Experiencing Faith and Spirit in Daily Life

"Religion is doing; a man does not merely think his religion or feel it, he "lives" his religion as much as he is able, otherwise it is not religion but fantasy or philosophy."
— George Gurdjieff

"The world holds two classes of men—intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence."
— Abu'l-Ala-Al-Ma'arri

We might add to the second quotation another idea, namely that the world holds two classes of men and women—those who live the faith they profess and those who claim to follow a religion of love and compassion but do not.

For example, in theory America is a very religious society: the Gallup poll shows that 94% of Americans believe in God, 66% believe in the Devil, and 70% believe Jesus is God. But what is the practice of Americans?

They don't talk about their religion. Only 2% of men and women talk with their best friends about religion. And there is a glaring lack of knowledge. Only 33% of those 70% who believe that Jesus is God can name the gospels on which this belief is based. But most of all, the high religious ideals of organized religion has failed to make a significant difference in society in terms of morality and ethics.

In theory we are believers; it is only in practice that we are atheists. We do not embody spirit in our everyday lives.

On Learning Place Online we want to explore whether an intentional movement to embody spirit in our everyday lives can impact the secular institutions which shape our daily lives, impact the myth that all we need to do to improve the lives of people around the world is to create more technological advances, and impact the conflicts caused by authoritarian religions.