Aldea Spiritual Community

We've all been experiencing a large cultural shift in the form of Artificial Intelligence. The advent of this new technology raises serious questions about what it means to be human.
 
In today's message, we explore the deeper spiritual implications of AI, and how to have a healthy relationship with these rapidly evolving technologies.
 
Quotes:
 
“AI is not one thing—it is a sprawling field of interlocking techniques, tools, and capabilities, developing and deploying across domains and specific applications” —Brookings
 
“We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” —John Culkin
 
“Vulnerability is the precondition to contact…You can form no intimacy without vulnerability.” —Junot Diaz
 
“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.” — Alan
 
"If there is one theme that emerged again and again—from our questions, from the answers, from the vast troves of sacred data the AI was analyzing—it was this: love. The meaning of everything is love. That is what the entire record of humanity drills down to. It’s all about love. Love is everything. It is the most divine giftvwe have. When we give it away, we are given more of it. When we come back to it in the present moment, we are in heaven."— Iain S. Thomas; Jasmine Wang; GPT-3
 
“The solution of mankind’s most vexing problem will not be found in renouncing technical civilization, but in attaining some degree of independence of it.” ― Abraham Joshua Heschel

As we concluded our series "The New Story", we took a brave look at our own stories of the Divine. How have these stories been shaped by others and our own values? 
 
Regardless of what you believe, this message is an encouragement to live out a story of interconnectedness rather than a story of separation. 
 
Quotes:
 
Quotes:
 
Anne Lamott:
“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
 
Richard Rohr:
“We do not think ourselves into new ways of living; we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.”
 
David Korten:
“When we get our story wrong, we get our future wrong.” 
 
Charles Eisenstein: 
“The essence of the Story of Separation is the separate self in a world of other…It is the story that holds us as separate individuals and holds humanity separate from nature.”
 
Thomas Merton: 
“We are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity.”
 

Enjoy Judith's meditation from the services on September 27, 2026.

For Part 2 of The New Story, we take on the "stories" that define our experience of the world. From Joanna Macy's views on ecology to the creative imagination of Burning Man, we explore the shift from a great unraveling to the rebirth of our human story.
 
Quotes:
 
Thomas Berry:
“It’s all a question of story. We are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story. We are in between stories.” 
 
Joanna Macy:
“Systems don’t just fall over dead, they fray, progressively losing their coherence, integrity, and memory.” 
 “The third story is the central adventure of our time: the transition to a life-sustaining society.”
“The most radical thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world.”
 
George Orwell:
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
 
Wendell Berry: 
 “The real work of planet-saving will be small, humble, and humbling, and (insofar as it involves love) pleasing and rewarding.”
 
 

Enjoy Greg's meditation from the services on September 20, 2026.

As we began a brand new series titled "The New Story", we explored the power of stories in our lives. Not simply myths or fictions, these stories are the beliefs, patterns, and identities that determine how we navigate life.
 
Sometimes, we need to let go of an "old" story that isn't serving us in order to make room for a "new" story that will be more life-giving and loving. In the first message of this series, we explore the power of our own individual "stories" - the beliefs about ourselves that keep us locked in fear or open us up to love. 
 
Quotes:
 
"The most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.” - David Foster Wallace
 
“A story is a system of meaning that focuses our attention, assigns roles, tells us what is important…and offers guidelines for the conduct of life." — Charles Eisenstein
 
“The story that we hold about a person is an invitation for them to step into that story.”— Charles Eisenstein
 
“The most dangerous stories we make up are the narratives that diminish our inherent worthiness.” - Brene Brown
 
“We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are” - Anaïs Nin
 
“How you see is what you see.” - Richard Rohr
 
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.” - James Clear 
 
 

Enjoy Kathleen's meditation from the services on September 13, 2026.

Tom Marks is an author & speaker whose work centers around finding meaning and fulfillment in various life stages, including retirement. Tom's most recent book "Your Path To Happiness" explores a quote attributed to the Buddha: "There is no path to happiness; happiness is the path".
 
In this eclectic and heartfelt conversation, Tom & Jake discuss the importance of gratitude, a creative practice, and finding meaning in life in the present moment. 

Enjoy Denise's meditation from the services on September 6, 2026.

Sylvia Skinner, one of the co-founders of Aldea, gave a great message about Aldea's history, vision, and the origins of our motto "Love Period" on Sunday August 30th. Unfortunately, the live recording of this talk didn't come out as planned, but Sylvia was able to recreate this message for our podcast listeners.
 
Enjoy! 
 
Quotes:
 
“To love is the profoundest act of religion, of religious faith, of religious devotion. It is only in a secondary sense an act of ethics or morality.”
— Howard Thurman, Mysticism and the Experience of Love
 
“What makes community possible is love.”— Parker Palmer
 
“Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”- Colossians 3:14
"Love is my Religion" - Ziggy Marley
"All you need is love" - The Beatles