WEEKLY PODCAST | In Between.154

Due to some technical snafus, I have been unable to upload a podcast for the last few weeks! Last week, AT&T had major outages that I think interfered with my ability to save the file, and this week, zoom didn’t seem to want to cooperate with my computer. So we are a bit late on the download, but here nonetheless!

I am, perhaps because of an upcoming birthday, perhaps because of midlife, perhaps because several people close to me are right smack in the midst of late-stage aging, acutely aware of micro and macro changes going on in the body and in the world. On the personal level, we are changing constantly and all the time. In our political and social worlds, things are changing in intense ways. And change seems to unearth conflict. We are seeing that play out in our country and in the world. Some of us might be seeing that in our personal lives, too.

Teilhard de Chardin believed that pain, suffering, and a kind of groaning are necessary to usher us into higher levels of consciousness. Change and suffering are inevitable in the process of transformation. This conversation today is bookended by musings about aging, but deeper than that we are puzzling through this cosmic birth-death-rebirth process.

Thanks for listening! Oh! You can’t leave without a book recommendation. See below.

SUNDAY LECTURE | Why People, Including Us, Believe Weird Things

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

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Summary of Ordinary Life for February 18, 2024

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Dear Ones -

This week the title I gave what I offered this week in Ordinary Life is -

Why People, Including Us, Believe Weird Things

I began by asking those present to give me their first reactions when they heard two words. The words were “religion” and “Christian.” As you might imagine, the responses were varied and mostly on the “negative” side. This underscores the difficulty any teacher has when the topic is “religion.” People can have deeply held beliefs about the religion that they practice. Even though all religions are the products of the cultures in which they grew, a variety of factors cause some people to hold it that their religion and/or religious beliefs are special or truer than any others. I elaborate on this and on how, in my opinion, the meaning and message of Jesus has been so misunderstood by the church that claims to follow him.

That’s a brief summary of this week’s time in Ordinary Life.

The audio version of the talk has some differences from the text I spoke from. You can find the text of the talk, the presentation slides and the audio version of the talk using the links below.

Our podcast, “In Between,” can be accessed through the Ordinary Life web site.

If you would like to know how to make a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here for video instructions.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

In order to read or download the text of the talk, click here.

In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.

In order to view or download the announcement slides, click here.

In order to listen to or download the audio recording of today’s talk, use the audio player below.

If you would like to watch the video version of today’s talk, use the YouTube link below.

SUNDAY LECTURE | What to Hold On To When There Is Nothing To Hold On To

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

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Summary of Ordinary Life for February 11, 2024

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Dear Ones -

I have so much energy and enthusiasm about the theme I am pursuing in Ordinary Life -

Living in The Sacred Stream

This week I began with a statement about how I am currenting seeing these times together. We are trying to turn information into transformation. The illusion we are under is that we can figure this all out. We can only do so provisionally because we are not now who we were nor are we now who we will be.

In both spiritual and religious prophetic and mystical teachings, there is nothing to hold on to. This week I focused on the spiritual side of this and began by raising the question of why the Buddha got to live into old age while Jesus was executed at an age younger than most who are reading this. There are many valid answers to this but Buddha didn’t challenge and change people’s self-identity the way that Jesus did.

In searching for things to hold on to we begin with the perennial tradition. This tradition isn’t something new but a rediscovery of what has always and will always be true. I list a few of the things we can hold on to beginning with the fact that all reality is one. I called the talk -

What To Hold On To When There Is Nothing To Hold On To

That’s a brief summary of this week’s time in Ordinary Life.

The audio version of the talk has some differences from the text I spoke from. You can find the text of the talk, the presentation slides and the audio version of the talk using the links below.

Our podcast, “In Between,” can be accessed through the Ordinary Life web site.

If you would like to know how to make a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here for video instructions.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

In order to read or download the text of the talk, click here.

In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.

In order to view or download the announcement slides, click here.

To listen to or download the audio of today’s talk, use the audio player below

WEEKLY PODCAST | In Between.153

That there is nothing to hold to is a claim you’ve heard us make before. A Buddhist saying completes that claim with the sentiment, “Yes…but there is also no bottom.” We are in a free fall, embraced by mystery that will neither catch nor kill us. If we remain in pursuit of religion, it is important that we “get it right,” but by right, I mean accepting paradox. Accept the both/andness of life, the terrible/beautiful, the freedom/captivation, light/darkness of it all. LIFE is in this tension. Paradox may be the closest thing to Truth we have, and it is often intuited rather than known because again…we can’t hold on to it and there is no bottom.

From Biblical myth to poetry, we explore paradox in this podcast. What certainty are you willing to let go of so that you may have more freedom, more life? “Birth is the death of the life we have known; death, the birth of the life we have yet to live.” (Marion Woodman)