Spirit In Nature

Examine the beauty and wonder of nature--through Jewish eyes. Divided into six chapters--including Trees: The Torah of Life, Opening Our Eyes to Miracles, and Ma'ariv Aravim: Blessing the Night--Spirit in Nature's 27 activities are designed to enhance environmental awareness from a Jewish perspective. Through these activities, hikers of all ages will come alive to the miracle of God's creations. They focus on the marvels of nature: hosts of tiny creatures living in the soil, the rainbow of colors embellishing fields and trees and stones, the intricate interdependence of plants and animals. Each discovery celebrates the divine spark that exists within every living creature and every object found in the natural world. Building on Jewish sources and Jewish tradition, Spirit in Nature fosters respect for flora, fauna, and natural phenomena and shows how to sanctify them with the appropriate prayer, such as the blessing recited upon seeing a rainbow or upon smelling a fragrant plant. This pioneering work will awaken hikers to the wisdom of Jewish tradition in its dedication to safeguarding and preserving the bounty of God's creation. An index highlighting the connection between key Jewish values and the environment makes Spirit in Nature an effective classroom tool. A must-have for camp directors, counselors, teachers, rabbis, parents, youth group leaders, and community center workers.

Have you ever wondered what science has to say about the possibility of a Spiritual presence in the Universe? Is there any scientific verification that there is? This book offers many examples of the evidence that has been accumulating through recent scientific advancements. The series of essays in this book offers compelling support for the fact that the extraordinary and improbable Universe we are now experiencing is not just a matter of random chance but a Spiritual manifestation.

‘I can perceive spiritual beings in my surroundings... I can communicate with higher spirit beings of either an elemental or non-elemental kind, when they are willing. I can perceive the human aura, as well as certain areas of the astral plane... I can see the aura of plants and animals. I can speak with the guardian beings of plants and animals, inasmuch as they’re interested...’ – Verena Staël von Holstein Verena has learned to see and speak to elemental and nature beings. What’s more, she is able to translate their language into human terminology and thought. In this remarkable book, seventeen nature spirits are interviewed through her, almost as if these beings were sitting in front of us. Through the conversations we learn what spirits of fire, air, water and stone have to say – as well as hearing from beings of glass, silver, salt, paper, and even spirits of our dwellings and homes! They speak about their work with nature and their regrettable lack of contact with human beings. They describe the secrets of the cosmos, and tell of humankind’s past and future. The nature beings have surprising views on the environment, on natural disasters, good and evil, love and redemption. The interviews throw up beautiful, but sometimes disturbing insights into our world. Nature Spirits and What They Say offers an enchanting view of the world of elemental beings – but it also calls on us to recognize the seriousness of the situations they describe. As Verena explains, humans owe a huge amount to nature spirits, and we need to discover new ways of approaching them with full consciousness. This valuable book gives us the means to do just that.

Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld interviews 12 respected visionary thinkers about their deep connection with the earth and their views on the relationship between humanity and nature. Each contributor adds insights into the urgent change in consciousness that we must adopt in order to heal and restore our holistic relationship with the earth.

This best-seller reveals the secrets of capturing the essence of a scene using abstract techniques, from pouring inks and adding opaque lines to using crinkled wax paper as resists and collaging paintings together.

"Poetry is the intrinsic flow of human nature; both halves of tame and savage merged into words." We journey down our own paths of life, but we are connected. Within these pages, are poems about the earth's raw beauty, riveting romance, grand calls for adventure, and the expressive behavior of human beings.

An acclaimed philosopher suggests that the art of living well employs the same principles as those that exist in all artistic creativity. This final book in Irving Singer's Meaning in Life trilogy studies the interaction between nature and the values that define human spirituality. It examines the ways in which we overcome the suffering in life by resolving our sense of being divided between them. Singer suggests that the accord between nature and spirit arises from an art of life that affords meaning, happiness, and love by employing the same principles as those that exist in all artistic achievements. It is through the meaningfulness created by imagination and idealization, Singer says, that we make life worth living. This human art form, Singer writes, enables us to unite our selfish interests with our compassionate and loving inclinations. We thereby effect a vital harmonization within which the naturalistic values of ethics, aesthetics, and religion can find their legitimate place. The good life, as envisioned by Singer, includes the love of persons, things, and ideals so intricately intermeshed that the meaning in one contributes to the meaningfulness of the other two. The result is a kind of happiness that we all desire.

Spirit and Nature is a collection of essays exploring how the resources of Christian spirituality can inform the practice of a more ecologically sustainable faith. Our current ecological situation calls for people of religious faith to reexamine the way they envision the practice of spirituality. As environmental ethicists have called us to reconsider the human-Earth relationship so that the planet is not seen as simply an endless supply of resources to fill human wants and needs, so these essays call us to reconsider spiritual practice as it relates to Earth's ecology. Rather than viewing spirituality as an escape from the material world, the authors describe the embodiment of the God-quest within the human-nature relationship. Drawing on diverse disciplinary perspectives, these essays examine a variety of topics, including the relationship between Earth and humans in the Bible, the role of nature's beauty in Christian spirituality, the practice of Christian discernment and contemplation in light of the natural sciences, the role of nature in liturgical prayer, and others. These essays consider how scholarship in Christian spirituality can contribute to re-imaging faith in ways that better cherish the Earth's fragile beauty.