#57: David N Hafter MFT (wooly) Sun 6 Jul 08 21:23

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:23:00 PDT

Hi PJM,

I look forward to your reading contribution. I had to scribble my original posting due to an embarrassing typo or two and a couple of dyslexic word reversals. It is reposted after your comment on joining in...

David [Read entire topic]

#56: David N Hafter MFT (wooly) Sun 6 Jul 08 21:20

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:20:00 PDT

Would You Share a Wondrous Moment in Your Life?

A call for contributions to a book on religious tolerance.

By David Hafter, MFT

Wondrous Moments and other Commonalities: Expanding the Spiritual Umbrella is the working title of my new book for which I am soliciting your anecdotal contribution. Designed as a response to recent tomes extolling the very real and obvious dangers of religious dogma and the intolerance it breeds (God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens and The End of Faith by Sam Harris), Wondrous Moments takes a wide-angle approach to the topic of spirituality, of which organized religion is just a part, in order to save the baby from being lost along with the bathwater.

In Wondrous Moments, I point out the commonalities of our powerful, emotional and spiritual experiences, what I call Wondrous Moments, and the spiritual or secular templates we use to overlay and explain them to ourselves. The variety of these templates tend to separate us from one another, sometimes peacefully with no real consequences, but too often just the opposite, with escalating degrees of negativity and hostility from feelings of suspiciousness and unfriendly behaviors all the way to violence, including murder and ending with genocide.

Those of us whose spiritual experiences do not fit neatly, or at all, into conventional religious garments are pushed out from underneath the collective spiritual umbrella. Wondrous Moments is a strategic attempt to widen this umbrella. I focus on a person*s behavior rather than his or her beliefs, an approach from my field of psychology, religion*s long disenfranchised and near-silent partner * the head to its heart * the two often separated by dogma, fear and superstition.

The spiritual umbrella in America is indeed small with many people left out in the rain. Imagine the miniscule lifespan of a presidential campaign whose candidate claims to be *spiritual but not religious* or, worse yet, claims no religious faith at all. S/he could be a war hero, be clutching a handful of PhD*s and be known to have a solid history of public service and personal generosity and still be seen by the majority of voters as unsuitable for the office of president.

Consider the following quote which opens chapter one:

In talking with Jim many times, I*m convinced we have had very similar experiences on our flights but we explain it quite differently. He explains his in terms of traditional religious formalism and I tend not to do that. I tend to try and think in terms not only of science but in terms of new structures for explaining the subjective experience.

-- From a televised interview with Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Lunar Module Pilot, whose explorations in psychic phenomena led him, post flight, to found the Institute for Noetic Sciences, describing the emotionally powerful in-flight experience he shared with Jim Irwin, Apollo 15 Lunar Module Pilot, who, upon his own return from the moon, devoted the rest of his life to searching for the remains of Noah*s Ark.

As clear and compelling an intellectual case as has been made by other works I have cited here for relegating conventional religion to the museum shelf, that*s not likely to happen * not just any time soon but ever. Why? It is the undeniable reality and power of our first-hand spiritual experiences and the way we explain those experiences to ourselves which cement in our hearts and minds both their source and meaning.

I propose that we adjust the expectations we have of our religions, belief systems and philosophies of life so that what we share in common eclipses the dogmatic differences placed between us by them.

Towards that end, I am soliciting brief descriptions of your personal Wondrous Moments as real-life illustrations of the commonalities we share: our Wondrous Moments. What exactly constitutes a Wondrous Moment? The umbrella is purposefully wide. From the introduction:

* what we share in common are what I call Wondrous Moments: those magical experiences that defy ordinary explanation but are real to us nonetheless. They are our little miracles, near-misses, epiphanies, *aha!* moments, amazing and unimaginable coincidences, too-lucky breaks, psychic experiences both while we are awake and in our dreams and other awe-inspiring, logic-defying moments that stop us dead in our tracks and leave us in true wonder and mindful appreciation.

The text will gain richness with the assistance of your illustrative anecdotes and readers will find commonalities between themselves and you, their neighbors, friends, relatives and co-workers. Together, with a wider view on spirituality that emphasizes actions over beliefs, we can indeed stretch the spiritual umbrella to include everyone.

If you wish to be a part of this undertaking, please describe in fewer than 100 words a Wondrous Moment you have had and its effect on your life. You will not be identified by more than your first name, age and occupation (anonymous can replace your name, if you wish). There is no financial compensation being offered for your contribution. Please include your full name and contact information so that final permission to use your contribution can be secured prior to publishing.

Please contact me directly with contributions or questions through by web address:

pamdavidnoah@sbcglobal.net

Thank-you for your consideration,

David Hafter, MFT [Read entire topic]

#55: uber-muso hipster hyperbole (pjm) Sun 6 Jul 08 13:31

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:31:00 PDT

Thanks for offering this here. I will work something up. [Read entire topic]

#54: David N Hafter MFT (wooly) Sun 6 Jul 08 13:16

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:16:00 PDT

<scribbled by wooly Sun 6 Jul 08 21:09> [Read entire topic]

#53: David Hafter (davidhafter) Thu 15 Feb 07 14:03

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:03:00 PST

By the say, I sincerely hope that the other 4 books I sent to the InkWell also get passed along to folks who might make good use of them. Please pass along any related stories or subsequent feedback.

An update: I have started the follow-up/companion book to GB for adult men. I hope we can have another such conversation on that book sometime, as well... [Read entire topic]

#52: Gail Williams (gail) Thu 8 Feb 07 16:00

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 16:00:00 PST

Thanks! [Read entire topic]

#51: Daniel (dfowlkes) Thu 8 Feb 07 14:30

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 14:30:00 PST

<scribbled by dfowlkes> [Read entire topic]

#50: David Hafter (davidhafter) Wed 7 Feb 07 22:15

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 22:15:00 PST

Thanks, y'all. Be seeing you... [Read entire topic]

#49: David Adam Edelstein (davadam) Wed 7 Feb 07 14:21

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:21:00 PST

Thanks, David! I've already passed my copy of the book on to parents with a 14 year old son. Let's hope some of it sticks! [Read entire topic]

#48: Cynthia Dyer-Bennet (cdb) Wed 7 Feb 07 09:26

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 09:26:00 PST

Thanks so much for joining us for the past two weeks, David. It's been a thought-provoking conversation and I wish you (and your target audience!) all the best in getting the message out there. Though our virtual spotlight has turned to another conversation, this one doesn't have to stop. This topic will remain open for further comments indefinitely, so I'm glad to hear you'll stick around a bit longer! [Read entire topic]

The WELL: inkwell.vue.291: David Hafter, "Growing Balls"