Cyber-spirituality

A place to discuss casual topics amongst spiritual friends.
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Ben
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Cyber-spirituality

Post by Ben »

Hi
I was just listening to the 'spirit of things' program on ABC Radio National, and thought that the interview might actually be interest to some of our members, given it was on the subject of 'cyber-spirituality'
Here's the blurb:
Cyberspirituality
Guests
Heidi Campbell
is an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University and one of the world's leading scholars in religion and online media. Her research has taken her from inner urban life in Glasgow through mainstream churches in Auckland to where religion, history and politics collide in Israel. Heidi's teaching and research centres on the social shaping of technology,rhetoric of new media, and themes related to the intersection of media, religion and culture, with a special interest in the internet and mobil ephones. She has written a book Exploring Religious Community Online. Her current research is an investigation of Jewish, Muslim & Christian communities 'historic perceptions and contemporary use of media technologies, the basis of her book due in 2010, When Religion Meets New Media.


Julie Hamilton
is founder and editor-in-chief of Omigoddess!. She has a background in publishing. She has worked for some of the biggest names in media in Australia. As her web profile says, she is is currently 'a magazine editor, an author, a columnist, a therapist, a health professional, a presenter, a mother and a spiritual being trying to make sense of this physical experience called life!'


Further Information
When Religion Meets New Media - Heidi Campbell's Blog
'I am currently writing a book on how religious communities respond to and use to new forms of media. My research is particularly focused on Judaism, Islam & Christianity online, building on the work of my book Exploring Religious Community Online (Peter Lang, 2005). This blog offers those interested in similar areas links to relevant articles, news items, publications and conferences related to these themes.'

Heidi Campbell's Faculty Homepage
Dr Campbell is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University.

Omigoddess!
A web-based mainstream magazine exploring issues of spirituality for women.

Navigating the new media
The Christian Century magazine asked some expert observers of the religion scene how they are navigating the new media. What do they read, watch and listen to? How have their own reading, listening or viewing habits changed over the past decade?

Publications
Title: When Religion Meets New Media
Author: Heidi Campbell
Publisher: Routledge, 2010
URL: http://www.routledgemedia.com/books/Whe ... 0415349574" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
To download the transcript or screaming audio: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/spiritofthings ... 720150.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
metta

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

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Jechbi
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Re: Cyber-spirituality

Post by Jechbi »

Ben wrote:... screaming audio ...
scream.jpg
scream.jpg (7.97 KiB) Viewed 1380 times




(sorry, couldn't resist)
Rain soddens what is kept wrapped up,
But never soddens what is open;
Uncover, then, what is concealed,
Lest it be soddened by the rain.
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Ben
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Location: kanamaluka

Re: Cyber-spirituality

Post by Ben »

Thanks Jechbi!
I wrote 'screaming' audio - firstly it was a mistake but decided to leave it. Its quite funny actually.
But it should in no way indicate the quality of the interview with Heidi Campbell it is excellent.
kind regards

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
adamposey
Posts: 158
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:16 pm

Re: Cyber-spirituality

Post by adamposey »

I haven't listened yet (am going to) my thoughts going into this is that we have the tools to better spread religious truth (rather than dogma) easily. It's just not being done yet.
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zavk
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Cyber-spirituality

Post by zavk »

Thanks for this Ben.

As it turns out, I read Heidi Campbell's book recently. As mentioned in your post, she focuses on the Judeo-Christian traditions, but I think she raises good arguments about the dynamics of so called cyber-spirituality that can be transposed onto a Buddhist context.

I read her book while drafting a paper that examines the possibilities offered by the emergence of Buddhism on the Internet. In fact, I rooted my discussion in a short study of DhammaWheel--if you recall, a while ago I invited members to participate in a short survey of their experience on DW. I'm hoping the paper gets published by a journal on contemporary Buddhism (incidentally, one of the editors is based in Sydney). Still waiting to hear from them.

In any case, I'll be presenting an outline of the paper at an upcoming Religious Communication Conference organised by Monash University. The conference program is here: http://arts.monash.edu.au/ecps/conferen ... rogram.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyway, this the abstract for my paper:
‘The cybersangha and its place in contemporary Buddhist scholarship: A look at DhammaWheel.com’

In several sermons, the Buddha said that ‘admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is the whole of the holy life’. Such spiritual friendship was typically cultivated in the monastic community of the sangha. But in contemporary contexts Buddhism is developing in various de-traditionalised and secularised forms. Individuals are able to study Buddhist texts online and practice meditation independently without associating with formal Buddhist organisations and without adopting formal religious precepts. How then does a contemporary Buddhist form such admirable companionship? In this paper, I will first suggest that the online discussion forum, DhammaWheel, functions as a sangha, or more precisely, a cybersangha. As one member puts it, ‘DhammaWheel is my community of practice. I wouldn't be taking additional precepts today were it not for the support and encouragement of this community’. Secondly, I will propose that in discussing Buddhist ideas from within the context of their everyday experience, the members of DhammaWheel are ‘doing theory’ on contemporary Buddhism and are indeed producing ideas which might contribute to contemporary Buddhist thought. I do this in order to speculate on the implications of the cybersangha for contemporary Buddhist scholarship. I will suggest that to better understand how Buddhism develops in the present age, contemporary Buddhist scholars could beneficially adopt the views and methods of communication and cultural studies to engage with the cybersangha, and perhaps even develop ‘admirable camaraderie’ with Buddhists outside the academy.

Will definitely check out the interview.

Thanks!
With metta,
zavk
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pink_trike
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Re: Cyber-spirituality

Post by pink_trike »

zavk wrote:
Anyway, this the abstract for my paper:
‘The cybersangha and its place in contemporary Buddhist scholarship: A look at DhammaWheel.com’

In several sermons, the Buddha said that ‘admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is the whole of the holy life’. Such spiritual friendship was typically cultivated in the monastic community of the sangha. But in contemporary contexts Buddhism is developing in various de-traditionalised and secularised forms. Individuals are able to study Buddhist texts online and practice meditation independently without associating with formal Buddhist organisations and without adopting formal religious precepts. How then does a contemporary Buddhist form such admirable companionship? In this paper, I will first suggest that the online discussion forum, DhammaWheel, functions as a sangha, or more precisely, a cybersangha. As one member puts it, ‘DhammaWheel is my community of practice. I wouldn't be taking additional precepts today were it not for the support and encouragement of this community’. Secondly, I will propose that in discussing Buddhist ideas from within the context of their everyday experience, the members of DhammaWheel are ‘doing theory’ on contemporary Buddhism and are indeed producing ideas which might contribute to contemporary Buddhist thought. I do this in order to speculate on the implications of the cybersangha for contemporary Buddhist scholarship. I will suggest that to better understand how Buddhism develops in the present age, contemporary Buddhist scholars could beneficially adopt the views and methods of communication and cultural studies to engage with the cybersangha, and perhaps even develop ‘admirable camaraderie’ with Buddhists outside the academy.
This is really a fascinating area of study, both the potential positive and negative possibilities of what may arise out of cyber-sangha and the larger cyber-dharma social network soup over time. If I was in grad school I'd be all over this.
Vision is Mind
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss

- Dawa Gyaltsen

---

Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.
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