This class amplifies last class' emphasis on spirituality, showing how four famous individuals crafted their own sense of what's important into a way of life that affected millions.

Buddha

Jesus

Malcolm X

Rosa Parks

Hope you enjoy!

Class #22 treats the basic question, “What is Spirituality in the first place?” – a kind of 30,000-foot view of this topic. (The 30-foot view comes next class!)

We look at various definitions, and the possible content ofwhat it means to be ‘spiritual.’

The Tree of Contemplative Practices that suggest themultiple ways of being spiritual is here: https://maiaduerr.com/tree-of-contemplative-practices/

Our email for comments, questions or stories is [email protected].

Something we all assume we have, is a soul. And we treat this assumption in today's class, as a necessary precursor to our next few classes on "Spirituality". For spirituality is the taking care of, the use of, the remembering, of one's soul. We have contributions today by Cornel West, but mostly we ask about how "soul" is connected to an authentic life, not just in some afterlife, but in today's times as well.As usual, contact us at [email protected].

So, you play by the rules; you do your faith right; you read in your scriptures that a good life has its rewards, and that evil or bad behavior/faith has no future. So that's what you do, and then bad things DO happen, anyway. What went wrong?We speak of the various ways religions justify god's being or behavior when the bad or wrong things happen. Usually, they protect their god from charges of wrong-doing or complicity with evil. It's called Theodicy, or the justification of god when evil happens.We look at 6 ways religions justify evil happening, ways that keep their gods from association with evil.

Class 19 introduces, with several videos, how some famousrituals in the faiths of the world create meaning – through – action. Action that undergirds the faith. Action that roots the faith, and interweaves the faith and the heart.

Rituals are not long or boring meaningless events. When donewell, with intention, they center and root the person in the faith, giving them real-life, real-time expressions of belief, as if the believer lives in the day of the faith’s beginning days.

Marc is on his own today; Chandler has the day off.

How Religion Gets Made is the first star in the constellation of courses in the academic study of religion series, The TechnicolorDreamcoat of Religion.

As usual, contact the show at [email protected].

Rituals may seem to some folks boring, but the ritual in religion is what absolutely GROUNDS a person in their faith. They do, not just think or believe. In a ritual, one puts one's faith into practice, and over time, that practice deepens and makes religion - if it is ever to be real - then REAL. Big promise, but anyone who does rituals - from athletes to musicians to the military - know that the ritual practices are the key to what one feels one can, ought, and should do. At the right moment, a person who's schooled in the rituals of their practice or faith can make monumental decisions and sacrifices for what? Only what they have practiced.This Class shows how powerful rituals are to not just our everyday lives, but our deepest spiritual lives as well.As always, thanks to Mars Hill University, where I taught this class for 22 years, and for allowing us to record these pod-classes in the University's Memorial Library. And, my email for communications and questions is [email protected] your critical thinking; don't "practice" becoming someone's bitch.

Today we conclude our discussions on how stories, narratives and mythologies form the very heart of how religions get made, with a look at how our religious myths get used, and abused.

What may have been a truth for one time and place, when written down and lasting like, forever, is picked up by a distant culture in time and space and used - even weaponized - by that later culture.

As always, thanks to the Mars Hill University Library.

The link for world scriptures online is https://archive.sacred-texts.com/index.htm.

As we begin to wind down the power of stories, we look at creation stories, and how that unconsciously affect us, even when we don't - we think - agree with what they said or meant way back in the day.There is one fascinating website we want you to look at: https://www.lyingforjesus.org/Bible-Contradictions/We'll finish up our look at stories, narratives and myths in Class 17 next time.Thanks for watching or listening. Here is Marc's email for your questions: [email protected].

The Power of Stories in Religion, part ii. Marc and Chandler go through some actual religious myths and creation stories, but comparing these also to everyday myths we have, like, on our dollar bills, or even to placebos!!

Lots of stuff to chew on here. Thanks for stopping by our class. If you have a question or a recommendation, let us know, [email protected]

Today's class is Part 2 of a two-part class on the power of stories we're calling "The Stories We Tell Ourselves". Religions begin, and continue, with powerful, and often silent stories about the way things ought to go.

This class features 7 positive stories that unify and bring peace and community, stories that we can easily correlate with "religion."

Got questions? We'd love to hear them, and even address them on the show. Send them to [email protected].