Posted on May 20, 2009 by Ramona Silipo
From World Peace, by Swami Sivananda, publ. 1957:
Only removal of ignorance can stop all future wars and dissensions. Spiritual culture, ethical education, measures that are best calculated to instill love and a sense of unity in men and women can prevent nations from resorting to war. If all people begin to practice kindness and mercy, [...]
Filed under: Books and Reading, Non-violence: Living and Teaching, Quakers, Spirituality and Inspiration | Tagged: pacifism, Sivananda, Spirituality and Inspiration, world peace | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 8, 2009 by Ramona Silipo
A discussion among Quakers about de-emphasizing the Christian foundation of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and its Christian principles got me thinking about the definition of “Christian.” People shy away from the word because of the negative and repressive connotations connected with fringe elements. Fundmentalists, Evangelicals and similar sects have hijacked the word [...]
Filed under: Christian Questions, Quakers, Spirituality and Inspiration, Tantra, Yoga and Spiritual Work | Tagged: Catholic sadism, Christian mysticism, Fundmentalist, Quaker, Scorcese | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 1, 2008 by Ramona Silipo
©2008, Ramona K. Silipo. All rights reserved.
Friends (Quakers) have a testimony against holding special days (holidays), presumably based on the concept that each day is a blessing and that we should have one standard of behaviour for every day of the year. This means that many Friends do not celebrate holidays such as Easter, Christmas [...]
Filed under: Children and Family, Christmas, Friendship, Quakers, Spirituality and Inspiration | Tagged: Christmas, Friends, Quaker, Religious Society of Friends | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 8, 2008 by Ramona Silipo
©2008, Ramona K. Silipo. All rights reserved.
The query for our day retreat was, “Other religious traditions use rituals to help align their lives with the Light. What helps us open our lives to the Light and realize our visions?”
The basic assumption inherent in this query is that there are no rituals among Quakers. Among the [...]
Filed under: Quakers, Spirituality and Inspiration, Tantra, Yoga and Spiritual Work | Tagged: Eucharist, Quakers, religious ritual, Religious Society of Friends, rituals | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 8, 2008 by Ramona Silipo
©2008, Ramona K. Silipo. All rights reserved.
One of the qualities of Friends that attracted me was spontaneity. Another was the all-encompassing participatory nature of Quaker activities. It took me much of this weekend to realize that this was the reason I was so uncomfortable at the retreat; but I finally recognized that I was peculiarly [...]
Filed under: England, the English and Village Life, Quakers, Spirituality and Inspiration, Tantra, Yoga and Spiritual Work | Tagged: Quaker, Quaker practice, religious retreat, Religious Society of Friends | Leave a Comment »
Posted on May 9, 2008 by Ramona Silipo
©2008, Ramona K Silipo. All rights reserved.
A discussion about Christianity (whether or not, I mean) has been going on in Quaker circles here in England for years. In the last revision of Faith and Practice (the book of queries and testimonies), almost all references to Christianity were removed. When I first went to Strawberry Creek [...]
Filed under: Quakers, Spirituality and Inspiration, Tantra, Yoga and Spiritual Work | Tagged: Christian, Christian mysticism, Martin Scorcese, mysticism, Quaker | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 30, 2008 by Ramona Silipo
©2008, RK Silipo. All rights reserved.
Recently I happened to meet a psychiatrist who believes that violent anger and violent behaviour are “in a normal range of emotions.” Her view was that people who do not lash out violently are actually somehow lacking in their range of emotional responses; that the absence of violence is abnormal. [...]
Filed under: American Questions, Books and Reading, Children and Family, Christian Questions, Forgiveness and Healing, Non-violence: Living and Teaching, Peace Work, Quakers | Tagged: anger management, Carolyna Marks, forgiveness, Fred Luskin, learning to forgive, peace studies, World Wall for Peace | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 24, 2008 by Ramona Silipo
©2008, Ramona K. Silipo. All rights reserved.
A long-standing quandary within the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), which seems to be more obvious lately, is a growing number of atheists attending meetings, with a frustrating exchange of thought between Friends who know God and Friends who do not. The very core of the Quaker religion has [...]
Filed under: Quakers, Spirituality and Inspiration | Tagged: Non-theist Quaker, Quakers, Religious Society of Friends, Universalism | Leave a Comment »
