For most people, the fortune inside the typically bland Chinese fortune cookie is its most palatable part, for it delivers either a sunny forecast, or at worst, a vague aphorism. Just how Confucius might have felt about these slips of paper so often attributed to him, however, might be an…
Articles by Ryan NeuCollins
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The word Shinto comes from the Chinese word Shen-tao, which means “the way of the gods”. In Japan, these gods are called “kami”; however, the meaning of kami encompasses not only gods, but also one’s ancestors, the spiritual essence that occupies everything, and anything/person that inspires reverence or awe. In general, however, while…
Like everything else in life, the culture of early native Americans had both its positives and negatives. On the one hand, many native American tribes were extremely cruel to their captives – often torturing them to death, and during tough winters they themselves could starve to death. On the other…
Other than a few comments concerning Jesus by the ancient historians Flavius Josephus and Tacitus, we have precious little evidence of the savior of all Christendom. There are the gospels of course, as well as the gnostic texts, but these two sets not only often contradict each other as well…
Most people know that Rumi was a Sufi and that the whirling dervishes are Sufis, but that about sums up their Sufi expertise. So, I’m going to provide you with a few other fundamentals, as I understand them. It is mystical: Sufism is not a separate sect of Islam, but an…
With his long hair whipping, he leaps and bends and twists amid a circle of flames, yet the dance movements are graceful and controlled, the facial expression tranquil. According to Khan Academy, Auguste Rodin once wrote that the sculpture known as Nataraja was the “perfect expression of rhythmic movement in…
If today’s Christian could travel back in time to the first and second centuries, she would no doubt be surprised that the simpler, purer, and homogenous Christianity so often portrayed in Christian children’s books never was. I discuss this further in my Spirituality Counseling Sessions, but let me explain here…
If we wish to attain what the Buddhists call nirvana and what the Hindus call moksha—the state in which we transcend our personal identity and become enlightened, it is said that we should engage in certain practices. Both Buddhists and Hinduism’s Patanjali cite eight categories of these, which include truthful…
I’ve always been interested in the story of Jacob wrestling with God (although in this picture it’s an angel), because it’s so rich in symbolism. Interpretations of the incident meander across the three Abrahamic religions, and range from one extreme to the other. Here are some: It is metaphorical: Jacob…
Rainer Maria Rilke’s God-infused Poetry speaks of our yearning for completeness Today’s entry is about Rainer Rilke’s poetry, which is spiritual, often close to mystical, and whose poems, translated and collated in Rilke’s Book of Hours, Love Poems to God by Anita Barrows sprang from what he described as “inner dictations”. Within…