October 2013 Newsletter

The Spiritual Naturalist Society

MEMBER NEWSLETTER
October 2013
Visit your Society’s website at www.SpiritualNaturalistSociety.org

 

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
Hello dear members!

This past month my primary activities have been in helping to get our new staff members accustomed to their roles and having access to the various files and sites they need. For example, our Membership Director Matthew and Director Thomas have both been taking an active role on our social network, helping to initiate interesting conversations. Matthew has also taken over welcoming our new members. Executive Assistant Michelle has been learning how to maintain our records. Our Editor, Darren, has been encouraging our writers and processing all the new articles for posting. Outreach Director Lee has been upkeeping our Facebook page and will soon be bringing our Google plus page up to speed. And Education Director B.T. has continued working on the Spiritual Naturalism course we are developing.

Thanks to their efforts I have been able to focus on recruiting more quality contributors to our educational archives (we have some exciting things coming next month), as well as continued work with the people who will be modifying our website to be able to process the new types of membership – something that is a rather complex chain of things that needs to happen, and is taking longer than I hoped. Between all of these activities, I really believe we are setting up our Society to grow substantially in its second year, and more importantly, to bring you even more features and help Spiritual Naturalist ideas and practice become a source of happiness and well-being in more people’s lives.
Also, this month will be our first monthly member social on our new video conferencing service, so please be sure to drop in (info below). If you don’t have a webcam or don’t choose to use one, you can still participate via chat so no worries. Either way, we’d love the chance to see you and get to know you!
On a final note, I’ve been toying with the idea of using our video chat platform to host more regular guided meditations, discourses, or rituals. But these are all very sketchy at the moment so please write me with your thoughts, ideas, and preferences on this possibility.

With love and thanks 🙂

Daniel Strain
Executive Director

 
UPCOMING DATES (Please mark your calendar!)
You can also see our calendar anytime by going to the Community page…

– Tuesday November 19th (7:00pm CST): Monthly Member Social
Join us for casual conversation and socializing! This will be our first VIDEO social chat (though you can participate using chat if you don’t prefer or have video). A link to the session will be sent out beforehand via email so keep a lookout. Please note that wearing headphones or earbuds helps to reduce feedback and you’ll want to be sure you use whatever connection you have access to that has the best performance. Getting to know your fellow members is on of the benefits of our Society so we look forward to chatting with you! Our Member Social happens on the 3rd Tuesday of each month.

 
FROM OUR MEMBER FORUMS
Please join us on the member forums to jump in on these discussions!

– Discussion 5: Charity

 
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!

 

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.

Ancient Philosophy Meets Darwin: Can Science Offer a Way of Life?

Ancient Philosophy Meets Darwin: Can science offer a way of life?
In the age of Darwin, what do we still have to learn from philosophers like Socrates or the Buddha?…Tao and the Laws of Nature
Tao and the laws of nature
Thomas Schenk explores how the Tao and the Western Laws of Nature deal with finding purpose…Our Spirituality: Presentation at Rothko Chapel
Our spirituality: Presentation at Rothko Chapel
SNS Executive Director, DT Strain, gives a presentation on what spirituality means to us…Spirituality and responding to the Meaning Crisis, Part 1: The Meaning that was lost.
Spirituality and responding to the meaning crisis, part 1
Western society is facing a meaning crisis that spirituality must address. But what it the nature of this crisis?

 

 
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!