Hints and Guesses

The second installment of, Stuff that Helps!  This week we'll look at the work of Joanna Macy.  I'd like to focus on her way of describing transformation and change.  And personally, I'd like to talk about the relationship between grief and change.  Her work is extensive, so this is just a taste (more than an hour's worth).  I hope this helps!

I’m very excited to talk about, Stuff that Helps! (Updated Version) Ideas, people, books, maps, etc. have shaped who I am and I think you'll find them helpful too.  This first episode is rooted in Richard Rohr's work on the initiated (male) adult.  In other words, what does a healthy adult look like?  His focus is on healthy adult males, something we obviously need in this crazy culture we live in, but I think his ideas move beyond gender roles.  Anyway, I hope this stuff helps.  For futher reading, check out Rohr's book Adam's Return.  Enjoy

How can we be people of responsibility, action, vision and courage? How can we be "Warriors for the Human Spirit" (Margret Wheatley)? In this episode I wonder how we might turn our attention toward the painful and difficult realities of our culture in the midst of yet another tragedy, as leaders interested in a more generative future.  

In this episode I take a closer look at the different levels of consciousness hidden in the story of Jonah. This might have something to do with Jesus’ cryptic line about no sign being given, “except the sign of Jonah.” In any case, the invitation at the heart of this mytho-poetic story is more urgent than ever. Enjoy.

Back by popular demand, Paul and Kent sit down for an unscripted chat.  We discuss our age of Narcissism and Nihilism, how we played a role in electing our president, and the deep need to tune into other frequencies if there is any way out of this mess.  

What wants to be born in the soul during the darkest time of year? What Christ consciousness, what seed of your own soul, what gift, what child, what is pregnant again, waiting to bring forth a sacred vision of life in a world consuming itself to death?  Merry Christmas everyone.  

This podcast was recorded in Jerusalem, in the middle of a seemingly unworkable situation. Rather than attempting to offer solutions like every other talking head, I wonder how the stalemate, or the status quo, might just be the fertile ground for the needed shift in consciousness. I’m reminded of Jesus’ teaching that new wine needs new wine skins, and that trying to shove the complex new reality of the middle east into old narratives, or old ways of thinking, seems to ruin everything. This episode is more like a prayer that some imaginative dreamers will emerge in middle of all this suffering whose consciousness is no longer dominated by tribal affiliations, who use their gods to defend violence and who scapegoat any "other." One can hope.

This final episode on the soul feels more like a starting place than a definitive ending. I attempt a definition of soul using poetry and image, and I also turn to an old favorite, Mary Oliver, for some help. In the end, I hope something of your own inner voice, or depth, or truer self, or soul comes a bit more out of hiding.

In this episode I explore the question of soul again by taking a brief look at the words ego, soul and spirit, referencing the work of Bill Plotkin.  I discuss the needed task of ego growth (growing more whole) as well as the invitation of transcendence and “inscendence,” the upward pull of spirit and downward descent of soul.  Because these things are difficult to discuss and are best approached symbolically, I end with a David Whyte poem.

I'm starting a three part series on the soul, what is it and why it matters.  In this episode I discuss certain life patterns that deepen the question and pursuit of soul.  I also take a look at the origins of the word itself.  And most importantly I look at the archetypal temptations of Jesus as a necessary wilderness in his own soul initiation and how that relates to our unique predicament.  I end with Dante and his opening line, which is a line about the descent to soul.