Arts Resources
To submit examples from the arts that fuel compassionate love, send them via email to lynn@lynnunderwood.com and I will find a way to share them anonymously with the whole group.contact lynn
links
Journal and bibliography to accompany Spiritual Connection in Daily Life 2020 audiobook
Monday, October 26, 2020
Study Guide for Groups Using Spiritual Connection in Daily Life
Thursday, August 15, 2013
This is a 6-week model, with each session being 1-2 hours
One individual should take the lead for each session, and take responsibility to move the others through the spectrum of topics in the time available. (If it fits with the tone of your group, beginning with relaxation and silence, and ending with silence will help to bookend the sharing, and invite the ‘more than’ into the time you spend together.)
I am hoping to add on the website different models for groups over time as I get suggestions from others.
Week 1
To prepare:
- Read Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.
- In Chapter 3, read, answer and respond in notes to Questions 1 (and 2).
In the group:
- Briefly discuss feeling, sensing, and “knowing in your gut.” Mention that comparing scores with others is not very useful and can get in the way, yet looking at changes in your scores over time can be useful. There are no right answers. The scores are for your personal use and to help you to find specifics. The details of your experiences or the feeling of lack are much more important. I would suggest not mentioning your scores in the group discussion, but rather focusing on the details of experience. You can use the check-list method. (E.g.: “Recently, have you have this experience? If so, describe how it felt, and the circumstances where it happened.”)
- Share your responses to Question 1 (Awe) in Chapter 3: I am spiritually touched by the beauty of creation. And if time begin to share some on Question 2.
Week 2
To prepare:
- Read Chapter 10: How and Why to Communicate Using Daily Spiritual Experiences.
- Answer Chapter 3: Questions 2, 3, 4, 5. Jot down some notes.
In the group:
- Briefly discuss Rules of the Game from Chapter 10: How and Why to Communicate.
- Share the experiences you thought of when you answered questions 2 (Presence), 3 (Connection), 4 (Closeness), 5 (Desire).
Week 3
To prepare:
- In Chapter 3, read and answer Questions 6, 7, 8 and 9.
- Read Chapter 6: The Flow of Love, and take notes on your answers to the invitations to respond.
In the group:
- Share your responses to Questions 6 (Love directly), 7 (Love through others), 8 (Selfless caring), 9 (Acceptance, mercy).
- Share your responses to various invitations in Chapter 6: The Flow of Love.
Week 4
To prepare:
- In Chapter 3, read and answer Questions 10, 11, 12 and 13. Jot down notes.
- Read Chapter 8: Yes! and take notes on your answers to the questions there.
In the group:
- Share your responses to Questions 10 (Strength), 11 (Comfort), 12 (Guidance), 13 (Help).
- Share your reflections in response to Chapter 8, Yes!
Week 5
To prepare:
- Read or skim Chapter 4: Why Numbers and Chapter 5: “Studies Have Shown.”
- In Chapter 3, Answer Questions 14, 15, 16.
- Read Chapter 9, Translating God Share your answers to the questions there.
In the group:
- Share about your answers to Questions 14 (Joy), 15 (Gratitude), and 16 (Peace).
- Reflect on your responses to Chapter 9, Translating God.
- Do you think Chapter 5: Studies Have Shown, contains any implications for your life?
Week 6
To prepare:
- Read Chapter 7: Connection vs. Alienation and take notes on your responses.
- Read Chapter 12: What Now, What Next, reflect on what next for you.
- Answer the full set of questions and reflect on any changes from when you first took them.
In the group:
- Share your reflections and responses to Chapter 7: Connection vs. Alienation.
- Do you think there is a way you personally would like to use the questions in the future? If so, share about that.
- Look at the full set of questions and share particular experiences for you as you revisited them that you have not shared with the group before.
Check-List and Open-ended Versions of the 16 Questions
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Some people find that giving themselves number answers on the questions just gets in the way. If you are one of those people, remember that you can go through the book without even bothering with the numbers. You can use the items as prompts to explore the questions in an open-ended way. The book is the best resource for the open-ended approach, with its spaces to respond and prompts to do so, including possible ideas from other people’s experiences. After answering each question, if you had this kind of experience, you can jot down some notes about what it felt like for you, and where and when it occurred.
Just noticing the experiences has been shown to be linked to many good things in life, and can be uplifting in an of itself. The checklist version is another way of using the DSES questions that is beginning to be used in research and in practical settings. Below find this version and also a strictly non-theistic version.
Regarding scoring of this version, a simple yes/no: 1/0, should be adequate.
Recently . . .
1. Have you been spiritually touched by the beauty of creation?
2. Have you felt God’s presence, or the presence of the divine or holy?
3. Have you experienced a connection to all of life?
4. Have you felt close to God, or to the divine or transcendent as expressed in other words?
5. Have you desired to be closer to God or in union with the divine?
6. Have you felt God’s love or divine love for you directly?
7. Have you felt God’s love or compassionate love for you through others?
8. Have you felt a selfless caring for others?
9. Have you accepted others even when they have done things you think are wrong?
10. Have you found strength in your spirituality or religion?
11. Have you found comfort in your spirituality or religion?
12. Have you felt guided by God in the midst of daily activities?
Or: Have you felt divine guidance in the midst of daily activities?
13. Have you asked for God’s help in the midst of daily activities.
Or: Have you asked for help from a higher power as you go through the day?
14. During worship, or at other times when connecting with God, have you felt joy that lifts you out of your daily concerns?
Or: At times when connecting with the “more than” have you felt joy that lifts you out of your daily concerns?
15. Have you felt thankful for your blessings?
16. Have you felt deep inner peace or harmony?
A more strictly non-theistic version of the checklist version is:
Recently….
__Have you been spiritually touched by the beauty of creation?
__Have you experienced a connection to all of life?
__Have you felt compassionate love for you from other people?
__Have you felt a selfless caring for others?
__Have you accepted others even when they have done things you think are wrong?
__Have you found strength in your spirituality or religion?
__Have you found comfort in your spirituality or religion?
__Have you felt divine guidance in the midst of daily activities?
__Have you asked for help from a higher power as you go through the day?
__At times when connecting with the “more than” have you felt joy that lifts you out of your daily concerns?
__Have you felt thankful for your blessings?
__Have you felt deep inner peace or harmony?
__Have you felt the presence of the divine or holy?
__Have you felt close to a divine or transcendent presence?
__Have you desired to be more in union with the ‘more than’?
__Have you felt love for you directly from a divine or transcendent source?
© Lynn Underwood. For personal use only. Contact Lynn Underwood for permission to duplicate or distribute. and to register for non-profit use at no cost.
Some Poetry Collections
Saturday, June 8, 2013
There is a lot of poetry available on the web, but having the hard copies of the poems in book form can be good as it can separate you some from the attentional tugging of the interweb. Here are some collections you may wish to explore.
The Redress of Poetry, by Seamus Heaney
A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry by Czeslaw Milosz
Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation ed. Roger Housden
The Essential Rumi, Coleman Barks
Ballistics: Poems by Billy Collins
Twenty Poems to Nourish your Soul by Judy Valente and Charles Reynard
Collected Poems of WH Auden
The Collected Works of W.B.Yeats – Volume 1: The Poems ed. Richard Finneran
T. S. Eliot: Collected Poems, 1909-1962
Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy
Poetry as Prayer: Gerard Manley Hopkins (Pauline Books and Media)
Poetry for the Spirit ed. Alan Jacobs
Honey and Salt, Carl Sandburg
Selected Poems: Galway Kinnell
Gourd Seed by Coleman Barks
The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers
Human Chain by Seamus Heaney
Philokalia by Scott Cairns
Yevtushenko Selected Poems Penguin Modern European Poets Series, UK
Wislawa Szymborska Poems New and Collected
New Enlarged Anthology of Robert Frost’s Poems ed Louis Untermeyer
Life is Simpler towards Evening, Ralph Wright
Seamless, Ralph Wright
Prayers from the Ark by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold, trans. Rumer Godden
Grooks, by Piet Hein
The Book of Psalms
Everyman’s Poetry: Four Metaphysical Poets
Everyman’s Poetry: George Herbert
The Way of Chuang Tzu translated by Thomas Merton
Books for further reading
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Here are a sampling of non-fiction books I have on my shelves that are relevant to the book, and might be useful for further reading and resources for exploration.
- Lost in Wonder by Esther de Waal
- I and Thou Martin Buber
- Hidden Beauty: Microworlds Revealed by France Bourely, Laurel Hirsch
- French Cooking in Ten Minutes: Adapting to the Rhythm of Modern Life by Edouard De Pomiane
- Modern Spirituality: An Anthology, ed. John Garvey
- I Wonder by Marian Bantjes
- Reason, Faith and Revolution, by Terry Eagleton
- The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues on His Way
- Six Existentialist Thinkers HJ Blackham
- The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Laurence
- The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist
- Descarte’s Error by Antonio Damasio
- Showings by Julian of Norwich
- The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Laurence
- Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth by Ilia Delio, Keith Douglass Warner, Pamela Wood
- Grace and Necessity, Rowan Williams
- The Oxford Companion to the Mind
- Degowin and Degowin’s Bedside Diagnostic Manual
- Complete Guide to Guys, Dave Barry
- Leisure the Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper
- Bergan and Schwann Ignatian Exercises Series
- Formative Spirituality by Adrian van Kaam
- Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation by Josef Pieper
- A Balm for Gilead, Daniel Sulmasy
- The Greatest Works of Western Art, Thomas Hoving
- The Natural Way to Draw, Kimon Nicolaides
- Ways of Seeing, John Berger
- Art and Soul, Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin
- Science and Poetry, Mary Midgely
- Open Hands Henry Nouwen
- Personal Knowledge, Michael Polanyi
- The Limits of Language, ed. Walker Gibson
- Open Mind, Open Heart Thomas Keating
- The Music of What Happens, John J O’Riordian
- On Sharing Religious Experience, Gort, Vroom, Fernhout, and Wessels
- The Four Loves, CS Lewis
- Passionate Women, Elizabeth Dreyer
- Love, Human and Divine, Edward Vacek
- Seeking God, the Way of St Benedict, Esther de Waal
- Sadhana by Antony de Mello
- Christian Mystics Ursula King
- Simone Weil – Attention to the Real, Robert Chenavier
- The Far Side Collection by Gary Larson
- The Mystical Now: Art and the Sacred by Wendy Beckett
- Collected Works of Thomas Merton
- Desert Wisdom Yoshi Nomura
Web Links from the Book
Thursday, May 9, 2013
There are lots of references in the book to websites: music, poetry, articles and essays, art work. This page gives you those links live, so you can click on them and get to the referenced site.
Page 10 Title: Had I Not Been Awake Author: Seamus Heaney
Page 33 Title: Hubble Photographs Author:
Page 34 Title: Postscript Author: Seamus Heaney
Page 38 Title: Dust Author: Dorianne Laux
Page 39 Title: Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey Author: William Wadsworth
Page 47 Title: Longing Author: Stevie Smith
Page 48 Title: Even in the Quietest Moments Author: Supertramp
Page 48 Title: Hymn 101 Author: Joe Pugh
Page 49 Title: There Is Some Kiss We Want Author: Rumi
Page 52 Title: Our Lady of Vladimir Author: Theokotos of Vladimir
Title: Patience Author: Rabindranath Tagore
Page 78 Title: Vespers Author: Monteverdi
Page 78 Title: Trío para piano, violín y violonchelo en Sol mayor K496 Author: Mozart
Page 78 Title: King without a Crown (Live from Stubbs) Author: Matisyahu
Page 78 Title: The Cave Author: Mumford and Sons
Page 78 Title: 2080 Author: Yeasayer
Page 78 Title: In the Morning Author: Nina Simone
Page 79 Title: Landscsape: Wheatfields under Thunderclouds Author: van Gogh
Page 79 Title: Kadinsky Art Author: Wassily Kadinsky
Page 79 Title: RichD Dancing in the Rain Oakland Street Author: Yak Films
Page 86 Title: Spiegel im Spiegel Author: Arvo Pärt
Page 86 Title: Claire de Lune Author: Debussy
Page 86 Title: Köln Concerts Author: Keith Jarrett
Page 121 Title: St. Kevin and the Blackbird Author: Seamus Heaney
Page 125 Title: Mercy Author: Jessica Powers
Page 130 Title: In Our Talons Author: Bowerbirds
Page 134 Title: 3055 Author: Olafur Arnald
Title: On Being Called to Prayer While Cooking Dinner for Forty Author: Patrick Donnelly
Page 135 Title: Ubi caritas et amor Author: Maurice Duruflé
Page 135 Title: Ubi caritas et amor Author: Taizé
Page 136 Title: Shoveling Snow with the Buddha Author: Billy Collins
Title: To the Mistakes Author: W. S. Mervin
Page 146 Title: Wrong Day-Go Back Author: Richard Tipping
Page 155 Title: How to Truly Listen Author: Evelyn Glennie
Page 156 Title: A Spiritual Journey Author: Wendell Berry
Page 165 Title: Dear God Author: Monsters of Folk
Audio of Lynn reading from the Flow of Love chapter
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Here is Lynn reading part one of the Flow of Love theme chapter from the audiobook of Spiritual Connection in Daily Life. The audiobook, published in has been substantially revised and enhanced from the 2013 print edition.