Spirituality

Follow The Awe-Inspiring Journey Of One Woman’s Fortitude To Take Back Her Town

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

“The Hammer can build, but the Hammer can also take down.

Key Points: 
  • “The Hammer can build, but the Hammer can also take down.
  • Christ was a carpenter who built lives, relationships and communities but also took down spiritual wickedness in high places,” alludes Johnson.
  • If I Had A Hammer is available for purchase online at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com .
  • For more information about the author, please visit any of her social media platforms:

Addressing anti-Black racism is key to improving well-being of Black Canadians

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Anti-Black racism continues to be a major determinant of poor health and social outcomes for Black Canadians.

Key Points: 
  • Anti-Black racism continues to be a major determinant of poor health and social outcomes for Black Canadians.
  • Addressing this racism within Canadian institutions — like the health-care system, justice system, the child welfare system and education — has far-reaching implications.
  • Moreover, in the early days of the pandemic, living in a Black community was strongly correlated with a diagnosis of COVID-19.

Contemporary and historical inequities

  • Black Canadians’ experiences are rooted in contemporary and historical inequities, including Canada’s history of slavery and racial discrimination.
  • Policy formulations still shape access to material resources and contribute to structural inequities in Canada, evident in the pervasive low incomes of Black Canadians.
  • While median annual wages generally increase for the Canadian population, Black men’s wages have remained stagnant.

Black youth mental health

  • Black youth spoke most about racism in our research on their mental health experiences.
  • Read more:
    Black men's mental health concerns are going unnoticed and unaddressed

    Income inequality and insufficient financial resources are complicating factors, impeding many young Black men from getting the counselling they need to improve their mental health.

  • LGBTQIA+ Black youth may face dire situations, experiencing racism within the LGBTQIA+ community and homophobia within the Black community.

Addressing inequities

  • Partnering with Black communities is a crucial component in effective efforts to mitigate inequities.
  • Indeed, it is essential that Black community members participate, to capitalize on their strengths and actively engage in improving their well-being.
  • Through my personal and professional experiences, I’ve had a unique glimpse into the brilliance and strengths of various Black communities, which are often untapped.
  • Institutions must do more than just provide education and develop anti-racist policies; they must also ensure accountability in addressing racism.

Looking ahead

  • However, anti-Black racism has consequences for population outcomes for all Canadians, as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • These moves will improve health and social outcomes for Black Canadians and generate stronger population outcomes in Canada.


Bukola Salami receives funding from Policywise for Children and Families for a project on mental health of Black youth named in this article

MARIEL HEMINGWAY TO HOST DOCUMENTARY SERIES THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE OM

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

MALIBU, Calif., Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Mariel Hemingway, health and wellness expert, mind, body, spirit teacher, advocate, author, speaker and actress, announced today that she will host and executive produce an unscripted documentary series, There's No Place Like OM.

Key Points: 
  • MALIBU, Calif., Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Mariel Hemingway, health and wellness expert, mind, body, spirit teacher, advocate, author, speaker and actress, announced today that she will host and executive produce an unscripted documentary series, There's No Place Like OM.
  • "I am honored and grateful to host and executive produce this documentary series, said Hemingway.
  • "The series explores subjects that I am deeply committed to and passionate about including mind-body wellbeing, spirituality and mindfulness.
  • "Kelly and I are humbled to partner with Mariel Hemingway and Pat McGee," says executive producer Jeanna Valenti.

Psychedelic Science 2025 – the Fifth and Largest Psychedelic Conference in History – Announced for June 16-20 2025 in Denver, Colorado

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Psychedelic Science 2023, held this past June, boasted a record-breaking 22,000+ attendees -- 12,500 in-person and over 10,000 online through The Virtual Trip. Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Former Governor of Texas and US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, Michael Pollan, Aaron Rodgers, and Melissa Etheridge were just a few of the speakers. The distinguished Dr. Roland Griffiths, professor of behavioral science and psychiatry and a pioneer in the advancement of psychedelic research, was also honored at the largest dinner event in the history of the Colorado Convention Center in one of his last public appearances before his death from cancer in October.

Key Points: 
  • SAN JOSE, Calif. , Feb. 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies ( MAPS ) has announced that the Psychedelic Science 2025 Conference will convene in the city of Denver June 16–20, 2025, at the Colorado Convention Center.
  • This is the fifth edition of the Psychedelic Science conference series, hosted by MAPS.
  • Programming will explore the full spectrum of psychedelics, including science, medicine, policy, business, spirituality, and culture.
  • Psychedelic Science 2023, held this past June, boasted a record-breaking 22,000+ attendees -- 12,500 in-person and over 10,000 online through The Virtual Trip .

Massive Global Entertainment Study Shows Audiences Yearning For More Accurate and Diverse Portrayals of Faith in TV and Movies, Reveals Untapped Opportunities for Studios

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A first-of-its-kind global study of entertainment consumers conducted by HarrisX in partnership with the non-profit, the Faith and Media Initiative, found an overwhelming majority of global audiences believe the entertainment industry needs to actively improve their portrayals of faith and religion, as well as make them more accurate.

Key Points: 
  • The Global Faith and Entertainment Study surveyed nearly 10,000 entertainment consumers across 11 countries.
  • Most consumers across religions say portrayals of their faith follow repeat storylines, rather than cover fresh, diverse narratives.
  • Those interviewed acknowledged there is an untapped market for films that have thought-provoking, diverse, and accurate portrayals of characters' faith and spirituality.
  • This isn't about creating faith content, rather adding faith fluency and diverse storylines to all types of TV and movies.

Massive Global Entertainment Study Shows Audiences Yearning For More Accurate and Diverse Portrayals of Faith in TV and Movies, Reveals Untapped Opportunities for Studios

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A first-of-its-kind global study of entertainment consumers conducted by HarrisX in partnership with the non-profit, the Faith and Media Initiative, found an overwhelming majority of global audiences believe the entertainment industry needs to actively improve their portrayals of faith and religion, as well as make them more accurate.

Key Points: 
  • The Global Faith and Entertainment Study surveyed nearly 10,000 entertainment consumers across 11 countries.
  • Most consumers across religions say portrayals of their faith follow repeat storylines, rather than cover fresh, diverse narratives.
  • Those interviewed acknowledged there is an untapped market for films that have thought-provoking, diverse, and accurate portrayals of characters' faith and spirituality.
  • This isn't about creating faith content, rather adding faith fluency and diverse storylines to all types of TV and movies.

Digital technologies have made the wonders of ancient manuscripts more accessible than ever, but there are risks and losses too

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

And even if some few have somehow survived, they are moth-eaten and in a state of decay, and remembered about as well as if they had never existed.

Key Points: 
  • And even if some few have somehow survived, they are moth-eaten and in a state of decay, and remembered about as well as if they had never existed.
  • By making the manuscripts into a book, he would preserve the knowledge they contained – but not the manuscript, not the artefact itself.
  • He does not mention how difficult his Byzantine manuscripts were to read and transcribe, even for someone familiar with the language.
  • Every manuscript is its own text, its own space of knowledge, and an irreplaceable part of our shared cultural histories.

Preserving the Past

  • Our knowledge of the past, and the wisdom we can gain from it, is bound in material objects – whether manuscripts, paintings, ruined buildings or clay pots – that are decaying.
  • What will we preserve of the past?
  • We are lucky if we can now read a text in 50 manuscripts.
  • Read more:
    Uncovering the mysteries of The Book of Kells – from myopic monks on magic mushrooms to superhuman detail
  • Manuscript tourism became a popular activity for wealthy scholars like Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631), whose collection became the core of the British Museum’s collection.
  • Of course, many of these collectors simply stole or smuggled what they wanted from struggling monasteries in what are now Greece, Sinai and Israel.
  • But their work made possible the rise of printed editions of classical and medieval works.
  • Our modern editions of the Bible and the Iliad, for example, do not exactly match their underlying manuscripts.


Read more:
Dogs in the middle ages: what medieval writing tells us about our ancestors’ pets

Digital decay

  • Even if we prefer the edited versions, printed books decay faster than manuscripts, and take up just as much space.
  • Print does not solve the problem of preservation; it only postpones it.
  • In the 20th century, digital scanning tools and computer-based storage seemed to offer a new kind of solution.
  • Second, digital images are often in proprietary formats, meaning that without the library’s viewing software you cannot actually examine the manuscript.
  • The digital format is still chained to its digital shelves in a private space.
  • Third, as a recent cyber-attack on the British Library demonstrates, the digital space seems not to be safer than the physical one.
  • The digital library space, with its proprietary viewing software and its specialised file formats, is now shuttered.

Conservation and accessibility

  • Yet physical conservation comes at the expense of accessibility.
  • We can, however, use advances in AI and computer technology to improve approaches to digital conservation and enable wider access to the uniqueness of individual manuscripts.
  • To avoid digital decay, we need to devote the same attention to digital conservation as to material conservation.
  • Images of manuscripts would then have a readable text and all the unique elements of the material original – its decorations and artistry, its errors and doodles.
  • In this enhanced digital form, manuscripts could come to local museums, libraries and galleries, where they would be accessible to everyday visitors as well as specialists.
  • But unlike him, we can now offer the experience of the manuscript as well as the text, and to a much wider audience.


Jonathan L. Zecher receives funding from the Templeton Religion Trust.

Digital technologies have the made the wonders of ancient manuscripts more accessible than ever, but there are risks and losses too

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

And even if some few have somehow survived, they are moth-eaten and in a state of decay, and remembered about as well as if they had never existed.

Key Points: 
  • And even if some few have somehow survived, they are moth-eaten and in a state of decay, and remembered about as well as if they had never existed.
  • By making the manuscripts into a book, he would preserve the knowledge they contained – but not the manuscript, not the artefact itself.
  • He does not mention how difficult his Byzantine manuscripts were to read and transcribe, even for someone familiar with the language.
  • Every manuscript is its own text, its own space of knowledge, and an irreplaceable part of our shared cultural histories.

Preserving the Past

  • Our knowledge of the past, and the wisdom we can gain from it, is bound in material objects – whether manuscripts, paintings, ruined buildings or clay pots – that are decaying.
  • What will we preserve of the past?
  • We are lucky if we can now read a text in 50 manuscripts.
  • Read more:
    Uncovering the mysteries of The Book of Kells – from myopic monks on magic mushrooms to superhuman detail
  • Manuscript tourism became a popular activity for wealthy scholars like Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631), whose collection became the core of the British Museum’s collection.
  • Of course, many of these collectors simply stole or smuggled what they wanted from struggling monasteries in what are now Greece, Sinai and Israel.
  • But their work made possible the rise of printed editions of classical and medieval works.
  • Our modern editions of the Bible and the Iliad, for example, do not exactly match their underlying manuscripts.


Read more:
Dogs in the middle ages: what medieval writing tells us about our ancestors’ pets

Digital decay

  • Even if we prefer the edited versions, printed books decay faster than manuscripts, and take up just as much space.
  • Print does not solve the problem of preservation; it only postpones it.
  • In the 20th century, digital scanning tools and computer-based storage seemed to offer a new kind of solution.
  • Second, digital images are often in proprietary formats, meaning that without the library’s viewing software you cannot actually examine the manuscript.
  • The digital format is still chained to its digital shelves in a private space.
  • Third, as a recent cyber-attack on the British Library demonstrates, the digital space seems not to be safer than the physical one.
  • The digital library space, with its proprietary viewing software and its specialised file formats, is now shuttered.

Conservation and accessibility

  • Yet physical conservation comes at the expense of accessibility.
  • We can, however, use advances in AI and computer technology to improve approaches to digital conservation and enable wider access to the uniqueness of individual manuscripts.
  • To avoid digital decay, we need to devote the same attention to digital conservation as to material conservation.
  • Images of manuscripts would then have a readable text and all the unique elements of the material original – its decorations and artistry, its errors and doodles.
  • In this enhanced digital form, manuscripts could come to local museums, libraries and galleries, where they would be accessible to everyday visitors as well as specialists.
  • But unlike him, we can now offer the experience of the manuscript as well as the text, and to a much wider audience.


Jonathan L. Zecher receives funding from the Templeton Religion Trust.

How AI could change our relationship with religion

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 6, 2024

However, I believe that as AI becomes more mainstream, it will fundamentally alter our engagement with faith and spirituality.

Key Points: 
  • However, I believe that as AI becomes more mainstream, it will fundamentally alter our engagement with faith and spirituality.
  • They trained AI to read letters in the scrolls based on subtle changes left in structure of the papyrus by the ancient ink.
  • The AI was able to decipher and translate the ancient Greek word for “purple” on the scroll.
  • Futuristic vision of AI and faith
    Let’s next take a futuristic vision of AI and its intersection with faith.

An Exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in Paris Celebrates Revolutionary Russian Art by Kazimir Malevich

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 23, 2024

NEW YORK, NY, Jan. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eminence Rise Media is thrilled to announce the exhibit of a painting by the famous Russian Artist, Kazimir Malevich, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Paris.

Key Points: 
  • NEW YORK, NY, Jan. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eminence Rise Media is thrilled to announce the exhibit of a painting by the famous Russian Artist, Kazimir Malevich, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Paris.
  • The Museum of Modern Art Paris, with more than 15,000 works of art, represents the wealth of the artistic creation and shows the diverse art trends of the 20th and 21st century.
  • For this year, the GPF chose the theme "Art and Peace" for this exhibition, because they firmly believe in the capacity of culture to generate peace.
  • Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935), was a Russian avant-garde artist and art theorist, whose pioneering work and writing had a profound influence on the development of non-objective, or abstract art, in the 20th century.