Spirituality Of Everyday Life

The Spirituality of Everyday Life

Transforming ourselves and spiritualizing everyday life

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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;

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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;


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.


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;


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;


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?

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;


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;


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;


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;


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;



• 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;



• 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;



• 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;



• 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;



• 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.


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;


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