10Jul 2019 by Swadmin2023
Introduction: Conversations with Dr. Bob Schmitt

Introduction: Conversations with Dr. Bob Schmitt

Evolution, Spirituality/Religion, Transformation (Personal and Social)
Introduction: Conversations with Bob Schmitt We live in challenging times full of changes. My goal in these blogs is to share ideas that impact how we live our lives and stimulate a discussion with you. My thoughts come from years of study, teaching, and ministry. I feel like I have lived two life-times – first as a Jesuit priest and now as a married man. I have a Ph.D. in Religious Studies/Spirituality (Fordham University) and Master’s Degrees in Counseling, Philosophy and Sacred Theology. My goal has been to integrate spirituality and psychology as a scholar-practitioner. I am now on the faculty at Saybrook University in the psychology department, focused on spirituality, consciousness and integrative health studies. Before coming to Saybrook I was on the core faculty at the Institute of…
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08Jul 2019 by Swadmin2023
Sophia’s Web – Our Goals​

Sophia’s Web – Our Goals​

Sophia’s Web - our goals
Sophia's Web - Our Goals As we worked on this website, we looked up at our window where we had hung a stained glass picture of Mary Sophia and noticed that a large web had been spun outside right next to her by a beautiful spider. Our goal is to use www.sophiasweb.net as an energy to create those webs of communication and community with all of you who wish to be part of this connecting work. Let’s catch the morning dew of spiritual guidance, wisdom and compassion as we share with each other in these next few years. You can communicate with us by emailing Pat at pluce7@aol.com or Bob at bobschmitt@aol.com . The purpose of this blog is to nourish our interconnection in Sophia’s web. Here we will post latest news and reflections on issues…
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07Jul 2019 by Swadmin2023
Evolution, So What?

Evolution, So What?

Evolution
Evolution, So What? Two brothers set out with excitement on a camping trip.  One brother was an academic and the other a farmer.  They went to a beautiful, remote location and set up camp.  Exhausted they quickly went to sleep.  During the night the academic brother woke up his brother.  He exclaimed how excited he was looking at the stars.  He spoke with great eloquence from a philosophical perspective that this view made him reflect on the insignificance of this planet and our lives in such a vast universe while from a religious perspective he thought about how marvelous the creator of such wonders must be.  After talking for a while he smiled at his brother and said, “I have shared so much of what I see when I look…
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03Jul 2019 by Swadmin2023
21st Century Spirituality

21st Century Spirituality

Spirituality/Religion
A key ingredient in one’s spirituality is the description of how the world came to be and why it exists – its physical cosmology.  In the Judaeo-Christian tradition there is  the supposition that nature reveals something of who or what the Divine or Ultimate Reality is.  Nature in the words of St. Augustine reveals the footprints of God.  Likewise any spirituality or religion have their image of the spiritual world including the relationship between matter and spirit.  We will call this one’s spiritual cosmology. I submit that a radically new physical cosmology is emerging that is based on the theory of evolution and quantum physics.  If we look at any traditional religion or spirituality through the lens of this cosmology, we will see a need for a radical revision of…
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02Jul 2019 by Swadmin2023
Compassion

Compassion

Transformation (Personal and Social)
COMPASSION I have thought of compassion as an important spiritual practice.  I have been surprised by how much research is being done by mainstream science and the insight and importance compassion has for our individual and social health.   For, example,  Stanford and UC Berkeley have interesting program doing research and teaching in this area (see reference below) and a book called “Compassionomics” that speaks of a growing loss of compassion in our society at the same time research is indicating its importance. People like Ayn Rand have said that altruism (the approach behind compassion) is immoral while the Dalai Lama states:  “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”  Trzeciak in his book “Compassionomics” writes: “You are powerful. Science shows that your compassion can be more…
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