religion ecology
To grow spiritually in a world defined by power, money and influence is a Herculean task. Modern conveniences such as electronics, gadgets and tools as well as entertainment through television, magazines and the web have predisposed us limit our attention especially to the physical needs and desires.
Therefore, our concept of self-esteem and self-direction are confused. How can we find a balance between material and spiritual aspects of our lives?
To grow spiritually is to introspection.
Introspection Recalling goes beyond what happened in a day, week or month. You need to look closely and reflect on your thoughts, feelings, beliefs and motivations.
Periodically examining your experiences, decisions, relationships you have, and things that you engage to provide useful information about your life goals, on the traits that you must maintain and the bad traits you have to throw. In addition, it gives you clues how to act, react and behave yourself in the midst of any situation.
Like any skill, introspection can be learned, all it takes is the courage and willingness to seek the truths that are in you. Here are some tips when introspection: be objective, be forgiving of yourself and focus on your areas of improvement.
To grow spiritually is to develop your potential.
Religion and science have differing views on matters of the human spirit. Religion views people as spiritual beings temporarily living on Earth, while science views the spirit as one dimension of an individual.
Self-control is a recurring theme in the both Christian (Western) and Islamic (Eastern) teachings. The needs of the body are recognized but placed under the needs of the spirit. Beliefs, values, morality, rules, experiences, and good works provide a basis for growth of the spiritual being.
In psychology, realize its full potential is to self-actualize. Maslow identified several human needs: physiological security, belonging, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-realization and self-transcendence. James previously classified these needs into three parts: material, emotional and spiritual. When you have satisfied the basic physiological needs and emotional, spiritual or existential needs come next.
Achieving each need leads total development of the individual. Perhaps the difference between these two religions and psychology is the end of self-development: Christianity and Islam see that self-development is a means to serve God, while psychology view that self-development is an end in itself.
To grow spiritually is to search for meaning.
Religions that believe in the existence of God, as Christianity, Judaism and Islam assumes that the purpose of human life is to serve the Creator of all things.
Several theories in psychology propose that we ultimately give meaning to our lives. If we believe that the meaning of life is pre-determined or self-directed, to grow in spirit is to realize that we do not exist alone.
We do not know the meaning of life at birth, but we gain knowledge and wisdom from our interactions with people and our actions and reactions to situations We are in. As we discover this meaning, there are certain beliefs and values that we reject and affirm.
Our lives have purpose. This goal puts all our physical, emotional and intellectual potentials into use; support us during difficult times, and gives us something to wait for a goal, a destination to reach. A person without purpose or meaning is like a ship adrift at sea
To grow spiritually is to recognize interconnections.
Religions stress the concept of our kinship with all creation, live and inanimate. Thus, we urge other brothers and sisters " even if there is no direct blood relationship.
Moreover, deity-centered religions such as Christianity and Islam speak of the relationship between man and a superior being. On the other hand, explains the science on our relationship with other living beings through the theory of evolution.
This relationship is clearly visible in the concept of ecology, the interaction between the living and nonliving. In psychology, connectedness is a characteristic of self-transcendence, the man most in need and Maslow.
Recognizing your connection to everything that makes you more humble and respectful of people, animals, plants and things in nature. It makes you appreciate everything around you. It pushes you to go beyond your area comfort and reach out to others and become stewards of all other things around you.
Growth is a process and to grow in mind is a day of meeting of the day. We win some, we lose some, but the important thing is that we learn, and this knowledge additional spiritual growth is made possible.
About the Author:
James Yee is the webmaster of
http://www.yeearticles.com.His tips on internet marketing
is available at
http://yeearticles.com/self-improve/Spiritual_Growth_the_Spiritual_Challenge_of_Modern_Times.php
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Tips On Spiritual Growth
New Perspectives on Ecology Cognitive Science and Religion
|
|
Coexist Symbolic Tolerance Table Sculpture $60.00 … |
|
|
Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God $15.51 Most people know Greg Graffin as the lead singer of the punk band Bad Religion, but few know that he also received a PhD from Cornell University and teaches evolution at the University of California at Los Angeles. In Anarchy Evolution, Graffin argues that art and science have a deep connection. As an adolescent growing up when “drugs, sex, and trouble could be had on any given night,” Graffin di… |
|
|
The Great Work: Our Way into the Future $7.92 The future can exist only if humans understand how to commune with the natural world rather than exploit it, explains author and renowned ecologist Thomas Berry (The Dream of the Earth, The Universe Story). “Already the planet is so damaged and the future is so challenged by its rising human population that the terms of survival will be severe beyond anything we have known in the past.” This may m… |
|
|
The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology $8.01 In this provocative book, noted Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh offers a dramatic vision of the future of a planet overheated by rapidly disappearing fossil fuels, degraded by massive overconsumption, and besieged by unsupportable population growth. Hanh finds answers to these critical problems in the Buddhist teaching of the impermanence of all things. He demonstrates how this teaching can offer… |
Tags: environment, forum religion ecology, oxford handbook religion ecology, religion, religious ecology, science, spirituality, sustainability