Spaces Of Spirituality

Spirituality is, too often, subsumed under the heading of religion and treated as much the same kind of thing. Yet spirituality extends far beyond the spaces of religion. The spiritual makes geography strange, challenging the relationship between the known and the unknown, between the real and the ideal, and prompting exciting possibilities for charting the ineffable spaces of the divine which lie somehow beyond geography. In setting itself that task, this book pushes the boundaries of geographies of religion to bring into direct focus questions of spirituality. By seeing religion through the lens of practice rather than as a set of beliefs, geographies of religion can be interpreted much more widely, bringing a whole range of other spiritual practices and spaces to light. The book is split into three sections, each contextualised with an editors’ introduction, to explore the spaces of spiritual practice, the spiritual production of space, and spiritual transformations. This book intends to open to up new questions and approaches through the theme of spirituality, pushing the boundaries on current topics and introducing innovative new ideas, including esoteric or radical spiritual practices. This landmark book not only captures a significant moment in geographies of spirituality, but acts as a catalyst for future work.

This book examines spirituality in Singapore, showing how important the city state is for understanding contemporary global configurations of urban space, religion, and spirituality. Joanne Punzo Waghorne highlights how the formal religious spaces-temples, churches, and mosques-have been confined to allotted sites on the map of Singapore, whereas various “spiritual” organizations, particularly of Hindu origins and headed by a guru, still continue to operate as “societies” classified by the government with other “clubs.” These unconventional religiosities are not confined but ironically make their own places, meeting in ostensive secular venues: high-rise flats, malls, businesses, and community centers, thus existing in the overall space of religion, commerce, and the state. The book argues that State of Singapore also operates between the secular and the religious, constructing an overarching spatial regime that both accommodates and yet rivals the alternate spheres that spiritual movements construct under its umbrella. Both spatial configurations challenge the presumed relationships between myth and reality, religion and commerce, the ethereal and the concrete, the sacred and the secular, on the levels of self, community, and polity. Singapore, now deemed a model for urban development in Asia, also offers an understanding of a new post-secularity and perhaps reveals where the urbanized world is headed.

Drawn from extensive, new and rich empirical research across the UK, Canada and USA, Queer Spiritual Spaces investigates the contemporary socio-cultural practices of belief, by those who have historically been, and continue to be, excluded or derided by mainstream religions and alternative spiritualities. As the first monograph to be directly informed by 'queer' subjectivities whilst dealing with divergent spiritualities on an international scale, this book explores the recently emerging innovative spaces and integrative practices of queer spiritualities. Its breadth of coverage and keen critical engagement mean it will serve as a theoretically fertile, comprehensive entry point for any scholar wishing to explore the queer spiritual spaces of the twenty-first century.

Today's fast pace allows little room for time-consuming trips to decorating stores. Or perhaps the lack of funds keeps us from furnishing and redecorating our homes. This is a Bible study to understand how to build and maintain a biblical atmosphere in our homes. Designed to meet the needs of today's woman, BeautifulPlaces, Spiritual Spaces is the ideal companion for women navigating the uncharted territory of life - offering daily, short, inspirational mediations, and creative decorating how-to's.

Offers a philosophical history of bridges—both literal bridges and their symbolic counterparts—and the acts of cultural connection they embody. “Always,” wrote Philip Larkin, “it is by bridges that we live.” Bridges represent our aspirations to connect, to soar across divides. And it is the unfinished business of these aspirations that makes bridges such stirring sights, especially when they are marvels of ingenuity. A rich compendium of myths, superstitions, and literary and ideological figurations, Of Bridges organizes a poetic and philosophical history of bridges into nine thematic clusters. Leaping in lucid prose between distant times and places, Thomas Harrison questions why bridges are built and where they lead. He probes links forged by religion between life’s transience and eternity as well as the consolidating ties of music, illustrated by the case of the blues. He investigates bridges in poetry, as flash points in war, and the megabridges of our globalized world. He illuminates real and symbolic crossings facing migrants each day and the affective connections that make persons and societies cohere. In readings of literature, film, philosophy, and art, Harrison engages in a profound reflection on how bridges form and transform cultural communities. Of Bridges is a mesmerizing, vertiginous tale of bridges both visible and invisible, both lived and imagined.

One day it just happens. You throw away all the limiting beliefs that you once held and learn that you are in charge of your own destiny. You realize that to find love you must first learn how to encompass love and use that self-love as the benchmark for teaching others how to treat you. You learn that wisdom is a beautiful gift that comes with age and that it is acquired through facing challenges and persevering, even in the face of utter grief. You learn that only in the darkest times can deep enlightenment and understanding be revealed. You learn that a broken heart not only mends, but it grows bigger and brighter than ever before. And from it, you are able to cherish every connection around you with so much more depth than you ever thought possible. You learn that in order to see clarity in your life, you must take a step back, look at yourself with self-awareness, with self-acceptance, and see the world from another’s view. And with every day you learn a little bit more about yourself, your life, and your connection with the Universe. And that there is one key element needed for all of this beautiful understanding to come through—the willingness to try again, no matter how many times you fall down, no matter how many times you fail, you must get back up and keep going. That’s the real secret. Resilience, acceptance, courage, and hope. It’s the unshakable faith in the Universe. It’s believing that you are always divinely guided, supported, loved, and cherished. It’s knowing that better days will always come. And if you need a reminder, then that’s what this little book brings: short extracts of motivation and inspiration to encourage you to keep going through life’s challenges. Each page holds wisdom to help you handle the task at hand with spiritual guidance and nurturing love. Simply open the book at random, or explore the chapters to find the theme of your current struggles. Let yourself be held in the infinite love of the Universe.

Don Postema offers us a space to live gratefuly in the presence of God. He gives us his personal spiritual journey, his experience in the Christian ministry, his wide interest in art and literature, and his own hospitable personality.

A sense of 'place' in relation to human identity preoccupies a wide range of writers from philosophers and anthropologists to architects and contemporary novelists. This preoccupation reflects a sense of rootlessness dislocation or displacement in Western cultures. Arguing that there is a significant connection between how we understand ourselves as human beings and the 'spaces for the sacred' which we encounter throughout the course of our lives. Philip Sheldrake brilliantly reveals the link between our rootedness in the places we inhabit and the construction of our personal and religious identities. He examines the sacred narratives which derive from both overtly religious sites such as cathedrals, and secular ones, like the Millennium Dorne and suggests how Christian theological and spiritual traditions may contribute creatively to current debates about 'place'. Based on the Hulsean Lectures delivered at the University of Cambridge in 2000, this book offers ideas and perspectives rather than a systematic thesis and is aimed at both academic and non specialist audiences.