Bringing the Sacred to Life
Title | Bringing the Sacred to Life PDF eBook |
Author | John Daido Loori |
Publisher | Shambhala Publications |
Pages | 131 |
Release | 2008-03-11 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 0834823500 |
Zen rituals—such as chanting, bowing, lighting incense before the Buddha statue—are ways of recognizing the sacredness in all of life. A ritual is simply a deliberate and focused moment that symbolizes the care with which we should be approaching all of life, and practicing the Zen liturgy is a way of cultivating this quality of attention in order to bring it to everything we do. Here, John Daido Loori demystifies the details of the Zen rituals and highlights their deeper meaning and purpose. We humans are all creatures of ritual, he teaches, whether we recognize it or not. Even if we don’t make ritual part of some religious observance, we still fall into ritual behavior, whether it be our daily grooming sequence or the way we have our morning coffee and paper. We run through our personal rituals unconsciously most of the time, but there is great value to introducing meaningful symbolic rituals into our lives and to performing them deliberately and mindfully—because the way we do ritual affects the way we live the rest of our lives. The book includes instructions for a simple Zen home liturgy, as it is practiced by students of the Mountains and Rivers Order of Zen.
Sacred Passages
Title | Sacred Passages PDF eBook |
Author | Bert Ghezzi |
Publisher | Doubleday Books |
Pages | 176 |
Release | 2003 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 9780385503402 |
Sacred Passages takes an entirely new approach to the way we understand and experience the sacraments. Foregoing dry, technical explanations, Bert Ghezzi explores the meaning and benefits of the sacraments in a practical and highly personal manner. Interweaving scripture, the writings of the saints, and personal stories, Ghezzi reveals the dynamic realities that the sacraments provide believers. In chapters devoted to each of the seven sacraments--Baptism, Communion, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Marriage, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick--Ghezzi restores a sense of wonder and excitement in the sacraments and instills an understanding of what is really happening. For example, in the section devoted to Communion, the effectiveness of the sacrament is explained: The eating of the bread and wine cleanse, strengthen, and nourish the spirit. Reconciliation is seen as an opportunity for direct access to God through prayer and the continued participation in Christ's ministry. Each chapter includes practical teachings on applying the grace of the sacraments in daily life, inspiring believers to participate fully in all the stages and important moments of the Christian life, from birth, growth, and coming-of-age, through vocation and service, and finally to death. One of America's most popular writers on topics of interest to Catholics, Ghezzi's engaging prose, easy-to-understand explanations, and thoughtful insights offer readers a life-changing vision of the role of the sacraments, and helps them experience the practical and spiritual rewards of each sacred passage.
Reinventing the Sacred
Title | Reinventing the Sacred PDF eBook |
Author | Stuart A. Kauffman |
Publisher | ReadHowYouWant.com |
Pages | 534 |
Release | 2010-11-29 |
Genre | Antiques & Collectibles |
ISBN | 1458722066 |
Consider the complexity of a living cell after 3.8 billion years of evolution. Is it more awesome to suppose that a transcendent God fashioned the cell at a stroke, or to realize that it evolved with no Almighty Hand, but arose on its own in the c...
Altars
Title | Altars PDF eBook |
Author | Denise Linn |
Publisher | Wellspring/Ballantine |
Pages | 0 |
Release | 1999 |
Genre | Altars |
ISBN | 9780345434463 |
Home altars have been used since ancient times throughout the world yet, today, many people think altars are only of significance inside a church. In this beautiful, lavishly illustrated gift book, Denise Linn reclaims the altar for today's spiritual seeker. She explains why people need altars and shows the many different uses to which altars may be dedicated, such as celebrating or mourning significant life events or working through troubled times. Altars allow us to create a sacred space away from ordinary life where we can remind ourselves of the profound mysteries of creation.The approach of this book is also practical, with clear advice on how to prepare and purify an altar of your own. Denise explains the significance of the various objects you can choose to place on your altar and gives advice on the different rituals and ceremonies you can perform in front of it. Whether inside the home, at the office, or outside in the natural world, altars allow us to create a personal space and bring meaning to our lives.
Sacred Time
Title | Sacred Time PDF eBook |
Author | Christine Valters Paintner |
Publisher | Sorin Books |
Pages | 160 |
Release | 2021-02 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 9781932057225 |
We live in a world where there never seems to be enough time for all we want and need to do. In Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life, Christine Valters Paintner guides us as we move beyond our own lives and embrace a world that urges us toward rest, reflection, and growth. In Sacred Time, Paintner, abbess of the online Abbey of the Arts, shows us how by becoming in tune with the rhythms of the natural world, we can live more intentionally and experience a conversion toward a more expansive way of being. Paintner introduces us to the eight cycles of sacred time that exist in our everyday lives. These cycles that can ground us through our busy lives are breath, rhythms of the day, weekly rhythms and Sabbath rest, waxing and waning lunar cycles, seasons of the year, seasons of a lifetime, ancestral time, and cosmic time. Each cycle encourages us to mindfully consider the time that passes as quickly as each breath and as slowly as the passing of generations. Within each cycle, we find wisdom from sacred tradition and the saints, including St. Benedict, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and St. Hildegard of Bingen; room for growth; and the presence of the Divine. Along the way, we are also given scriptural guidance, and we are invited to spiritual practices and creative explorations that will help deepen our understanding of each cycle, allow that understanding to take root in our lives, and expand our lives beyond the pressures of each da
Suffering Is Optional
Title | Suffering Is Optional PDF eBook |
Author | Gail Brenner |
Publisher | New Harbinger Publications |
Pages | 247 |
Release | 2018-06-01 |
Genre | Self-Help |
ISBN | 168403017X |
If you struggle with self‐defeating thoughts and feelings of inadequacy, you are not alone. We’ve all felt inadequate, believing that we’re broken or otherwise unworthy. But this doesn’t have to be a life sentence. Presenting four guiding principles and five core practices based in deep spiritual wisdom, Suffering Is Optional reveals how to liberate yourself from the prison of false self‐beliefs holding you back. Millions of people feel that they are not good enough. They may struggle every day, seeing themselves as deficient, pathetic, or damaged, and destined to fail. They convince themselves they aren’t worthy of love or respect, and view themselves with self-hatred. When you believe and cling to painful, self-defeating thoughts like “I can’t do it,” “It won’t work,” or “I’m a loser,” they become your personal reality—and the more you repeat them, the more you believe them, until they come to define you. Sadly, these limiting self-definitions lead to even more pain and suffering: hidden shame, problems in relationships, opportunities lost, and a life not fully lived. In Suffering Is Optional, clinical psychologist Gail Brenner offers practical ways to discover that you are not what your thoughts tell you you are. Rather than showing you how to become a better version of yourself, this book goes straight to the heart of the problem—that you’ve mistakenly identified yourself as broken and undeserving—to guide you out of these limiting thoughts and into an investigation of the nature of reality that ultimately liberates you from your suffering. With these exercises, experiments, reflections, practices, and inspiring stories, you’ll have a spiritual solution to your personal problem of limitation and self-sabotage. Using the four guiding principles and five core practices presented in this book—including turning toward direct experience, grounding in aware presence, losing interest in thoughts, welcoming feelings, and the sacred return to presence—you’ll be able to shed your false identity and wake up to the inherent peace and happiness that is available to you in any given moment.
Your Altar
Title | Your Altar PDF eBook |
Author | Sandra Kynes |
Publisher | Llewellyn Worldwide |
Pages | 241 |
Release | 2007 |
Genre | Altars |
ISBN | 0738711055 |
A reminder of the Divine, a space for spiritual encounter, or a focal point for meditation--the altar is a powerful tool for people of all faiths. Sandra Kynes demonstrates how to create personal altars and empower these sacred spaces according to your needs. Discover how to harness energies to manifest change, make decisions, receive wisdom, find balance, explore your soul, and grow spiritually. Kynes's unique approach provides nine overall matrices--each one corresponding to the number of objects placed on the altar--and the numerological significance of each. You'll also find suggested meditations and a wealth of helpful information--spanning chakras, colors, days of the week, elements, gemstones, gods/goddesses, runes, and more--for choosing appropriate symbols and objects that reflect your needs.