Balancing Faith & Reason

"Balancing Faith & Reason: Religion in a Scientific Age."

Native American Flute Concert, Live in the Dome

Arts & Issues and the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability present:

Autumn’s Child with Mark Holland

Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, 7:30 p.m. at the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability

Mark Holland performing with Autumn's Child

Award-winning artist Mark Holland is considered one of the best performers in the world today on his instrument of choice, the Native American flute. His ensemble Autumn’s Child will present an evening of acoustic instrumental fusion--a hybrid of world, jazz, classical and folk styles described as “global chamber music.” Holland showcases the versatility of the Native American flute through this combination of instrumentation and the blending of musical genres which creates his one of a kind sound.

Holland started Autumn’s Child in 1995 and has released more than 20 CDs on his own label. He tours regularly throughout the country sharing his unique and skillful “playing from the heart” presentation. The concert will feature the haunting beauty of the Native American flute along with piano, guitar, bass, cello and percussion. Join us for this beautiful music in an intimate and stunning space. Seats are limited!

Sponsored by: Scott Credit Union

Set Your Intent for the New Year

Creating Space for the Sacred, with Shamanic Practitioner Mary Wolk Agnew and Sound Therapist Pati Pellerito

Patti Pellerito in the Fuller Dome

Through an afternoon of experiential & interactive exercises you will learn: 

• Creating, Maintaining and Closing Sacred Space using various means 
• Learn several modalities used by indigenous cultures to clear your personal space 
• Working with the natural world to facilitate resolution of issues 
• Create a personal Despacho, your own sacred “Feast for the Gods” 
• How to weave Sacred Sound into your everyday life with hands - on experience with Singing Bowls 
• Experience the healing qualities of a Sound Journey

Location: The Fuller Dome, Edwardsville IL 

Time: Saturday, January 28: 1pm- 5pm

Red Cedar Circle Brings Johnny Moses to the Dome

Pacific Northwest Coast culture-bearer and storyteller Johnny Moses

American Indian Culture-bearer to appear at CSS Saturday, Nov. 5

Pacific Northwest Coast culture-bearer and storyteller Johnny Moses will appear at the Center for Spirituality & Sustainability on Saturday, November 5 from noon to 3PM.  He will present stories, songs, and teachings of Native Northwest.  The event is suitable for all ages. Guests can attend all or part of the event.

Free parking is available on Saturday in Visitors’ Lot B.   The event is free of charge and donations are appreciated.

Moses will appear also on Sunday, November 6, from 1 to 3PM in Alton, at the store called It's Raining Zen in the Mineral Springs Mall, 301 East Broadway.

Johnny Moses has ancestry from several tribes of Washington and British Columbia. He is enrolled with the Coast Salish Tulalip Tribes near Seattle. He is a traditionally trained cultural practitioner and memorizer of oral tradition. In 2012 he received the Washington Governor’s Heritage Award.  

Moses and SIUE Professor of Philosophy Gregory Fields have collaborated for more than two decades. Their current project is a book and media collection under contract with the University of Nebraska Press: “Sacred Breath: Pacific Northwest Medicine Teachings, Stories, and Epics.”   Moses’ audio collection, produced by Fields, “Medicine Songs of the Four Seasons from the Straits and Coast Salish,” is forthcoming from Smithsonian Folkways.

The events are sponsored by the Red Cedar Circle of Southwestern Illinois: a spiritual fellowship and study group that meets at the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability. Meetings are held on the first Saturday afternoon of each month (except January and July), starting at noon.  All persons of open mind and heart are welcome to attend.  Moses first visited Edwardsville in 1996; this will be his sixth visit.

For information, contact Prof. Greg Fields: gfields@siue.edu   618.692-6492.

For maps, see siue.edu/maps

A Joyful Celebration!

The 2016 Celebration of World Faiths united seven different faith traditions under the Fuller Dome's miniature-earth dome for prayers of unity and peace. Our 2016 program opened with the Native American Flute playing of flute maker and musician, Jay kemp. Welcoming and closing remarks were provided by Center for Spirituality & Sustainability Board member, Dr. Jeanne Aguirre. Prayers of unity and peace were offered by seven different participating faith traditions; Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, jewish, Islam and Native American. Concluding the program all those in attendance representing the varied faith traditions joined in singing, "Let There Be Peace On Earth."

Everyone is Welcome at the Celebration of World Faiths

Come together for common cause and prayer for the greater good in the Fuller Dome on October 15th. This is a celebration among diverse faith traditions who are coming together in the miniature earth dome on the Southern Illinois University Campus to pray together and bridges of unity rather than walls of division. 

Guided Meditation in the Fuller Dome

An offering from the hearts of Pati Pellerito, Dianna Lucas, James Ibur, and Ben Von Harz. Join us for an evening of guided movement, meditation, and deep sound healing with cosmic gongs, bells, bowls, guitar, hand pans, and drums. Beginning with a sacred circle and moving from gentle, primal movement into deeply relaxing yoga nidra, with guided breathwork, meditation, and layers of sound, you will be transported to deep rest and a dream state. Upon awakening we will respond with mandalas of color and line, journaling and open conversation. This multi-dimensional event is held in the sacred geometry of the Buckminster Fuller Dome on the SIU Edwardsville campus.

"Women's Voices" tour the Dome

The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability was proud to host a terrific group from St Louis, Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice. The Fuller Dome's creative consultant, Benjamin Lowder, shared the dome's history, the legacy of Buckminster Fuller and the social justice implications of resource consumption as it relates to architecture. The Women’s Voices’ mission is:

• To identify, research and discuss critical issues
• To mobilize, energize and inspire ourselves and others to action
• To work as individuals and in community for social justice

Women’s Voices achieves their mission through education and advocacy. Their program committee selects a variety of knowledgeable speakers to provide  information on a variety of social justice issues.   Programs are held on the second Thursday of each month, September through May, at 7 p.m. at The Heights (Maplewood-Richmond Heights Community Center), 8001 Dale Avenue, Richmond Heights 63117.  Programs are open to the public, free of charge, and guests are welcome.

Buddhist Practice in the Fuller Dome

The Fuller Dome Center for Spirituality & Sustainability is pleased to announce that the Center is now hosting the Light of Compassion Zen Community. Under the guidance of the Ven. Bikkhu HaeWon Sunim, two public services per month will be held on the 2nd and 4th Fridays at 7:00 pm (with traditional chanting, meditation & a dharma discussion).  

The Ven. Haewon is Director of the Boundless Buddha Zen Society in St. Louis. In starting a community at the CSS, he is responding to the desires of Buddhists who live on the east side of the metropolitan area to have an opportunity for gathering closer to home. We are honored to have this Buddhist presence at the Fuller Dome, CSS. This Buddhist community welcomes all persons to take part in their services, classes, and events regardless of their own faith traditions, or absence of one. For more information go to Boundless Buddha Zen Society

Worldwide Day of Prayer & Action

June 12, 2016 has been designated “Sacred Earth, Sacred Trust,” a worldwide, multi-faith day of prayer & action for the planet and a call for world leaders to commit to a 1.5 degree limit on global temperature rise. It is the beginning of a weeklong, world-wide celebration to commemorate the six-month anniversary of the Paris Agreement and the one-year anniversary of the publication of the Encyclical, “ Laudato Si, ” among other faith declarations. To learn more go to www.sacredearth2016.org

In the fall of 2015 a diverse group of Catholics gathered at La Vista Ecological Learning Center in Godfry, IL to read and discuss “Laudato Si” The following is the declaration we crafted to commit ourselves to educate and act on behalf of our “Common Home,” planet Earth. The Center for Spirituality & Sustainability pursues this mission.

OUR LAUDATO SI DECLARATION: We joyfully declare that we have read the Papal Encyclical, Laudato Si, as a community and both collectively and individually we pledge our hearts and minds to the enactment of this encyclical. 

We have joined together to read this encyclical and discuss its importance for our local communities and the world, and we wish to share with others the joy, hope and integrity that it offers. 

Diverse international perspectives informed our work and will enable us to take the encyclical’s message far and wide. 

We commit ourselves to sharing these ideas with people we meet and to engage others in prayer, action and advocacy for the environment and all of God’s creation. We do this in order to make our common home a better place to live for future generations. Also to decrease the impact of selfish overuse of environmental resources that has and continues to destroy our natural world and cause many people to suffer, especially the poor, the under-served and at-risk communities. 

With urgency, we pledge to confront our broken consumption-based economy and look to new ways of building community that will benefit all peoples. We commit ourselves wholeheartedly in a spirit of peace, justice and integrity for all creation. 

Signed: 

Sr Maxine Pohlman SSND (Oblate Ecological Initiative, Godfrey IL, USA) 

Betsy Slosar (Center for Spirituality & Sustainability, Edwardsville IL, USA) 

Virginia Woulfe-Beile (The Sierra Club, Alton IL, USA) 

Rev. Bill Veith (ELCA Lutheran Pastor, Alton IL, USA) 

Richard Worthen (Alton IL, USA) 

Fr Jack Lau (Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Godfrey IL, USA) 

Fr Tom Horan (Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Godfrey IL, USA) 

Fr Rudy Nowakowski (Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Godfrey IL, USA) 

Amila Perera (Gampaha, Sri Lanka) 

Nishan Priyadarshana (Buttala, Sri Lanka) 

Jean-Emmanuel Meloncourt (Port-au-Prince, Haiti) 

Paul Raj Arulanantham (Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, India) 

Joshua Nash (Adelaide, Australia) 

Steven Montez (Kingsville TX, USA)

A Journey of Sights & Sounds

The Golden Rule: Uniting Faith Traditions

The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability recently hosted an interfaith exploration of the universality of the Golden Rule. This special event hosted in the Fuller Dome is part of the Center's continuing effort to find common ground among the world's faith traditions. Some version of the Golden Rule can be found in all the major faith traditions across cultures, geography and time. This makes the Golden Rule an excellent starting place to explore and promote unity among the planet's differing faith traditions. Here are a few examples of the Golden Rule as it appears in eight different faith traditions:

Christianity - All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. - Matthew 7:1

Confucianism - Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state.  - Analects 12:2

Buddhism - Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. - Udana-Varga 5,1

Hinduism - This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you. - Mahabharata 5,1517

Islam - No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. - Sunnah

Judaism - What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. - Talmud, Shabbat 3id

Taoism - Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. - Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien

Zoroastrianism - That nature alone is good which refrains from doing another whatsoever is not good for itself. - Dadisten-I-dinik, 94,5

The panel for the Center's discussion of the Golden Rule consisted of:

Baha'i: Dr. Christopher Gourdine, Assistant, Management, Lindenwood University-Belleville

Buddist: Ven. Haewon Sunim, Abbot/Spiritual Director, Boundless Buddha, Zen Society, St. Louis

Christian: The Rev. Dr. Deborah Krause, Academic Dean, Professor of New Testament, Eden Seminary, St. Louis

Humanist: Dr. James Croft, Outreach Director, Ethical Society of St. Louis

Muslim: Mrs. Maysa Albarcha, Board Member, Islamic Foundation, St. Louis

13th Annual Leadership Awards Dinner

Center for Spirituality and Sustainability Leadership Awards Dinner

Edwardsville, IL - The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability will be holding its 13th annual Leadership Awards Dinner on Saturday, April 30th, at 7:00 p.m. in the LeClaire Room on the N. O. Nelson Campus of Lewis and Clark Community College in Edwardsville. Each year the Center bestows two awards, one for Spiritual Leadership and one for Leadership in Sustainability. These dual awards reflect the Center’s mission to “promote humanity’s sacred connection to the Earth and each other.”

Thank you to our generous "lead sponsors" of the 13th Annual Leadership Awards Dinner, who along with the Center are invested in the betterment of our community, AAIC Architects, The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Illinois and The Bank of Edwardsville. 

Check out the journey of our 2016 Sustainability Award Recipient Mannie Jackson:

Our 2016 Spirituality leadership Award Recipient is the SIUE Camous Kitchen Project:

"Dreamwalker" - A Sound Journey

Patti Pellerito is returning to the Fuller Dome on May 7th for another "Sound Journey." Mark Holland is joining her for this special live performance of the duo's recently released CD, "Dreamwalker."
Tibetan Singing Bowls/Planet Gongs ~ Native American style Flutes
The sounds gently guide us outside our normal waking consciousness

We are excited to share this unique experience of creating magical sounds in The Geodesic Dome at SIUE and hope that you will join us.  The dome is an amazing space, which offers a perfect environment for a live sound experience.  You will have the option of lying down or being seated in chairs. 

I had the privilege of offering a workshop in the dome this past January and WOW! What a (unknown) gem we have right in our own backyard, one might expect to travel to California to the Integratron or UR Light Center in N. Carolina  (which Mark & I presented at last August).  We encourage you to join us and check out The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability! - Patti Pellerito

2016 Center For Spirituality & Sustainability Awardees

Each year the Center For Spirituality & Sustainability presents two awards at it's annual dinner. One award is given for leadership in sustainability and the other is for leadership in spirituality. These awards are given to people or organizations whose work is aligned with the Center's mission to promote our sacred connection to the earth and each other. The 2016 sustainability awardee is Mannie Jackson. As owner of the Harlem Globetrotters he was the 1st African-American to own a major sports organization. Now as President of the Mannie Jackson Center for Humanities, Mr. Jackson is working to promote social understanding and acceptance among groups and individuals in our society. Mr. Jackson will be present to accept his award at the Center's awards dinner on Saturday, April 30th from 7-9 pm at the N. O. Nelson Campus, LeClaire Room in Edwardsville Illinois. The 2016 spirituality awardee is the SIUE Campus Kitchen Project. This charitable organization is being honored by the Center for their leadership in participating in a national network that recovers locally donated food to cook for and feed the hungry in our community. Please join us in honoring these two awardees whose efforts have strengthened the fabric of our society and generally promoted the greater good with-in our community.

The Girls Empowered by Math & Science visit the Fuller Dome

The Girls Empowered by Math and Science (G.E.M.S.) from Alton Middle School made a field trip to the Fuller Dome again this year. The G.E.M.S. were brought to the dome, by their sponsor from Alton Middle School, Ms. O'Connor. They stayed for a talk from Benjamin Lowder on the history of the dome and it's connection to the geodesic dome's patent holder and biggest proponent Buckminster Fuller. The dome is used as a real-world example to inspire the girls to see the power that math and science have for discovering engineering solutions that can bring social and environmental equity.

Fuller Dome Selfie Contest

Post a photo of yourself with the Fuller Dome at SIUE to Instagram with the tag #fullerdomesiue and the selfie with the most "likes" by noon of 3/30/16 WINS! The winner will be awarded a prize package being donated from SIUE campus and Edwardsville area businesses. 

2nd Date Added for Fuller Play in the Dome

SIUE's Arts & Issues program is bringing D.W. Jacobs' thought provoking play, "R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe" to the Fuller Dome. This will be the first time this play has been performed in a geodesic dome designed and built by Bucky himself. The first date has sold out and a second has been added for Friday, April 1st at 7:30 PM in the Fuller Dome on the SIUE campus. 

"Rhythm and Flow" a Sacred Geometric Sound Journey

On 1/23/16, Stephanie Kusmer of Earth Rhythms Healing and Pati Pellerito CSH (Certified Sound Healer) in collaboration with the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability’s creative director Benjamin Lowder presented an afternoon of informative discussion and sacred sound healing. Benjamin discussed, sacred geometry, the history of the dome, and the significance of it's location on the earth's 90th meridian. Pati and Stephanie then guided the group on a sound journey with Tibetan singing bowls, gongs, drums and rattles. Those in attendance reported having some rather profound experiences resulting from this 3 hour event held in the Fuller Dome. Watch this site for the next "Sound Journey" scheduled in the Fuller Dome.

Shoji Sadao, Buckminster Fuller's architectural partner speaking in 2003

Shoji Sadao shares his fascinating first hand account of the career he spent designing revolutionary structures with Buckminster Fuller. He mentions he and Bucky's design collaboration on our dome at about the 15 minute mark of this film.