Because our inward life is so fragile,
it is very easy to ignore the budding
of our spirits,
so that these capacities dry up and
disappear.
If we want our spirits to grow,
we must prize and nurture whatever
inklings
of spirit we have
rather than dismissing and forgetting
these experiences
because they lack immediate practical
value.
First week:
1. Beyond
the Life
of the Body, the 'Heart', & the Mind .
2. Ways
to Expand
Our Spirits .
Second week:
3. Self-Transcendence, Self-Criticism, & Altruism .
4. Freedom:
Transcending
Enculturation and Choosing for Ourselves .
Third week:
5. Creativity: Making Something Genuinely New .
6. Love:
The
I-Thou Encounter, Discovering Other Persons of Spirit .
Fourth week:
It takes
time to let our
spirits breathe.
Perhaps in dialogue with other sensitive
persons in spiritual quest,
we can become better attuned to our
inward
lives
and stimulate our spirits to grow.
Ultimately, our
growth in spirit is an individual process.
But perhaps in sensitive dialog with
other persons on the way,
we can become better attuned to our inner
dimensions of spirit.
The seminar leader,
James Park, is the author
of the on-line essays linked above.
DATE & TIME: (When would be best for you?).
PLACE: (open to suggestions for locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul).
FEE: Free of charge (unless something
must be paid for the meeting room).
This seminar (Are You a Person of Spirit?)
might be offered in coordination with
Which
Gods Do
Not Exist?
Selective Atheism.
In that case, participants in both seminars
might want to read the book that contains both halves:
Spirituality
without Gods:
Developing our Capacities of Spirit.
syllabus for distant learners:
If you would like to
read a very short presentation,
which summarizes all the basic points,
go to Spirituality
for Humanists.
suggestions for offering this
seminar
in other places:
The above course descriptions
may be adapted
to suit other situations of people getting together
to explore their capacities of spirit.
(1) Alternative titles for the seminar:
If you want to offer
this class, choose whichever title
would draw the people you want to attract.
Which titles avoid the mistaken impression
that this class might be pop
spirituality?
(1) SPIRITUALITY FOR
HUMANISTS:
SIX
CAPACITIES OF
OUR HUMAN SPIRITS
(2) SPIRITUALITY WITHOUT GODS:
SIX
CAPACITIES OF
OUR HUMAN SPIRITS
(3) EXPLORING THE HUMAN
SPIRIT:
RATIONAL SPIRITUALITY
(4) INTRODUCING EXISTENTIAL
SPIRITUALITY:
SIX
DIMENSIONS OF
OUR HUMAN SPIRITS
(5) A RATIONAL EXPLORATION OF
THE HUMAN
SPIRIT
(6) EXISTENTIAL SPIRITUALITY:
EXPANDING OUR HUMAN SPIRITS
________________________________________________________
(2) Facilitator of seminar:
The leader of the discussion should be someone There is no separate
study-guide.
The text itself should be sufficient
to stimulate lots of interesting discussion.
And each chapter is only 3 or 4 pages
long,
short enough for anyone to read before
the class.
Participants are simply asked
how
freedom, creativity, love, angst, etc.
—the
various capacities of our human
spirits—
manifests themselves in our own lives.
And before the class
begins,
the facilitator might clarify any obscure
points
with the author of the text.
If questions arise in the mind of the
facilitator,
they will probably also arise in the
seminar.
_________________________________________
(3) Number of meetings:
This seminar was originally
developed as an 8-session class,
two hours each session, meeting once
a week,
at the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis.
The text was actually written as a result
of offering this seminar several times.
More time for more
participants is especially needed
for the meeting in which creativity
is
explored.
Participants are invited to demonstrate
examples of their own creativity.
But in recent times,
many people are too busy
to commit themselves to a class of 8
sessions.
Thus, 4 sessions, as outlined in the
full course-description,
is a length more likely to succeed.