Feb. 10, 2015–When someone is dying, sometimes the best medicine is not medicine at all. And sometimes what needs to be healed, is not the body, but the mind. That’s the kind of care taking that Paul Kelley takes pride in doing. When Kelley began his career as a hospice worker in 1983, he knew instantly that he had found his calling. “I can’t fix my toilet at home, I can’t fix the car, I can’t do bookkeeping, I can’t do computers. But I can be with someone who is dying,… [Listen Now…]
Spiritual Edge Radio Stories
Listen: Celebrating commonality at Oakland’s ‘Sushi’ Mosque
Jan. 21, 2015–Through much of their history, Sunni and Shia Muslims have lived peacefully together in countries like Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. But since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, sectarian conflict has escalated in the region. Here in the Bay Area, as in most of the US, around 75% of Muslims identify as Sunni, just four percent identify as Shia. Mosques here are generally identified by sect. You have, say, the Sunni Mosque, the Shia Mosque, the Sufi Mosque. But the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (or ICCNC) has made… [Listen Now…]
Listen: How an architect designs sacred space
Jan. 21, 2015—Architecture has the power to transform. A building can make us feel joy, or sadness, powerful or weak. Nowhere is this more true than in a church, a chapel, synagogue, Buddhist temple, or a mosque. For centuries, religion has sparked the design of some of the world’s most beautiful buildings. But what is that process? What built elements make a space sacred? These were some of KALW’s Angela Johnston’s questions for architect Susie Coliver. Coliver told me experiencing the design of a sacred space begins way before you step foot in… [Listen Now…]
Listen: Preserving ancient Coptic heritage in the East Bay
Jan. 8, 2014–While the majority of the world’s Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25th, a number of Orthodox sects follow an older-than-Gregorian calendar. They celebrate every year on January 7th. One of the smaller Orthodox groups is Copts. They are the original Christians of Egypt and Sudan. In the past decade, there’s been an influx of Copts fleeing discrimination and violence back home. Just as they’re a minority in their homeland, when they emigrate to the US, they find they’re a minority here, too. For one, they follow a different calendar than most… [Listen Now…]
Listen: How the Buddha helped clean up a neighborhood
Nov. 6, 2014–Living in a multi-cultural city yields all sorts of surprises. On a corner in Oakland just east of Lake Merritt, a small Buddha has helped bring neighbors together. I didn’t know what to think the first time I saw the makeshift Vietnamese shrine. At the time, a few potted plants and flowers brightened up the corner. A piece of scrap metal protected the statue’s head. I had just moved to the neighborhood. “Did someone die?” I asked a few women congregating in front of it. They shook their heads. One pointed… [Listen Now…]
