Living With Soul: 01/21/12

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Virtual Monk

My latest Reflection, "Virtual Monk" is posted as the lead article in Benedictine Bridge, a publication of Holy Wisdom Monastery in Madison, Wisconsin.

The article can be accessed at the Holy Wisdom Monastery sitr at <http://benedictinewomen.org/category/benedictine-bridge/>. Just copy this web address (without the "<" and ">" signs) into your browser.

I hope you enjoy it.

Chuck Pfeifer

Reflections on Living With Soul - We Are More Than We Think We Are

Ray Charles is credited with the musical sound we call soul. He once said, “Soul is like electricity – we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light up a room.” Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury 1945-61 said, “Until you know that life is interesting – and find it so - you haven't found your soul.”

Our hyper-charged society, burdened by fear and distrust, lacks soul. Small groups of elites manipulate whole economies for their personal gain. Religious groups demonize one another in the name of God. Many of us yearn for compelling reasons for living. We want to believe that the better angels of humankind will prevail.

Theologian, Walter Wink in his landmark work, The Human Being, argues that we humans are more than we think we are. He points to the fact that Jesus referred to himself as The Son of Man or the Human Being and not the Christ or the Son of God. By this Jesus seemed to imply that his life exemplified what it means to be truly human. For this reason, Jesus' life and teachings can be available to anyone seeking to engage this greater human potential, to live life with soul.

I have dedicated this blog to exploring what it might mean for each of us to engage our humanity at this level. What might it mean for us personally, and what might it mean for our world?

Saturday, January 21, 2012

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