DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
Hello fellow Society members! March has been an interesting month for us. We have a good number of additions to the spiritual naturalist archives, as you will see below. Also, consciousness and meme researcher, Susan Blackmore, has contributed an abridged chapter from her book, Zen and the Art of Consciousness, for which we are grateful. In other news, I have decided that from now on the marriage services I provide as a certified Humanist minister, will be for the benefit of the Society. Meaning, those fees will go to help pay for greater outreach. This has allowed us to purchase an ad in the Shambhala Sun (a popular Buddhist magazine), which explains Spiritual Naturalism and includes a reference to our Advisory Board member, Stephen Batchelor, with his kind permission (Author of Buddhism without Beliefs).
Lastly, we had some unfortunate website technical issues earlier this month, which delayed an article, but we have since made up the difference and the issues have been resolved. Sorry for anyone who tried to use the site during this time. We continue to have encouraging and exciting plans for the future, and I’ll keep you all up to date as we proceed. Thanks again for your support of this community!
With love and thanks 🙂
Daniel Strain
Executive Director
DON’T FORGET!
Join us on our Member Social Network chat for our monthly Member Social! The next one will be Tuesday, April 16th, 7pm (CST). If you haven’t signed up to the Member Social Network yet, you’ll want to do that ahead of time (link here).
MEMBER FORUMS: HOT TOPICS
Please join us on the member forums to discuss these current topics!
Thomas Schenk’s Blog
We wanted to be sure our members knew that Thomas Schenk, one of our writers, also keeps an occasional blog in our member Social Network. Be sure to check it out by going to his profile and clicking the blog tab!
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!
A Secular Buddhism, Stephen Batchelor
This month, the Society is proud to annouce the addition of “A Secular Buddhism” to our member educational archives. This is a research article written by former monk and author Stephen Batchelor for the Journal of Global Buddhism, added to our archives with his permission. Stephen Batchelor is also author of “Buddhism Without Beliefs” and a member of our Advisory Board. He described this paper as “the most detailed account I have written on the topic”.
Spiritual Naturalist Drumming, DT Strain
Also a public article, but a fitting addition to our archives, in the ‘practices’ section.
A Naturalist approach to personal gods, DT Strain
This exclusive essay explores ways of thinking about personhood, ourselves, and conceptions of ‘God’.
What is Naturalistic Paganism?, B. T. Newberg
After more experience in the Naturalist Pagan community, B. T. Newberg offers this updated and revised summary, which we have included in the Society archives.
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.
Articles by Category
A new page that lets you browse most of our key articles by topic!
Is Spiritual Naturalism an Oxymoron?
Thomas Schenk suggests that, if ‘the Kingdom of Heaven is within’, then it is a part of our world and a part of our self; something we can experience here and now…
What is Naturalistic Paganism?
An updated overview of the Pagan tradition from a naturalistic perspective, by SNS Director, B.T. Newberg…
Natural Grief: A Humanist Perspective
Jennifer Hancock shares five points of a Humanist approach to dealing with grief…
What am I doing?
Consciousness and meme researcher Susan Blackmore shares a chapter from her book, Zen and the Art of Consciousness…
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!