Welcome! Seeking insight into modern spirituality? Spiritual fulfillment? True happiness and mental wellness? Well, that’s what we’re all about. Spirituality & Community is an online magazine and writers' community for those seeking answers to life’s deepest questions. We are dedicated to promoting spirituality, true happiness, and an appreciation for a diversity of spiritual beliefs. Resources available on the site are intended to enable people to fully explore modern spirituality. These include issues of our magazine (see The Current Issue below and The Magazine at left) and modern and classic spiritual writings and art (see Departments and Features below).

Modern Spirituality: A New Age of Light
So, what is modern spirituality? Spirituality refers to the development of the spirit or heart. We believe that modern spirituality differs from much of what has come before because of its spirit of open-mindedness and a rediscovered focus on introspective spirituality. We view spirituality as a search for happiness and fulfillment by finding the Light within. We hold most closely these truths:

-We believe in an energy known as the Light, the Lord, God, the Tao, and many other names.
-We believe that the Light lies inside each of us.
-We believe that one must open one's heart to the Light within to attain spiritual fulfillment,
true happiness, and mental wellness.

The Light is the true 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 spiritual wholeness and true happiness. Many wander aimlessly in search of what is missing from their lives. Yet, many hunger for spiritual answers. We believe that we are entering a new age of enlightenment in which genuine progress will be made in spirituality. We 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 an online magazine and encompasses a community of spiritual writers. The site serves as the basis for bringing together those who share spiritual aspirations and beliefs. The magazine is comprised primarily of reader submitted material. If you're a spiritual writer, you've come to the right place. Please see the Submit Material! link at left.

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

                                                                                  

The Current Issue-   January '12

The Seven Tablets of Creation    The Ancient Babylonian Creation Myth   Sufism for Western Seekers    (pdf)    Dr. Stewart Bitkoff   thisHumanCondition    (pdf)    Daniel Speraw

January '12    Click image for   full issue (554K pdf)

Departments

Spiritual Soup
Thoughts on spirituality (from the founder)

Spiritual Poetry
Classics and from our readers

Spiritual Art
Works of art and photography from our readers


Features
Contemporary

The Rebirth of Spirituality
A Note from the Founder
The essence of spirituality is the idea that the Light within is the key to life. Life is nothing without joy, and true happiness is not possible without the Light within. The Light is love; the Light will not shine in a heart devoid of love. A heart without love is a heart without light and joy. When one opens one’s heart to love without boundaries, one allows the Light to shine without obstruction. Spite begets darkness; love begets light. Many believe that the Light within is God or a universal energy known by other names. Even agnostics or atheists, however, can “believe” in spirituality. Although our minds are tied to our physical bodies while we live on earth, our conscious world is essentially non-physical, subjective rather than objective- joy, a conscious experience, a feeling, is the key to life, and love, another feeling, is the key to joy. Thus, love is the giver of life, “Lord” or “God”, on earth, if not in heaven.

Gnosticism was an early Christian spirituality. Gnostics placed a strong emphasis on the idea that God, and the living Jesus, lied within the heart of humankind. They believed that we could know God by knowing ourselves. Gnosis means knowledge, and they used the word to refer to knowledge of God. Gnosticism flourished beside other forms of Christianity for centuries, but as early Catholicism became the official religion of the Roman Empire, Gnosticism was suppressed, and its spiritual focus was sharply de-emphasized.

Spirituality has been discovered many times and within the framework of many different religions. Today, introspective spirituality is being reborn as modern spirituality. People all over the world are rediscovering the idea of the Light within. I truly believe that we are now entering an age in which humankind will again progress spiritually. By rediscovering ourselves, and the wealth that lies within, we may rediscover true peace and happiness. The following lines are taken from The Gospel of Thomas, part of the Nag Hammadi library, a Gnostic treasure discovered in the Egyptian desert in 1945:

	(3) Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty." (24) His disciples said to him, "Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to seek it." He said to them, "Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness." (50) Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?', say to them, 'We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established itself and became manifest through their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?', say, 'We are its children, we are the elect of the living father.' If they ask you, 'What is the sign of your father in you?', say to them, 'It is movement and repose.'"

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

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