Singing Happiness

There are many things we can do to confirm to ourselves that we choose happiness. Lately, I have been singing. It is working for me and it has worked for thousands of years for others too. Singing is connected to your heart. This is one reason why, in religions all over the world, there are devotional songs. Devotional singing is an expression of love or praise for a god. Mothers instinctively sing to their babies. If someone is extremely happy or in love, singing happens naturally, but it can also be applied the opposite way: sing first and feel happy later.

I have been singing anything and everything: nursery rhymes, narrating what I am doing, and sometimes popular songs that get stuck in my head. I usually get an instant lift when I sing, especially if I sing with my partner. Singing together with others will have a stronger effect, as sharing and connecting with others in any way is also opening for the heart.

Because singing is a direct link to your heart, it has many benefits. As well as the obvious feelings of love and joy that come from the heart, singing also helps to release fears and to express yourself in all areas of your life. This is often inspiring for others and can help to lift their spirits too.

Sing and discover for yourself all the magical and wonderful effects it can have on your feelings and your life.


source : http://www.positivelife.ie/2011/12/singing-happiness/

Healing with Sound

When we introduce vibrational body tuners into a session, they link into the connective tissue and gently facilitate a releasing of tension from the fascia. It’s with this combination of these manual and vibration healing therapies that allows for a more balanced and efficient healing process.

Blend craniosacral therapy with sound and vibration healing, and the results have been so profound. At the core of every healing modality is intention and energy. Taking time to allow a person to settle down and relax is critical as it allows a client’s body to communicate openly with a therapist.

The object of a session is to remove restrictions and barriers by connecting with the fascia. Craniosacral therapy is all about working with the fascia and allowing it to release restrictions, which may have been imposed by either physical or emotional trauma. The fascia is the thin layer of continuous connective tissue that links every part of your body to every other part of your body; allowing energy to flow through our neural pathways more efficiently.

Introducing sound and vibration healing methods, which were developed by SomaEnergetics, was an easy decision. The tuning forks, which restore balance on a cellular level, are introduced through the auditory system, and this provides access to the central nervous system. Sound healing also connects the right and left side of the brain, which helps re-establish balance and harmony in brain function.


source : http://www.positivelife.ie/2011/12/healing-with-sound/

Stay Positive

HOW STAYING POSITIVE HELPS

It's likely our species survived because of our knack for detecting danger. But our worry-filled thoughts can present dangers of their own: Thinking negatively can drag down our moods, our actions and even our health.

Experts say it's worthwhile—and possible—to learn how to think more positively. 

Consider what researchers found about the benefits of staying positive:

•  People who were pessimistic had a nearly 20 percent higher risk of dying over a 30-year period than those who were optimistic
• People who kept track of their gratitude once a week were more upbeat and had fewer physical complaints than others
• People who obsessively repeated negative thoughts and behaviors were able to change their unhealthy patterns—and their brain activity actually changed too.

WAYS TO STAY POSITIVE

Foster Optimism

Trying to be optimistic doesn't mean ignoring the uglier sides of life. It just means focusing on the positive as much as possible-and it gets easier with practice.

If you want to pump up your optimism, you might:

• Write about a positive future. The idea is to envision your goals and dreams come true. Tips include:
  • Write about your great future life. Writing helps you absorb ideas better than just thinking.
  • Set aside time so you can go into detail. Researcher Laura King, PhD, who proved this exercise a great mood booster, assigned 20 minutes on four consecutive days.
  • A variation on this exercise is to imagine positive outcomes in a particularly challenging situation.
    
• Search for the silver lining. Looking for the positive in a negative situation may sound sappy, but it can actually show great strength. To find your silver lining, ask yourself: 
  • How have I grown from this situation?
  • Are my relationships stronger now?
  • Have I developed new skills?
  • What am I proud of about the way I handled this situation?

Practice Gratitude

Noticing and appreciating the positives in our lives offers a great mood boost.

To increase your gratefulness, you can:

• Write a gratitude letter. Researcher Martin Seligman, PhD, asked subjects to write a letter thanking someone who had been particularly kind to them and then deliver it in person. The letter-writers enjoyed impressive positive effects even a month later. 
• Keep a gratitude journal. Write down anything large or small that makes you smile, including terrific achievements, touching moments and great relationships.
• Remind yourself to savor. Yes, stop and smell the roses-and look at them and touch them. Do whatever you can to really soak in the lovelier aspects of your life.
• Share your good news. Studies of people's reactions to positive developments suggest that those who tell a friend about a happy event enjoy it even more.

Avoid Negative Thinking

If you want to feel positive, it pays to decrease the downers in your life. With practice, you can resist worrisome thoughts and perhaps even transform your internal critic into more of a cheering squad.

• Avoid dwelling on downers. Focusing on negatives isn't just unpleasant, it also can make you less effective in tackling tasks you face. In a study of test-takers, those who fixated on worrisome thoughts performed worse than those who were distracted from their worries. To stifle your obsessing:
  
• Ask yourself if the issue is really worth your energy. Will this issue matter in a year, for example?
• Tell yourself you'll worry about it at a specific time later. Chances are you'll feel better by the appointed time.
• Instead of just spinning your worry wheels, try a concrete problem-solving exercise.
• Distract yourself: Go to a movie, pump up some music, find something fun to do.
  
• Change unhealthy self-talk. You may have been running negative messages in your head for a long time. But research shows that you can learn to shift your thoughts and that, over time, you can literally change your brain. Consider trying some techniques from cognitive-behavioral therapy, which works in part by looking at how changing your thoughts can change your life. Some tips include:
• Ask yourself if your negative thought is really true. Are you really a terrible mother if you didn't make it to the class play? You're probably involved in innumerable other ways.  
• Remember any achievements that disprove your insecurity. If you think you'll flop at the office party, remember other social occasions when you were outgoing and confident.
• Imagine what you'd tell a friend if he was worrying in ways that you are. You'd likely convince him to wait a bit before assuming the worst.
• Beware of all-or-nothing thinking. Disappointing your girlfriend once doesn't mean you're doomed to disappoint her all the time. 
• Consider alternative explanations. If your boss hasn't responded to your proposal it could be because he's busy and not because he doesn't like it.

source : http://www.liveyourlifewell.org/go/live-your-life-well/positive

Why We Need Emphatic Science

From the very beginning of the scientific tradition in the sixteenth century, not everyone agreed with the notion that the secrets of nature had to be pried loose from a reluctant source. A notable example is the German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). Goethe, the author of Faust and many other diverse works, was a major force; his work influenced philosophers such as Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Cassirer, Jung and Wittgenstein. He was opposed to the scientific method of the day, which emphasized objectivity, neutrality and remoteness. He believed the understanding of nature came through participation. To understand a plant, e.g., one must enter into the life of the plant. He called his scientific approach “a delicate empiricism which in a most inward way makes itself identical with the object and thereby becomes the actual theory.”

It’s easy to disregard Goethe as a crank who couldn’t get with the scientific program, but he is not so easily dismissed. Echoes of Goethe’s approach keep cropping up. An example is Nobel geneticist Barbara McClintock, who worked with genes and corn plants. She once said that her success was due to the fact that she had “a feeling for the organism.” That’s putting it mildly. McClintock would psychologically enter into a problem so deeply that she became the problem. She would cease to exist as a person; on emerging from contemplating the issue, she literally could not remember her name. Goethe would have understood.

As Jeremy Rifkin shows, Goethe’s theme of participatory science was taken up 130 years later by Heinz Kohut (1913-1981), the eminent Austrian-born American psychoanalyst. Kohut believed that conventional scientific methodology was “experience-distant,” removed from actual observation. He proposed an “experience-near” approach as an alternative, in which data could be acquired directly from empathy and introspection. Empathy was crucial, he maintained, to prevent scientific pursuits from “becoming increasingly isolated from human life.” Eliminating empathy from science had resulted in a cold, disinterested and rational approach that fostered the aims of brutal totalitarian regimes and had led to “some of the most inhuman goals the world has ever known.” Summing up, Kohut said that the new ideal in science “can be condensed into a single evocative phrase: we must strive not only for scientific empathy but also for an empathic science.”

American psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) agreed with Kohut. He was scornful of the idea of a neutral observer who is uninvolved and removed from her object of study. He specified that that the goal of an empathic approach was not to destroy conventional science, but to enlarge it.

Henry David Thoreau, an American original who loved knowledge, knew as much. “If you would learn the secrets of nature,” he insisted, “you must practice more humanity than others.”

I recall a moment of colossal confusion as a university student that might have been tempered had I known about Kohut’s views. I had fallen in love with science in high school but had not yet decided on a specific career choice. One evening I attended a campus lecture by a visiting scientist eminent in his field. Someone in the audience asked whether scientists were justified in researching lethal microbes and chemical nerve agents whose sole purpose was to kill human beings. Without a nanosecond’s pause he responded enthusiastically, “Of course they should be free to research these things. You cannot rein in the human mind. It should be free to explore anything. Scientists have no responsibility for how these things are used. Politicians do that.” His imperious attitude implied that only an imbecile would ask such a question in the first place. I was gobsmacked. At the time I thought this was the most selfish, arrogant and utterly stupid comment I had ever heard. I wasn’t alone. The entire audience was hushed in disbelief. I went away bewildered and perplexed. This was science? Now I know why Goethe, Kohut and Maslow are important cairns along the path of science. They are correctives to the notion that science should ideally be done by brains on sticks — humans who honor only the intellect and are devoid of empathy, who divorce themselves totally from ethical and moral issues.

Rifkin believes that Kohut’s “experience-near” approach and Maslow’s notion of “caring subjectivity” in science have been influential in the more than half century since they were proposed. He observes, “A new generation of researchers, like Jane Goodall in primatology, have used the ‘experience-near,’ empathic approach to scientific investigation, to elicit new discoveries and insights about the nature of nature that would have been impossible to imagine using the traditional disinterested, value-neutral, scientific method.”

Jane Goodall is a telling example. When her mentor, anthropologist Louis Leakey, sent her in 1960 to study chimpanzees in Gombe National Park in Tanzania, she had no training as a scientist. Goodall explains, “He wanted someone whose mind was uncluttered by scientific theory because back then ethology was trying to make itself into a hard science and was very reductionistic — very reductionistic.” Her project became one of the longest continuous field studies of any animal. She produced startling discoveries of chimpanzee behavior, such as meat-eating and the fashioning and use of tools. Like McClintock, Goodall intuitively understood the wisdom of an empathic approach to field research. She gave names to her subjects and became emotionally engaged with them, which horrified more than a few ethologists and evoked stern criticism. Goodall remains unapologetic. In a recent interview she stated, “There is absolutely no problem in having empathy and being objective. Empathy helps us gain an understanding at a different level that you can then test in a rigorous scientific way.”

References

• Rifkin J. The Empathic Civilization. New York, NY: Tarcher/Penguin; 2009: 307-309.
• Goethe JWV. Maximen und Reflexionen. Köln, Germany: Anaconda Verlag GmbH; 2008: 435.
• Keller EF. A Feeling for the Organism. New York, NY: Times Books; 1984:101.
• Kohut H. The psychoanalyst in the community of scholars. In: Ornstein PH (ed.). The Search for the Self: Selected Writings of Heinz Kohut: 1950-1978. Vol. 1. New York, NY: International Universities Press; 1978: 82.
• Kohut H. The psychoanalyst in the community of scholars. In: Ornstein PH (ed.). The Search for the Self: Selected Writings of Heinz Kohut: 1950-1978. Vol. 2. New York, NY: International Universities Press; 1978: 174.
• Kohut H. The psychoanalyst in the community of scholars. In: Ornstein PH (ed.). The Search for the Self: Selected Writings of Heinz Kohut: 1950-1978. Vol. 1. New York, NY: International Universities Press; 1978: 707.
• Rifkin J. The Empathic Civilization. New York, NY: Tarcher/Penguin; 2009: 609.
• Maslow AH. The Psychology of Science: A Renaissance. South Bend, IN: Gateway Editions, Ltd. 1966: 50.
• Thoreau HD. Quoted in: Eiseley L. The Man Who Saw Through Time. New York, NY: Scribner’s; 1961: 113.
• Rifkin J. The Empathic Civilization. New York, NY: Tarcher/Penguin; 2009: 611.
• Goodall J. Leakey’s angel, 50 years on. Interview of Jane Goodall by Charlotte Uhlenbroek. New Scientist. February 20, 2010; 205 (2748): 28-29.

source : http://www.drfranklipman.com/spiritual-living-why-we-need-empathic-science/

How To Be Lucky !

It is easy and normal to have moments where you feel depressed or down on yourself. If you have these moments often, or are having a day where you feel very unlucky, here is how to help yourself realise that you actually are lucky, and should feel happy. Being lucky can happen in many different forms!

1. Change your perspective of what luck means. Luck is often considered to be something “out there”, out of our personal control. We expect something (or someone) lucky to descend on us and improve life for us. Waiting around for luck instead of creating it is a fool’s game that can lead you to constant negative thinking, including always seeing other people’s good fortune as the result of “luck” rather than choices.
2. Use your willpower, not your imagination. For some of us, it’s easier to fall into fantasy thinking instead of focused and directed thinking about the purpose of our life.
3. Visualize success. Develop your own powerful inner feeling that consists of telling yourself: “This is really going to work and I must work hard at it.”
4. Think about things you normally take for granted, such as having hot water or the Internet. Challenge yourself go without it. If you find it is too important to do without, consider how lucky you are to have access to it.
5. Listen to, watch or read the news every once in awhile. You’re sure to hear about plenty of bad things happening to people around the world. Consider how lucky you are not be involved.
6. Remember positive things that have happened to you in the past. Think about the circumstances that created those events and whether they can be recreated. If not, consider how lucky you are that everything co-ordinated to make that event occur.
7. Do something different. Dye your hair, go to the beach, be spontaneous! Make a list of the stupidest things you can think of and then just do them! Make sure you’re with a friend though ‘cos other wise you will just look weird.
8. Be nice to people. Your mom, dad, friends, teacher, cleaner or whatever. Just be nice towards them. If you are nice to them then they will be nice back. Seriously, don’t waste time being angry at everybody, because the truth is, you are probably mad at yourself.
9. Be confident. Even if you are the shyest person ever. Even if you go red when people talk to you, get sweaty hands or food stuck between your teeth ALL the time. If you don’t know how to actually be confident then just pretend you are confident. Act like you don’t have a care in the world and it will rub off on other people. Just remember that everybody is special and unique. Even if your special gift is knowing all about Neighbours or having an ‘inner calm’ or even being the person who always takes jokes too far, there is always something that make you special to people.

source : http://divadanceonline.com/blog/?p=1694

Spiritual Living In Educations

FROM A DROP 
TO AN OCEAN




The pioneer had returned home after nearly
five decades. He looked across a room full of
his African brothers and sisters. His deep and
passionate voice echoed through the room and
across the crowd.
He was telling them a story about one of the
dearest friends he had ever had. He was telling
them about the great Enoch Olinga, one of the
first African Bahá’ís




“Before Mr. Olinga became a Bahá’í, he was a
drop. Through his service, as a Bahá’í, he
became an ocean. ”
“This is true. It can happen!”
“The question is how? How to go from a little
mosquito to an eagle?”
“Bahá’u’lláh can change us. We must pray to
Him, daily, and beg Him to change us. If our
prayer is sincere – and it’s combined with
action and deeds and purity of motive – bit by
bit, we will change. We can do what Mr. Olinga
did.” Let’s look at Enoch Olinga’s life. See if
you agree with the wise pioneer …
Enoch Olinga was a translator. He was very
good at it. But despite this, he had, over time
become sad and disheartened. To escape his
disillusionment, he turned to alcohol, which
only  made  him  feel  worse.  He  drank  so  much
that he eventually lost the job he was so good
at.




He didn’t know what to do. How would he
support his family? What would he tell his
parents? He felt hopeless until he heard about
the Bahá’í Faith. At the time, in 1951 there
were few Bahá’ís in Africa.
He  began  trying  to  find  an  answer  to  his
problem by going to meetings in the homes of
Bahá’í pioneers. One very special evening the
pioneers held a meeting that coincided with the
time that Shoghi Effendi visited the Holy
Shrines in Haifa to pray. Mr. Olinga attended
the meeting and left when it was over, only to
return later.
He asked lots of questions. The most important
one he left for last: “How does one become a
Bahá’í?”
He came back the next morning and brought
with him a letter asking to be accepted as a
Bahá’í. That’s how Enoch Olinga became one of
the first Bahá’ís in the country of Uganda.




When he became a Bahá’í, Mr. Olinga gave up
drinking alcohol immediately. His behavior
changed so remarkably that his wife also
became a Bahá’í. His neighbors also noticed
how he had changed. So they became Bahá’ís
too. Within a few months there were enough
Bahá’ís in Kampala, the city where Mr. Olinga
lived, to form a Local Spiritual Assembly.
He had been so successful in Kampala, that he
decided to travel to his parents’ hometown and
teach the Faith there too. During a short time
nearly 100 people, including Enoch’s own
parents, accepted the message of Bahá'u'lláh.
Within a few years the  number of Bahá’ís in
Uganda had reached over 200. Shoghi Effendi
was so happy about this that he wrote a letter
to the entire Bahá’í world praising the success
of Enoch Olinga and his friends.
His success in teaching, served as an example
to his Bahá’í friends – an example of how to
reach the heart through loving kindness and a
cheerful nature. These qualities shone forth from Enoch. Their source was Mr. Olinga’s love
for Bahá’u’lláh and His Teaching, and
obedience to His Laws.
When Shoghi Effendi wrote letters to the
African Bahá’ís encouraging them to travel
around and teach about the Faith, Mr. Olinga
and two of his Bahá’í friends responded
immediately. They decided to make a 3,000
mile trip all the way across the African
continent to carry Bahá'u'lláh’s message to the
British Cameroons.
The trip was hard. Heavy rain turned the dirt
roads on which they drove into rivers of mud.
The travelers’ car got stuck in the mud so
many times that one day it finally gave out and
died. There was nowhere to go. The nearest
city was more than 50 miles away. Enoch
Olinga, who had never  lived outside the big
city, told his friends to stay in the safety of the
car and walked away to bring help. He walked
through the wet dangerous jungle, through the
mud that covered his feet up to his ankles, past trees that housed poisonous snakes, and
bushes that hid wild  and hungry animals. He
kept on walking until he fell down and passed
out in exhaustion.
Shoghi Effendi had promised that his prayers
would accompany the travelers on the journey.
Now, passed out on the ground in exhaustion,
Enoch Olinga really needed Shoghi Effendi’s
prayers. In this moment of desperation and
need, Shoghi Effendi came to him in a dream.
He helped him to get back up on his feet. Then
he praised and encouraged him and assured
him that he will succeed.
Mr.  Olinga  woke  up  a  different  person.  He  felt
determined to continue. As he began to walk
again, his friends caught up with him. They
had been able to repair the car and had come
to rescue him.
Two months after they set out, the pioneers
reached their destination. Because there were
no Bahá’ís living there,  Mr. Olinga decided to settle down and live in the country we now
know as Cameroon. For this, Shoghi Effendi
gave him the title “Knight of Bahá'u'lláh”.
2
Several years later, Enoch Olinga made a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land to visit the
Shrines, becoming the first black African to
make the pilgrimage. On this visit he also met
his beloved Shoghi Effendi for the first time.
Shoghi Effendi named Mr. Olinga the “Father of
Victories” for his services to the Faith and all
that he had accomplished as a pioneer and
travel-teacher in Africa.
When he returned to Africa, after his
pilgrimage, Shoghi Effendi appointed Enoch
Olinga a Hand of the Cause of God. He was the
youngest of all the Hands and he had been a
Bahá’í for only four years.
As a Hand of the Cause, Enoch Olinga carried
the news of the spread of the Faith to Bahá’ís all over the world. “Are you happy?” he always
asked. He wanted all the believers to be
happy. The believers should be happy, he said,
because they recognized Bahá’u’lláh and His
teachings.
Mr. Olinga traveled around the world. He would
tell all the Bahá’ís he met to carry Bahá’u’lláh’s
special message to others in their families,
their towns, and around the world. He was
reminding them of Bahá'u'lláh’s words: “The
first duty prescribed by God for His servants is
the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of
His Revelation... Whoso achieveth this duty
hath attained unto all good… It behoveth every
one … to observe every ordinance of Him Who
is the Desire of the world. These twin duties
are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without
the other…”
3
Enoch Olinga’s obedience to Bahá’u’lláh’s laws
and teachings changed him from a small and troubled soul to one who influenced thousands
of people around the world.
He transformed himself  from a drop into an
ocean. We can do that too…


source : http://www.spiritual-education.org/intro.html

Spiritual Intelligence : The Wise Self Within

Spiritual Intelligence is a function of the mystery of the universe,
it's fundamental to the existence of everything.

IN BRIEF ...Spiritual Intelligence is an organic wisdom, an innate quality of knowing, the "Wise Self" that resides within us all and connects us with the enigma of our existence. Spiritual Intelligence constantly informs us, but it's the most underused resource we have for creative change. Nevertheless it is an everyday facility waiting to be accessed.

Spiritual intelligence is concerned with the inner life of mind and spirit and its relationship to being in the world. Spiritual intelligence implies a capacity for a deep understanding of existential questions and insight into multiple levels of consciousness. Spiritual intelligence also implies awareness of spirit as the ground of being or as the creative life force of evolution. If the evolution of life from stardust to mineral, vegetable, animal, and human existence implies some form of intelligence rather than being a purely random process, it might be called spiritual. Spiritual intelligence emerges as consciousness evolves into an ever-deepening awareness of matter, life, body, mind, soul, and spirit.Spiritual intelligence,then,is more than individual mental ability. It appears to connect the personal to the transpersonal and the self to spirit. Spiritual intelligence goes beyond conventional psychological development. In addition to self-awareness, it implies awareness of our relationship to the transcendent, to each other, to the earth and all beings.Working as a psychotherapist, my impression is that spiritual intelligence opens the heart, illuminates the mind, and inspires the soul, connecting the individual human psyche to the underly

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ...
Spiritual Intelligence is not religion nor is it religious; it is not a theology.
Spiritual Intelligence is not a philosophy
Spiritual Intelligence is not a system of ethics or a moral code.
Spiritual Intelligence is not a rational intellectual faculty; although it can be followed it cannot be brought to bear analytically or academically.
Above all Spiritual Intelligence is not the province of the special few.

CONNECTING WITH YOUR SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE ...
... is a journey of self-discovery; it's about authenticity and integrity and defining yourself by your own authority alone. Spiritual Intelligence not only reveals itself on this journey, it facilitates the journey.

Connecting with your Spiritual Intelligence enables you to be true to yourself. Connecting with your Spiritual Intelligence is to embrace the truth of who you are, beyond any mask of convenience you wear.

Connecting with your Spiritual Intelligence is a major step in self-empowerment. It increases effectiveness in all areas - professional as well as personal.


source : http://altazarrossiter.com/6.html

Towards Spiritual Intelligence

THE great religions brought about great transformations. Islamic history has chronicled that Islam transformed human civilisation, contributing to the continuity of human knowledge and scholarship during the medieval age in Europe.

Islam is against ignorance (jahiliah) and for enlightenment. It is for a reading and thinking culture. Islam means peace. Islam also means surrender to God.


The Crusades and the dominance of the secular world have led to the marginalisation of religion in communist societies and the control and holding in abeyance of religious influence in secular societies.


However, many societies continue to profess and practise their particular faiths of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism. With great misunderstanding and distrust throughout the world, especially after 9/11, there has been religious profiling, particularly of  Muslims.


In multireligious Malaysia, the school and university systems have made it compulsory for  students to learn their own religions. Muslim students take Islamic Studies and non-Muslims take Moral Education.


For non-Muslims who want to go further in their respective faiths, religious communities provide continuing education and intra-religious bonding.


As there is greater demand for Islamic education, more institutions have been established to meet such demand. The release of the Islamic Higher School Certificate results indicates higher levels of excellence in religious qualifications.


These students, who will be the religious elites in society, will continue their education in Malaysian universities, in universities in the Islamic world or even in the western world.  Various Islamic institutions have been established to provide leadership for the Islamic way of life.


In Malaysia, among the most visible are the International Islamic University, the Islamic Science University of Malaysia and other state Islamic universities and colleges. Other institutions which provide religious education include a growing number of Al Hafiz Schools.


An increasing number of Muslim students are becoming Al Hafiz -- those who memorise the Quran. At the popular level there are the well-received television programmes, Young Imams and Exemplary Muslim Lady Teachers (Ustazah Pilihan).


Clearly, there is a growing critical mass of graduates from religious education who have presumably developed to the highest levels of spiritual intelligence and potential leadership.


As Malaysia grows its religious elites, it has the opportunity to provide Islamic religious leadership globally. The religious elites in Malaysia could be different from those elites who live in mono-religious societies.


In all societies and religions, the notions of fundamentalism, extremism and moderation will continue to be raised and challenged. The religious stakeholders, believers and opportunists will continue to use religion for their own ends.


Malaysia is unique among the nations of the world with the potential to foster the believers of all faiths learning from each other and about the beliefs of "the other".


Just as Malaysians have vast opportunities to learn languages, Malaysians also have opportunities to learn religions and philosophies of those significant others. Malaysia offers opportunities for the exercise of authentic religious dialogues.


If Malaysia develops competencies and the spiritual intelligence which enable dialogues among faiths successfully in our context, then religious leaders from Malaysia will be better prepared to contribute to religious dialogues globally.


In this respect, the launch of the "Global Movement of Moderates -- In Pursuit of an Enduring and Just Peace" by the prime minister last month charts out the role that Malaysia can play to reduce world tension caused by religious distrust and ignorance.


The quest remains whether the school and university systems enable each learner to learn about others with enlightened religious empathy using respectful minds. On the other hand, the question has to be raised whether our miseducation has led us to be righteous and arrogant religiously and dismissive of other people's faiths and beliefs.


The nature of spiritual and emotional intelligence being cultivated in the context of education has to be examined by parents, scholars and every individual in search of truth.


In Malaysia, during the celebrations of the birthday of Prophet Muhammad, awards are given to anyone "from any religion or of any gender" who meets the criteria of significant contributions to the community.


This principle reveals the universal nature of Islam as practised by the prophet.


Among his virtues are justice and fairness, piety, passion for knowledge, forgiveness, mercy, gentleness, courage, generosity, ethics, sincerity, truthfulness and respect of others  (he even established the rights of animals), politeness, love of purification, humbleness, patience, contentment and fear of God.


Whatever the type and level of education of Muslims, their behaviour is expected to be based on Quranic injunctions and they are expected to model their lives after the characteristics of the prophet in all manner of relationships with all peoples.


Underlying the virtues is the principle that man is the vicegerent or the khalifah responsible for peace and prosperity on this earth. Religious elites are expected to be an unfailing force of goodness, virtues and justice.

Read more: Towards spiritual intelligence - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/towards-spiritual-intelligence-1.41338#ixzz1mEAQvLds

True Happiness

Every spiritual tradition describes happiness and explains how to obtain it. The great teachings of the world suggest that the whole purpose of our existence is to live happy, meaningful lives, and they all give definite directions on how to achieve this blissful state.

The great masters teach what we intellectually understand—that happiness does not come from accumulating wealth and material goods. Rather, it is a result of sharing our gifts and appreciating what we have.

Yet we seem to have this instinct that keeps us pushing for bigger and better. It seems like no matter how much we have, it is not enough. Actually, we are wired to be discontent so we will keep striving for more. It is part of the evolutionary process. If we live in a state of constant dissatisfaction, we will keep looking for ways to make things better. This is not a bad thing; in fact, it has proven to be a very good thing. We can look at the advances humankind has made since we crawled out of the evolutionary muck and see that life is much better than when we were part of the food chain. Yet our advances have come at a huge cost, mainly at the expense of our happiness and overall satisfaction.

Contributors vs. Consumers
Maybe we have arrived at the stage of our evolution where we can continue to advance and be happy at the same time. This is possible when we strive to be contributors to life rather than consumers of things. We can tell the difference by examining our motives. If we act from our cravings, then we are attempting to get something in order to feel better, which will never work.

The religious traditions are very clear about getting stuff just for the sake of getting stuff. Jesus tells us that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. Mohammad says, “The richest among you is the one who is not entrapped by greed. … The miser is the poorest of all.” And from Buddhism we have, “You are deceived by your addiction to and desire for sensuous objects, as is the moth by the flame of a lamp.”

Now this does not mean that having material wealth is wrong. It is when we crave these things and pursue them at the expense of what really matters that perpetuates unhappiness. When we chase money, things, security, prestige or power, above all else, the things that matter get lost. So because our attention is misdirected, we miss out on what is really important to us.

Finding Balance
It is possible to simultaneously have wealth and be happy. We have wonderful examples of people who have generated unimaginable amounts of wealth and who use their prosperity in ways that make a difference in the world. Bill and Melinda Gates are prime examples of this. Bill Gates started a business doing what he loved and became wildly successful at it. He then started a foundation where he shares his wealth in a way that makes a real difference to people all over the globe. He demonstrates a wonderful balance of someone who enjoys his financial success while sharing it in meaningful ways with others.

Most of us do not have the kind of financial success that the Gates have. Yet we, too, can create happy, meaningful lives right where we are with what we have. We each have our own unique gifts that, when shared, make a difference in the lives of others. When we understand that we have something to offer others and we share our talents and our wealth freely, our focus turns from getting to giving. This gives our lives meaning. Our actions and decisions are then guided by our overall purpose rather than driven by our cravings.

Living from purpose gives meaning to our success, our wealth and our actions. We appreciate what we have more. The world becomes a friendly place and we begin to lead happier, more satisfied lives.


sources : http://www.unity.org/resources/articles/true-happiness