S.A.C.R.E.D.

Sometimes we feel something is missing in our lives. We feel like an empty boat floating in a vast sea, alone, without direction. Some of us remember our childhoods. We saw being good, striving for excellence, trusting what others told us as true to be true. We basked in the precious sweet sound of silence, bird songs, sun rises and sunsets. We Loved the power of trees and the sound of waves. We were happy in hours alone writing, drawing, singing, or playing music.

Others of us were not so fortunate. And those of us, who somehow lost or never had those gifts have always felt there must be something more to life than what we were handed. Even in our most broken hearted depressed moments, we’ve kept on because there must be a purpose to life and living. There must be a grace that transcends survival of the fittest and these passing fads and headlines. Something within our own being that lasts, even after death.

How many of us have turned to religion to fill that void and for a while it worked. Or even now, we continue to go to church, or the mosque, or the temple. But, it has just become another routine in our lives, like going to work. The joy is gone, the purpose, the meaning. Or for some of us, we still have the joy but not the community.

What has happened? Maybe we need to hear new stories.

Every religion on earth is based on story. In earlier times, religions were built around the spiritual accomplishments of women. Now, the majority of religions are based on stories of the achievements of outstanding men. Sadly, these religions and their stories, create a dichotomy, a separation. The creator is above the created, the spiritual is better than the material, the sacred is not the profane, the relative truth is not the absolute truth. How can we know wholeness with all of this separation?

Even those of us who are sincere practitioners of a religious or spiritual tradition still look at this world with dismay. Violence, poverty, greed, injustice, bigotry, racism, sexism, wars continue at an accelerating rate. We get caught up in the daily demands of life to care for ourselves and our families. And so many of us spend our times rushing back to our homes, our apartments, to turn on the TV or stereo, eat, or drink, or smoke and forget the problems of this world. Yet all the while, this nagging continues. Like a lost child, we seek to reclaim our own innate sacred knowing.

The Creed of S.A.C.R.E.D. is that everyone has a story and every one can create endless stories, stories of our lives, our family members, of people we admire, of ancients, of our imagination. We can use our stories to guide and fulfill us. We can choose to follow the paths of religious practice that reduce contradictions in our lves and contribute to empowering us to reclaim a sacred space in our lives, an inviolable space that cannot be violated or shattered by passing events.

S.A.C.R.E.D.

A community of people,
Stories
Ideas and Resources
Consistently, continuously, strives to instill recognition, responsibility, and practice of the sacred nature of being born as a human being on this flourishing planet.
Creates practices and traditions
Publicizes and endorses individuals and organizations engaged in sacred work
Diminishes the artificial division, based on materiality, between sacred and profane
Supports each other in a world growing ever more violent and isolated
Embraces all religious and spiritual practices to learn from their best but not be limited or defined by dogma
Treats all life as sacred