Dear Folks -

One of the ways we cause ourselves, and others, much difficulty
in life is by our insistence on certainty. We want to have things and
ideas. We want to hold on to things and ideas. We want to be safe and
secure. This desire always causes us, and others. to suffer. In this
Ordinary Life talk I deal with the role "creative doubt" plays in
contributing to our freedom. I focus specifically on a
misunderstanding of the verse in the Christian Scriptures where Jesus
is quoted as saying, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one
comes to the father except by me." As usual, I think the spoken
version is better than the text you will find below. Nonetheless what
follows is the text I used for a presentation I called "Creative Doubt."

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20080127.pdf

Download 20080127.mp3

Dear Folks -

I came up with what I call "the principles of ordinary life" several years ago by writing down things I have come to believe to be true. The first is this: We cause ourselves suffering by trying to be one-up on life.

This week's talk begins an "in depth" exploration is this principle. I start with what I consider to be a foundation stone for psychological and spiritual growth: the necessity of living in the tension of apparent contradictions and paradoxes. One of Jesus parables takes us quickly into this territory and I use it to illustrate my point. I call this talk:

"Living in the House of Wisdom."

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20080120.mp3

Download 20080120.pdf

Dear Folks -

I have begun to do an "in depth" exploration of the principles of
Ordinary Life. The first one is: We suffer from wanting to be one up
on life.

This talk, "Loving the Truth," deals with the fact that we will
not be able to see or experience the Sacred at all if we remain at
the level of knowledge or information in our thinking or dealing with
the world. A key principle to understand in moving to the level of
wisdom is contained in these sentences: Life is governed by what is
true. Our experience of life is governed by what we believe.

Hence, it is important to be aware of what we believe and how
this influences us. An emphasis needs to be not so much on what to
see but on how to see. We must learn to love the truth in such a way
that it leads to integrity and wholeness. What follows is the full
text I spoke from. Also, we are adding files of the four handouts I
refer to in the talk to the website.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20080113.pdf

Download 20080113.mp3

Dear Folks -

In doing spiritual work it is good to be disturbed. If we are not
careful we can go through life in a sleep-like trance. We need
"spiritual speed bumps" to help us wake up. One of the goals of
spiritual work is to move from the knowledge and information level of
living to the wisdom and transformation level. There are two paths we
can use to do this. One is the path of "prayer" and the other is the
path of suffering. This talk expands on each of these and
reintroduces the principles of Ordinary Life.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20080106.pdf

Download 20080106.mp3