The evolutionary value of Spirituality as a protector in aging

Last Sunday we saw compelling evidence of the hard-wired basis of our spiritual selves. It's no wonder we feel pulled toward the experience of unity and the ineffable. This week we will continue this discussion by looking at the possible evolutionary value of being wired for spiritual seeking and how spiritual practice itself may help make us stronger and more resistant to mental imbalance and the encroachment on age-related disabilities. We'll interview Lydia Roane, an LCSW specializing in gero-psychiatric adaptations, and we'll see if she'll share her knowledge of the mental and emotional challenges of aging and the relation to spirituality. Please join us for the discussion. It should be of particular interest to those of us who are ourselves, aging, and to those of us who love someone who is.

As ever, loving childcare is provided.

From Spiritual Intelligence, Frances Vaughan - 1998, copied from the Council on Spiritual Development

SPIRITUALITY: Subjective experience of the sacred

RELIGION: Creed, community, code of ethics

SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE suggests
wisdom and compassion
understanding and inner peace
Love and freedom
depth and breadth of vision

SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE may be expressed as
the common work
teaching and learning
healing and forgiveness
research, education and service

The Neurochemistry of Spiritual Experience

Recent controlled studies from Johns Hopkins University show that the use of the hallucinogenic agent psilocybin by naive participants produced in the subjects a profound sense of spiritual experience. Many of the subject reported that the experience was one of the most meaningful of their lives, and two years later, they still maintained that position. This coming Sunday we will have a look at the study and discuss some of the many implications. If you want to read an articulate account of one of the participants, click here:

http://csp.org/psilocybin/SciAmHallucinogens201012-Maria.pdf

Please join us for and interesting session. We'll be happy to see you. And as ever, loving childcare is provided.

Robert Funk on Spiritual Self-indulgence

In “Honest to Jesus” Robert Funk writes that spirituality can be turned into a form of self-indulgence by insisting that “the Bible is a sourcebook for private spiritual nurture.” Funk continues, “Because scripture is considered ‘spiritual,’ individual are entitled to extract their own ‘spirituality’ in private, without the assistance of historical or critical analysis or, for that matter without reference to what the text meant originally. The doctrine that the state may not interfere with religious thought and practice and may not abridge freedom in that sector is taken as a guarantee that religion is a private and personal matter. Accordingly, everyone is permitted to be his or her own expert. Everyone is his or her own authority on the subject; no one has the right to tell an individual what the Bible or the gospels mean.

“This conviction has considerable merit. I subscribe to it myself.

“However, for many it is no more than a shield for self-indulgence, a prescription for do-it-yourself brain surgery. If in private meditation we are satisfied without own secret responses to a text that we may not, in fact, understand, then we have done no more than confirm our prejudices, invoking the text as an ally in self-deceit.”

Please join us as we discuss this topic, congratulate ourselves by citing some egregious examples, and then hopefully, with some honest reflection, explore alternatives.

We’ll be delighted to see you. As always, loving childcare is provided.

Free-for-all!

We're having an unscripted session on this coming Sunday. Who knows what the topic will be. Join us. Tender-loving childcare is provided.

The social cost of income inequality

Next Sunday, November 20, we'll view and discuss an on-line presentation by British economist, Richard Wilkinson. This is a surprizing and powerful presentation. Wilkinson demonstrates the inevitable relationship between income inequality and social ills. Preview here: http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html

We hope to see you there. As ever, loving childcare is provided.

No meeting on Nov 13

We're making room for the 10,000 Villages sale, so we won't be meeting on Nov 13.

However, we're still on for Nov 20 when we'll view and discuss an on-line presentation by British economist, Richard Wilkinson. This is a surprising and powerful presentation. Wilkinson demonstrates the inevitable relationship between income inequality and social ills. Preview here: http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html

We hope to see you soon.

No Meeting on November 6

We cancelled the Adult Forum for Sunday, November 6. We needed to make room for the Gratitude Dinner, to which you are warmly invited. It's for all of us.
Next Sunday, November 13, we'll view and discuss an on-line presentation by British economist, Richard Wilkinson. This is a surprizing and powerful presentation. Wilkinson demonstrates the inevitable relationship between income inequality and social ills. Preview here: http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html We hope to see you soon.