Dear Folks -

I have had an interest in combining spirituality and psychology for almost all of my life - since being a teenager. I've been most fortunate that I've been able to pursue this interest since then. The discipline of giving the talks I do benefits me greatly.

I not only get to speak weekly in the Ordinary Life Gathering but also I receive invitations to speak to other group. Many invitations have come from religiously oriented groups - churches, retreats, hospital chaplains, pastoral counselors, etc. Recently I've noticed that such invitations are beginning to come from more psychological oriented group.

Recently, I was asked to give such a talk to the Houston Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. I have posted the text from which I spoke, the presentation slides and the handout I used on my own website. You can go to the page "Hidden in Plain Sight" to download these items. Go to

www.billkerley.com  

* * *

The title of the talk I gave in Ordinary Life this week is "Invisible Loyalties." More often than not we unconsciously adopt beliefs about the world, ourselves and others in the first few years of our lives. Though we remain unconscious of these matters, they rule - and often, ruin - our lives. In the field of systems psychology these unconscious "vows" are called "invisible loyalties." In order to be truly free we must become aware of these loyalties and cut ourselves loose from them. This "leaving home" is the beginning of the spiritual journey and it is most difficult thing any of us ever do. Further, it is not something we do "once and for all." We have to keep at it all of the journey.

That's a brief summary of the talk.

Go to the Ordinary Life website to download the audio, text and presentation slides.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

To download a copy of the text click here Download 8:19:12 - Summary

To download a copy of the presentation slides click here  Download 8:19:12 - Lateral Thinking

To download the audio of the talk click here  Download 20120819 MP3

Dear Folks -

This week in Ordinary Life I spoke about the importance of losing our minds so that we can come to our senses. The talk begins with some comments, some humorous and some not, from a variety of sources about what is sanity and what is not.

Spiritual teachers of all traditions have taught that very often people do not see what truly is because of the culture in which they are immersed. Jesus, for example, frequently commented on how people had eyes but did not see.

Very often these spiritual teachers are looked at by those who are at lower levels of development or who are invested in the "status quo" as being "crazy." This is how Jesus was seen by his family.

That's a brief summary of the talk I gave. The full text I spoke from is below. I gave the talk this title -

Lose Your Mind - For God's Sake! 

Much love,

Bill Kerley

To download the text in pdf format click here Download 8:12:12 - Summary

To download a copy of the presentation slides click here  Download 8:12:12 - Lose Your Mind

To download the audio of the talk click here Download 20120812 Mp3

Dear Folks -

Four times a year my beautiful bride, Sherry Beeman, Ph.D., and I give a relationship seminar that is sponsored by St. Paul's. The next one is this coming Saturday from 9 until 2. Child care is available. The cost of the seminar is $60 per couple and this goes to cover the costs of lunch and materials. If you or someone you know would like to attend, registration must be made. Call 713-528-0527 and ask to speak to Kat Denton to register.

I know that many of you know about a variety of "supplement tools" on the web for psychological and spiritual growth. For example, The Center for Action and Contemplation sends out a daily meditation written by Richard Rhor. Go to

www.cacradicalgrace.org

and explore their site for a wealth of resources as well as to sign up for the daily e-mails.

I want to let you know about another. A friend and colleague of mine, Barbara Wendland, has an excellent monthly newsletter that you can subscribe to. Go to 

http://www.connectionsonline.org 

More importantly she is sponsoring a gathering September 28-29 in Temple, Texas. The featured speaker this year is Robin Meyers. He has written, among other books, "The Underground Church: Reclaiming the Subversive Way of Jesus." You can find out more information about this conference and about the newsletter at the web site mentioned above. Even if the conference is something you can't attend, you might want to explore Meyers' book and subscribe to Barbara's newsletter.

This week in Ordinary Life I spoke about how individually, corporately and globally our notions of religion and spiritual need to be "healed." Misconceptions of both are causing much damage.

See below for the full text from which I spoke. Go to the Ordinary Life website to download the audio, text and presentation slides.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

To download a the text of the talk in pdf click here  Download 8:5:12 - Summary

To download the presentation slides click here  Download 8:5:12 - Deep Healing

To download the audio of the class click here Download 20120805 - Mp3

Dear Folks -

What follows is not a summary of Ordinary Life. There is no text of that for this week. The audio version can be found on the Ordinary Life website.

What follows is the text I used for the sermon I gave at St. Paul's this week. I hope you find it useful. If you would like to receive a CD of the entire service, go to 

http://www.stpaulshouston.org 

to order a copy.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

To download the text in pdf format click here  Download 7:29:12 - Summary

To download the audio of the class click here Download 20120729final