I'm blogging this live so it may be a bit random! I'm at Blah...Mcr with John and Olive Drane
'Spirituality To Go' Olives new book pubilishers have said that it is ' the must have book of spring 2006' and John's new book 'Do Christians know how to be Spiritual'. On the sole of the shoes is a map of the southern and northern hemisphere - bought in a warehouse and there is a message of spirituality within the shoes! Spirituality is everywhere within contemporary society.
Section1 - The spirituality of Today
Explored the secularization theory, Bruce, Callum Brown etc. that the uk is getting more and more secular. Contrasted with the growing interest in spirituality within contemporary culture - ie Da-Vinci code, In a Spiritual Style - book that talks about the transformation of the home into a spiritual space. Starbucks stocking books re. spirituality. Mainline press producing books on spirituality, Christian version is 'A Purpose Driven Life' - similar genre to the other self-help books... how to help yourself.
Looked at some of the stats re. decline of church and the growing interest in spirituality in contemporary culture. ie Brierly stats re 76% of people having a spiritual experience. Growing interest in contemporary spirituality, looking at the empirical research into the growing interest in spirituality such as the Kendal project etc. www.kendalproject.org.uk
Heelas and Woodhead: 'Over the UK as a whole, New Spirituality is now larger than every Christian denomination except the Anglicans.'
Section 2
Three books that represent a spectrum of spiritual beliefs that are out there, here are the three points of the spectrum:
1 - High Energy Spirituality - Executive mystic - Enthusiasm - Dreams, OBEs, tongues
2 - Disciplined Spiritual life - Spirituality for dummies - Religious Practice - tradition devotions - Prayer, Hymns, Bible reading
3 - Good advice on how to be a nice person! - Complete idiots guide - Secular Spirituality - quality of life - Relationships, Family
Important to get our heads around this spectrum when we think about mission as people are seeking different things...All can be spiritual if pursued with intentionality. Intentionality is important
Secular spirituality - none of these phrases had entered the british vocab before 1970's life force, the kiss of life, get a life. Life now gives purpose as meaning to life rather than God - Don Cuppitt.
Explored Neuro-Theology, one of the fastest growing areas. Experiment to see what happened in the Brain when two different types of people are having a spiritual experience, the same thing happened - the conculsion was that you're not crazy if you have spiritual experiences, that people who have spiritual experiences are actually more physcologically balanced.
if we were dismiss spiritual experiences as mere neurological activities, you would also have to distrust your own brain's perception of the material world.
Conclusion - Being spiritual is a human activity, not exclusively a religious one. Augustine 'You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find you.
Section 3 - Olive
Everyday spirituality - To be religious was once to have a connection with the Spiritual, now it is far broader than that and hence the rising interest in Spirituality.
Spiritual is now in the everyday. Rise of Shrines - Hillsborough, Dunblaine, Diana,
Rituals are no longer monopolised by the church and people are taking responsibilities for their own rituals, due to the rise in other spiritualities, other ways of nurturing faith, other ways of being Church, also the distrust of institution and not only church but also the big corporate business, government, NHS etc. Don't like the big institutions.
Now trust our own judgements - health, this feels right. Celebrate diversity, Process information holistically. We are only interested in what works.
Rituals at the heart of life - Food, Story reading to children, weddings other rituals,
Starting to collect rituals - woven through the everyday, how do we celebrate those occasions and make them have a spiritual occasion? By being intentional with what we do. How do you engage with your inner person? Knowing who you are is key in engaging with the spiritual...
Finding the spiritual in the everyday - Rituals from birth to death. Celebrate the first times, the transitional times, family relationships, disruption - some disruptive experiences can be positive, testing occasions, seasons and holidays,
Being intentional lifts it from being a habit to being spiritual.
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