Spiraling Consciousness

Why use the Enneagram as a tool for transformational change? In this three-part series, Rev. Kelly, with special guest Leslie Hershberger, will help you understand your type and the way it has shaped your relationships and your story. You gain insight and learn tools to calm yourself when you begin to think, feel and act “on automatic.” The Enneagram is a system of nine personality types that provides a lucid map for how we habitually think, feel and react. By gaining awareness of our feelings, strategies and motivations, we open to creativity, choice and deeper connection. We discover our inner observer: an awareness beyond passing moods and unconscious patterns. We become less reactive, kinder to ourselves and more compassionate toward others. In Part 1, we will cover three of the nine types (8, 9 and 1)—the BODY CENTER. Part 2 airs September 26, the HEAD CENTER (Types 5, 6 and 7); and Part 3 airs October 10, the HEART CENTER (Types 2, 3 and 4). 

Why use the Enneagram as a tool for transformational change? In this three-part series, Rev. Kelly with special guest Leslie Hershberger, www.lesliehershberger.com, will help you understand your type and the way it has shaped your relationships and your story. You gain insight and learn tools to calm yourself when you begin to think, feel and act “on automatic.” The Enneagram is a system of nine personality types that provides a lucid map for how we habitually think, feel and react. By gaining awareness of our feelings, strategies and motivations, we open to creativity, choice and deeper connection. We discover our inner observer: an awareness beyond passing moods and unconscious patterns. We become less reactive, kinder to ourselves, and more compassionate towards others. In Part 1 we will cover 3 of the 9 types (8, 9 and 1) the BODY CENTER. Part 2 covers the HEAD CENTER (Types 5, 6 and 7) and Part 2 focuses on the HEART CENTER (Types 2, 3 and 4). 

Why use the Enneagram as a tool for transformational change? In this three-part series, Rev. Kelly, with special guest Leslie Hershberger, www.lesliehershberger.com, will help you understand your type and the way it has shaped your relationships and your story. You gain insight and learn tools to calm yourself when you begin to think, feel and act “on automatic.” The Enneagram is a system of nine personality types that provides a lucid map for how we habitually think, feel and react. By gaining awareness of our feelings, strategies and motivations, we open to creativity, choice and deeper connection. We discover our inner observer: an awareness beyond passing moods and unconscious patterns. We become less reactive, kinder to ourselves, and more compassionate toward others. In Part 1, we will cover three of the nine types (8, 9 and 1—the BODY CENTER). Part 2 covers the HEAD CENTER (Types 5, 6 and 7), and Part 3 focuses on the HEART CENTER (Types 2, 3 and 4). 

According to Cindy Wigglesworth, Spiritual Intelligence is "the ability to behave with wisdom and compassion while maintaining inner and outer peace regardless of the situation." In her new book, SQ 21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence, Cindy helps us understand how spiritual intelligence is analogous to such concepts as IQ and emotional intelligence (EQ). Using clear, practical language, she defines the "21 skills" that comprise spiritual intelligence, and in doing so, teaches us the steps to begin developing your own spiritual intelligence. This is "spiritual weight lifting!" We develop our "muscles" to shift away from thinking with our self-focused ego to behaving from our more loving and peaceful Higher Self. If you want more peace, wisdom and compassion in your life—this show is for you! Part Two will air October 3. We will continue our discussion and focus on even more practical applications of the 21 skills and offer specific exercises to practice "spiritual weight lifting."

What should the relationship be between sexuality, ethics and God? How can we move beyond our cultural influences and attitudes about sexuality and sexual orientation? In this episode, Rev. Robin Reiter of Sacred Abundance Ministries, www.sacredabundance.org, and Sal Sapienza, www.gayisagift.com, join Rev. Kelly to talk about awakening the world to the healing long overdue and needed around the core beliefs people still hold that homosexuality mistakenly means "unworthiness." Whether you are a part of the LGBT community or an ally, listen in and join in what Sal calls the "Second Coming Out." Robin and Sal are part of an upcoming LGBT retreat at Unity Village September 27–30; for more information: http://unityvillage.org/retreats/event/out-open-lgbt-spiritual-experience.  

Interested in going on a diet? A Low-Carbon Diet? Join the growing number of Americans who have decided to take global warming into their own hands! Your world needs you, and in this episode, you'll learn fun and simple ways you can quickly reduce your carbon footprint by at least 15 percent without changing everything in your life. It is time for us all to stop living on our ecological credit card, which can never be paid, and start co-creating a world that works for all! 

Stress and trauma are facts of life. Trauma contributes to more than just mental health issues—it is also responsible for a wide variety of physical problems. But a soul-centered life can never be achieved by trying to order one's external life in a way that allows us to feel safe, secure and content. Our sense of safety and well-being resides in the architecture of the brain. In the past 10 years, there has been increased understanding that the brain has the ability to “re-wire” the default settings of our internal alarm system and lower the number of times we "blow up or melt down" because of stress or trauma. TRAUMA FIRST AIDE™ (TFA) is a model for rewiring the brain, giving us a greater sense of self-control and the ability to respond differently in highly charged situations. The secret to crafting a soul-centered life is in becoming masters of ourselves, transcending our patterns and habits to consciously regulate ourselves in moments when we feel triggered. To do this, the mind/body shadow must be brought into the light for healing and integration.  

When we look at the world through an evolutionary lens, we can't help but see the immense pain and suffering. Although things are getting better, thanks to technology, we are more aware than ever of the suffering in people's lives. Our evolutionary lens also offers us a greater perspective to experience the fullness of this suffering within our own hearts; it offers us skills to free ourselves from its grasp. "Hurts more, bothers you less," as Ken Wilber would say. In this episode, we discover we are not destined to escape suffering, but rather we learn to face it head on, recognizing that the empathy to feel another's pain as if it were our own, giving us the courage and wherewithal to do what it takes to eradicate it from our world.

Our "shadow" consists of unresolved inner conflicts and unexpressed emotions; it is the emotional wounds, painful events, feelings of fear, shame or self-doubt rejected by our conscious selves. The ultimate goal of resolving these issues, "doing our shadow work," is to move through different levels of awareness to reconnect with our Higher Self (the soul). It works in gentle, yet powerful ways to change attitudes, awaken insight, and bring the strength and peace of acceptance. It gives us the capacity to move forward and express our souls. 

On this episode, listen to teens from all around the world who have gathered for the International Youth of Unity weeklong retreat titled "Standing on Holy Ground." The teens will talk about their understanding and practice of Unity's Five Principles. Discover what IYOU is all about, and what Unity means to this young generation that is already changing the world.

A recent Gallup Poll found that almost half of Americans believe God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the past 10,000 years or so. This is something the scientific world denies since there is no evidence to support it, and yet this theory called "Young Earth Creationism" is very much alive. So where does it fit into our journey of faith? Is there any truth in it? Or has half of America gone off the deep end with its beliefs about God and our world? Tune in for an interesting look at a debate very much alive in our culture: Creationism or Evolution. Or can it be both?

Join me and guest Betsy LeBard to talk about all things Next Generation. What is that? Our 20- and 30-somethings look at life and spirituality, which is different than some a wee bit older ... Find out what's alive for our next generation of world leaders who are contributing in powerful ways to the evolution of life, spirituality and consciousness.

Ceremony and rituals are an important and essential part of our lives. In this episode, Rev. Kelly talks about the specifics in creating rituals and ceremonies, as well as the importance of using the four elements of earth, air, fire and water in our ceremonies. From the beginning of time, humans have performed ceremonies for many reasons: birth, death, coming of age, marriage, full moons, seasons, as preparation for a journey, and to celebrate important events. Learn to create your own simply and with a deep, heart-filled intention and meaning.  

In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves. In particular, to care and have compassion for other people and experiences that are fearful, angry, jealous, selfish, mean—you name it—means not to run from the pain within ourselves. We human beings tend to avoid suffering, unpleasantness and uncomfortability, while we gravitate toward pleasure, comfort or something "better." In order to stop this cycle, we can use the precious heart-practice of Tonglen. Tonglen is a Tibetan word that means "sending and taking." Using this powerful and highly effective practice, we learn to embrace our life experiences with more openness, compassion, inclusiveness and understanding. To cultivate a deep compassion for all living beings, including ourselves, we need to meet and embrace reality in a radically new way. In this episode, listen and learn a radical new way of being with Rev. Kelly.  

In this episode, Rev. Kelly talks with Victoria Wilson-Jones, an Integral Coach and Consultant, and an experienced mind/body/spirit educator and consultant. She has spent the past 27 years assisting individuals in connecting to their deepest authenticity by exploring and working with the transformative energy of Spirit in many ways—through nature, writing, teaching, yoga and movement as well as through art. We are reminded that life is a deep and profound journey to the far reaches of our own authenticity, and we are each an ever-changing, growing and developing being designed to learn and apply new skills as we meet life's challenges.   

On this episode, Rev. Kelly shares her spiritual travelog that journeys from Italy through Croatia, Greece and Turkey, from a three-week trip through the Mediterranean and ancient empires. Kelly will share her own personal insights, as well as connect to the greater world community through different perspectives, religious practices, and our collective desire to express Spirit through stories and symbols. As you listen, imagine yourself transported to faraway places and long-ago eras to see the intimate interconnectedness of all life.

Spiritual practice, which leads to awakening, is fundamentally the same as preparation and practice for death. Just as death is the dissolution of the physical, spiritual practice becomes a tool to die to our old ways of thinking and being. Once our fear of death is eliminated, then our way of being in the world is transformed, through our spiritual practices. One of the most powerful spiritual practices we can engage in is prayer: connecting prayer and being prayer. And what does prayer look like along the Spiral? Listen in as Rev. Kelly shares her wisdom and experience with Spiraling Prayer!

Spiritual Life Center recently found itself without a church "home" for the most important Christian service of the year, Easter. The Unity church's 12-year lease ended one week before Easter, and while searching for an Easter worship space, Rev. Michael Moran, of Spiritual Life Center, said he had a dream one night where the headlines read "Easter at the Mosque!" It compelled him to turn to the Muslim community he and his church had stood with in the days immediately following 9/11. Rev. Moran immediately phoned Dr. Metwalli Amer, executive director and founder of Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims (SALAM) to share his dream, asking if the dream could come true by having SALAM open its facilities for an Easter Service. Before the end of the two days, Dr. Amer came back with the positive response! You will enjoy listening to this inspiring and deeply hopeful example of modeling for the world how to do things in a different way.

"Turning our face toward Jerusalem: The Lenten practice of assuming radical responsibility for life." When Jesus hears that his mentor, John the Baptist, has been arrested, he doesn't turn away. In fact, the Gospels tell us that this is the precise moment when he "turns his face toward Jerusalem." He steps up and assumes even more radical responsibility for the emergence of the Kingdom of God—the divine realm on earth. We'll explore what this means from the perspective of evolutionary Christianity. 

Each week in the series focuses on healing and embracing our shadow as individuals and as organizations. In Part 4 of this four-week series, we take a look at the shadow through the Wilber's Lower Right quadrant of the Integral lens. This  is the collective exterior, our natural world, our systems, technology, networks and our government. We will look at how the collective shadow plays out and how we can use it to create change in collective physical realm, which the most amount of alignment. It requires collective agreements to redefine, to step away and embrace a new definition, of releasing one identity and embracing something new.

Each week in the series focuses on healing and embracing our shadow as individuals and as organizations. In Part 3 of this four-week series, we take a look at the shadow through the Lower Left quadrant of the Integral lens. Today we will be focused on Wilber's Lower Left quadrant (the collective interior, our shared language, our ways of meaning making, our relationships). We will look at how the collective shadow plays out and how we can use it to our benefit. 

This four-week series invites the listener to learn about our "shadow" through the Integral Theory. In Part 1, the focus of our shadow was healing and embracing our shadow as individuals and as organizations, the Upper Left quadrant. Part 2 focuses on the Upper Right quadrant, our bodies, and the systems and process within organizations. From before we are born, we encounter a never-ending stream of experience. Some we digest in a healthy way, and some remains undigested. The total sum of our undigested experience is what we refer to as our "shadow." To experience the fullness and wholeness of who we have come here to be, we must be willing to do our shadow work. To confront a person with their shadow is to show him or her their own light!

From before we are born, we encounter a never-ending stream of experience. Some we digest in a healthy way, and some remains undigested. The total sum of our undigested experience is what we refer to as our "shadow." To experience the fullness and wholeness of who we have come here to be, we must be willing to do our shadow work.  To confront a person with their shadow is to show him or her their own light. Join Rev. Kelly as she embarks on a four-week journey of healing by embracing our shadow as individuals and as organizations.

We oftentimes find ourselves faced with questions that seemingly have no answer or spiritual truths that might appear impossible in the face of very challenging experiences. In this episode, Kelly and Rima talk about how to reconcile the practice of living with nothing and no one against us with the very real experience that bad things do sometimes happen. Many people are wondering about these difficult questions, especially as so many have been taking to the streets to voice their discontent with the current way we live and work together as a human family. We are sharing this discussion in hopes that it illustrates how to reconcile the notion that nothing and no one is against us, while still working for a better world.

In this episode guest Bruce Sanguin discusses his book, The Emerging Church: A Model for Change and a Map for Renewal, as an important practical guide for both ministers and spiritual seekers who are desiring to shift their culture toward a progressive form of Christianity. The book is peppered with insights from leading-edge science, including the science of emergence, chaos theory, quantum physics, field theory, spiral dynamics and evolutionary science. Tune in for a vision of Evolutionary Christianity and what is emerging.

Faith, as approached here, is not necessarily religious, nor is it to be equated with belief. Rather, faith is a person's way of leaning into and making sense of life. More verb than noun, faith is the dynamic system of images, values and commitments that guide one's life. It is thus universal: Everyone who chooses to go on living operates by some basic faith. Listen and discover how faith has developed in your life and will continue to do so!

Just in time for the holidays, Rev. Kelly Isola takes a deeper look at one of the most famous Christmas stories of all time that began as a classic Dr. Seuss book: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. The Grinch's story is our own story of opening our hearts, healing our pain and coming together in community. Learn what some of the characters represent in this timeless Christmas classic.

The extraordinary events in our world continue to unfold, so we are taking a look at 2011 with a Year in Review from an evolutionary perspective. Joining Rev. Kelly Isola in conversation for this episode are Jeff Salzman, co-founder of Boulder Integral, and creator of The Integral Incubator, and David Riordan, vice president of Media Development for Integral Life, Inc. Listen in as we try to make integral and spiral sense of the ongoing revolutions in our world.

The stories of Jesus' birth are the foundation of the world's most widely observed holiday. Christmas is celebrated by the world's 2 billion Christians, not to mention the many non-Christians who celebrate it as well. Because of the importance of Christmas, how we understand the different stories of Jesus' birth matters. What we think of them—how we hear them, read them and interpret them—matters. These stories touch the deepest of human yearnings: for light in the darkness, for the fulfillment of our hopes, for a different kind of world. In this episode, Rev. Kelly takes a look at the historical meanings in their first-century context and the contemporary meanings for Christian understanding and commitment today.

In this episode, Rev. Kelly brings to life her own writings, titled "The Great Fullness of Life." Through song, meditation and contemplation, enjoy a unique and profound look at gratefulness and thankfulness as part of our evolutionary dance between our humanity and divinity.

Conflict is a normal part of life. The question becomes, What is our relationship to the conflict we experience? As we embrace conflict, we can discover the valuable gift it has to offer us. Listen to Rev. Kelly with her special guest, Rev. Lori Woodley, as they share the tools and teachings of connection in conflict through our presence and our words. Though this powerful practice of learning to connect deeply to ourselves and others, we learn new ways to co-exist, thrive and co-create peace in ways that appear miraculous.

The extraordinary events in our world continue to unfold ... the Middle East, Obama, Occupy Wall Street, and beyond. So what do you think? Are we currently seeing evolution, revolution or regression taking place? Joining Rev. Kelly Isola in conversation for this episode are Jeff Salzman, co-founder of Boulder Integral, and creator of The Integral Incubator, and David Riordan, vice president of Media Development for Integral Life, Inc. Listen in as we try to make integral and spiral sense of the ongoing revolutions in our world.

Our global community continues to go through dramatic change, ecologically, financially and politically. What can we do as individuals to contribute to a world that works for all people? What impact can one person have on creating an abundant, sustainable future for generations to come? In this episode, we talk with Mindy Audlin, former host of The Leading Edge, and author of Let It Begin With Me: 21 Voices of the New Peace Movement.

In this episode Rev. Kelly and her guest and co-author Rima Bonario talk about Occupy Wall Street through the lens of Spiral Dynamics, as well as look at paradigm shifts and discuss questions such as, What does OWS have to do with me? How does it affect my spiritual path? What is my role to play? Listen to a lively discussion about Occupy Wall Street and Occupy everything that may produce more questions than answers!

Developed by Ken Wilber over the past 30 years, Integral Theory has emerged as a truly 21st-century world philosophy. Its core framework integrates the fundamental truths of nearly every human endeavor into a cohesive model of human understanding and growth. While it may seem daunting and complex, the beauty of Integral Theory is its simplicity. This episode will offer a fun and practical way to gain insight into this theory and what shapes our instinctual way of seeing and doing in the world. It also enables us to enjoy more meaningful relationships. We also recognize that most of our emotional pain occurs because we tell ourselves an inaccurate story about who we are and what we think we need in order to live a rich and inspiring life. That gap between the story we tell ourselves and the deeper sense of self-understanding must be brought into the light if we are to experience living with freedom and fullness. So what at first seems to be overly theoretical turns out to be a new way of looking at your world. 

Ceremony and rituals are an important and essential part of our lives. From the beginning of time, humans have performed them for many reasons: birth, death, coming of age, marriage, full moons, seasons, as preparation for a journey, and to celebrate important events. In this episode Rev. Kelly will take an historic look at ritual as it connects with every level of the Spiral, including religion, worship and spirituality.

Sometimes understanding Spiral Dynamics can get a little overwhelming and even too intellectual or heady. In this episode, Rev. Kelly and Rev. Lauri will talk about their own personal journey with the Spiral: where the vMemes show up in their lives, how to reclaim the healthy aspects of each level, and how the different stages of development, from Beige to Turquoise, are made manifest in life.

"The Lord's Prayer" is Christianity's greatest prayer; it is also Christianity's strangest prayer. Did Jesus share this prayer for the few? Or was it offered as a prayer from the heart of a Jewish mystic for the whole world to embrace? On today's program, Kelly will take a look at this revolutionary manifesto and hymn of hope from it's beginning to what it can mean for us today as Christianity continues to evolve.

Was Jesus the one and only son of God or was he simply one of history's many significant spiritual leaders? Was he a miracle worker who walked on water and rose from the dead, or are these stories about his life simply metaphors imbued with timeless spiritual and moral truths? In this interview, my guest Bruce Sanguin, a leader in the Evolutionary Christianity movement, joins Rev. Kelly Isola to talk about how he's applying cutting-edge models of human development to explain why Jesus means so many different things to so many different people.

The Enneagram is a personality system (with nine Enneagram styles) that offers uncanny and powerful insights into why we think, feel and act the way we do. Listen to Kelly's special guest, Leslie Hershberger, a certified Enneagram teacher, talk about the importance of discovering your type, which supports your spiritual growth by seeing your underlying motivations and the basic belief you have about the world. By understanding your type, you identify your coping strategy and keys for personal and professional development.

As with any deeply transformative work, we must start with ourselves and our own consciousness before we can invite others to follow us. Rev. Kelly has collaborated with Rima Bonario to create a program called "Eight Steps to Creating Conscious Community" that supports individual and collective spiritual evolution. In this episode, they will share their insights about how to create a lasting impact in spiritual communities—one that sparks true individual and community transformation.

Join us as we look at some current events—cultural, political and religious—in the news from around the world, through the lens of Spiral Dynamics.

The 13th-century Persian poet Rumi was the supreme mystic poet of humanity and is now the most widely read spiritual writer in America. Rev. Kelly's guest this week, Andrew Harvey, has been studying Rumi's work for 30 years and will present his electric vision of Rumi's life, mystical journey and Divine philosophy, stressing their essential importance to the massive transformation that is taking place in our contemporary crisis. Listen in and be nourished with this sacred passion shared from the Sufi tradition.

This week we take a look at the evocative shift occurring within Christianity. Guest Leslie Hershberger is a teacher, facilitator and coach helping to forge a truly integral path for the Christian tradition. Topics will include reinterpreting the ancient wisdom of Jesus' teachings for today's world to embody a 21st-century Christianity, and incorporating transformative practices forgotten by the Western world. Listen in for an enlightening conversation that was cut short in May (and didn't air) by a tornado warning at the Unity Online Radio studio!

Rev. Kelly's guest for this episode week is Bruce Sanguin, minister of United Church of Canada and author of If Darwin Prayed: Prayers for Evolutionary Mystics. These are new prayers for a new age. They spark the spiritual imagination back to life and re-orient us to a mystical unity with the universe, Spirit, and all of creation. Emerging out of the conversation between the science of evolution and spirituality, these Christian prayers continually surprise with their earthy wisdom and a profound celebration of life. Listen in for a 21st-century look at centuries-old sacred traditions.

Oftentimes as we move along our path of spiritual evolution, we have religious experiences that are distressing, or we discover that the religion of our childhood no longer serves us. Rev. Kelly's guest is Dustin DiPerna, who will clue us in to how religion itself can be expressed through multiple lenses and various levels of awareness, offering us great insight into three filters: Social Filter, Cultural Filter and Individual Filter. We use these various ways to see how religion shows up in our daily lives so that we no longer need to throw the baby out with the religious bath water!

Andrew Harvey believes that the survival of humanity depends upon the fullest possible restoration of the powers, passions, and glories of the Divine Feminine. Andrew joins Rev. Kelly this week to share his vision of the recovery of the Divine Feminine, which makes possible the significance and truth of the Sacred marriage: a full fusion of the sacred masculine and sacred feminine on every level to birth a new humanity and an era in which human beings awaken to their full potential and embody divine love in action.

More and more, spiritual leaders and activists are coming together in search of unity and harmony in addressing the crises facing humanity and the earth. A new one-hour documentary, Globalized Soul, chronicles the worldwide phenomenon of "interreligious or interfaith dialogue," the distinctive spiritual journey of the 21st century. The producers, Kell Kearns and Cynthia Lukas, join Rev. Kelly for a global view of living from the heart of compassion.

Join us as we look at some current events—cultural, political and religious—in the news from around the world, through the lens of Spiral Dynamics.

Based on Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault's latest book, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity, Rev. Kelly will share insights presented by Ken Wilber and the author. There are few figures in Christian literature as provocative, as controversial, and as mysterious as Mary Magdalene: the "apostle of apostles" who, according to some apocryphal texts, was Jesus' most beloved disciple. We will explore the life and lessons of one of Christianity's most important women and reveal a startling new understanding of the radical intimacy shared by Jesus and Mary, as well as a largely unacknowledged path of conscious love that might be called a type of "Christian Tantra"—a path of devotion and mutuality that is full of ecstatic bliss, and free from inhibition or repression of any kind.

The extraordinary events in the Middle East continue to unfold ... Egypt, Libya, Syria, and beyond. So what do you think? Are we currently seeing evolution, revolution, or regression taking place in Egypt? Joining Rev. Kelly Isola in conversation this week are Jeff Salzman, co-founder of Boulder Integral, and creator of The Integral Incubator, and David Riordan, vice president of Media Development for Integral Life, Inc. Listen in as we try to make integral and spiral sense of the ongoing revolutions in the heart of the Arab world.