By Peter Ashkar
In a quiet corner on the second floor of E building, nestled in the Spiritual Centre, interfaith Rev. Robert Meagher, 46, talks to a small group, his words ringing with a calm and measured cadence about interfaith beliefs, and led a guided meditation.
Though only five Are in attendance, the ebb and flow of the conversation proves to make a difference
The reverend joked that April Hass, 23, a student in the human resources graduate program, seemed to be drowsy during the meditation and that she was wide awake after, suggesting that it had been effective. “It relaxed me,” says Hass, who was one of five who attended the seminar.
Hass, raised Catholic, by her own admission was atheist until recently, when she awoke to the nature of spirituality.
“I got enlightened, I’m here to help people not be hostile towards them,” Hass says. “I feel as though my perspective coming here has changed. I feel centred, I’m not the distraught neurotic person I was anymore.”
With her new perspective, Hass says she sees people differently now, “I don’t judge anymore, I understand now.”
That’s exactly the kind of response Rev. Meagher likes to see.
The catalyst to Rev.Meagher’s spiritual awakening was in 2006, when he saw “A distancing of the corporation and the person as a human entity.” Basically the slow death of the soul of Corporate Canada. “It pained me to watch the soul of a corporation wither and disappear,” Meagher says.
He speaks to the importance of the connection to one’s spirituality, speaking to how corporations today have lost heart of the philanthropic, and no longer gear their practices to help the very people who made these corporations the giants they are today, but instead are driven by a greed for profit.
“In service to the human condition,” Meagher says “When you do what you love, it’s not work.”
Since 2006 Rev. Meagher has been on a spiritual sojourn, and has educated himself in the multifaceted nature of spirituality and how it bridges the gaps religion leaves void.
His ministry, Spiritual Guidance, is located on 679 Cooper St, and has an online presence with the website, Serving your journey, and is also on Facebook, twitter, and linkedIn.
The ministry he serves offers a plethora of services. Among them are spiritual exploration, meditation, discussion groups, an interfaith community celebration, and sacred attention therapy based on the work of Richard Harvey, a psycho-spiritual psychotherapist, author and spiritual teacher.