Overcoming Spiritual Myopia: A View Toward Peace Among the Religions

by Margaret Placentra Johnston

Overview

MOST OF US HAVE LIMITED SPIRITUAL VISION - and don’t even know it!

• With two trillion galaxies in an expanding universe, how could it be that only the Christians are “saved?”

• Traditional religious symbols are losing power in a changing world (Most people don’t even know they are supposed to be symbols)

• Our rational minds keep wanting to question but conventional religious leaders tell us to just “trust” them (or trust scripture, or tradition)

• Despite declining church attendance, interest in the spiritual search is at an all-time high. New ways of making meaning are arising.

• A study of all religions reveals a common core – a longing shared by all humans. Could this be the basis of the spiritual search?

• In the 21st century we need a BIGGER STORY of what religion and spirituality are all about.

Our traditional scriptures were written in a time when people had no idea of the vastness of the universe. The spiritual messages they were able to receive suffered from lack of awareness about science and about wisdom from other cultures: their worldview was insular.

Today educated people have little excuse for maintaining this kind of insularity. Advances in science and global communications call us to develop a more comprehensive (less myopic) perspective about the UNIVERSAL human search for meaning and connection that formed the basis for ALL our religions. In Overcoming Spiritual Myopia, practicing optometrist and award-winning author, Margaret Placentra Johnston* challenges you on a journey toward a BIGGER STORY about religion and spirituality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732164802
Publisher:	Margaret Placentra Johnston
Publication date:	09/14/2018
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

As a practicing Optometrist for over three decades, Dr. Margaret Placentra Johnston has dedicated her life to helping people see better in the physical world. In the last decade, her mission has also included offering a clearer vision of a different kind-a broader view of religion and spirituality than that recognized in the conventional world.
Her first book Faith Beyond Belief: Stories of Good People Who Left Their Church Behind (Quest Books, 2012) brings together the works of twelve spiritual development theorists from different centuries, different disciplines and different parts of the world to illuminate some rarely described steps necessary on the road to spiritual maturity. It was named GOLD WINNER of the 2013 Nautilus Book Award in (Western) Religion/spirituality.
In Overcoming Spiritual Myopia: A View Toward Peace Among the Religions Margaret provides further perspective. Many factors in Western culture are calling us to enlarge our understanding of religion and spirituality beyond the "truths" dispensed in our typical organized religions. New perspectives emerging now challenge us to recognize and appreciate the universal nature of our spiritual connections.
Through this lens, Margaret can see the way forward to toward a kinder, more gentle world, and an outlook that can finally allow peace among the religions. She writes to help these new perspectives become part of the common knowledge in our culture.
Dr. Johnston holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Arts (MA) in Education from the Catholic University of America; a Bachelor of Science (BS) and a Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (now called Salus University.) She offers courses and speaks to groups on the topic of spiritual development, and has been interviewed on numerous radio shows. Margaret has two grown sons and lives with her husband in Northern Virginia.
MPJauthor.com

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

1. The Basics: Defining Myopia 13

2. Looking Back through Time: Perspective 25

3. Spiritual Development Theory: A Key Element in Spiritual Vision Correction 45

4. Signs and Symptoms of Spiritual Myopia: A Disease of Insularity 63

5. New Lenses for Spiritual Clarity: Indulging in a Bird’s-eye View 83

6. The Unitive Level in Spiritual Development: Even Clearer Vision 113

7. Human Cultural Evolution: A Hopeful Outlook 139

8. More Universal Perspectives: Further Vision-Opening Opportunities 159

9. Overcoming Spiritual Myopia: The Prescription 175

10. Prognosis: A Transformed Society 193

Afterword 233

Suggested discussion questions 235

Notes 239

Bibliography 249

Index 253

Things you can do to help promote (or refute) awareness about Spiritual Myopia 267

About the Author 269

Editorial Reviews

“St. Paul worries about us seeing the world through a dark and distorting lens. Margaret Placentra Johnston offers you a clear lens, a corrected lens, that invites you to see what is without distortion and illusion. Hers is a perspective much needed and rarely offered. Read this book if you want to see; put it aside if you prefer to be blind.”

—Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Holy Rascals: Advice for Spiritual Revolutionaries

“Spirituality is often described as a sense of oneness and that everything is connected and interdependent. Sadly many people cannot handle that level of openness and inclusivity. Instead they get lost inside their own limited beliefs. Overcoming Spiritual Myopia is an intelligent and inspiring analysis of this lack of vision. Margaret Placentra Johnston carefully and clearly explains this myopia and also the ways to deconstruct, heal and transcend it. This is a very useful conceptual and practical book for any serious contemporary spiritual seeker.”

—Dr. William Bloom, leading British spiritual educator, founder and director of the Spiritual Companions Trust (http://www.spiritualcompanions.org) and author of many books, including The Endorphin Effect and The Power of Modern Spirituality (http://williambloom.com)

“If you don’t know what ‘spiritual myopia’ is, you could be suffering from it… But, don’t worry! Understanding and remedy are at hand in Margaret Placentra Johnston’s comforting new book. A wise and warm-hearted Doctor of Optometry, Margaret is a wizard concerning not only conventional sight, but also inner vision, in-sight. She is a person who wants everyone to see clearly and so contribute to a better, safer, happier world. So, without hesitation, let me commend Overcoming Spiritual Myopia to you.”

—(Dr.) Larry Culliford, former psychiatrist, the author of Seeking Wisdom—A Spiritual Manifesto, and a regular blogger with Psychology Today (see www.ldc52.co.uk)

Overcoming Spiritual Myopia is a meaty inspiring highly readable sequel to Faith Beyond Belief. Margaret Placentra Johnston offers us a path to spiritual health and well-being that can affect not only the individual but have global impact. Her work is deeply scholarly yet accessible to any thinking person.

Overcoming Spiritual Myopia offers three gifts

• the concept of spiritual myopia,

• how spiritual myopia affects us and the global community, and

• a new consciousness as a “cure.”

Margaret gently pulls us into a way of understanding spiritual thought as it has evolved beyond religion. Overcoming Spiritual Myopia is both an excellent literature survey and a support for the position that spiritual myopia can be cured. Margaret presents a positive hopeful message for anyone willing to consider personal/spiritual growth as a path to a better life and world.

—Reverend Margaret J Shepherd, MBA, MDiv., author of The Visionbuilders’ Manual: 9 Steps to Visionary Success for your Company, Career or Cause

I generally am not one to go too deep into books of this nature. But, the first chapter will have you hooked. Overcoming Spiritual Myopia offers a way to help us understand ourselves and the world at large. Dr. Johnston has made this not only an easy read, but an experiential read that raises our awareness about religion, spirituality, and life in general. A must read!

—Sister Jenna, Director of Brahma Kumaris Meditation Museums Host of America Meditating Radio Show

From the Publisher