As such, spiritual and ideological authority in the practice is completely centralized with Li Hongzhi.

" Jiang accepts the threat of Falun Gong as an ideological one: spiritual beliefs against militant atheism and historical materialism.

Neo-romanticism is often accused by critics of being too insular, too interested in figurative painting and beauty, too fond of intuition, too distrustful of ideological & theoretical ways of comprehending art, and too in love with the past and the idealised / spiritual / haunted landscape.

Both age groupings were also very spiritual in terms of their ideological leanings.

Furthermore, Kuei-jin who stifle and contain their P ' o utterly become cold, calculating individuals who lack any ideological spark ; such stagnancy can be devastating when the weight of karma ( spiritual consequences of actions ) is on one's shoulders.

Buddhism ( Pali / Sanskrit: ब ौ द ् ध धर ् म Buddha Dharma ) is an ancient ideological system that originated in the Iron Age Indian subcontinent, referred to variously throughout history by one or more of a myriad of concepts – including, but not limited to any of the following: a Dharmic religion, a philosophy or quasi-philosophical tradition, a spiritual schema, or a culturally dynamic psychological method of self-improvement.

Whereas his armies can conquer his rivals, he needs the arts to exert spiritual and ideological control.

Sadao Araki played an important role in adapting a doctrine of seishin kyōiku ( spiritual training ) as an ideological backbone for army personnel.

His fellow students — there were 38 in all — included young Samuel I. Hayakawa ( later to become a Republican member of the U. S. Senate ), Ralph Moriarty deBit ( later to become the spiritual teacher Vitvan ) and Wendell Johnson ( founder of the Monster Study ).

TFI's founder and prophetic leader, David Berg, who was first called " Moses David " in the Texas press, communicated with his followers via Mo Letters — letters of instruction and counsel on myriad spiritual and practical subjects — until his death in late 1994.

Dimona is home to Israel's Black Hebrew community, governed by its founder and spiritual leader, Ben Ammi Ben-Israel.

In 1536, with Protestantism in the ascendancy, John Calvin, the founder of Calvinism, became the spiritual leader of the city.

Within the Protestant tradition in England, 17th century Mystic, Universalist and founder of the Philadelphian Society Jane Leade wrote copious descriptions of her visions and dialogues with the " Virgin Sophia " who, she said, revealed to her the spiritual workings of the universe.

Under its founder and spiritual leader, Johann Georg Rapp ( 1757 – 1847 ); Frederick ( Reichert ) Rapp ( 1775 – 1834 ), his adopted son who managed its business affairs ; and their associates, the Society existed for one hundred years ; roughly from 1805 until 1905.

Louis David Riel (, ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885 ) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political and spiritual leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies.

SSCMS was founded in 2001 under the vision and guidance of His Holiness Ravi Shankar ( spiritual leader ), the founder of Art of Living Foundation, an educational non-governmental organization ( NGO ).

* Joseph Ayo Babalola ( 1904 – 59 ) Oke – Ooye, Ilesa revivalist in 1930, and spiritual founder of Christ Apostolic Church

Ahmadi's consider the founder of the movement, in both his character and teachings to be representative of Jesus, and subsequently he attained the same spiritual rank of Prophethood as Jesus.

Meeting the young writer Jacques Vaché, Breton felt that Vaché was the spiritual son of writer and pataphysics founder Alfred Jarry.

According to the contemporary Indian philosopher and tantric author, founder of Ananda Marga school of Tantra Yoga, Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, also known by his spiritual name, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, tantra had its origin in India and South Asia.

* Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of the militant Islamist group Hamas, was killed in a targeted killing in the Gaza Strip in an operation conducted by the Israeli Air Force on March 22, 2004.

* February 21 – The Mother ( Mirra Alfassa ), multi-origined spiritual leader and founder of Auroville in India ( d. 1973 )

Bentham has been described as the " spiritual founder " of University College London, though he played little direct part in its foundation.

UCL now endeavours to acknowledge Bentham's influence on its foundation, while avoiding any suggestion of direct involvement, by describing him as its " spiritual founder ".

Peter Waldo, Valdo, Valdes, or Waldes ( c. 1140 – c. 1218 ), also Pierre Vaudès or de Vaux, is credited as the founder of the Waldensians, a Christian spiritual movement of the Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions of southern Europe.

Falun Gong or Falun Dafa ( literally means " Dharma Wheel Practice ") is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 through public lectures by its founder, Li Hongzhi.

Western academics have described Falun Gong as a qigong discipline, a " spiritual movement " based on the teachings of its founder, a " cultivation system " in the tradition of Chinese antiquity, and sometimes a religion or new religious movement.

Falun Gong is centralized in that spiritual authority is vested in the corpus of teachings of the founder, Li Hongzhi, but organizationally it is decentralized with local branches and assistants afforded no special privileges, authority, or titles.

This resulted in the Fillmores studying spiritual healing, and being influenced by Emma Curtis Hopkins and Mary Baker Eddy ( the founder of Christian Science ).

In an interview with a Nigerian media house Sheikh Adelabu, the founder and spiritual leader of Awqaf Africa Society in London, dismissed the common myth that all Yorubas are descendants of Oduduwa as a false representation by Orisha worshippers to gain an unjust advantage over the spread of Islam and the recruitment of Christianity ".

) in princely styles, notably in Darbar Sri, Desai Shri, and Thakur Sri or as in Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a Hindu spiritual Guru and leader or Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, the founder of the social and spiritual movement Ananda Marga ( the Path of Bliss ).

* Ravi Shankar ( spiritual leader ) ( born 1956 ), a spiritual leader and founder of the Art of Living Foundation

Religious use in Brazil was legalized after two official inquiries into the tea in the mid-1980s, which concluded that ayahuasca is not a recreational drug and has valid spiritual uses.

Elder DD The Book of Esther: Its spiritual teaching London: The Religious Tract Society, 1913

New Thought as a movement had no single origin, but was rather propelled along by a number of spiritual thinkers and philosophers and emerged through a variety of religious denominations and churches, particularly the Unity Church, Religious Science, and Church of Divine Science.

New Religious Movement ( NRM ) is a term used to refer to a religious faith or an ethical, spiritual, or philosophical movement of recent origin that is not part of an established denomination, church, or religious body.

Religious compositions in vernacular languages were often called madrigali spirituali, " spiritual madrigals.

The term " spiritual " is now frequently used in contexts in which the term " religious " was formerly employed ; compare James ' 1902 lectures on the " Varieties of Religious Experience ".

In 1982, Danny Jorgensen, a professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida offered a spiritual explanation for the popularity of fortune-telling.

In response both to televangelist Jimmy Swaggart's June 1987 book Religious Rock ' N ' Roll: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, which had criticized the music of Norman and other Christian rock artists, and Swaggart's February 1988 admission of adultery with a prostitute, Norman wrote the song " Selah ", which had its last verse censored by Benson, which was: " My songs are spiritual fornication ,/ that's what this television preacher said ./ I guess he knows a lot about fornication ,/ I heard he wrote some sermons in a prostitute's bed.

Still more fundamental principles include ahimsa ( non-violence ), the primacy of the Guru, the Divine Word of Aum and the power of mantras, love of Truth in many manifestations as gods and goddesses, and an understanding that the essential spark of the Divine ( Atman ) is in every human and living being, thus allowing for many spiritual paths leading to the One Unitary Religious Truth ( which Hindus call Brahman ).

Religious ecstasy is an altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness which is frequently accompanied by visions and emotional / intuitive ( and sometimes physical ) euphoria.

Religious judgments of value determine objects according to their bearing on our moral and spiritual welfare.

Religious and spiritual teachers, such as gurus, mullahs, rabbis, pastors / youth pastors and lamas, may teach religious texts such as the Quran, Torah or Bible.

* Religious, spiritual, or abstract belief in a transcendent realm, being, or idea: a solution in which one believes in the existence of a reality that is beyond the Absurd, and, as such, has meaning.

" Religious scholars usually concluded that Buddhist scriptures “… were meant to be taken literally only when it came to matters of spiritual truth ; details of natural science are revealed figuratively and allegorically .”

Religious art or sacred art is artistic imagery using religious inspiration and motifs and is often intended to uplift the mind to the spiritual.

The Religious Technology Center ( RTC ), the corporation that controls L. Ron Hubbard's copyrighted materials, sued to prevent a Post reporter from describing church teachings at the center of another lawsuit, claiming copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and that the circulation of their " advanced technology " teachings would cause " devastating, cataclysmic spiritual harm " to those not prepared.

Friends General Conference, with Divine guidance, nurtures the spiritual vitality of the Religious Society of Friends ( Quakers ) by providing programs and services for Friends, meetings, and seekers.

" Religious educator Paul Moses stated that Donohue's was a " tortured reading " and he saw Osborne as having " the Catholic imagination " with the song " awakening ... spiritual hunger ".

* Turner, Robert P .; Lukoff, David ; Barnhouse, Ruth Tiffany & Lu Francis G. ( 1995 ) Religious or spiritual problem.

Religious studies professor Paul Bramadat describes how Peretti's books have substantially influenced the spiritual beliefs of young evangelicals.

In 14 March 2001, The Freedom House bestowed Li Hongzhi and Falun Gong with an International Religious Freedom Award for the advancement of religious and spiritual freedom at a ceremony in the United States Senate.

Religious orders ( generally Catholic ) use the word to describe their spiritual orientation and any special characteristics of their mission or values that might be exhibited as a result of the vows that they have taken and the orientation of the order to which they belong.

He states that a monarch should allow his subjects to do or think whatever they find necessary for their salvation, and that such thoughts and deeds are “ none of his business .” Religious ideas should not be subject to government oversight, and government should not support “ spiritual despotism ” against any of his subjects.

Religious music is usually chanted, and its lyrics and dance often reenact namtars, spiritual biographies of saints, and feature distinctive masks and costumes.