Document text
Studying the past to understand the future Victoria Leo and friends. Submitted photo Friday Dec 16, 2016 at 2:34 PM Dec 16, 2016 at 2:34 PM By Victoria Leo Spirituality and religion are important to American life; 97 percent of adults claim one, the other or both. Scholars define spirituality as a generalized belief in a transcendent or emergent connection to unseen spirits, while religion is about adherence to a set of dogmas or practices of an organized group. Pope Francis famously reminded us that “for some people, the forest is their cathedral.” The awe and transcendence you feel when you first see the Grand Canyon or a total solar eclipse is spirituality. It’s easy to understand why people embrace an individual spiritual component to their lives: strength in adversity; feelings of oneness and transcendence, including communication with dead loved ones; an ethical connection between today’s decisions and long-term goals. One big problem most of that 97 percent who are spiritual but not religious have is what I call the Staring At a Blank Wall concept. Too many of us think that we have to do it all alone, figure out what sustains us and then create a collection of practices that allow us to have strength in adversity, a connection between today’s ethical choices and long-term goals, and all the rest. But the truth is, most of these self-created spiritualities fail to sustain when the chips are down. Maybe the problem is the vacuum in which some spirituality is created. What if we had a guide to the options, and a name to call what we are doing? So I created an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) class (to start in January) to address this need: We explore all the forms of spirituality and religion that exist all around the world to find which form of transcendent expression feels closest to what you need and who you are in your life’s journey right now. Then, when you have a solid framework that will sustain the heavy loads that can come your way in life, you can add the decorations — your own unique flourishes. This spirituality class is based on the religion segment of my seven-class series Anthro is Fun, which you can access online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvktRuJ5U_c. Anthropology is the study of humanity, from seven million years ago when the first ancestors started walking upright to modern disease resistance, and every fascinating cultural and linguistic form humanity has taken in that time. The classes truly are the epitome of fun and very serious at the same time, because we can only really understand our present by understanding how we got here. In January, we are tackling the exciting journey of the Neandertals, our close cousins, and ourselves, Homo sapiens, from 400,000 years ago to the present, including a cataclysm at 65,000 years ago that came very, very close to wiping out our species entirely. We will explore how some of our ancestors left East Africa, traveling along the coasts and up the rivers, through Asia to the Americas and Australia, and through the Middle East to Europe. Along the way, we discovered exciting new technologies like boat-building and needle-making that allowed us to paddle along shores and eventually populate remote Pacific islands. We’ll explore all those fascinating DNA reports we’re all buying, and what the numbers really mean. We’ll use knowledge of the human genome to think about how the engines of natural selection have shifted over the millennia, and what that means for the future. We will consider new archaeological evidence for the domestication of crops and animals, including dogs and cats, and what impact this domestication had on the power relations between individuals. (Spoiler alert: it was very, very bad.) When this rapid romp through human history is complete, you will have the deep understanding of where we came from that will allow you to predict where we are going with more accuracy. If knowledge is power — and it is — this term at OLLI will leave you more empowered for 2017. For more about Victoria Leo, go to www.soaringdragon.biz or Leo's Facebook group, "Healing Minds, Healing Bodies," or her blog at SoaringDragoninJapan.blogspot.com. You can find her books on Amazon or at Bloomsbury Books.   Send 600 to 700 word articles on all aspects of inner peace to Sally McKirgan [email protected]