by Karimah Stauch
Tonight I want to share with you my tears, the cry of the deepest longing for peace. Sometimes the tensions inside are just so high…
Speaking from the Heart
Exploring the Inner Journey of Kahlil Gibran
by Paul-Gordon Chandler
A hushed reflective silence filled the dark cinema as the world premiere of The Prophet finished its animated adaptation of Kahlil Gibran’s inspiring book of prose poetry
The Growing Edge of Interspirituality
by Kurt Johnson
Br. Wayne Teasdale is famous for his “interspiritual” worldview embracing all the spiritual narratives of the world as one collective heritage, arising historically from the conscious experience of our species, and seeks to draw from these resources the tools for altruistic behaviors that can actually build a world so envisioned.
Teilhard de Chardin – Envisioning a Unitive Evolution
by Marcus Braybrooke
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-55), a distinguished paleontologist, theologian, and visionary, held a unitive vision that covered a wide canvas. He tried through his writings to bring the worlds of science and religion together, believing their combined insights held the key to creating a greater sense of global community.
Bahá’u’lláh – Founder of the Bahá’í Faith
by Marcus Braybrook
At this turbulent time, we need to hold on to Bahá’u’lláh’s message of hope. Voiced some 150 years ago, it deserves a high place among those who will influence the future story of the human spirit. In his teachings, Bahá’u’lláh anticipated many of the creative developments of the twentieth century.
Following the Path of Transformation
by Weston Pew
On my path over this past year my work for The Sacred Door Trail has taken me to the melting glaciers of Greenland where gigantic ice walls fall into rivers every 20 minutes, shaking ground and bone as a warning call of the coming rising seas.
January 17, 2016 – World Religion Day: Celebrating Our Unity
BahÁ’i-Sponsored Celebration Invites Us All to the Table
“The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until, its unity is firmly established.”– Bahá’i Writings
Building Orthodox Unity in the Midst of Pluralism: A Step Forward
Yes, But Pay Attention to the Details
Count me a team-member of the interspiritual movement. I am in sympathy with the goals of The Coming Interspiritual Age by Kurt Johnson and David Robert Ord, a grand, ambitious work with an optimistic vision of future global unity. Kurt Johnson’s mental scope on display here is astonishing. A polymath, he was for thirty years a distinguished scientist at the Museum of Natural History, penned an award-winning New York Times best seller about Vladimir Nabokov and butterflies, and regularly contributes to Wikipedia, all attesting to the breadth of his discussion of how humanity came to its current crises of religious conflict and spiritual dis-ease. Johnson and Ord’s ability to weave facts into sweeping historical narrative lends strength to their conclusions.
The Coming Interspiritual Age Published this Month
This month marks the publication of The Coming Interspiritual Age (Namaste) by Kurt Johnson and David Ord. The vision they sketch delivers its insights from a multitude of sources and disciplines and comes to conclusions that will be applauded and criticized. Whether it resonates with you or not, it offers an affirmative, healing perspective of a world clearly in trouble on many fronts, so it deserves our attention.
Healing as an Interfaith Practice
The practice of healing is present in all of the great religions of the world today. I have taught a healing practice for the past three decades that I learned from Humanistic psychologist Lawrence LeShan. The practice is described in his book, The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist. In the healing training Dr. LeShan taught us spiritual exercises drawn from Hinduism, Theraveda and Zen Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, Judaism, and Christianity. I have adapted LeShan’s method for my training, which is presented in the context of Progressive Christianity. It has been offered to more than a thousand people, a dozen at a time, over the past thirty-seven [Dr. Lawrence LeShan] years in classes, workshops, and five-day retreats. I call it Contemplative Healing, which is also the title of my book on the subject, published in 2011.
The Oneness of the Human Family
A Declaration of Oneness for the Human Family,” drafted by Robert Muller and circulated by the Temple of Understanding, did not ignite the global interfaith response that other foundational documents have inspired. But it underlined and helped articulate an assumption that drives all interfaith endeavour, that there is a unique, connective oneness to the human family, and that every member of the family deserves respect, dignity, and opportunity. Marcus Braybrooke, who participated in the ‘Oneness’ discussions over the years, tells how the idea developed.
World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue Held in Baku
Initiated by the government of Azerbaijan, a World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue was held April 7-9, 2011, in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Forum was supported by the Council of Europe, the North-South Centre, UNESCO, the UN Alliance of Civilizations, and ISESCO.