/morsl/taxonomy/term/130/all en /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-meditation-spiritual-wellness/resistance-during-troubled-times <p>Things are troubling in the world right now in many ways. I鈥檓 saddened by the lack of empathy and compassion for suffering and injustice demonstrated in high places.</p> <p>How might we deal with fearful, difficult times, and the anger we feel about injustice?</p> <p>In the recent film <i>Conclave</i>, when Catholic Cardinals gather from around the world to vote on who should become the next pope, a terrorist throws a bomb on the roof of the Sistine Chapel that disrupts their process and frightens some of them.</p> Fri, 21 Mar 2025 18:39:14 +0000 Candice Wendt 2945 at /morsl /morsl/article/march-2025-time-fasts-many-faiths <p>Many people of diverse faiths across the world are fasting this month!</p> Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:52:20 +0000 MORSL 2942 at /morsl /morsl/article/holidays-and-holy-days-interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/unexpected-encounter-spirit-christmas <p>On Thanksgiving Day, my family walked to the largest church building in Canada, St. Joseph鈥檚 Oratory. It was just a break from a day of cooking and lounging before we sat down to eat.</p> <p>It was one of the first wintry days of the year with rain and chilly winds. Instead of enjoying the Oratory鈥檚 lookout and walking into the woods as we planned, we decided to take refuge inside the church.</p> Wed, 18 Dec 2024 19:54:01 +0000 Candice Wendt 2883 at /morsl /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/warm-winters-tale <p>I was walking to class. The weather was awful; bitter cold temperatures that chilled to the bone. Raging winds did not help, succeeding in driving an icy feeling through ones warm flesh and blood. The feeling? Like a hot knife melting through butter.</p> <p>It was on such a day that I noticed two very bewildering things. Suddenly, people on the street had lost their individuality. They were all like snowflakes; unique, yet nameless and faceless. I stopped. People continued rushing past me. What I was doing in that blistery winter was my business. Nobody cared.</p> Tue, 17 Dec 2024 16:04:08 +0000 Ishrat Kanga 2882 at /morsl /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/omnipresence <p>I come home, and I hear "Churaliya" playing in the kitchen CD player as my mom is cooking dinner. I smile discreetly to myself as I casually walk in, and settle to my room. Hmm. One song has the power to take me back all the way to being five years old, and commanding my little sister to let this song finish playing! Or just back to last week to competing with a fellow vocalist to let me sing this song one more time at a local jam session! Ah, it鈥檚 so simple when you take a moment to experience the omnipresence of a feeling.</p> Mon, 16 Dec 2024 17:08:37 +0000 Adhika Maharaj 2881 at /morsl /morsl/article/holidays-and-holy-days-interfaith-dialogue-radix/jingle-bells-jingle-bellshappy-birthday-guru-gobind-singh-ji <p>The holiday season has arrived and finds us all scurrying around to malls and shopping centres as we try to decide on just the right gift for that special someone. But with all the Christmas hoopla, sometimes the special events of other religious faiths can be left out, such as the celebration of the birth of the tenth Guru of the Sikh religion, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.</p> Thu, 12 Dec 2024 16:00:51 +0000 Hardip Singh Manku 2880 at /morsl /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/performance-art <p>The performing arts have a legitimate place in public religious ceremonies. In fact, a religious ceremony is in itself performance art of the highest order. The preparation and presentation of a piece of music is an intensely spiritual exercise. I refer to spirituality not as something otherworldly, but rather as the very human effort to be compassionately present to the people, events, and tasks that I encounter every day.</p> Tue, 03 Dec 2024 20:28:41 +0000 Loren R. Carle 2878 at /morsl /morsl/article/what-do-you-see <p>What do you see when you look at my face? Loneliness, isolation, seclusion? What do you see when you look in my eyes? Dejection, desperation, dreariness? I am a Muslim woman, after all. I am both visible and invisible to people around me. They cannot see me, yet they know that I am a living being, breathing and walking beneath my veil.</p> Wed, 27 Nov 2024 16:07:46 +0000 Afifa Naz 2877 at /morsl /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/do-mitz-wha <p>There is a lot of talk about mitzvos in Judaism. So what are they and what do they mean to me? The word mitzvah has been interpreted in a number of ways. Sometimes it means a commandment. Often it is considered simply a good deed or an act of kindness. But we can derive a deeper understanding by looking at the Hebrew rot, <i>L 鈥榯zavot</i>, which when translated means 鈥榯o connect.鈥� G-d gave us mitzvos as a way of connecting to Him.</p> Mon, 25 Nov 2024 20:57:10 +0000 Sarede Switzer 2876 at /morsl /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/lesson-heretic-2024-film <p>Recently, I went to see the film <em>Heretic</em>. I was curious about what it would portray about religious thinking, and I wasn鈥檛 disappointed. I won鈥檛 spoil the plot of the movie here, but I will discuss some of the arguments made during the beginning and middle of the film.</p> <p>The antagonist Mr. Reed (played by Hugh Grant) tries to dismantle the faith of two university-student-aged missionaries who come proselyting at his door.</p> Tue, 19 Nov 2024 19:43:27 +0000 Candice Wendt 2874 at /morsl /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/significant-act <p>The idea of transcendence often brings to mind something other-worldly, or beyond our normal sensory range. It is a concept that has developed in many spiritual traditions. Dictionaries remind us of where the word comes from: the prefix trans-from the Latin verb "to cross", or simply meaning "across", and -scend, from the Latin verb "to rise or climb," also the root of the English ascend. So, when we put the two together, we get something like "to climb across." This makes me think that transcendence is perhaps more earthly than we normally suppose.</p> Mon, 18 Nov 2024 20:27:04 +0000 Loren R. Carle 2873 at /morsl /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/confessions-bi-spiritual <p>Our society is sometimes fixated on demarcating the boundaries of identity. Anyone with a dual or multiple identity can testify to this, including those who are mixed-race, or who do not conform to a binary gender structure. What about people who are bi-spiritual, those who feel equally at home in two or more spiritual communities? Most, if not all, of the contributions to <i>Radix Magazine</i> are written from the perspective of one faith tradition.</p> Wed, 13 Nov 2024 20:43:41 +0000 Kathryn Lum 2871 at /morsl /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue/interfaith-dialogue <p>This past Wednesday, MORSL started training a cohort 麻豆AV and Concordia students in the ethics and practice of interfaith dialogue. As Carlene and I chatted about the upcoming program, I asked what principles we teach and practice in the program. Here are some ideas that struck me as I learned about MORSL鈥檚 curriculum.</p> <p>Interfaith dialogue is an opportunity to learn more about your own religion as much as anything. As you explore questions and topics, this will prompt curiosity, and you may find yourself taking some deep dives into topics that are new for you!</p> Thu, 07 Nov 2024 20:50:08 +0000 Candice Wendt 2866 at /morsl /morsl/article/interfaith-dialogue/intercultural-and-interreligious-dialogue <p>The developing field of Interreligious/Interfaith Studies asserts something radical: that the phenomenon of religion isn鈥檛 something that can be meaningfully understood in the singular; that the study of religion should actually be the study of religions-in-relation; that鈥攖o quote Max M眉ller鈥� 鈥渢hose who know one, know none.鈥� In addition to this important insight, Interreligious/ Interfaith Studies asserts something even more radical: that this field of study should do more than just explain these relations, that it should train students how to help religious communities foster and nourish h</p> Mon, 28 Oct 2024 19:50:42 +0000 Elyse Macleod 2860 at /morsl /morsl/article/ecospirituality-interfaith-dialogue-spiritual-wellness/being-sikh-being-green <p>Ten years ago (in 2006), Sikh communities around the world celebrated the inauguration of the Cycle of Creation. The three-hundred-year long cycle will be a time for Sikhs to reflect upon and celebrate their relationship with the environment and all that Waheguru has provided. The past ten years have borne witness to remarkable steps taken by Sikhs around the globe. Sikhs are leaders in practicing organic and natural farming, building support for recycling programs, and targeting the socio-economic roots that plague the systemic nature of environmental injustice, among other things.</p> Tue, 22 Oct 2024 19:01:54 +0000 Juss Kaur 2857 at /morsl