Soul’s Code

Vanity Fair devotes 20 pages to The World’s Greatest Yoga Masters

SOUL’S CODE — The currency of America’s highest-end celeb zine is, in a word, power. Vanity Fair’s entire franchise is to portray power as A) good looks, B) political status and C) financial bling. Now they’ve discovered D: power can show up, even in their dimension, as prowess of the spiritual kind.

Among Vanity Fair’s top 20 masters, BKS Iyengar we get. Approaching 90 years of age, dude completely invented the style of yoga practiced in America —  and learned at the feet of a yogi in Pune, India in 1937.

And we’ll give the magazine a free pass for spotlighting super-model Christy Turlington, in the image above, in their pantheon of adepts. She owns the yoga-wear brand, Nuala, studied religions and philosophy at NYU —  and is married to Ed Burns.

A Jungian psychologist’s take on Eros and Valentine’s Day

BY PAUL KAIHLA — This is the one day of the year in our secular society where a celibate Catholic gets top-billing, marquee treatment. There were probably three saints called Valentine, one of whom history says is entombed in Rome’s catacombs.

But the origin of Valentine’s Day is in a medieval social custom, so it’s not like a long, lost high-holy-day has been hijacked by capitalist consumerism.

The custom marks the first day of spring mating season, so let’s hand over the mike to psychologist James Hollis for his take on how we modern humans channel that energy — eros, in Greek mythology:

Eros is dynamic and shape-shifting . . . always going somewhere, seeking to connect, to fill in, to transcend. Just as nature, we are told, abhors a vacuum, so our psyche is terrified by emptiness. Seeking to fill that emptiness, we all too often fill it with ourselves. Wheresoever space opens, into that hole flies projection . . . Eros substitutes as it seeks the Cosmic Other in the frail vessel of the Beloved.

Illustration, “tu lip,” courtesy of Angela Brown

How to use the prism of trans-personal psychology to find yourself in the people and things you see around you every day

GUEST COLUMN: SUE FREEMAN — When I come into contact with my authentic self, I discover my innermost critic, sage, child, lovestruck groupie and friend.

All these characters and more live within each of us, and represent an aspect of ourselves we either embrace or deny.

Then we go out into the world, come into contact with other people, develop or end relationships. We see in these people aspects we are drawn to or behaviors that repel us.

But in truth, we are seeing a mirror.  Other people’s actions reflect a version of ourselves.

If happiness equals slimming-down the ego, the Imposition of Ashes on the first day of Lent is a powerful and public ritual of spiritual self-immolation

BY ANONYMOUS — I did confession (Ash Wednesday) and received the imposition of ashes. I’ve never felt so stripped naked in public as when I kneeled below the altar, and the priest made the sign of the cross on my forehead with ashes and said: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (or ‘stardust’, as I like to say…)

It was a shock to have the fact of my mortality announced so officially and openly. Truly humbling to realize this me is a fleeting illusion… It feels overwhelming when everyone else in the church is acknowledging their mortality, too, one by one.

A ritual for Lent: make a daily list of what brings you joy, and what brings you closer to Spirit

No, we don’t mean our favorite song by the Psychedelic Furs, which was given a short second life a couple of years ago by the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore vehicle 50 First Dates.

But now that we brought it up, did you ever wonder where they got that phrase, ‘the ghost in you’? Check out Corinthians 6:19, one of the most famous passages in the Bible:

Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own? . . . Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The passage points to the reason that people of a certain persuasion, starting tomorrow, give up pleasures of the flesh like coffee, sweets, alcohol or cigarettes. It’s a cleansing ritual that honors the temple of your body, and the Spirit which gave rise to it.

Tom Hanks newest patron of Da Vinci Code church

Tom Hanks has personally donated to help restore Scotland’s Rosslyn Chapel, where part of The Da Vinci Code was filmed. According to Dan Brown’s novel, the chapel was built by the Knights Templar, marks a point on the “Rose Line”, or prime meridian, and contains several  esoteric sculptures. 

In actuality, the chapel was built over 100 years after the Templars vanished, the prime meridian does not cross through the chapel, and many architectural features were added later by Anglican and (what do you know?) Scottish Freemason patrons. As its newest patron, will Hanks request any other additions?

Ashes to ashes . . . this Wednesday

Christians this week celebrate Ash Wednesday in commemoration of Jesus’ sojourn in the wilderness where he faced demonic temptation.  Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, where Christians share a similar journey in a spiritual desert. Lenten practices usually involve fasting, penance, making confession, praying the stations of the cross (prayerful meditation on Jesus’ journey towards crucifixion), and receiving ashes on the forehead with the words “From dust you came, and to dust you shall return”.

A meditation teacher views the Academy Awards ceremony as a showcase for techniques that the rich and famous use to keep their cool. A short-list of spiritual and psychological tips for overcoming performance-anxiety:

GUEST COLUMN: REID PETERSON — The Oscar statue’s familiar gold form emblazoned everywhere in the media lets us know that it is once again time for the show that is watched by one billion viewers worldwide.

As the awards unfold much of our planet will be gathered in front of their TV screens for a few hours as actors, directors, and writers gather to receive praise, prestige, and paparazzi for the degree of excellence that they have achieved in their industry during calendar-year 2009.

We all know that the 2010 Oscars are a huge deal because the event has an uncanny ability to hook us emotionally.

But what quality of emotion do we view in the people who are in front of the camera for this event?  Is this reality-TV that exposes how nervous the nominees really are? Or is it a real-time acting lab?

New York theatre critic Retta Blaney discovered the spirituality of film stars when she interviewed Vanessa Williams, Liam Neeson and Kristen Chenoweth (Hey, she was on Glee!)

GUEST COLUMN: RETTA BLANEY —  As I researched and wrote my book, Working On The Inside: The Spiritual Life Through The Eyes Of Actors, I found that my personal faith was greatly influenced.  The wisdom of the actors I interviewed brought me a great deal of growth, healing and transformation —  and I pray it will do so for others who want to work on the “inside.”

The idea for the book came from my many years of interviewing stage actors like Kristen Chenoweth.  Time and again they brought up the need for a spiritual life.  I have covered many beats in my life — politics, education and business to name three — but I never encountered anyone in those fields who spoke about spiritual matters in relationship to their careers.

We can use the hurdles that life throws at us to grow and reach our spiritual potential

GUEST COLUMN: PHYLLIS KING — As we grow and mature, our intellect and reasoning skills increase. However, with that, often our ego increases.

The skill we acquire with our use of words sometimes exceeds our ability to truly live our words and their content.

We hide behind our words, “acting” as if we believe them.

This façade is never more apparent when difficulties arise.