DOCSLIB.ORG

Prayer Diary WINTER 2015

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Prayer Diary WINTER 2015 Prayer Diary WINTER 2015 January — March 2015 www.maf-uk.org/prayer PRAYER DIARY Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 PRAY CONTINUALLY INTRODUCTION John Wesley once said, Less than an hour passed before the clouds began to thin. The sun suddenly ‘Prayer is where the action is.’ broke through and the sound of an engine As a dynamic and responsive organisation, could be heard in the distance. MAF Pilot MAF has often been privileged to deliver the Clint Smith was circling overhead, ready to answer to people’s prayers – and is certainly land at Kawito airstrip with a trainee pilot. at the forefront of the action! MAF planes never land in Kawito on It’s so heart-warming when we hear how Tuesdays. God had intervened through a few have gathered together during an this one-off training flight. emergency, and God has used one of our Perhaps you are still praying for God little planes to send His help, hope and to intervene in a situation in your life, or healing to places of great need. perhaps you are part of His intervention. Here’s just one of those uplifting stories. However you feel God is leading you One Tuesday morning, a missionary family today, we want to encourage you not to living in a remote area of Papua New Guinea give up praying. Your prayers are heard by was facing a crisis. Awful weather had our heavenly Father – they are part of His damaged vital equipment, destroyed phone will for our world. MAF’s ministry is proof that lines and cut their electricity supply. There prayer does lead to action, and lives are was flooding in every direction, and the bad being changed for His Kingdom. weather looked set to continue. Trying desperately to make contact with We hope you enjoy our new ‘fresh- the outside world, their failed attempts looking’ Prayer Diary. brought them to their knees. They were completely cut off and running out of food. This increased size allows us to keep you better informed of our work, and we hope that the Only God could help them now. inclusion of maps and some country statistics With rain continuing to batter against their will help you feel more connected to the action. home, the family gathered around a candlelit This new format has even reduced the cost of table and began to pray. ‘Send a plane, God. printing, so your gifts will go even further. Send a message to the pilots, even though We are so grateful for your prayers and they are hundreds of miles away.’ commitment to the work of MAF – may you know God’s rich blessings as you pray. 2 Prayer Diary | Winter 2015 www.maf-uk.org HEALING AND PEACE JANUARY THURSDAY 1 Several countries in West Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Liberia, where our You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, newest programme will be based, are struggling to combat the O God our saviour. You are Ebola virus [below right]. Pray for the doctors and nurses we fly, the hope of everyone on as they care for those suffering from the disease. earth. FRIDAY 2 Recent outbreaks of violence in the Horn of Africa, Psalm 65:5 South Sudan and Kenya and tension in eastern DRC and northern Uganda threaten areas of our work in those regions. Pray for peace, protection and stability. ‘When the rain falls, it’s totally impossible to come here. With MAF SATURDAY 3 We need more pilots to join our team in South it’s just one or two hours. I can now Sudan. Pray that those with the right qualifications will come come and preach the Gospel. Thank forward. you MAF very much!’ Jean Claude, evangelist, Madagascar Winter 2015 | Prayer Diary 3 MADAGASCAR JANUARY SUNDAY 4 Praise God for our flights for organisations such as UNICEF, CBM and Wycliffe Bible Translators. Give thanks that, COUNTRY FACTS through these partnerships, MAF helps their personnel provide a wide range of education, health and conservation projects. MONDAY 5 Uphold Programme Manager Bert van den Bosch and his wife Janetta [left]. Pray for wisdom and understanding as Bert plans how best to support our partners. Programme begins 1988 TUESDAY 6 Each year, we make a large number of medical 2 aircraft emergency flights – flying 23,201,926 population patients from remote communities to Antananarivo Hospital. These medevacs often save patients’ lives. Praise God for this 27 members of staff caring, life-saving ministry. Key partners Africa Inland Misison, CBM, WEDNESDAY 7 Pray that the churches in Madagascar will HoverAid, Medair, UNICEF, Wycliffe deepen their passion for God’s Word and be an effective Bible Translators witness. Give thanks that, by flying missionaries and church leaders to remote villages, our pilots help further God’s Kingdom. THURSDAY 8 Uphold the work of Good News Hospital at Mandritsara, one of our many partners. Pray for its staff who seek to bring healing and share the Gospel. FRIDAY 9 Pray for new MAF Pilot Becki Dillingham and her husband Matt. They arrived from the UK last autumn. Uphold Becki as she gets used to the challenges of landing on steep mountainside airstrips. SATURDAY 10 Join us in praying for someone to serve as a Home School Support Teacher in Arnhem Land in Australia’s remote Northern Territory. 4 Prayer Diary | Winter 2015 www.maf-uk.org COUNTRY FACTS 2.6% Australian Aborigine population 161 indigenous languages 102 locations served in Arnhem Land Key partners Australian Society for Indigenous AUSTRALIA JANUARY Languages, Church Mission Society, Galiwin’ku Bible Translation Project, SUNDAY 11 Praise God for an increase in the number of people Pioneers Australia asking MAF Technology Services for electronic devices which contain Gospel resources. Our staff are encouraged that so many people in Arnhem Land want to receive God’s Word. MONDAY 12 Uphold Jason Job, who recently took over from David Pett as Elcho Island Base Manager. Pray for God’s encouragement and strength as Jason settles in. TUESDAY 13 Daniel Simkins served as Finance Manager in Tanzania and then Kenya, and is now working in the regional support office in Cairns. Uphold Daniel, his wife Libby [left] and the team in Cairns as they support The earnest prayer of a programmes in Arnhem Land, righteous person has great Bangladesh, Timor-Leste and Papua power and produces New Guinea. wonderful results. WEDNESDAY 14 Uphold Mark and James 5:16 Jenny Beckwith [above right] who recently moved from Tanzania to Mareeba, Australia. As well as doing design work, Mark will be working as an aircraft maintenance engineer. ‘Knowing our 20-minute flight could save a life THURSDAY 15 Pray for strength, health and energy for MAF compared with a 4-hour personnel in Australia, and for everyone involved in the Flight bumpy road journey really Training Centre’s move from Melbourne to Mareeba. brought the need home to me.’ FRIDAY 16 David Pett has been appointed Training Captain for James Skinner, Relief Pilot, the single piston fleet of MAF aircraft worldwide. He and his Arnhem Land wife Jen are now based at our Cairns office, and David will be training new and experienced pilots at MAF’s new Mareeba Training Centre. Pray for them as they resettle into a western culture, having moved from remote Elcho Island. SATURDAY 17 Pray that the right person will soon take up the role of Flight Instructor and join our International Training Centre at Mareeba. Winter 2015 | Prayer Diary 5 UGANDA JANUARY SUNDAY 18 Praise God for Tutapona, an organisation that ministers in war-affected areas to offer trauma counselling to COUNTRY FACTS victims of war. We regularly fly Tutapona staff to help refugees who’ve fled from the violence in South Sudan. Pray the airstrip at Adjumani will soon be opened to help facilitate this work. MONDAY 19 Several new pilots arrived in Uganda last year – a real answer to prayer. Uphold Matt Eagar, Dave Forney, Martin Zimmerman and their families, and pray they will soon feel part of our team. Be encouraged that God hears our prayers for MAF’s many vacancies. 7 aircraft TUESDAY 20 Building work is underway to construct a new MAF office building at Kajjansi airfield. Pray that the relocation 459 partner organisations process from our existing offices will go smoothly. 60 ethnic groups WEDNESDAY 21 Remember Aircraft Key partners Maintenance Engineer Mark Care International, Jesus Film Ministries, Newnham and his wife Sarah [left]. Oxfam, Samaritan’s Purse, UNICEF Last year, they moved to a house with a two-bedroom apartment attached. This will serve as an MAF For my house will be called guesthouse which Sarah will help a house of prayer for all run. Pray as they serve the Lord in nations. their different capacities, and offer hospitality. Isaiah 56:7 THURSDAY 22 Today, as you think about our work in Uganda, why not ask God what to pray? As you wait on Him, jot down anything that comes to mind and allow Him to lead your prayers. We’d love to hear what God is saying to you – please do get in touch. FRIDAY 23 Pray for Geoff and Celia Linkleter from the UK [right]. They joined our team in Uganda last autumn. Geoff recently trained as an aircraft maintenance engineer. They join Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Andy Swanson and his wife Heather, who also arrived in Uganda in 2014. SATURDAY 24 Pray we will soon find someone for the role of Operations Manager in Uganda.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Prayer – Seeing Things from God's Perspective I Like Flying (In a Plane
    Prayer – Seeing Things from God’s Perspective I like flying (in a plane, of course). It gives me a new perspective. From thousands of feet up I can see snow-capped mountains, arid deserts dissected by dry watercourses, cultivated fields in neat rows, meandering rivers, busy highways, rugged coastlines, clouds, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and occasionally other aircraft. I have flown on and off most of my adult life and, with a few exceptions, have enjoyed it. But from time to time I think about where I am. From the relative comfort (never easy because I have long legs) of a spacious wide-body jet, watching a recent movie or interpreting airline food, it is easy to think that we and our fellow-passengers are alone, safe and in a “big space”. It is easy to forget that, from 40,000 feet, the reason the landscape below seems so small is that we are a long way above the surface of the earth. From the vantage point of someone on the ground looking up at the jet passing overhead, we are a long way up, and the aircraft looks very, very small in a huge expanse of nothing. We are vulnerable, to the elements, the reliability of the plane and the potential for mechanical or pilot error. We make an assumption that we will reach our destination, and forget that such a conclusion is only our perspective, which may turn out not to be correct after all. Witness the recent disappearance and protracted search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. When there is turbulence, our perspective can change quickly; we recall airline accidents attributed to clear air turbulence, severe tropical storms, lightning (I have been in a plane struck by lightning, when the electrical systems appeared to fail, for a few long seconds) or engine problems.
    [Show full text]
  • The Prayer of Surrender
    THE PRAYER OF SURRENDER I was scheduled to fly from Philadelphia to Pittsburg this week to do a television show. On a good day it takes me about 80 minutes to drive to the Philadelphia airport from my house. Snow flurries were forecast for Tuesday but they weren’t supposed to last. But they did and got heavier and heavier as the morning wore on. I began to worry. I have a disease my children have dubbed, “Worst Case Scenario Disease.” Perhaps you have it too. My mind began imagining the worst things that might happen while I was driving to the airport in the snow. For example, I might miss my plane or it would be cancelled and I wouldn’t be able to get to the television show. Or, I might get in a terrible accident and never make my plane. Or, the plane would crash because the wings got icy. Crazy, I know, but I’m just being real. But the good news is, I have learned how to get myself out of such emotional quicksand and I want to teach you how too. It’s called the prayer of surrender. We all have many desires – good and legitimate desires, nothing God would disapprove of. But what starts to happen to us when our desires get delayed, frustrated or denied? My desire in that moment was to get to the airport, make my plane and fulfill my responsibilities to be on that television show. Perhaps your desire is to have a stress free Christmas, a nice family dinner, a spouse that loves you, children who obey you, and a paycheck that supports your financial obligations.
    [Show full text]
  • Melchizedek Or the Secret Doctrine of the Bible by JC Grumbine
    Melchizedek or the Secret Doctrine of the Bible by J.C. Grumbine Melchizedek or the Secret Doctrine of the Bible by J.C. Grumbine Published in 1919 "I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world". Matthew 13: 35 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Lecture 1 Who is Melchizedek? Biblical History. His Office and His Order The Secret Doctrines of the Order. Its Myths, Mysteries, Lecture 2 Symbolisms, Canons, Philosophy The Secret Doctrine on Four Planes of Expression and Lecture 3 Manifestation Lecture 4 The Christ Psychology and Christian Mysticism Lecture 5 The Key - How Applied. Divine Realization and Illumination Page 1 Melchizedek or the Secret Doctrine of the Bible by J.C. Grumbine INTRODUCTION The Bible has been regarded as a sealed book, its mysteries impenetrable, its knowledge unfathomable, its key lost. Even its miracles have been so excluded from scientific research as to be invested with a supernaturalism which forever separated them from the possibility of human understanding and rational interpretation. In the midst of these revolutionary times, it is not strange that theology and institutional Christianity should feel the foundations of their authority slipping from them, and a new, broader and more spiritual thought of man and God taking their places. All this is a part of the general awakening of mankind and has not come about in a day or a year. It grew. It is still growing, because the soul is eternal and justifies and vindicates its own unfoldment. Some see in this new birth of man that annihilation of church and state, but others who are more informed and illumined, realized that the chaff and dross of error are being separated from the wheat and gold of truth and that only the best, and that which is for the highest good of mankind will remain.
    [Show full text]
  • An Overview of Sri Aurobindo's Topography of Consciousness
    International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Volume 37 | Issue 1 Article 8 9-1-2018 The elS f and the Structure of the Personality: An Overview of Sri Aurobindo’s Topography of Consciousness Matthijs Cornelissen Indian Psychology Institute, Pondicherry, India Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies Part of the Philosophy Commons, Psychology Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Cornelissen, M. (2018). The es lf and the structure of the personality: An overview of Sri Aurobindo’s topography of consciousness. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 37 (1). http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2018.37.1.63 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Special Topic Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Self and the Structure of the Personality: An Overview of Sri Aurobindo’s Topography of Consciousness Matthijs Cornelissen Indian Psychology Institute Pondicherry, India Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga aimed not only at what he called the realization of the Divine, but also at an integral transformation of human nature under Divine influence. For this exceptionally wide aim, he developed an exceptionally deep and comprehensive frame for understanding human nature. His concepts, as discussed in this paper, must be understood on their own terms, which are often different from meanings attributed in the conventional language of Western psychology.
    [Show full text]
  • Criticism and Study of the Astrology of the Eckankar Based on the Teachings of Islam1 Dr
    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION 2017, VOL. 12, NO. 4, 817-840 OPEN ACCESS Criticism and study of the astrology of the Eckankar based on the teachings of Islam1 Dr. Abdolreza Mahmoudi 1*, Dr. Maryam Shamsaie 2, Hashem Kakaei 3 1-Assistant professor of Islamic Education Department, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. 2-Assistant professor of Islamic Education Department, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. 3-Instructor of Islamic Education Department, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. ABSTRACT The subject of astrology in the School of Eckankar has two main bases of Karma and reincarnation. Karma or the very law of action and reaction can be called the moral basis of the Eckankar. The totality of this law is accepted by the reason and tradition. But yet what casts doubt and therefore a serious damage to this law would be a tight connection between Karma and Incarnation in the School of Eckankar. This is because the ECK believes that Karma is incarnated through the transmigration, and moves from a birth to another one and this long way is continued up to the constellations. Therefore, in this writing and while explaining the Karma and accepting it in its totality, various typed of incarnation are explained ,and then it will be studied and criticized based on the teachings of Islam. KEYWORDS ARTICLE HISTORY astrology, Karma, transmigration. Received 3 April 2017 Revised 29 April 2017 Accepted 4 May 2017 Introduction The Sanskrit word “Karma” means “work”. This word first appeared in the “Rig Veda” hymns, (Tulle, 2007), and was used as the religious work and especially offering, and means so to say a law which determines the outcome of man’s deeds, and (ibid, p.310) brings about the cycle of reappearing.
    [Show full text]
  • The Unique Advantages of Praying 38,000 Feet Above the Ground
    PRAYER POINTS Heavenly Prayer by Rabbi Yaakov Salomon The unique advantages of praying 38,000 feet above the ground. 23K It's a window seat. It's my seat. Flight 012; El Al. The local time must be around 7 or 8 or 9 A.M. and, according to the map on my screen, we are somewhere between Halifax and Lisbon, I guess. It doesn't really matter. I have just completed my morning prayers. Nothing unusual about that. It's something I've done every day for the past…er…many years. Of course, I'm usually 38,000 feet closer to the ground and in a synagogue when I pray, but the words are very much the same. I like prayer and I'll tell you why. First of all, there's something special about speaking to God. It's a chance to check-in with my manufacturer and get a sense of what, if any, repairs are necessary. Maybe all I need is an oil change or a new filter or a lube. Periodically a major tune-up is indicated. So, it's good to stop in and open the hood. Second, life today, as you know, is incredibly hectic. I needn't explain why. And prayer time is a preset 1 regimen that allows for needed breaks from whatever it is we are engaged in. What a statement it is when we choose to begin and end our daily activities with a service of the heart and also find time smack in the middle of our day to do the same.
    [Show full text]
  • 119–144 God of Heaven and Sheol: the “Unearthing”
    Hebrew Studies 58 (2017): 119–144 GOD OF HEAVEN AND SHEOL: THE “UNEARTHING” OF CREATION Scott B. Noegel University of Washington in Gen 1:1 must mean ָה ָארֶ ץ Abstract: In this contribution I argue that as אֶרֶ ץ the underworld.” After surveying evidence for rendering“ “underworld” elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, and examining cognate evidence from Mesopotamia and Ugarit, I contend that, as a merism, as “the heavens and the underworld” here makes ה ָארֶ ץ and הַשׁמַָיִם reading better sense in terms of Israelite cosmology. I then illustrate how attention to the cosmological merism improves our understanding of the biblical creation and of several other passages beyond Genesis. Afterwards, I examine some historical factors that precluded later generations from -in Gen 1:1 as the “underworld.” The article con ה ָארֶ ץ understanding cludes with an excursus on Enuma Elish. Gen 1:1–2 בְּרֵ אשִׁ יתָבּ ר אָאֱ ֹלהִ יםָאֵ תָהַשׁמַ יִםָוְאֵ תָהאָרֶ ץ וְהאָרֶ ץָה יְתהָתֹהוָּו בֹהוָּוְחֹשֶׁ ְךָעַל־פְּ נֵיָתְ הֹוםָוְ רוּחַ ָאֱ ֹלהִ יםָמְרַחֶפֶתָעַ ל־פְּ נֵיָהַמּיִם 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2. And the earth was void-and-waste, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. These two majestic verses are arguably the most famous in Scripture. They bring us into a remote world, informed by an omniscient narrator inspired with secret knowledge of the origins of the cosmos. Of course, one reason for their renown is that they open both the Hebrew and Christian canonical Bibles, and thus, they have been engrained in Western religious tradition for two millennia.
    [Show full text]
  • The Articulation Between Evolutionism and Creationism in New Religious Movements: Two South American Case Studies[1]
    Revista del CESLA ISSN: 1641-4713 ISSN: 2081-1160 [email protected] Uniwersytet Warszawski Polonia The articulation between evolutionism and creationism in New Religious Movements: Two South American case studies[1] de Lima Campanha, Vitor The articulation between evolutionism and creationism in New Religious Movements: Two South American case [1] studies Revista del CESLA, vol. 26, 2020 Uniwersytet Warszawski, Polonia Available in: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=243364810005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.36551/2081-1160.2020.26.179-194 PDF generated from XML JATS4R by Redalyc Project academic non-profit, developed under the open access initiative Debate e articulation between evolutionism and creationism in New Religious Movements: Two South American case studies[1] La articulación entre evolucionismo y creacionismo en los Nuevos Movimientos Religiosos: dos estudios de caso sudamericanos Vitor de Lima Campanha [email protected] Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Brasil hp://orcid.org/0000-0002-9546-1859 Abstract: e purpose of this article is to demonstrate how certain religious perspectives Revista del CESLA, vol. 26, 2020 present nuances between the concepts of creation and evolution. Public debate Uniwersytet Warszawski, Polonia characterizes them as polarized concepts. Yet, contemporary religious movements resignify them and create arrangements in which biological evolution and creation Received: 03 March 2020 by the intervention of higher beings are presented in a continuum. It begins with a Accepted: 12 June 2020 brief introduction on the relations and reframing of scientific concepts in the New DOI: https:// Religious Movements and New Age thinking. en we have two case studies which doi.org/10.36551/2081-1160.2020.26.179-194allow us to analyze this evolution-creation synthesis.
    [Show full text]
  • Deity, Cosmos and Man by Geoffrey Farthing Deity, Cosmos and Man
    Deity, Cosmos and Man by Geoffrey Farthing Deity, Cosmos and Man by Geoffrey Farthing Published in the late 1900's Geoffrey Farthing has authorized us to reproduce this document for purely non-commercial purposes only. CONTENTS FOREWORD BIBLIOGRAPHY Key to abbreviated titles INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 ABOUT ESOTERIC SCIENCE THE SCOPE AND FRAMEWORK OF CHAPTER 2 THE SCIENCE THE OCCULT CONSTITUTION OF CHAPTER 3 COSMOS AND MAN CHAPTER 4 THE HIERARCHIES OF BEINGS Document 1 CHAPTER 5 AKASHA AND THE ASTRAL LIGHT on web CHAPTER 6 ELEMENTS AND ELEMENTALS BOOK - I - CHAPTER 7 LAW IN COSMOS AND HUMAN LIFE CHAPTER 8 DEATH AND REBIRTH CHAPTER 9 ORIGINS CHAPTER 10 GLOBES, ROUNDS AND RACES EVER-BECOMING - THE PROCESSES CHAPTER 11 OF EVOLUTION CHAPTER 12 SPIRITUALISM AND PSYCHISM CHAPTER 13 SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 14 RELIGION Page 1 Deity, Cosmos and Man by Geoffrey Farthing INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 ABOUT ESOTERIC SCIENCE CHAPTER 2 THE SCOPE OF THE SCIENCE THE OCCULT CONSTITUTION OF COSMOS CHAPTER 3 AND MAN CHAPTER 4 THE HIERARCHIES OF BEINGS CHAPTER 5 AKASHA AND THE ASTRAL LIGHT BOOK - II - CHAPTER 6 ELEMENTS AND ELEMENTALS Document 2 CHAPTER 7 LAW IN COSMOS AND HUMAN LIFE on web CHAPTER 8 DEATH AND REBIRTH CHAPTER 9 ORIGINS CHAPTER 10 GLOBES, ROUNDS AND RACES EVER-BECOMING, THE PROCESS OF CHAPTER 11 EVOLUTION CHAPTER 12 SPIRITUALISM AND PSYCHISM CHAPTER 13 SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 14 RELIGION EPILOGUE GLOSSARY Page 2 Deity, Cosmos and Man by Geoffrey Farthing FOREWORD A thread of Esotericism runs through the chronicled events of the world's history. Although the origins of the esoteric tradition are lost in the mists of time, the tradition itself may be discerned in the myths and fairy-tales of many cultures, with their stories of giants, dragons, magicians and wise men.
    [Show full text]
  • A Personal Experience of Kundalini
    A Personal Experience of Kundalini By Sarah Sourial This talk is my personal account of a brief psychotic episode that seems to fit with the classical description of a Kundalini spiritual awakening. After a long career as a psychiatric nurse, I felt there was something different about my own experience compared to most regressive psychotic states I have witnessed in others, and instead of leaving me ill and damaged I feel transformed. As a result of this episode, the changes in me include a strong faith in God and an expanded consciousness that allows me to contact other dimensions previously unavailable to me. On reflection I would now say that it has improved my life beyond all recognition. I am using Roberto Assagioli's (1993) four critical stages of spiritual transformation to structure the talk. 1. Crisis preceding the spiritual awakening Assagioli said that in this stage there is often an existential crisis where the person begins to ask about the meaning of life and I would say this was the case for me. Despite experiencing an outwardly successful life in material terms, I was desperately unhappy inside and I sensed I was not living life in a way that was right for me. During this mid-life crisis, I first left my unhappy marriage and later my demanding and stressful job in nurse education management. Now that my life was not so exacting or busy, I found that some of my unresolved emotional issues were able to surface and be addressed. One major issue was an unresolved grief reaction I experienced when my 27 year old partner died in a plane crash, when I was 25 years old.
    [Show full text]
  • Cults and Cosmic Consciousness: Religious Vision in the American 1960S
    Cults and Cosmic Consciousness: Religious Vision in the American 1960s CAMILLE PAGLIA 1. eclipse by politics Commentary on the 1960s has been mas- sive. Law and politics in that turbulent decade are well doc- umented but remain controversial, and the same thing can be said of contemporary innovations in mass media and the arts. One major area remains ambiguous or poorly assimi- lated, however—the new religious vision, which for a tanta- lizing moment in the American sixties brought East and West together in a progressive cultural synthesis. Its promise was never completely fulfilled, for reasons I will try to sketch here. But the depth and authenticity of that spiritual shift need to be more widely acknowledged. A political model currently governs interpretations of the sixties because of the enduring reform movements born in that period, including environmentalism, feminism, and gay liberation. Their mobilizing energy, as well as the organiza- tional style that would also be adopted by antiwar protests, initially came from the civil rights movement sparked by the us Supreme Court’s 1954 decision declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional. In that crusade, it must be remembered, ordained Protestant ministers such as Martin Luther King, Jr., played a leading role, as they also had in nineteenth-century abolitionism. The civil rights movement, with its hymns and anthems, appealed not just to secular standards of social justice but to a higher moral code. An expanded version of a lecture delivered on 26 March 2002 at Yale University, sponsored by the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion at Yale.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond Death: Transition and the Afterlife
    Beyond Death: Transition and the Afterlife Dr. Roger J. Woolger ‘He who dies before he dies, does not die when he dies’. Abraham of Santa Clara. ‘Zen has no other secrets than seriously thinking about birth and death’ Takeda Shingen ‘We are not dealing here with irreality. The mundus imaginalis is a world of autonomous forms and images...It is a perfectly real world preserving all the richness and diversity of the sensible world but in a spiritual state’. Henry Corbin By way of introduction I should say that I am a psychotherapist trained in Jungian psychoanalysis and various other modalities and that my current practice uses what is called ‘regression’ to early childhood, past life, inter-life and other transpersonal or ‘spiritual’ experiences. (In other contexts - see below - the word ‘regression’ can equally refer to what shamans call ‘journeying’) But I also hold degrees in the comparative phenomenology of religion, a subject that greatly illuminates the kind of areas that we are here today calling ‘beyond death’. Our starting point today has been the, by now, quite extensive documentation of so-called Near Death Experience (NDE); you have heard the detailed reports discussed by Dr. Fenwick’s and Dr. Powell’s reflections on similar experiences. It will already seem apparent that the scientific paradigm that seeks fully to explain such phenomena in materialistic terms is stretched beyond its limits. Not long ago, I saw a tape of a major British television program where a woman suffered a clinical NDE during an operation and reported, while ‘out of her body’ seeing an instrument in the operating room she could not possibly have seen while in her body and alive.
    [Show full text]