Dear Folks -

   The folks who post the text and the audio to the Ordinary Life website are still trying to catch up in their postings. Their hope is that this will take place this week.

   This week I gave a talk I called "Finding Freedom." I based much of my remarks on a tale from the Sufi tradition about a man who had been unjustly imprisoned finding a way to freedom. The story is a great metaphor for the spiritual and psychological work we have to do to find answers to the questions: Who am I and what am I to do? I also talk about a technique of psychotherapy I learned from some Buddhist teachers. As we continue to explore the deeper meanings of the principles of "ordinary life," we must be ever-vigilant about three things: honesty about Jesus and the Bible, what it means to live contemplatively, and issues of peace and justice.

   As is often the case, I think the spoken version is better than the text. Nonetheless what follows is the full text that I used for the talk.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

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Dear Folks -

   What do we turn to when things fall apart? That is the question I deal with in the talk I gave in Ordinary Life this week. Our culture encourages us to turn to success and winning as a way to defend ourselves from the inevitable difficulties of being human. I quote some statistics on what people make and then deal in depth with the personality type our culture encourages us to have. There is nothing wrong with being successful and reaching goals so long as we do not lose our integrity and the truth in the process. The talk begins and ends with a powerful prayer I got from Richard Rohr. As is often the case, I think the spoken version is better than the text. Nonetheless what follows is the full text that I used for the talk.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

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I have this enormous privilege every Sunday. Actually, we have enormous
privilege and privileges every day in every day in every way don't we?

There is so much that we take for granted. We are so graced. But, I digress.

The particular privilege I have in mind is this: Every Sunday I am in at least one
of the three worship services that are held in the cathedral across the plaza. At
the end of each service the various clergy who are in the service are assigned to
one of the doors leading out of the cathedral to speak to people as they leave the
worship service. It is such a privilege to do this. Especially is it a privilege to
speak to the young people when they leave. I'm talking about children who are
seven and younger.

As they leave I get right down on their level and look them directly in the eye as
I take their little hands and say them, "Thank you so much for coming. I'm so glad
you were here. This service wouldn't have been the same without you. I mean it."

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Note: During Bill's talk we played a video from the TED conference of Jill Bolte Taylor's talk entitled My stroke of Insight. The audio is present in the file below, but if you would like to watch the video, you can click here or on the link in the text above.
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