Posted on 01/11/2008 7:41:30 PM PST by forkinsocket
THE notion that America spends its leisure time praying at evangelical megachurches is widespread; but the United States is a diverse country, and many of its people get their spiritual nourishment elsewhere. Some of them are in yoga studios, wearing prAna-branded stretch pants and chanting “Om”. Others are in spas and retreats, getting exotic massages; queuing at the Ayurvedic and Chinese-medicine counter at, say, Elephant Pharmacy in Berkeley; in psychotherapy sessions, to improve themselves or their marriages. If asked about their faith, many would answer that they are “spiritual, but not religious”.
That may sound daft to both theists and atheists; but it comes from a deeply American cultural tradition—one that has, if one can call it that, its own Mecca or Vatican. This is a place called Esalen. It is in California, unsurprisingly, and consists of 120 acres of spectacular gardens on a dramatic cliff on the Big Sur coastline just south of the Monterey peninsula. Its altar or central shrine, as it were, is a bath built into the cliff, where hot and healing water bubbles out of a geothermal spring into baths that offer the world's best in-tub views. Here the worshippers give and get massages au naturel, at any hour of the day or night.
The Esalen Institute calls itself “an alternative educational centre devoted to the exploration of the human potential”. Depending on the observer, it is also a lot of other things. For about 10,000 people a year—about a quarter of them foreign, especially German and Swiss—it is a place not only to bathe naked but also to take seminars with titles such as “Humour and Other Martial Arts”, “Science and Spirituality” and “Healing the Pelvic Floor”.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
Wasn’t it Ephasus that had temples for all the gods and one for the Unknown? Seems like we need more missionaries in our cities to teach the foreigners who come here to live.
If I stand on my head, can I heal my pelvic ceiling?
Sinnydipping.
Kiddin' me, bathing with no clothes on!
Well if it’s all the same, I’ll stick with the Church of Ba’al Moloch (Reformed).
Stewing naked in hot water, with numerous stewing, naked strangers, is not exactly a recipe for "healing." It's a nice environment for growing bacteria, though.
No, that was Athens (Acts 17). Imagine that, the center of the academic world at that time and they had a statue to an “unknown” god. Silly Athenians.
That is funny.
Fear not countries like China, and countries in Africa are sending missionaries to the US. No joke.
Ephesus was famed for a huge Temple of Diana (aka Artemus).
Mentioned in the New Testament when the silversmiths (makers of idols-for-sale)
went ballistic at the possiblity of lost revenue with the arrival of
Christians.
At least one documentary on History Channel (”Lost Worlds” series?)
had a nice review of the thought and labor that went into building
the temple (and IIRC, rebuilding it after it was destroyed by an earthquake).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus
As mentioned in a previous post, it was in Athens that the Apostle Paul
took note of the veneration of many gods, including an “unknown god”.
I’ve not been to Athens, but I’ve heard that venue in which made the
speech is still known by it’s ancient name, the Areopagus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areopagus
“When the French monarch proposed the persecution of Christians in his dominion, an old statesman and warrior said to him, ‘Sire, the church of God is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.’ So the hammers of infidels have been pecking away at this book for ages, but the hammers are worn out, and the anvil still endures. If this book had not been the book of God, men would have destroyed it long ago. Emperors and popes, kings and priests, princes and rulers have all tried their hand at it; they die and the book still lives.”
“No other book has been so chopped, knived, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology or belles lettres of classical or modern times has been subject to such a mass attack as the Bible? With such venom and skepticism? With such thoroughness and erudition? Upon every chapter, line and tenet? The Bible is still loved by millions, and studied by millions.
All forms of paganism (including today’s environmental movement) boil down to one thing: the worship of nature. It comes in the form of exalting trees, plants, animals, weather, astronomical objects, etc. The wiccan movement, druidism, astrology and the most radical tenets of the environmental movement are forms of paganism.
St Paul the Apostle once wrote of this (way back when): “Behold they have exchanged the Truth for a lie and worshiped the creation rather than the Creator.”
Regards and Written by,
2banana
Yes, but you may injure something else. :-O
Courtesy comment from St. Peter The Gate Keep to Heaven.
Knock Knock Knockin on my door.
Whoop Dat knockin at my door
Ye Ole Spiritual but not Religious dead person.
Well ye ole Spiritual but not Religious dead person.
Yallins took the eternity elevator and pushed the up instead of the down button.
Now go back down and spend eternity in Hell with all the other Spiritual but not Religious forsaken.
Athens
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