Dear Folks -

It was good to be back in Ordinary Life this past week.

We are working to post the presentations made by Kim Mabry and the youth about their Bolivia work on the Ordinary Life website. I'll let you know when that has been done.

This week I did show a few pictures from our trip to Russia. You can see them on the slide presentation link on the website as well. They will likely make more sense if you listen to the audio.

This week's talk is about the critical importance of seeing and honoring the unrecognized and unaccepted aspects of two matters:

First, the poor and powerless in our culture. Second, those aspects of ourselves, the feminine for men and the masculine for women, without which we remain incomplete persons. This life-long process requires patience, persistence and compassion.

That is a very brief summary of the talk I offered. The full text I used to speak from is below. The audio is somewhat different. It and the slide presentation are also linked below.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

To download a pdf of the text click here Download 10:28:12 - Summary

To download the presentation slides click here  Download 10:28:12 - Patience and Persistence.key

To download the audio click here Download 20121028Mp3

Dear Folks -

Most folks know the story of the frog used to illustrate how we react to change. If you put a frog into hot water it will work hard to get out. If you put a frog in tepid water and gradually increase the temperature, the frog will die from the hot water. It is the gradual change in its surroundings that causes it not to notice how deadly things are becoming.

One, I think, could easily argue that this is an apt metaphor for our culture. Changes are occurring that are leading, in spite of all the good things that can be pointed to, in a deadly direction. How are we to respond to this? Especially, as people seeking to live wise and useful spiritual values? The talk I offered in Ordinary Life seeks to deal with this.

The full text I used to speak from is below. The audio is somewhat different. It and the slide presentation can be found on the website. Check the slides out to see a dramatic change in computer technology.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

In order to download and view or print the full text click here Download 10:7:12 - Summary

In order to view the presentation slides click here  Download 10:7:12 - Crazy Like A Fox

In order to download the talk in Mp3 format click here Download 20121007 - mp3

Dear Folks - 

This week I opened the talk I gave by reading the story of The Emperor's New Clothes in its entirety.

The presentation slides consisted of many of the illustrations found in the version of the story that I have. You'll have to go to the Ordinary website to see them.

The story ends, as you recall, by a child saying, "The emperor has on no clothes."

We live in a world - indeed, in many worlds - where the inability  to see "what is" is costing us dearly. What is it that blinds us, both individually and collectively, to the truth?

In summary, this is what the "life talk" I gave this week is about. I was motivated to give it because of a parable Jesus once told where he doesn't tell people what to do. Rather, he asks, "By what values are you living?" Because, the values we serve determine the world(s) in which we live.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

To download the text in pdf click here  Download 9:30:12 - Summary

To download the presentation slides click here  Download 9:30:12 - What If . . .?

To download the talk in Mp3 format click here Download 2010.9.30 Mp3

Dear Folks -

There is no summary or text of Ordinary Life for this week. Here are the remarks I made to introduce our speaker. If you would like to download the audio of his talk on happiness and the question and answer period that followed, please go to the Ordinary Life website to do so.

Here are the opening remarks I used to introduce Zen Master Miao Tsan

* * *

I want to welcome you to Ordinary Life.

If you are a first time visitor, I hope you have paid attention to the slides that were showing while we were gathering.

The content of Ordinary Life is about putting together insights from religion, spirituality and psychology that contribute to individual and communal growth in wise and useful ways so that we can live lives that contribute to a more compassionate and peaceful world.

You can get the talks that are given here in several ways: visiting the OL website or by having them sent to you via our list serve. There you can also learn how to have the talks delivered automatically as a podcast from iTunes.

Though at the moment I am making an effort to contribute to religious and spiritual literacy by focusing on the teaching and deeds of Jesus, the stance I take is that to follow any authentic religious tradition can lead one into Sacred Mystery.

Occasionally we are fortunate to have someone from the outside to come in and speak to us.

This is the third time that I have been with Master Tsan. The first was at the Bonuick Center at Rice University to facilitate a dialogue between the Master and Houston Jungian analyst Pittman McGehee. Then the Master came and spoke to us when we were meeting in the museum and now today.

Venerable Master Miao Tsan is the founder and abbot of Vairocana Zen Monastery and has dedicated himself to the propagation and practice of Zen. Vairocana Zen Monastery was founded in order to clarify the essence of Zen’s Mind teaching through a variety of skillful means.

Master Miao Tsan’s core belief – and the goal of his dharma teaching – is to lead people from every tradition toward an understanding of the all-pervasive, universally applicable truth. The universal truth transcends time, race and religion and is without exception. It is the only path for the dissolution of dualistic conflict and the resolution of disparate views among religions and their various sects.

Master Miao Tsan is the author of Just Use this Mind, The Origin is Pure, Intrinsic Awakened Nature, and Directly Actualize Buddhahood, originally published in traditional Chinese. Among those books, three have also been translated and published in English, Spanish, and simplified Chinese.

He has conducted hundreds of meditation courses as well as Zen-Seven and Zen-Three retreats in the United States, Mexico and Taiwan. Additionally, he travels to major cities in China, Taiwan, Mexico and the United States, where he visits universities, medical centers and television/radio stations.

Master Miao Tsan has vowed to spread and promote this universal truth around the world, through the wisdom of Mind teaching and the interpretive vehicles of contemporary knowledge. His goal is to open a universal path of wisdom and light for all beings coming and going in the Ten Directions.

He is going to speak to us today on Happiness and perhaps afterwards we will have time for some dialogue and question.

(To learn more go to www.miaotsan.com)

Much love,

Bill Kerley

 To download these remarks and more about Ordinary Life click here  Download 9:23:12 - Summary

To download the audio of the presentation click here Download 20120923 - Mp3