1 Timothy 6: 7-10
Community Making (2)
Posted in The Crazy-Making Power of Money
Tagged ancient spiritual paths, community, money
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Community Making (1)
The third ancient practice that helps us defy the crazy-making power of money is community making. The link between community-making and being free of money’s crazy-making power is not immediately obvious, so it requires some background. This lesson may stretch your patience with all this background-laying, and it’s sure to offend people who are both politically Left and Right. I think it’s fascinating stuff, but even so…
We’ll get to the spiritual heart of the matter next week.
Have a listen,
Doug
Posted in The Crazy-Making Power of Money
Tagged ancient spiritual paths, community, money
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The Ancient Practice of Giving (2)
Giving as a means to receiving…
Sounds like it misses the point, doesn’t it?
But that’s what we’re saying in this lesson. The proscription of the ancients to be givers has a way of rewiring our instincts; breeding humility and self-forgetfulness, and guiding us, over time, to a deep interior freedom.
It’s counter-intuitive at first, so have a listen.
Doug
Posted in The Crazy-Making Power of Money
Tagged ancient spiritual paths, generosity, money, simplicity
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The Ancient Practice of Giving (1)
I’ve heard sermons all my life about giving. It’s one of the better-known spiritual practices. However, I usually heard the sermon in pretty concrete terms. Give and you will receive… in kind. Give money, and you’ll see how God or the universe is generous with your needs. Give time, and you’ll find that your time is more efficient. It’s a good sermon. What goes around does tend to come around.
However, this lesson comes from a different angle. It talks about how giving rewires our instincts, and can save us from a painful soul-trap; a meaningless life.
Have a listen,
Doug
Posted in The Crazy-Making Power of Money
Tagged ancient spiritual paths, generosity, money, simplicity
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The Ancient Practice of Watchfulness (2)
About 1000 years ago, the Christian Church split into the Eastern Orthodox church and the Western, Latin church. There were a lot of political squabbles behind the split (called The Great Schism), but the main reason had to do with two fundamentally different approaches to spirituality. In simplified terms, the West had a cerebral, philosophical approach to the spiritual journey, while the East had more of a heart approach.
It was a tragic divide, because we need both. It was akin to splitting the human brain into one hemisphere or the other. We need them both!
We in the West need to hear what our Eastern brothers and sisters have to say about spiritual practices… particularly abouthe spiritual discipline we introduced last week; “watchfulness of thoughts.”
Have a listen,
Doug
Posted in The Crazy-Making Power of Money
Tagged ancient spiritual paths, Church history, money, watchfulness of thoughts
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The Ancient Practice of Watchfulness (1)
We’re still on the lesson “Defying the Crazy-Making Power of Money,” but we’re moving now to the practices the ancients have given us to defy that crazy-making power.
Today we begin looking at the ancient discipline of “watchfulness of thoughts.” It’s the means by which we catch our thoughts before they start a chain of events that create the lives we live.
It’s not a difficult practice to do… it’s very difficult to remember to do.
Have a listen,
Doug
Posted in The Crazy-Making Power of Money
Tagged ancient spiritual paths, money, watchfulness of thoughts
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Defying the Crazy-Making Power of Money (3)
During these introductory lessons in our “Crazy-Money” lesson, we’ve seen sometimes amusing examples of how money-troubles are usually heart-troubles, and how money-obsessions are a portals into the condition of the soul.
Today, we finish looking at the variants of crazy that money does to us. Once we finish, we’ll turn to several ancient spiritual paths that help us move beyond the craziness.
Have a listen,
Doug
Posted in The Crazy-Making Power of Money
Tagged ancient spiritual paths, anxiety, fear, money
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Defying the Crazy-Making Power of Money (2)
We continue looking at how our quirky ways about money can act as a portals into an understanding of our hearts. For a long time our nation’s economic situation allowed us to satisfy our thing-obsessions when they came up. We didn’t call them “obsessions,” we called them “consumer confidence.” But now, we can’t as easily satisfy those drives when they come up. What do we do with that?
In this lesson we’ll think about the similarities between fasting, and the current economic crisis.
Have a listen,
Doug
Defying the Crazy-Making Power of Money (1)
We begin a new lesson today about how money makes us crazy… or how it reveals the crazy we already are.
If you’ve been following the news, you realize that anxiety is in the air during these economically troubled times. We’re afraid. We’re angry. We’re churning and grinding. We’re a lot of things… Peaceful and Free, not among them.
Money, it turns out, is a very spiritual subject. How we relate to it turns out to be a powerful diagnostic tool, revealing some of our deeper instincts and beliefs… about ourselves, God, the universe, and life.
Have a listen. I hope we can find peace in this economically troubled time.
Doug
Posted in The Crazy-Making Power of Money
Tagged ancient spiritual paths, anxiety, fear, money
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9/11: The 10-Year Anniversary
Today, we revisit a lesson given 10 years ago, in the raw aftermath of the terrorist attacks on our nation. In it, we conclude that in a world of transience and trouble, the question before us is how we shall live.
Nobly. Honestly. Graciously. From our Divine Centers.
It was true then. It’s still true today.
Have a listen,
Doug
Posted in Individual Lesson
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