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+ updated at 5:17pm ESDT on Tuesday, October 7, 2014. 

+ “In everything, whether it is a thing sensed or a thing known, God Himself is hidden within.”  -- St Bonaventure

+ Spirituality and Practice offers an excerpt on an excerpt on practicing Unconditional Love from the book, It's Up to You: A Practice to Change Your Life by Changing Your Mind by Karen Casey. Read the S&P review.

+ Religion for Life offers John Shuck's recent  interview with Bill McKibben

+ 2 important articles by Robert Reich:

•  “Why We Allow Big Pharma to Rip Us Off”
• “Why the Economy is Still Failing Most Americans”

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+ NY Times offers “U.S. Climate Has Already Changed, Study Finds, Citing Heat and Floods” 

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Some thoughts about the political situation here in the USA and elsewhere:

Plutocrats have the upper hand whether the Democrats are in power or the Republicans.  Plutocrats do not necessarily have the best interests of the people in mind.  They probably think they do. They often try to justify their power and privilege even as so many people are suffering as a result of their policies. 

Plutocrats are not always wrong.  A lot of good things can get done and do get done as they rule the planet.  Maybe they will even see the light and work to reduce carbon emissions so that the global catastrophe so many scientists predict can be avoided.

But I simply can not put my faith in rule by the plutocrats.  I would like to see true democracy emerge.  Since both of our political parties are now dominated by plutocrats, I am feeling the need to separate myself as much as possible from the Democratic Party even though its policies and values and vision are closer to my own than those of the GOP.  But I can't support plutocracy and most Democrats are beholden to plutocrats just like most Republicans are.

So, what can I do? 

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+ This is currently featured on the Spirituality and Practice home page:
Join Caring People Trying to Save the Planet > Elemental, a deeply spiritual documentary directed by Gayatri Roshan and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, opens this weekend in New York and L.A., followed by openings in other areas and availability on iTunes. It presents profiles of three dedicated environmental activists on three continents. Through their personal stories, it reveals the immense challenges faced by those who want to change attitudes and spur citizens to band together in a communal effort before it is too late. We encourage you to support this film and support these people! | See our review of Elemental. | Find a screening in your area. | Visit the official site and see how you can get involved.

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+ updated at 1:23pm EST on Friday, February 1, 2013

 

+ We need our hearts to be full, open, clear, and strong and that's the message of Day 1 of Heart Month at S&P.

Spirituality & Practice: Map: The Heart: A months' worth of quotes about the heart illustrated with photographs of hearts found in nature.

+ Maybe we should pray for a change of heart by the Koch brothers and all climate change deniers during Heart Month which begins today.  The Independent offers "Exclusive: Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science" by Steve Connor. He reports that a new climate change denial effort is being funded by the Koch brothers and others.