Peace House Center of Serenity and Spirituality A 21st Century Spirituality Church embracing the path of the contemporary mystic and dedicated to world peace.  4601 E. Monte Vista Rd Phoenix , AZ  85008 Phone: 602-389-9862 Email: angels@peacehouseaz.com

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21st Century Spirituality by Rev. Debbi Brown (this article appeared in "Arizona Networking News"  -September 2000) There's a movement underway in America. A new consciousness emerging that is all embracing of the world religious  traditions. Wayne Teasdale, in The Mystic Heart, defines this movement as Interspirituality: discovering a universal spirituality in the world traditions. He calls this the third century religion. What does this new paradigm look like? First, lets define the difference between religious and spiritual. Being religious means belonging to and practicing a world religion tradition. Being spiritual means making a personal commitment to inner development that includes the totality of all life and draws us into the depth of our being. They are not mutually exclusive. Many religious people are on a spiritual path and many spiritual people practice through a defined religion. And you can be spiritual and not connected with or practicing any religious tradition. What Wayne Teasdale calls Interspirituality, Elizabeth Lesser, in The New American  Spirituality, refers to as Twenty First Century Spirituality. She defines the major differences from traditional religion. The new paradigm looks like this. First, the hierarchy of authority does not exist. Each individual is personally empowered to decide for themselves. Second, it embraces many paths to God. It recognizes the inherent good in all world traditions. Third, it requires a daily commitment to and practice of spiritual principles.  This daily commitment is the spiritual life and becomes the path of the mystic. The mystic is in love with the union with God; drunk on spirit and the presence of the One. The mystic feels and experiences the oneness of all life. Humanity is deeply connected to each other, the earth, the cosmos and the divine. The mystic intimately knows this.  Twenty first century spirituality understands that feeling the love of Shiva, the love of Christ, the love of Allah, the love of compassionate nature, and the love of the wind through the trees is the same love. The divine is in all things. So what ever name we chose to give it, whatever way we chose to experience it, it is the same experience of love. Twenty first Century spirituality embraces diversity and recognizes our oneness. It finds no disparity between those two. And that is the new paradigm. (Rev. Debbi Brown and her husband, Rev. Marvin Brown, are co-founders of the Peace House, a Twenty First Century Spirituality Church embracing the path of the contemporary mystic. They are Oneness Practitioners through the World Peace Institute, ordained interdenominational Ministers and dedicated to creating world peace and harmony.)

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