Part 1 of 7 - Introduction to the structure of their community and their aspirations to live harmoniously together
Damanhur is a collective dream transformed into reality thanks to
the creative power of positive thought. It is a laboratory for the
future, a seed that has been growing for over thirty years, constantly
transforming and renewing itself so as to bring to life the reality its
citizens together dreamed of and built. From the founders, a mere dozen
people, to the thousand living today in or near the communities, the
history of the Federation is witness to a project that has come to
life, has grown and today is reaching out with a planet-wide
commitment, as a new people bringing innovation and values,
interweaving sociality, spirituality and respect for the environment,
the recovery of ancient traditions and advanced technological research,
with its roots deep in the territory, service and voluntary work
conjoined with attention for everything happening in the world.
Spirit Matters Media is the brainchild of long time producer Ed
Conley. Ed is a lifelong learner of various spiritual traditions and
seeker of truth. He recognized long ago that many of the paths he
respects are the victims of misunderstanding, misconceptions, and fear.
My Spirit Matters was conceived to create understanding and unity, and
has been two years in the conceptual stages. Earlier this year, Michael
and Kathy Link met Ed and discovered quickly that we all share a sense
of awe for the variety of spiritual paths in our world. We also share a
sense of sadness at the lack of understanding out there. Around this
time, Ed realized that he cannot accomplish what he has set out to do
alone, so he asked Michael and Kathy to partner with him for My Spirit
Matters Media, LLC.
The purpose of My Spirit Matters Media is to foster and produce media
about the multitude and variety of spiritual and religious practices,
and hopefully bring people to the same conclusion that we have come to
– that we are all so much more alike then we are different, and that
the most important thing that we can do as human beings is to treat
each other with honor, dignity, and respect.
Episode 1 - Kevin Crowner of the St. Francis Contemplative Prayer
Group and Michael Freeman of the Southwest Sangha explore contemplative
practices
Episode 2 - Father Herman of the Orthodox Christian faith discusses his
traditions and faith
Click on read more... to watch more episodes (15 episodes).
Esalen has always been on the edge.
Famous for its natural hot springs and stunning locale on the face of
the Pacific coastline, the institute has long been a world leader in
alternative and experiential education. Many luminaries have gathered
there to develop their revolutionary ideas, transformative spiritual
practices, and innovative art forms.
In his new book, Jeffrey
Kripal recounts the spectacular history of Esalen and its birth in the
American counterculture. Forged in the literary and mythical leanings
of the Beat Generation, inspired in the lecture halls of Stanford by
radical scholars of comparative religion, the institute was the
remarkable brainchild of Michael Murphy and Richard Price. Set against
the heady backdrop of California during the revolutionary 1960s, Esalen
recounts in fascinating detail how these two maverick thinkers sought
to fuse the spiritual revelations of the East with the scientific
revolutions of the West, or to combine the very best elements of Zen
Buddhism, Western alchemy, and Indian yoga particularly in its Tantric
forms into a decidedly utopian vision that rejected the dogmas of
conventional religion.
With lucid exposition and gorgeous graphics, anthropologist Stephen Lansing exposed the hidden structure and profound health of the traditional Balinese rice growing practices. The intensely productive terraced rice paddies of Bali are a thousand years old. So are the democratic subaks (irrigation cooperatives) that manage them, and so is the water temple system that links the subaks in a nested hierarchy.
When the Green Revolution came to Bali in 1971, suddenly everything went wrong. Along with the higher-yield rice came "technology packets" of fertilizers and pesticides and the requirement, stated in patriotic terms, to "plant as often as possible." The result: year after year millions of tons of rice harvest were lost, mostly to voracious pests. The level of pesticide use kept being increased, to ever decreasing effect.
After nearly forty years of weighing humanity's deepest dilemmas -
working in settings ranging from university and high school classrooms
to corporate offices and hospitals - bestselling author, philosopher,
and religious scholar Jacob Needleman presents the most urgent, deeply
felt, and widely accessible work of his career.
Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State or Bardo Thodol, A Tibetan text that describes, and is intended to guide one through, the experiences that the consciousness has after death, during the interval between death and the next rebirth. This interval is known in Tibetan as the bardo. The text also includes chapters on the signs of death, and rituals to undertake when death is closing in, or has taken place.
Tibetan Book of The Dead (A Way of Life / The Great Liberation)
Click on read more... to watch more documentaries on this topic.
Scott Eberle and Stan Grof discuss Eberle's The Final Crossing and Grof's The Ultimate Journey.
Scott Eberle talks about The Final Crossing.
The personal account in this story recalls "the final crossing" of
Steven Foster, one of the pioneers of modern-day wilderness rites of
passage, from the perspective of the hospice physician who helped ferry
him across. Interspersed with Steven and Scott's story is a historical
view of how the rites of passage movement and the hospice movement have
converged.
And the wisdom is this, in order to
complete a relationship you need to be able to say five things, and
this is particularly true when someone is dying.
Please forgive me,
I
forgive you,
Thank you,
I love you,
Good bye.
And in this very short
version of what I am developing to say that you don't have to wait for
people to be dying to do this work. And in fact I would strongly
encourage you not to wait for someone to be dying to do this
work. --Scott Eberle
Stan Grof talks about The Ultimate Journey. Grof, author of When the Impossible Happens,
offers perspectives on how individuals can enrich and transform the
experience of dying in our culture. Grof discusses his own patients'
experiences of death and rebirth in psychedelic therapy, investigates
cross-cultural beliefs, paranormal and near-death research, and argues
that death is not necessarily the end of consciousness.
Visit these websites for more information on their works:
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