ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life
* * *
Summary for February 2, 2020
* * *
Dear Folks -
Holly Hudley and I co-taught this week and we called our presentation -
Coloring Outside the Lines Using a Full Palette
We began by asking those gathered to share what they tell others about Ordinary Life. I talk about how important it is for me to find ways to talk about this work without shutting people down or turning them off. Holly, who is a gifted artist, talked about how important it was to learn how to follow the rules in creating art so that later, after the rules are learned and internalized, they can be broken or transcended. She used e.e. cummings as an example of this in the written word. What I tell people about Ordinary Life is that it creates a crucible in which people can deepen an awareness of who they truly are, learn how to develop meaningful relationships with others, grow in religious and spiritual intelligence and, thereby, make a difference in the world. We also talked some about the context in which we do our spiritual work and gave brief summaries of the three stories that people inhabit in our culture - “business as usual,” “the great unraveling” and “the great turning.” (We got these from Johanna Macy’s book “Active Hope."
That is a brief summary of the talk offered in Ordinary Life. The audio version contains all the asides and ad libs.
Note: There is no text of what we did. Though Holly and I collaborate intensely about our presentations, we not only each speak from different texts we also do not adhere to them. If it would be helpful for you to have the texts from which we spoke, let me know and we will post them on the website where this summary is found. Listening to the audio version of our talks is the best format. Also, viewing the presentation slides.
You can 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
In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.
In order to listen to the audio version of the talk, use the link below.