Dancing With Wisdom

In this second conversation of series 3 of the Dancing With Wisdom Podcast we discuss:

You can listen to or watch the conversation below:

https://youtu.be/wjzb_FyE0y0

S3 E01

We have an exciting and fascinating series of conversations in store for you in this new series of the Dancing With Wisdom Podcast!

In this first episode of series 3 we discuss:

These are more than mere words. I believe they hold the key to combatting the deep cynicism and mistrust of our age.

You can listen to or watch this 28 minute conversation below:

https://youtu.be/NRGPFildnxI

Do let me know what in our conversation particularly resonated with you.

When we  seek to dance with wisdom, how does discipline affect our daily lives?

That was a question to us from a subscriber, Emily inspired by the following proverb:

“Do not forsake wisdom and she will protect you; love her and she will protect you.” (4:6)

To help us answer Emily’s question, Elliott and I discuss:

“Dancing with wisdom is about turning the world upside down from what it is now. Our secular world is promiscuous about sex, but private about faith. What would happen if faith promiscuously entered every area of life?”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” (3:5)

Or in the words of Tim Keller:

Watch this conversation to find out more!

https://youtu.be/_k9c34GQqxc

It is surprisingly difficult for us to handle silence. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) the brilliant French mathematician and philosopher famously wrote, “all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, they cannot stay quietly in their own room.”

Silence, solitude, and a deep relationship with God though His word are often in competition with an inner restlessness, worry and anxiety.

How do we tap into the wisdom of silence? In this podcast, Sunil and Elliot discuss the power of solitude, and what we can find when we can comfortably sit in silence.

Silence and solitude are vital for true, lasting spiritual growth. If solitude is the practice of being absent to people and things to attend to God, silence is the practice of quieting every inner and outer voice to attend to Him. The problem is that being present is difficult for us, in a world full of so many distractions – so much more than the time of Pascal!

So how do we maintain this state of being present and living with clarity? In this podcast, Sunil discusses his own struggle with depression and sitting in silence. He also gives us two short stories about patients who were transformed by the awareness of God coming into their lives in their silence and solitude.

Questions to ask yourself:

https://youtu.be/yxLAYwjfLgY

When many people think of the word legacy they often think in terms of money or property that is left for future generations. That has its place, but what about the legacy in terms of the footprint we leave in the lives of others when we are gone? That is the influence and impact we had on others through the way we lived and the choices we made.

In this conversation we discuss the question of the legacy we leave and explore the following questions:

So much of what we hope and long for is summarised in the following quote by Chris Wright:

“The new creation will start with the unimaginable reservoir of all that human civilisation has accomplished in the old creation— but purged, cleansed, disinfected, sanctified and blessed. . . Think of the prospect! All human language, literature, art, music, science, business, sport, technological achievement— actual and potential— all available to us. All of it with the poison of evil and sin sucked out of it forever. . . Whatever it may be like, we can rest assured that, for those who are in Christ, anything that has enriched and blessed us in this life will not be lost, but infinitely enhanced in the resurrection and anything that we have not been able to enjoy in this life (because of disability, disease or premature death— or simply through the natural limitations of time and space) will be amply restored or compensated for in resurrection life.”

Do join us in this conversation as we seek to live with confidence, joy, and the responsibility of knowing our life has consequences.

Let’s make a difference in a world where there’s so much darkness and sadness.

You can watch or listen to the 27 minute conversation below:

https://youtu.be/aUDjjbGL0Sc

“If I am going to do something meaningful with my life, what kind of work should I do?”

In a world with an abundance of choices and options, that I think is a subconscious question at the back of our minds. It flows out of understanding who I am called to be and how I am called to relate to others (for more on that see The Question of Identity and Who Matters to Me? ).

Dawson Trotman expresses this in the following challenge, “Never do anything that someone else can and will do, when there is so much of importance to be done which others cannot or will not do.”

Parker Palmer addresses this with his question, “Is the life I am living the same as the life that wants to live in me?”

The New Testament asserts that God has prepared good work for us to do that is unique to us. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians (2:10) as he celebrates the goodness of God to us through Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf proclaims, “For we are God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Do join my co-host Elliott Frisby and I as we unpack this further in the 25 minute conversation below. We explore:

You can watch the 25 minute video or listen to the conversation below:

https://youtu.be/m3sQxG2rprQ

Life only makes sense in the context of relationships. That is the conclusion I have come to after many years of questioning and searching.

When relationships are going well there can be no greater sense of joy and fulfilment. On the other hand, when relationships are going badly there can be no more painful frustration or headache. That’s certainly been my experience.

In case you’re wondering the picture is of me around early 1968 with the friends from the street where we lived at the time in Allahabad, India. I am the one on the lower step at the front. We have no idea of what lies in store for each of us in the future!

On this podcast as we learn to dance with wisdom we explore the question of relating:

“How do I relate to others – my family, my friends, my work colleagues, those who come into my social orbit and the wider global village? Where do I find the healthy balance between sober seriousness and the fun in life?” (p.160)

Do join my co-host Elliott Frisby and myself as we unpack this further and discuss:

In case you’re wondering the picture is of me around early 1968 with the friends from the street where we lived at the time in Allahabad, India. In case you’re wondering the boy in the picture sitting at the front is me around early 1968. We have no idea of what lies in store for each of us in the future!

The link to the podcast is below.

You can also watch the conversation on video here

What questions, thoughts and ideas does this conversation bring up for you? Feel free to share your thoughts and comments!

“How does wisdom equip and empower us to live life such that we rise above the meaninglessness and mediocrity around us and the different challenges we face?”

That is the opening question of chapter 8 of the Dancing With Wisdom book.

To answer that question we begin by raising the question of identity or being – who am I called to be? It is the most fundamental question of my personal existence. We are, after all, human beings and not human doings!

Yet how often so much of our identity seems to come from what we do? Its the basic question often to a stranger we might meet at an event, asking them “What do you do?”

The problem is by basing my identity on my performance I can quickly fall between the extremes of arrogance at how well I am doing or despair when I don’t measure up to my own or other people’s standards. This is something we don’t necessarily give much conscious thought to but in deep and even mysterious ways it can drive our behaviours, actions and motivations.

In the 16th century the theologian John Calvin wrote, “True wisdom consists principally of two parts: the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of ourselves.”

On this 29 minute podcast do join my co-host Elliott Frisby and I as we discuss:

The link to the podcast is below.

You can also watch the conversation on video here.

Exploring the subject of wisdom is like looking at different facets of a diamond and even more so when we add an infinite reference point.

As my co-host Elliott Frisby and I continue our conversation on what it means to define wisdom with respect to the Divine, we face the insight that our secular world conditions us to believe this life is all there is and that is all that matters.

However, the fact is all religious traditions for thousands of years are agreed there is more to life than what we experience in this world. Indeed modern secular belief is out of keeping with much of human thinking since the dawn of time.

It is not possible to make sense of this finite world without an infinite reference point.

Do join us in this conversation as we explore:

The link to the podcast is below.

You can also watch the conversation on video here.

In our quest for wisdom it is vital to grasp that this is much more than simply making better decisions or getting what we think is best for us. Understanding wisdom in all its richness gets to the heart of what it means to be human.

It is as intense as thinking about the wonder of a baby’s birth. While the physiological and genetic details of birth are well understood and documented, a scientific approach does not account for the wonder of bringing a new life into the world. I remember as a medical student witnessing a birth. On one level, this was another of the 130 million born every year into the world. But for me, as a raw eighteen-year-old, it was a profoundly reverent experience.

As the writer Eugene Peterson puts it:

“In the presence of birth we are at the source of life . . . Here is a mystery, but a mystery of light, not darkness, full of goodness, brimming with blessing. Every birth powerfully recalls us to this source: we have our origins in someone other than ourselves, and greater than ourselves.”

There is something of this awe and wonder when we approach the subject of wisdom. It is wisdom that enables us to realise and appreciate we are far more than our own existence and the narrow world we live in with our preoccupations, doubts, fears, insecurities and often petty concerns.

Through wisdom we are invited into an encounter. This is an encounter with the God of the universe – The Ultimate Infinite Intelligence. Not a god of our convenience or that measures up to the best parts of who we aspire to be, but as the One who is more in control than we are and sees way beyond what we can see.

In this podcast discussion with my cohost Elliott Frisby we explore:

The link to the podcast is below.

You can also watch the conversation on video here.