Today’s Missed Opportunity Is Tomorrow’s Regret

This afternoon I popped in a VHS tape of some super 8 movies I filmed twenty-five years ago. There on the screen were some family members who are no longer on this earth. Of course, I wished I could step through the screen and give them one last kind word and hug.

The day I filmed them was just an ordinary day, just like today is an ordinary day. Watching that tape was another reminder of how

Philip Goldberg Explains “Spiritual But Not Religious”

Phil Goldberg

This brilliant commentary on the growing numbers of people who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious” was written for Huffington Post by Philip Goldberg, author of American Veda, which explores how India’s spiritual wisdom seeped into America’s cultural bloodstream.

SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS:
MISUNDERSTOOD AND HERE TO STAY

A great deal has been written about that ever-expanding group of Americans who check “none” when asked about their religious affiliations. The segment of nones who call themselves “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR) now constitute at least 20 percent of the population, and 30 percent of those under 30 years of age. I have interviewed hundreds of this important cohort for my books, and I find that the media commentary about them is riddled by misconceptions.

One problem concerns why people disconnect from the religious tradition of their birth. The most prevalent explanation is the one favored by scholars Robert Putnam and David Campbell, authors of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. They attribute disaffiliation mainly to the perceived link between religion and conservative politics—a turnoff to liberal-minded youth in particular.

I don’t buy it. There is no doubt that the judgmental moralizing of right-wing preachers has alienated a great many Christians, but that doesn’t explain SBNR. Believers who disdain fundamentalism have plenty of left-leaning denominations and apolitical congregations to turn to. I see it as more of a spiritual issue than a political one. The “S” in SBNR means something. In varying degrees, SBNRs are serious about their spiritual development, and they wish to pursue it wherever it leads them. The search itself is

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves

Photo of Paramahansa Yogananda, courtesy of Self-Realization Fellowship

Today is the National Day of Prayer, an annual observance inviting people of all faiths to come together to pray and to heal. This year’s theme is “Lord, Hear Our Cry,” which asks us to place our faith in the power of God and reach out through prayer during our darkest hours.

Paramahansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi, spoke often of the power of prayer.

In this passage from In the Sanctuary of the Soul: A Guide to Effective Prayer, he reminds us that we can and should seek help through prayer:

God does help those who help themselves. When your mind is calm and filled with faith after praying to God in meditation, you are able to