Spiritual But Not Religious

[Carla McClellan]

Hello my friends-Join my guest Ian Lawton and myself on Spiritual Coaching, Tues. Oct. 27th as we discuss spirituality and religion. What questions do you have about this topic? Have you formed an opinion on this topic? Would you be willing to enter into a conversation about this topic? You can email me through the show Spiritual Coaching or call into the show Tues. Oct. 27th @ 3:00 pm CST. Discover you innner voice of wisdom and act on it now. Love and laughter Carla

[Todd F. Reinhard]

Hi Carla. So very sorry I missed your show today. And even more sorry that I am just getting to this response. I didn't check back because I had assumed that an email would have been sent automatically informing me of a reply. Alas! Foolish assumptions! HA! Anyway, I would have loved to have called in today to discuss this issue because I DO feel that it is a critical one for a LOT of people out there. I think much of the problem also has to do with DEPRESSION. When people are spiritually DEPRESSED, they tend to be resistant to new and/or different ideas--at least temporarily. Generally speaking, I am an optimist in so far as I have a deep faith in the benignity of Being, regardless of the ambiguous and various appearances that it may manifest in the world of sense experience. I have many interests, and I love ideas--and the exchange of ideas. HOWEVER, I have little patience with those who function more from emotion than from reason...and, unfortunately, I find that many people are emotion-driven. They simply thrive on drama and relish pity. (I do of course realize that "emotion" and "reason" are never completely divorced from one another, but I'm trying to keep this simple! HA!) Having learned from experience that self-pity is the most toxic of all drugs--or at least the most addictive--I tend to want to point out that challenges are essential to growth. Unfortunately (or so it seems), that is the last thing that many depressed people want to hear! So, again, catch-22. Anyway, I thank you for your time--and, again, I'm sorry I missed your show this afternoon. Namaste.

Todd R.

[Carla McClellan]

Todd I so appreciate your feedback on the show with Ian Lawton. What happens when we experience resistance is an opportunity to look at the lens we are percieving the resistance from. what i mean by this is do we have a lens of percieving that we have soemone else's answers or that in some way they need to be changed in any way? Each of us has a wellspring of wisdom within and each of us desires to be heard and appreciated for our beliefs. I like what Ian said in the show about when we talk about values-what gives our life meaning not our beliefs we can be open to possibilities for meaningful communication to emerge. I hope I am being clear however I invite you to listen or better yet call in next week when Ian returns for part 2 of our discussion. You can email me questions you have-I also can use what you have sent me to dialogue with Ian. The number to call in is 1-888-346-9194. Ian and I would love to chat with you. What you ask is on everyone's mind and you would be such a great contribution to the dialogue we want to share. No one has to discard their theology to express their spirituality. Love and laughter Rev C

[Todd F. Reinhard]

Hi Carla. I greatly enjoyed your show this afternoon and would like to thank you and all of the Unity team for the great work that you do. I, like so many others here at Unity, completely agree that spirituality is universal and does not NECESSARILY require rigid dogmas and institutions. HOWEVER, how does one respond to a person, or group of persons, who argues that no spiritual movement is truly all-inclusive, simply by virtue of the fact that it implicitly or explicitly denies the validity of those traditions that claim exclusivity? In short, how does one engage with those who want nothing to do with diversity itself? This is a very important issue for me, because my mom and many of those with whom she associates are really--and I feel sadly--naive about the tremendous richness that the world's various spiritual traditions contain. Whenever I make mention of it, even in a roundabout way, there is resistance. Whenever I don't make mention of it, there is resistance. It seems as though we have no common ground most of the time, and I would like to get over this hurdle if at all possible. Any advice? Is it just one of those things where you concede that nobody can possibly please everybody, or is there a way forward? Thanks much for any feedback.

Kind Regards

Todd Reinhard

PS--I do of course take these concerns into the silence...but the problems are persistent.