Spiritual elders have amazing insight and are able to help individuals with their spiritual walk regardless of their personal religious beliefs. Many elders offer spiritual wisdom that we may not receive in our church or from spiritual elders in our families that have the same belief system. All of the spiritual elders that I reviewed were able to give information that was able to help me in my personal journey and wrote in a way that can be understood by others that do not share the same beliefs. Scholarly, spiritual leaders offer experience, knowledge, and wisdom that we may never obtain so, it is important to observe and understand their contributions.
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook is a Jewish spiritual leader that became Chief Rabbi of Israel. When Kook wrote his poem, “Radiant Is the World Soul,” I read and took note of one particular line that truly stood out to me. Kook writes “Listen to me and you will enjoy what is good and find delight in what is truly precious.”(Easwaren, 1982. P. 39). It’s my opinion that he
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I have a close friend named Supriya, whose uncle was the Prime Minister of Nepal. Supriya’s family, the Koirala’s, were exiled from Nepal when she was a young girl. They fled to India where she studied Hinduism and Buddhism, while gaining a Catholic education. Subsequently, Supriya moved to the United States to continue her education. I was invited to her traditional Nepali wedding ceremony in Nepal, which incorporated both Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Unfortunately, I was unable to witness the wedding first hand because I could not get a passport prior to the ceremony. Supriya was able to help me understand her culture as well as Hinduism and Buddhism in a way I had never heard before. It is certainly more enlightening learning different forms of religions from those who have practiced the religion since they were young
There are many things in people's lives that define them; a major influence is religion. Against the backdrop of World War II, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, shows the relationship of two religious Jewish boys, that grow up in very different Jewish sects. At a baseball game that represents a metaphorical war between the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish culture an unlikely friendship is born. Reuven Malter, raised as a modern Orthodox Jew, accepts secular influences. The other protagonist, Danny Saunders, a son of a Hasidic rabbi, Reb Saunders, is raised as a traditional Hasidic Jew, bound by his father’s strict upbringing. Danny, by birthright, is chosen as his sect’s future rabbi to carry on his father’s dynasty, which causes internal struggle and
Magical, poetic, and awe-aspiring. This is what mere words at its best can accomplish when trying to capture the essence of the painting, The Glory of the Light Within, by the renowned artist, Dale Terbush. This specific masterpiece is representative of Terbush’s art and reveals much about his outlook towards nature. Viewers are presented with a breathtaking scenery and a natural beauty depicted in all its glory in this panoramic view (the painting is 4x5 feet). Indeed, because the well-defined foreground, distinct middle ground, and dim background compose characteristics of a magical scenery, this vista is transformed into an ideal utopia.
Bringing Life or Seven Years in Afghanistan is a story from an Engineer alumni from ORU, Joshua Atkinson, that recounts destitution and honor from working to develop a devastated Afghanistan. His memories from the dreaded 9/11 attacks has detailed Atkinson's journey to Afghanistan for working with the nation and the people during the outbreak of the war. His novel has only great telling from life in Afghanistan to showing difficulties in rebuilding the country to even the calling God has called to him for.
Living Buddha, Living Christ has taught me the true meaning of Buddhism, and it demonstrates what the path to true enlightenment is. The following concepts have stood out to me, and they are ones that I relate to on a more personal level. Buddhism has perceptions that are not always seen by everyone, but they are concepts that are important for our own happiness.
A strong sense of self, in the words of William Shakespeare, is “To know what we are, but not what we might be.” In the book, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the main character, Gene, ¬¬struggled with having a strong sense of self. His lack of identity negatively affected his life. The major consequence of his absent sense of self was his burning envy and hatred toward his extremely athletically gifted friend Finny. Gene’s lack of identity and hatred toward Finny led him to shake a limb if a tree that Finny was climbing. Finny fell and broke his leg. He later died when the bone marrow escaped into his blood. Gene’s behavior caused Finny’s death but there is reason to believe that Finny would have died anyway. For example, Finny could have been killed in the army, Finny’s lack of caution caused him to break his leg again, and the branch would have broken since it was already weak causing Finny to fall and die.
The Color of Christ describes an interesting, yet complicated, relationship between religion and race. The image of Christ plays an important role in the formation of different religions. The color of Christ has not always been predominately portrayed as white. The Puritans did not believe in religious imagery, thus destroying any images of Christ. Jesus was not solely depicted as white until the mid-nineteenth century. Before then, Jesus came from Jewish roots and had brown eyes. The formation of this blond hair, blue eyed, white Jesus came about as the nation itself began to change as Catholics and Jewish immigrants came into the United States and whites began to grow in power. Before white Jesus emerged, people in different cultures depicted Jesus as their own. During the civil rights movement, some black people portrayed Jesus as a black African with an afro comparing the struggles of Jesus with the struggle of their people in the south during the civil rights movement in order to make their Jesus more relatable to suit their own religious obligations and constitutional objective...
For Foua, a Hmong mother, the United States was a complete opposite to the life she was use to living and right now preparing this wedding shows the skills that she possess even if they are not very relevant in her new home, “‘I [Foua] am very stupid.’ When I [Anne] asked her why, she said, “Because I don’t know anything here. I don’t know your language. American is so hard, you can watch TV all day ad you still don’t know it” (Fadiman 103). This wedding bought Foua and Anne close in a different way, it created a new level of understanding and appreciation. Anne is starting to discover what it is like to be from another country where the language is different, the clothes are different, the entire way the people live is different. Basically, the world has been flipped upside down and the people need to find their new source of living. It is never easy to pick up a perfectly settled life and suddenly decide that moving and changing it all around is exactly what we need to do. But that was not the case of Foua, her family was forced to move to the United States. This would have made it even harder to adjust. Everything is suddenly thrown at Foua and there is no looking back only forward and the forward might be a lot more difficult. This is why this wedding is like a dream to Foua, it combines her old life with her new life. Although, the skill of creating a Hmong wedding might not be useful in the United States they still create a lot of joy and this joy can lead people to understand one another in a new found way. A new joy that was found in the new life of the bride and groom, but also there was the connection between two cultures. There was a greater understanding and
The first step I took was to learn about their religion and culture; I visited the temple (church) where most of the people interact and worship. The West Indian community is made up of mostly Hindus. Hinduism is the main religion in India where they worship many forms of gods and believe that after you die, you return to life in a different form. While visiting the temple, I learned that within this community, they all share the same values and beliefs. Their mission is to continuously grow, have adults and youths participate in the community and raise money to have events to celebrate their...
I was very nervous to visit the Hindu Mandir. However, once I got there, I saw how beautiful and amazing it really was. It was so beautiful that I thought that I was in a museum instead of a place of worship. It was absolutely nothing as I expected it to be at all. While I was in the Mandir, I felt a sense of honor and serenity and at peace while looking around at all the beautiful art. In addition, I learned many different things because of this visit about Hinduism. The visit made me learn things that I would have never learned if I did not go on the trip. I learned about what a Mandir is, a Mandir functions, the history of Hinduism, their beliefs, and their festival celebrations.
While Kierkegaard’s analysis of the superiority of the Knight of Faith in relation to those who follow the aesthetic life or ethical life is correct, he fails to acknowledge that faith can be rooted in joy and love, and can be far more spiritual and fulfilling than faith alone. This is the angst-ridden and unfortunate symptom of an existential despair, and does not truly reflect the complicated relationship between man and God.
“The Sweet Hereafter” portrays the grief stricken citizens of a remote Canadian town traumatized by a terrible accident, and the impact of an ambulance-chasing lawyer who is attempting to deal with the grief in his own life. The film also depicts the grieving subjects susceptibility to convert grief and guilt into both blame and monetary gain and the transformation this small community faces after such a devastating event.
In today’s ever changing world people must adapt to change. If an organization wants to be successful or remain successful they must embrace change. This book helps us identify why people succeed and or fail at large scale change. A lot of companies have a problem with integrating change, The Heart of Change, outlines ways a company can integrate change. The text book Ivanceich’s Organizational Behavior and Kotter and Cohen’s The Heart of Change outlines how change can be a good thing within an organization. The Heart of Change introduces its readers to eight steps the authors feel are important in introducing a large scale organizational change. Today’s organizations have to deal with leadership change, change in the economy,
Indigenous religions exist in every climate around the world and exhibit a wide range of differences in their stories, language, customs, and views of the afterlife. Within indigenous communities, religion, social behavior, art, and music are so intertwined that their religion is a significant part of their culture and virtually inseparable from it. These religions originally developed and thrived in isolation from one another and are some of the earliest examples of religious practice and belief. The modern world; however, has taken its toll on these groups and many of their stories, customs, and beliefs have been lost to, or replaced by, those brought in as a result of popular culture and the missionary work of Christians and Muslims.
Nanda, S. (1998). Arranging a Marriage in India. In P. DeVita (Ed.), Stumbling toward truth: Anthropologists at work (pp. 196-204). Illinois, U.S: Waveland Press.
Customs and traditions differ from one part of Nepal to another. A conglomeration lies in capital city Kathmandu where cultures are blending to form a national identity. Kathmandu Valley has served as the country’s cultural metropolis since the unification of Nepal in the 18th Century.A prominent factor in a Nepali’s everyday life is religion. Adding color to the lives of Nepalis are festivals the year round which they celebrate with much pomp and joy. Food plays an important role in the celebration of these festivals.