Sometimes I long to sit and reach out to spiritual world. I want to sit and read books and meditate and contemplate life. I want to think about higher things and not deal with the corruption that we face with our physical world. But, I think that I am learning that this will never happen unless I remove myself from all reality. Spirituality must be able to deal with reality and importantly it must be able to deal with our physical reality.

Vygotsky, has brought many new insights to the world of education that can be applied to one’s spiritual growth. The foundational premise of Vygotsky’s concept of development is that the formation of the mind or cognition is dependent on the social context in which an individual lives.

Vygotsky’s sociocultural approach to developmentalism.

The following insights can be gleaned from his writings and it is posited that a integrated application of his developmental principles form a solid foundation for one’s spiritual growth, sustainable ministry and continued attendance to the things of God.

Spiritual growth begins outside the individual. Spiritual growth is not simply an internal process, but is partially an acquisition from the community of faith in which the individual engages. While spirituality is often perceived as an individual or personal quality, it also has a social or cooperate dimension. Most ministers would agree that Scripture asserts one’s belonging to God’s community, the church but its application to one’s personal spiritual growth is uncertain. This dichotomy is expressed by many who preach the need for the church but view the ‘real work’ of spiritual growth taking place privately. Both must be held as true if spiritual growth is to occur within one’s ministry context.

Spiritual growth is holistic. To ensure that one is able to sustain their ministry and guard against burnout requires one to view themselves in a holistic manner. Spiritual growth is not the result of a single factor, but of multiple factors, both individual and social, which coalesce within the individual. Application of a single devotional method or community form does not allow one’s developmental areas to mature. Vygotsky brings a new perspective on the interaction of one’s physical and mental processes that is closer to the Hebrew understanding of knowledge requiring truth to be related to one’s being not merely the presence of rational proofs.

Spiritual growth is not a linear or unidirectional process. Vygotsky’s use of zones of development, rather than linear stages of advancement, adds a new approach to our understanding of spiritual growth. Instead of viewing maturity as a linear process that has some end goal growth and maturity may be seen as the complete integration of one’s developmental zones. Spiritual growth would require relationships conducive to advancing faith.

Teachers and deliberate instruction are essential for spiritual growth. According to Vygotsky, development does not occur on its own; it requires a socio-historical impetus, which for him was education, specifically schooling or intentional instruction. Intentional and unintentional instruction by the church contributes to the spiritual growth of all its members. This is instruction by a more mature member of the faith community is required for an individual to reach their formative potential. In the Church Vygotsky’s approach requires the church to function as a family, wherein the more mature members are placed in a learning context with younger members of the faith community. This is in contrast to the role assumed in many larger churches were management and organization is the main requirements of the pastor. To remain in ministry for the long term requires the Pastor to listen to elders and be teachable by their experience.

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George Carey’s spiritual journey has inspired me at times in my own spiritual journey.

In 1972 my spiritual life was a mess, to put it mildly. I was at that time teaching Christian theology at St John’sCollege, Nottingham, a leading evangelical college which trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England. Perhaps I had been too long in theological education, I don’t know, but whatever the reason I knew that my spiritual life was at a crisis point. My heart hadn’t kept pace with my head. Sometimes when I was teaching New Testament theology, I found myself thinking: “You hypocrite, you don’t really believe this do you?” But I was trapped. I had to go along with the show. I couldn’t let the side down, I had to pretend that all was well’.

In myself I was fairly normal. I wasn’t a psychiatric mess, a quivering bundle of nerves or anything like that. I was 37 at the time, a normal balanced, healthy person with no personal experience of clinical or pathological depression. I was happily married to Eileen, a marvelous person and we were blessed with four delightful children. But the experience of Christianity had somehow disappeared from my life. The great truths of evangelicalism had lost their fire and their power to convince. To all intents and purposes I was all right, but I knew if God did not intervene soon that my whole Christian existence was finished. It was that desperate. (The Church in the Marketplace p.6,7)

Carey goes on to describe he renewal through the work of the Holy Spirit. He describes the difference of this renewal and his restoration to a love of Christ, a desire to read the Scriptures, a longing to share his faith with others and a desire to praise God. Although he would not define himself as charismatic his experience demonstrated many of the features of a charismatic renewal. Mostly, he was thankful that his theology had found a living soul (Carey, p.10).The work of this “crisis” served to allow Him to continue in working with a local parish and then later to be the Archbishop of Canterbury. On concluding his ministry at Durham Carey notes that the last thing that he did there was to talk and pray with a man who wanted to know more about the Christian faith (Carey p.154).

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• A few years ago now I read Eddie Gibb’s book, “Church Next” and was challenged by what he saw as the future of ministry. I remember reading it to my wife and her telling me that this sounded quite scary.
• Myself – I love a challenge. Life would be boring without a risk or two.
• Every ministry conference that I have been to has suggested that this is where the church needs to be in the future.

There is a great deal that is said that about money not being everything in life. This is so true. And, following up on this is the statement that, “money doesn’t make you happy.” And yes we know that this too is true.

Religious leaders have always established a strong connection between the state of our financial affairs and our connection with the transcendent.

What do you believe is the relationship between wealth and spirituality? Is there a connection between the two?

For years I feared that the pursuit of wealth would hamper my spiritual life, distract me from my spiritual path; that was one of the limiting beliefs I had that prevented me from succeeding. But I realized somewhere in my early thirties that that belief, like all others, wasn’t true in itself. There is no conflict between wealth and spirituality, unless you create it in your mind. I can pursue financial success and still have plenty of time as well for my spiritual life. And, ultimately, they’re not even two separate things: My spiritual life encompasses every moment of each day and night.

Teilhard de Chardin said one of my favorite quotes,

“We are not physical beings who may
have a spiritual experience,
we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.”

We are physical beings with physical needs, emotional beings with emotional needs, mental beings with the power to fulfill our needs, and spiritual beings, every moment. Acknowledging the spiritual in ourselves and in others gives us purpose in life, and puts everything into the proper perspective.

We are not here just to become wealthy, isolated individuals. We are part of a great, mysterious, wondrous whole, and we are here to love and serve ourselves, humanity, and the whole planet, the whole environment. That’s the right perspective; that’s what is important in life.

The single most brilliant phrase I ever heard was from Ramana Maharshi, one of the greatest teachers in India in the last century. He said:

“The end of all wisdom is love,
love, love.”

That’s what is important in life. If your education doesn’t result in love, for all of humanity, for the whole world  then your education hasn’t been complete. Marc Allen

There are a couple of key points I think that this interview brought out:

1. That our physical and spiritual selves are intrinisically connected
2. There is a connection between our physical and spiritual realities – They affect each other
3. Fulifillment and happiness on not dependent on wealth
4. It is always nicer to be rich and fulfilled than poor and fulfilled. But both can provide a satisfied life.
5. Our modern world has confused consumerism with happiness and is the poorer for it because we have not explored our spiritual journey

Ultimately it is love that will prevail – As Paul says it is what will last forever and no matter what else we do and say if we haven’t loved then we have nothing.

My wife recently watched Insight on the Australian Television channel SBS. The program was about happiness. It reflected on what made people happy. The transcripts can be found here. It is a fascinating look at a concept that has been described as a “flow”.

PROFESSOR BOB CUMMINS, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY: We’ve been tracking the Australian population in terms of their happiness now for about five years. And one of the aspects of our measure – our measure is just seven questions that we ask people about their satisfaction with areas in their life – and the one that is most important is the one that dominated through all of those little kids’ accounts and that is connection to other people, our relationships. This seems to lie really at the heartland of our wellbeing. If we haven’t got that, then it’s very hard to achieve happiness through other means.

I would place happiness in the realm of spirituality. Because, it is not something that can really be achieved by ourselves. It always comes as an undeserved gift. And, as Bob says it has a lot to do with our connectedness and our satisfaction with those relationships. Further in the program they show that happiness has little to do with our external circumstances and give some very telling examples of people who have overcome major hurdles to discover happiness.

Technorati Tags : spirituality, community, relationships

Worldwide there is an increased interest in the connection between spirituality and work. Why?

There are several key factors:

1. Changing work structures, flattening hierarchies and increased worker demands has left many of us too tired and stressed to be creative. On the other hand the globalization of markets requires more creativity from employees. Where do we draw this creative energy from if we are tired.
2. To survive into the 21st Century, organizations must offer a greater sense of meaning and purpose for their workforce. In today’s highly competitive environment, the best talent seeks out organizations that reflect their inner values and provide opportunities for personal development and community service, not just bigger salaries. We ask the big question of our employers, “What does all this really mean?”
3. Spending more time at work means there is less time available for religious activities.

So people continute to search for meaning but the context in which this take place is outside many of the traditional structures that were once sought for answers. Because so much time is spent in the workplace it is an obvious point at which people will want to express meaning for their creativity.

Organisations that are able to aid their employees to make this connection will flourish in the future.

Technorati Tags : spirituality, work, change

In our world people are no longer satisified to just see their value at work measured simply in their production capabilities.  People want to bring their souls to work and most people’s souls want four things.

They want to:

1. Love their jobs and find jobs they love
2. Succeed in their work
3. Navigate successfully through predictable life- stage transitions
4. Tie their work to a higher life purpose that has personal meaning for them.

Technorati Tags : work, spirituality

Maslow (1968) says that for hundreds of years humanists have tried to construct a naturalistic, psychological value system that could be derived from man’s own nature. These have all failed (p.165). He continues saying that our process of self actualisation completes as each of the lower needs are met and we are able to move forward to complete our humanness. Heaven in his terms is found within one as they self actualise. Contemporary organisational and counselling research is demonstrating a growing interest and research in the relationship with spirituality based on the assumption we are not merely physiological or psychological we are also psychospiritual (Jung, 1933).

Spirituality as a pervasive force in contemporary society is influencing several helping professions such as counseling, education, medicine, nursing, psychology, social work, education, and addictions treatment. And, it would be expected as coaching matures it too will need to include spirituality as a strategy to assist personal and organisational effectiveness. An explosion of professional and popular literature in spirituality is indicative of the resurgence of interest (Richards & Bergin, 1997).

The Dalai Lama defined spirituality by saying, “I believe that it is essential that we appreciate our potential as human beings and recognise the importance of inner transformation” (p.294). Other common perspectives share in the understanding that spirituality is the quest for meaning and mission in life, the search for harmony and wholeness in the universe, and the internalisation of a fundamental belief in an all-loving presence in the universe are lofty and honorable spiritual goals for humans. Ellison (1983) asserted that it is the spirituality of human beings that motivates and inspires them to search for meaning and purpose in life.

Mitroff and Denton (1999) found virtually unanimous agreement on the definition of spirituality among executives, managers, and workers at all levels in a variety of industries. In essence the definition of spirituality had two components: first that spirituality includes a sense of connection to something beyond the individual, and second that spirituality is a search for meaning, purpose, and integration in life.

Aquinas said that the life devoted to inner stillness and spiritual knowledge was the highest form of human activity. This would initially propose a dilemma for the career counsellor in assisting people to attain roles that are predominately orientated to the accumulation or production of materialistic. Eckhart resolves this by his comments that this dichotomy is solved through the integration of one’s activity with the spiritual self. Meaningful activity can validate one’s spirituality (quoted in Fromm).

Costello reflects this dilemma in an Australian context as he laments the loss of community and sense of purpose that people feel in their roles. He turns to Eastern wisdom and says,

“Perhaps life is not a race whose only goal is being foremost. Perhaps the truth lies in wt most of the world outside the modern west has always believed, namely that there are certain practices in life, good in themselves that are inherently fulfilling. Perhaps work that is intrinsically rewarding is better for human beings than work hat is only extrinsically rewarded. Perhaps enduring commitment to those we love and civic friendship toward our fellow citizens are preferable to restless competition and anxious self defense. . Perhaps common worship, in which we express our gratitude and wonder in the face of mystery of being itself, is the most important thing of all. If so we will all have to change our lives and begin to remember what we have been happier to forget.”

Costello (p. 69) points out the desire for humans to engage in roles that move past extrinsic reward. His own vocational journey in ministry reflects the inability of western materialism to determine one’s success.

“In hindsight I can see that my own vocation often entails the simple facilitation of the voices of others rather than the achievement or pursuit of clearly articulated goals (P.75).”

He reflects that many Australians have this sense of incompleteness. His perception mirrors Fromm’s “being mode” which is based on love, and the pleasure of sharing with others and seeing them reach their creative potential. This may involve productive activity but should not be made a pre-requisite for career success.

Very Resourceful people

They ignite our passion.

VRP’s are sometimes called mentors or shapers of our life. These are the people who ignite our passion for higher performance.

Each of us can probably think of different VRP’s that have shaped our spiritual life throughout the years. Significant in my early Christian experience was a man called John Sefton. He was the dean of the Christian Community that I lived in. He impressed me with quiet approach to knowing God. His ordinariness to me was an inspiration that I too could effectively serve God.

Of course the temptation for us to want to stay in a VRP relationship forever. One in which we are constantly being renewed by the passion they have for their life’s purpose. This is unhealthy for both parties and does not allow us to develop in our lives the independent and resourceful spiritual passion we are talking about that makes one a life force for our future.

VRP’s are those whom we lean upon for direction and approval. We gain courage from their courage and maturity. They are in every sense of the word our resource, from them we can draw our first sense of passion.

Very Important People

They share our Passion

Conflict with a VIP will usually be resolved quickly and the experience not dwelt upon. When you are with a VIP facing challenges together you are aware that in partnership you.

With a VIP you don’t spend lots of time trying to get along, or debating whose philosophy will prevail, or determining whose in charge. We are bound together to get a task done and get it done we will.

I have a friend who I have known since Grade 7. One of the distinctives of our friendship is we laugh together. We know most of each other’s stories. After knowing each other for over 20 years we understand each other’s weaknesses well but don’t feel compelled to always draw attention to them. We can challenge and question each other without fear of knowing the friendship will fade away.

VIP’s share our passion. Together you stir each other up and encourage each other to better and more faithful performances. VIP’s keep us looking at the right goals; our rationalizations and excuses do not fool them. They sense when we are hurting or in need. They delight in our successes and weep with us in our disappointments.

Very Trainable People

They catch our passion.

VTP’s will tax our strength because they require our input. But, they are great to have around because we sense the possibilities in them. There is immense enjoyment in seeing a person catching hold of spiritual things.

Very Nice People

They enjoy our passion.

McDonald describes VNP’s as being like a send up he saw of breakfast cereal. They don’t snap crackle and pop. They don’t turn colours. They’re not coated in sugar and they’re not shot from guns. What do they do? They simply lie in the bowl and soak up milk.

So is the role of the VNP.

We can expend a great deal of energy on accommodating to the needs of very nice people. VIP’s and VTP’s will often accept great inconveniences to direct resources and services into an organisation. VNP’s prefer nice facilities, services delivered at convenient times, programs built in personal gain, convenience and enhancement of their own comfort.

They exhaust because of their desire to take whatever the leader has to give.

Very Draining People

They sap our passion.

This does not mean we are excused from working with and dealing with these types of people but we need to be aware that contact with them will result in a constant outflow of energy from the person ministering to them.

Any group of people you come across will have a percentage of VDP’s. Of course it is hoped that the input they receive will allow them to become trainable.

1. VDP’s will be drawn to any healthy group of people. They will remain there until they become healthy or they are pushed away.
2. A healthy group of people will lose its vitality if there are too many VDP’s to sustain. The life of the group becomes crises or problem orientated. Any movement toward any type of objective becomes impossible.
3. Very dependent people who are permitted to relentlessly drain leaders will ultimately create a climate where no one will want to serve in a leadership capacity.

The people around us give and they take. We can expect that a flow of passion will be moving in one direction or another. We need to understand this and to plan to refresh ourselves regularly.

How we do this will be dealt with in future posts.