Category Archives: Interspiritual

How is interspiritual different from interfaith, and what does it offer us personally? Find inspiration and activities at ZinnHouse.com.

Five Quick Reflections on Responsible Religion

For Religious Educators, Interfaith Education, Interfaith Inspiration, Interspiritual, Jewish-Interfaith, Spiritual Growth for Kids, , , ,

1. Responsible Religion

M-115We can ignore it. We can try going around it, under it, over it.
But religion can lead to Spiritual Sustenance if we go through it.
This means thinking for ourselves, understanding how religion affects us and others— now and later, understanding others’ religions, and creating a relationship to religion that allows us to grow -responsibly.
ZinnHouse is here to help.

2. Floating
and Swimming

Floating and Swimming Through Religion, mixed media by Lauren Zinn.Rabbi David Wolpe wrote that floating takes faith. Floating is especially enjoyable after learning to swim, to propel through water. And faith is especially appreciated after understanding religion.
How do different religious traditions, customs, norms affect our spirit?  It is one thing to float through religion, it is another to understand and move it in ways that strengthen us spiritually. I encourage you to look at this website and, in addition to floating, learn to swim.
October 9, 2010 

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Zinnterview with Interspiritual Author Mirabai Starr

Conversations with Leaders, Evolutionary Spirituality, For Religious Educators, Interspiritual, , , , , ,

A giant red heart pulsates in this mixed media painting by Lauren Zinn.It’s a joy to introduce you to Mirabai Starr on MLK Day. Although petite, you can’t miss Mirabai. She’s an embodiment of interspirituality earned through a life of devotion at the heart of the great religions. From across the room where I first met her, she radiated love. I’m sure you’ll feel the warmth of her words from any distance.  Zinntroducing —MIRABAI STARR…
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Poly-rhythm, Inter-spiritual

Evolutionary Spirituality, Interfaith Education, Interfaith Inspiration, Interspiritual, Spiritual Growth for Kids, , , ,
 

Image of musical notes with a circle around some of them on top and bottom.Given my perhaps naive belief that interfaith orientations and integral  philosophies are part of humanity’s next evolutionary step in spiritual development, I wondered what kind of music would show up in our culture to reflect this transition in consciousness? Then I turned on the radio and, Voila! 

NPR was doing a story on polyrhythms or many rhythms happening at the same time “creating a different shape in the sound”. One example of a polyrhythm is Fake Empire which played during an Obama 2008 election campaign ad. It has two simultaneous beats, 3 and 4. There are plenty of songs with polyrhythms and while it’s not something totally new, we might ask: How can polyrhythms help us develop spiritually?

“The point of [polyrhythm] is to make listening to two rhythms at once feel natural, as easy as talking while you walk. LaFrae Sci says, that’s a life skill.”

Here’s my analogy:  If we can learn to hear two or more rhythms simultaneously in music, we can learn to empathize with two or more belief systems simultaneously. Doing so might help us to hear the many sides of a story, appreciate the different points of views in a conflict, and even feel comfortable with learning about and from more than one religion. We might even develop the social equivalent of harmony –  justice. In other words, polyrhythms could very well accompany an expansion of consciousness.

You can read here how I teach youth to hold and harmonize multiple ideas about faith, identity, and community so that they will have the life skills to solve practical, global problems with peers from many faiths and cultures for the benefit of all humanity. That may be a tall order. But at the very least, polyrhythms ask us to change the way we listen to music. In the process, they might help us to change the way we listen to each other.

Explore the Resources my this website to learn more about interspiritual ideas and programs.

TWICE “FROZEN”

For Religious Educators, Interspiritual, Movies on Faith & Spirituality, Spiritual Growth for Kids, , , ,

I had a chance to see FROZEN again and it was even better the second time. So this blog follows the first, “Frozen” and Sacrifice. What struck me this time was the contrast between Elsa, the older sister with the power to freeze things, and Olaf, the little snowman she creates along way. The first time I saw the film, Olaf seemed like a comical, secondary character, and at times, an interruption to the plot. Why did Disney give him so much attention? He even gets to sing a solo about his desire to experience summer. But watching it this time, I saw how incredibly central Olaf is to the moral of the story. Olaf is the ying to Elsa’s yang. Continue reading TWICE “FROZEN” →

“Philomena” and Faith

For Religious Educators, Interfaith Inspiration, Interspiritual, Movies on Faith & Spirituality, , ,

imagesDon’t worry: I don’t give away the story.  I understand that the book on which Philomena is based, starring Judi Dench, goes into greater detail regarding the Catholic Church’s role in suppressing information and extending the emotional pain and suffering of a woman searching for her 50 year old son whom she has not seen since he was taken away at age three. But the film is about more than what happens when she searches for him; it encourages us to look at our own relationship to organized religion and the spiritual quality of faith.  Continue reading “Philomena” and Faith →

Jewish Identity, Again?

Evolutionary Spirituality, For Religious Educators, Interfaith Education, Interspiritual, Jewish-Interfaith, Spiritual Growth for Kids, , , , , , , , , ,

black and white sketch the actual House of Lauren ZinnThe New York Times today (1 Oct 2013) posted the results of the first major survey of American Jews in over a decade conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project. The data are not that surprising. But the conclusions confound me.

Data show that intermarriage continues to rise and that fewer Jews raise their children with a Jewish identity.  “Of the “Jews of no religion” who have children at home, two-thirds are not raising their children Jewish in any way. This is in contrast to the “Jews with religion” of whom 93 percent said they are raising their children to have a Jewish identity.” The conclusion is that “this secular trend has serious consequences for what Jewish leaders call Jewish continuity.” Which leaders? What do they mean “not Jewish in any way”? Is Jewish identity and continuity really threatened, or only these leaders’ idea of it? What if identity consisted of another idea?

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