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ANNOUNCING A Varsity Club, MEMBER’S ONLYSpecial Event: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 2016.
8pm EDT.
Monthly Supporters at the $5 level (or higher) get some special perks–like access to exclusive events, classes, and discussions. (It’s called the “Varsity Club”.)
• Clubbers get access to PART II video lessons and handouts from Soul School Lessons 18-29, and more.
JUNE 8th Event:
SOUL SCHOOL LIVE
Join me live (and get access to the REPLAY anytime).
• Learn routines and spiritual practices that enhance emotional wellness and a more peaceful life.
• Learn how the brain processes and categorizes spiritual experiences.
• Learn how to develop “better hearing” for your inner world.
• Learn how to avoid the most common traps that will hijack you mentally and emotionally.
• Time for Q & A.
[1 hour event. FREE to monthly sponsors at all Varsity Club levels.] SIGN UP NOW (You will be sent a special access link to attend.)
Don’t miss the next episode.
Be sure to subscribe (see below) and listen to the Friday episode with my guest, On Friday, Masie Smith invites us to “embrace our weirdness”. Hear her fascinating story and be encouraged.
This week Spark My Muse has hit a milestone. 30 episodes of Soul School and 60 regular Episodes! It also marks a big shift for things moving forward. The show will be far more collaborative and listener-driven.
This week, I have posed some specific questions for listeners/supporters to help decide some new and important directions and decisions for the show. More questions will follow in the weeks to come. To participate, co-create, collaborate, give input, make suggestions, and be a part of this new era, put some skin in the game. It only takes $1 and you can make BIG difference.
Decide on guests, events, swag, and a lot more. You make the calls.
This week, I welcome Jim Davies, an associate professor at the Institute of Cognitive Science at Carleton University. He is the Director of the Science of Imagination Laboratory, and the Author of “Riveted: The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One with the Universe.”
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Deconstruction and Reconstruction is a lifelong process.
After a season of growth and rebirth, things CHANGE and that means you will CRAVE stability and a return to “normal”. Today, is about that and what to do about it. I wish I had known this 20 years ago!!
After you listen to PART I (the audio button you can click below) be sure to Watch the video, PART II. It comes with a handout and is part of Varsity Club. It goes into Lesson 25 in a deeper way and has action steps and a specific guide to enact rebirth in your relationships. Find that here.
The quick details about Varsity Club:
This is the way core listeners, like you, support Spark My Muse with a monthly $5–that’s a tiny $1.25 per week. This comes with the option of 15 minutes of exclusive time with me, each month, to ask any questions you’d like from any podcast or Soul School episode. If questions come up, or if you’d like to know more, you get me to yourself.
You can cancel anytime and weekly Video lessons and handouts go back all the way to Lesson 18!
New video classes and resources come each week for Soul School lessons for monthly supporters who love Soul School, like you do. You can cancel anytime.
Matt Hutson has a B.S. in cognitive neuroscience from Brown University and an M.S. in science writing from MIT. He has written for Wired, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, Discover, Scientific American Mind, Popular Mechanics, Technology Review, Slate, NewYorker.com, NYMag.com, ScienceMag.org, Aeon, Nautilus, Al Jazeera America, The Boston Globe,The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and Psychology Today, where he was the News Editor for four years.
MIN 1:30
Matt’s religious and spiritual background and context for writing about magic and how we think.
A Brief History of Time
Stephen Hawking
MIN 2:30
Cognitive Neuroscience studies
Meaning is filtered through the mind.
MIN 3:30
What is magical thinking and how does it happen all the time in our lives?
MIN 9:00
Humans are very social creatures and we apply our perspective (like thoughts and desires) onto other things that are not human.
MIN 11:30
Some atheists claim they don’t commit mistakes of magical thinking, but Matthew says, “Not so fast, we all do and it’s not so bad!”
Involuntary Cognitive bias
The experiments the tease out the behavioral repercussion of these basis.
MIN 14:30
Instinct and staying safe
MIN 16:30
How does Matt deal with his own magical thinking?
Realizing the difference between correlation and causation.
MIN 18
Learning Critical Thinking
Is there another explanation?
MIN 20
Transcendent experiences and loss of awareness of ego or a sense of awe.
Astronauts often return from space with a new belief in God or spirituality or ecologically-minded or with a renewed sense of awe.
MIN 23
Matt’s transcendent moment in Alaska.
MIN 25
Matt talks about the “The Soul Lives On” and “Everything Happens for a Reason” chapters of his book.
MIN 29
Up loading our brains to live on after us and artificial intelligence.
MIN 31
symbols: such as, people feel less lonely when they watch tv.
MIN 34
Consciousness as discreet states
MIN 35
Verbs most activate our motor system
MIN 38
The movie HER and brain simulation
MIN 40
The psychology of social status. power, prestige, and class how we achieve it. Why we care about getting it and what’s good about it and how it shows our values.
MIN 42
How upbringing can program us for life.
Thank you so much for your interest in this episode. Dig around and listen to other episode and come back each Wednesday and Friday for new ones, or subscribe and never miss a thing.
Right now, one of the most powerful and influential men in the world is undoubtably Pope Francis.
Pope Francis is the first Jesuit Pope, but too few people know the specific qualities of his Order (The Society of Jesus-Ignatian spirituality). His spirituality and training powerfully and uniquely guide his worldview, philosophy of vocation and work, and themes of his prominent, worldwide administration especially when compared with his predecessors.
Through his decisions, he influences Roman Catholics internationally (a staggering 1.1 billion people) and his ideas influence and inspire many of the 2.2 billion people who consider themselves Christian (specifically: a follower of the way of Jesus), including me.
What is most influential to Pope Francis?
His training in the Society of Jesus (the Catholic Order founded by Ignatius of Loyola 400 years ago). This is what guides how he see the world and makes all his important decisions that direct the Catholic Church and influence others worldwide.
Today, we will learn more about these teachings that often come out-of-sync with the ways and structures of established institutions of religion, politics, and power.
Spirutal Director, Jeanine Breault, formally trained in Jesuit Ignatian Spirituality
Today, you will hear from my spiritual director, Jeanine Breault, a Roman Catholic who is formally trained in the Ignatian tradition. We converse about some of the salient characteristics of the Ignatian spiritual teachings and traditions.
Thus, you will find out the manner in which Pope Francis is directed spiritually by his own spiritual director within this 400 year old spiritual tradition; learn how Ignatian spiritual directors (and the current Pope) see the world and how God works in it, and more.
SHOWNOTES: EPS 24: The (Ignatian) Spirituality of Pope Francis
MIN: 1:00
Answering: What is Ignatian Spirituality?
1:20
Finding God in all things. We are invited to notice how God is at work. More than head knowledge but an experiential knowledge.
2:30
God is always at work for the good in my life and in my world and growing in that awareness. How can I respond to God’s call?
3:30 An Intimate relationship with God SO THAT I can labor with God.
Now that there is a Pope who is a Jesuit (the first in history) how does that shift the role and the the way he see the world as the head of the church.
5:00
On Pope Francis’s new letter “The Joy of the Gospel” and the Jesuit flavorings contained within and the influence on his life.
8:50
On the massive changes at the Vatican.
9:20
Who was Ignatius of Loyola?
The story of the man who founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)
Born in 1491 and his message continues to changes peoples lives.
His war injury and what changed his life.
11:30
The mystical experience he had.
12:30
He work in the discernment of spirits (his work called the Spiritual Exercises) and how these forces work in our lives.
13:10
Discerning and choosing between two goods.
13:30
The rules for discernment that can be applied to anyone at anytime.
14:30
The basic of the rules of discernment.
When a person is oriented to God and desires to please God, then God confirms that and gives graces of peace, joy, and comfort. The opposite feelings do not come from God (fear, anxiety, discouragement, despair, etc).
16:20
Through the Ignatian spiritual exercises, one can figure out what is of God and what is not.
17:40
People coming to direction for the first time are really grappling with a sense of God’s love for them (and not really believing it.)
19:00
Coming to a spirit-led decision and grace is involved.
19:30
Overcoming the obstacle of unworthiness.
20:00
Working at cultivating people’s awareness. Asking questions that create space for inquiry, discovery and discernment.
21:00
We forget that God loves at at some level and it’s a continual process of remembering.
21:50
Her experience with guilt in prayer because of a lack of focus. Apologizing to God about being preoccupied. And the amazing thing God seemed to say in response.
The part of affirming the goodness of God and what God is doing in that person’s life is the job of the director.
23:45
The answer won’t expect to my question: “What do you say or do when people can’t see or sense God, or they have a blindness and are unaware?” (Maybe an “image of God problem”)
24:10
The “director” is not a good word. The Spirit of God is the actual director and it’s God’s business.
25:20
The parallel with gardening and patience for growth.
26:10
“God loves that person more than you do.”
26:00
On not “fixing” things and solving problems.
27:00
Compassionate listening and getting out of the way for God to work better.
28:00
What supervision of a spiritual director looks like so that good listening can keep happening for those directed.
29:00
Finding a director that is properly prepared to direct others is crucial.
Asking Jeanine, “What happens in your mind and heart when you find yourself wanting to solve problems and rescue someone?”
30:00
Remembering the kind of ministry direction is. A prevailing ope that God is at work and in control ultimately. It’s sacred time and time to stay focused. Setting aside things when they come up.
32:40
Do people expect you to be their counselor? And what happens when that happens during direction?
35:00
Helping people know what to expect from direction and how to find someone who is properly trained.
The international listing of trained directors. sdiworld.org
Director will work with people from any tradition.
42:30
The connection of Buddhism and Christian Mysticism in practice. Seeing the goodness in other traditions.
44:00
John O’Donohue and his comments of what Buddhism can brings to Christianity and vice versa.
46:00
Noticing the “now”.
47:00
Coming to a vibrant faith where (you realize) God is working in this very moment.
48:00
Relationships are the ways we become tuned to God and working out our salvation in real life and ordinary experiences.
49:00
Resources to continue on this path.
Ronald Rollhieser The Holy Longing and Prayer: Our Deepest Longing
Carmelite nun Ruth Borrows. Guidelines for Mystic Prayer
