Shedding the Husks of Dogma: A Comparison of Transcendentalism with Watershed Spirituality

Our study of Emerson's transcendentalism has led me to wonder about how the son of a theologically liberal but socially conservative Unitarian minister, and nephew of a fanatic Calvinist (Aunt Mary Moody Emerson), could have developed a spirituality that foreshadows most of what I have read in Carl Jung and many sophisticated religious writings of today. While sauntering through the library, I discovered an article which helped to answer my questions. (Perry Miller's "From Edwards to Emerson", p.63-81, found in Barbour, Brian M. American Transcendentalism: An Anthology of Criticism. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame

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Standing Alone Together

THERE IS A mind-boggling connection between creation and chaos. This unexpected synergy applies not only to creation's emergence from the primordial chaos but is mysteriously operational when people's spiritual foundations have crumbled. It is revealing that the Genesis creation accounts were woven together, as the poetry of the dispossessed, during a time of the exile and crisis of faith. Disorientation in communities and in individuals has a peculiar way of resulting in an inspired movement toward creativity and re-orientation. When we at Watershed were flailing around, wrestling God, shadowboxing in the post ‘91 period, many of us felt on the

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Watershed Spirituality

We can't help being thirsty, moving toward the voice of water. Milk drinkers draw close to the mother. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, shamans, everyone hears the intelligent sound and moves with thirst to meet it. - Jeladuddin Rumi (1207-1273) The Image Unveiled James Hillman, the founder of Archetypal Psychology, has become convinced that individual and corporate spiritual growth is made through the meditation on images. The image of what I refer to as Watershed Spirituality comes from the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel. It has to do with rejuvenating waters which make stagnant things fresh, have healing properties, and perpetuate life

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Defining Christian Spirituality

We're basing our studies on the book Christian Spirituality by Lawrence Cunningham. Our focus is trying to figure out what Christian spirituality means. Spirituality is a phrase that's pretty common these days, as people like to use it instead of religion. Religion feels boxed in or institutional whereas spirituality feels more open and interpretive. But Paul talked about how the way that we enter spirituality needs to engage the tradition that we're part of. Having a general definition of spirituality (such as having a sense of a higher benevolent power) is good in that it allows connection to people of

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Marriage and Mary Shelley

I WAS SITTING in Merk's restaurant out on Pembina Highway with Bev in 1990 when I solemnly swore that if I were to do it again, I definitely would not want to be married. At the time I k that marriage left a very sour taste in my mouth. It wasn't only that I hadn't taken care of my marriage of seventeen years well enough to make it worthwhile, it was the whole idea of being married that irked me. I joked about marriage being a socio-economic relationship which was merely functional to get a mortgage

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Thoughts on a Covenant Sunday

When I think of covenant, the first thing I think of is food. Not just because I like to eat but primarily because of what eating together reminds me of. Because you don't eat together with enemies, you eat with friends. With morning snack beforehand and a potluck afterwards, our meetings together are bracketed by eating together.

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What’s In A Name: An Emerging Spiritual Discipline

Several years ago a group of us interested in photography started to meet to learn the craft better. Sometimes we reviewed technical stuff (what's a f-stop anyways?). Sometimes we would collaborate on taking pictures for our website edition. We playfully called ourselve the Photo B----s as a way not to take ourselves too seriously. But over time we started noticing that taking pictures and reflecting on our lives through the lens of a Christ-informed spirituality went together. Maybe it was time for a name to reflect this shift of emphasis. Perhaps a name like Watershed Ikonography

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