BECOMING FOREVER BECOMING
 

At this point, as we discuss spirituality, we must explain that we use the word spiritual in the American rather than the European sense. We consider spirituality as being more religious than esthetic as most Europeans and Asians do. For as much as we enjoy the arts personally, visiting museums, attending orchestral performances, operas and plays and performing often in amateur productions, we don't for one minute believe they can satisfy any soul’s yearning to connect meaningfully with the Lord of the Cosmos.

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Because our society has many families, churches, schools, businesses, communities and entire nations facing serious problems, this cannot be a sweet little Be nice and love Jesus fable, isolated from the real world of human attitudes, activities and relationships. We must dig deep, because as H L Menken said, simple and neat solutions to complex problems are always simple, neat and wrong! Therefore we write about spirituality and joy as life really is, in areas many religion authors view through rose colored glasses. Here now is a sample Self Focus exercise to help you put new knowledge in perspective. with other persons, discuss it for a few minutes before going on.

SELF FOCUS EXAMPLE

Why is Catherine so dissatisfied when she is living the great American dream?

When have you felt like Catherine in your activities and relationships?

We, Jard and Roberta, have both connected joyously with God in a covenant relationship of the kind Viktor Frankl discovered for himself as he survived over three years in Nazi death camps. Jard came to a spiritual awakening and to the church during that terrible period of great violence while the world went mad. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he would never live through his twentieth year. The world was in flames and his generation was called on to extinguish them with its blood. Roberta connected with God when a child, as a lamb who trusted Jesus with her simple faith. By the time we became college sweethearts, we understood that our lives must be invested wisely. We could find nothing meaningful except through serving humanity with some legitimate service. Despite our many shortcomings and a few spectacular failures, we have done our best with the poker hand God dealt us. We remain connected to God the Seminal Spirit within our faith community -- not to demonstrate any innate virtue of our own, but because our spiritual hungers must be nourished through worship as well as in humanitarian service.

We've researched and collaborated on the books we mentioned above. We have also published seminars and assessment instruments used worldwide for Morrow, New American Library, Personal Dynamics Institute and so on. Jard pastored seven years before he taught psychology at Olivet College and chaired psychology at Westminster College. He served as Vice-President of Manufacturing for small Derardean Corporation and as Manager of Engineering Research, Methods and Training for a gigantic 8,000 employee UniRoyal industrial complex. He became Director of the Learning and Learning Disabilities Clinic for learning handicapped children in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin and as Professor of Leadership Psychology in the Executive Development Program at the University of Arizona. He taught leadership classes around the world for more than a decade.

Roberta mothered three kids of our own, taught inner-city children in Cincinnati and Minneapolis, becoming an outstanding reading specialist for students with learning disabilities. She wrote school-wide curricula and although technically retired, maintains a full schedule. Roberta progressed to high responsibilities for the American Cancer Society, eventually becoming leader of the Minneapolis fund drive. She served as chair- person of her home church's official board, the first woman to serve as lay leader in our congregation. She served as a state officer for the United Methodist Conference of Minnesota, working to make the church relevant for twenty-first century women and men.

Our most satisfying personal service to date was providing for the church, tens of thousand of workbooks similar in style to this one -- first, The Pastor’s Handbook (Keys To Successful Leadership). Then, The Psychology Of Witnessing for arguably the world’s fastest growing denomination. They were used from Stockholm to Singapore, on five continents. Virtually every minister in the Seventh-day Adventist fellowship studied The Pastor’s Handbook to improve leadership skills and many thousands of congregations are still using our book Witnessing as the guide for the denomination's outreach into the twenty-first century.

This means that silly old Jard, who as a great-grandfather restores antique racing motorcycles and sings badly in plays like Wenceslaus, Fiddler and Creation and Roberta who teaches the Disciple Bible study groups, sings very well in several choirs and works long hours in our segment of society, shall have a positive influence on the church we love for a long time. Thousands of devout pastors and hundreds of thousands of committed lay persons shall influence their communities; shall change their world, by forming stronger faith communities and leading many persons toward psychospiritual maturity. Because Jard and Roberta persisted and persisted and persisted to accomplish something meaningful for society. Persisted until they created reasons for life to become fulfilling!

You must understand this about our work. In our books and classes. we use a distinctly philosophical approach. We neither offer psychological consulting nor conduct psychotherapy, because they have reached their limits in dealing with the existential alienation or spiritual bankruptcy that is epidemic in scope in the 21st century. This many help you understand our work better.

We have become existential sages; philosophical practitioners or Christian Logotherapists, who deal with the major issues of meaning and belonging as they open avenues of satisfaction through connecting  consciously with God and by maturing psychospiritually.

Obviously, our humanitarian, generous and frankly spiritual beliefs all appear throughout our work. We would have it no other way, for we have found open-minded liberality vital to consistent fulfillment.

A narcissistic and reactionary lifestyle is a painful one because it is always a reflection of the anxiety, rage and resentment buried deep within the unconscious aspects in the mind of angry, vindictive persons. Of course these negative traits are on a continuum -- from the angry husband no wife can please to an Adolph Hitler who dragged an entire nation down to destruction because the people didn’t conquer the world for him. Hitler never realized there wasn’t enough power in the world to heal the great festering wound at the center of his soul.

Any person with just a modicum of historical knowledge understands that every society from the most primitive with a be-feathered shaman chanting spells, to Stonehenge and Western Europe’s towering cathedrals, and even Billy Graham’s crusades, has reflected the spiritual yearnings deep within each human soul. We all ache to connect with God in this awe-inspiring Cosmos -- although many fail to understand that the painful longings in their souls come from spiritual bankruptcy. Our Logotherapy approach is about the acceptance of all of God’s people and expressing generosity in all aspects of life.

We see personal fulfillment as connecting with God and maturing enough in all your powers, to serve society well as life shifts relentlessly around you -- or joining the dinosaurs on the way out.

As far as our own spiritual awakening, the poet laureate of early Methodism, Charles Wesley, stated it well.

Once our imprisoned spirits lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature's night.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
We woke, the dungeon flamed with light.
Our chains fell off, our hearts were free,
We rose, went forth and followed Thee.

Each person, to enjoy spiritual fulfillment, really needs a spiritual awakening, a connection with the Lord of Life. We must all establish a covenant relationship that lifts us beyond the banal and the painful routines of life. We know, we ourselves have long found God’s solace in our dark nights of the soul and joy in the morning.

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The Fulfillment Forum
3414 wt 46th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55410
The DeVille Institute of Logotheraphy

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