Healing Toxic Masculinity

Men who exhibit toxic “Me Two” behavior are not just predators, but victims, says leadership coach and spiritual teacher Wendy C. Williams.

They are victims that unconsciously act out society’s unacknowledged expectations for their gender. Because of these unspoken norms, they subjugate both women and the female aspect of themselves. They simply haven’t learned to express emotions in appropriate ways, she says.

 

“As a society, we’ve put men in a box that says that in order to be masculine, you have four acceptable emotional states: angry, neutral, happy (for short periods of time and for good reasons), and sad (for short periods of time and for good reasons). Men are not allowed to otherwise express themselves, and if they do,” they’re vilified.

 

“The fact that woman are not safe in society is related to this topic. What I see happening in society is that there is an unspoken societal norm that says that certain bad behavior by men should not be talked about, acknowledged or punished. That’s why the Me Too movement is so radical and polarizing.”

 

In this podcast, Williams shares how taking an inventory of her own relationships with men broadened her understanding of the difference between what she calls Divine Masculinity and Toxic Masculinity.  

 

She shares her belief that this is a “humanity problem,” and not just a male one. 

 

“Work needs to be done by both men and women. Women need to be stronger and step out of the victim role.” They also “need to stop supporting ridiculous social norms for men that are both inappropriate and harmful.”

Links:

• this interview on YouTube
• Wendy C. William’s site 
• The Sacred Inclusion Network’s site
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Sound, Healing and Spirit

Musician Jonathan Adams eight years ago was suddenly stricken with a crippling form of depression and anxiety. It was then he discovered a new way of experiencing music and sound. Instead of using these tools to entertain others, he used them instead to  calm himself down. Over time, he realized that music and sound could became a gateway of transformation and a means for expanding consciousness.

For the past several years, Adams has become less of a performer and more of teacher and sound therapist.  His passion these days is helping others use sound and music for healing and spiritual upliftment.

In this podcast, Adams (aka, The Sonic Yogi) shares his origin story, the concept of brain wave entrainment, and how sound and music are used in religious and spiritual traditions. “Nearly every culture and many if not all of  religious traditions use some sort of sound” as a way to transform consciousness,“ he says.

"The first form of brain wave entrainment was drumming. Indigenous cultures around the world have used drumming as a ceremonial act to get the brain to a different place.”

In addition to explaining how sound and music affect the brain, Adams here shares an original composition, improvises with drum and Tibetan bells, and explains  how  certain frequencies stimulate the focal points in the subtle body or chakras. 

Adams started his career as a professional musician, recording albums for classical guitar with albums for Pamplin, Intersound Records and his own label.

As the Sonic Yogi, he’s put his focus into the exploration of the healing potential of music, and has given talks and workshops on  sound therapy at Tedx, national spiritual living conferences and elsewhere. His vibrational sound therapy tracks can be streamed on Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, Youtube and the Insight Timer app.

Links:

• The Sonic Yogi website
• Adams on YouTube
• The Sacred Inclusion Network's site
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Can you decipher this acronym? (Hint: it’s political)

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Indigenous Spirituality, New Age Spirituality

Is there anything in common between how indigenous people experience of esoteric, spiritual phenomena and the contemporary New Agers who presume to be their heirs?

If anyone is qualified to begin to answer this question it’s Michael F. Brown, a cultural anthropologist who’s done a deep dive into both of these worlds. 

Back in the mid-1970s, Brown spent a year living with the Awajún also known as the Aguaruna),an indigenous people of the Peruvian jungle, whose ancestors had a reputation as fearsome headhunters and whose cosmology includes beliefs in shamanism and sorcery. 

Peru’s Shining Path insurgency in the 1980s forced Brown to refocus his work elsewhere, to the study of the New Age phenomena of channeling, which was peaking around this time. Just as he immersed himself among the Awajún, Brown spent a season with the channels, their clients and audience. He documented what he discovered in his aptly titled book, The Channeling Zone: American Spirituality in an Anxious Age. 

In this wide-ranging conversation, Brown discusses his fieldwork in both of these milieu; sorcery and shamanism among the Awajún, cultural appropriation;  and the work of the School for Advanced Research (SAR). where he’s been president since 2014. 

SAR advances creative thought and innovative work in the social sciences, humanities, and Native American arts.

Links:

• Michael F. Brown’s blog and Upriver site
• School for Advanced Research
• The Sacred Inclusion Network’s site
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Talking Across Differences (free Saturday online event): http://bit.ly/talkdiff

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Talking Across Difference

When I confessed to Jim Brown that I routinely block the loudest political voices from my Facebook stream, he told me that my approach was misguided and that I should engage them instead.Brown, who facilitates our Saturday Online Community Exploration, is one of a growing number of bridge-builders who thinks it’s high time, as the title of his book opines, to end our uncivil war. He’ll share how he came to this point of view, how he manages the minefield of social media, and strategies to bridge the them-versus-us divide.It’s an undisputed fact that there’s a higher degree of polarization than ever before. Differences in Ideology, race, and religion mean that many people live in “look-like-me” or “think-like me” silos: crossing divides only when forced to do so. This polarization exists not just in the United States but across the globe, from Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil to Boris Johnson’s United Kingdom to Recept Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey. Jim Brown and a growing numbers of individuals and organizations are working to reverse this trend. Groups like Better Angels bring people together across partisan divides, while AllSides seeks to cover news from all sides of the political spectrum.In our podcast interview, Brown talks about the four strategies he favors to bridge them-versus us divides: service commitment, spiritual renewal, scholastic independence and systematic government reform. This Saturday, we’ll focus on the first two strategies plus practice how to depolarize potentially polarized situations. I hope you’ll join us.You can learn more about Brown by going to his website.Here’s how to participate this Saturday.When: Saturday, January 18, 11 AM EST. Check your timezone here.Where: Online, see belowHow to Participate:

Preregister: Send us a blank email for priority access OR
Show up “at the door” by joining us online: https://zoom.us/j/293138919 at exploration time or  Or iPhone one-tap :
Or iPhone one-tap :US: +16699006833,,293138919# or +16465588656,,293138919# Or Telephone:Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 293 138 919International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/apPbvogYK

Here’s hoping to see you online,

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In our them-versus-us culture, is it possible to "love one another" anymore? For Jim Brown, the answer is "yes." Find out about a free event to explore this more..

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Moving Beyond Them-Versus-Us

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Improvisation and Spirituality: Beginnings

Back in 2013, Ted DesMaisons assembled a group of improvisors at a San Francisco Zen monastery to explore the many connections between spirituality and improvisation. Before long there was a worldwide group of people who were tracing the same pathways that DesMaisons and his colleagues explored during that Bay area event.Many were part of the improvisation community, and included people who saw improvisation as a practice that transcended its theatrical roots. And some were part of what Time magazine’s January 2014 cover story dubbed the “mindfulness revolution,” and were using mindfulness to help them rewire and channel their emotions.As this post points out, there are several points of intersection between mindfulness practice and improvisation: Perhaps the most obvious is their joint emphasis on being present, or in the moment. Another is the importance of embracing uncertainty and observing what’s present without trying to change it.Other points of intersection, which I think are more apparent in improvisation than in conventional solo mindfulness practice, are interdependence, and the spirit of Lila or divine play. In my podcast interview with DesMaisons last year, we explored the idea that improvisation was not merely a way to enhance meditation practice but a way of enhancing our ability to live life to the fullest. This spring, in scenic Sonoma County, we’ll give participants a number of ways to do just that, drawing from the traditions of contemplative practice and improvisational theater. If you register for our event before January 15th, you’ll receive a 15% discount by selecting Early Bird on checkout.We’ll also send you a signed copy of Ted’s new book, Playful Mindfulness. Plus, if you live in the Bay area, and recruit two or more workshop participants to do this with you, one of us one of us will come to your home or site to facilitate a post-conference integration event. The residential workshop will be held at Bishop’s Ranch, a lovely retreat and conference center nestled in a spot amidst the lush valleys, redwood forests, organic farms and world-class vineyards of Sonoma County, about 85 miles north of San Francisco.Workshop tuition includes lodging and meals, Some of the food served will be grown on the ranch property itself, and may include recipes featured in Bishop’s Ranch’s cookbook, The Abundant Table.You can find more information by going to our event site. Here’s hoping to see you in northern California in Spring.

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A Transgender Journey

Growing up in a traditional southern church, Christina King quickly learned that she wasn’t accepted. That’s because her church saw her and people like her as anathema:  living embodiments of sin. King at an early age knew that she was a transgender woman.

But to verbalize how she felt about herself wouldn’t have been received kindly by her conservative Lutheran Missouri Synod congregation. Their attitudes were informed by the so-called “clobber passages,” verses some use to justify the belief that any deviance from heterosexual norms is sinful.

King spent much of her youth estranged from the church. She came to a place, she said, “where she had to be herself or kill herself.” That separation was painful because even though she felt ostracized, a part of her missed the congregation’s sense of community.

Her estrangement ended because of the influence of a pastor at  the First Lutheran Church of Galesburg, Illinois, the city she moved to after growing up in the south. This pastor accepted Christina for who she was, but also encouraged her to reach out to others who because of their LGBTQ+ orientation had felt victimized by the church.

King did so and shortly after the 2016 presidential election started a group called Safe Space.  The group has been meeting regularly since then.

In this podcast, King shares her evolution as a transgender woman, common misconceptions people have about trans people, and how a life of prayer helps her stay upbeat in a challenging political climate.

King last year was named Miss Trans Illinois.

Links: 

• The Sacred Inclusion Network's site
• Provoked by this episode? Record a response!
• Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!

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Improvisation, Spirituality and Me

As a long time meditation practitioner, I’d had begun to suspect that there was something missing from my practice. What I was doing each morning felt a bit too solemn, private, and serious. It lacked what Hindus call Lila, or divine and joyous play. What was missing was revealed to me unexpectedly two summers ago when I met Jules Munns and Heather Urquhart of the London-based improv company, The Nursery. As part of a conference I was attending, Munns and  Urquhart led us each morning through a series of improv exercises. The icebreaker-type activities brought an element of  high play and spontaneity to the more serious proceedings of the conference.In my later conversations with Munns and Urquhart over the breaks between conference activities, it began to dawn on me that the aims of improvisation and the mindfulness practices were complementary. Each emphasizes an intense focus on the present moment, explores interdependence and paradox, and - albeit in different ways - provides a vehicle through which to explore the Shadow, that unconscious aspect of ourselves. Although you have to squint to find it, certain forms of improvisation can be found in a range of spiritual practices, mostly involving movement. For example, meditation teacher Shinzen Young, the author of The Science of Enlightenment, has a system of “auto-think,” “auto-chance” and “auto-walk” exercises which are formal means of uncovering spontaneity. Similar activities can be found in certain forms of qigong, the Chinese mind-body-spirit practice, and in the the Japanese art of katsugen or spontaneous, regenerative movement. What separates improvisation from these practices – and indeed from most forms of spiritual exercise – is its emphasis on fun.  Although sages of most faith traditions encourage us not to take ourselves too seriously, the “too-serious” disease seems built into many devotional or contemplative activities.  As June Maffin writes in the Soulistry blog, “Like prayer, laughter and play can be healing to the body, mind and soul. Laughter and play are holy things When we play, we leave behind the daily stressors and allow our spirit to breathe and re-create.” With this perspective in mind, I’ve joined forces with Ted DesMaisons and Cindy Franklin to create Yes to Life!: The Improvisation and Spirituality Weekend. It’ll take place March 13-15 at the beautiful Bishop’s Ranch retreat and conference center in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco.The three of us are very excited about this and hope you'll join us. Read more about what we have in mind by going to our event site. And register by January 15th to get our best rate. Get our best rate by selecting Early Bird during checkout (you must register before January 15th).We’ll send you a signed copy of Ted’s new book, Playful Mindfulness. If you live in the Bay Area and recruit two or more workshop participants to do this with you, one of us one of us will come to your home or site to facilitate a post-conference integration event. Want to gift someone an experiential gift? Drop us a note at info@divspirit.comafter you register and give us the person’s name.  We’ll then send you a gift certificate. Hoping to see you in Sonoma County in Spring! Angelo

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Special Holiday Online Community Exploration - Receive and Give Blessings.

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"On Friendship" - Prose for Thanksgiving Day.⠀ http://bit.ly/37PGuyy

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"On Friendship" - From Notes for a New Age

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So keep on, keepin’ on😎

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Guided talk about death tomorrow bit.ly/exploredeath

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Sacred Inclusion Sampler: Volume One

Selected excerpts from some of the best interviews in the first three seasons of the Sacred Inclusion Network podcast.

> UK political activist and United Reformed Church Elder Mark Argent on the deeper meaning behind the rise of Donald Trump and Brexit.

> Former Black Panther party leader and spiritual activist Ericka Huggins on learning to meditate while in solitary confinement

> Rev. Yvette Flunder on the one quality that all people of color, LBGPQ+ and all marginalized people share.

>  Sacred Design Lab’s Casper ter Kuile on how Millennials find meaning

>  Buddhist poet Diana Goesche reads her poem, Black People Can’t Swim.

Excerpted from:

• Spirituality, Sexuality and the Meaning of Trump Brexit
• Social Activism and Spiritual Practice
• The Radically Inclusive Ministry of Yvette Flunder
• How Millennials Find Meaning
• The Poet, the Buddhist, the Trans Warrior

Other Links:

• The Sacred Inclusion Network's site
• Provoked by this episode? Record a response!
• Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!

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Let's talk about death this Saturday... http://bit.ly/2NAZVTk

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Our Exploration about "Isms" is tomorrow

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"Isms": Yours and Mine

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"Isms": Yours and Mine

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Spirituality and Earth-based Feminism

Walking the conventional path was only briefly in the cards for Staci Bodin, who these days proudly calls herself a “mama-bear, life-guide energy teacher.”

While in law school 25 years ago, it didn’t take long for Bodin to realize that she was less interested in legalism, then following in the footsteps of people like Starhawk, a pioneer of the goddess movement and earth-based feminism. 

So she dropped out of law school and enrolled in the California Institute of Integral Studies’ master’s degree program in women’s spirituality. She later became a certified Doula, studied non-ordinary states consciousness training through the Center for Sacred Studies, and established a counseling and facilitation career focused on helping people integrate the spiritual with the practical. 

In this podcast, Bodin talks about earth-based spirituality, the contrast between talk therapy and energy work, and the role of ceremony in transformation and healing.

Bodin is the author of Turning Dead Ends into Doorways: How to Grow through Whatever Life Throws Your Way.

Links:

• Staci’s site
• Her book
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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Finding Spirituality in Business

Clients of business trainer and consultant Mark Silver seek to achieve business success by integrating spiritual principles in their pursuit of profit. They want to change the paradigm of business so that it doesn’t incorporate the negative aspects of extreme capitalism, such as the disregarding of social consequences, income inequality, and exploitation of labor.

As he explains in this podcast, the mission of Silver’s Heart of Business (HOB) company is to support spiritually grounded marketing and business people who want to run a small business in a way that isn’t slimy or insincere.

Although he’s a fourth generation entrepreneur, it wasn’t until he began his studies in Islamic Sufism two decades ago that he truly understood that business isn’t something that needs to be separate from spirituality. Prior to that, he’d been attempting to apply New Age principles to his business, but that approach really wasn’t working for him.

About that time, he encountered Dr. Ibrahim Jaffee, the renown physician, Sufi, and pioneer of Medical Spiritual Healing  “Yes, we can use this (work) for physical healing,” Jaffee explained, “but we can also use it for relationships, for groups and …for business.” What he learned from Jaffee, other Sufi teachers, and his lived experience formed the basis of Silver’s Heart of Business.

In this podcast, Silver explains what he’s learned in the eighteen years since he founded his company, HOB’s evolution from a primarily fixed-fee enterprise to a “pay from the heart” practice, and Silver thoughts on the destiny of Islam.

Links:

• Heart of Business
• Dr. Ibrham Jaffee’s site
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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This Saturday, explore the connection between art and spirituality...

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Quick Reminder: Explore Spirituality and Art Saturday: bit.ly/spiritart

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This Saturday, explore the connection between spirituality and creativity: http://bit.ly/33u9Fos

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Someone has fussy kids.

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The Wounded Leader

Ten years ago, Laura Tucker participated in the now infamous Spiritual Warrior retreat in which three people died. These deaths lead to the conviction of the retreat’s leader, James Allen Ray, of three counts of negligent homicide, and became a case study of the excesses of charismatic leadership. The story of that infamous event is chronicled in the CNN documentary, “Enlighten Us: The Rise and Fall of James Arthur Ray.”

A leadership coach, Tucker here talks about what she learned from the incident, how to recognize authentic forms of leadership, and the forces that might cause well-intentioned charismatic individuals to veer to the dark side. 

Although it’s easy to ghettoize the Ray’s behavior as specific to New Age or self-help communities, Tucker reminds us that inappropriate leadership exists everywhere, and is endemic in political, religious and corporate life.  “We all have the capacity to slide down the continuum from authentic leadership to the egotistic, hubristic kind,” she says. 

In addition to sharing her beliefs about leadership, Tucker here talks about how her practice of self-care helped ease her passage back to post-retreat life, how encouraging others to practice self-care is central to her coaching practice, and her newest project, “The Summer of Self Care.”

Links:

• Laura’s site
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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At the Charles Wang Center for the Applied Improvisation Network Conference

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Selfie !! At Charles Wang center for the Applied Improvisation Network conference

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At the Applied Improvisation Network conference

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The inimitable Thiagi (www.thiagi.com). Proud to declare him to be one of my mentors. True genius.

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Healer, playwright and activist

Peruvian Miguel Angel Pimentel is a theater director, a playwright and human writes activist, who is also a traditional Andean healer, or “paco.” In this podcast, he shares the thread that unites these pursuits, explains how he views play and creativity as part of his spiritual path and expands on the importance of theater as a means of creating community. Pimentel’s current project is the creation of a forum to bring these threads together in his native city of Cuzco, Peru. The community forum he envisions will include both indigenous and non-indigenous people.

Links:

• Email: miguelpipa@gmail.com
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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My conversation with Jess Lederman, author and former atheist

My conversation with Jess Lederman, author and former atheist

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An Atheist's Conversion

When he was young, Jess Lederman was an atheist and thought people who believed in God were fools. But one day, his wife heard a radio interview with Francis Collins, the eminent geneticist and devout Christian who like the Ledermans spent the earlier part of his life as a nonbeliever.

Lederman in some respects followed the same path that Collins walked by reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. He delved deeper by reading and the works of George MacDonald, the 19th century Scottish author, who was one of Lewis’ mentors. MacDonald’s writings had the same effect on Lederman as they had on Lewis. They formed the groundwork for his conversion to Christianity.

In this podcast, Lederman traces his religious journey and the factors that led him to write his new book, Hearts Set Free. The characters in the book wrestle with many of the issues that he’s wrestled with: the reconciliation of science and religion, the journey from doubt to faith, and the practical implications of living life as Christians.

Links:

• Jess Lederman’s site
• The works of George MacDonald
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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• Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!

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My mom on her birthday: 95 years young!!

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What language is this?

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My answer to As a coach, what material do you bring to prepare for your sessions? http://bit.ly/2Eo5mjO

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Improvisation and Mindfulness

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Flowers for the Queen of my Heart..,

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Improvisation and Mindfulness

One of the founders of the improvisation and mindfulness movement talks about improvisation as a life practice, the connection between spiritual practice and improvisation. and what it means to live an improvised life.

Back in 2013, Ted DesMaisons assembled a group of improvisors at a San Francisco Zen monastery to explore the many connections between spirituality and improvisation. That event helped spawn the creation of a worldwide coalition of mindfulness improvisors and an array of improv-based practices for enhancing mindfulness.

In this podcast, DesMaison explains why some people have difficulty improvising, the importance of play for both spiritual practice and improvisation, and why the appreciation of mystery is central to both. He also shares the improvised path that led him from teaching English to becoming a professional improvisor, shares his own definition of spirituality, and plays a live improv “word-at-a-time” activity.

“We’re improvising all the time,” DesMaisons says. “Why not learn to do it well?”

DesMaisons is the author of the new book, Playful Mindfulness and the founder of Anima Learning. He holds an MTS from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University. He’s taught mindfulness with renown meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn, taught and performed improvisation internationally, and studied acting and voice with Patsy Rodenburg.

Links:

• Anima Learning business site
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
• Provoked by this episode? Record a response!
• Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!

 

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Religion in an Increasingly Secular World

What does society lose when religion no longer is a safe topic for discussion in public spaces? How has the role of religion changed in parts of the world that are increasingly secular? What are the unexpected consequences of laws designed to prevent discrimination based on religious preferences?

These questions are explored by Coreene Archer and Mark Argent, two UK-based organizational development consultants with deep roots in faith traditions. Although they both understand why governments feel compelled to pass religious nondiscriminatory laws, they believe such laws have unexpected consequences.

“Faith for me and lots of people is a core value,” says Archer, Principal Leadership Coach and Organisational Development Consultant at the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations. “To have to have a work face and a private face is a bit of a shame. It damages all of us if we’re hidden and can’t speak to who and what we are.”

“Carl Jung came up with the very useful idea that progress in the West has come about at the expense of our ability to feel,” says Argent, a spiritual director, organization development consultant, and Elder in the UK's United Reformed Church. “If you compare the West with bits of the world that are often described as underdeveloped, you see something very rich going on (in these less developed countries) that we’ve sort of lost sight of. There’s a price we’re paying for our technological progress.”

In this podcast, Archer and Argent talk about their faith traditions, challenges of working both in secular and faith organizations, and their sense as how religion plays out in the public sphere.

Links:

• Mark Argent’s site
• Coreene Archer at the Tavistock Institute
• “Religion: Hard to Talk About” event
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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Teaching diversity as Miss North Dakota (and beyond)

Rosie Nestingin is an African-American woman who grew up in North Dakota, one of the whitest states in the U.S.  Because she grew up in a multiracial household, and went to daycare with international children, she was shocked to discover that hers was one of the only black faces in her elementary school. As a result of this, she began at an early age to start to observe, respond and dispel false assumptions others made about her based on her appearance. From a very early age, she became, in effect, an exemplar of inclusion,  teaching her classmates and teachers what she had already learned about diversity growing up.

After graduating college, she won the title of Miss North Dakota. Her platform was “Celebrate Diversity: One Nation, All People,” and she she spent a year traveling throughout the state, carrying the message of inclusion. In this podcast, she shares some of the insights she gleaned during this process.

Nestingin credits her deeply religious parents with instilling her with a commitment to welcoming everyone with love.  These days, she  continues to embrace and extend this commitment, while at the same time forging a spiritual path.

Links:

• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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Jules Munns on Improvisation Jules Munns, the Artistic...

Jules Munns on Improvisation

Jules Munns, the Artistic Director of the UK’s Nursery talks about improvisation in a presentation for the Diversity and Spirituality Network’s monthly online community exploration. Munns is one of three facilitators of Waking Up! The Improvisation and Spirituality Weekend, to be held in the UK in spring 2019. http://bit.ly/wakeupimprov
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"What Color is Your Soul?"

Cultural Agility Strategist Niambi Jaha-Echols talks about the roots of racism, why it’s historically been difficult to dismantle, and the role of ancestral healing in curing its wounds. 

Racism, Jaha-Echols says, is a sickness that can’t be cured by that operating on the same vibrational level of its cause. Eradicating it requires understanding its causes, engaging in ancestral healing, and a willingness to embrace that part of us that is vested in spiritual healing and reconciliation.

Author of the new book, What Color is Your Soul, Jaha-Echols here describes her childhood, what led her to found the African-American girl-power Butterfly Movement, and the influence of Native American spirituality on her understanding of ancestral healing.

Jaha-Echols is the principal of Cross-Cultural Agility, LLC,  the author of Project Butterfly, Inspiring The Souls of Our Girls, and her new book, What Color is Your Soul.

Links:

• Niambi’s main site 
• Her business site
• The Butterfly Movement
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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How Millennials Find Meaning

When Casper ter Kuile and Angie Thurston began their research on their fellow Millennials in 2014, they discovered there were a lot of people who were just like them. Like many of the people they interviewed, neither were affiliated with traditional houses of worship. ter Kuile was a former activist who’d grown up in a secular household, while Thurston was deeply influenced by the Urantia Book, a spiritual and philosophical book popular in New Age circles.

They and the people they studied were members of what demographers have labeled “the nones,” or people who said they had no religious affiliation. According to some studies, the number of Americans ages 18 to 29 who had no religious affiliation has nearly quadrupled in the last 30 years. 

But, as ter Kuile and Thurston discovered, Millennial disdain for traditional religion didn’t mean they’d abandoned the search for belonging and meaning. Instead, many were getting their spiritual needs met within secular organizations, many of which served roughly the same function as traditional churches.

But in a larger sense, ter Kuile said, “nothing has changed” in terms of people’s need to fulfill their religious or spiritual needs. “The way it’s expressed and the cultural context is changing.”

ter Kuile here shares his own story, what he and his colleagues discovered in their research, and his thoughts on what traditional religious institutions can do to support this emerging landscape.

Links:

• How We Gather - home of a series of reports created by ter Kuile and his colleagues
• Casper ter Kuile’s website
• The OnBeing Project
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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The Diversity and Spirituality Network has been around (more or...

The Diversity and Spirituality Network has been around (more or less) since 1996. Because the group’s leaders wanted to move in a more “spiritual” direciton, they considered changing it’s name. This video explains our decision.

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The Dark Night of Soul

Just before the Dark Night came calling, Fiona Robertson felt she was on top of the world. She was the co-founder of an award winning health project, had a charismatic new boyfriend, and felt more physically fit than any time in her life.

Yet in quiet moments she felt that something wasn’t quite right. The material success she’d achieved wasn’t really giving her peace. Within a relatively short time, a series of circumstances occurred that undermined her carefully constructed sense of self-esteem.

“Becoming the person I had believed I should be did not bring about the happiness or contentment I had imagined it would, simply because it wasn’t who I really was,” she writes in her new book, The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence.

Robertson here shares how she navigated the spiritual crisis first described in a poem by St. John of the Cross. She explains how the process involves the disintegration of a false self that masks fear and unworthiness, and the emergence of a mature, stable and integrated true self. She describes what she’s learned by comparing her experiences with those of a group she calls her amam cara, a group of friends and associates who’ve also experienced the Dark Night of the Soul. 

Links: 

• Book site
• Robertson’s main site
• Wikipedia’s description of the Dark Night of the Soul
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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Facing Death Without Religion

How do non-religious people – which now comprise nearly 30% of the American population – face the coming of death? That’s the subject of Dr. Christel Manning’s John Templeton Foundation-funded research project.

Although a fair amount is known about how religious people face the certainty of their demise, relatively little is known how non-religious people do. This category, which religious studies scholars refer to as “the nones,” now comprises 27% of the population, up from about 7% in the 1980s.

Unlike their religious contemporaries, this group lacks the powerful set of stories, symbols and rituals that have for generations characterized the predominate American approach to dealing with dying. This group instead relies on different types of what Manning refers to as “maps of meaning.” These might include the sense-making that comes from personal growth narratives gained from such processes such as engaging in a 12-step program or therapy after surviving a divorce.

In this podcast, Manning describes her own belief-system journey; what is currently known about how aging people in general approach the coming of death; and the new types of secular rituals that are emerging to help non-religions people become more comfortable with death and dying.  

• Manning’s faculty page
• Her research project’s description
• Death Cafe website
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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Improvisation and Spiritual Practice

For Jules Munns, the art of improvisation he’s devoted his life to is much more than simply a type of theatrical performance. Improv, he says, is  as an activity that helps people uncover previously hidden aspects of their selves and thus become more fully human.

Munns here explores the notion of improvisation as spiritual practice. Just as is the aim of passive meditation, improvisation helps practitioners achieve mindfulness, awakening and a connection to a larger Mystery and deeper meaning. In addition, it helps practitioners do something that most forms of mediation do not: connect and interact with others in surprising and unscripted ways. 

Munns is the co-Artistic Director of the Nursery Theater and the founder of Slapdash International, London’s longest running festival of improvisation. He’s also a performing member of the Maydays, an award-winning improvised comedy company with bases in Brighton and London. One of the UK’s most prolific improv teachers and actors, he's  performed and taught at festivals across the UK and in countries including the US, Pakistan, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Finland. 

Links: 

• The Maydays 
• The Nursery Theater
• Jules Munns Site
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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True dat!

True dat!

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I stand with my indigenous brothers and sisters, whose legacy...

I stand with my indigenous brothers and sisters, whose legacy endures despite Trails of Tears and attempts to disappear them from their country’s memory… (at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian)
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My new thrift store kicks! Even though they were a bit too big,...

My new thrift store kicks! Even though they were a bit too big, had to have them. Put a new insole on these babies and a little shoe-stretch stuff on them, and let them walk my body around. Italian leather, square front. Jello’s in the house! (at Lambertville, New Jersey)
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The One Thing that all women, POC, LGBT and all...

The One Thing that all women, POC, LGBT and all “marginalized” people share… ( listen to the entire podcast here: https://radiopublic.com/the-podcast-of-the-diversity-and-GqzL4P/ep/s1!db096 )

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The Radically Inclusive Ministry of Yvette Flunder

It was a gradual process that led the young Yvette Flunder to question the tenets of the United Church of Christ in which she was born and raised. She couldn’t reconcile her emerging beliefs with her church’s patriarchal orientation and its emphasis on preparing adherents for the next world rather than addressing the injustices and inadequacies of this one. She also realized she never again could call herself a member of a church that completely rejected  same-gender-loving people such as herself.

Bishop Flunder here traces the path that led her to become a visionary religious leader with a mission of tending to the spiritual needs of marginalized people around the world, particularly those of African-American descent. She speaks of her vision of radical inclusion,which she believes requires an equally radical social ministry reaching to the furthest margins of society to serve all in need without prejudice or discrimination.

“The greatest mistake at the Christian church has ever made was to put a back cover on the book, to somehow suggest that we could make a manual out of the living word of God,” she said.

Reverend Flunder is  the founder and senior pastor of the City of Refugee United Church of Christ in Oakland, California. In 2003, she was appointed Presiding Bishop of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, a multi-denominational coalition of over 56 churches and faith-based organizations from all over the world. She’s also the author of Where the Edge Gathers: A Theology of Homiletic Radical Inclusion.

Links:

• City of Refuge United Church of Christ
• Fellowship of Affirming Ministries
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
• Record a response to this episode
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Creating Communities of Choice

Organization Development Robert Leventhal explains why there’s a decline in synagogue and church attendance, how congregations can reverse this trend, and his thoughts on next generation engagement strategies. 

According to Leventhal, external force fields make it necessary for churches and synagogues to change to remain relevant to a new generation. Synagogues in particular can no longer be content to be ethnic enclaves but instead must evolve to be more outward facing and responsive to the needs of potential new members.

A former sales and management consultant, Leventhal for the past two decades has had a synagogue consulting practice that has worked with organizations that include Yeshiva University, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and the UJA Federation of New York. Previously a consultant with the Alban Institiute, he’s now the  Kehilla Leadership Specialist for the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the largest network of Conservative Jewish congregations in the world.

Leventhal is the author of Byachad: Synagogue Board Development and Stepping Forward: Synagogue Visioning and Planning. 

Links:

• About Robert Leventhal
• UNCJ 
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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Flame Wars in Spiritual Spaces

During the summer of 2018, what happened behind the scenes of two online events exposed the painful fact that the wound of race is as present in the spiritual space as anywhere else. The run-up to both of these events sparked heated flame wars, contested on one side by white women with a history of promoting progressive causes and on the other side primarily by woman of color who perceived these events as reeking what some described as cultural appropriation and others described as racism masked by privilege.

One woman who described herself as triggered by these events is Wendy C. Williams, an African-American spiritual life coach and energy healer. In this podcast, Williams reflects on what went down during the run-up to ill-fated Urban Priestess Summit and Danielle LaPorte's Lighter program, lessons that each group might learn from their participation in the flame wars, the psychology of triggering and appropriate ways to react.

Williams also talks about growing up in a Jehovah’s Witness household, the emerging agency of African-American women, and how to harness spiritual power. In addition to having practiced spiritual counseling for the past decade, Williams has a degree in counseling psychology and has lived internationally.

Links: 

• Wendy’s site 
• Facebook background on the Urban Priestess Summit
• Facebook background on Lighter
• Diversity and Spirituality Network’s site
• Record a response to this episode
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The Poet, the Buddhist, the Transsexual

Esteemed poet Diana Goetsche talks about anti-gay and anti-trans attitudes within the American Buddhist community, how people fiercely protect the gender divide, and how her Vajrayāna practice sustained her during her transition. 

In between discussing these and other topics, she reads poetry from her eight collections, including the poem, Black People Can’t Swim, which merited her  the 2012  Pushcart Prize. Because of this and others work, Diana’s been cited as one of the few white poets willing to write on the subject of race. She also reads  from The Diana Updates, a series of letters to friends about her transition that was republished in The American Scholar.

In reaction to her American Scholar letters, she received supportive letters from people in all walks of life. “We are all, I was learning, in transition, people between people, longing to be fully ourselves. The only essential difference with my deal is that it’s glaringly obvious and can’t be hidden from anyone.”

A former varsity athlete and concert jazz dancer, poet with award-winning collections, a dedicated meditation practitioner and instructor, Goetsche is a multifaced advocate for America’s newest visible minority.

Links:

• Diana Goetsche’s site
• Her Life in Transition letters
• Diversity and Spirituality Network
• Record a comment about the episode
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Improvisation and Mindfulness

One of the founders of the improvisation and mindfulness movement talks about improvisation as a life practice, the connection between spiritual practice and improvisation. and what it means to live an improvised life.

Back in 2013, Ted DesMaisons assembled a group of improvisors at a San Francisco Zen monastery to explore the many connections between spirituality and improvisation. That event helped spawn the creation of a worldwide coalition of mindfulness improvisors and an array of improv-based practices for enhancing mindfulness.

In this podcast, DesMaison explains why some people have difficulty improvising, the importance of play for both spiritual practice and improvisation, and why the appreciation of mystery is central to both. He also shares the improvised path that led him from teaching English to becoming a professional improvisor, shares his own definition of spirituality, and plays a live improv “word-at-a-time” activity.

“We’re improvising all the time,” DesMaisons says. “Why not learn to do it well?”

DesMaisons is the author of the new book, Playful Mindfulness and the founder of Anima Learning. He holds an MTS from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University. He’s taught mindfulness with renown meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn, taught and performed improvisation internationally, and studied acting and voice with Patsy Rodenburg.

Links:

• Anima Learning business site
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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Self-assessment @ Hierarchies of the Collective conference.

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Religion in an Increasingly Secular World

What does society lose when religion no longer is a safe topic for discussion in public spaces? How has the role of religion changed in parts of the world that are increasingly secular? What are the unexpected consequences of laws designed to prevent discrimination based on religious preferences?

These questions are explored by Coreene Archer and Mark Argent, two UK-based organizational development consultants with deep roots in faith traditions. Although they both understand why governments feel compelled to pass religious nondiscriminatory laws, they believe such laws have unexpected consequences.

“Faith for me and lots of people is a core value,” says Archer, Principal Leadership Coach and Organisational Development Consultant at the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations. “To have to have a work face and a private face is a bit of a shame. It damages all of us if we’re hidden and can’t speak to who and what we are.”

“Carl Jung came up with the very useful idea that progress in the West has come about at the expense of our ability to feel,” says Argent, a spiritual director, organization development consultant, and Elder in the UK's United Reformed Church. “If you compare the West with bits of the world that are often described as underdeveloped, you see something very rich going on (in these less developed countries) that we’ve sort of lost sight of. There’s a price we’re paying for our technological progress.”

In this podcast, Archer and Argent talk about their faith traditions, challenges of working both in secular and faith organizations, and their sense as how religion plays out in the public sphere.

Links:

• Mark Argent’s site
• Coreene Archer at the Tavistock Institute
• “Religion: Hard to Talk About” event
• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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Improv and Spirituality weekend in Buckinghamshire in Spring!

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New edition includes my Introduction!

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Live in the UK and want to experience a dynamic approach to mindfulness? Join us this spring for Waking Up!: The Improvisation and Spirituality Weekend. http://bit.ly/2SvXIg5

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Teaching diversity as Miss North Dakota (podcast) http://bit.ly/2VHf7ji

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Teaching diversity as Miss North Dakota (and beyond)

Rosie Nestingin is an African-American woman who grew up in North Dakota, one of the whitest states in the U.S.  Because she grew up in a multiracial household, and went to daycare with international children, she was shocked to discover that hers was one of the only black faces in her elementary school. As a result of this, she began at an early age to start to observe, respond and dispel false assumptions others made about her based on her appearance. From a very early age, she became, in effect, an exemplar of inclusion,  teaching her classmates and teachers what she had already learned about diversity growing up.

After graduating college, she won the title of Miss North Dakota. Her platform was “Celebrate Diversity: One Nation, All People,” and she she spent a year traveling throughout the state, carrying the message of inclusion. In this podcast, she shares some of the insights she gleaned during this process.

Nestingin credits her deeply religious parents with instilling her with a commitment to welcoming everyone with love.  These days, she  continues to embrace and extend this commitment, while at the same time forging a spiritual path.

Links:

• Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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