ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary for July 30, 2017

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Dear Folks -

In light of the relatively new insights we are getting from science - both from astrophysics and quantum mechanics - how are we to think of prayer? It is a legitimate question and concern. All religions as far as I know stress the importance of prayer. But, to whom are these prayers addressed if there is no “sky god”?

One of the things that can be said with certainty about the historical Jesus is that he prayed. He was also very critical of what prayer had become in his own Jewish religion. I called the talk I offered in Ordinary Life this week -

Disturbed By Joy

It is my effort to offer an evolutionary perspective on the matter of prayer. The recorded talk is quite different from the text of the talk. Also, the talk is enhanced, I think, by the cartoons and photographs that were shown.

You can read the text from which I spoke, find the presentation slides and the audio version of the talk using the links below..

If you are reading this, I want you to know how grateful I am for and to you.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

To read or download the text of the talk, click here.

To view the presentation slides, click here.

To download or listen to the audio of the talk, use the link below.

ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary for July 23, 2017

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Dear Folks -

It is not “what” but “how” we see that matters. If we live in denial of “what is,” we deny ourselves the fullness of life that is available to us. The temptation to live in denial is powerful for life as “it is,” contains places that scare us and times when things fall apart. It is to this that I spoke this week in Ordinary Life. The title I gave the talk is

Alert! But, Not Anxious

In the talk I tried to clarify and elaborate on what is meant by the non-dual concept of living on both the horizontal and vertical planes at the same time.

You can read the text from which I spoke, find the presentation slides and the audio version of the talk by using the links below. The audio version is more expansive than the print version.

If you are reading this, I want you to know how grateful I am for and to you.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

To read or download the text of the talk, click here.

To view the presentation slides, click here.

To download or listen to the audio version of the talk, use the link below.

                   ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary for July 16, 2017

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Dear Folks -

We had a guest speaker, Suzy LaForge from “Amazing Place,” to speak in Ordinary Life this week. Amazing Place is an organization here in Houston that helps individuals and their families with issues of dementia and Alzheimer’s. There is no text of her very helpful talk but you can find the audio version of it on the Ordinary Life website.

I gave the sermon in both the 8:30 and the 11:05 services at St. Paul’s. Both the text and the audio versions can be found using the links below. It is my personal opinion that sermons are not to be read but heard. Nonetheless several people asked for a copy of it and that is why I’m making it available.

You can read the text of the sermon using the link below. You can also download or listen to both the audio of Suzy LaForge's talk as well as the audio of the sermon using links below.

If you are reading this, I want you to know how grateful I am for and to you.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

In order to listen to the audio of Suzy LaForge's talk, use the link below.

In order to read or download the text of the sermon, click here.

In order to hear the audio version of the sermon, use the link below.

           ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary for July 9, 2017

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Dear Folks -

For a good while now I have been basing the talks I offer in Ordinary Life on my study of and reflections on teachings found in The Gospel of Thomas. This is one way I seek to make a contribution to both religious and spiritual literacy. The teaching I referenced this week, though it is in The Gospel of Thomas, actually is from the Greek story-teller Aesop. It raises the issue of how religion and religious leaders can easily be a force for damage rather than good in the world. Though organized religion has done a lot of good in the world, across the centuries and even now, it has also been a source for evil.

In addition to reflecting on this, I used this teaching as an opportunity to give a summary of what the “operating system” is that forms the fabric on which I seek to paint all of the talks I offer in Ordinary Life. I used the title of a book that, though long out of print, is as relevant now as when it was published in the 1950s.

“The Sun and The Umbrella"

You can read the text from which I spoke, find the presentation slides and the audio version of the talk using the links below. The audio version is more expansive than the print version.

If you are reading this, I want you to know how grateful I am for and to you.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

To read or download the print version of the talk, click here.

To view or download the presentation slides, click here.

To listen to or download the audio version of the talk, use the link below.

ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary for July 2, 2017

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Dear Folks -

There have been numerous books written with the title “The Hard Sayings of Jesus.” I think this is funny. In my reading of the teachings of Jesus they are all “hard sayings.” Especially the one that provided the foundation for the talk I offered in Ordinary Life this week.

I start with pointing out how Jesus constantly and consistently overthrew in one way or another the “conventional wisdom” of his time. At no point are his teachings harder to hear and embrace than those he gave about “the family.” He advised us not to get hooked by “family values” and allow ourselves to get distracted from or close down in the process of loving and being love. How are we to do this? By living not just on the horizontal plane but also by living on the vertical axis. We are to walk both paths at the same time. That’s why I gave the talk this title -

"The Way of Paradox"

You can read the text from which I spoke, view the presentation slides and listen to the audio version of the talk using the links below. The audio version is somewhat different from the print version.

If you are reading this, I want you to know how grateful I am for and to you.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

To download or read the text of the talk, click here.

To view the presentation slides, click here.

To listen to the audio of the talk, use the link below.