» ancient spiritual paths

Examen of Consciousness

NRCC — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 17:05:01 +0000

This is such an important practice. I hope you have a listen. When our view of God changes, our view of prayer changes. Many simply stop praying… stop having a devotional habit. But that’s just not good for our souls. Better is to go back through history and find ways of “prayer” that feed us in our newly-emerging way of thinking about God. Examen is one of those ancient ways.

Have a listen,
Doug

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Stirring Up Gratitude: Thanksgiving 2011

NRCC — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:42:21 +0000

Gratitude changes us. It makes us happier, healthier, and better people. In this lesson we cite both the ancient wisdom, and current double-blind studies. You’ll be convinced that gratitude will make your life better. However, it’s not easy work. It’s tough! So, we’ll talk about some practical ways to stir thankfulness in our hearts.

Have a listen,
Doug

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Community Making (2)

NRCC — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:47:29 +0000

1 Timothy 6: 7-10

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Community Making (1)

NRCC — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:17:23 +0000

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

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The Ancient Practice of Giving (2)

NRCC — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:19:40 +0000

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

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The Ancient Practice of Giving (1)

NRCC — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 16:01:45 +0000

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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

The Ancient Practice of Watchfulness (2)

NRCC — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:26:40 +0000

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

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The Ancient Practice of Watchfulness (1)

NRCC — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:50:06 +0000

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

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Defying the Crazy-Making Power of Money (3)

NRCC — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 15:53:55 +0000

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

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Defying the Crazy-Making Power of Money (1)

NRCC — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 15:43:25 +0000

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

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