[gha] Update from Kurt Johnson re: Coming Interspiritual Events etc.
- From: Kurt Johnson <kurtjohnsonisd@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "gha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <gha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "peace-from-harmony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <peace-from-harmony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "ghausa@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ghausa@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 17:30:33 -0700 (PDT)
Hello GHA Colleagues (and remember Sept. 21 as the International Day of Peace):
I have been quiet awhile as I had a very pressing deadline on a book on science
and the arts for Yale University Press and, as you authors know, this can get
complicated (esp. with 157 illustrations and color plates).
I want to update you on what's unfolding very soon among our Interspirituality
subculture of the Interfaith movement. As you know "Interspirituality" as
explained in Br. Wayne Teasdale THE MYSTIC HEART: DISCOVERING A UNIVERSAL
SPIRITUALITY IN THE WORLD'S RELIGION and my and David Ord's THE COMING
INTERSPIRITUAL AGE, is about the inherent common core in all the traditions at
the level of the Heart and the emerging Unitive Consciousness.
Our upcoming Conference, THE DAWN OF INTERSPIRITUALITY CONFERENCE
(www.satyana.org) Sept. 29- Oct. 4 (Cascadia WA) will follow, at same location,
the Sept. 27-29th Reunion of the 25-year Snowmass Inter-religious Initiative
engendered by Fr. Thomas Keating, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Teasdale and
others.
In advance of that many of us met in New York City Aug. 23-28th to shoot 30
upcoming videos of more than a dozen different voices speaking about the
emerging Interspiritual paradigm. These will all be posted SOON at YouTube
under "Interspirituality".
Oct. 23-27 many of us also participate in the Science and Nonduality Conference
in San Jose, CA (www.scienceandnonduality.com). From our Interspiritual
initiative, I, Matthew Fox, Rory McEntee (current coordinator of the Snowmass
Initiative) and Ed Bastian (founder with Fr. Keating of Spiritual Paths
Institute) will give a presentation and panel on "THE EMERGING UNIVERSAL
SPIRITUALITY".
BOOKS-- With regard to that, Fox and Adam Bucko have out a new book now,
following in the footsteps of THE COMING INTERSPIRITUAL AGE
(www.thecominginterspiritualage.com) entitled OCCUPY SPIRITUALITY: A RADICAL
VISION FOR A NEW GENERATION.
Also, THE INTERFAITH OBSERVER (www.interfaithobserver.org) has a new issue out
on-line entitled "Dharma in the West". I have written there, with Bucko, and
Bob Toth (past Director of Merton Institute) a piece on Merton, Teasdale,
Griffiths and contemplation and sacred activism.
As well there is a new free color EZINE from NAMASTE publishing at:
http://issuu.com/yorkmin/docs/namaste_insights_fall_2013?utm_source=Namaste+Monthly&utm_campaign=823a3007a9-Namaste_Insights_Fall_20139_8_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a2aa5fdf63-823a3007a9-255257570
It begins with an article by me and David Ord on what is propelling the deep
undercurrents of Interfaith and Interspiritual world change-- an article
reprinted and adapted from one we recently had in the CONTEMPLATIVE JOURNAL
(www.contemplativejournal.com)
I leave you with, in case you are not familiar-- the Nine Points of Agreement
drawn from the Snowmass Inter-Religious Initiative and the Nine Elements of a
Universal Spirituality from Br. Wayne Teasdale. The Nine Elements are
character points (from spiritual aspiration and its fruits) reflecting the more
conceptual Nine Points of Agreement.
THE NINE POINTS OF AGREEMENT (first published in THE COMMON HEART [Keating et
al, 2006]) but available long before that through the Snowmass Initiative, the
Monastic Inter-religious Dialogue and others).
1. The world religions bear witness to the experience of Ultimate
Reality to which they give various names: Brahma, Allah, (the) Absolute, God,
Great Spirit.
2. Ultimate Reality cannot be limited by any name or concept.
3. Ultimate Reality is the ground of infinite potentiality and
actualization.
4. Faith is opening, accepting, and responding to Ultimate Reality.
Faith in this sense precedes every belief system.
5. The potential for human wholeness—or in other frames of reference,
enlightenment, salvation, transformation, blessedness, nirvana—is present in
every human.
6. Ultimate Reality may be experienced not only through religious
practices but also through nature, art, human relationships, and service to
others.
7. As long as the human condition is experienced as separate from
Ultimate Reality, it remains subject to ignorance, illusion, weakness, and
suffering.
8. Disciplined practice is essential to the spiritual life; yet
spiritual attainment isn't the result of one's own efforts, but the result of
the experience of oneness (unity) with Ultimate Reality.
9. Prayer is communion with Ultimate Reality, whether it's regarded as
personal, impersonal (transpersonal), or beyond both.
THE NINE ELEMENTS OF A UNIVERSAL SPIRITUALITY (first published in THE MYSTIC
HEART, Teasdale 1999).
* Actualizing full moral and ethical capacity
* Living in harmony with the cosmos and all living beings
* Cultivating a life of deep nonviolence
* Living in humility and gratitude
* Embracing a regular spiritual practice
* Cultivating mature self-knowledge
* Living a life of simplicity
* Being of selfless service and compassionate action
* Empowering the prophetic voice for justice, compassion, and world
transformation.Love to all!
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