Excerpt #1.

INTRODUCTION - THE NEED FOR NEW INSIGHTS, PAGE 11

A more loving and caring world… It would make our journeying through life so much easier and so much more rewarding.    From the point of view of psychology, it’s a matter of our fulfilling the integrity of our growth and development both as individuals and as humanity.  Psychologists call it “Actualizing our human potential”. From the point of view of theology, it’s a matter of our living up to the potential of our intended divinity and staying on the track with the destiny of our species. Theologians know it as “Discovering our divine calling”.  Generation after generation, we have amassed a tremendous buildup of knowledge and wisdom about ourselves and the world we live in and about the ongoing progress of our civilization.  Now that we have the means of communicating world-wide to create a globally community and the technology to advance it, we need new insights into based on the knowledge and wisdom we have accumulated thus far.  Instead, old solutions to old problems are being played out – wars, social injustices, and environmental issues.  Why are we feeling the pressures to change – locally, globally?  How do we respond – individually, collectively?

Experience tells us that neither our psychological nor our spiritual realization are happening as they should.  Why not?  What can we do about it?  On the one hand, psychologists and related professionals are telling us that we need to be more aware of ourselves and of others, more loving; that we need to be fulfilling our integrity as individuals.  On the other hand, theologians and related spiritual advisors are telling us that we need to be more conscious of the global community and of our common humanity. Our politicians world-wide are saying everything in between.  They are urging us to be more cooperative socioeconomically, community by community, country by country while at the same time they are advising us to be more sharing in our international use the world’s resources.  Meanwhile, global inequities, uprisings and wars go on unabated. We need to be more loving toward one another and more caring toward our planet Earth.

The primary purpose of this book is to demonstrate that there is a common ground of awareness that is emerging between the extremes of psychology and theology that will help us develop our SELVES and grow our SOULS as one.  I believe that the availability of knowledge from an interconnectivity of biology, psychology, sociology, theology, cosmology and related disciplines will help us deal more effectively with the stresses and strains of living in the emerging global community.  Ultimately, this will lead to a stronger sense of Universal Love and to a more loving world.

      A secondary purpose of this book is to review the writings and reflect on my conversations with people of like minds who are concerned about how the rapid development of our technology is affecting our overall sense of spirituality in particular. I believe that a more holistic platform is needed for the growth and development of ourselves as individuals and for our humanity as inhabitants of the planet Earth. Ultimately, this will lead to a stronger sense of Cosmic Consciousness and to a more caring world.

EXCERPT #2.

chapter i - LIFE’S FOUR MOST BASIC QUESTIONs, PAGES 33/44

The power of keeping life’s four most basic questions in mind and using meditation to balance and integrate one’s SELF and SOUL as a whole is exactly what this book is all about. Life’s four most basic questions are:

Who Am I? is a materially-motivated process that predominates our thinking as we try to make sense out of the sensations of our childhood experiences and our adolescent interactions; 

What’s It All About? is an intellectually-focused process that predominates our thinking when we are in transition from education to employment and are looking for direction;

Where Do I Fit In? is an emotionally-charged process that underlies the first two questions but that surfaces to predominate when we are evaluating our successes in life such as having a career, a family, and contributing to the community;

Why Are We Here? is a spiritually-speculative process that is more or less active in the background of all of our questioning but that predominates Toward a More Loving and Caring World. 

When we are ready to consider ourselves in terms of the purpose and meaning of life and to review past, present and future issues in this larger context, we experience our wholeness and we are at one with our cosmic reality. All four questions are best asked in an integrated fashion as they can have different emphasis and meanings when considered separate and apart.

EXCERPT #3.

Chapter XVI - Transition #4 - from independent to interdependent living, pAGE 235

Not only our sense of inner divinity but also our awareness of humanity as a whole can be accessed by continuously keeping four questions uppermost in the course of our lives: Who Am I? Where Do I Fit In? What’s It All About? and Why Are We Here? Although the answers are always changing due to the fact that we are growing and changing ourselves (or at least, should be), the four questions nonetheless serve as a compass in the course of our ongoing self-discovery. Thus, we are spirits born into bodies with sensations that develop into thoughts and feelings as we strive for self-expression and interact with the world that we finds ourselves in. 

Our common goal as Kindred Spirits is to live in peace with others and in harmony with life. Toward this end, we try to contribute to the development of a social and economic environment that supports peace and harmony, but the thoughts and feelings that we experience as we live out our lives can distract us from the realization of this goal and can frustrate us in its worldly development—to the point that we no longer think it achievable.   In the process, we recognize the SELF as three dimensional —the physical sensations of the body, the intellectual ideas of the mind, and the emotional feelings of the heart.  Accordingly, we have created a three-dimensional world to nurture and promote the ongoing development of what we recognize as our bodies, minds and spirits.  But we have confused heart and spirit and we have left out a fourth dimension – the realm of our intuitions which is strange mix of what is psychological and theological.  It is heart and spirit combined. 

Those of us who experience ourselves four-dimensionally including body, mind, heart and spirit balanced by two streams for ongoing development and growth, SELF to WORLD and SOUL to COSMOS, need to find ways of expressing this new sense of wholeness.  I have suggested that Integrated Questioning coupled with meditation and prayer is one way of keeping this integrated wholeness uppermost in our awareness and of opening us up more positively to one another psychologically and theologically.  Surely, there are other ways and means toward a more loving and caring world.  We will only discover these through dialogue with Kindred Spirits.

The world can’t be an altogether ideal one based on love and generosity but neither does it have to be an altogether real one based on fear and greed.  It simply has to be more loving and caring to make it easier and more rewarding for more of us as we journey from self-awareness to cosmic consciousness and as we contribute purpose and meaning to its ongoing evolution. So then who amongst us doesn’t want a more a loving and caring world? We can make it happen by living out our lives in terms of SELF to WORLD and our individual integrity and also in terms of SOUL to COSMOS and our common human destiny. Through Universal Love, we can participate in the process of Globalization. Through Cosmic Consciousness, we can be aware of the process of Cosmozation.  Through our participation and awareness as four-dimensional people, we can contribute to a more loving and caring world….

EXCERPT #4.

conclusion - strengthening THE INNER DIALOGUE, PAGE 262

Linking psychology and theology will improve Developing the SELF. Resolving the issues of technology versus spirituality will improve Growing the SOUL. There is a dialogue going on within us at all times between SELF and SOUL. We need to be able to be more aware and supportive of this ongoing dialogue to realize that we are four-dimensional – body, mind, heart and spirit. In a rapidly changing world, our basic knowledge and know-how has to be carefully balanced and directed in keeping with this awareness.

In this way, scientists, technicians, politicians, all of us can search within ourselves for the integrated sense of direction that we need to work toward a better world. Peace, justice, generosity and harmony can become the cornerstones of our newly emerging global community. To make this happen an increasing number of us will have to be steadfast in the inner conviction that we want to be heading in direction of this progress and that these ideals and the vision they support are both desirable and attainable. By keeping life’s four most basic questions uppermost in our minds and foremost in our hearts, we can remain targeted toward this idealistic goal. They are like the points of a cosmic compass guiding us from one generation to the next toward a more loving and caring world where the fullness of our humanity can be expressed and we can contribute to a better tomorrow.

The process of globalization with its ever-advancing technology and insistence on a deeper sense of spirituality is already in high gear. It’s putting enormous demands on us as individuals and as a humanity to be more informed about ourselves, the world around us and the choices we are making. I will be continuing to reach out to Kindred Spirits to add to the research outlined in this book. With this in mind, I have created a website at www.donayre.ca and I invite you as a valued reader to visit it and to include your comments. We all have different life experiences, different sources of knowledge and wisdom and different points of view. But together, we are creating the future. Let it be a more loving and caring world.