MSI Press Blog

  Today's book excerpt comes from  An Afternoon's Dictation  by  Steven Greenebaum . This book has been in the Amazon top 100 among interfaith and ecumenical books on many occasions. PART ONE: THE CALL TO INTERFAITH CHAPTER TWO   “Religion is but a language for speaking to Me.” It’s hard to overstate how crucial this revelation was. In the 50 years of my life that preceded the revelation, that thought had never once occurred to me, now that it was laid in in my lap it made perfect sense. It made sense and answered a bucket-full of questions. The first and most pressing question it answered for me was this: if there were indeed one and only one “right” answer to the question of God and how to relate to God, why didn’t humanity know what that answer was? After thousands upon thousands of years, why were there so many differing answers? The ancient Greeks were no dummies. They’d gifted us Sophocles, Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, and so many other brilliant thin...

  Recommending an excellent affiliated book for Earth Day: Walks Far Man: In Step with History on the Pacific Crest Trail  by Jim Ostdick. Jim Ostdick is a retired Earth Science teacher and independent author who lives on the ancestral lands of the Amah Mutsun Ohlone near the central California coast. In  Walks Far Man: In Step with History on the Pacific Crest Trail , Ostdick recounts his Pacific Crest Trail hiking experiences in the context of a larger, more vibrant story, thousands of years in the making. The Pacific Crest Trail in its current state is less than a century old. The land that the trail crosses was once home to bands of strong, inventive humans whose norms and values were strikingly dissimilar to the settlers and armies who vanquished them. With that in mind, Ostdick’s intentions are threefold: 1) to identify and honor the indigenous tribes who occupied and traveled the lands traversed by today’s Pacific Crest Trail, 2) to draw appreciation and respect fo...

  (photo from cancer study website) Today is the observation of a combined holiday: Columbus Day and Indigenouse Peoples Day. In observance of this done, focusing on the second holiday, Cancer Diary is sharing some important dasa from a study of cancer among indigenous people. To cut to the chase, here are the conclusions: American Indian and Alaska Native people were more likely to get liver, stomach, kidney, lung, colorectal, and female breast cancers than White people in most regions. Compared to White men, Native American men had higher rates of getting liver, stomach, kidney, colorectal, and lung cancer and myeloma. Compared to White women, Native American women had higher rates of getting liver, stomach, kidney, colorectal, and cervical cancer. Native American men were more likely to get cancer than Native American women. The difference ranged from 23% more likely for lung cancer to 129% more likely for liver cancer. The biggest differences in cancer rates between Native Amer...