Current Spiritual News - discuss!

[Uma]

Originally Posted by amy green

Uma - thank you for contributing this post. Hopefully it will generate some feedback here.
The reason I started this thread though was to share breaking spiritual news (not ideas or courses), i.e. that is generated/made available to the general public.

Understand - but that's where the news starts isn't it?

Originally Posted by Uma

Understand - but that's where the news starts isn't it?

That's where the journey starts. The news is the end product/conclusion - if it is found valid i.e. of interest to the media.
(In case you're unsure where I stand on this - I am not here to support the media as such, just to celebrate that we have managed to get spirituality into mainstream news, that's all).

[peteyzen]

enough chit chat...more NEWS!!!

Originally Posted by peteyzen

enough chit chat...more NEWS!!!

Well do something spectacular then and I'll get on to the journalists!

[norseman]

"Psychology is grounded in the scientific method" - questionable to say the least. Many of the original studies looked at specific groups and then applied the results to general populations. Sociology makes the same mistake. It assumes a model, then bases research on that model.

Originally Posted by norseman

"Psychology is grounded in the scientific method" - questionable to say the least. Many of the original studies looked at specific groups and then applied the results to general populations. Sociology makes the same mistake. It assumes a model, then bases research on that model.

I agree that, as sciences, they are at the more dubious end of this spectrum.

I see you're coming over to the greenside in your text - well, we both share an affinity with nature!

24th July Science News

Mindfulness meditation reduces loneliness in older adults, study shows



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0724115023.htm

[edited to insert link]

[Uma]

MBSR is an expropriation of one of the components in the 8-fold path of the 4 noble truths of Buddhism. Western psychology has taken it out of its context. That's like removing one step from a formula. It can't work. That's why MBSR is only useful for stress reduction, for a very superficial kind of healing. But at least Jon Kabbat-Zinn (who developed it) opened a crack in the mainstream to let some light in.

The links I sent will lead you to researcher-activists who are trying to reclaim mindfulness and other things Western scientists have stolen from the East.

I don't agree that "news" only comes from journalists. This is the propaganda that the media would like us to believe.

Originally Posted by Uma

MBSR is an expropriation of one of the components in the 8-fold path of the 4 noble truths of Buddhism. Western psychology has taken it out of its context. That's like removing one step from a formula. It can't work. That's why MBSR is only useful for stress reduction, for a very superficial kind of healing. But at least Jon Kabbat-Zinn (who developed it) opened a crack in the mainstream to let some light in.

The links I sent will lead you to researcher-activists who are trying to reclaim mindfulness and other things Western scientists have stolen from the East.

I don't agree that "news" only comes from journalists. This is the propaganda that the media would like us to believe.

Whilst I understand your point, you can't expect the general public to embrace Buddhism full on. The above study shows the benefits from applying mindfulness meditation on the elderly, i.e. that it is effective in alleviating their loneliness. So how can you knock that?

Where do I say that spiritual news should only come from journalists? The news I provide here comes from the website I give in my OP, i.e. Science News - check it out. Also, I welcome other contributions to what constitutes current spiritual news. Any beneficial spiritual news propagated by the media is welcome in my eyes, i.e. it gets read by the general public at large.

Lastly, I hardly think jounalists are involved in propaganda when it comes to publishing the positive side of spirituality....do you?

[Uma]

Originally Posted by amy green

Whilst I understand your point, you can't expect the general public to embrace Buddhism full on.

Or maybe I can Mainstream science seems to expect the general public to embrace it full on. It's just a neither dogma that capitalists and governments worship (for now). Ever heard of Ptolemy? In the middle ages the general public (because of Ptolemy's science, the church, and rulers) accepted as fact that the sun (in fact the whole universe) revolved around the earth. Then Galileo came along and said, no, the earth resolves around the sun. He was put in jail for daring to suggest this. Yes I believe that our world views can change. I also believe they will change and are already changing.

Originally Posted by amy green

The above study shows the benefits from applying mindfulness meditation on the elderly, i.e. that it is effective in alleviating their loneliness. So how can you knock that?

Was I knocking it? Read what I wrote. I said it only impacts on healing at a superficial level. Same with allopathic medicine. It's a bandaid solution. The greater healing comes from a spiritual space - and the ancients knew the whole formula for doing that. Allopathic medicine is great for emergencies though but it's missing the deeper knowledge.

Originally Posted by amy green

Where do I say that spiritual news should only come from journalists? The news I provide here comes from the website I give in my OP, i.e. Science News - check it out. Also, I welcome other contributions to what constitutes current spiritual news. Any beneficial spiritual news propagated by the media is welcome in my eyes, i.e. it gets read by the general public at large.

You reacted when I posted news items from academic sources. You wrote "The reason I started this thread though was to share breaking spiritual news (not ideas or courses), i.e. that is generated/made available to the general public." You seem to see a difference between newspapers and academic sources for "breaking news". The true breaking news happens not only on the street but in field research and is reported differently. If you actually looked at the links I gave, you will see they are not about courses (although some are available) but about conferences. There you will find the most up to date information about spiritual news. What we get from the media is a watered down, censored version and it is behind the times.

Originally Posted by amy green

Lastly, I hardly think jounalists are involved in propaganda when it comes to publishing the positive side of spirituality....do you?

Yes - knowingly or not. The media is controlled by capitalist interests which is tied into politics. They bow to their sponsors. There used to be some wonderful spiritual magazines that existed by donation only and published some really great stuff - alas they could not survive financially. And I know one publisher who admitted she had to sell out to her sponsor's commercial interests - which degraded the quality of the magazine until it no longer carried any spiritual content.

I should also mention that some publishers mean well but they do not have the full knowledge although they speak/write as though they do. Everyone thinks they are right (righteous) from their limited point of view.

The day we can no longer debate "breaking news" is a sad day for free speech. Ex. "breaking news": "Christopher Columbus Discovers America" - well here's the truth, it was already discovered by indigenous people thousands of years before. That's no different to Kabat-Zinn and spinoffs "discovering" the health benefits of mindfulness.