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Episode: Occult AmericaOriginal air date: Friday, February 05, 2010Episode Description:Ok, admit it—that word has always sent a bit of a shiver up your spine, no matter how metaphysically-inclined you are, right? Imagine how middle America feels about it! When did the word occult get such a bad reputation? Author, media commentator and publisher Mitch Horowitz joins Laura and Christopher and explains, from his new book Occult America, how the occult has shaped American thinking and spirituality and is set to play a bigger role in the years ahead.
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Episode: Avatar & Spiritual Themes in Cinema TodayOriginal air date: Friday, January 29, 2010Episode Description:It’s entertaining, riveting and visually sumptuous. But like many archetypically-driven movies before it-- such as Star Wars-- does the movie Avatar have similar import with a message that some say is spiritually powerful—and flies under the radar of the conscious mind? Audio includes clips of Bill Moyers, Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung and numerous films.
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Episode: The New Science of Prayer and MeditationOriginal air date: Friday, January 15, 2010Episode Description:Laura and Christopher welcome their first phone-in guest of the new year, Dr. Garland Landrith, best known for his appearance in What the Bleep Do We Know? They will examine the latest scientific experiments on the impact of prayer and meditation … and why dedicating yourself to a meditation practice may be the greatest new year’s gift you could give to yourself— not to mention the world. The program will examine everything from the Transcendental Meditation studies of the sixties to Larry Dossey’s groundbreaking work of the ’80s and ’90s as well as a somewhat controversial Unity-based experiment of this past decade.
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Episode: The Soul of ChristmasOriginal air date: Friday, December 18, 2009Episode Description:Based on the Thomas Moore account of Celtic Christmas, what are the universal spiritual principles that anchor this celebrated holiday? How do other religions, spiritual disciplines and perspectives contribute to the richness of this venerated date? And how did a pagan celebration morph into the most revered holiday in Western culture?
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Episode: 2012: What's All the Fuss?Original air date: Friday, December 04, 2009Episode Description:2012 marks the end of the Mayan calendar. Should we be worried? Or is it all just hype?
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Episode: Unity - The Great Unknown American ReligionOriginal air date: Friday, November 06, 2009Episode Description:Unity calls itself a positive, practical, progressive approach to Christianity." based on the teachings of Jesus." But does Unity represent a dangerous schism from mainstream, traditional Christianity? Or with its roots deep in American Transcendentalism, is Unity the Great Unknown American religion… possibly on the cutting edge of what Christianity… might become?
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Episode: Never-ending Translations - The New Conservative Bible ProjectOriginal air date: Friday, October 30, 2009Episode Description:There's a new Conservative Bible Project that wants to change what it calls 'liberal bias' in the bible. Reinterpreting the bible is as old as the documents themselves. And liberal theology has its own brand of interpretation, too. With such a strong conservative interpretation 'push,' could the result be that the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary is ready to catch?
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Episode: Antidepressants, Antipsychotics and the Spiritual PathOriginal air date: Friday, October 23, 2009Episode Description:What does the dramatic increase in psychotropic drug prescriptions in the United States say about the soul of the nation? Why have bipolar diagnoses risen 4,000% in one decade? What do recent fines against pharmaceutical companies—the largest in our nation's history—say about our own awareness regarding these medicines and the industry that produces and sells them? Christopher and Laura welcome an in-studio guest who has gone through her own medical experiences. Together they cull information from various sources including clips from Deepak Chopra, Elizabeth Gilbert, Helen Fisher and others to create an informative, if not controversial discussion. And the biggest wild card? It could be … The Placebo Response.
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Episode: Peace in a Polarized WorldOriginal air date: Friday, September 25, 2009Episode Description:From town hall blow-ups to shouting at the president in the halls of Congress. From incivility whether on the tennis courts, the baseball diamond or at award shows. There’s a seeming river of anger if not rage coursing through our national veins … How does one remain politically and socially active—and yet remain untainted by the seeming lowest emotional common denominator we see in current American society?
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Episode: The Decline and Fall of Christian America?Original air date: Friday, July 31, 2009Episode Description:With a Newsweek cover looking ominously like the 1967 Time magazine cover asking "Is God Dead?," Newsweek editor Jon Meacham suggests the decline and fall of Christian America. He cites a recent survey that found that the percentage of Americans identifying themselves as Christians has dropped from 86 percent in 1990 to 76 percent today. Are we seeing the denouement of a Christian America? Is the cultural and political influence of conservative Christianity in the United States waning? And if so, what will fill the void? Laura and Christopher address the issues raised in this recent, seminal Newsweek cover story and roll in audio clips from Clay Jenkinson, Jon Meacham and others.
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Episode: The Spirituality of the Obama PresidencyOriginal air date: Friday, July 17, 2009Episode Description:On election night 2008, after Obama’s victory, Oprah Winfrey told CNN "it feels like a shift in consciousness." That’s not the sentiment in some religious circles that see a spiritual foreboding in Obama’s presidency. Beyond the notion of hope and change, does Obama’s election to the highest office in the United States demonstrate an inner shift in global awareness?
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Episode: Ethical Conscious Eating - Is Vegetarianism the Next Step in Human Evolution?Original air date: Friday, June 26, 2009Episode Description:Strict vegetarianism has been the tool of ascetics and adepts inferring the holy life. But even in New Thought circles that stance softened considerably in the latter twentieth century. Now, with global warming and factory farming issues raising our awareness, is vegetarianism, or at least dramatically cutting back on our meat consumption, the path of the conscious spiritual journey?
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Episode: The God Who Wasn't ThereOriginal air date: Friday, May 29, 2009Episode Description:Laura and Christopher examine two films (Zeitgeist, The God Who Wasn’t There) in national consciousness that claim that the Jesus story is nothing more than rehashed myth based on Horus, Dionysus, Krishna, Mithra and other deity-figures. How does metaphysically-oriented Christianity look at these films and their claims? What impact will these films and their message have on the evolution of Christianity and spirituality in general?
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Episode: Jazz, Baseball ... and Unitarianism?Original air date: Friday, May 22, 2009Episode Description:Thomas Jefferson, third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, once said "I trust there is not a young American now living who will die a Unitarian." Much like jazz or baseball, Unitarianism is almost wholly a unique American form of expression. Three of the first six American presidents were Unitarians. Many at the fore of nineteenth-century American Transcendentalism movement called themselves Unitarians. This religion—Unitarianism—once a staple in the American religious diet, is now barely a blip on the screen. What does it share with other New Thought Religions? And is it readying for a comeback? Laura Barrett Bennett and Christopher Naughton examine Unitarianism in its own words ... and share some of the funniest- and good natured-jokes about this long-standing American belief system.
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Episode: Progressive ChristianityOriginal air date: Friday, May 15, 2009Episode Description:Tired of the Jerry Falwells, Pat Robertsons and the James Dobsons? There is an emerging Christianity that calls itself progressive. And while that might seem refreshing, does it fall into the same political trap as conservative Christianity? A recent Pew Research survey indicates that more and more people are leaving the religion of their parents—and many are seeking out New Thought churches or dropping out of religion altogether. Audio clips of Marcus Borg suggest that people are moving in the new direction of “progressive Christianity” or “progressive Spirituality,” but what is that exactly? And are there pitfalls by co-opting the term progressive?
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Episode: The New Age of AtheismOriginal air date: Friday, May 08, 2009Episode Description:If atheism was once the belief system that dare not speak its name-the times they are a-changing. Of late, books by Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have sold in the millions ... so this may be the new age of Atheism ... but in the end could atheism turn out be spirituality’s best friend? We will listen to audio clips of Bill Maher, Christopher Hitchens and George Carlin extolling the new atheistic populism. But perhaps their worldview is closer to a progressive, metaphysical worldview than they realize.
