When you think of religion what comes into your mind?
For many of us it's probably something like, “man's pursuit of the divine,” or “a system of beliefs,” or “the crutch of humanity,” or “the worst thing that's ever happened to humanity.” Whatever our understanding or definition it's typically tinged with a bit of negativity.
How many folks do you know say something like, “I'm spiritual not religious”? In
many of my circles that saying goes like this, “Christianity is a relationship not a religion.”
Religion is apparently not a very popular thing...
Lately, I have felt called to pray on the behalf of people who feel like they could use a little spiritual support.
If you would like me to pray for you, please comment your name or nickname below.
If you wish, you can also add some context if you'd like me to pray for you for a specific reason. Otherwise, it'll be a generic prayer for prosperity, wellbeing, happiness, and spiritual guidance. I'll pray for you once a day from today until next Tuesday. 💕
I published something new this morning. I had written it this last fall in a slightly different format but I have edited it and changed it a bit. I hope you find it helpful.
There is a reason why the Greek word "pneuma" means both "breath" and "soul." This is part of my personal gnosis on the matter:
When you inhale, you're not sucking the air into your lungs: You're contracting your diaphragm and expanding your lungs to create space. The resulting decrease in pressure is what allows the air to flow into and fill the space created.
Exhalation is much the same, only in reverse: By contracting your lungs and relaxing your diaphragm, you close the empty space in your lungs, pushing the air out as it has no where else to go.
Spirituality and religion are much like inhalation: When you make space for the Divine, Spirit will flow into your life like air into your lungs, easily and effortlessly.
UW-Madison's history department just shared the sad news that historian Ronald Numbers died peacefully at home a few days ago.
Numbers retired before I came to Madison, but his influence on the department and field was immense, and his work is a forceful and persuasive argument for taking the power and complexity of religion seriously in the history of science.
Darwinism Comes to America, in particular, is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how evolution got to the very strange place it has in American culture.
"HOW THE HINDU RIGHT-WING IN INDIA IS UNDERMINING MUSLIM IDENTITY THROUGH HERITAGE" by Maitri Dore.
"In service of the myth of a Hindu golden age, the Hindu right-wing is contorting historical facts and attempting to cleanse the built environment of Muslim heritage. Their meddlesomeness is proof of the pudding that heritage is more than simply brick and mortar. It is about the selection and use of these for political purposes. In this scheme then, architecture–by way of claims to mosques, and public space–through its renaming, are merely convenient props that hold up the cherry-picked narrative."
"Video games are ultimately about experiences. Not simply watching or hearing, but interacting with an environment. Dante wants to give you the medieval equivalent of virtual reality. Although it is highly structured, Dante’s universe has an openness to it. And that seems to be the point."
"If someone claims to have seen a witch fly across the night sky on a broom, are skeptics obligated to investigate the evidence for this claim before rejecting it as silly nonsense?"
The anti-abortion crusade (because that’s what it is: a pre-modern overtly violent Christian campaign to conquer The Others™) is a vestigial throwback to ancient Roman policy of “partus sequitur ventrem” which became English common law, and the American colonies adapted it to weaponize sexual violence against people who were considered property (i.e. chattel slaves).
I am also happy to share some information and pictures from last week. We held our annual conference on "#urbanity. History, Concept, Uses" at Ettersburg Castle near Weimar. https://urbrel.hypotheses.org/3319