 www.spiritualbookclub.com is an on-line global community of kindred spirits who explore spirituality through books, music, discussion, and ways to get involved in changing the world for the better. It's a spiritual home on the web. We also have people who read along with us from around the world. If you'd like to start a spirituality book club in your area, email
info@spiritualbookclub.com and we'll help you get started. We've been here since 1999, and we work to feed the spirits of those who visit this site with:
*Books that give deeper insights
*Music that moves you (or that just rocks and therefore moves you)
*Discussion that makes you think about what you believe
*Links that help you change the world
Enjoy this site...it's here for You!
Questions? Contact info@spiritualbookclub.com
Spirituality: Trying to Get at the Big, Big Picture
How to get at the big, big picture? Often in talking about religions, there can be disagreement about this philosophy or that. Spirituality covers a broader turf. Those who attempt to lead spiritual lives get a sense that it’s about trying to be faithful, trying to understand, and accepting that there are things that will never be answered in this lifetime.
In her book Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey From Bozeman to Banaras, Diana L. Eck tells the Hindu tale of Krishna and the milkmaids.
"...Hindus recall how Krishna the cowherd used to beckon the milkmaids to the forest in the middle of the night to dance the great circle dance. They came, risking everything, and Krishna miraculously multiplied himself to dance with each and every one of them. There was plenty of Krishna to go around, an abundance of Krishna’s presence, but the moment the milkmaids became possessive, each thinking that Krishna was dancing with her alone, Krishna disappeared. Krishna’s hide-and-seek in the world enabled the milkmaids to recognize that God is not theirs. The point is one that speaks to us all: The moment we human beings grasp God with jealousy and possessiveness, we lose hold of God."
Spirituality "gets" that it can’t contain God or the Holy One or Whomever it is you call The One. His Holiness the Dalai Lama says this: "Since there are so many different types of people, with a range of tendencies and inclinations, it is quite fitting that there are differences between religions. And the fact that there are so many different descriptions of the religious path shows how rich religion is."
This site seeks, like many on the web, to promote discussion of spirituality, and in this case spirituality books. Reading these books prompts discussions we might not have had before. At each spirituality book club gathering we ask about the book, "What new insight has it given you about life?" If it is a good book, chances are it contains at least one new thing to work over in your brain about how life and your spirituality is configured. "Soul Music" is for music, any kind of music, that moves your spirit...whether it’s Jonny Lang or Mindy Smith or Andre 3000. What makes your spirit settle in and get quiet? What makes your spirit long for something/Someone more? What inspires you?
When Yellowstone National Park, in the U.S., reintroduced wolves into the ecosystem, the whole park became a much healthier place. The bio-diversity had returned, so elk didn’t graze on the trees the beavers needed, out of fear of the wolves, so the beavers could make damns, which pooled water, which reintroduced species, etc. In the same way, talk of spirituality, from a variety of perspectives, makes for a healthier system, a diverse system which can appreciate what others bring to the table because in the end there are no "definitive" answers in spirituality.
Many people say, the older we get, the less we know. Hence this web site. For those wanting to explore more about the spirit....
Article about the spirituality book club: http://www.pantagraph.com/features/feat082706.shtml
Coming soon, our international interreligious Advisory Team. Sure, we've had this site since 1999. Sure, we've been meeting locally for that long as well. We're assembling a team of people from across the globe to help us expand the breadth, width, and depth of this site and its links as it keeps growing bigger than we ever expected. We have people with a wide variety of gifts and perspectives ready to get on board, so stay tuned, it's going to be a great time!
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