Tag: Spiritual Intelligence

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Brian Draper: Spiritual Intelligence: Book Launch Speech

Feels like a conspiracy here tonight.

“A small crowd gathering in an old bookshop, gathering around an idea, spilling onto the streets, albeit in genteel, Winchester fashion, quietly determined, perhaps, to connect, and to make a difference.

Quietly determined to whisper conspiratorially that there must be more to life than slavishly serving money or massaging ego;

Quietly determined to stop sleep-walking through life, and start waking up to the moments of clarity, to the gifts of epiphany, to the glimpses of magic we are all presented with every day, if we did but realise them.

Quietly resolved, perhaps, to try living as if less really is more.

As if you’ve got to lose yourself to find yourself.

As if you’ve got to die, somehow, in order to truly live.”

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Brian Draper @ CCW: Sunday 5th July (Report)

On Sunday 5th July, Brian Draper had a busy day at Christ Church Winchester, speaking at 3 of the services!

Brian used the passage Matthew 7:13-29 as the basis for the evening, in which he was explaining the 4-step plan that he’s developed with regards to Spiritual Intelligence.
  • In life there are no easy short-cuts or “quick-buys”, and we need to clarify the life/faith connection. Spiritual Intelligence was designed as a “giveaway book”, and one that would likely be purchased at airports.
  • God wants to challange you, and breathe grace/comfort into you.
What is intelligence?
Our understanding of intelligence is no longer just judging people by how clever they are through IQ quizzes, etc., but we now have emotional intelligence, and the idea of spiritual intelligence is also gaining momentum.
What is coaching?
Coaching is all about embracing ourselves as part of a bigger picture. Whether we’re dealing with a business or with people, we want to become part of the solution, rather than being part of the problem.
Would you like your life to have significance?
How effectively are you using your innate spiritual intelligence now? What part would you like to play in your local/global world? What will you do with your “one wild and precious life”?
How do you define success?
We need to re-evaluate the nature of success by what we celebrate, as what we define as success tends to identify our priorities. We need to say enough is enough and love those in our communities becasue of our differences. We’re all unique and have different things to contribute [how boring would it be otherwise?]. God has set eternity in our hearts and won’t let us rest or settle into mediocrity.
The Road of Life
On Finding “the road”, we need to live life in all its fullness. Often in Christianity the life now is not seen as important as heaven, but God created us for a purpose and to enjoy our life on earth, so we need to appreciate NOW. The challenge is to become more fully aware, observant and ready, nurture those seeds of awakening into life.
Staying Alive!
When do you come most fully alive? To whom? To what are you giving your life? What is the higher cause you serve? Christianity is a description not a prescription, it’s a journey of faith. What is the context of spiritual transformation in your own life? Malcolm Gladwell describes in The Tipping Point that if the context is right for transformation only need a 1degree change at a time for true change. Think about snowflakes, each tiny flake is like nothing, but as they settle, everything changes.
So how are you living?
Are we living hurried, stressed lives, against a constant background of noise? We need to get to a place where we can expect the unexpected, where radical change can be expected. (You can gain an idea of how Brian has been living recently)
The Four Stage Iconic Journey of Spiritual Development
A brief summary of the four icons.
Alarm Clock
Every day offers the chance for (spiritual) awakenings, if only we noticed them! Are you awake to what is unfolding around you?
We need contemplative times, otherwise we rush around building a false ID of ourselves using our ego-driven minds, which drags us back to the past, or forward to the future, never enjoying the moment!
What can give us those small seeds of awakening?
  • Conversations
  • Art
  • Scenery
  • Smells
Eye
“Leisure” by William Henry Davies.
Once you awaken to something, you begin to see the world/your place in it changing. How is your life different? What do you look for in life? The scales can fall from your eyes fast or slowly! What do your friends and family see that is different about you?
Your eyes are your windows on life. If you are squinting, you won’t let the light in and your life will be dark, if your eyes are wide open, you allow it all in!
U2: “Walk On” (interesting words that Bono chose for 64forsuu).
With some music in the background, we considered this image for a couple of minutes – each of us will something different – and this is how it is in the world, we all picture the world differently. What we see/believe affects how we act.
Paint Palette
How do we respond uniquely/creatively to the world? We need to glimpse our potential as children of God! We need to lead a charge as we’re in a battle for life (and it’s hard to lead the battle if you think you look stupid on a horse). As Gandhi said [and one of my favourite quotes]: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”.
Pass It On
Jamie Oliver offers a contagion of cooking – he’s passing it on. Why don’t we do the same with our faith, and the benefits that we receive from them?! We’re not teaching or telling others how to live, but allow those around you to benefit from the fruits of your own life.
The “fruits of the spirit” – you can’t put a price on that kind of benefit! We need to begin to live a life less ordinary, offering a contagion of HOPE, and of the infinite potential in life [so many people are strangled by fear, and never live up to their potential]. We can be more fully human!
For the soul to flourise, we need to shake off the idea that we are passive partakers in this world, we can shape our own lives and those of the whole world.
We have an opportunity for a new culture created by those prepared to risk/try. Fear causes a hold on the old ways, which are ineffective!
Read more in Spiritual Intelligence, see information from the book launch (I’m looking forward to seeing Brian’s speech once he gets it on his website.
This report should have come before Winchester Web Scene, but never mind!
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Life(style)

Brian Draper @ CCW: Sunday 5th July

Brian Draper @ CCW

If you missed Brian Draper’s book launch (the unofficial one at J John, or the official one at P&G Wells), he will be speaking at Christ Church Winchester on Sunday 5th July (I believe the 9.30, 11.15 and 6.30pm services!)
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Brian Draper: Spiritual Intelligence: Book Launch

Sir John Whitmore endorses Brian Draper’s new book “Spiritual Intelligence“, launched at P&G Wells last night. Great speeches by both, great event, well hosted, well-attended (we were spilling out onto the streets).
Back Cover Info:

According to the author, Danah Zohar, we live in a ‘spiritually dumb’ culture – alienated from each other, too busy to take time to reflect, and trying desperately to juggle the myriad pulls and pushes of life without cracking up. How can we find meaning within the madness, hope within the hopelessness, reconciliation within ourselves and with our neighbour? In this book, Brian Draper asks how ordinary people, whether religious or not, can live on a daily basis with increasing wholeness and well-being – by using their spiritual intelligence.
First, we must ‘awaken’ to new possibilies so we can ‘see the world afresh’. Next, we ‘live the change’, before we can finally ‘pass it on’. Brian Draper’s unique ‘iconic’ journey of transformation – through four stages, and four levels of depth will help you to find yourself with a whole, new way of being.
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Week 9: Know God

Do Christians Think?

“I can’t believe in anything I can’t understand” says one student to J John. On discovering that he studied agriculture, J John asked: “So, explain to me, how a black cow eats green grass and produces white milk”…
Many people think that Christians don’t think because we don’t think the way they expect us to think… [but we truly question what we believe, what’s the point in believing in something if it won’t stand up to scrutiny? Not that I have all the answers.. daily questions, and just being open to the possibilities]
Video
Who’s your hero?
Why do we need heroes?
What would God look like to you?
Personal image (heavily marketed) makes or breaks “idols”

Yes, this week is a focus on Exodus 20: 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Interview with Sam Blakey
Sam has been looking after the Press & Publicity for Just10, and often has letters published in The Times and local newspapers.
Sam had an understanding of God as a child, but once she got to university, she created a new life where she actively ignored God. Attending the funeral of a close friend at Christ Church she could feel God’s hope and present, and over the next 24 hours decided to just “trust God and go with it”.
Sam used the word ‘amazing’ quite a lot, which as she said, is what you tend to do when God is in your life. A year after she became a Christian, her husband, having watched The Passion of the Christ attended an Alpha course, and mid-way through, became a Christian.
Earlier this year, Sam’s son was assualted in an unprovoked attack. Sam was so angry about this that she set out on a “journey of vengeance”, and then realised (especially with the example of her son who was demonstrating forgiveness) that this was not how she, with God in her life, wanted to behave, and decided to forgive, at which she felt a burden lift.
Launches
The song “The Faltering Child” (re making choices), beautifully sung, written by Chris, head pianist! Brian Draper’s book Spiritual Intelligence was launched, officially released this Friday… J John said the manuscript arrived on a day when he didn’t really have time, started with a quick look, then read the whole thing in one sitting! [There was certainly a long queue for signed copies of the book at the end of the evening, I suspect Brian may have run out of copies!] The idea was created by Danah Zohar in Re-Wiring the Corporate Brain, and Brian wanted to build upon that with ideas from Ecclesiastes.
Back to J John
“If I had a photo of another woman in my wallet, should my wife just say, oh, that’s OK, or should she be angry and demand to know who it is… if I was turning to that woman for advice, would my wife believe me when I said “I love you”. “No, I would expect her to be hurt/angry – she has every right to demand that I keep myself for her. I want to, I love her, I made vows to her.”
How does this relate to “no idols”
Idolatry = adultery to God, it’s unfaithfulness, we have prostituted ourselves by bowing to idols.
We have a jealous God, he doesn’t share his affection!
Capture God?
A child asked whether God was in the house (yes), in the kitchen (yes), in the marmalade jar (yes), and then clapped the lid on and said “Got Him”. If we think we’ve “Got Him” in our hands, then we’ve lost touch with him… God can’t easily be captured.
We can’t chisel, paint or any other sensory form… all will depict Him as less than He truly is.
Some argue that such things are aids to worship, but such aids tend to become the objects of worship themselves.
So what is idolatry?
Any value, activity or idea that you place above God. In the modern world we are focused upon such things as physical beauty, sex, power, etc.
We should be reminded, as the Greeks were “Do not make of yourself an idol”, when it was all about perfection of the human form… we now have Barbie and Ken (and Barbie’s proportions are impossible for a woman to achieve!).
Every morning, some people “bow down” to peer at the weight on their scales… which determines what we will feel like today! (If so, he recommends Deborah Lovell: Lives in the Balance), and quoted a poem she’d written (see something similar).
YES, it is right to care for our God-given bodies through cleanliness, good nutrition and exercise, but don’t idolise one of those (which tends to lead to anorexia or plastic surgery).
Superstitions
Superstitions are a form of idolatry, usually coming from habits (e.g. not walking under a ladder [although I always think that’s more about a paint pot not landing on my head!]) or a belief in protection. Phrases such as “Touch Wood” (and removing 13th floor from hotels and 13th row from airplanes) acknowledge that there are other powers at work.
In the morning, many people check their “Horror-scopes”, explicitly spoken out against by God in Deuteronomy 18:9-12.
Freemasonry
J John appears to know a lot about the Freemasons… the Church of England Synod did a study into whether Freemasonry was compatible with Christianity – with an answer of a resounding NO!
  • Freemasonry is characterised by deception, and lower level members don’t really know what is going until they reach at least Level 4.
  • It is often seen as a charitable organisation, good for networking, job opportunities, social status, etc., therefore often seen as harmless.
  • Freemasons meet in Lodges which contain temples, where they kneel at at altar, swear oaths to sacred laws, and at the 4th level, start to worship specific Gods.
  • Curses are prol
    ific, and level 4 and above pledge lifelong silence BEFORE hearing material… and curse themselves to death if they reveal secrets.
  • At the 30th level, Freemasons declare that Lucifer is God (i.e. the Devil, the complete antithesis of God!)
Cultural Climate
Our current culture emphasises “whatever works for you”. However, if you don’t know what you stand for, you’ll fall for anything!
Best Description of God?
Jesus himself, who came to make God visible, made in God’s image (as are we).
If we’re listening to the radio, there are different frequencies assigned, and we need to tune into God’s frequency. Images of the world are bankrupt, and if you focus on them you’ll end up deceived and disappointed!
God Offers Us Forgiveness
Before Jesus, John the Baptist was a great preacher (and if you think that J John is aggressive, you should have heard him… calling people snakes and vipers!).
J John gave a great illustration of where John the Baptist could have taken a management approach to baptising people…. lining people up, asking them “Name, worst sin”, writing that on a sticker, slapping it on their chest, and then John would know what to free/baptise them from/for! As each person lines up, we got through the ten commandments, and there’s Jesus “none”, but then takes everyone else’s stickers, and then is ready to be baptised in freedom from all those sins [which I assume will wash away in the water, if the stickers I have are anything to go by, and seems to complete the analogy!]. Jesus wants to liberate us from all that weighs us down!
Know me –> Know the Truth –> the Truth shall set you free.
We know Jesus embodies the truth, so we will not be disappointed!
What shape is your God?
The only image on your heart/mind shoudl be Jesus, replacing the focus on all those other things.
All those things that God says have nothing to do with we go and see in museums, or use as art decorations. J John asks that last week if we have statues of Buddhas, ouija boards, etc. that we place them in the Amnesty Bins [I don’t believe that I do!]
Note, whenever you visit a castle and see the throne room, thrones are always for ONE, there’s no throne pews! So, have Jesus on the throne of your life, as, as J John only has space for one woman in his wallet, he only has room for one God in his life.
Just 10
Just 1!! Just one more week of Just10 left, which will be on “Living by Priorities”, and then check partner churches for follow-up courses. All these commandments have serious messages, but these last few are the REALLY SERIOUS ones!