The New Human Condition

Besides just matching up rhythms, when two musicians play together their brain waves synchronize as well. A study by German scientists using jazz guitarists suggests the brain waves of each musician were actually syncing and responding to each other as they listened and played.

Another study on music in the U.S. monitored recovering heart patients and found similar results. As patients listened to relaxing guitar music, their hearts gradually began to beat in time with the music. Over the course of several days, this rhythmic healing helped to mend their bodies post-surgery.

Doctors are increasingly looking at music as a way to help mind and body rejuvenate and reconnect. Music is a very important part of our culture, and can help us to reconnect with our bodies and with each other.

Joe Culture, Health, Music, Spirituality Guitar, Music

“There is more to life than increasing its speed” -Mahatma Gandhi

 

This quote by Gandhi is something that I have to remind myself of each and every day. Usually I am always looking for ways to cram more activities into a single day. Usually…it doesn’t work. I end up doing everything I possibly can, and still have things left that will need to roll over to tomorrow. This cycle tends to continue day to day, slowly increasing my stress levels over the course of the week.

I have written previously about taking some time out of your day to focus on the spiritual side of life, whether you take time for meditation, prayer, or just taking a few seconds to relax and enjoy life. This is something I know I need to improve on myself, and I’m guessing most people today would benefit from as well. It’s important to take time every day to acknowledge the spiritual side of your personality, and take a look at the world around you and realize what an awesome place it really is.

Joe Spirituality Time Management

I wanted to write this in response to my previous post. While I do agree that the Catholic Church is in a state of decline, I don’t think it is out of touch with modern-day society, In fact, the Church today may play a more important role than ever before.

 

 

History

Catholicism was never a religion of convenience or comfort. It has a somewhat strict moral code, and a tremendously strong hierarchy formed on religious power and faith. The Catholic Church has helped to shape the course of mankind, influencing political and religious decisions for centuries.

 

 

It is only recently that the Church has found itself struggling, both with financial and spiritual issues. The sexual abuse scandal was an event that will tarnish the Church’s reputation for many more years. These past few years have also seen a decline in the number of parishioners, forcing many churches to consolidate or close entirely. There is also a shortage of men entering the priesthood, as well as women entering the sisterhood.

Future

I don’t think that the Catholic Church is as out of touch with modern society as most people think. I merely think that as an organized religious body, the church is slower to react to change, particularly the speed at which our culture is currently evolving. I believe that Catholics will need to adapt to certain issues while retaining the tradition and sense of ceremony that they have formed through the ages.

 

Here are some things that I think the Catholic Church should consider:

 

• Releasing some of the long-held moral traditions which have become out-of-date, particularly the restriction on birth control. The Catholic Church considers any form of birth control to be a sin, even between married couples. This is something that very few couples in the church follow, as it is simply not practical to keep having children until it is biologically impossible.
• Allow priests to marry. This is a heavily debated issue in the church today. Allowing priests to serve the church as well as their family would open the vocation up to many men who had previously ruled it out because they wanted to raise a family
• Aggressively pursue teenagers and young adults during the high school and college years. I feel that this is generally the time during which men and women raised in the Church choose to fall away from it (this is what happened to me). Perhaps they feel disconnected with the older doctrines, or with the other parishioners who generally tend to be middle-age or older. Making an extra effort to include them in worship or in youth groups could help provide a place for this age group.
• Allowing women to lead the Church. Honestly, I don’t think this will ever happen. And I’m not sure what the consequences would be either way, but it is something that should at least be considered as the Church moves forward

Role of the Catholic Church

Despite the perception as being “out-of-touch” with society, the Catholic Church still plays a role in the formation of faith. I have examined how different spiritual paths are right for different people, and Catholicism is an important avenue for millions of people worldwide.

I doubt that the Church will continue to decline, it might just need to examine itself further, and begin to adapt.

Joe Culture, Spirituality, religion Catholicism

Everybody is aware of the declining number of priests, nuns and other Catholic offices. But why? There are several reasons.

The Catholic doctrine was created by the oppressed jews under Roman control. The rhetoric in the bible is that of tolerance. Turn the other cheek, etc. That was useful under oppression. If you were to fight back and not turn the other cheek, you would create turmoil and more reason for the people in charge (Rome) to oppress you. Throughout history, the most devout periods of Catholicism have come during oppressive times. The World Wars, The Middle Ages, etc. We find more devout Catholics in ghettos than we do in suburbs. We find them in rural areas rather than cities. That being said, the overall standard of living is less and less oppressive than it has been in the past. Technology now affords distractions from harsh realities. People no longer yearn for the comfort that Catholicism offers. The TV provides it for them.

Catholicism and modern society are clashing. Abortion and gay rights are more prevalent now than in any other time. Advances in science have made abortion less deadly and more convenient for women. Science has also shown that being gay is not a choice but is a psychological pathos. Science has made it harder for people to follow the “true” doctrine.

 

The sex scandals among priests have created a lack of trust that was once pivotal for communities. Priests used to be next to the father in terms of being a role model for the son. Priests are now approached with some caution. People argue that the vow of chastity is unreasonable. Men want to have sexual relations with women. That is natural. When they are placed in a circumstance (priesthood) that suppresses that, their sexual desires become perverted. Men are turned away from priesthood because they do not want to remain chaste. That leaves less priests. Less priests means less influence. Less influence is part of the decline we are seeing.

I’m sure there are other reasons for the decline of the Catholic Church but these are the ones that come to mind. Any other insights would be greatly appreciated.

I want it to be known that Catholicism offers very wise precepts and that Jesus was a truly great man. I’m only pointing out what I percieve to be a decline in interest.

Joe Culture, Spirituality, religion Catholicism

This is the first guest post from my friend Kevin. He is writing a few articles for me as I get this blog up and running….

  

“To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in your hand

And eternity in an hour.”

       
              The above poem is by the mystic William Blake. According Webster’s dictionary, mysticism is the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth, or ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience (as intuition or insight.) Blake uses poetry as a medium to share his insights into spiritual truth. Poetry uses symbolism to make hard concepts easier to understand. So when Blake says: “To see a world in a grain of sand…” he is trying help his reader understand him.

 

This is a poem dealing with perception and understanding. Some people can “see the world in a grain of sand.” I will try to outline how:

 

Physical objects are symbols. A homework paper with a red F on it is a symbol of failure. A gold medal is a symbol of success. Those are apparent. Some symbols are more sublime and not easliy understandable. A friendly face is a symbol for happy times. A snake is a symbol of anxiety for some. These types of symbols aren’t related consciously but rather unconsciously. It is intuitive rather than rational. We are feeling instead of thinking. William Blake had an intuitive understanding of spirituality. It was unconscious. His genius lies in the fact that he became aware of his unconscious and expressed it through his poems.

 

A therapist cures their patient by making them aware of their unconscious feelings. William Blake bypassed the therapist. He became aware of his uncoscious through expression. He expressed his thought in verse. He needed to use symbols to help others become aware of what he knew.

 

Knowledge creates awareness. Most of us know that a red light is a symbol for stopping. Other symbols require higher levels of knowledge and understanding. Take a difficult subject to understand…physics. Most of us are unmoved by the results of physics because we don’t understand it. We can look at an equation and not know what we are looking at. Others have more knowledge and therefore can be moved by physics.

 

Dr. Michio Kaku in his acclaimed book Parallel Worlds describes this phenomena. For years, physicists have looked for evidence of the big bang. In 1995, NASA launched the WMAP satellite in order to detect the cosmic microwave background (CMB.) The CMB is the leftover energy from the big bang. The WMAP scanned the sky and sent back pictures of the CMB. (The boldface is insterted by me, not Michio)

 

“To the unaided eye, the WMAP map of the sky looks rather uninteresting; it is just a collection of random dots. However, this collection of dots has driven some astronomers almost to tears…” (Kaku, 9)

 

The astronomers understand that those dots symbolize the creation of our universe. The unaided eye doesn’t posses that understanding and therefore looks at the same map unmoved.

 

Another analogy to hammer home the point is the American Flag. The Flag is a symbol. For some people, they treat it like a passing car. They don’t think twice about its significance. For a WWII veteran, they will salute it. They have intimate knowledge of what it took to keep that flag waving.

 

 

The point is: the more knowledge a person has about a subject, the more fully the person can appreciate it.

 

Blake could see a world in a grain of sand. The WWII veteran could see great men in the American Flag. A physicist could see gravity in Einstein’s equation’s.

 

When we look at an object, what we see depends on what we know.

Joe Spirituality, religion Michio Kaku, Mystic, Philosophy, Symbolism, William Blake

 

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about American culture and consumerism, particularly the pervasive idea that “more is better.” There are a lot of changes taking place around the world, as well as with our own economy here at home. I think that this “more is better” idea that has been driving us for many years is about to change.

 

This “more mentality” that we have here in the U.S. really does drive everything we do. We want bigger and better things, in the hope that these things will make us appear wealthier, more desirable, etc. to others. How else to explain the huge homes, expensive cars, and the millions of possessions that we collect every day?

 

 

 

By its very nature, this obsession with “more” is cyclical. Once you achieve or acquire that “more” that you thought would make everything perfect, something else will come along. You will never be satisfied if you operate under the assumption that having this one object, career, mate, etc. will make your life better.

 

Think of how much this idea has affected our daily lives. I think we are losing a lot of creative ability and ingenuity that we as a people used to possess. We no longer take the time to figure out how things work. If something of ours breaks, generally we just throw it away and buy a new one. How many of you could fix a sink, or work on your car, or build a piece of furniture? I know there are some people out there who can do these things, but I would consider them the minority. Personally I don’t know how to fix many of the things I own. I have become dependent on consumerism to live and function on a daily basis…and to me that’s scary.

 

For now, I’ll put aside the many environmental impacts of this “more is better” idea (that’s another topic entirely). I’ll focus instead on how material possessions are taking the place of the spiritual practice in our lives. Out of the 168 hours in a week, I only spend a few (if any) in personal reflection or prayer. Let’s say I spend two hours in quiet prayer or meditation, this works out to be just over 1% of my whole week. To put it another way, this is 1/100th of my week. Does that number seem incredibly small to you? It did for me when I worked it out.

 

 

Instead I use my time to work at my job, shop for possessions, or enjoy the material things that I already have. Once I get done with these things, I am usually too tired to do much but sleep. Prayer and spiritual practice should be a top priority for me each and every day, but it always seems to end up getting pushed to the bottom of my list.

 

How many hours of my life are going toward accumulating wealth and possessions that are largely superficial? I know it’s probably more than I would like…

Joe Culture, Spirituality Consumerism, Time Management

As I have mentioned, everyone has some piece of spiritual wisdom they can share. You may not be fully aware of that fact, or you might even doubt that it’s true. Well it is. Each and every person has had a life experience entirely unique of anyone else. It doesn’t matter how old you are, your background, or anything else about you. No matter who you are you have the ability to help someone else on their path in life, just as you stand to learn something in turn, from them.

 

Some time ago, one of my teachers told me the story of “the blind men and the elephant”. For those not familiar with the story, you can read a version of it here. In summary, six blind men are asked to describe a creature with which they are unfamiliar, in this case an elephant. As none of them can see the elephant in it’s entirely, each man touches a different part of the giant animal. The one who grabs the elephant’s tail describes the animal as a snake. A man who touched one of the elephant’s legs describes is as a thick tree. Another described the elephant to be like a spear, after touching one of its tusks. In a sense, they were all correct. But each man has also limited the description of the elephant to the parts of the body that they each experienced.

 

  

I like to use this story to illustrate my view on different spiritual traditions. Like each of the blind men, we have very limited senses to use when approaching the realms of spirituality and prayer. We rely on what we know, and what we learn through those senses. We use our own experiences to form our view of God (I use the word “God” in this sense to mean any supreme being or higher power). For some people, their experience through Christianity may lead them to God, for others it may be through practice in Buddhism or Islam, while still others may come up a sense of God through personal revelations and experiences outside of the realm of organized religion. Whatever path you choose, I believe that we are all essentially worshipping the same being.

 

We may choose to describe God differently (because we have had different experiences in our lives), and may call him by different names. But ultimately we are relying on our own limited senses and experiences to describe a being that is far beyond our reach. By being “blind” so to speak, how can we ever claim to know God in his entirety?

Joe Spirituality, religion Blind Men and the Elephant, religion, Spirituality

The path to spiritual truth is one that every human travels. How long and far a person travels on that path is dependent upon a lot of factors. As the world becomes faster and faster, people are spending less and less time searching for the path. I hope to help you find the way. I encourage others to help me with this goal. Please offer your insights and wisdom to help make this the deepest and clearest source for spiritual truth.

 

My name is Joe. I will write about all things spiritual: I will review spiritual books; talk about current events that affect spirituality; reflect on the views of great spiritual leaders; and debate the future of spirituality.

 

I have been studying and researching various spiritual traditions for years. I am particularly interested in the various forms of modern-day christianity, and the evolution of Native American religions in the U.S. I enjoys spiritual discussion, and am looking forward to interacting with many others through this forum. Remember, everyone has wisdom to share…

 

 Welcome to the “New Human Condition”. I look forward to hearing from you.

Joe Spirituality religion, Spirituality