It’s a joy to introduce you to Mirabai Starr on MLK Day. Although petite, you can’t miss Mirabai. She’s an embodiment of interspirituality earned through a life of devotion at the heart of the great religions. From across the room where I first met her, she radiated love. I’m sure you’ll feel the warmth of her words from any distance. Zinntroducing —MIRABAI STARR…
Continue reading Zinnterview with Interspiritual Author Mirabai Starr
Category Archives: For Religious Educators
“How’s Your Faith?” by David Gregory
I don’t watch television journalism, so I didn’t recognize David Gregory’s name from Meet the Press when his memoir came to my desk. But the title got my attention. How’s Your Faith? is a courageous testimony by an adult child of intermarriage whose own interfaith marriage sparks his spiritual journey. Raised as a Jew, he marries a devout Christian only to realize his relationship with religion, and ultimately, with himself, needs attention. Continue reading “How’s Your Faith?” by David Gregory
The TEN Plagues of Money
Given the global growing divide in wealth concentration and given that this happens to be a year of shmita (release) when all debts are to be forgiven (according to biblical law), it makes sense to use the holidays of Passover and Easter to reconsider our relationship to money. Are we enslaved to a certain way of perceiving money? Could our relationship to it be ‘reborn’?
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Light on Wonder’s Shadow (2 of 2)
While reading Wonder, I wondered: Why did the author, R.J. Palacio, exclude the perspective of Julian, the boy who “bullies” the main character Auggie Pullman? Auggie narrates his story of starting school for the first time, as a fifth grader, with a severe craniofacial abnormality. We also hear his story from the perspective of other young characters (friends, sibling, sibling’s friends) who care about him. Told in chapters of their own, their perspectives add sensitivity and movement. Why don’t we hear from the bully? Is there a backstory that explains his behavior without condoning it? Continue reading Light on Wonder’s Shadow (2 of 2)
TWICE “FROZEN”
I had a chance to see FROZEN again and it was even better the second time. So this blog follows the first, “Frozen” and Sacrifice. What struck me this time was the contrast between Elsa, the older sister with the power to freeze things, and Olaf, the little snowman she creates along way. The first time I saw the film, Olaf seemed like a comical, secondary character, and at times, an interruption to the plot. Why did Disney give him so much attention? He even gets to sing a solo about his desire to experience summer. But watching it this time, I saw how incredibly central Olaf is to the moral of the story. Olaf is the ying to Elsa’s yang. Continue reading TWICE “FROZEN”
“FROZEN” and Sacrifice
I finally saw FROZEN, the 2014 Oscar Winner for Animated Feature Film, in-flight on my way to an interspiritual conference via a visit to my sister. (How apropos.) So sisterhood and spirituality were on my mind. The movie was as good as my 15 year old daughter said it was – she saw it twice. Indeed, I was pleasantly surprised when Disney broke from a predictable storyline for new territory. The film demonstrates the value and meaning of sacrifice by contrasting it in two forms; one true and one false. Continue reading “FROZEN” and Sacrifice