Every once in a while, a special little thing comes along that really grabs your attention.

So if you’re looking for the perfect holiday gift? How about a game with a Wii controller in the shape of a cross?

Introducing: Mass – We Pray. The video game for the whole family.

Now you can forget about going to church. Take care of all those spiritual needs in the comfort of your own home.

(Note: It looks fake, but I’m not 100% sure. According to their website, you can pre-order starting today. I smell a stocking stuffer.)

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A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer.

Creation, the biopic about Charles Darwin is too controversial for religious America? As SNL’s Amy Poehler used to say on Weekend Update: “Really!….Really!”

I can not believe that is really a problem in the U.S. I mean I’ve heard the freak stories of school boards in weird small towns demanding that evolution not be taught to students, but this is getting ridiculous.

This is just a movie… about Charles Darwin. How afraid can you be?

No matter how religious you are, if you are afraid of a movie…and openly declare you’re boycotting it (or in this instance, refusing to distribute it) you will only serve to enhance its standing.

I’m just flabbergasted that anyone still has a problem with evolution in 2009. But fine, if you want to keep your kids from learning it, and want to believe that the Flintstones were real…that’s your prerogative.

Here’s what Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas had to say in the Telegraph UK article:

…he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.

“That’s what we’re up against. In 2009. It’s amazing,” he said.

“The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it’s because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they’ve seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.

“It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There’s still a great belief that He made the world in six days. It’s quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.

“Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn’t saying ‘kill all religion’, he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people.”

Hmm…it’s a sad state of affairs.

The movie stars Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connolly, and hopefully will be playing at a theater near you. Here’s the trailer:

(Photo: h.koppdelaney)

So what is Spiritual Growth, and how can it help your life?

When you hear about Spiritual Growth, you might think it’s all about the white-bearded guru sitting in a cave, or some hippie earth mother with braided hair. For others, “growth” will have a rigid interpretation assigned to it by a particular holy book or tradition.

Obviously the term is much too complicated for one superficial, all-encompassing definition. What I’m going to talk about is a fluid interpretation of spiritual growth and its practical application in our daily lives.

How does this growth benefit us? Well, here’s my list of the top reasons (if you have others, I want to hear them.)

BENEFIT 1. YOU GET TO SEE LIFE FROM A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW.

“People find life entirely too time consuming.”
- Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, Polish writer

When you’re in the thick of daily life, it can be hard to see clearly. You take the world personally and you feel responsible for things you can’t control. With spiritual growth, you begin to free yourself of the burden of thinking that you’re the driver and the world is your car.

(Photo: courgettelawn)

BENEFIT 2. YOU GET MORE CONTROL OVER THE THINGS YOU CAN CONTROL.

“You can not always control circumstances, but you can control your own thoughts.”
- Charles Popplestown

You become a stronger person spiritually and emotionally. You’re better prepared to influence the things you can influence. And you’re much more chill about the things you can’t control.

(Photo: ania316)

BENEFIT 3. IT QUIETS YOUR MIND, WHICH MAKES YOUR MIND STRONGER.

“Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.”
- Hans Margolius

You start to get rid of the incessant buzzing that keeps echoing your head. You know what I’m talking about… when you lie down to rest and all the events of your day and all your to-do lists come flooding into your brain.

When I say spiritual growth helps quiet the mind, I mean that you’ll start to have more impromptu moments of the kind you have after meditating (or performing any activity where your entire focus is taken up BY the activity). You’ll be training yourself to get to these quiet places more quickly and easily – just like you train a muscle.

(Photo: Mr. Theklan)

BENEFIT 4. YOU CAN DEAL BETTER WITH SORROW OR GRIEF.

“There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.”
-Carl Jung

We all deal with sorrow at some point, and it comes in varying degrees, but with spiritual growth we not only learn to deal with it, we learn to embrace the positives. You might ask, “What positives?” But every type of adversity or challenge has a lesson, even if we can’t see it at first.

One of the best examples of how spiritual growth can help ease sorrow is this powerful and thoughtful letter written by Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) to the parents of a daughter who was murdered. Even with that kind of unimaginable grief, there can still be something to take away.

(Photo: somebody)

BENEFIT 5. YOU HAVE PATIENCE & TOLERANCE

“One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.”
-Chinese proverb

Here the practical benefit of spiritual growth is to learn to let life’s daily indignities slide off your back. And I’m not talking about faking indifference and bottling up anger and resentment. I’m talking about reaching a point where what other people do or think no longer bothers you. Where, as Wayne Dyer puts it, “you’re independent of the good opinion of other people.”

Anger and resentment come from this fear of what others might do or think. We also experience negative feelings when someone violates our own unwritten, internal set of “rules and regulations”, the ones we expect the rest of the world to live by.

Spiritual growth is not about being uncaring. I’m talking about having a calmness and thoughtfulness that permeates your being, and that allows you to view life with more detachment.

(Photo: Premasagar)

BENEFIT 6. YOU BECOME COMFORTABLE IN YOUR OWN SKIN.

“Why compare yourself with others? No one in the entire world can do a better job of being you than you.”
- Anonymous

With spiritual growth, you no longer think about playing catch-up with all the people who are doing “better” than you.

You stop worrying about that and you realize (as many have said) that it’s not about being better than anyone else, just being better than you used to be.

(Photo: Cesar R)

BENEFIT 7. YOU GET HAPPY.

“There is no duty so much underrated as the duty of being happy.”
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Spiritual growth helps you realize that your happiness won’t come from the outside, but from within. Great! It’s cliche, and what the hell does it even mean?! It means you stop wishing for “stuff” to make you feel complete. A new car, a new house, a fancy hat. I know it’s been said to death, to the point where it might not resonate any more. Money doesn’t make you happy… blah, blah, blah.

But the best way to think about it is to ask yourself:

How did we come into this world? EMPTY HANDED.

How are we leaving this world? EMPTY HANDED.

So the stuff we acquire in between doesn’t technically have any effect on the inside, but knowledge does – on our mind and spirit. We were born with all the “gear” for true happiness.

(Photo: Donna Cymek)

PARTING THOUGHTS

This list represents what to me are the key benefits of spiritual growth. I’m sure I’ve missed some and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

As I said, spiritual growth is hard to define, and it means different things to different people. But the thing that’s true across the board is that spiritual growth brings a deeper understanding of what people believe. When you come to understand your fellow human (the fears, the aspirations), it’s very freeing.

You come to relate to other people around the world in a more personal way. And even if you feel your personal religious tradition is “best” (for lack of a better word), you can’t truly say you have a deep understanding of your own religion if your own religion is the only one you know.

As you taste new things, there will be aspects of some religions that you like and of other traditions that make you cringe, but exposure is an integral part of spiritual growth and maturity.

And a deeper understanding of what spiritual life means to different people will give your mind a freedom that will make you smile.

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A few years ago, Dr. Wayne Dyer (a bestselling author who is also known as “the father of motivation”) had a program on PBS entitled the Power of Intention.

I’m a fan of his work, as are millions of people.

The gist of the program (and the book with the same title), is that there is an energy in the Universe that we can tap into, that can help better our lives and help us manifest our deepest desires.

He uses terms like energy, manifestation and law of attraction. Sound familiar? They should, The Secret used the same terminology two years year later when it came out.

This program is NOT The Secret. The Power of Intention has a softer touch and is a lot more subtle. Also, Wayne is a funny, self deprecating guy. The humor alone makes it well worth a watch.

PART 1 – 73 minutes

PART 2 – 61 minutes

Terence McKenna was a writer and philosopher whose main area of focus was the study of the origin of human consciousness.

McKenna became a popular (yet controversial) counterculture figure in the 80s and 90s. The controversy stemmed both from his theories (the most famous being the “Stoned Aped Theory” – see video below.), and his exploration of altered states and endorsement of psychedelic drugs.

Here is are two short videos that cover some of his ideas:

Culture is Your Operating System (8 minutes)

Terence McKenna’s Stoned Ape Theory (as explained by comedian Joe Rogan). This is actually pretty hilarious! This one is about 4 minutes.

Terence McKenna bio on Wikipedia.

Coming this Fall to CBS…just kidding.

If you happen to be a fan of Turkish network broadcasting (as most Americans are), you’ll definitely have heard of the new reality show craze that’s sweeping the Ottoman Empire. It’s called Penitents Compete!

The premise: 10 atheists must make it through a gauntlet of religious leaders whose sole mission is to convert them to God. It’s a veritable Battle Royale: an imam, a priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk have one week to save the souls of the 10 godless heathens.

While some fear the program could create problems (do you think?), one sociologist says this just shows the yearning to learn more about religions

Instead of “Outwit, Outplay, Outlast”, the tagline is “Believe, Repent, God will Forgive You”

How did Mark Burnett NOT come up with this?

This show is supposed to air on the Turkish channel Kanal T.

UPDATE: 7/3/09 – Reuters just picked up the story and has some developing news.

Tina Su of ThinkSimpleNow just announced that she will be taking a trip to India to attend a mediation and spiritual retreat.

She goes into some detail about what each day’s program will be like.

Sounds like fun!

Nice quick 5 minute mediation video. Very calming, very chill, just the ocean surf and some light music. Enjoy! (note: what’s particularly nice is that there’s no wierdo chatting in the background like in a lot of other videos).