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Slide 1: The Spirituality of Everyday Life Transforming ourselves and spiritualizing everyday life http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 2: Spirituality of everyday Life • Approaching life with a sense of wonder; • Care and concern for others, the Earth and all living forms; • Having a sense of gratitude and being thankful; • Feeling blessed by energy greater than ourselves; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 3: What is everyday life • • • • Life in the family; Life at work; Socializing with others; Dealing with others including those who disagree with us; • All of the mundane and ordinary things we do in the course of our lives; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 4: What then is the spirituality of everyday life • This is about elevating all of the mundane and ordinary things we do to a spiritual experience. • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 5: Why a spirituality of everyday life? • • • • • This arises out of a concern for our world; Ecological and economic meltdown; Social division at the local and global level; Widespread psychological alienation; Conventional political and religious institutions have not achieved the “Good Society”; • Suggesting a new spirituality is needed; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 6: Widespread interest in spirituality! • However many feel that traditional religions are no longer relevant; • There is also a widespread belief that a serious engagement with the things of everyday life needs a spiritual practice; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 7: Such a spiritual practice revolves around the six themes of consciousness • What is the nature of the self and reality generally; • How do we define our needs; • How do we satisfy those needs; • How do we define a successful life; • What is the span of our care and concern; • How do we define our social and civic obligation?
Slide 8: The nature of the self • Most of us experience our sense of self as an I, me or mine, i.e. as a individual, separate isolated being; • The spirituality of everyday life has a different view, we don’t have a life, we are life; • This is the universal self that we need to become; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 9: The universal self • Development psychology teaches that the self undergoes successive development shifts before reaching the universal self; • The spiritual challenge is to develop growth around all of the six themes of consciousness with the emphasis upon developing the universal self; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 10: How do we develop the six themes of consciousness? • Meditation, contemplation and other spiritual practices all provide insights that lead to growth and expansion of the six themes of consciousness; • These insights are then taken up by the seven paths of spirituality of everyday life; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 11: The seven paths of spirituality of everyday life! • The first path involves developing the qualities of living fully in the moment. • This is what Eckhart Tolle called living in the NOW; • This involves engaging with everyday life moment by moment and monitoring our actions as the events of life unfold; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 12: The seven paths of spirituality of everyday life (continued)! • The second path involves treating everything that arises as an opportunity to learn; • This path opens people up to the realization that they have the potential to achieve unlimited possibilities; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 13: The seven paths of spirituality of everyday life (continued)! • The third path involves learning how to take responsibility for the choices we make. • This is the secret to living as a full participant in the game of life rather than as a victim of circumstances; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 14: The seven paths of spirituality of everyday life (continued)! • The fourth path involves gaining mastery of the emotions so that they become an ally in helping us deal effectively with the fortunes or misfortunes of life; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 15: The seven paths of spirituality of everyday life (continued)! • The fifth path involves learning how to engage in crucial conversations where opinions differ, where emotions run hot and where the stakes are high; • This means telling your truth without offending others, even when you disagree with them; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 16: The seven paths of spirituality of everyday life (continued)! • The sixth path involves the capacity to be able to turn disagreement into the best decision, even if it means giving up a cherished position if a better argument is presented; • This is about skillful negotiation where the best decision is the goal rather than winning an argument to save face; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 17: The seven paths of spirituality of everyday life (continued)! • The seventh path involves the capacity to make promises and honor those promises. Developing this path ensures that things get done efficiently and effectively with good relationships preserved. • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 18: Achieving the “Good Society” • This will involve a massive transformation and involves: • Repairing the Earth’s ecology; • Creating a new economic order that honors the Earth’s ecology; • Redressing the social divisions locally and globally; • Healing widespread psychological alienation; • http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz
Slide 19: Spirituality of everyday life is a necessary step in achieving the goal of the “Good Society”! • If you seek a spiritual base to your life or want to supplement your existing spiritual practice with a spirituality of everyday life then visit http://www.bobcalkin.co.nz