What have we learned, during the lockdown period? What have we valued and what have we hated? Restrictions are now gradually easing, but it is still necessary for us to be very careful as the virus is still active. We have been thinking about what has changed during the pandemic both for the good and … Continue reading Good & bad of lockdown & facemasks
By Stephen Russell-Lacy. This post is a shorter version of the podcast Disease – Why is covid-19 plaguing us? Coronavirus can result in covid-19 disease. Let us consider disease origins. Do individual differences and industrialisation play a role? And is disease indirectly anything to do with the ethical quality of humanity as a whole? Medical explanation … Continue reading Disease Origins
By Stephen Russell-Lacy. There is something that puts many people off religion. It is the notion that God is male. Feminism has alerted us to the way culture tends to prioritise the male point of view. Traditional society has been organised around male authority figures resulting in injustice for women. Translation involves interpretation In the … Continue reading Is God male or female?
By Stephen Russell-Lacy. We all probably want happiness and inner well-being. Yet sometimes we lack uplifting thoughts, forget the meaning and purpose which gave our life a sense a of direction, or feel discouraged and stressed when facing adversity. Is it really so difficult creating inner well-being for ourselves? Reliance on others for inner well-being … Continue reading Inner well-being – Can I rely on myself?
By Stephen Russell-Lacy. We all know there is mutual resentment and antagonism in the Middle East. Rhetoric on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is incredibly heated. All involved in the region have been subject to the horror of dreadful actions. Feelings of protest, anger and fear have often got out of hand. When … Continue reading Israeli-Palestinian conflict – Ethics?
By Stephen Russell-Lacy. Spiritual writer Emanuel Swedenborg is often seen as sexist. He wrote that a woman’s heart can stay longer elevated into superior heat than can the heart of a man. According to this view women, more than men, are capable of a deeper and more sustained feeling of care and affection. In contrast, … Continue reading Swedenborg – Was he sexist?
Many writers recommend practical ways we can improve our inner growth. They might mention for example some martial arts, yoga, meditation, fasting, ceremony and ritual, or prayer. They often refer to a process of inner awakening of awareness that goes beyond ordinary existence and insight into universal truths. It means going beyond the mind and … Continue reading Inner growth – What changes in us?
Over three hundred years ago Emanuel Swedenborg had a desire to know about the inhabitants of other planets. Recently astronomy has discovered many other earths beyond our solar system. And so a widespread notion has now grown that intelligent extraterrestrial life probably does exist elsewhere in the vast universe. Swedenborg said some spirits he met … Continue reading Extraterrestrial – Swedenborg credible?
How keen are you to get up in the morning and follow your ordinary day? Have you the enthusiasm needed to do what is fulfilling and good? “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”. (Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher) With inspiration, and the enthusiasm that goes along with it, we have energy for living life … Continue reading Enthusiasm – How to find it?
Book launch and talk. Sunday 8 November 2015 | Doors open 2.00 pm (talk at 2.30) | Clissold House, Clissold Park, Stoke Newington Church St, London N16 9HJ Tickets only £4 (includes free glass of wine). Click here to book. To launch his new book, New Jerusalem: the good city and the good society (London: Swedenborg … Continue reading New Jerusalem: the good city and the good society