Spiritual Wellness

Spiritual Wellness /morsl/taxonomy/term/129/all en The Ultimate Saint /morsl/article/ecospirituality-spiritual-wellness/ultimate-saint Last weekend I went to the woods. I left the city for a place where there are more trees than cars, and I came back feeling renewed. Something about being surrounded by nature fills me up so that I have more to give to others. As I walked alone through a whispering forest, I was reminded of all the millions of people who cam before me, who lived off the land and knew how to survive with nature, and I felt at peace. Fri, 30 Aug 2024 18:13:33 +0000 Carolyn Ross 2797 at /morsl Awakening in Fusion /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/awakening-fusion In Jewish traditions, religion and artistic creativity are complimentary forms of spiritual enrichment. They both serve a similar purpose, which is to attach the self to G_d as manifested in human experience. Creation is a manifestation of G_dliness. “In the beginning G_d created” (Genesis 1:1). When human beings create, we experience awe and shame. We are in awe of G_d when we realize the amount of thought and energy it takes to create something from something else. Imagine creating something from nothing—it’s beyond human comprehension. Fri, 30 Aug 2024 18:10:53 +0000 Ariella 2796 at /morsl Increase the Peace /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/increase-peace The day I was invited to write this article, I entered a washroom in the MacDonald-Harrington building. On the door of my stall was scrawled, “increase the peace.” I could not agree more, but the anonymous author left no more suggestions than does our culture on how to go about increasing peace. Thank goodness Jesus is not so vague! “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it unto you. Do not let your hearts by troubled or afraid” (Luke 14:27). Now there is a message that I can understand! How comforting! Jesus gives us peace. He is perfect peace. Fri, 30 Aug 2024 18:09:01 +0000 Emily Bessette 2795 at /morsl The Experience of God /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/experience-god Transcendence. Experiencing the divine. Tasting that sweet essence of God. For the Sikh, God has no form. God has no shape, age, race, or gender. God was never born and will never cease to be. God is. That’s it. The Sikh definition of God, found in the beginning of the Sikh scripture (the Aad Guru Granth Sahib) and the main Sikh prayer (the Mool Mantra) is not so much a definition as an anti-definition. God is told to be timeless. The face of God? Guru Nanak says the face of God is immortality. The enemy of God? God has no enemy, and God holds no enmity. So what is this God then? Fri, 30 Aug 2024 17:57:10 +0000 Santbir Singh Santbir 2794 at /morsl Religion /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/religion It looks at me It hears me It feels me It judges me It helps me It enlightens me It traps me It bothers me It soothes me It produces for me It nurtures me It reasons for me It kills me It talks for me It wrecks me It develops me It wounds me It loves me It ____________ me It kills me It is me... Fri, 30 Aug 2024 17:54:44 +0000 Hardip Singh Manku 2793 at /morsl Labyrinth Walks /morsl/article/ecospirituality-meditation-spiritual-wellness/labyrinth-walks In Waiting for God, Simone Weil writes: “The beauty of the world is the mouth of a labyrinth,” referring to the mystical path that has been walked for centuries in contemplation. These ritual and symbolic pathways are found around the world in different cultures, but are perhaps best known in the Western world from their use during medieval times. In the last 30 years, there has been renewed interest in labyrinths as a contemplative practice accessible to all. A labyrinth is not a maze, but rather a single path, and there is no “right or wrong” way to walk a labyrinth. Fri, 30 Aug 2024 17:52:23 +0000 Carlene Gardner 2792 at /morsl On Imagination as Spiritual Experience /morsl/article/meditation-queerness-and-faith-spiritual-wellness/imagination-spiritual-experience In the film All of Us Strangers, main character Adam uses creative and personalized ways to initiate his own healing journey. Adam’s parents passed unexpectedly when he was eleven years old. Since then, he has struggled with intense feelings of being alone. Adam imagines and writes about what could happen if he could visit his parents in his childhood home as they were the year of their death, 1987. What would it be like if parents and son could reunite 36 years later, now that Adam is a professional writer in his late 40’s? Fri, 30 Aug 2024 17:45:43 +0000 Candice Wendt 2791 at /morsl Passion in Action; Love in Form /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-queerness-and-faith-spiritual-wellness/passion-action-love-form the Imam, the Priest, the Monk; all of them at once endorsing love between two men not only as acceptable but as sacred. the power of the moment as metaphor for love for what’s possible with love overshadowed only by its immanent beauty. right then in front of my eyes a union transcending boundaries subverting history and empowering faith all at once passion in action; love in form. Fri, 30 Aug 2024 17:41:44 +0000 Ryan Brown 2790 at /morsl I Am... /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/i-am Unique. That word has grown up with me throughout the years… From kindergarten, high school, and finally through university, unique has always been the word that has been entrenched in the back of my mind. I was different, I was “unique,” or so everyone said. Maybe they were being polite. Maybe I was unique. Fri, 30 Aug 2024 17:35:40 +0000 Hardip Manku 2789 at /morsl Do Ye Remember Me; I Will Remember You /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/do-ye-remember-me-i-will-remember-you I feel stressed about my upcoming biology exam. I’m saddened by the death of my friend’s mother. My grandparents’ declining health worries me. I’ve overjoyed by my recent academic accomplishment. The injustices in the world pain me. I’m confused and in need of help and guidance. What do I do in all of these situations? I calm myself, take a deep break and pray. Fri, 30 Aug 2024 17:32:32 +0000 Memuna A. Jamal 2788 at /morsl Synchronicity as Spiritual Experience /morsl/article/spiritual-wellness/synchronicity-spiritual-experience Many of us seek spiritual experiences. Perhaps we want to sense signals that the universe, God, ancestors, nature, and/ or other higher powers are present with us, shaping us and our lives. Or we want reasons to trust that our lives matter and have meaning. Sometimes the mystical experiences we want prove hard to come by. One way to cultivate spiritual meaning-making that is always accessible and rich is watching for and pondering unexpected coincidences. Mon, 29 Apr 2024 15:51:25 +0000 Candice Wendt 2783 at /morsl Earth Day /morsl/article/ecospirituality-spiritual-wellness/earth-day To mark Earth Day, we're sharing a few book and podcast ideas for rejuvenation and hope in relationships with the earth. <h3>Books:</h3> Sacred Nature by Karen Armstrong Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:32:24 +0000 Candice Wendt 2782 at /morsl On Divine Silence /morsl/article/spiritual-wellness/divine-silence “One of the hardest lessons to learn spiritually is that God’s silence is not the same thing as God’s absence. God can be present with us despite the fact that God might not be communicating directly to us, perhaps because it is too early for us to know something, or perhaps because we’re not yet the people who can receive the message that God wants to give. Fri, 22 Mar 2024 18:57:12 +0000 Candice Wendt 2772 at /morsl Periods of Darkness are Followed by Hope /morsl/article/spiritual-wellness/periods-darkness-are-followed-hope In Sarah Bessey's Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith, she writes about how hope can grow out of despair: Mon, 19 Feb 2024 16:43:59 +0000 Candice Wendt 2733 at /morsl On Values /morsl/article/spiritual-wellness/values “Good values are 1) reality-based, 2) socially constructive, and 3) immediate and controllable. Bad values are 1) superstitious, 2) socially destructive, and 3) not immediate or controllable. Good, healthy values are achieved internally. Something like creativity or humility that can be experienced right now. You simply have to orient your mind in a certain way to experience it. These values are immediate and controllable and engage you with the world as it is rather than how you wish it were. Bad values are generally reliant on external events.” Mon, 18 Dec 2023 16:05:32 +0000 Candice Wendt 2657 at /morsl