Lighthouse Trails Research Project - Exposing Contemplative Spirituality

"PBS' Religion & Ethics Weekly has just released a news story on the emerging church movement" ( Lighthouse Trails news release, July 8, 2005; see complete article below. Click on the news story, pause the video at 25 seconds, and view the Egyptian Winged Solar Disk being promoted during the church service. The video also includes a brief segment on yoga).

Links to Egyptian Winged Solar Disks:

1) http://au.geocities.com/aten_nz/Wings/Wing.html

2) http://members.aol.com/egyptart/symlst.html#hb (Winged Solar Disk: "This is a form that the god Horus Behudety (Horus of Edfu) takes in his battles with Seth. The god Thoth used his magic to turn Horus into a sun-disk with splendid outstretched wings. The goddesses Nekhbet and Uazet in the form of uraeus snakes joined him at his side").

3) Egyptian Symbols and Wings: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/sym.html

4) MAAT, Goddess of Truth: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/maat.html

5) http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/egypt/thebes/medhabu/2crtdet2.jpg (close-up picture of The Mortuary Temple of Ramses III; note colored winged solar disk in entrance to hallway).

6) http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/egypt/thebes/medhabu/2crtdet.jpg (distance picture of #5).

7) http://www.jehovahswitnesstruth.com/wingbook.jpg (picture of the Jehovah's Witnesses book, THE DIVINE PLAN OF THE AGES with winged solar disk).

8) http://www.egyptartstore.bigstep.com/item.html?PRID=716563 (large detailed picture of winged solar disk; note snakes/cobras around disk).

Featured Resources

Contemplative Spirituality: A belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped in Christian terminology. The premise of contemplative spirituality is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all). Common terms used for this movement are "spiritual formation," "the silence," "the stillness," "ancient-wisdom," "spiritual disciplines," and many others.

Spiritual Formation: A movement that has provided a platform and a channel through which contemplative prayer is entering the church. Find spiritual formation being used, and in nearly every case you will find contemplative spirituality. In fact, contemplative spirituality is the heartbeat of the spiritual formation movement.