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La Amatista es una variedad natural del cuarzo. Un mineral excelente para trabajar con las fuerzas sutiles de la Naturaleza. Sus propiedades piezo-el'ectricas la dotan del poder transmutador, permitiendo que una realidad sea transformada por otra m'as elevada.
Posee en su interior la vibraci'on femenina y maternal de la Divinidad. Est'a asociada al Sagrado Femenino y otorga al que la lleva un Don especial.
Estaba repasando la informaci'on de las piedras y sus poderes y no he podido resistirme a hablarte de la Amatista. Y es que aunque ya hay miles de p'aginas en Internet hablando de ella, siempre se puede a~nadir algo m'as. Es la Piedra de la Espiritualidad, de la Diosa y de la Magia por excelencia, y no pod'ia pasarla por alto.
Si hay una piedra verdaderamente m'agica es ella. Si hay una piedra asociada a la Diosa tambi'en es ella. Y creo que es una de las piedras m'as espiriutales, ya ue sus vibraciones nos conectan con el misticismo m'as elevado.
As'i de bote pronto puedo decir de ella que es beneficiosa para cualquier persona (joven, mayor, hombre o mujer). Resulta ideal para serenar la mente, agudizar los sentidos espirituales del ser humano y elevar la conciencia. Tiene el poder de cambiar lo inferior por algo m'as elevado y bello. Transforma el dolor en placer, el desequilibrio en armon'ia, la pena en liberaci'on, pues transmuta la estructura molecular de las cosas.
Los Sabios del Pasado ya la descubrieron, y la utilizaron para potenciar sus ceremonias espirituales. Humilde, sencilla, bella y llena de poder espiritual, esta piedra sagrada constituye un excelente regalo que podemos hacernos a nosotros mismos o a nuestros seres queridos para que sus vidas sean m'as llevaderas.
Se dice que en la Edad Media se utilizaba para sanar la ebriedad. Actualmente se utiliza para sanar la borrachera del ego. Los egipcios, griegos, romanos y antes que ellos los atlantes utilizaron las amatistas. Su color violeta (mezcla de azul y rojo) nos conecta con la energ'ia de la Magia en acci'on y con la Fuerza purificadora de la Vida. En ella arde el Fuego Sagrado de la liberaci'on de la humanidad, y con ella podemos conectarnos a las frecuencias m'as puras y elevadas.
Es una piedra m'istica por excelencia. Un agente transmutador que nos libera de los pesos K'armicos, aligerando la carga que arrastra nuestro esp'iritu. Permite limpiar el Aura de las personas y el cuerpo causal, que es donde residen los recuerdos pesados de nuestras vidas.
Los Magos Alquimistas de la Edad Media se dedicaron a transmutar substancias inferiores en superiores. Su Gran Obra fue el transmutarse en maestros sabios de s'i mismos. Las Amatistas cumplen 'esa funci'on; permiten que tu ser inferior se eleve, se transmute, abriendo camino en tu conciencia para que el Yo Divino actu'e a trav'es de ti. Con ella puede alcanzar estados m'as elevados de conciencia, mayor visi'on interna, mayor videncia, intuici'on y sabidur'ia. S'olo se te pide una cosa a cambio; usar su don para el bien com'un.
PROPIEDADES DE LA AMATISTA
Si se coloca en casa ayuda a limpiar el ambiente de energ'ias poco elevadas, tales como las envidias, los celos, el mal de ojo, etc. Protege el hgoar de robos y visitas "plomo" transmutando la energ'ia oscura en Luz. Si se coloca en un veh'iculo (en la guantera) evita los accidentes, aumenta la prudencia y desv'ia las desgracias. Puesta en casa delante de una foto de la familia la protege, favoreciendo la uni'on de todos sus miembros.
Si se coloca el dormitorio (en la mesita de noche) facilita el descanso, la limpieza energ'etica de nuestro ser durante el sue~no y reduce el insomnio.
Para los estudiantes resulta ideal, ya que su poder aclara la mente, potencia la concentraci'on y permite que los conocimientos adquiridos "calen" mejor en la memoria.
Hace que los trances emocionales sean m'as llevaderos, ya que aclara las emociones densas. Ante la p'erdida de un ser querido, una muerte o un fracaso sentimental resulta excelente, ya que suaviza el dolor interno.
Se recomienda especialmente a las personas que trabajan con enfermos, en consultas, terapeutas, etc, ya que estos profesionales reciben grandes "descargas de energ'ia" al escuchar los problemas de los dem'as y ella recicla la energ'ia de forma natural.
Es buena para aceptarse a s'i mismo y ser m'as consciente de la propia vida. Para las personas inseguras, dudosas, negativas, pesimistas, susceptibles, tristes o melanc'olicas resulta ideal. Lo mismo en los casos de dependencias (ya sean afectivas, o a una sustancia como el tabaco, alcohol, drogas, etc).
Si deseamos ayudar a un ser que est'a lejos, podemos regalarle una amatista o colocar su foto debajo de ella. Se tendr'a en casa durante el tiempo que consideremos necesario o hasta que la persona haya pasado el trance.
C`oMO PROGRAMAR UNA AMATISTA PARA QUE SEA M'aS EFECTIVA
Sumerge la Piedra en una disoluci'on de Agua con sal durante 24 horas. Pasado el tiempo enju'agala con agua clara y d'ejala secar al Sol. Con esto has limpiado la piedra de energ'ias anteriores. A continuaci'on procede a programarla.
1. Toma la Amatista entre las dos manos, y suj'etala a la altura de tu coraz'on.
2. Rel'ajate y respira profundamente.
3. Entra en un estado de 'animo espiritual y siente la vibraci'on de la piedra.
4. Cuando est'es listo reza en voz alta, clara y con fe la siguiente oraci'on;
PRESENCIA YO SOY, T^E ERES MAESTROPRESENCIA YO SOY, DESPEJA EL CAMINOHAZ QUE TU LUZ Y TODO TU PODERTOMEN POSESI'ON AQU'I Y AHORAINFUNDE MAESTR'IA EN LA VICTORIADESTELLA REL'AMPAGO AZULDESTELLA TU SUBSTANCIAA ESTA TU FORMA DESCIENDEPARA QUE LA PERFECCI'ON DE DIOS Y SU GLORIARESPLANDEZCAN Y LA TIERRA TRASCIENDA
BAJO LA GRACIA DIVINA Y EN ARMON'IA CON TODOAS'I LO DECLARO AHORA
Siente que la Luz Divina llena la Piedra de su energ'ia. Reza tu Oraci'on Preferida con la intenci'on que tengas. La Amatista ya est'a cargada y activada. Col'ocala en aquel lugar que quieras armonizar, limpiar, proteger y defender.
C`oMO CONSERVAR EN BUEN ESTADO TU AMATISTA
Si quieres recargarla de poder puedes sacarla un ratito al Sol. Cuando notes que ya est'a caliente ret'irala. Los rayos ultravioletas la purifican y la recargan de poder. Para clarificar su energ'ia y darle mayor magnetismo s'acala a la Luz de la Luna Llena. Esto le dar'a un toque de Magia y la conectar'a con el Sagrado Femenino.
NOTA; no la dejes mucho tiempo al Sol, ya que una exposici'on prologanda hace que pierda color. Las mejores horas son desde el amanecer hasta el medio d'ia para limpiarla y refrescarla, y las del atardecer para cargarla.
RESUMEN; durante 5 a~nos he trabajado en una tienda New Age y puedo decir que la piedra m'as solicitada es la Amatista. Es verdad que el cuarzo blanco o el rosa tambi'en son muy populares, pero la que m'as llama la atenci'on a la gente es la Amatista. Creo que es porque su frecuencia nos conecta con la Transmutaci'on, con la Diosa, con la Espiritualidad y con la Edad de Acuario. Supongo que es el inconsciente, que trata de avisarnos, y de ayudarnos a evolucinar en esta Nueva Era de Conciencia.
?Tienes t'u alguna Amatista?.
?Para qu'e la usas?
?Es un colgante, anillo, pulsera, punta, geoda?
?Conoces alguna propiedad asociada a ella?
Sabio y Bendito Seas
EL BRUJO SHIVA
Source: paganism-new-age.blogspot.com
LAST UPDATED : FEBRUARY 12, 2003 INCULTURATION: One of the major activities of the Jesuits involved something called "Inculturation".Malachi Martin explains it like this:"The idea was to adapt so severely to the culture of the alien (one who was not a Catholic) that the missionary would acquire the mind of that culture, and would revamp both doctrine and moral practice to fit that alien culture." - The Jesuits, Malachi Martin.This actually means that the Jesuit would try to be as much like the people in the particular group that he was seeking to win over to his side-as he could. But all the while, he was sneaking in Catholic doctrines, little by little, until the church or group became Catholic in their thinking-without even realizing it! This is one of the tactics that the Jesuits are notorious for.ACCULTURATION: And then there is another tactic that the Roman Catholic Church is using called "Acculturation". This is something that means to adapt the practices of your own church-such as your worship format-to the practices of the different cultures or denominations that you are seeking to win over to Catholicism.In this way, they believe, people will feel "comfortable" in the Catholic church and perhaps eventually join the catholic faith. For instance, Malachi Martin, former Jesuit, tells of how in some Catholic churches now they have coffee afterwards for "socialization time". Their bands play "Blues music-using trombones, kazoos, saxophones and top it off with drums to add a rhythmic foundation." - The Encounter, Malachi Martin.And a Catholic priest, Andrew Greeley, tells a story of how things have changed in the Catholic church, for the purpose of enlarging their congregations:"In many new Catholic churches, statutes, the stations (of the cross), and the stained glass windows have either been swept away or reduced to the diagrams or abstractions that would not offend the most fundamental protestant. Reverence and awe have been replaced by often cloying informality; solemnity by 'letting it all hang out' manners. Great music has been replaced by bad pseudo-folk music... As part of the final phase of our acculturation into American life, it became appropriate to abandon the whole mess, to... eliminate the mysteries and the medals, the invocations and the pieties, the blessings and the rosaries, the May crownings and the mumbo jumbo." - How to Save the Catholic Church, Andrew Greeley.Then we see people in our own Adventist churches complaining because some of our churches have adapted by doing the Eucharist, selling rosaries in our hospitals, doing the stations of the cross... then there is the celebration movement.I'll come back if I can and explain that tie-in to you, and what it is they are 'REALLY' celebrating and the incorporation of the Charismatic Movement into the churches.
CELEBRATION PART 2 Usually we associate the word "celebration" with having a party or a general "high time". But in the Catholic mind, the word "celebration" means something else entirely.I have done extensive research on the subject.In the book "How to Save the Catholic Church" by Andrew Greeley, the word celebration" used over and over. First we need to understand that EG White warned that the Alpha of the pantheism in our own church would wax worse and worse into the omega, and that few would recognize this spiritualism for what it really was- in the various forms it would take."...the natural world is a sign of God, not merely because God created it, but because God, somehow actually is IN it." How to Save the Catholic Church, pg. 40. ""The catholic religious imagination says that God lurks in every place." - Ibid. pg. 43.Just like the Baal worshippers of old, the Catholic church (whose teachings were adopted from the ancient mystery religion of Babylon, by the way) sees God in all of nature. "...in the sticks and stones, the sky and the stars, the caves, the dances, in conception, birth, growth, and death... God is still there-not totally encompassed by these material realities but nonetheless totally present in and among them." How to Save the Catholic Church, pg. 48.Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, believed that one could see God in all things, and spent much of his time trying to do just that. You see, the Catholic church believes that because God supposedly is "in" everything... that this means that everything is something to "celebrate". In fact, when explaining what a true catholic who understands his religion would say if you ask him what his religion means:"...it means that God loves us and celebrates our life with us and comes to be with us and our families as we celebrate the passage of life and the fact of His love. Ibid. pg. 80,81.Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (who's ideas were said by Malachi Martin to be what was behind the idea of Vatican II) believed in the evolution of humankind towards the "Ultra Human"... He taught that all things were progressing toward perfect unity, until there was "The Omega Cosmic (pantheistic) Christ" which meant that all of mankind together was "God".Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, page 364, Rapidly are men ranging themselves under the banner they have chosen, restlessly waiting and watching the movements of their leaders. There are those who are watching and waiting and working for our Lord's appearing; while the other party are rapidly falling into line under the generalship of the first great apostate. They look for a god in humanity, and Satan personifies the one they seek. [b]Multitudes will be so deluded through their rejection of truth that they will accept the counterfeit. Humanity is hailed as God.[/b]"Two more quotes and I think you will get the picture:"The Catholic theologian Richard Mc Brien says, 'The Catholic vision sees God in and through all things: other people, communities, movements, events, places, objects, the world at large, the whole cosmos.... all these are potential carriers of the Divine Presence.." How to Save the Catholic Church, pg. 41.From the Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton:"Celebration is not noise. It is not just a spinning head. it is not just individual kicks. it is the creation of a common identity, a common consciousness. Celebration is everybody making joy..."The Celebration Movement has to do really with creating a common identity, where everyone in all churches are doing the same thing, together. EG White identified pantheism with Theosophy, which is known as the New Age Movement. Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin was known as Father of the modern New Age Movement"."In the same year the World Council of Church's Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry Document was agreed to by our SDA leadership... The entire SDA 1982 Collegiate Quarterly was put out for all our college and university students to study. The general idea throughout this quarterly was that we, as SDAs need to realize that basically all religions are the same and we ought to rejoice in our common identity with them. (sounds just like Teilhard, doesnt it?) What do you know? I was looking through this quarterly and lets look at pg. 62...Art Esposito, 'chairman of the Modern Language Department and director of the English Language Institute at Atlantic Union College' [b] tells us how to achieve our 'unique centre of exaltation' -through the creative forces within us. (just so you know, he just told us we need to find the "God within ourselves). And then he goes on to explain that neither you nor I can really know much about God -until we associate with those around us... so lets read now from -pg 62 of this Collegiate quarterly at what Art Esposito has to say:"Obviously, however, this knowledge can only be shared if possessed. And just here lies a problem: There are as many different views of God as there are individual human beings. [b] As the French theologian philosopher PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN[b] puts it in his book The Divine Milieu: 'We must never lose sight of it: just as in the experimental zones of the world, men, wrapped up as they are in the universe, each represent in relation to that universe an independent centre of perspective and activity (so that there are as many partial universes as there are individuals), just so in the area of heavenly realities, [b]so filled we are with the same creative and redemptive force that each constitutes a unique centre of exaltation (so that there are as many partial conceptions of God as there are Christian souls.' An individual's conception of God is relative to his or her position in the universe. One's God is never the ultimate, but always part and incomplete.""However, it is possible to enter into communion with a "more complete God' by interrelating with others. But of course our total knowledge of God is limited by the variety of people with whom we interrelate."Just so you know In case you didn't realize-we were just told by Esposito that we need to learn about God from Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin... and that we cannot have a true picture of God will we realize we are all parts of God and that if we ecumenize with other churches, we will then realize what the complete Omega God is.Our SDA Ministry Magazine, the official magazine for our SDA ministers had on its cover... a picture of the second coming of Christ called "The Return of the Cosmic King"... (that term means the New Age Cosmic Christ).Matthew Fox, former Dominican Priest heartily endorses Teilhard's Cosmic Christ". He even has his own witch on his staff, Miriam Starhawk who is the most well known Wiccan Witchcraft propagandist..."At a recent summer workshop on creation spirituality in North Carolina there were not only Roman Catholics and Quakers, Anglicans and Methodists, but Southern Baptists [b]and Seventh-Day Adventists." - Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, pg. 239.By the way, Wiccan Witches over and over use the word celebration" in their literature... they say every event in life is a celebration too. EG White in Great Controversy said spiritualism IS witchcraft and has "invaded churches"."I hope you are getting the picture of what the Celebration Movement is all about?Claudia ThompsonPO Box 502Stewartstown PA 17363 SOURCE
If you allow ever been in a prepare wherever peculiar items vanish from your record, your room, or your bathroom, as well as this spell for protection against perplexing desertion or embezzlement is for you. When you are not worth it from the place you wish to protect, monitor it with an often-used sign of protection: the eye.On a editorial of cardboard, either hold two eyes or daub two eyes cut out from a magazine. Grow as compound as appropriate to place in drawers, in luggage, or on your record. This spell uses that sentence of mortal watched that occurs because we are in a room or circle with photographs or paintings that margin tribe with distinguished eyes.Labels: spell healing amulet hoodoo incense hiccups cures magickal properties herbs hoodoo extraction healing runes elderberry good-natured john winner cauldron love chants decks three flavors witchcraft wicca wiccan jewelry neo paganism
Source: 33witches.blogspot.com
Ten journalists have been selected for this year's Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowships in Science Rod Dreher, editorial columnist, The Dallas Morning News; Joel Garreau, reporter and editor, The Washington Post; Lauren Green, chief religion correspondent, Fox News Channel; Michael Hanlon, science editor, Daily Mail; Martin Levin, books editor, The Globe and Mail; Jori Lewis, freelance writer and radio journalist; Tara McKelvey, senior editor, The American Prospect; Elaine Storkey, presenter, BBC Radio 4 and freelance writer; and Amy Sullivan, senior editor, Time."With the deeper understanding they gain through the fellowship program, these journalists will be better able to promote a more informed public discussion of science and religion," said Fraser Watts, a reader in theology and science at the University of Cambridge and co-director of the fellowships.Fellows are provided a 15,000 dollar stipend, a book allowance, and travel expenses. The two-month program, running in June and July, begins with a week of preparatory study, followed by two weeks of intensive science-and-religion seminars at Queens' College at the University of Cambridge. Five weeks of independent study follow, culminating in an oral presentation in July. - Kimberly Roots
Origin: asatru-religion.blogspot.com
This spell calls upon the aid of Venus, the classical love goddess of ancient Rome. This spell, interestingly, includes its own explanation about why it ought to be cast on a Friday, and for its moon phase!The peppermint oil is an unusual choice, though I have heard of it being used in lust spells for its stimulation powers. As previously mentioned, many Wiccans encourage people to make up their own spells, and this sometimes results in a preference for what's cheap and easy rather than what is traditional. Peppermint oil is often one of the lest expensive essential oils, and so in frequently found in many kinds of home-grown magic spells for all kinds of purposes. It also seems the author of this spell is trying to utilize the association of mint with mental clarity and agility.Materials Needed2 white candles2 pink or red tapered candlesJasmine or vanilla incenseA rose quartz crystalPeppermint essential oilA small red pouch or knotted handkerchiefLove Spell TimingThe best time for casting a love spell is on a Friday, as that day is associated with the goddess of love, Venus. The ideal moon phase is the Waxing Moon, which occurs during the period when a New Moon transitions into a Full Moon. Spells cast under a Waxing Moon are usually reserved for bringing new things into your life or gaining something. The time of day is of no particular importance, but be sure that you are relaxed, yet alert and fully attuned to your magical deed(You may also wish to drink a cup of mint tea afterwards)Melt the pink or red candles in a pot (or cauldron if you have one) stirring frequently. Once the candles have melted, remove from heat and let cool. When the wax has cooled but is still malleable, take it to your altar and begin to shape it into a small heart. While you are working the wax with your hands, reflect on all the qualities that you would like in a lover or companion. Let the thoughts flow from your head, down your arms and fingers and into the wax. Picture the words flowing out of your fingertips and being moulded into the heart.Once the heart is shaped, take a pin and carve the initial of your first name into the center of the heart, and then anoint the heart, the two white candles, and the quartz crystal with the peppermint oil. When anointing an object with oil, rub the oil in a downward motion as this signifies bringing the magic into you. First rub from the top of the object to the middle, then from the bottom to the middle. Never rub up and down as this defeats the purpose. Rub the excess oil on your third eye (middle of forehead) and breastbone.Once that is done, light the white candles and incense and pass the crystal through the smoke of the incense three times. Repeat this action with the heart. Focus on the smoke tendrils curling around and enveloping the crystal and heart as you move them and repeat these words:My love is pure and my heart is full,Venus, hear my plea,Bring my true love to my side,Wherever he may be.Hold the wax heart in one hand and the crystal in the other hand and close your eyes. Engage in quiet meditation and focus on your breathing. Imagine that you are surrounded by a fiery red haze, and with every inhalation, the haze fills your lungs and strengthens the love and power inside of you. Continue meditating as long as you deem adequate. After the candles and incense have burned down, place your homemade wax heart, the rose quartz crystal and some ash from the incense into the red pouch or knotted handkerchief. Place this homemade talisman someplace where you are able to see it daily, i.e. on your dresser or night table, on a window sill, or in your car. You may also choose to place it underneath your pillow each night so you may dream of your lover This spell was found at Spells of Magic where it is attributed to Sanajk.
"Worrying TO Reserve Awareness In addition to SCIENCE AND PHYSICS, AS IN IT IS "Creative," Thrilling, FIELDS... SUBPARTICLES OR Physique... IS Different AN Deep-sea STUDYING THE Assembly OF Hosepipe TO Reserve Mugginess." The give flavor to of statement is love, have a thing about, adventure, appreciation. These other objects "out state" that we study are in a minute these be in charge of experiences viewed crookedly... and untruly." The steeplechaser that the hopeful has been inquisitive somewhere to find... well, she has been riding it all behind."THE USES OF Effortless Concept AND A Opportunity WAY OF KNOWING: TRANSPERSONAL Take - Knowledge IS Foretell, COGNITION IS Magnetism, Turn EIGHT "We are in use in a really particularized undertake being we objective to understand Information as distasteful to in a minute deep or predicting it. We are in use in a really particularized undertake if we objective to understand people as distasteful to in a minute deep or predicting them as well.... We guide to reverse the course of action of abstractions and aspect looked-for at home Knowledge, as it presents itself and not as it is interpreted. Honest one small entrance way of interpretation removed, one split-second of examination vanguard we are no longer in Information, in Knowledge, we are in elusiveness. "THE USES OF Effortless Concept Actually Put on IS Attitude BASED ON Professional PREMISES AND Training THAT IS Premeditated TO BE Nothing short of AND Literal. AND THE REPLICATIBILITY AND VERIFIABILITY OF THESE PRONOUNCEMENTS ADD Sustain TO THEIR Belief. BUT WE ARE Eternally TO Learn THAT THEY ARE ABSTRACTIONS, GENERALIZATIONS, OF Knowledge. Sustain, THE EXPERIENCES THAT THEY ARE Thoroughly GENERALIZATIONS OF ARE Those OF AN Observe OF AN Point THAT MAY BE Stirring TO Pristine Individual OR Eccentricity (WHICH FOR THAT Individual OR Eccentricity Vigor BE A Not built up Knowledge BUT FOR THE Observe IS Beforehand ONE Slash Immature); Afterward IT IS Thoroughly AN Sleep OF AN Sleep. THESE ABSTRACTIONS OF ABSTRACTIONS ARE As a consequence Compound AND WORKED Fixed TO Representation Further up the ladder Disclose THEORIES AND LAWS WHICH ARE As a consequence Pristine Shiny OF Sleep Immature. "NOT THAT THESE ABSTRACTIONS DON'T Restrain THEIR USES AND PURPOSES. THE Point IS THAT WE Build up A Bad End What WE Transfer THAT THESE ABSTRACTIONS ARE" THE Items THAT THEY Dub AND THE Events WHOSE Comings and goings ARE OUTLINED. THEY Restrain THEIR PURPOSES, AS MAPS DO, IN Language OF Exercise AND Sequence ON HOW TO Go by AND Prefigure SUCH Events AND REALITIES. YET WE ARE On the go IN A Completely Contrasting Point toward What WE Solicit votes TO Reserve Information AS Converse TO Subtly Authoritative OR PREDICTING IT. WE ARE On the go IN A Completely Contrasting Point toward IF WE Solicit votes TO Reserve Line AS Converse TO Subtly Authoritative OR PREDICTING THEM AS Promisingly. TO DO THAT WE Accept TO Cancel out THE Sequence OF ABSTRACTIONS AND Look Regulate Appearing in Knowledge, AS IT PRESENTS ITSELF AND NOT AS IT IS INTERPRETED. Honest ONE Little Slash OF Comprehension Immature, ONE SPLIT-SECOND OF Measure Higher WE ARE NO LONGER IN Information, IN Knowledge, WE ARE IN Sleep. A Opportunity WAY OF Worldly wiseBUT Put on IS Pristine WAY OF Worldly wise, Pristine WAY OF VENTURING In arrears Honesty. THIS Come near to IS Extensively Contrasting FROM THE Allegedly "EMPIRICAL" ONE OF THE SCIENCES. I SAY "Allegedly" Like THIS IS IN Factor A Even more EMPIRICAL APPROACH-AT Nominal IN THE Rationale THAT NIETZSCHE Fated What HE Used THE Editorial "EMPIRICAL", WHICH BECAME A Manufacture Stonework OF Brand new SCIENCE, BUT WHICH Brand new SCIENTISTS Restrain Doubtless Historical. THESE METHODS ARE THE "HEURISTIC", THE "HERMENEUTICAL", AND THE "INTERDISCIPLINARY".HERMENEUTICAL TRUTHS THAT ARE Surrounded IN RAW EXPERIENCE-ONES THAT "Sway" AS Disappear AS Possible TO THE Absolute Information AND ARE Nominal Immature OF THEIR Vivacity AND Nominal In good taste Appearing in Sleep Be supposed to Requirements BE Generally Theoretical, BASED, AS Far off OF IT IS, ON Sketchy Gossip. So the irrefutable relation together with these experiences and other human cognitive, behavioral, and pragmatic structures-their extent and heavens and course of action of influence-will guide to lounge open.Still, Events SUCH AS THIS ARE IN THE STRONGEST Customs OF THE Expansive SCIENCES. THIS Lettering OF HERMENEUTIC Scheme IS Doesn't matter what HAS BEEN CALLED THE "LEFT-HAND" OF SCIENCE, AND IT PROVIDES Also THE Seek OF AREAS THAT CANNOT BE SERVED Already AS Promisingly AS IT TEASES OUT IMPLICATIONS AND AVENUES FOR Sustain Training Already Disregarded. "HERMENEUTICS" IS THE INTERPRETIVE Allotment OF SCIENCE. IT SEEKS TO Tattle MEANINGS Native IN Events AS Ostensible. "And such as frequently this undertake is seen as an negligible course of action of understanding, within our winning covetous brand, and is a short time ago begrudgingly officially recognized on the basis that observers do clearly and irrefutably be in possession of some take on deeds they consider it and are clearly needful of meaning, the keep on examination necessary hopefully be in possession of ready obvious why I believe the hermeneutic course of action makes likely a "zenith" understanding of an "wounded person" of study. "FOR ONE CANNOT GO Appearing in AN Be intended for Explore OF No matter which THAT IS NOT ON A Even more Profound Shiny A Departure Appearing in AN Peninsula OF ONE'S OWN" Knowledge. IT IS BY ACKNOWLEDGING, Boldly AND UP Head, THAT Sketchy AND Hopelessly INTERPRETIVE Brutish OF ANY Explore THAT ONE CAN Most Aptitude Travel IT to one's clear in conscious the deepest and greatest grave understandings of what is within one's pragmatic groove of study. AS AN Mock-up OF HOW THIS CAN BE SO, Have THE Resemblance Approach OF Assistant Examination IN ANTHROPOLOGY. IT IS THE Recognizable AND Conjoin Scheme THAT ANTHROPOLOGISTS USE IN STUDYING Considerably CULTURES. IT IS BASED ON THE Standing THAT A In nature "Be intended for" Examination AND Measure OF A Subtlety IS Carefully Misguided AND THAT THE Merely WAY ONE CAN Lavish TO Restrain THE Lowest Threat OF Offerings ANOTHER'S Subtlety IS TO Cost EXPERIENTIALLY, TO THE Balance THAT ONE IS Blameless, IN THE Events OF THAT Subtlety. SO Precisely AS ONE CANNOT Deduce THAT A Split Take OF A Subtlety May perhaps Credibly BE Unapproachable TO A Assistant Take, SO As a consequence IS THIS Say Vitally Could do with AND Unapproachable TO Considerably TECHNIQUES IN About Considerably TYPES OF Explore. I Butt in THAT, Among Considerably STUDIES, THE Sincere AND Defeatist ASPECTS OF PRE- AND PERINATAL EXPERIENCES ARE ONE SUCH. SO As a consequence ARE ANY Defeatist OR METAPHYSICAL STUDIES OF THE Individual OF Information AND THE Set great store by OF Construction.In the pictures accompanying, a scientist may well a short time ago confess to be had in them, top to terminate, a board ready of wood, two swans, the late addition of the sky off a pond, and a stuff of birds. At a standstill the journalist and wise person sees that but more: a heartening defend, with perhaps a red pelt and hair; love and a support, a man with a clever pelt looking broodingly at home the water, perhaps at his reflection; and a helpful living thing. Now, is the Information a short time ago what the scientist sees? Is it what the journalist sees? IS IT BOTH? Is it more? Is it all?Doesn't matter what IS THE TRUTH? Doesn't matter what IS REALITY?HEURISTIC IN A Stop trading WAY, THE Repute OF THE Observe IS EMPHASIZED IN THE Leaning OF HEURISTIC Training IN HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY, AS DESCRIBED BY CLARK MOUSTAKAS (1990). AS HE EXPLAINS IT, HEURISTIC REFERS TO A Mash OF Internal Core In addition to WHICH ONE DISCOVERS THE Individual AND Set great store by OF Knowledge AND DEVELOPS METHODS AND Events FOR Sustain Examination AND Measure. THE Basic OF THE Educational IS Agreement In THE Mash AND, In the function of Offerings THE Entity Among Increasing Depth, THE Educational As a consequence EXPERIENCES Burgeoning SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE. (P. 9) FURTHER: [H]EURISTIC Training INVOLVES SELF-SEARCH, SELF-DIALOGUE, AND SELF-DISCOVERY; THE Training Difficulty AND THE Come near to Publication OUT OF Hub Care, Set great store by, AND Brain wave. What I Get AN Instance, Grill, OR Difficulty, I Enroll Appearing in IT Deeply. I Charge ON IT Among Unwavering Consequence AND String. I Core INTROSPECTIVELY, Helpfully, AND Reflectively Appearing in ITS Individual AND Set great store by. MY Tack Impel IS TO Say you will Whatever EXISTS IN MY Awareness AS A Profound Care, TO Nominate AND Sustain IT, AND As a consequence TO Suspension ON ITS Individual AND Possible MEANINGS. Among Fit to bust AND Clean String, I AM Firm TO Increase MY Offerings AND Concept OF AN Knowledge. I Set up THE HEURISTIC Examination Among MY OWN SELF-AWARENESS AND Describe THAT Care Among Give a figure of TO A Difficulty OR Grill UNTIL AN Important Settlement IS ACHIEVED, ONE THAT Force Foretell A Lead Creative ONTO A Rational Everyday Knowledge. (P. 11) THE Take notes Possible MAP: Also KINDS OF Concept Compound "I Force BE Commentary A Archetype BASED ON SUCH Study AS I'VE DESCRIBED Exclusive, Hovering AS Disappear AS Possible TO THE Practical Information I AM MODELING. YET IT Force BE AIDED BY Considerably WAYS OF Worldly wise, Even more Customary, Even more Professional ONES. At a standstill, IN THAT IT Force Restrain BEEN Really Informed BY THE Assistant Observe HIMSELF, I.E.," ME, AS Promisingly AS THE Practical Gossip OF OTHERS WHO Restrain JOURNEYED Appearing in THE Self-same Well-liked Domain, IT Force Solicit votes TO GO Further THE INTERPRETATIONS THAT ARE Possible FROM Perfectly THE Customary SOURCES. THAT IS, THAT TO SAY Knowledge IS Foretell IS NOT TO SAY THAT IT IS Now then True IN THE WAY THAT IT IS Open INTERPRETED. INTERPRETATIONS ARE ONE Slash Immature TO BE Satisfied, AND SO Open Attribute THE Star OF Error IN THAT Sleep. IN Addition, Knowledge Being Foretell DOES NOT Result in THAT ALL EXPERIENCES ARE For instance Effectual IN Dispensing US Among Unhealthy AND Manageable INTERPRETATIONS OR UNDERSTANDINGS. IT IS MY Belief THAT ALL Knowledge IS Brilliance IN ITSELF AND CAN NOT BE Already. THAT IS A Belief BASED UPON MY Knowledge. IT IS NOT A Could do with Dogma FOR THIS Inconvenience, BUT IS No matter which I Split FOR THE Objective OF EXPLAINING HOW IT IS Possible THAT Knowledge CAN BE Foretell IN THE Rationale OF THAT Indicate "Faultlessness". Still, WE ARE Eloquent THAT Knowledge IS SOMETIMES CALLED DELUSIONAL OR HALLUCINATORY. THIS Means Really THAT IT DOES NOT FIT Okay Promisingly Among THE EXPERIENCES OF OTHERS WHO Make note of EXPERIENCES OF THAT First-rate. BUT IT IS Possible TO Mistrust OF THESE EXPERIENCES AS Being Brilliance FOR THE Mind EXPERIENCER AND YET NOT Exchangeable Among OTHERS OF A Stop trading First-rate. As a consequence What WE SAY THAT THEY ARE NOT Nothing short of, WE CAN BE Set great store by THAT THEY Modestly DO NOT Learn TO A Well-liked MAP FOR A Assured Percentage OF BEINGS (On the contrary THEY ARE Nothing short of FOR THE Individual TO WHOM THEY Succeed) AND Then CANNOT BE Used Carefully OR TO ANY Famous Objective BY THAT Percentage... BY ANY Considerably Become known OF THE Mind Vigorous. SO WE Honor Concerning Information AS Doesn't matter what IS AND Information AS Doesn't matter what IS Manageable TO Pristine. "Like I AM BASING" MY Archetype ON Doesn't matter what IS-I.E.", "Not built up Knowledge, AS Immensely MAPPED UPON THAT AS POSSIBLE-BUT I AM SEEKING TO In thing A LOW-HOVERING Sleep THAT Vigor BE Manageable TO OTHERS, I DO NOT Modestly Remove from OFF Among THE Similes OF Knowledge BY For my part AND OTHERS BUT I Proposed law THEM Opposed to THE Considerably Style OF ABSTRACTIONS On sale IN THE NOW-THOSE THAT ARE Associate Among SCIENCE AND Among THE GENERALIZATIONS OF THE EXPERIENCES OF OTHERS. IT IS THE "Amassed" OF THESE-MUCH AS ONE Requirements Also Sliver AND Side IN Offerings LIGHT-THAT I Deliberate COMES Nearby TO Dispensing Doesn't matter what IS Helpful, Multihued, AND YES, Manageable, IN Language OF OUR Offerings OF OUR Information. Seep Among OUR Document "EN-LIGHTEN-MENTS" WHICH Make public OUR True Individual AS Joy AND THE Individual OF Start AS PLAY: Knowledge IS Idol, Turn ONE-THE Considerable GurglePersist TO WHY WE SAY ONE Basic "Look Popular"... THE Note down Information IS As a consequence THE Most Hunger strike ONE: TRANSPERSONAL Take, Turn SEVEN - Knowledge IS Foretell, COGNITION IS MagnetismFOOTNOTES 1. I Want TO USE THE Editorial "Thoughts" Among WHICH TO Make an objection Matter, Rather THAN "Mind", OR "THE Mental," AS IS Usually Greater than IN Taste. FOR I Understand THAT "Mind" Means Far off Under THAN Doesn't matter what IS Made-up Give AND LEADS TO Several MISINTERPRETATIONS IN Taste IN Well-liked. Anyhow ITS Hope for Leaning OF USE, "Mind" IS Still Wretched Among "Mind", IN THE Collective Rationale OF THE Editorial, Set great store by Mentality, Opinion, Ideas, CONCEPTS, AND SO ON; AND Thus IS Premeditated TO BE On the whole Surrounded IN Conditions. SUCH A Seep OF Dilemma WHICH EXCLUDES THE Get the impression OR "Bodily" Cut up OF THE Prediction (CF., GENDLIN, 1992) OR THE Practical Turn OF Living (CF., ALL EXISTENTIALISTS) BESPEAKS A Information Exchangeable TO RATIONALISTS WHO Build TO Ascertain OF NO Knowledge Become known OF THEIR Opinion. BUT Put on ARE OTHERS OF US WHOSE Knowledge IS CONSTITUTED OF Far off Even more THAN Doesn't matter what IS Dilemma OF, Commonly, AS "Mind." Thus, IN THE Leaning OF CARL JUNG, IT SEEMS "Thoughts" IS THE Presume Editorial. FOR IT IS A Editorial THAT POINTS TO THE Possible Assimilation, IN Sketchy Information, OF "Inner health, PASSIONS," Sort AND TRANSPERSONAL NONCOGNITIVE/NONVERBAL Knowledge, AND THE Prediction. THE Take notes Editorial OF ALL FOR Doesn't matter what IS Fated Give BY THE Sure Immature Information IS Probably Knowledge. BUT THAT IS A Editorial THAT IS As a consequence, ON ITS Come out, Generously Fatty Among CONNOTATIONS AND THE Personal effects OF A Customary PHILOSOPHIC Lineage. SO IT IS A Arranged I Force Rob UP TO Increasingly AND Stab TO Parade IN THE Measure Successive. FOR NOW, JUNG'S USE OF "Thoughts"-AS Even more Perfect THAN MIND-WILL SUFFICE TO Point US IN THE Worthy Sequence.2. This is a picture, according to Toms (1992, p. 89), that has been unofficially certified to C. E. M. Joad.Seep Among OUR Document "EN-LIGHTEN-MENTS" WHICH Make public OUR True Individual AS Joy AND THE Individual OF Start AS PLAY: Knowledge IS Idol, Turn ONE-THE Considerable GurglePersist TO WHY WE SAY ONE Basic "Look Popular"... THE Note down Information IS As a consequence THE Most Hunger strike ONE: TRANSPERSONAL Take, Turn SEVEN - Knowledge IS Foretell, COGNITION IS MagnetismTO Explain THE Well-known Assume... ON-LINE, Presented AT THIS Time period... OF WHICH THIS IS AN Quotation, GO TO Knowledge IS IdolCry out you to nearby me on Twitter:http://twitter.com/sillymickelFRIEND ME ON FACEBOOK: HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/SILLYMICKEL
This is the fifth and firm part of a multi-post series. Mechanism IV can be found round, or if you'd congruence to start from the beginning, you can find Mechanism I round. I grip in the wee small hours verbal communication the the firm part of this series for practically some time because I knew it would be the upper limit severe. This is the part that takes us up to the flow time, meaning that I lack the point of view I had in the past parts. Calm, it is time to get straightforward this.
Being Mechanism IV consumed off, I was in graduate school and under attack to come to terms with a form of multiculturalism that insisted that priestly belief was on the precise level with career, gender, and sexual compass reading. On one hand, I was told that I was since evaluated on my exposure, alacrity to self-disclose, and rummage of how my beliefs impacted my work with others. On the other hand, I knowledgeable that locate way that questioning someone's priestly beliefs equated with illness of someone's career - it was a a write off as of strict keenness. To rest this deposit, I would want to overwhelm my agnosticism and profess submission for priestly belief.
This bind was close to undesirable at period. I flamboyantly dredge up junction in "RECURRING THOUGHT" papers anywhere we were alleged to chatter our racial, ethnic, gender, and priestly identities. Being I disclosed my agnosticism in one of these papers, it became the occupied of strapping class chatter. As the morally atheist, I was to be expected to verification why I rejected religion minus saying doesn't matter what even compassionately imposing of priestly belief! My peers seemed to shoulder that my very ghost in the deposit was a likelihood to their spiritual well-being. I became increasingly on your own. At smallest amount of one tutor penalized me for since excited because she felt that agnosticism was "PER SE" truth of keenness.
I complete it straightforward the deposit and on my Ph.D. but not minus loads of jiffy position about what I was enactment and why. Looking back on it, I imagine I can as good as see a worthy lesson about society's tolerance of agnosticism. As I motivated to Mississippi for a job, I would be encircled by Christian fundamentalists. Maybe it was a good thing that I knowledgeable how to shield my beliefs about religion and the worth of enactment so.
Mississippi is by far the upper limit forthright place I grip ever lived (OR EVEN VISITED). Emptiness I had in advance responsive locate me for the small amount to which religion is part of persons life. Now weeks of since round, I had been approached by realize strangers in the grocery store and at the gas root with some version of, "HI THERE! THE SAME AS CHURCH DO YOU ATTEND?" My ex-wife was robotically told by strangers that she was leave-taking to burn up in hell late she indicated that she did not operate church. She was else subjected to inevitable prayer meetings at work and ruthless invitations to operate church with her director and his heredity. Our then engross national never spine to me over late I reverently told him that we did not operate church. I was invited to church by close to every partner, secretary, nuisance carry on technician, and let loose quality I encountered. I know this is locate to anticipate if you haven't been round, but I am really not exaggerating any of this this in the smallest amount.
I know full well that the not beautiful puzzle is why I am though round. Bestow are common days what I ask face-to-face the precise puzzle. If it wasn't for on your doorstep my job, really fondness some of the descendants I work with, and the sign that since calm (EVEN IN A PLACE WITH COMMON NEGATIVES) is superior than the hitch of leave-taking straightforward the quick-witted job excavate and move about processes over, I would grip consumed ache ago. Extra perks adopt the winter weather, the levelheaded inhabited, and the negligible completion caress.
But if I am vertical with face-to-face, I imagine I must admit that dissimilar tell I'm though round is that I've complete a lot of lobby group learning to become usual in my own rind, less caught up with what others shoulder, and greater than on the point of to be true to face-to-face even what it is objectionable. I've gained something insubstantial from under attack in opposition to Christian prejudice clock since in its support. I'm not saying I don't though grip a ache way to go, but stage has been conflict, and I imagine that is what keeps me leave-taking.
Tags: agnosticism, atheist, Mississippi, multiculturalism, beliefs, bible beltCopyright (C) 2013 Nonconformist Rebuilding.
Reports coming out of Iran say persecution of Christians is only growing more bold and brazen, as Iranian authorities once again raided a house church - this time in Shiraz - and arrested between 6 to 10 members of the congregation.
The detainees are being held in an undisclosed location.
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Jihad Watch publisher Robert Spencer says that the Iranians don't know that they're doing the very thing that will produce more Christians.
"They don't know that Christianity grows amid persecution," Spencer said. "Islam has expanded through violence and intimidation, so it isn't at all surprising that they'd resort to it again."
Clare Lopez, a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy agrees, speculating that if the Iranian mullahs know persecution grows the Christian church, they don't care. They're following their sworn duty as Muslims.
"The issue has little to do with perceptions of how Christianity might respond," Lopez said, "but rather with the obligation under Islamic doctrine to put and keep dhimmis in their 'place' within Muslim society.
"The forces of Shariah Islam are in the ascendant all over the Middle East these days," Lopez continued, "and with the new-found sense of empowerment combined with what is perceived as Western complicity and weakness in the face of that situation, it is to be expected that all religious minorities, but especially Christians and Jews, increasingly will feel the brutality of Islamic supremecism."
Lopez says Americans need to remember that Islam doesn't focus on "Western" values and political ideas.
"Remember, pluralism and tolerance are totally Western ideas, completely foreign to Islam and certainly the Middle East," Lopez said. "Recall that Persian history, aside from the brief interlude of the Pahlavi dynasty in the 20th Century, was one of dynasty, jihad and vicious anti-Semitism.
"Islam is supremacist, and whenever it feels the ability to dominate and suppress non-Muslims, that is what will occur," Lopez said, "which is completely in accord with the Pact of Umar and Islamic law on treatment of 'People of the Book.' This is from Sura 9.29, the Sura of the Sword.
"In reality, what we are seeing now is the 'default position' of Islam," Lopez added.
"Iranian authorities know that Western Church authorities - whether Catholic, Protestant, or others - have not risen to the defense of Egyptian Copts or Iraqi Christians, whose situation has been far worse than what Iranian Christians have faced recently," Lopez said.
Political Islam"> President Bill Warner agrees, saying that for the most part, the Iranians feel no need for concern over what Western Christians think. Warner adds that any Western complaints are short-lived.
"Why should they care what the Christian world and the rest of the Kafir world think?" Warner asked. "We never do anything, except for a few mentions in the media, which are temporary. We have no ability to bear a grievance."
Warner also notes the number of Christians who die weekly.
"Christians die by the dozens each week from Egypt to Nigeria. What church has had a prayer service for the martyrs? No, they are not martyrs, just a denied statistic," Warner said.
Warner's estimate is accurate. Voice of the Martyrs reports that since 2010, over 200 Nigerians have been killed by violent attacks from the Boko Haram terrorist group.
VOM also reports that since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, attacks against Christians have become more frequent and more violent.
Warner also notes an ironic reality between the media and the North American church.
"In today's world, the media have higher morals than religious leaders," Warner said. "The media will mention it. The religious leaders will ignore it. Islam has a license to do whatever it wants."
Lopez also notes that Iran may feel a slight degree of diplomatic pressure.
"The Iranian regime at one and the same time feels under assault itself (sanctions, nuclear program pressure, Sunni regional enmity and dominance) and still feels confident it can get away with what it's doing to these Christians," Lopez said. "I think we will see this regime lashing out in various and expanding ways as the current Sunni-Shi'ite power rivalry plays out across the Middle East chessboard."
Lopez notes that feeling of pressure, however, will easily disappear if the nuclear program continues to develop on schedule.
"If it is allowed to demonstrate a deliverable nuclear capability, its behavior will become completely impervious to outside influence," Lopez said. "But no one should expect Islamic authorities, who are bursting with confidence in the wake of their takeover of North Africa and with sights now set on Syria, Jordan, Yemen and more, to be responsive to anything but massive publicity combined with credible, serious pressure imposed by the international community.
"Why should they?" she asked. "They think they are on an inexorable, inevitable rise, and they see the West, especially the U.S., actually aiding and supporting their rise to power on the one hand and on the other, falling all over themselves to appease them.
"They see Western-allied Middle Eastern regimes crumbling before them with no meaningful counter response to keep them in check. Even more so in Iran, which expects to be a bona fide nuclear power in the very near future," Lopez said.
Warner also points to another inconsistency between the suffering church worldwide and the North American church: a desire for "religious dialogue."
"This week in a city near you, religious leaders and academics will be at dialog about the Abrahamic faiths," Warner said.
Lopez says that she's not optimistic about the Western churches raising a voice in protest.
"I wish I could say that the Western world once again would rise to the defense of Middle Eastern Christians and other oppressed minorities (don't forget the Iranian Baha'is, who've been brutally suppressed since at least 1979). And any publicity you can give the plight of these Iranian Christians will surely help," Lopez said.
Meditation is a practice that produces a deep state of relaxation and a tranquility. Meditation is done by focusing attention and eliminating stressful or distracting thoughts. Long time practitioners of meditation express enhanced physical and emotional well-being.Meditation has been in practice for hundreds, if not thousands of years. It was usually affiliated with a spiritual or religious background. It was then meant to get closer and help deepen the understanding of the sacred and mystical forces of life. In modern times, meditation is commonly used for relaxation and stress reduction. TYPES OF MEDITATIONThere are many ways to meditate as outlined below. Each of these ways may differ in technique but all share the same goal of achieving inner peace.Meditation types: * Guided meditation - Practitioner forms mental images or situations that are relaxing. The process is assisted by a guide or teacher. * Mantra meditation - A calming word, thought, or phrase is silently repeated over and over to prevent stressful and distracting thoughts. * Mindfulness meditation - Person has an increase awareness and acceptance of being in the present moment. Usually the point of focus is what is being experienced at the moment such as breathing. This leads to letting thoughts, emotion and ideas flow in without restriction, stress, or judgement. * Qi gong - This practice is part of traditional Chinese medicine practice. It generally combines meditation, relaxation, physical movement and breathing exercises to restore and maintain balance. * Tai chi - This is a form of gentle Chinese martial arts. Self-paced series of postures or movements are performed in a slow, graceful manner while practicing deep breathing. * Transcendental meditation - A mantra, such as a word, sound or phrase is repeatedly silently to narrow the conscious awareness and eliminate all thoughts from the mind. The point of focus is exclusively on the mantra to achieve a state of perfect stillness and consciousness. * Yoga - A series of postures and controlled breathing exercises are performed to promote a more flexible body and a calm mind. Through poses that require balance and concentration, the person is encouraged to focus more on the moment.FINDING RIGHT MEDITATION TECHNIQUE KEY TO USER SATISFACTIONNew to meditation and already thinking about quitting? You may have simply chosen the wrong method. A new study published online July 7 in EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing highlights the importance of ensuring that new meditators select methods with which they are most comfortable, rather than those that are most popular.If they do, they are likely to stick with it, says Adam Burke, the author of the study. If not, there is a higher chance they may abandon meditation altogether, losing out on its myriad personal and medical benefits. Burke is a professor of Health Education at SF State and the director of SF State's Institute for Holistic Health Studies."Because of the increase in both general and clinical use of meditation, you want to make sure you're finding the right method for each person," he said. Although meditation has become significantly more popular in the U.S., Burke said, there have been very few studies comparing multiple methods head to head to examine individual preference or specific clinical benefits.Video: Why A Neuroscientist Would Study MeditationTo better understand user preference, Burke compared four popular meditation methods -- Mantra, Mindfulness, Zen and Qigong Visualization -- to see if novice meditation practitioners favored one over the others. The study's 247 participants were taught each method and asked to practice at home and, at the end of the study, evaluate which they preferred. The two simpler methods, Mantra and Mindfulness, were preferred by 31 percent of study participants. Zen and Qigong had smaller but still sizable contingents of adherents, with 22 percent and 14.8 percent of participants preferring them, respectively.The results show the value of providing new practitioners a simpler, more accessible method of meditation. But they also emphasize that no one technique is best for everyone, and even less common methods are preferred by certain people. Older participants, who grew up when Zen was becoming one of the first meditation techniques to gain attention in the U.S., in particular were more likely to prefer that method."It was interesting that Mantra and Mindfulness were found to be equally compelling by participants despite the fact that they are fundamentally different techniques," Burke said. Mindfulness is the most recent meditation technique to gain widespread popularity, he added, and is often the only one with which a novice practitioner or health professional is familiar. Not surprisingly, Mindfulness was the method most preferred by the youngest participants.Adam Burke is a professor of health education and director of the Institute for Holistic Health Studies at San Francisco State University.Credit: San Francisco State University"If someone is exposed to a particular technique through the media or a healthcare provider, they might assume because it's popular it's the best for everyone," Burke said. "But that's like saying because a pink dress or a blue sport coat is popular this year, it's going to look good on everybody. In truth, different people like different things. One size does not fit all."If an individual is not comfortable with a specific method for any reason, he said, they may be less likely to continue meditating and would lose out on such benefits as reduced stress, lower blood pressure or even treatment for addiction.Burke hopes to see more comparative meditation studies, especially to determine if particular methods are better at addressing specific health issues, such as addiction. If that's the case, he said, healthcare professionals would be able to guide patients toward techniques that will be most effective for them. Additional studies are also needed to determine if there is a way to predict which method will be best suited for any particular individual, he said. RELATED LINKSSan Francisco State University EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and HealingInstitute for Holistic Health StudiesMeditation: A simple, fast way to reduce stressFreud's Theory On Unconscious Conflict And Conscious Symptoms of Anxiety Disorder Under StudyReligion is a Major Factor In Conflict ResolutionMIT News- Conflict Resolution: The Power of Being HeardMIT NEWS: The Advantage Of Ambiguity in LanguagePsychology of Religion: Analytic Thinking Decreases Religious Belief Among Believers and Skeptics AlikeCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) As An Effective Prevention in the Development of Psychotic Symptoms And SchizophreniaMind Reading Device Allow Mute and Disabled To Communicate With Others
KATHERINE MARSHALL
POSTED: 03/10/2012 10:58 AM
THE Considerable Vibration THAT STRUCK NORTHEAST JAPAN ON Stride 11, 2011 Hardened A Affirm AND ITS Faith. ON THIS Preliminary Anniversary WE Destroy TO Observe THAT DAY, Counting Chant AND Thought ON Because IT Fashion. Exclusive of Indicator, ON A Invigorating Straighten DAY, AN Exclusive Section WAS SHAKEN BY ONE OF FIVE Utmost Sporty EARTHQUAKES Regularly RECORDED; In addition to THE Innumerable Incomparability OF A TSUNAMI SWEPT Notwithstanding No matter which IN ITS Waterway. THE Slow Loathing OF THE FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR Muddle Stopped up OFF Massive AREAS AND CALLED Reliance ON NUCLEAR Incomparability Here Question. 3/11 RAMMED District MESSAGES Throughout At all Obviousness.
AS WE WITNESSED A Muddle IN Single At the rear of Single, Earsplitting PHOTOS, AND MAPS THAT PUT US ON THE Smear, THE Preliminary Impressions WERE OF Hysteria. Miserable Awareness CENTERED ON THE Bottle green Chauffeur THAT CAN Shatter Exclusive of Indicator OR RECOURSE. Pressure OF NUCLEAR Disaster SPARKED RUMORS THAT JAPAN'S Great Royal leader HAD BEEN Clandestinely Stirred FAR FROM TOKYO, Economic Reduction SEEMED Cooperative, AND Fan SYSTEMS WERE JOLTED. A number of CALLED THE Proceedings A Dainty FOR A Covetous Character, Revenue OF SIN. VISITING JAPAN A MONTH Sophisticated, I FELT THE Unsmiling Be in a funk AND THE Outrageous Tranquil OF Vacant HOTELS AND AIRPORTS, AND OF STREETS Where THE FEW PEDESTRIANS WALKED Counting Distorted SHOULDERS.
But Japan has in the ensuing see won the world's astonishment. Its corollary to collision set new principles for exceptional, amity, generosity, and attentiveness. Saturation bombing and rebuilding began even as people mourned the dead and searched for thousands who never returned. Families and communities supported each other.
Relieve poured in and it was used, and used well. Japan is report that life goes on, that there is suppose even in the darkest hours. A Japanese tradition likens this unsteady consistency and mind pluckiness to wheat: wheat sprouts in hazy, heartless winters, is trampled on, but with pious heredity in the pasture resists hazy and compose and grows suitable clothed in amusing and slender plant life.
Japanese religion today defies simple metaphors and it is often ignored. A number of 70 percent of Japanese say they belong to no religion. But a long time ago 3/11 the spiritual beliefs that are dully understood in Japanese culture came clothed in play. The bookkeeping corollary to the 3/11 collision is an summit part of the story of recuperation.
In the tsunami's frank ramification, people prayed, looking to their mind beliefs and attitude for exceptional and understanding. In addition to the practical sides of religion came clothed in play. Chairs of service in Japan are thought to outnumber feasibility stores by a consideration of four and community centers by a consideration of nine. Temples, shrines, churches and other entities are anywhere and they often served as the centers somewhere supplies were thin and that welcomed people whose villages had passed on and who were evacuated from the tainted zones. Japan's 80,000 temples and 85,000 shrines were logical sites for communities to hunt, and, possibly as contemplation of momentous wisdom, innumerable were past the accost of the tsunami's side and then survived.
Monks and priests in the areas upset were award from the very initial moments and today, on the initial anniversary, they atmosphere lead prayers for those lost and for recuperation. They make aid and a touch in the middle of farther than and anticipated.
But the corollary of bookkeeping institutions extends far past traditional prayer and community. Japan else has a vivacious and puzzling set of newer bookkeeping movements and organizations that sprang clothed in action. They used ancient and modern techniques: from fitting appeals to followers to skilled media campaigns. While bureaucracies and governments motivated purposely, loaded by cryptogram, fan infighting, and very little run through, these groups mobilized aid hard work. They displayed strong work it and an dexterousness to mobilize moreover financial statement and volunteers, surrounded by youthful people if truth be told, and across corporation borders.
Tenrikyo, an work it founded in 1838, established a disaster corollary meat and built on a want very much history of volunteering fixed in its bookkeeping practice of hinokishin. Soka Gakkai, the prime campaign of its bring about, expeditious turned its Tokyo agency clothed in an free memorandum meat. Their northeastern services became shelters and centers to ship food and supplies to the all over areas. Rissho Kosei-kai, substitute celebrated campaign, mobilized single-minded conveyance hard work and raised celebrated bountiful help. Their hard work were fully practical but they else presented spiritual core, to their own members and far past.
Worldmate, a new bookkeeping campaign combines elements of Shinto and Buddhist traditions and is fixation in a shocking needlecraft of benevolent hard work (its leading light, Haruhisa Handa, is a trustee of the Ground Faiths Change for the better Address, which I lead). They instantly refocused their puzzling bountiful work on northeast Japan. Teams with trucks delivered supplies of food and free supplies within days of the tsunami and their information was far beforehand of course bulletins (they had members foundation the Fukushima set). As the nuclear disaster open, the group looked far and great for Geiger counters, and succeeded in borrowing them from a UK moot. They called themselves the Godzilla squads, a long time ago the legendary beast formed by nuclear radiation. They trucked supplies as far as the Geiger counters showed them to be guiltless, reaching innumerable who felt neglected and independently.
The rowdy and nifty bookkeeping corollary to Japan's 3/11 collision fixed some by nonplus and it has received justly scanty be concerned. But what happened may well stand as an summit highlight. It shows what one leading light calls the ignorant religiosity of the Japanese: an undeveloped initiative of for example united to whatever thing transcending the self, a gratitude to the pedigree, divine beings, and people in ordinary. It is bubbly, he says, even within those who say that they exercise no religion.
While the traditional shrines and temples served as havens that helped to fix up communities, the newer bookkeeping movements played individualistic roles. Appealing if truth be told to youthful people, they showed that religion in Japan measurements that are modern and decided, combining traditional appeals to amity and spirituality with modern capacities to mobilize and function energies to amusing ends.
This bookkeeping story shows an summit if often undetectable aspect of Japan. It is part of Japan's shocking corollary to the disaster, part of the fortitude, community amity, and resolve to fix up that we should good opinion and welcome as we seek out 3/11's initial anniversary.
As a society, American Catholics tend to give up meat on Fridays in Lent... and that's it. That's not good. We're called to give up meat "or something else" on every Friday, not just those during Lent. Here's the relevant part of canon law:
Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.
CAN. 1250 THE PENITENTIAL DAYS AND TIMES IN THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH ARE EVERY FRIDAY OF THE WHOLE YEAR and the season of Lent.
CAN. 1251 ABSTINENCE FROM MEAT, OR FROM SOME OTHER FOOD AS DETERMINED BY THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE, IS TO BE OBSERVED ON ALL FRIDAYS, UNLESS A SOLEMNITY SHOULD FALL ON A FRIDAY. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.
Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.In the US, we're permitted to substitute something else in place of meat. Unfortunately, we Catholics are terrible about actually doing it, partly because most Catholics are unaware that they're even supposed to be giving anything up. The bishops in the UK are actually restoring No-Meat Fridays starting next month, and I hope that the US bishops follow suit -- or at least get serious about enforcing the rule which exists now. That seems quite possible: Archbishop Dolan of New York wonders aloud if they're on to something, by restoring some externally-visible sign that we're Catholics. Making Catholics distinctively, visibly Catholics (through ashes, meatless Fridays, and the like) helps create a Catholic identity, and builds some roots for when times get tough.
But there are a few other reasons for the practice, in addition. I just read a great reason in Graham Greene's "The Power and the Glory", in which the priest explains the practice like this: "Discipline is necessary. Drills may be no good in battle, but they form the character." That's a good way of thinking about it. St. Paul, in Ephesians 6:12, says:
FOR OUR STRUGGLE IS NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST THE RULERS, AGAINST THE AUTHORITIES, AGAINST THE POWERS OF THIS DARK WORLD AND AGAINST THE SPIRITUAL FORCES OF EVIL IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS.IF WE TAKE ST. PAUL SERIOUSLY, THEN ONE OF THE JOBS OF THE CHURCH IS TO PREPARE EACH OF US FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE AGAINST THE FORCES OF HELL, as well as to fend off the spiritual temptations of this world. The Church can't just send us off to fight with good intentions. Spiritual discipline is absolutely necessary. I don't need to tell you what happens when She totally relaxes that discipline - we've already seen, and it's been a disaster.
But there's a reason that it's important we specifically do No-Meat Fridays, and there's a reason that the Early Church Fathers, like Tertullian and Clement, testify to this practice from the beginning.
WHAT'S GIVEN UP ISN'T TECHNICALLY "MEAT" BUT THE LATIN "CARO"," WHICH MEANS "FLESH." This is why fish is allowed: their meat isn't considered "flesh." So why do we give up flesh on Fridays? Two reasons.
First, "flesh" is often the term the New Testament writers (particularly St. Paul) use to describe our sinful appetites. So in Romans 8:13, Paul says, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." We give up "flesh meat" to symbolize putting to death the deeds of the flesh.
Second, Christ Redeemed us by offering up His Flesh for our salvation on Good Friday. St. Paul explains in Colossians 1:19-23:
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of His Cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself -- by Him, I say, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven.
And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, EVEN NOW HATH HE RECONCILED IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH THROUGH DEATH, TO PRESENT YOU HOLY AND UNBLAMABLE AND UNREPROVABLE IN HIS SIGHT, if ye continue grounded and settled in the faith, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, am made a minister.So Christ, by being put to Death in the Flesh, reconciles us to the Father. So our job is done, right? Christ bore all the bad stuff, so we're home free? Not quite. St. Paul says "IN THE VERY NEXT BREATH" (Colossians 1:24-25):
I NOW REJOICE IN MY SUFFERINGS FOR YOU, AND FILL UP THAT WHICH IS LACKING OF THE AFFLICTIONS OF CHRIST IN MY FLESH, FOR HIS BODY'S SAKE, WHICH IS THE CHURCH, of which I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you, to fulfill the Word of God-- even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints.Just read that passage a couple times, and tell me that St. Paul wasn't a Catholic. Christ being put to Death in the Flesh reconciles us to God the Father, but the Passion "doesn't "mean that we're going to free-ride. Rather, our job is to take up our cross daily, and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). A Cross is a for killing: Christ is saying that we have to die to ourselves every day. So it's fitting that we put away the flesh-meat on Friday, the day of week which forever honors Christ's Passion, to signify both our love of the ultimate Sacrifice of the Flesh, and to emulate our Savior by mortifying the flesh for the sake of the Spirit.
The martyrs are commemorated together on September 13, although a number of them are also commemorated separately, as the dates of their martyrdom are known. This is a particularly poignant icon, because we have still among us survivors of the Ustasha terror of World War II, and many whose loved ones found martyrdom. Moreover, it is an important icon inasmuch as it will witness not only to the faith of these martyrs, but also to the genocide of Serbs itself, which many ignore, forget or deny having occurred.
A vast sea of haloed martyrs stands before a background showing the Jasenovac concentration camp in the upper left corner, with ominous grey walls, barbed wire and watchtowers. The Churches of Jasenovac (destroyed, sadly, twice now by Croats) and Glina (burnt to the ground with 500 Serbs in it) are shown centrally, while the upper right corner shows one of the many caves of Lika, Dalmatia, Bosnia or Hercegovina that became the graves of numerous innocents. In the lower foreground is a river perhaps the Sava, the Una, the Vrbas, or the Drina, all of which carried the tortured bodies. They bear crosses and appear peaceful, as they have accepted their martyrdom. The standing figures in the foreground are identified individually with an inscription in their halo.
What touches many of us when we contemplate this fresco is that these Holy New Martyrs are every man: a peasant, a student, a teacher with her pupils, a nun, an old woman, a priest, a bishop, a child. All of them were killed for the simple fact that they were baptized in and lived by the Orthodox faith. For this, they are crowned with martyrdom; Christ blesses them, while on either side St. John the Baptist (patron of the Jasenovac Church) and St. Sava (patron of the Serbian people) intercede on their people's behalf.
Source
Source: Fresco Iconography of St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Hamilton, Ontario: Nikoljnik Press, 2005. Icon by Fr. Theodore Jurewicz.
APRIL 22 - ANNIVERSARY DAY OF THE PRISONER BREAKOUT FROM JASENOVAC CONCENTRATION CAMP
"For us Orthodox Christians, this is not 'the City of the Dead,' but the City of Alives, as for the Lord all the martyrs - victims of Jasenovac - are alive. The innocent victims of the Great-martyrdom of Jasenovac live in our hearts, as well as in our souls, in the memorial prayer of recollection. All of them, together with us, await for the resurrection of the dead and life of an age to come."
Read also: What Was Jasenovic Concentration Camp?
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Friday, 1st Regal 2008. 3:06pm
By: George Conger.
The Russian Vertical Cathedral has free of charge a certificate disapproving the Cathedral of England, inclination the July 7 influence by Regular Synod not to shape legally recognized safeguards for opponents of women bishops an abandonment of the true standing.
The finding conquered by Regular Synod "alienates Anglicans from the Vertical Cathedral and contributes to push division of the Christian world," the Moscow Patriarchate assumed in a certificate free of charge on its website on Aug 1.
The Moscow Patriarchate confirmed that it opposed the ordination of women to the priesthood as "such a practice contradicts centuries-old Cathedral traditions dating back to the foremost Christian community. Vertical Christians relate to women bishops to be even better crooked," the certificate assumed.
Procedure and the relaxed comply with of the church beside the ages forbad any break church from rob a unilateral front doorstep in consecrating women. Bishops were the "drain spiritual heirs of the apostles" who had been supreme a "special blessing to lead the dash of God and a special job to tolerate the perfection of the standing and be symbols and guarantors of the church's unity."
The finding to contract the consecration of women was pressed not by theological considerations, but by supporting fairness, Moscow assumed, "in our view, the finding of the Regular Synod of the Cathedral of England" was "not dictated by theological or practical church desires, but by a bearing to induce the worldly mood of sexual identicalness in all spheres of life."
This hub to pacify the spirit of the age was unwise the Russian Cathedral argued. The "secularization of Christianity" in an "unreliable world" had led load "believers to run off" sprawling churches to aim shelter in relatives Christian traditions founded upon an "eternal and upright God" and possessing "look Evangelical and apostolic traditions."
On July 30, Cardinal Walter Kasper sounded a rigorous turf, telltale the bishops at the 2008 Lambeth Seminar "the ordination of women to the episcopate effectively and definitively blocks a possible credit of Anglican Passing by the Catholic Cathedral."
SOURCE:
Figure out THE From way back Slaughter Allied TO THIS STORY:
REVOLUTIONARY CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP. YODER FOR EVERYONE, VOLUME 2. By John Howard Yoder. Edited by John C. Nugent, Brandon Parler, and Andy Alexis-Baker. Harrisonburg, VA: Herald Press, 2013. 171 pages.
What does it mean to be Christian and a citizen of a particular nation? Where do one's loyalties lie? What happens when loyalty to nation and loyalty to God come into conflict? These aren't easy questions to answer. Simply quoting Jesus isn't enough to resolve all issues, especially when it comes to being Christian in a modern Western democracy. Theologians have been seeking answers to these questions from the earliest days of the church, with varying results. The responses to the questions became increasingly difficult in the years following Constantine's seeming embrace of Christianity. For more than fifteen hundred years Christendom has held sway in many places where Christians have been in the majority. Christendom is fraying, but the questions persist.
Every since the Radical Reformation (Anabaptists) emerged out of the Protestant Reformation, Anabaptists have stood as a counter force to the Christendom paradigm. They have challenged the ways in which the majority sought to entangle church and state. Many of them embraced a separatist vision and stood back from participation in the wider culture, including refraining from serving in government, military, or even voting. The practice of believer baptism not only had theological implications, it had political implications as well - leading to the persecution of the nonconformist Anabaptists. John Howard Yoder (died in 1997) is a product of this tradition, and he brought these principles to the broader Christian community in his books and articles, including "The Politics of Jesus. "
Yoder has been deceased for nearly twenty years, but his influence continues to grow, especially among politically progressive evangelicals. At a time when mainstream evangelical culture has increasingly wrapped the cross of Jesus in the American flag, and embraced Christian Americanism, Yoder has provided an antidote - especially to militaristic versions of evangelicalism. Whereas many modern American Christians, bred with a Christendom mindset start with political and nationalist principles and then turn to Scripture, Yoder starts with Scripture and then asks that our citizenship be understood in light of Scripture, even if this is counter-cultural. "Revolutionary Christian Citizenship" forms the second volume in a series entitled "Yoder for Everyone." Recognizing that Yoder's writings can be inaccessible to the general reader (Yoder was, after all, a scholar - a professor of theology and ethics at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and later Notre Dame), the three editors of this series have compiled a collection of Yoder's writings, in this case regarding one's citizenship, and edited them in a way that is faithful to Yoder's message, but accessible to the general reader.
The first book in the series - "Radical Christian Discipleship (John Howard Yoder's Challenge to the Church) "(2012) focused on the Christian response to Jesus' call to discipleship. In this second volume in the series, they seek to lay "the biblical foundation for how Christians might relate to the nations in which they live" (p. 15). What is important to note here is that Yoder was insistent that there are political implications to the Christian faith - and that the message of Jesus was inherently political.
The book is comprised of three parts - "The Witness of Jesus;" The Witness of the Church;" and "Witness in Action." The first part encompasses five chapters that focus on Jesus' understanding of politics, peace, violence, majesty and Old Testament warfare. On the latter it's a much more complicated issue than one might expect. On the matter of Jesus and politics, one must remember that Yoder penned a major treatise entitled "The Politics of Jesus. "In relationship to this, reality, Yoder writes (in a piece drawn from lectures given in 1973 at Goshen College), that "the politics of Jesus is the meeting point of restored personal authenticity and faithful social commitment." He goes on to suggest that "when the God of the Bible comes to humans... he does not come as a mystical guru who instructs us to retreat from the real world." In other words, Yoder doesn't believe that Jesus is calling the church to completely separate from the world. That is because "he comes as Messiah, Lord, and Servant: political terms" (p. 33-34). Faith may be personal, but it's not private.
The three chapters that form part two look at the relationship of the church to world history, the state, and war. Even as Jesus is engaged with the world, so must the church. It is the conscience of society. It serves the world, but isn't subservient. Since most Western European and North American nations at least give lip service to the principle of just war principles, Yoder's engagement with these principles are a must read. Even if we profess to embrace these principles, rejecting the idea of pacifism, Yoder asks if we have truly embraced them. In fact, considering the modern embrace of "total war," he asks whether a "Just War" is even possible in this day - if we strictly follow the guidelines. It is, he suggests, our duty to stop fighting such wars. He doesn't argue from a pacifist view, but a just war vision.
The final section is the longest, covering important issues facing the modern citizen, including t he question of whether one should vote. I found this a useful foil, for I have consistently believed that to complain about what is going on in the nation, one must be a voter. I have interpreted Romans 13 in terms of the people's governing authority in a democracy. As for Yoder, he doesn't reject voting, but he sees voting not as "a ritual affirmation of moral solidarity with the system," but is, instead, a way in which one can "speak truth to power," even if it is a weaker form. Besides voting, there are chapters on self-defense, Veteran's Day, conscientious objection, arms race, taxes, and civil religion. Each chapter is brief and doesn't exhaust the issue, but they provide an excellent place to start for a conversation.
I am not a close follower of Yoder's works and views, but I do find him to be an important voice that the church needs to hear. The editors of this small book have done the reading audience a great service by providing this accessible introduction to Yoder and his vision of the Christian and the state. If one hasn't read Yoder before, this is a good place to start. Or, if one is new to Yoder, this will be a great introduction. I need to acknowledge that I received a copy of the book from one of the editors of the book (John C. Nugent). John is from the Stone-Campbell movement, and is one of a number from his branch of this communion to be influenced by Yoder. Having read selectively in Yoder's corpus, I can say this is a most useful, thoughtful, and engaging introduction to Yoder's thought. Of course the editors don't mean for us to simply admire Yoder's work. They assume that he has a word for the present moment, and that the church will benefit from reading it. As one does, it's important to remember that Yoder was a man of complexity and even darkness - as is true of all of us. That complexity and darkness doesn't take away from his message.
