The Quest to Belong

Last updated on: April 7, 2024 at 10:27 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Jeff Worthy Do people need to belong? Is it possible to navigate through our lives in virtual isolation from others save for when absolutely necessary, self-reliance becoming the highest of virtues? Even if such a life is possible, is it desirable? In her article “The Science Behind Our Need to Belong: Insights into the History, Present, and Future of Belonging Research,” Kelly-Ann Allen, a senior lecturer at Monash University and Fellow of the College of Educational Development Psychologists, reveals... Read more

Make Your Own Bible

Last updated on: March 20, 2024 at 10:00 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by SNS Guest (Article is by guest writer Rob Wheeler. See bio below.) “Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your reading have been to you like the blast of triumph out of Shakespeare, Seneca, Moses, John and Paul.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~ “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.” ~ William Blake ~ Compose a Florilegium If... Read more

The Difference Between Stillness and Silence in Meditation

Last updated on: March 20, 2024 at 9:57 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Leigh Anderson In the quiet of dawn or the stillness of night, have you ever sought solace in silence, only to be met with a mind that races with the erratic speed of a roadrunner? This paradoxical experience begs the question: is the key to true peace merely the absence of noise, or is it something deeper? In our relentless search for tranquility amidst the chaos of daily life, many of us turn to meditation. We seek a sanctuary, a... Read more

Preference and Principle

Last updated on: March 20, 2024 at 9:55 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Thomas Schenk Creator: Ralph Credit: Gratis Graphics We all make choices, usually several a day. Some of these choices have significant consequences, but most are trivial. Correspondingly, for some we think long and hard, and for some we scarcely think at all. Observing how I make choices, I see that there are two major psychological factors that enter into my conscious choices. I call these two factors “preference” and “principle.” My preferences are deep set, habitual. Making choices based on... Read more

Art Work by VOHL

Last updated on: March 20, 2024 at 9:53 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by SNS Guest (Today’s post features art work by British artist VOHL. A brief bio is provided below.) “Transformation.” This work is about regaining one’s power and unleashing one’s higher self to its fullest potential. “Nature Is All Around You Not What You See.” Nature is what we feel and connect to inwards. It is feeling grounded and connected to mother earth. The dark forest represents part of the unconscious that... Read more

Spiritual Naturalism and Sikhism

Last updated on: February 23, 2024 at 9:36 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by SNS Guest Symbol of Sikhism (This article is by guest writer Jasmine Morris. For a short bio, see below.) In 2017, I found a path that would change me forever. And three years later, I found myself on that same path trying to reconcile my practice (which I thought was totally fine) with my evolving worldview. I decided to do research in the hopes that I would find something similar to how I viewed the world, and eventually found... Read more

Religious Myth in Spiritual Naturalism

Last updated on: February 23, 2024 at 9:33 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Gregory Gronbacher Myth is not primitive protoscience. It is a qualitatively different phenomenon. Science might be considered description of the world with regards to those aspects that are consensually apprehensible or specification of the most effective mode of reaching an end (given a defined end). Myth can be more accurately regarded as “description of the world as it signifies (for action). The mythic universe is a place to act, not a place to perceive. Myth describes things in terms of... Read more

Naturalistic Poems by James Ph. Kotsybar

Last updated on: February 23, 2024 at 9:30 am By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by SNS Guest (Today’s post features poetry by guest writer James Ph. Kotsybar, whose poems have received special recognition by NASA. A brief bio is provided below.) “A” IS FOR ASTRONOMY Enraptured by the infinite night sky that beckons, like a seductive teacher, inciting me to ask the questions why, I find no need for pulpit or preacher. Divinity quietly winks at me with billions of twinkling eyes until I’m drawn into majestic mystery, enticed to learn to understand this thrill.... Read more

Rediscovering the Emerald in Me

Last updated on: February 8, 2024 at 7:50 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by Jeff Worthy “Where could it be?” I asked myself as I tore my bedroom apart the other day. “It’s here. I know it is. I have to find it.” I was looking for a ring. I had purchased it twenty years ago in the gift shop of the Bru na Boinne Visitor Center, gateway to visiting Newgrange, a Neolithic passage tomb in County Meath, Ireland. The ring was made of silver, with a gold Celtic Triskele symbol embedded in its... Read more

The Shadows of Fear & Desire

Last updated on: February 8, 2024 at 7:49 pm By Spiritual Naturalist Society

by DT Strain Many people suffer from anxiety or worry. Others from anger, hate, bitterness, regret, fear, sadness, impatience, or jealousy. While both negative and positive feelings can be healthy, we speak here of the unhealthy variety: pathos – sickness of the soul. We begin by examining the shadow of fear. When I speak of fear I do not mean the kind of automatic flinching that one does in response to something coming quickly and unexpectedly toward the head. I also do not... Read more