Welcome! Seeking spiritual fulfillment? True happiness and mental wellness? Well, that’s what we’re all about. Spirituality & Community is a magazine and online community for those seeking answers to life’s deepest questions. We are dedicated to promoting spirituality, true happiness, mental wellness, and appreciation for a diversity of spiritual beliefs. Resources available on the site include issues of our magazine (see The Magazine at left), spiritual writings (see Departments and Features below), the full text of the founder's book (see The Founder at left), and a directory of links (see Links at left).

A New Age of Light
The word spirituality means different things to different people. To us, spirituality refers to the development of the spirit or heart, and to us, this means focusing on the Light within. We hold most closely these truths:

-We believe that within everyone lies a pure love which is known as the Light or simply Love, as well as the Lord, God, and many other names.
-We believe that one must open one's heart to the Light within to attain spiritual fulfillment and that only this brings true happiness and mental wellness.

We view spirituality as an inner search for happiness and fulfillment. We are concerned with the Light that lies within the heart. The Light is the essence of humanity. Ultimately, we find our way by casting our gaze inward.

We believe that mankind is entering a New Age, an Age of Light. We see a growing spiritual crisis in the world today. Our culture has brought us unprecedented material well being, but we seem further away than ever from true spiritual wholeness. We also perceive an increase in mental health issues in our society and believe this to be linked to spiritual detachment. Many wander endlessly in search of the material gratification that will bring them happiness. Many have lost faith in traditional religions, while others sincerely believe in traditional religions but remain unhappy. Unfortunately, too many are so close-minded they refuse to ask what is missing from their lives. Yet, many hunger for spiritual wholeness and are searching for answers. We believe that we are entering a new age of enlightenment in which genuine spiritual progress will be made. We also believe that spiritual development depends upon a genuine appreciation for a diversity of spiritual beliefs. We look with the highest regard to traditional beliefs and religions for guidance, and we also look forward. We believe that the past is not the end but the beginning.

Spirituality & Community
Spirituality & Community produces a magazine and encompasses an online community. Both aspects serve as the basis for bringing together those who share our aspirations and beliefs, to meet each other and exchange ideas. Membership is free and may be withdrawn at any time. Level of participation is strictly voluntary. We provide many opportunities for exploring spirituality and communicating with others.

We sincerely hope that you will find truth within, and we wish you only the best on your own personal journey!

                                                  

Departments

Jarvis the Duck   New!
The Series and The Comic Strip
The fantastic adventures of a spiritual duck

Spiritual Soup
Thoughts on finding true happiness and fulfillment (from the founder)

Well Versed
Spiritual poetry: Classics and from our readers

Impressions
Moving works of art and photography

Living
Stories of spiritual growth and inspiration


Features

From the Current Issue- July '08

The pdf format is a standard document format which may be viewed in Acrobat® Reader®. If you do not have Acrobat® Reader®, you can download it free at www.adobe.com/acrobat.

                                             

Zen and the Art of Yard Work
A Note from the Founder
This past weekend, I was out in the yard putting up a fence. We just got a new puppy, and we need an enclosure in the backyard for him to play in. Samantha (my 5 year old) loves animals, and we just had to get a dog for her. He is much loved and growing fast. Anyway, putting up this fence involved a lot of heavy physical work- digging, mixing concrete, lifting, nailing, especially the digging, as I was hitting a lot of rock. It was a typical hot July day, and with the sun beating down, the sweat was just pouring off of me. The kids and the pup were out in the yard playing. I took a short break and was watching them play when I was struck by one of those Zen moments. Maybe I was experiencing some kind of pain induced euphoria, like a punch drunk prize fighter, but I was suddenly overcome by complete peace and joy. The world seemed to just melt away, my mind grasped a single thought, and I was overcome by a deep sense that I had grasped anew an important truth. That truth is that to find complete happiness, we must be true to ourselves; we must simply be ourselves, without any extraneous or negative thoughts and feelings. Kids are happy when they are simply playing. The pup was happy simply to play or snooze. Likewise, people don’t need lots of material possessions or prestige to be happy. They simply need to do what they were “made” to do. In Thoreau’s Walden, in which he describes his two years of rustic living at Walden pond, Thoreau talks a lot about living deliberately and finding truth. I think that the idea I grasped in my Zen moment, that we must simply be ourselves, without extraneous or negative thoughts and feelings, is what he was talking about.

To understand in more detail what I believe lies behind this idea, first consider that the mind encompasses a duality of reason and emotion. The rational mind uses logic to plan actions. Basic emotional needs drive the rational mind; they provide the goals that rationality aims to achieve. Without emotion, there can be no reason. I believe, and this is what I think Thoreau was saying in Walden, that we need to take time to slow down, step out of the rat race. So many people run from task to task without ever thinking about what’s important in life. SUV’s and expensive houses really aren’t that high on the list of basic emotional needs. With respect to true happiness, these things are essentially irrelevant. Yet this is what people crave most. So what is important? Basic physical needs, security, family, friends. However, I believe that the most important emotional need, that the very core of humanity, is goodness. One who’s heart is hard and black cannot feel true happiness. Conversely, if our hearts are full of Light, they are also full of joy. In order to achieve true and complete happiness , we must simply “be ourselves”- if we simply open our hearts, the Light will naturally shine through. This idea is difficult for the rational mind to grasp, and our culture places little value on it. This is unfortunate, but things can change. So let us each renew our realization of this most fundamental and critical truth and count ourselves profoundly blessed. Thoreau puts the situation eloquently in chapter 11, Higher Laws, of Walden:

If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal-that is your success. All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. We soon forget them. They are the highest reality. Perhaps the facts most astounding and most real are never communicated by man to man. The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little star-dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.

      -Kurt Venables (For more from me on spirituality, see Spiritual Soup above)

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