♦ S&P's first ever e-course sale. Now until the end of the year, you can get any of the "Practicing Spirituality" e-courses for just $19.98 -- 50% off for these on-demand courses. Since you get to choose your own start date and frequency, you can take them when you have time, even in 2015, as long as you order now. They also make great gifts. Developed by S&P's co-directors Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, each one is a 40-day program with short readings and practice suggestions. Check out all the options here.

♦ Human rights advocacy. Jon Stewart excels as a filmmaker with Rosewater, a drama about Iran, politics, freedom of the press, torture, and solitary confinement. More films.

♦ Speaking to your condition. We're starting a new series in which we will periodically recommend books or films we think address some of the ways people are feeling these days. The first one was published right after the U.S. midterm elections.

♦ Muscular Christianity. Joan Chittister: Essential Writings is a superb collection of key writings by one of the most popular and prophetic spiritual teachers of our times. More books.

♦ Decluttering with a little respect. Maria Kondo's bestselling The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is packed with suggestions for establishing a spiritual relationship with your possessions. Here's how she said goodbye to an old cell phone. She inspired us to Handle Things with Care.

♦ What is your house telling you? Alison Lurie's The Language of Houses offers a mini-course to get you started doing spiritual readings of buildings.

♦ In praise of solitude. Novelist Sara Maitland, who lives alone in a remote area of Scotland, explains what she loves about that lifestyle in How to Be Alone,, an impressive follow-up to A Book of Silence.

♦ Sacred texts and more texts. The Norton Anthology of World Religions is a monumental resource with 1,000 primary texts from six of the world's religions. Read an excerpt on how a Beatles song was inspired by a verse in the Tao Te Ching.

♦ "Top 10 U.S. Aid Recipients All Practice Torture." That's one of the stories covered in Censored 2015: Inspiring We the People - The Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2013-2014 by Andy Lee Roth, Mickey Huff, and Project Censored.

♦ Conscious Eldering. Ron Pevny, coordinator of the Conscious Aging Alliance of which S&P is proud to be a member, has written a substantive resource, Conscious Living Conscious Aging. It both covers the whys and wherefores of this movement and gives practical guidance of how you can incorporate this way of being into your daily life.

♦ A genius and a marriage. The Theory of Everything shows how cosmologist Stephen Hawking and his wife were able to weather many challenges thanks to their partnership approach to marriage. This is one of the best films of the year.

♦ The fire of ambition in sports. Foxcatcher is a psychological drama about Olympic wrestling contenders and the multimillionare who supported them because of his own twisted view of the sport. It is propelled by an Academy Award caliber performance by Steve Carell.

♦ This changes everything. In our "Spiritual Literacy Blog" we report on how the Internet of Things and other technological advances are affecting all aspects of our daily life. More blog posts.

♦ Running as a spiritual practice. It's a daily practice for Frederic, now on a treadmill. In his "Body Spirituality" blog, he shares some tips from Roger Joslin's Running the Sacred Path.

♦ Choosing freedom over sameness. The Giver, the film adaptation of Lois Lowry's award-winning young adult novel, is now available on DVD. It is a cogent morality play about love, memory, and what is needed for a full and rich life. More DVDs.

♦ The peaceable kingdom. The animated film How to Train Your Dragon 2, now on DVD, holds up the noble ideal of humans and animals living together and supporting each other.

♦ Theme of the month. It's November so the perfect time to focus on "The Blessing Path." We're unveiling a new quote on this gratitude practice every day on the homepage.

♦ Countdown to Thanksgiving. We have 27 ways to practice thanks-giving. One of our favorites: "Show your gratitude for the gifts of nature by incorporating some of them -- leaves, twigs, acorns, rocks, sand -- into a table centerpiece."

♦ Don't Worry, Be Grumpy. Our nominee for the best book title of the year. The book itself has 108 teaching stories for making the most of each moment.

♦ Re-establishing intimacy. The One I Love, now on DVD, is a creative and quite mysterious drama about a couple trying to reboot their relationship.

♦ Meet the S&P Cats. If you missed National Cat Day, you missed seeing pictures of our cats and a rather amazing collection of content on the site about these animal companions.

♦ Everyday spirituality through the seasons. Slowing Time by Barbara Mahany includes wonderlists of things to appreciate in every season.

♦ American colonialism, white supremacy, and broken treaties. An Indigenous People's History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz will make your blood boil.

♦ The largest open air prison in the world. After this summer's attack by Israel, it's more important than ever that we understand the history of Gaza, a 140-square mile strip of land that has been the scene of way too much bloodshed and conflict.

♦ The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part I opens in theaters next Friday, so now's the time to see The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the first two parts of this trilogy. Then to better understand why these films and others like them are so popular, see our feature on Movies about Dystopias.

♦ Watch movies about resilient elders: Quartet, about some retired opera singers, and Still Mine, about a farm couple. Both films are now available for streaming from Netflix or Amazon.

A Proverb to Ponder
"Darkness and night are mothers of thought."
- Dutch Proverb

A Pearl of Wisdom
"Respect is love in plain clothes."
- Frankie Byrne

A Short Prayer
"I ask for the grace
to let go of my own concerns
and be open to what God is asking of me,
to let myself be guided and formed by my loving Creator."
- from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2015

A Quotation to Inspire
"To love the beautiful, to desire the good, to do the best."
- the motto of Moses Mendelssohn

A Blessing from Us to You
"May we embrace tolerance and truth
and the understanding that underlies both.

"May we be inspired with vision and wonder,
May we be open to exploration.

"May our deepest yearnings be fulfilled,
May we be suffused with zeal for life."

May we merit these blessings
and May they come to be."
- from The Days Between by Marcia Falk