tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83541724352789691392011-07-08T08:14:36.949-07:00The community of the Sanctuary at Shepardfields are committed to the ideal of creating a true interfaith community which serves as a safe and sacred space for personal transformation, human evolution, and the building of a true spiritual community. They desire an interfaith community which supports a diversity of non-institutionalized spiritual practices.Justin Vood Goodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717955549627051614noreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8354172435278969139.post-17247032089601564512009-10-21T10:51:00.000-07:002009-10-21T13:07:14.605-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-AOPEoclrbs/St9K9EoTOzI/AAAAAAAABJE/okjnpAoGYrI/s1600-h/Father+Keating.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 252px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-AOPEoclrbs/St9K9EoTOzI/AAAAAAAABJE/okjnpAoGYrI/s320/Father+Keating.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395113291688393522" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To start us off, we've posted a seminal statement about interfaith spirituality by Father Thomas Keating.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Guidelines for Inter-religious Understanding</span><br /><br />By Father Thomas Keating<br /><br />1. The world religions bear witness to the experience of the Ultimate Reality to which they give various names: Brahman, the Absolute, God, Al-Lah, Wakantanka, Transcendent.<br /><br />2. The Ultimate reality surpasses any name or concept that can be given to it.<br /><br />3. The Ultimate Reality is the source - ground of being – of all existence.<br /><br />4. Faith is opening, surrendering, and responding to the Ultimate Reality. This relationship precedes every belief system.<br /><br />5. The potential for human wholeness – or in other frames of reference, liberation, self-transcendence, enlightenment, salvation, transforming union, moksha, nirvana, fana – is present in every human person.<br /><br />6. The Ultimate Reality may be experienced not only through religious practice but also through nature, art, human relationships, and service to others.<br /><br />7. The differences among belief systems should be presented as facts that distinguish them, not as points of superiority.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8354172435278969139-1724703208960156451?l=interfaithsanctuary.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Justin Vood Goodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717955549627051614noreply@blogger.com0