The following article by Sr. Mary Margaret Funk and Dr. Shahid Athar was just submitted to National Catholic Reporter. Let's hope they reprint it.

A Place for Dialogue
By Shahid Athar, M.D., and Sr. Mary Margaret Funk

The controversy regarding the site of Cordoba House, the Islamic community center, in Lower Manhattan has brought forth many opinions, snap judgments, and outright prejudice. But it also provides all Americans with a “teachable moment”: an opportunity to engage in dialogue.

For several years, the two of us—a Muslim doctor and a Catholic nun—engaged in respectful interreligious dialogue. Our aim wasn’t to compare our religious traditions to see which one was more authentically American or more tolerant. We didn’t want to share sermons and try to convince the other of whose religion was superior. We weren’t competing to see who was more religious or truer to our faith’s origins.

David Tresemer, Ph.D., co-author of One Two ONE, shares with us his experience at a recent event, which proved to be a success!

From David:

We decided to promote our new book, One-Two-ONE, and the DVD, Couple’s Illumination, both about relationships, by taking a tiny booth (7 feet by 7 feet) at a large public trade fair — huge showroom, 120 booths, a special room with 50 psychics at 50 square tables (with a chair for the client – the line formed quickly each morning to sign up for these readings of all sorts), clairvoyants with microphones on one of three stages, purveyors of fine chocolate, aura jewelry, exercise equipment, etc., all sorts of loosely connected things and services, also Scientology and aura photographs!. Over four days, 17,000+ people came through. It was exhausting and fascinating to watch all the different kinds of people. We put up a sign that said “Free Brief Relationship Tune-Up,” and had dozens of people come in for this little exercise (“In Whose Name”) from our book – totally fun, and we think very useful to many. We met some great people, and in the end, we don’t think we’ll ever do that again. Our two back-ups got sick, so we were there all day every day. We might help out with such a venture in the future, but not do it all day every day. We gave two talks on two different stages, well attended, and that felt positive. And we sold books and DVDs!>

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Additionally, here is a quick excerpt from One Two ONE:

We know of a wedding where Uncle Robert couldn't stand the name "God" to be uttered, and threatended to walk out of the room if it was. Uncle Robert's views were so strong that they ruled what was said and not said. The couple backed down and did not include a reference to the name of power that they felt unified them. They wished to offend no one. One must ask: Whose wedding is this? Can a couple find a way to invite people to support them in shaping the Sacred Space that they choose, and ask the visitors to leave their judgments at the door?


In a wedding that we facilitated, the father of the groom insisted that the wedding could not truly legitimate unless the name of Jesus Christ was prominent. Even though the wedding couple did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we were able to craft a section where we made a bridge between the names in which they were marrying - "Sacred Union" and "Love" - and Jesus Christ, thus recognizing the importance of the father's beliefs as part of his uprightness and integrity as an ancestor.

Although Lorie Eve Dechar's Five Spirits is ostensibly a book about acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, it is at its heart a book about human consciousness.

The book explores the question of how human beings create reality and how our creation of reality affects not only our health but also the way we feel, live, and interact with our environment. By melding the wisdom of the ancient Chinese with the insights of modern Western depth psychology and the understanding of Taoist and European alchemy, the book aims to help readers discover a new, more efficient, and integrated consciousness. Through this discovery, we will find not only new ways to heal psychosomatic, psychological, and spiritual distress but also new possibilities for living, and new ways to relate to our bodies, our families, and communities, as well as to our planet.

One important key to this new consciousness is a revised relationship to the yin, or what the ancient Taoists referred to as the Mysterious Feminine. This attitude views the the divine not only as an invisible, unknowable mystery (up there and far away in heaven) but also as a knowable, embodied experience, a sacred illumination that exists here and now, as the life force that flows through our bodies, through nature and all of creation.

Five Spirits is subtitled "Alchemical Acupuncture for Psychological and Spiritual Healing" in order to distinquish it from TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine, the more medical, symptom-focused acupuncture that it is currently being practiced in Mainland China and most parts of the Western world. Alchemy is the ancient art of transformation, not only the transformation of lead into gold as is most commonly understood, but the transformation of the lead of human suffering into the gold of wisdom, the transformation of an ordinary human being into a sage. The focus of "Alchemical Acupuncture" is not the curing of superficial symptoms and the restoration of old, outmoded ways of living but rather on transformation, on the discovery of new, more exciting and potent ways of living and being on the planet.

Alchemical Acupuncture seeks to find the treasure in the trash, the meaning and the possibilities for spiritual transformation hidden in our painful physical symptoms and psychological distress. This spiritual attitude is found in the earliest Chinese medical texts, written over two thousand years ago. These texts were strongly influenced by Taoist
alchemy, but this attitude has gradually been buried as acupuncture has been taken up by the more materialistic, modern world. It is the premise of this book that in order to tap the deepest potential of Chinese medicine, we must understand the alchemical principles at its core. But an understanding of these principles can also help us to solve problems and resolve insoluble dilemmas that go beyond the scope of of acupuncture.

For over fifty years as the founder of Fo Guang Shan, the Taiwanese Buddhist Venerable Master Hsing Yun has been preaching what he calls "Humanistic Buddhism."

This is a Buddhism stripped of superstition and ritualism and dedicated to making the religion relevant in everyday life and for everyday problems.

One of Hsing Yun’s leading disciples is the Venerable Yifa. In her book Safeguarding the Heart, Yifa reflects on September 11, 2001, and what the terrible events of that day can teach us about the essential Buddhist teachings on suffering, cause and effect, and the meaning of life. With clarity and honesty, she attempts to answer the question of how we can and should respond when great violence enters our lives. This book has now been revised and retitled as The Tender Heart.

Yifa has also turned her attention to our culture of consumerism, commodification, and superficiality. In Authenticity, Yifa looks at our thoughtless when it comes to food, stuff, communication, relationships, and thoughts and emotions, and offers practical and thoughtful techniques for living life more authentically and attentively.

Her most recent book, Discernment examines the quality of mind that analyzes and perceives accurately the nature of something and then forms a thoughtful and accurate judgment about it.

Buddhism has long held that all life forms are sacred and worthy of kind actions and explicitly includes animals in its moral universe. The first precept of Buddhism "do not kill," should apply to our treatment of animals as well as to our treatment of other human beings. Yet some Buddhists eat meat and meat eating is sometimes defended as consistent with Buddhist teaching. The Great Compassion by practicing Buddhist Norm Phelps studies the sutras that command respect for all life and various schools of Buddhist thought to see if Buddhist practice demands vegetarianism, and comes up with some surprising answers.

Ryuho Okawa, founder of the Institute for Research in Human Happiness (IRH), Kofuku-no-Kagaku in Japanese, has devoted his life to the exploration of the Truth and ways to happiness.

He was born in 1956 in Tokushima, Japan and graduated from the University of Tokyo. In March 1981, he received his higher calling and awakened to the hidden part of his consciousness. His thinking has been influenced by many philosophies including Buddhism and the ideas of Rudolf Steiner and Emmanuel Swedenborg.

He established the Institute in 1986 and for the past twenty years has been designing spiritual workshops for people from all walks of life, from teenagers to business executives. He is known for his wisdom, compassion, and commitment to educating people to think and act in spiritual and religious ways. His books have sold millions of copies worldwide and he has also produced successful feature length films (including animations) based on his works. The members of the Institute follow the path he teaches, ministering to people who need help by sharing his teachings.

In many of his books, Ryuho Okawa presents practical and immediate solutions to problems that affect all of us in one way or another throughout our lives: How can we be happy? How do we help our intimate relationships to grow and thrive rather than stagnate and die? How should we judge success materially or spiritually? What is the true meaning of life? How can we make ourselves mentally and spiritually stronger so that when adversity strikes we do not suffer so much? How can we be generous and compassionate without being taken advantage of or not achieving our goals? These questions are dealt with in the following books, which can be read as a series or as stand-alone titles. All offer bracing, thoughtful, gentle, and honest guidance on living a good life and being thoughtful, kind, loving, and generous.

Andrew Linzey's book Creatures of the Same God is a collection of essays centered on animal theology, and was recently reviewed by Gracia Fay Ellwood.

You can read the entire review here: The Peaceable Table.

The Bhagavad Gita (the "Song of the Lord") is considered the most important work of ancient Sanskrit literature.

It is also, with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, one of the greatest works on yoga. Part of the enormous epic poem the Mahabharata, the Gita tells the story of Arjuna, a warrior prince, who on the eve of battle experiences doubt and fear at the fighting to come. His charioteer, however, is none other than Lord Krishna, who strengthens his heart to face his destiny. The Bhagavad Gita as a Living Experience offers the unique combination of an expert Indologist, Wilfried Huchzermeyer, who examines the literary and mythic meaning of the text, and a yoga instructor, Jutta Zimmermann, who reveals the Gita’s deep wisdom about yoga in all its four major forms (karma [action], jnana [knowledge], bhakti [devotion], dyana [meditation]) and
shows how its wisdom can provide universal guidance for all humanity.

Yoga in recent years has been both demystified and increasingly guru-driven. Yet, the Truth that Yoga espouses is not something that is absent and far away, requiring great effort to find. Truth is present within you as the Life that is you. In Yoga of Heart, Mark Whitwell explores the tantric dimension of hatha yoga and how we can forge a union of polarities within our body: above and below, front and back, left and right, male and female. Yoga of Heart focuses especially on clearing the energy centers and meridians allowing practitioners to create a deeper intimacy with their partners and the vitalizing life forces in the universe.

Stephen Batchelor spoke at the Tattered Cover Bookstore on March 16 plugging his book, "Confession s of a Buddhist Atheist." I was intrigued by his interest in the question of the "historical Buddha," which has rarely been investigated. I asked him whether he (Batchelor) was a vegetarian, whether the historical Buddha was a vegetarian, and how this all related to the first precept (not to take the life of any sentient creature).

Andrew Linzey's Creatures of the Same God: Explorations in Animal Theology was reviewed, along with two of his other books, in St Mark's Review 2010 (1) No. 211, published by Australia's St. Mark's National Theological Centre.

Click past the jump for the full text of the review.

The other night I went to a meeting of the local group of progressive Christians. We heard a lecture on the subject of what we can know about the historical Jesus and what this means for progressive Christianity. The thesis put forward was that progressive Christianity supports inclusivity. Jesus believed in inclusivity — he hung out with tax-gatherers, prostitutes, and other disreputable characters. This is all very good, and very much to the point, because the presence of gays in the church (and the ministry) is very controversial in some circles.

But it doesn't go nearly far enough. What would Jesus say about the spectacle of the richest country in the world wantonly destroying the environment and polluting the atmosphere, conducting aggressive wars which kill hundreds of thousands of people, and rescuing the rich during a financial crisis the end of which we cannot foresee? And what would Jesus think about a society that allows all this to pass without apology, remorse, or accountability, or a church that thinks that this is too controversial a topic to speak about openly?

Ruth Lauer-Manenti's An Offering of Leaves was just reviewed in the German edition of Yoga Journal. I can't read the review myself, but know from the editor there that they think highly of both the book and the author herself.

That same magazine has a feature article about David Life, who wrote the Foreword to An Offering of Leaves, and Sharon Gannon, the author of another Lantern book entitled Cats and Dogs are People, Too!.

If you do read German, you can find both articles here.

For thirty years, Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO, has been reclaiming the Christian meditative tradition that he calls Centering Prayer.

It takes its roots from a number of sources: the ancient prayer practices of the Christian contemplative heritage, notably the Fathers and Mothers of the Desert; Lectio Divina, (praying the scriptures); The Cloud of Unknowing; St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. With his fellow Trappist monks, Fr. William Meninger and Fr. Basil Pennington, and through his organization, Contemplative Outreach, Thomas Keating has shown that contemporary Christianity can be an enlivening, mystical experience, both free of dogma and deeply personal. Fr. Keating’s most recent work is Manifesting God, in which he explores the tradition of Christian meditation. No matter the external expression of beliefs and rituals, the contemplative dimension is the heart and soul of every religion. Contemplation initiates movement into higher states of consciousness. Manifesting God is a primer of the technique of contemplative prayer that allows the seeker from any faith to enter into the inner chamber of their heart. Here one basks in communion with the Divine presence, relieving one’s heart of its hurts and burdens.

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

Traditionally, plans and resolutions for a new year involve the hope for more: more money, more success, more travel and other diversions, more happiness. More happiness is definitely a worthwhile goal, but I notice considerable confusion about how to achieve it. Our society teaches that happiness comes from money, fame, power, the accumulation of possessions, the tireless pursuit of new experiences, and the achievement--even if artificial--of physical attractiveness, among other goals. However, rather than a need for more, I see many people suffering from too much: too much food, too much distraction, too much self-absorption, too much busyness and striving. The planet is also suffering from too much: too much human consumption, too much meat-eating and frivolous travel, and too much carelessness about the sacredness and fragility of the web of life. I try to look for ways to eliminate the unnecessary, the overly complex, the time-consuming, the excess, the meaningless aspects of daily living, and luxuriate in less.

Spiritual teachers of most traditions around the world have been trying to communicate this message for centuries, of course, long before the stakes for all life were as high as they are now at the beginning of 2010. In the Buddhist tradition I practice, for example, participants in a ceremony of commitment to the path of enlightenment declare: "I vow to live a life of simplicity. I vow to live a life of stability. I vow to live a life of selflessness. I vow to live a life of service." These vows could serve as a sort of shorthand for the life of less busyness and less stuff. If we can just keep in mind and practice those four "S" words--simplicity, stability, selflessness, and service--much of the unwanted, superfluous, and destructive would fall away.

A Practical Peacemaker Ponders . . .

Have you ever wondered what the oldest book is? I was instantly intrigued when I saw that claim on a book that crossed my desk at the library where I work. Coming down to us from around 2400 BCE, The Wisdom of Ptah-Hotep is the work of a Grand Vizier to a fifth dynasty Pharaoh. Widely studied in ancient times but lost for centuries, it resurfaced when a Frenchman passionate about Egyptian art purchased a papyrus in Thebes in 1843. It turned out to be the only complete copy of this work. Edited by noted contemporary Egyptologist Christian Jacq, the 2004 edition presents 45 maxims and epilogues along with the hieroglyphs line by line above the text.

Ptah-Hotep tells us that he is 101 years old, and wants to pass on the benefit of his experience through this collection of sayings, or "wisdoms." Here are some samples:

• Maxim 1: "Don't be conceited about your own knowledge. Take advice from the ignorant as well as from the wise."
• Maxim 9: "Don't blame or criticize those who have no children, nor boast about your own offspring. There are many unhappy fathers and as many unhappy mothers; a woman without children is more serene. God grants spiritual growth to the solitary, whereas the head of a family clan prays anxiously to find a successor."
• Maxim 11: "Follow your heart, your conscience and your ka—your creative power—all your life . . . don't cut short the time spent on the spiritual life . . . do not pervert the course of your day-to- day life by spending too long on mundane chores . . ."
• Maxim 14: "The one who is not a slave to material goods can acquire possessions provided he keeps in mind that he wants them only for a specific purpose . . . but he who obeys the impulses of his greed loses his own conscience, and provokes disdain rather than love . . . A big heart, in a man or woman, is a gift from God."

Andrea Boyd, co-founder of Jivamukti Charleston, on An Offering of Leaves.