Thursday, January 03, 2013

Creator of the Stars of Night

Divineoffic.org has a neat setting for "Creator of the Stars of Night" for Morning Prayer today. It uses a Sarum melody, which seems to be related to the standard chant.  Richard Proulx adds some great harmonies with his choir. I wish I could find a youtube video of it, but alas!  Maybe spotify has it.

Creator of the Stars of Night by The Cathedral Singers, Richard Proulx (conductor) Words: Unknown author, 7th Century (Conditor alme siderum); translated from Latin to English by John M. Neale in the Hymnal Noted, 1852; Music: Conditor, Proper Sarum melody

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Spirituality and mental health

I heard a report on the BBC Wuhld Suhvice this morning about a study done in England and Wales that indicates that people who are "spiritual," but not "religious" are more prone to mental illness such as depression than either "religious" people or "secular" people. They did  a follow-up study that showed that "spiritual" people who are mentally healthy are more likely to succumb to some kind of mental illness in the following year. I wonder whether one who is spiritual without a religion is more susceptible to the influence of malevolent spiritual forces because they don't have the "protection" that a society with a tradition of spiritual discernment and combat has.