Spiritual World

We are eager to share our thoughts and ready to listen to your opinions.

When I was a child I was absolutely sure that God, Jesus Christ, angels and the rest were people like me, like we all are. They were the same children, that eat, sleep and play, cry and laugh, are anger and happy… With the time this faith was disappearing – they said that I was growing and entering the adult life. Once upon a day I woke up in the morning and realized that all those things I trusted in my childhood are just a myth, illusion… They do not exist.

Now I want to look back and open my child that still lives inside me, that lives inside every person. He is just hid in a safe corner. Parents, school and university “did their best” to kill this child, my entity, my essence. Now I want to look at things with my own eyes, now I want to drift to my own nature.

Then an idea occurred to my mind to open this Blog as I thought that other people might have the same questions and ideas about this as I do. Our credo- is seeking for enlightenment. As even a profound and an old wisdom runs as follows: “seek and ye shall find”.

Important: no templates, no standards.

Free you Heart, Mind and Spirit.

Two things fill the heart with ever new and increasing awe and admiration: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me. Immanuel Kant

>Astrology can be difficult to integrate into one’s spiritual life. It is easy to get caught up in the trivialized version of astrology we often see in quick-read takes on “glib Gemini” or “lazy Libra”…Talking about oneself as a “wild and crazy Aquarian” or a “deep, dark Scorpio” can be very self-limiting when there is so much more we can learn from seeing ourselves through the marvellous prism of Astrology. And nowadays, it is truly so easy to get into Astrology as both a passionate hobby and a spiritual art. It is a wonderful group thing too – friends can share a completely unique perspective on themselves and their families, and often find insights to heal or prevent relationship, career and other social or personal problems.

Astrology is indeed an art and science…despite what sceptics say, those who study Astrology with an open mind come away startled by the rich “coincidences” between what is in a person’s birth chart and the events and patterns which are in their life. As with Feng Shui, whether the theories are convincing or not, it is simply not rational to argue with the results! So while the sceptics talk, the huge business successes of our times continue to consult both astrologers and practitioners of Feng Shui, and the rest of us continue to heal the energy patterns of our homes, and find life-changing insights in our birth charts.

Astrology is not a religious or spiritual path as such, nor is it a psychological therapy by itself. However, the study of astrology can be a dynamic partner in both spiritual and psychological development. It provides a portal, a doorway, into an unfolding realm of self-knowledge. It can get our attention by its clear outlining of a problem area, and thus it helps us stop deluding ourselves. We can see why an avenue has never worked for us, what directions might be better, and face some home-truths along the way. So Astrology helps us grow up, really – and that is no small thing! It softens us up a bit, as self-knowledge tends to do. We become more open to truth in all spheres of life, and this helps us open up to things like forgiving someone, looking at things “from both sides now”, and seeing we might need some help – especially the grace of God – with some major areas of our life which a glance at the birth chart so often pinpoints.

Astrology is an excellent partner in one’s chosen spiritual path as a source of insight and inspiration. It starts by helping with Faith. Faith is a spiritual Gift – we cannot demand it, but we can work faithfully for it, and then one day, or one lifetime, it simply happens, and we will never look back. Astrology helps plow the earth of Life, helps us sow those seeds of self-knowlege and openness to the mysteries of God’s great universe. And then, one day, when the rains of God’s grace do come, our fields will suddenly bloom, and we will find Faith, where once there was stoney bare ground.

Astrology also helps us get to Faith by offering the very intriguing suggestion that our intuitions and reading of our lives are based in cosmic facts. At a certain point, the “coincidences” between what is in our birth chart and what is and has been going on in our life are too many to dismiss as pure chance. This is especially true when we consider that the birth chart arrives with us and does not get “doctored” along the way. Nor is it fair to suggest, as some might do, that a birth chart is self-fulfilling, that people try to live out the patterns they have been told exist in their birth chart. In my experience, most people never lay eyes on their birth chart till mid-life or later…and frankly, the knowledge required to read a chart, or even to remember what one is told about it in any detail, precludes such a suggestion.

In past lives, Steve Isles was an insurance analyst and Peter Fabre was a nuclear engineer. Now the two run into each other in the halls of Banner Thunderbird Medical Center, where each is learning the ropes of spiritual care as chaplain interns.

"We all need something that is new at some point in our lives," Fabre said, adding that he could not have appreciated fully the emotional subtleties of patients when he was younger. "As we age and go through the phases in life, what's important takes on a slightly different meaning."

The fields of pastoral care, ethics and spirituality are changing and growing for a number of reasons: an aging population, the evolution and increasing adoption of professional standards for pastoral care, and interest by mid-lifers looking for meaningful work.

Late this year, Arizona State University will add a master's program in applied ethics and the professions that will span all four campuses. Pastoral-care ethics and spirituality will be taught at the West campus, while the business, biomedical, environment and emerging technologies ethics programs will debut at the other campuses this fall.

Ethics, at least academically, is hot.

"It appears that with the economic crisis we have sort of a demand and interest in bringing that kind of training into the fields," said Martin Matustik, a professor coordinating ASU's master's in pastoral-care ethics. "It will be interesting to see if companies and corporations will incorporate that need."

The work is challenging for people schooled to be pastors or priests in their own religions.

Chaplains and other care workers may not proselytize, preach or be perceived as giving medical advice. They are there to listen and to help patients explore their own questions.

For all of the summer interns at Banner, each of whom is on at least a second career, the rich interplay with other religions has been one of the most rewarding facets of the job. As they go from room to room, they might encounter a Muslim, a Catholic, a Jew or a Presbyterian, all on the same round.

"I'm learning a lot more about other religions," said intern Hugo Soutus, a priest at Dormition of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church in Phoenix. "I'm learning a lot about people going through difficult times."

Pastors and chaplains have been around, of course, for ages. What has changed is the type of people seeking work in the field and pursuing the level of education the work demands.

"Many more people are taking up ministry as a second career," said Toni Wolf, who supervises Banner Thunderbird's pastoral education program. "It used to be that you simply didn't have middle-aged folks or even people in their 30s going back to seminary, where now that is very, very common. Now young folks are not very common at all."

The professionalism required by hospitals, prisons and other institutions that employ chaplains is becoming more standardized as well.

Isles will have to show that he has mastered 29 "competencies" to become board-certified.

That is the norm.

"There are standards being introduced for chaplains, especially in health-care facilities, as part of their own accreditation," Wolf said. "Most places hiring full-time are requiring them to be certified. That's why it seems to be a new thing. There is a lot more professional approach to the whole thing."

Matustik expects most of the students in the ASU program to be working professionals or recent graduates who need a master's to get started in bereavement, trauma, chaplaincy or veterans affairs. Professors will work closely with the School of Social Work. Not all ethicists will be religion-based.

While volunteering at Hospice of the Valley, Matustik discovered a lack of educational opportunities for end-of-life caregivers and he wanted to send interns to fill that gap. The students will be armed with centuries of thought on ethics and reasoning.

"We sort of discovered in conversations with chaplains that there is no specific training for chaplains and ethicists that is interfaith and that even translates to hospice care," Matustik said. "They are not necessarily ready to work in a hospice situation. Nationwide, there is no specific training for hospice."

by Lesley Wright

Songs 24, 36, 38, 39,40, 42