Tag: unity

Karen Armstrong lectures and interviews

Here are 14 wonderful, in-depth talks, lectures and interviews featuring brilliant religious scholar Karen Armstrong. Watch below and save for your archive.

“Karen Armstrong is considered one of the world’s most thought-provoking and original public thinkers on the role of religion in historical and contemporary life. Her poignant writing and captivating talks have sparked worldwide debate and respectful dialogue.”

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2004-03 [mp4]
Karen Armstrong hopes for compassion in religion

2008-02 [mp4]
Karen Armstrong’s TED Prize Talk – Charter for Compassion

2009-09-27 [mp4]
Vancouver Peace Summit – Karen’s Charter for Compassion

2010-04-27 [mp4]
Karen Armstrong at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

2010-06-17 [mp4]
An Evening with Karen Armstrong at UC Santa Barbara

2011-03-10 [mp4]
Karen Armstrong on InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse

2011-03-13 [mp4]
Karen Armstrong CIRS Distinguished Lecture

2011-04-28 [mp4]
Compassion: Nice idea or Urgent Global Imperative

2011-08-06 [mp4]
One on One with Karen Armstrong

2012-03-20 [mp4]
Karen Armstrong in Vancouver – Jack P. Blaney Award

2012-03-22 [mp4]
Karen Armstrong in Vancouver – What is Religion

2012-03-27 [mp4]
Karen Armstrong in Vancouver – Compassion in Action

2012-04-23 [mp4]
Karen Armstrong – Big Think interview

2012-10-16 [mp4]
Karen Armstrong at St. Paul’s Cathedral

Humanity and the World are Divine

Insight about our unity with God from the Corpus Hermeticum.

If then you do not make yourself equal to God, you cannot apprehend God; for like is known by like. Leap clear of all that is corporeal and make yourself grow to a like expanse with that greatness which is beyond all measure; rise above all time, and become eternal; then you will apprehend God. Think that for you too nothing is impossible; deem that you too are immortal, and that you are able to grasp all things in your thought, to know every craft and every living creature; make yourself higher than all heights, and lower than all depths; bring together in yourself all opposites of quality, heat and cold, dryness and fluidity; think that you are not yet begotten, that you are in the womb, that you are young, that you are old, that you have died, that you are in the world beyond the grave; grasp in your thought all this at once, all times and places, all substances and qualities and magnitudes together; then you can apprehend God. But if you shut up your soul in your body, and abase yourself, and say “I know nothing, I can do nothing; I am afraid of earth and sea, I cannot mount to heaven; I know not what I was, not what I shall be”; then, what have you to do with God? Your thought can grasp nothing beautiful and good, if you cleave to the body, and are evil.

For it is the height of evil not to know God; but to be capable of knowing God, and to wish and hope to know him, is the road which leads straight to the Good; and it is an easy road to travel. Everywhere God will come to meet you, everywhere he will appear to you, at places and times at which you look not for it, in your waking hours and in your sleep, when you are journeying by water and by land, in the nighttime and in the daytime, when you are speaking and when you are silent; for there is nothing which is not God. And do you say “God is invisible?” Speak not so. Who is more manifest than God? For this very purpose has he made all things. Nothing is invisible, not even an incorporeal thing; mind is seen in its liking, and God in his working.

So far, I have shown you the truth. Think out all else in like manner for yourself, and you will not be misled.

Love your neighbor as your self

Christianity: “In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you.” – Matthew 7:12

Islam: “None of you truly believes, until he desires for his brother what he desires for himself.” – Prophet, Muhammad

Hinduism: “Do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.” – Mahabharata 5:1517

Buddhism: “Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” – Udana-Vargas 5.18

Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole Torah. All the rest is commentary.” – Talmud, Shabbat 21a

One: The Movie

I found a great documentary last night — One: The Movie — and it happens to be on youtube, so you can watch below. Or you can get the actual DVD here, and show all your friends and family.

[from wikipedia] ONE filmmakers asked 20 questions of religious and spiritual teachers as well as artists, authors, atheists and people on the street. [The film] covers a broad range of spiritual and philosophical themes such as the source of fear, enlightenment, spirit, the meaning of life, compassion, life after death, diversity, the nature of God and Heaven, and religion (including Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Taoism, New Age, New Thought Spirituality, Hare Krishna, Native American Spirituality, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Christian Fundamentalism). ONE also explores contemporary themes of war, conflict, terrorism, peace, global change, social responsibility, and environmental concerns.

The 20 Questions asked of participants:

1. Why is there poverty and suffering in the world?
2. What is the relationship between science and religion?
3. Why are so many people depressed?
4. What are we all so afraid of?
5. When is war justifiable?
6. How would God want us to respond to aggression and terrorism?
7. How does one obtain true peace?
8. What does it mean to live in the present moment?
9. What is our greatest distraction?
10. Is current religion serving its purpose?
11. What happens to you after you die?
12. Describe heaven and how to get there.
13. What is the meaning of life?
14. Describe God.
15. What is the greatest quality humans possess?
16. What is it that prevents people from living to their full potential?
17. Non-verbally, by motion or gesture only, act out what you believe to be the current condition of the world.
18. What is your one wish for the world?
19. What is wisdom and how do we gain it?
20. Are we all One?