Being Open to Seeing and Hearing at Deeper Levels

February 11, 2018 Bill Kerley

ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary for February 11, 2018

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Dear Folks -

The cardinal sin of our time is that of superficiality. We skim the surface of virtually everything. Reliance and focus on our “devices” has become an obsession. Consequently, we do not develop the inner qualities that permit us to go deeper in our seeing, hearing and understanding. The statistics on the use of drugs of all sorts to deal with our anxiety or depression are undeniable. Nationally, we are a troubled people.

One manifestation of this anxiety and depression is the growing amount of anger that seems to be evident in most every aspect of our shared life - all the way from how we drive our cars to the behavior of our elected officials.

Clearly we need another way to go. This is one of the reasons I have undertaken the current theme I have in my talks - “living in the gap between the ‘no-longer’ and the ‘not-yet.’”

In this talk I offer a time-line to help us get a sense of how, at least in the religious arena, we got from there to here. How did it come to be that a nation that can be so smart and sophisticated in so many ways can believe and behave in such immature and destructive ways?

That’s a brief summary of the talk I offered in Ordinary Life this week.

You can read or download the text from which I spoke, view the presentation slides and listen to the audio of the talk using the links below.

If you are reading this, I want you to know how grateful I am for and to you.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

To read or download the text of the talk, click here.

To view or download the presentation slides, click here.

To listen to or download the audio version of the talk, use the link below.

God Wants You For a Sunbeam

February 4, 2018 Bill Kerley

ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary for February 4, 2018

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Dear Folks -

In continuing the theme of our living in the gap between the “no-longer” and the “not-yet,” I spoke about how an effort to hang on to some absolute truth leads to inevitable short-sightedness. Usually, when new truths, insights, facts, etc. come to light, people allow the old to die. Not always. Indeed, if a person or a group feels that what they hold to be the truth is challenged, they will go into “overdrive” to deny or refute that truth. One classic example of this is how the church dealt with the insights of Galileo.

One of the biggest dangers our world is facing today comes from those who are “fundamentalists” of one kind or another - religious and/or political. In the religious arena one of the “fundamentals” of Fundamentalism is literalism. Literalism is the worst way to approach the rich truths and insights the spiritual journey has to offer.

The hot topic today for religious Fundamentalists is that of homosexuality. I speak to this in the talk I offered this week in Ordinary Life.

That is a very brief summary of the talk. The audio version is enhanced by viewing the presentation slides.

You can read or download the text from which I spoke, view the presentation slides and listen to the audio of the talk using the links below.

If you are reading this, I want you to know how grateful I am for and to you.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

To read or download the text of the talk, click here.

To view or download the presentation slides, click here.

To listen to or download the audio version of the talk, use the link below.

There Is Nothing "Fun" or "Mental" About Fundamentalism

January 28, 2018 Bill Kerley

ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary for January 28, 2018

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Dear Folks -

This week, in continuing to follow the theme of “Living Between The ‘No-Longer’ And The ‘Not Yet’” I gave the history and content of what we have come to know as “Fundamentalism” in the Christian movement in the United States. Though there has been what we now refer to a religious rigidity or fundamentalism in all religions from the beginning, the term “Fundamentalist” did not get introduced to our lexicon until around 1910. It is important to know the history of this movement as well as what it teaches. The reason? No matter how velvet the glove in which it is covered, Fundamentalism is inevitably violent and destructive. It keeps people in an immature state of being. What we need in our personal lives and in the world is mature people who respond to the call to live into fullness.

That is a very brief summary of the talk. The audio version is enhanced by viewing the presentation slides.

You can read or download the text from which I spoke, view the presentation slides and listen to the audio of the talk using the links below.

If you are reading this, I want you to know how grateful I am for and to you.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

To read or download the text of the talk, click here.

To view or download the presentation slides, click here.

To listen to the audio version of the talk, use the link below.

Anxiety, Reaction, Faith

January 21, 2018 Bill Kerley

ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary for January 21, 2018

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Dear Folks -

In the talk I offered this week in Ordinary Life, I took another step into the territory I want to explore in the weeks and months ahead: “Living Between ‘The No-Longer’ And ‘The Not-Yet.’”

No matter whether you consider yourself a “religious believer” or not, if you have grown up and lived in Western culture, you have been shaped and/or affected by the prevailing religious beliefs of the culture. Sometimes these beliefs operate “under the radar” and sometimes not. How did they develop? What caused humans to come to think of a god who lived somewhere in the sky, who dispensed blessings or curses on the human race? The short answer to this is fear. More specifically, the fear of death. What has happened in the last century to shape what is referred to as “evangelical Christianity” in the way it has been shaped?

In an effort to answer those questions this talk introduces you to three key people: Ernest Becker, Cyrus Scofield and James Ussher.

That is a very brief summary of the talk I offered - Anxiety, Reaction and Faith - this week in Ordinary Life.

You can read or download the text from which I spoke, view the presentation slides and listen to the audio of the talk using the links below.

If you are reading this, I want you to know how grateful I am for and to you.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

To read or download the text of the talk, click here.

To view or download the presentation slides, click here.

To listen to the audio version of the talk, use the link below.