pond, the perspective ingeniously makes full use of distant Mount Kinugasa. Also worth a visit is the garden of Ninna-ji, a 15-minute walk down the hill.
Open daily, 9.30am-5pm. Entry costs ¥600.
SILVER PAVILION (GINKAKU-JI)
On the foothills of Daimonjiyama, this Zen temple complex began life as a retirement villa - in this case for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (grandson of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu). It was converted after his death in 1490.
The garden has a particularly complex series of ''wet and dry'' contrasts, whose juxtaposition creates a harmonious balance. Put into a Zen context, the opposites are not so much differentiated as considered elements of the same whole. The pavilion overlooks a picturesque landscape of pond, rocks and plants, designed to be seen from multiple viewpoints, while in the front are two sculpted mounds of sand. At the start of the Edo period, the Sea of Silver Sand was added. In the moonlight it looks as its name suggests, while the truncated cone of the moon-viewing heights implies lofty peaks - possibly even Mount Fuji.
From its formal approach along a path flanked by stone walls and tall clipped hedges of camellia, through the second gate and into a less formal court and finally entering the garden itself, Ginkaku-ji provides an excellent example of shin-gyo-so; or progression from formal to semi-formal and, finally, informal. The Silver Pavilion is at the northern end of the Philosopher's Path, a stroll by a stream that also passes a number of temple gardens.
Open daily, 8.30am-5pm; December-mid-March, 9.30am-4.30pm. Entry costs ¥500.
KONCHI-IN
A sub-temple of the Nanzenji-in complex, which nestles at the foot of the city's Higashiyama or eastern hills, Konchi-in is famous for its Tsurukame garden. Made between 1611 and 1632, it is one of few gardens unequivocally attributable to the renowned designer Kobori Enshu. The horizontal foreground of the dry garden contrasts with the verdant verticals beyond. A cluster of stones evoking the mountain islands of Horai (the home of Daoist immortals) harmonises with the heavily planted natural slope and two rock formations, suggesting the crane (tsuru) and the turtle (kame) - symbols of longevity, beauty and eternal youth - which give the garden its name.
To the east is the recent addition of the Benten Ike, a pool in the shape of the Japanese character for spirit or heart (kokoro). Surrounded by plants growing in a sea of moss, this has echoes of a mini stroll garden.
Open daily, 8am-5pm; December-mid March, 9.30am-4.30pm. Entry costs ¥400.
DAITOKU-JI
The Daitoku-ji was established in 1319 by Shohomyocho as the head temple of the Rinzai sect and one of the largest precincts in Kyoto. Surrounding the main temple are 24 sub-temples. Many of the original buildings were destroyed during the Onin War and most now date from the early Edo period. However, the concentration of high-quality art, architecture and gardens makes this a great Japanese garden experience. Among them, Ryogen-in (1502) has five gardens of differing sizes, including both the complex's oldest (Ryugin-tei) and Japan's smallest (Totekiko). With its crane-and-tortoise imagery, the large dry garden (Isshidan) was created in the 1980s and provides an interesting modern take on an ancient tradition.
Zuiho-in (1546) is noted for its natural simplicity. It has an interesting Garden of the Cross, which was designed by Mirei Shigemori in the 1960s.
Daisen-in (1509) has an exquisitely small rock garden (3.6 metres wide by 14 metres long) which was laid out by the temple founder, Kogaku Shuko, in about 1513. Sadly, photography is prohibited.
Open daily, 9am-4.30pm. Entry costs ¥400-¥600.
FAST FACTS
Getting there
From Tokyo Central, take the bullet train, or Shinkansen, to Kyoto, 513 kilometres away. The Nozomi train takes about 21/2 hours; the cheaper Hikari and Kodama trains take at least 25 minutes longer.
Staying there
Kyoto's hotels are fully booked in mid-November, so make reservations well ahead. There are many Western-standard hotels. Less expensive but with no-frills service and tiny rooms are business hotels. Or try one of the reasonably priced Japanese inns, or ryokan.
Visitors' tip
In autumn, the most famous gardens - in particular, the Silver and Golden Pavilions and Ryoan-ji - become very crowded. Aim to visit on a weekday and arrive at opening time. At weekends, visit some of the less well-known ones.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
Spiritual Enlightenment Upon the Sea
Jill Rowbotham | September 09, 2009
Article from: The Australian
KELSIE Dadd's chuckle is relayed via satellite from the JOIDES Resolution, in the Bering Sea.
"It's great to be away from all that administrative work," Macquarie University's head of earth and planetary sciences says. It would be difficult to be further distant, given she is somewhere in the high 50 degrees latitude and 170 degrees longitude, not far from the date line.
Dadd, a geologist, is on a two-month voyage on the 143m research vessel, which was formerly used for oil exploration.
It sailed from Victoria, in Canada, with more than 40 other scientists on board. Their mission is to drill cores from the ocean floor, examine them in ship-based laboratories and transport them safely to labs ashore.
"One of the main aims of the cruise is to generate more information to try to understand the climate history of the last five million years," Dadd says.
The voyage is part of the International Ocean Drilling Program, which takes samples from the seafloor across the world in a bid to advance understanding of the earth's history, including its ocean currents, climate, plate tectonics, evolution and extinction of marine life and mineral deposits.
A collaboration between universities and research institutes, and based at the Texas A&M University in Houston, the IODP keeps the JOIDES Resolution on the water year-round. Australia is allocated six positions annually, for which scientists must apply.
Dadd's specialty is vulcanism, so this trip suits her perfectly: she is focusing on the volcanic Aleutian archipelago that stretches 1800km west from the Alaskan coast. It is the southernmost limit and cradle of the Bering Sea.
She wants to establish if the varying amounts of volcanic ash of different compositions in the core samples can be linked to rapid climate change in the past.
While Dadd is not suggesting ancient eruptions in the Aleutians were main contributing factors to climate, she notes that "ash and especially sulphur dioxide gets into the atmosphere and blocks the in-coming sun", which has short-term effects.
Recent eruptions have famously altered climate, albeit briefly. When The Philippines' Mt Pinatubo erupted in 1991, it was followed by a 0.5 degree drop in temperature and the 1815 eruption of Mt Tambora in Indonesia was followed by what was known as "the year without a summer".
The scientists are particularly interested in what the extracted material will reveal about the 40,000-year cycles of glacial and interglacial periods in the north Pacific and globally.
"When there is a glacial period, sea level is much lower than in the interglacial period because the water turns to ice, and in those times much of the Bering Sea was land," Dadd says.
The holes drilled so far already number more than two dozen and include one taken in water 3000m deep, drilled to a depth of 700m into the seabed.
The cores will stay at Kochi, Japan, after the ship docks at Yokohama, and Dadd will make another trip to Kochi to study them in November or December.
Article from: The Australian
KELSIE Dadd's chuckle is relayed via satellite from the JOIDES Resolution, in the Bering Sea.
"It's great to be away from all that administrative work," Macquarie University's head of earth and planetary sciences says. It would be difficult to be further distant, given she is somewhere in the high 50 degrees latitude and 170 degrees longitude, not far from the date line.
Dadd, a geologist, is on a two-month voyage on the 143m research vessel, which was formerly used for oil exploration.
It sailed from Victoria, in Canada, with more than 40 other scientists on board. Their mission is to drill cores from the ocean floor, examine them in ship-based laboratories and transport them safely to labs ashore.
"One of the main aims of the cruise is to generate more information to try to understand the climate history of the last five million years," Dadd says.
The voyage is part of the International Ocean Drilling Program, which takes samples from the seafloor across the world in a bid to advance understanding of the earth's history, including its ocean currents, climate, plate tectonics, evolution and extinction of marine life and mineral deposits.
A collaboration between universities and research institutes, and based at the Texas A&M University in Houston, the IODP keeps the JOIDES Resolution on the water year-round. Australia is allocated six positions annually, for which scientists must apply.
Dadd's specialty is vulcanism, so this trip suits her perfectly: she is focusing on the volcanic Aleutian archipelago that stretches 1800km west from the Alaskan coast. It is the southernmost limit and cradle of the Bering Sea.
She wants to establish if the varying amounts of volcanic ash of different compositions in the core samples can be linked to rapid climate change in the past.
While Dadd is not suggesting ancient eruptions in the Aleutians were main contributing factors to climate, she notes that "ash and especially sulphur dioxide gets into the atmosphere and blocks the in-coming sun", which has short-term effects.
Recent eruptions have famously altered climate, albeit briefly. When The Philippines' Mt Pinatubo erupted in 1991, it was followed by a 0.5 degree drop in temperature and the 1815 eruption of Mt Tambora in Indonesia was followed by what was known as "the year without a summer".
The scientists are particularly interested in what the extracted material will reveal about the 40,000-year cycles of glacial and interglacial periods in the north Pacific and globally.
"When there is a glacial period, sea level is much lower than in the interglacial period because the water turns to ice, and in those times much of the Bering Sea was land," Dadd says.
The holes drilled so far already number more than two dozen and include one taken in water 3000m deep, drilled to a depth of 700m into the seabed.
The cores will stay at Kochi, Japan, after the ship docks at Yokohama, and Dadd will make another trip to Kochi to study them in November or December.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment Found in Canada
By Alex Strachan, Canwest News ServiceSeptember 7, 2009
http://www.canada.com/Fine+Tuning+Monday+Sept/1969338/story.html
Labour Day is often a day for taking stock of the good things in life, but in the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, taking stock of life - in a good way - has become a national passion. At least, that's the pleasing picture presented by the VisionTV documentary Developing Happiness.
Developing Happiness, from Montreal filmmakers Tanya Ballantyne Tree and Josephine Mackay, makes its Canadian TV debut today, on a day when many people are thinking of the work year, and school year, to come.
The ideas in Developing Happiness may strike some as so much crackpot thinking, but others may be apt to find it food for the soul. Either way, the program offers a refreshing change in tone from the usual reality-TV message of outwit, outplay and outlast.
According to Developing Happiness, the Bhutanese believe a society's true value is measured by its GNH, or Gross National Happiness. Bhutan's government applies the philosophy to almost everything it does. Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigme Thinley has said things like, ``Happiness is complete well-being . . . being content with what is and with what one has.''
While that may sound like the underpinnings of a national cult - there's that homegrown Western cynicism again - as Ballantyne Tree and Mackay's program shows, some Western economists and environmentalists are growing increasingly interested in the idea that ``the pursuit of happiness'' as a national ideal can actually lead to tangible results, both economic and social. People who are spiritually happy are certainly less hard on the environment than people who are consumed by the drive to get ahead.
Developing Happiness is not the first program to document Bhutan's live-and- let-live life philosophy. Earlier this year, Michael J. Fox, still wrestling with the effects of Parkinson's disease, journeyed to Bhutan for a spiritual balm in his heartwarming ABC documentary Adventures of an Incurable Optimist.
Developing Happiness shares Fox's sense of incurable optimism.
You don't have to buy into the concept of spiritual enlightenment to enjoy the program: A live, beating heart and a curiosity about the world will do. Recommended. (VisionTV, 10 ET/7 PT)
Three to see
* The Aussie cult soap McLeod's Daughters returns for its final episodes, starting tonight, giving fans a chance to prepare a fond farewell for favourite characters like Stevie (Simmone Jade Mackinnon) and Grace (Abi Tucker). McLeod's Daughters is more than Wild Roses for the Outback set: This relationship saga about strong-willed women taming the Australian ranch lands was one of that country's longest-running, most-watched dramas. (VisionTV, 9 ET/ 6 PT)
* PBS's entertaining History Detectives, a kind of Antiques Roadshow meets CSI, calls it a season with tonight's outing, in which the show's resident sleuths examine a penny stamp's connection to the landmark Scottsboro Boys civil rights case in 1931; determine whether an accidentally discovered box of sheet music contains the original notes for Duke Ellington's classic Take the A Train; and decide whether a key moment in U.S. Civil War history needs to be rewritten. Better not tell Ken Burns. (PBS, 9 ET/PT)
* Space concludes its Labour Day weekend marathon of Star Trek movies with the so-called Next Generation collection, beginning with 1994's Generations - Capt. Picard and Capt. Kirk together! Or in the same two-hour movie, at any rate - and ending with 2002's Star Trek Nemesis, in which Capt. Picard faces his evil twin, a power-hungry Romulan dude looking to take over the universe. Ah, nostalgia. (Space, from 4:40 ET/1:40 PT)
astrachan@canwest.com
blog: www.canada.com/tvguy
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
http://www.canada.com/Fine+Tuning+Monday+Sept/1969338/story.html
Labour Day is often a day for taking stock of the good things in life, but in the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, taking stock of life - in a good way - has become a national passion. At least, that's the pleasing picture presented by the VisionTV documentary Developing Happiness.
Developing Happiness, from Montreal filmmakers Tanya Ballantyne Tree and Josephine Mackay, makes its Canadian TV debut today, on a day when many people are thinking of the work year, and school year, to come.
The ideas in Developing Happiness may strike some as so much crackpot thinking, but others may be apt to find it food for the soul. Either way, the program offers a refreshing change in tone from the usual reality-TV message of outwit, outplay and outlast.
According to Developing Happiness, the Bhutanese believe a society's true value is measured by its GNH, or Gross National Happiness. Bhutan's government applies the philosophy to almost everything it does. Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigme Thinley has said things like, ``Happiness is complete well-being . . . being content with what is and with what one has.''
While that may sound like the underpinnings of a national cult - there's that homegrown Western cynicism again - as Ballantyne Tree and Mackay's program shows, some Western economists and environmentalists are growing increasingly interested in the idea that ``the pursuit of happiness'' as a national ideal can actually lead to tangible results, both economic and social. People who are spiritually happy are certainly less hard on the environment than people who are consumed by the drive to get ahead.
Developing Happiness is not the first program to document Bhutan's live-and- let-live life philosophy. Earlier this year, Michael J. Fox, still wrestling with the effects of Parkinson's disease, journeyed to Bhutan for a spiritual balm in his heartwarming ABC documentary Adventures of an Incurable Optimist.
Developing Happiness shares Fox's sense of incurable optimism.
You don't have to buy into the concept of spiritual enlightenment to enjoy the program: A live, beating heart and a curiosity about the world will do. Recommended. (VisionTV, 10 ET/7 PT)
Three to see
* The Aussie cult soap McLeod's Daughters returns for its final episodes, starting tonight, giving fans a chance to prepare a fond farewell for favourite characters like Stevie (Simmone Jade Mackinnon) and Grace (Abi Tucker). McLeod's Daughters is more than Wild Roses for the Outback set: This relationship saga about strong-willed women taming the Australian ranch lands was one of that country's longest-running, most-watched dramas. (VisionTV, 9 ET/ 6 PT)
* PBS's entertaining History Detectives, a kind of Antiques Roadshow meets CSI, calls it a season with tonight's outing, in which the show's resident sleuths examine a penny stamp's connection to the landmark Scottsboro Boys civil rights case in 1931; determine whether an accidentally discovered box of sheet music contains the original notes for Duke Ellington's classic Take the A Train; and decide whether a key moment in U.S. Civil War history needs to be rewritten. Better not tell Ken Burns. (PBS, 9 ET/PT)
* Space concludes its Labour Day weekend marathon of Star Trek movies with the so-called Next Generation collection, beginning with 1994's Generations - Capt. Picard and Capt. Kirk together! Or in the same two-hour movie, at any rate - and ending with 2002's Star Trek Nemesis, in which Capt. Picard faces his evil twin, a power-hungry Romulan dude looking to take over the universe. Ah, nostalgia. (Space, from 4:40 ET/1:40 PT)
astrachan@canwest.com
blog: www.canada.com/tvguy
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Yoga Man Promotes Spiritual Enlightenment
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/fitness-lifestyle-guru/2009/09/post.html
For the next 12 weeks I will be showing you a series of easy yoga postures that combine to make you more flexible, mobile and to give you confidence to go and take part in regular yoga practice. Yoga has been around for thousand's of years, it actually goes as far back as 3000 BC . Archaeologists have even found evidence of yoga postures etched in stone .The original Yogi's have their roots in Hinduism and sought to live their lives in a intense spiritual practice which often lead to living as a recluse to get spiritual enlightenment. Yoga taught ethical values being purity, tolerance, exercise, breath awareness and meditation. In the 1960's a yoga guru called Sivananda from Malaysia, became influential in the spread of yoga across Europe and America. His teachings have been very influential to the way yoga is seen and practiced today.
There are now many ways and many styles of yoga to bring into your life . DVD's, workshops and classes are everywhere. The trick is like anything, consistency and practice makes perfect. I would make sure wherever you try yoga that the teacher is qualified and insured and has plenty of experience.
If you are unsure of how to get started, visit the British Wheel of Yoga website, they have lots of useful information and you can even sign up to become a teacher.
The video's I will be posting have been developed by yoga teacher, Nicola Phoenix and are designed to help you become familiar with basic techniques . These postures ( asana's ) and exercises are not suitable for those who are pregnant, suffering from injury or have a back complaint. When following the video, never force your body always listen to your body and if at anytime your uncomfortable, STOP.
Always relax and breathe into the asana's and allow your body to find new without strain or effort.
Next week, the warm-up and some great yoga giveaways.
For the next 12 weeks I will be showing you a series of easy yoga postures that combine to make you more flexible, mobile and to give you confidence to go and take part in regular yoga practice. Yoga has been around for thousand's of years, it actually goes as far back as 3000 BC . Archaeologists have even found evidence of yoga postures etched in stone .The original Yogi's have their roots in Hinduism and sought to live their lives in a intense spiritual practice which often lead to living as a recluse to get spiritual enlightenment. Yoga taught ethical values being purity, tolerance, exercise, breath awareness and meditation. In the 1960's a yoga guru called Sivananda from Malaysia, became influential in the spread of yoga across Europe and America. His teachings have been very influential to the way yoga is seen and practiced today.
There are now many ways and many styles of yoga to bring into your life . DVD's, workshops and classes are everywhere. The trick is like anything, consistency and practice makes perfect. I would make sure wherever you try yoga that the teacher is qualified and insured and has plenty of experience.
If you are unsure of how to get started, visit the British Wheel of Yoga website, they have lots of useful information and you can even sign up to become a teacher.
The video's I will be posting have been developed by yoga teacher, Nicola Phoenix and are designed to help you become familiar with basic techniques . These postures ( asana's ) and exercises are not suitable for those who are pregnant, suffering from injury or have a back complaint. When following the video, never force your body always listen to your body and if at anytime your uncomfortable, STOP.
Always relax and breathe into the asana's and allow your body to find new without strain or effort.
Next week, the warm-up and some great yoga giveaways.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment in a Monastery
BY MICHAEL HILL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Far from home and strung out on morphine, Stephen Schettini was saved from his skid when a friend showed up at his hovel in Pakistan to force him to clean up and move on.Then young Englishman Schettini traveled around India and immersed himself in Buddhist teaching. He became a monk, shaved his head and donned traditional robes. He logged a lot of mountain time, first in Switzerland and later at a Tibetan monastery.
Then, disillusioned after eight years, Schettini exited back into Western culture.
Schettini, now middle-aged, takes an introspective look at his geographical and spiritual journey back in the '70s in "The Novice." Thankfully, this is not one of those stories about well-to-do Westerners claiming to feel oppressed by materialism before they jet off to Dharamsala. Schettini is too hard-core for that.
He grew up in Manchester, England, the son of restaurateurs and a bit of a misfit. He bristled at the rigid Catholicism of his boyhood and was distant from his parents. He was a kleptomaniac, loathed himself and, like others before him, sought a geographic cure.
Schettini hitchhiked from western Europe to India. His descriptions of his journey through Turkey, pre-revolutionary Iran and pre-Taliban Afghanistan provide some of the book's most fascinating passages. His account of the towering Buddhas of Bamiyan before their 2001 destruction by the Taliban is especially poignant.
The larger story here is Schettini's circuitous search for spiritual enlightenment. In his words, he wanted to "unravel my own mind." Luckily for him, Schettini found Buddhism at a time when its leaders were looking to spread to the West. He was able to secure funding to study in Switzerland. He eventually headed to Sera, a 15th-Century monastery in Tibet. There, he encountered dogmatic authorities who hewed to ancient codes and treated young people poorly. Maybe it's no surprise he became disillusioned with Buddhist authority and headed back west.
Writings about spiritual journeys have the potential to read like deadly dull navel-gazing. This book is not like that. Schettini is a keen observer of what's around him and what's going on inside him. If Schettini seems a bit too self-deprecating sometimes, maybe that's just the price of years of inner reflection.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Far from home and strung out on morphine, Stephen Schettini was saved from his skid when a friend showed up at his hovel in Pakistan to force him to clean up and move on.Then young Englishman Schettini traveled around India and immersed himself in Buddhist teaching. He became a monk, shaved his head and donned traditional robes. He logged a lot of mountain time, first in Switzerland and later at a Tibetan monastery.
Then, disillusioned after eight years, Schettini exited back into Western culture.
Schettini, now middle-aged, takes an introspective look at his geographical and spiritual journey back in the '70s in "The Novice." Thankfully, this is not one of those stories about well-to-do Westerners claiming to feel oppressed by materialism before they jet off to Dharamsala. Schettini is too hard-core for that.
He grew up in Manchester, England, the son of restaurateurs and a bit of a misfit. He bristled at the rigid Catholicism of his boyhood and was distant from his parents. He was a kleptomaniac, loathed himself and, like others before him, sought a geographic cure.
Schettini hitchhiked from western Europe to India. His descriptions of his journey through Turkey, pre-revolutionary Iran and pre-Taliban Afghanistan provide some of the book's most fascinating passages. His account of the towering Buddhas of Bamiyan before their 2001 destruction by the Taliban is especially poignant.
The larger story here is Schettini's circuitous search for spiritual enlightenment. In his words, he wanted to "unravel my own mind." Luckily for him, Schettini found Buddhism at a time when its leaders were looking to spread to the West. He was able to secure funding to study in Switzerland. He eventually headed to Sera, a 15th-Century monastery in Tibet. There, he encountered dogmatic authorities who hewed to ancient codes and treated young people poorly. Maybe it's no surprise he became disillusioned with Buddhist authority and headed back west.
Writings about spiritual journeys have the potential to read like deadly dull navel-gazing. This book is not like that. Schettini is a keen observer of what's around him and what's going on inside him. If Schettini seems a bit too self-deprecating sometimes, maybe that's just the price of years of inner reflection.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Spiritual Enlightenment is Found in a Book
http://www.examiner.com/x-15832-Cleveland-NonFiction-Books-Examiner~y2009m9d5-Eat-pray-loveand-be-honest
Find out who you are, and then, be that person. That is something that the majority of us are told when we are in childhood and/or early adulthood. What they do not tell you is that sometimes, who you find and currently are is not really who you are supposed to be. Elizabeth Gilbert discovered this painful yet enlightening fact when she realized that she no longer wanted to be married and how she was currently living was completely wrong for her.
In her memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, Ms. Gilbert realistically and compassionately describes her spiritual journey post-divorce while living in the cultures of Italy, India, and Indonesia. We travel with her as she makes new friends and tastes heavenly, delicious food in Italy, finds lasting, spiritual enlightenment from studying at an Ashram in India, and comes full circle and discovers lasting friendship and companionship in Indonesia. It is truly a ride of a lifetime for not only Ms. Gilbert but for anyone who decides to pick up this book and journey with her. Ms. Gilbert shares the intimate details of her journey and also the insights that she gathered not only from her own deep thoughts but also from the advice and counsel that she received from the friends and comrades with whom she shared many of these experiences. To quote a friend of mine: "This book is deep, man." That is a good thing.
Eat, Pray, Love reminds us that even if we believe we have found ourselves and who we are supposed to be, if things just do not feel right; they are probably not right. We need to have the courage and the guts to turn and face this knowledge and our feelings head on in order to find out what is truly right for us. Unfortunately, it is normally not easy to do this in one way or another. However, it is far better to admit the truth instead of continuing to live a lie. Ms. Gilbert had the courage to find the truth and then admit what she wanted and also did not want in her life. We need to find a way to do the same.
Find out who you are, and then, be that person. That is something that the majority of us are told when we are in childhood and/or early adulthood. What they do not tell you is that sometimes, who you find and currently are is not really who you are supposed to be. Elizabeth Gilbert discovered this painful yet enlightening fact when she realized that she no longer wanted to be married and how she was currently living was completely wrong for her.
In her memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, Ms. Gilbert realistically and compassionately describes her spiritual journey post-divorce while living in the cultures of Italy, India, and Indonesia. We travel with her as she makes new friends and tastes heavenly, delicious food in Italy, finds lasting, spiritual enlightenment from studying at an Ashram in India, and comes full circle and discovers lasting friendship and companionship in Indonesia. It is truly a ride of a lifetime for not only Ms. Gilbert but for anyone who decides to pick up this book and journey with her. Ms. Gilbert shares the intimate details of her journey and also the insights that she gathered not only from her own deep thoughts but also from the advice and counsel that she received from the friends and comrades with whom she shared many of these experiences. To quote a friend of mine: "This book is deep, man." That is a good thing.
Eat, Pray, Love reminds us that even if we believe we have found ourselves and who we are supposed to be, if things just do not feel right; they are probably not right. We need to have the courage and the guts to turn and face this knowledge and our feelings head on in order to find out what is truly right for us. Unfortunately, it is normally not easy to do this in one way or another. However, it is far better to admit the truth instead of continuing to live a lie. Ms. Gilbert had the courage to find the truth and then admit what she wanted and also did not want in her life. We need to find a way to do the same.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Spiritual Enlightnment Through Fire Walking the Coals
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-firewalking_0906gd.ART.State.Edition1.238cc6d.html
By JASON SHEELER / The Dallas Morning News
jsheeler@dallasnews.com
Ann Curry, Ann Curry, Ann Curry, Ann Curry. With a 10-foot path of 1,200 F coals bridging spiritual enlightenment and me, all I can think of is the Today show newsreader. Nine hours after arriving at Flower Mound's Firewalking Institute of Research and Education, the moment has arrived. I've forgotten the chant, maybe something about adoring fire, and am told that if I fear my feet melting off, they will. Focus remains on Ann. After a day with chanting, dancing, board breaking and over-sharing, I am thinking walking on fire is tired over matter. "LET IT BE EASY!" a poster insists at check-in. The daylong seminar takes place at the rambling, natural stone home – a compound, really – of Charles Horton, master instructor and general manager of the institute. Described in the 54-page notebook as a 40-year-old "self-made multimillionaire" with more than 50 "retail financial outlets" across the U.S., Horton is way revered by today's participants.
Gathered in a living room with saddles affixed to barstools are soft-spoken housewives from Vancouver, granola grad students from New England, saucer-eyed senior citizens, all wondering when we're going to meet Charles. There are several official-T-shirt-clad, Up With People-types who don't mind direct questions. "Can I hug you?" a 40-something blonde asks me. Uh, sure, I say, offering a handshake-and-one-arm, Bill Clinton hug. She's not having it, pouncing for a boundary-invading squeeze, leaving me violated. "OK, it's time!" she announces. "Hurry!"
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Participants walk on burning coals at the Firewalking Institute headquarters in Flower Mound.
09/04/09
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Off the 20 of us go, filing past the house's garage holding a silver 7-series BMW and stepping on stones across a stream to a converted barn, which emanates thumping gay-bar music. We're split into small groups, and I'm assigned to Team Prashant.
"OK, guys, first of all, you've got to move fast today," the long-lashed Indian-American tells us as introduction. "This isn't B.S." He pauses, looking each of us in the eyes.
"You can get hurt," Prashant says soberly. He hands us waivers.
After agreeing to not bring a lawsuit even if negligence can be demonstrated, the Hugger tells us Horton is waiting for us inside the barn. But he just doesn't believe we're excited enough.
Uh-oh.
"OK, guys, huddle up," Prashant tells my group, which includes a bearded college student from Boston and a pretty actress-type with tattoos who plans on getting into motivational speaking. "Down with the good girl, up with the best girl," she inexplicably tells us several times, as if she's test-driving e-mail signatures. Also in our group is a Peter Boyle-ish retiree who shares that fire-walking is on his bucket list.
"Here's the deal," Prashant says in a stage whisper over thumping I recognize as Marky Mark. "Charles must hear how excited we are to be here."
"Is he going to turn down the music?" I ask.
"So we have to get really pumped up," Prashant says, ignoring my question. The other groups suddenly start screaming and bouncing, as if they've seen Robert Pattinson at Forever 21.
Our turn. As I halfheartedly wave my hands around, walking in place and realizing I wore the wrong shoes, Bucket List starts screeching, "I'm a Maasai warrior! I'm a Maasai warrior!"
The Hugger isn't pleased with the volume or the aerobic output of our group. "Jason, you need to loosen up," Prashant tells me, which is something I usually hear only from therapists and dates. "You're never going to be one with the fire with your hands in your pockets."
Take two. I get a little more air, throw in a gangsta-rap fist pump and pretend to yell.
The doors swing open to unleash disco lights and C + C Music Factory's "I've Got the Power." Everyone starts dancing; I crave vodka sodas and Marlboro Lights.
Horton, in black pants and guayabera shirt with an embroidered red dragon climbing down the front, takes the stage and fills us in on why he's qualified to charge us $399. He's the owner of 60 subprime cash stores and tells us he's sold other businesses for "10 figures." Gasps and applause. My Spidey Sense tells me this may all be about money.
"How many of you were raised with the concept that 'money is the root of all evil?' " he asks with a voice that could have inspired Ian Fleming "My belief system says that's absurd." Horton fills us in on his mobile-home childhood with a dad on the run from the IRS. Starting a check-cashing business as a teenager, he went on to make some major money with a payday loan company and attended seven Tony Robbins seminars. Throwing in a quote from Donald Trump, he promises we can achieve Black Card status, too, and we need only work 15 minutes a day for $1 million a month. He does. I see dollar signs in everyone's eyes.
"And," he adds, "with money you can go to poor countries and give them drinking water and stuff."
He asks us to stand up to get some energy. And chant:
I FEEL GREAT TODAY!
I FEEL TERRIFIC!
I FEEL HEALTHY!
I FEEL HAPPY!
I HAVE THE POWER!
YES! YES! YES!!!
Horton asks us to get to a "Level 10," which involves dancing and screaming as loudly as we can for three minutes. The kick in the pants: It's a competition, and we will be judged by our weakest link. My team turns to me. I nod toward Bucket.
To demonstrate a Level 10, a blond guy in a Rastafarian-style cap gets onstage and just loses it, Oprah's My Favorite Things-style. We go team by team around the room. After Team Prashant hits about a 6, Horton says, "There is ONE person who didn't give it their all."
Sigh.
"You'll do better next time, Jason," Prashant tells me, unable to look me in the eyes.
"Let's talk about comfort zones," Horton says. Don't be shy, he implores: If someone comes within six feet of you, you need to meet them ("except in the men's room," which inspires nervous laughter). I flip through the spiral-bound notebook. We will go on to cover debt management, preprogrammed beliefs, quantum physics, pattern interruption and something called Above the Line Thinking that may somehow involve "profit" for the body.
After a 20-minute barbecue lunch, things get physical. We learn to break boards with karate chops, and the blond Rastafarian forces an embroidery needle through his hand. "It doesn't hurt!" he beams, waving his impaled hand around proudly, as if he'd won a Pinewood Derby or financed a 52 percent loan. Every so often we stop to get our energy on, with the chant he borrowed from Sam Walton and some Level 10-ing, which is always followed by intimate sharing on topics like the Secret and writing exercises such as, "Where did the head trash come from?"
We head outside to Horton's front yard, where a bonfire will become a 10-foot trail heading away from fear, economic insecurity and commercial flights. "The fire will tell you if you are to walk," Horton earnestly promises. He says something about someone ending up with "pizza feet," letting the graphic metaphor hang in the air. Backlit, he simultaneously takes on the air of Joel Osteen and that guy from Flipping Out.
The wind causes the fire's tongues to lap at our legs, providing scary foreshadowing. To get us in the mood, "This Is the Moment" pours out of the outdoor speakers – what up, Donny Osmond – and Prashant turns to me and asks if I am going to walk.
"You've really grown today," he tells me. "I think I saw you smile once." As he extends his arm, I go in for a hug, realizing too late he only wanted a knuckle bump.
The coals reach optimum walking level. Horton stands on them for what seems like four minutes and then Bucket asks to go first, yelling something about high school and good sex. Following him to the foot of the bed, wincing from the thorns in the grass, I stare at the lavalike runway.
Besides Ann Curry, I can't think of much else. Good Girl-Best Girl or someone beside her yells something like, "You go, Jason!" and I look past the end of the path at Horton's dragon and start walking. Briskly, lightly, keeping my eyes open and trying not to stumble and thinking about what it would be like to fall face first into 1,200-degree coals and where did I put my shoes and what kind of emergency care the Flower Mound fire department offers and skin burns at 130 degrees doesn't it? – I hit water.
Horton sprays my feet down and says congratulations. Wow, this feels incredible, I think, feeling legally high. I briefly panic and do a foot check, that awful pizza line rolling through my head. My right foot has a little pain below my big toe, and I start to whine to Prashant that I got burned. Feeling around on the ball of my foot, I find a burr.
Gathered around the orange-black runway, in a huddle for one last time, that "What have you done today to make you feel proud song" swirls around us, causing me to have embarrassingly noticeable goose bumps. "Ask yourself what else is possible," Horton intones, speaking above the superbig chorus. "What preconceived notions are holding you back?"
Thinking of all the universal absolutes I rely upon daily to get me from home to work to Gossip Girl, I realize I might not be done here. I go back for another trip across the coals. I may not be walking on water, I think, but it's close.
You're fired: The next Ignite the Secret seminar is Oct. 21 at the institute's headquarters in Flower Mound. Tuition is $299 until Sept. 21, when the price goes to $399. For more information, click to www.firewalking.com. In the meantime, try glass: Thrive in ’09 will be held by the institute at Studio Movie Grill (11170 N. Central Expressway) from 1 to 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 25 and aims to show you how to “think, speak, sell, market and succeed at anything.” The cost is $15 and includes a glass walk, which is exactly what it sounds like.
Don't try this at home: No participants were harmed during the reporting of this story. The worst injuries founder Charles Horton says he has seen are blisters similar to the result of new shoes and no socks.
"It's 1,200-degree coals, of course there is danger," he says. "At my events a few people have gotten a little blister or kiss, as we call them, much like the type you get while walking more than you are used to or like the ones you get from working in the garden. Participants are fascinated that they are gone the next day.
"The biggest injury I have had at an event is someone twisted their ankle in my backyard. You don't pay 100 percent attention to what you are doing normally. When you walk on red-hot coals, you pay 100 percent attention."
How does it work? Some, such as the guys at Howstuffworks.com, suggest coals transmit heat very slowly and ash provides good insulation. But Tony Robbins and Charles Horton will say it's all you – mind over matter. .
By JASON SHEELER / The Dallas Morning News
jsheeler@dallasnews.com
Ann Curry, Ann Curry, Ann Curry, Ann Curry. With a 10-foot path of 1,200 F coals bridging spiritual enlightenment and me, all I can think of is the Today show newsreader. Nine hours after arriving at Flower Mound's Firewalking Institute of Research and Education, the moment has arrived. I've forgotten the chant, maybe something about adoring fire, and am told that if I fear my feet melting off, they will. Focus remains on Ann. After a day with chanting, dancing, board breaking and over-sharing, I am thinking walking on fire is tired over matter. "LET IT BE EASY!" a poster insists at check-in. The daylong seminar takes place at the rambling, natural stone home – a compound, really – of Charles Horton, master instructor and general manager of the institute. Described in the 54-page notebook as a 40-year-old "self-made multimillionaire" with more than 50 "retail financial outlets" across the U.S., Horton is way revered by today's participants.
Gathered in a living room with saddles affixed to barstools are soft-spoken housewives from Vancouver, granola grad students from New England, saucer-eyed senior citizens, all wondering when we're going to meet Charles. There are several official-T-shirt-clad, Up With People-types who don't mind direct questions. "Can I hug you?" a 40-something blonde asks me. Uh, sure, I say, offering a handshake-and-one-arm, Bill Clinton hug. She's not having it, pouncing for a boundary-invading squeeze, leaving me violated. "OK, it's time!" she announces. "Hurry!"
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Participants walk on burning coals at the Firewalking Institute headquarters in Flower Mound.
09/04/09
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Off the 20 of us go, filing past the house's garage holding a silver 7-series BMW and stepping on stones across a stream to a converted barn, which emanates thumping gay-bar music. We're split into small groups, and I'm assigned to Team Prashant.
"OK, guys, first of all, you've got to move fast today," the long-lashed Indian-American tells us as introduction. "This isn't B.S." He pauses, looking each of us in the eyes.
"You can get hurt," Prashant says soberly. He hands us waivers.
After agreeing to not bring a lawsuit even if negligence can be demonstrated, the Hugger tells us Horton is waiting for us inside the barn. But he just doesn't believe we're excited enough.
Uh-oh.
"OK, guys, huddle up," Prashant tells my group, which includes a bearded college student from Boston and a pretty actress-type with tattoos who plans on getting into motivational speaking. "Down with the good girl, up with the best girl," she inexplicably tells us several times, as if she's test-driving e-mail signatures. Also in our group is a Peter Boyle-ish retiree who shares that fire-walking is on his bucket list.
"Here's the deal," Prashant says in a stage whisper over thumping I recognize as Marky Mark. "Charles must hear how excited we are to be here."
"Is he going to turn down the music?" I ask.
"So we have to get really pumped up," Prashant says, ignoring my question. The other groups suddenly start screaming and bouncing, as if they've seen Robert Pattinson at Forever 21.
Our turn. As I halfheartedly wave my hands around, walking in place and realizing I wore the wrong shoes, Bucket List starts screeching, "I'm a Maasai warrior! I'm a Maasai warrior!"
The Hugger isn't pleased with the volume or the aerobic output of our group. "Jason, you need to loosen up," Prashant tells me, which is something I usually hear only from therapists and dates. "You're never going to be one with the fire with your hands in your pockets."
Take two. I get a little more air, throw in a gangsta-rap fist pump and pretend to yell.
The doors swing open to unleash disco lights and C + C Music Factory's "I've Got the Power." Everyone starts dancing; I crave vodka sodas and Marlboro Lights.
Horton, in black pants and guayabera shirt with an embroidered red dragon climbing down the front, takes the stage and fills us in on why he's qualified to charge us $399. He's the owner of 60 subprime cash stores and tells us he's sold other businesses for "10 figures." Gasps and applause. My Spidey Sense tells me this may all be about money.
"How many of you were raised with the concept that 'money is the root of all evil?' " he asks with a voice that could have inspired Ian Fleming "My belief system says that's absurd." Horton fills us in on his mobile-home childhood with a dad on the run from the IRS. Starting a check-cashing business as a teenager, he went on to make some major money with a payday loan company and attended seven Tony Robbins seminars. Throwing in a quote from Donald Trump, he promises we can achieve Black Card status, too, and we need only work 15 minutes a day for $1 million a month. He does. I see dollar signs in everyone's eyes.
"And," he adds, "with money you can go to poor countries and give them drinking water and stuff."
He asks us to stand up to get some energy. And chant:
I FEEL GREAT TODAY!
I FEEL TERRIFIC!
I FEEL HEALTHY!
I FEEL HAPPY!
I HAVE THE POWER!
YES! YES! YES!!!
Horton asks us to get to a "Level 10," which involves dancing and screaming as loudly as we can for three minutes. The kick in the pants: It's a competition, and we will be judged by our weakest link. My team turns to me. I nod toward Bucket.
To demonstrate a Level 10, a blond guy in a Rastafarian-style cap gets onstage and just loses it, Oprah's My Favorite Things-style. We go team by team around the room. After Team Prashant hits about a 6, Horton says, "There is ONE person who didn't give it their all."
Sigh.
"You'll do better next time, Jason," Prashant tells me, unable to look me in the eyes.
"Let's talk about comfort zones," Horton says. Don't be shy, he implores: If someone comes within six feet of you, you need to meet them ("except in the men's room," which inspires nervous laughter). I flip through the spiral-bound notebook. We will go on to cover debt management, preprogrammed beliefs, quantum physics, pattern interruption and something called Above the Line Thinking that may somehow involve "profit" for the body.
After a 20-minute barbecue lunch, things get physical. We learn to break boards with karate chops, and the blond Rastafarian forces an embroidery needle through his hand. "It doesn't hurt!" he beams, waving his impaled hand around proudly, as if he'd won a Pinewood Derby or financed a 52 percent loan. Every so often we stop to get our energy on, with the chant he borrowed from Sam Walton and some Level 10-ing, which is always followed by intimate sharing on topics like the Secret and writing exercises such as, "Where did the head trash come from?"
We head outside to Horton's front yard, where a bonfire will become a 10-foot trail heading away from fear, economic insecurity and commercial flights. "The fire will tell you if you are to walk," Horton earnestly promises. He says something about someone ending up with "pizza feet," letting the graphic metaphor hang in the air. Backlit, he simultaneously takes on the air of Joel Osteen and that guy from Flipping Out.
The wind causes the fire's tongues to lap at our legs, providing scary foreshadowing. To get us in the mood, "This Is the Moment" pours out of the outdoor speakers – what up, Donny Osmond – and Prashant turns to me and asks if I am going to walk.
"You've really grown today," he tells me. "I think I saw you smile once." As he extends his arm, I go in for a hug, realizing too late he only wanted a knuckle bump.
The coals reach optimum walking level. Horton stands on them for what seems like four minutes and then Bucket asks to go first, yelling something about high school and good sex. Following him to the foot of the bed, wincing from the thorns in the grass, I stare at the lavalike runway.
Besides Ann Curry, I can't think of much else. Good Girl-Best Girl or someone beside her yells something like, "You go, Jason!" and I look past the end of the path at Horton's dragon and start walking. Briskly, lightly, keeping my eyes open and trying not to stumble and thinking about what it would be like to fall face first into 1,200-degree coals and where did I put my shoes and what kind of emergency care the Flower Mound fire department offers and skin burns at 130 degrees doesn't it? – I hit water.
Horton sprays my feet down and says congratulations. Wow, this feels incredible, I think, feeling legally high. I briefly panic and do a foot check, that awful pizza line rolling through my head. My right foot has a little pain below my big toe, and I start to whine to Prashant that I got burned. Feeling around on the ball of my foot, I find a burr.
Gathered around the orange-black runway, in a huddle for one last time, that "What have you done today to make you feel proud song" swirls around us, causing me to have embarrassingly noticeable goose bumps. "Ask yourself what else is possible," Horton intones, speaking above the superbig chorus. "What preconceived notions are holding you back?"
Thinking of all the universal absolutes I rely upon daily to get me from home to work to Gossip Girl, I realize I might not be done here. I go back for another trip across the coals. I may not be walking on water, I think, but it's close.
You're fired: The next Ignite the Secret seminar is Oct. 21 at the institute's headquarters in Flower Mound. Tuition is $299 until Sept. 21, when the price goes to $399. For more information, click to www.firewalking.com. In the meantime, try glass: Thrive in ’09 will be held by the institute at Studio Movie Grill (11170 N. Central Expressway) from 1 to 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 25 and aims to show you how to “think, speak, sell, market and succeed at anything.” The cost is $15 and includes a glass walk, which is exactly what it sounds like.
Don't try this at home: No participants were harmed during the reporting of this story. The worst injuries founder Charles Horton says he has seen are blisters similar to the result of new shoes and no socks.
"It's 1,200-degree coals, of course there is danger," he says. "At my events a few people have gotten a little blister or kiss, as we call them, much like the type you get while walking more than you are used to or like the ones you get from working in the garden. Participants are fascinated that they are gone the next day.
"The biggest injury I have had at an event is someone twisted their ankle in my backyard. You don't pay 100 percent attention to what you are doing normally. When you walk on red-hot coals, you pay 100 percent attention."
How does it work? Some, such as the guys at Howstuffworks.com, suggest coals transmit heat very slowly and ash provides good insulation. But Tony Robbins and Charles Horton will say it's all you – mind over matter. .
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Pursuit of Spirtual Enlightenment Around the World
http://www.examiner.com/x-17576-Alternative-Religions-Examiner~y2009m8d30-Gene-Savoy-and-the-emerging-new-Christianity
August 30, 1:21 PMAlternative Religions Examiner
Wayne Purdin
Gene Savoy, who passed away in 2007, was, in my opinion, one of the greatest archaeologists of the 20th Century. He discovered 43 lost cities in the jungles of South America and connected his discoveries with others in the Middle East, the Pacific islands and Asia. But because he didn't have a degree in archeology and taught radical theories about ancient civilizations, he was discredited by the degreed archaeologists and the media. But he didn't care; he never sought approval and didn't want to waste years studying a dig and writing papers about it. As soon as he found one lost city, he was off on another expedition to find the next one. He left his finds for the academicians to study.
Savoy's main purpose for his explorations was the discovery of ancient spiritual practices, such as sungazing with crystals and gold mirrors, that transformed human beings into beings of light. His discoveries in this area are hinted at in his book Project X: The Search for the Secrets of Immortality. But if you want to know the details of this lost knowledge, you have to attend a four-year course of study at Jamilian University, which Savoy founded in 1972.
Savoy felt that this knowledge was so powerful that it could be misused by people. Just like the Essenes, who Savoy also studied, he kept this knowledge from the general public and portioned it out in courses taught at Jamilian University. Savoy wrote over 50 books used in these courses. These include: The Decoded New Testament, The Essaei Document: Secrets of an Eternal Race, The Lost Gospel of Jesus: The Hidden Teachings of Christ. A graduate of Jamilian University can become a minister of the Second Advent Church.Long-time sungazer Vinny Pinto had this to say about Gene’s religion: “It is apparently an amalgamated system of methods for spiritual growth, practices to achieve immortality, and other stuff, which includes lots of sungazing. He and his church are closely linked to claims of the rediscovery of the Essene doctrines and Essene practices of worship. He related some fascinating tales of increased health, increased intelligence, spiritual opening, intuitive access and body energy from the sungazing… He claimed that numerous ancient Incan and Aztec high priests and shamans had used sun gazing for health, regeneration and healing purposes..., and claimed that sungazing was an essential part of the path to immortality."
A year or so before Savoy died, I was fortunate enough to interview him. Here are a few excerpts from this interview:
Q: In Project X you wrote that "primitive man was able to rise to a civilized state by the discovery of the spirit through the teachings of a Moses, Plato, Jesus, Viracocha who introduced them to a hidden system or science of the spirit that gave them the key to their true nature and could put them in contact with the stars, with God." Is there a universal "science of the spirit" that was the basis of civilization in every part of the globe? Is sungazing a part of this science?
A: Long before recorded history there existed an ancient religious school composed of highly advanced mystics, representing many nations and peoples who taught the principals of religious arts and sciences, which were later lost to the world. The purpose of Project X was to reclaim these principles for the benefit of humanity. Looking at the sun is part of it. You have to see, or contact, the intelligence behind the sun.
Q: Why did solar cultures like the Mayans and Aztecs degenerate into human sacrifice?
A: This is caused by knowledge becoming mundane, when oral traditions are lost.
Q: Quetzalcoatl, a Christ-like figure, promised to return after a cataclysm and a new sun would purify the earth with fire. Would the appearance of a Christed one be the second coming or would it be the new sun, the Sun of Righteousness, or both?
A: The Second Coming is the new Sun of Righteousness
Q: Do you feel this prophecy and that of Malachi about the Sun of Righteousness burning the wicked and healing the righteous will soon be fulfilled? Some think that the unusual activity of the sun in the middle of the current solar cycle will lead up to catastrophic solar flares when it reaches it's peak in 2012.
A: It’s inevitable. It’s going to happen.
Q: What can we do to prepare for this?
A: What we can do is follow the teachings that have been laid out. These are the oral teachings of the Essenes, the Paradosis of Jesus, which is now available only through Jamilian University.
Q: In the Bible, it records that Jesus, just before he performed a miracle, as in raising Lazarus from the dead, "lifted up his eyes." Was he sungazing?
A: Of course that’s what he was doing, looking at the Light behind the sun. The origin of light is spirit.
Q: Is sungazing a two-way stream of information, such that whatever you ask for in prayer while gazing at the sun has a much better chance of manifesting?
A: Yes, there is a two-way exchange.
The goal of the Second Advent Church is to bring to light the lost teachings of the Essenes and clarify what the application of this knowledge can mean for spiritual enlightenment and religious renewal today. It calls this enlightenment and renewal the "Emerging New Christianity."
Savoy taught that in order to participate in this renewal a person had to apply cosolargy, which includes sungazing and other techniques such as meditation, in order to awaken the individual soul or Light Body for a conscious return to the spiritual origins of one's being. Cosolargy is a combination of the words "cosmic," "solar," and "logos." It consists of the essential theory, techniques and rituals of a divine religious art and science. In essence, it is the secret teachings of Jesus, the Essenes, and original Christianity before it became adulterated and diluted by the dogma of an orthodox Church. One of these teachings is that a certain quality of sunlight, which Savoy called the "X factor," can purify the soul, and that pure souls return to the sun. Heaven is in the sun.
The Theosophist Alvin Boyd Kuhn wrote in The Lost Light: "Christianity forsook its high station on the mount illuminated by solar radiance when it submerged the Christly sun-glory under the limitations of a fleshly personage and dismissed solar religion as 'pagan'... It forswore its early privilege of basking in the rays of the great solar doctrine. Light, fire, the sun, spiritual glory -- all went out in eclipse under the clouds of mental fog that arose when the direct radiance of the solar myth had been blanketed. Christianity passed forthwith out of the light into the dreadful shadows of the Dark Ages. And that dismal period will not end until the bright glow of the solar wisdom is released once more to enlighten benighted modernity."
Will cosolargy and the emerging new Christianity mark the end of the Dark Ages? Only time will tell. As for Gene Savoy, I suspect that he could care less. He's probably too busy exploring the ancient civilizations on the sun.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, stories you would like to share, or topics you would be interested in hearing about please feel free to email me. And please comment on this article and get a discussion going among readers. I'd like to know what you think.
For more info:
Jamilian University
August 30, 1:21 PMAlternative Religions Examiner
Wayne Purdin
Gene Savoy, who passed away in 2007, was, in my opinion, one of the greatest archaeologists of the 20th Century. He discovered 43 lost cities in the jungles of South America and connected his discoveries with others in the Middle East, the Pacific islands and Asia. But because he didn't have a degree in archeology and taught radical theories about ancient civilizations, he was discredited by the degreed archaeologists and the media. But he didn't care; he never sought approval and didn't want to waste years studying a dig and writing papers about it. As soon as he found one lost city, he was off on another expedition to find the next one. He left his finds for the academicians to study.
Savoy's main purpose for his explorations was the discovery of ancient spiritual practices, such as sungazing with crystals and gold mirrors, that transformed human beings into beings of light. His discoveries in this area are hinted at in his book Project X: The Search for the Secrets of Immortality. But if you want to know the details of this lost knowledge, you have to attend a four-year course of study at Jamilian University, which Savoy founded in 1972.
Savoy felt that this knowledge was so powerful that it could be misused by people. Just like the Essenes, who Savoy also studied, he kept this knowledge from the general public and portioned it out in courses taught at Jamilian University. Savoy wrote over 50 books used in these courses. These include: The Decoded New Testament, The Essaei Document: Secrets of an Eternal Race, The Lost Gospel of Jesus: The Hidden Teachings of Christ. A graduate of Jamilian University can become a minister of the Second Advent Church.Long-time sungazer Vinny Pinto had this to say about Gene’s religion: “It is apparently an amalgamated system of methods for spiritual growth, practices to achieve immortality, and other stuff, which includes lots of sungazing. He and his church are closely linked to claims of the rediscovery of the Essene doctrines and Essene practices of worship. He related some fascinating tales of increased health, increased intelligence, spiritual opening, intuitive access and body energy from the sungazing… He claimed that numerous ancient Incan and Aztec high priests and shamans had used sun gazing for health, regeneration and healing purposes..., and claimed that sungazing was an essential part of the path to immortality."
A year or so before Savoy died, I was fortunate enough to interview him. Here are a few excerpts from this interview:
Q: In Project X you wrote that "primitive man was able to rise to a civilized state by the discovery of the spirit through the teachings of a Moses, Plato, Jesus, Viracocha who introduced them to a hidden system or science of the spirit that gave them the key to their true nature and could put them in contact with the stars, with God." Is there a universal "science of the spirit" that was the basis of civilization in every part of the globe? Is sungazing a part of this science?
A: Long before recorded history there existed an ancient religious school composed of highly advanced mystics, representing many nations and peoples who taught the principals of religious arts and sciences, which were later lost to the world. The purpose of Project X was to reclaim these principles for the benefit of humanity. Looking at the sun is part of it. You have to see, or contact, the intelligence behind the sun.
Q: Why did solar cultures like the Mayans and Aztecs degenerate into human sacrifice?
A: This is caused by knowledge becoming mundane, when oral traditions are lost.
Q: Quetzalcoatl, a Christ-like figure, promised to return after a cataclysm and a new sun would purify the earth with fire. Would the appearance of a Christed one be the second coming or would it be the new sun, the Sun of Righteousness, or both?
A: The Second Coming is the new Sun of Righteousness
Q: Do you feel this prophecy and that of Malachi about the Sun of Righteousness burning the wicked and healing the righteous will soon be fulfilled? Some think that the unusual activity of the sun in the middle of the current solar cycle will lead up to catastrophic solar flares when it reaches it's peak in 2012.
A: It’s inevitable. It’s going to happen.
Q: What can we do to prepare for this?
A: What we can do is follow the teachings that have been laid out. These are the oral teachings of the Essenes, the Paradosis of Jesus, which is now available only through Jamilian University.
Q: In the Bible, it records that Jesus, just before he performed a miracle, as in raising Lazarus from the dead, "lifted up his eyes." Was he sungazing?
A: Of course that’s what he was doing, looking at the Light behind the sun. The origin of light is spirit.
Q: Is sungazing a two-way stream of information, such that whatever you ask for in prayer while gazing at the sun has a much better chance of manifesting?
A: Yes, there is a two-way exchange.
The goal of the Second Advent Church is to bring to light the lost teachings of the Essenes and clarify what the application of this knowledge can mean for spiritual enlightenment and religious renewal today. It calls this enlightenment and renewal the "Emerging New Christianity."
Savoy taught that in order to participate in this renewal a person had to apply cosolargy, which includes sungazing and other techniques such as meditation, in order to awaken the individual soul or Light Body for a conscious return to the spiritual origins of one's being. Cosolargy is a combination of the words "cosmic," "solar," and "logos." It consists of the essential theory, techniques and rituals of a divine religious art and science. In essence, it is the secret teachings of Jesus, the Essenes, and original Christianity before it became adulterated and diluted by the dogma of an orthodox Church. One of these teachings is that a certain quality of sunlight, which Savoy called the "X factor," can purify the soul, and that pure souls return to the sun. Heaven is in the sun.
The Theosophist Alvin Boyd Kuhn wrote in The Lost Light: "Christianity forsook its high station on the mount illuminated by solar radiance when it submerged the Christly sun-glory under the limitations of a fleshly personage and dismissed solar religion as 'pagan'... It forswore its early privilege of basking in the rays of the great solar doctrine. Light, fire, the sun, spiritual glory -- all went out in eclipse under the clouds of mental fog that arose when the direct radiance of the solar myth had been blanketed. Christianity passed forthwith out of the light into the dreadful shadows of the Dark Ages. And that dismal period will not end until the bright glow of the solar wisdom is released once more to enlighten benighted modernity."
Will cosolargy and the emerging new Christianity mark the end of the Dark Ages? Only time will tell. As for Gene Savoy, I suspect that he could care less. He's probably too busy exploring the ancient civilizations on the sun.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, stories you would like to share, or topics you would be interested in hearing about please feel free to email me. And please comment on this article and get a discussion going among readers. I'd like to know what you think.
For more info:
Jamilian University
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