A Home for Modern Mystics ©2000 -- 2003 CNR Published Quarterly

Newsletter Archives
Unfortunately, due to time and financial constraints, CNR News is no longer being published.

However! See our growing list of individual articles below.

For those interested: CNR News was published in three separate formats: A 8½" X 7" paper format of twelve to sixteen pages; in HTML format, a version of which was delivered via email to electronic edition subscribers; and in the Palm Pilot's "Standard Doc" format read by the popular AportisDoc® reader, among others. Also, a limited number of text only versions were distributed to email subscribers whose mail readers are unable to parse HTML.

Volume I, however, was only published in two formats: Paper and PDF. The use of color on the front page and decreasing maximum email size made continuing this practice impractical. Too, webcrawling search engines will not spider into PDF documents, which decreased long term archival utility to the Web as a whole.

All versions that were originally available are available for download below.

Articles
The View From the Center: Labyrinths In The Contemplative Arts
 		The labyrinth is a metaphor for a life's journey, a spiritual pilgrimage, a rite of passage; it compresses a lifetime into mere minutes. A walk into the labyrinth allows us to look at our lives in a space and time small enough for us to examine, ponder, and comprehend.
Recovering From Fundamentalism
 		``We are privileged to live in interesting times,'' this article begins. The human race is struggling to evolve from a collection of nation-states to a single global consciousness.

And leading the fight against this shift in consciousness are the fundamentalists. Many have been used and abused by fundamentalist organizations. Here's a brief look at how to recover from that abuse.

Under Oppression
 		W. Bush's war has posed us all some interesting energetic challenges. The harsh polarities are manifesting in our everyday lives in ways you may not expect.

What do they look like, and what steps can you take to prevent it from happening to you?

Necessary Evil
 		What's really behind the War in Iraq? Is it really about the issues you see in the news every day?

Of course not! It's about symbolsim. In this short article Michael explains what that symbolism is and what it means for us all.

Reclaiming Mysticism
 		Next in the series on Modern Mysticism, this essay attempts to reclaim the term from its New Age hijacking by explaining the differences and similarities between mysticism and occultism.

Individuality & Unity,
A Dichotomy 		We're individuals and yet we're all One. Some reflections by one of CNR's apprentice clerics.

Originally published in our Fall Equinox 2000 Newsletter when Deborah was an apprentice in CNR's ordination program, it's reprinted here on its own after her ordination in September, 2003.

Breaking the Chains
Othodoxy & the Modern Mystic
Part III 		Part III in the Orthodoxy and the Modern Mystic series. The final article. Originally published in our Summer Solstice 2001 Newsletter and in periodicals all across the Pacific Northwest of the United States, Canada, and in South Australia, due to its popularity this article (and it's two companions) have now been singled out for stand alone linking by other websites, and so is now avaliable on its own.

Learn how to select a teacher capable of teaching you how to break the chains of the societal orthodoxy. Learn what to look for in a spiritual mentor, and what to avoid like the plague! Learn what your mentor's role in teaching you is, and what your obligations in the teacher/student relationship are.

Growing Corn
Orthodoxy & the Modern Mystic
Part II 		Part II in the Orthodoxy and the Modern Mystic series. Originally published in our Winter Solstice 2000 Newsletter and in periodicals all across the Pacific Northwest of the United States, Canada, and in South Australia, due to its popularity this article (and it's two companions) have now been singled out for stand alone linking by other websites, and so is now avaliable on its own.

Growning corn: A Native American reference to practical, useful knowledge. Is mysticism practical? Have the greatest of mystics -- Xenophanes, Socrates, Jesus, Shankara, Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj, to name a few -- contributed in any meaningful way to human history? Follow the life of Saint John of the Cross in examining this question, and see how the life of this interesting Catholic Saint contains lessons for us all.

Orthodoxy & the Modern Mystic, Part I Originally published in our Summer Solstice 2000 Newsletter and in periodicals all across the Pacific Northwest of the United States, Canada, and in South Australia, due to its popularity this article (and it's two companions) has been singled out for stand alone linking by other websites, and is therefore avaliable on its own.

We live in a world that says ``you must this'' and ``you must do that.'' And yet, at the same time traditional religions are being challenged by an ever greater number of us. What does this mean? Are the THOU SHALTS our culture and its organized religions places on us really that important? And what should we do about them?

Vol. I
2000 Summer Solstice Our first ever issue! Want the long winded version of what CNR is all about? The founders said it loud and clear in the front page article.

  • What we're about. . .
  • The Union of Shiva and Shakti
  • Orthodoxy and the Modern Mystic, Part I
  • Dana & the Art of Giving
2000 Fall Equinox In this issue Sage Ocean StarOrchard made her debut appearance in the ongoing (irregular) saga called ``Confessions of a Spiritual Loser.''
  • A Hopi Elder Speaks
  • Confessions of a Spiritual Loser
  • Into Whose Hands Have You Commended your Spirit?
  • Individuality & Unity, A Dichotomy
2000 Winter Solstice With much gratitude to the folks of BeliefNet we were granted permission to publish a Dan Wakefield article. The second ``Orthodoxy & the Modern Mystic'' article was also featured and, by this time, the first article had been published in a half a dozen print magazines in the Western United States and South Australia!

  • Growing Corn, Part II of Orthodoxy & the Modern Mystic
  • Confessions of a Spiritual Loser
  • Do Good, Be Poor, a Dan Wakefield article
  • Our Daughters -- Well-Balanced individuals in an Unbalanced Age
2001 Spring Equinox Unfortunately, though we claim to be a quarterly publication, circumstances didn't permit the timely publication of the final issue of Volume I. By the time the time and resources became available there was barely time left to get the first issue of Volume II out the door on time, so that's what we did!
Vol. II
2001 Summer Solstice HTML
Doc 		Our first HTML and Palm Pilot Doc formatted edition of the newsletter. The paper edition was also given a bit of a face lift. The front page included color art. (Aren't we fancy?)

This issue was really packed. The Directors chimed in, letting everyone know what CNR had been up to as we got ready to close out our first year. The last part of the ``Orthodoxy'' series finally made it into the newsletter, accompanied by a very short snippet from Ken Wilber's best selling book A Brief Hsitory of Everything. About the only thing missing was Sage Ocean, but she got in the next next issue.

  • Director's Report
  • A Word of Thanks (to all those who've given so much)
  • Breaking the Chains, Part III of Orthodoxy & the Modern Mystic
  • America's Flatland Religion
  • Spirit Surfing -- the land of links
2001 Fall Equinox HTML
Doc 		Sage Ocean is back! After a hiatus of two issues we finally hear from our lovely prodigal New Ager. And if you've ever wondered what Mysticism is, check out the front page story. Finally, we hear again from Dan Wakefield. (Thanks Dan!)

  • Modern Mysticism
  • Looking for God, a Dan Wakefield Article
  • Confessions of a Spiritual Loser