This talk was given by Michael in Vancouver on January 28, 2015. He described it as a manifesto for how to talk about spirituality in a post-metaphysical age, used a PowerPoint presentation (the slides are included in the e-book) and said it linked together some of his clearest ideas of the time.
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Here is an excerpt:
We’re living at a time where there are three main issues that we all need to address: The first issue is climate change. The second issue is economic inequality, and the third issue of our time that gets less media coverage, I think, than climate change and economic inequality—is
the decay of intimacy in our own bodies, in our hearts, in our relationships. And you could say that the atrophy of intimacy in our collective life is really the decay of democracy. And so tonight I’m going to explore what the traditions that I’ve been trained in have to say about these
issues, because I feel that if we can’t tell a new story that inspires people to really address these issues head on, then every exotic spiritual practice that we’re involved in is going to be a passing fetish or fashion.
Here are a few quotes that stood out to us:
“a spiritual practice that’s just focused on me is, I think, one that can blow away very easily”
“…the new story is already here, but it’s in the margins and we have to pay attention to the stories being told in the margins, because that’s the next story.”
“A path towards joy, a path towards freedom has to include other people.”