February 2013 Newsletter

The Spiritual Naturalist Society
MEMBER NEWSLETTER
February 2013
Visit your Society’s website at www.SpiritualNaturalistSociety.org

 
DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Hello dear members!  This month we had our first online monthly Member Social in the Society’s social network. Thanks so much to those who came, and for the good time talking with you folks. I really think this new platform will be greatly helpful in all of us getting to know one another better. It looks like several of you have still not signed up on our social network. If you’d like to interact with the other members, see the forums, and so on, please feel free to go HERE and sign up!  Our next online Member Social will be Tuesday, March 19th, 7:00pm (Central Time Zone) – hope you can make it!

This month was also notable as being the first month we were able to pay all of our expenses!  We’d like to have more expenses, actually. Meaning, the more we do for members and the more promotion of Spiritual Naturalism we do, the expenses will be greater. This can only rise as we gain more members, which we are – but your help in telling others about the Society is always welcome too.

Another exciting bit of news is the founding of our sixth local chapter; this one in Corpus Christi, Texas! Thanks to new member, Jeff Rodgers, who has agreed to be local organizer for the group. If you’re near Corpus Christi sign up and take part! If not, consider being an organizer for a local chapter in your area.

We’re also in need of more writers. Writing has two forms in the Society: the public articles are a way of fulfilling our mission to spread helpful wisdom and practices which make for happier lives. They also help tell more people about both Spiritual Naturalism and our group. The second form is the writing of new and exclusive content for our educational and inspirational member archives. This helps us to be a place of sharing and learning in Spiritual Naturalist thought and practice, as well as serving the membership (you). So, if you like to write, please let us know!

That’s all for now, friends. I look forward to hearing from you and to what’s in store for us as a community going forward. Please drop me a line sometime and let me know how you’re doing and how the Society is doing!

With love and thanks 🙂

Daniel Strain
Executive Director

 

MEMBER FORUMS: HOT TOPICS
Please join us on the member forums to discuss these current topics!

Working as a Think Tank
Spiritual Naturalist equivalent of the Three Jewels

 

MEMBER ARCHIVES: LATEST ADDITIONS
The following are some of the most recent pieces added to the membership’s growing archive of inspirational and educational materials. Please feel free to discuss what you think about these with the other members in the Society forum!

Strategies of Secular Buddhist Practice, by Doug Smith
Nontheistic Prayer – Why (as an Atheist) I Pray, by J.D. Moyer
Motherhood as roadmap to universal compassion, by DT Strain

One of the contributors to our archives, and Advisory Board member, Arthur Broadhurst, would also like our members to know he has refurbished his website on naturalistic Christianity: http://www.christianhumanist.net/

 

NEW MULTIMEDIA PAGE
We’ve noticed that, throughout our articles and various pages, videos, audio dialogues, and other multimedia has been accumulating – so, we’re happy to announce the addition of a Multimedia page on our homepage, where all of these have been brought together into one place. This will be a growing body of work we hope you enjoy!

Spiritual Naturalist Society Multimedia Page

 

RECENT ARTICLES
Articles the Society has publicly published recently, as part of our mission to help others by sharing helpful wisdom and practices for better lives. If you’d like to get notice of these as they are released, please subscribe to the Society blog by clicking here if you haven’t already.

A New (old) Skepticism
A New (old) Skepticism
Skeptics are known in many ways, but how do Spiritual Naturalists do skepticism? DT Strain covers some of the important differences…

Happiness upon reflection
Happiness Upon Reflection
Jennifer Hancock reminds that if we seek to have more happiness, we need to make more time for reflection…

Beauty in the Equation
Beauty in the Equation
Thomas Schenk writes of the nature of beauty and it’s relationship to science and understanding…

Spiritual Naturalist Drumming
Spiritual Naturalist Drumming
Why does drumming have a spiritual role in the lives of so many diverse cultures, and what role might it have for naturalists?…

 

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Don’t forget, if you haven’t already you can like our page on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more content and up-to-date info. You can also check out our Local Chapters page (here) to meet spiritual naturalists in person, or start hosting a local gathering if there isn’t yet one in your city by contacting us. Thanks so much for your kind support and your membership in the Spiritual Naturalist Society!