Icebergs, Spirituality and Religion

Ideas For Group Discussions

The following is a simple help for group leaders and educators. It contains a Dot-point Overview of each section, Discussion Starters and a Group Work Option. Icebergs, Spirituality and Religion is available for free from www.CelebrationofJesus.com The presentation includes audio with over 100 photographs.

• Is reality predominantly perceived by the five senses?
• How adventurous are you in exploring your spiritual intuition?
• Icebergs floating in the sea present a picture of human consciousness.
• The weather happens above the waterline - similar to people being busy with what immediately and obviously confronts them every day.
• Deep in the ocean all is calm. Can a deep calm be found in people as well?
• Both the sea and the iceberg are made of water. How might this reflect human spirituality when considering a larger spiritual perspective?
• Mystery is available to everyone.

• Why is this iceberg analogy helpful or why not?
• Why may it be difficult to accept that the 'sea' is for real?
• What's attractive about mystery, or the mystical?

Draw an iceberg in the sea and write what belongs above and what below the waterline from a human sensory and psycho-spiritual perspective. (e.g. sight is above, intuition is below, feelings are both etc.) Now draw an imaginary line on the iceberg below which human inner awareness cannot reach. What can originate from below that line? (e.g. attitude, fear, anxiety, guilt) What can reach below this line? (e.g. God, collective unconsciousness, evil?) What does this tell us about people.

• Does technology make a higher power obsolete?
• People are increasingly taken up with ego and identity questions with little time for anything else.
• Spirituality and religion have served the deeper selves in people for thousands of years with revelation, rituals and sacred texts.
• Religion doesn't automatically guarantee a good stewardship of people and the earth.
• Religious people can be shallow and not engage with the spiritual depth of what is on offer.
• Religious culture can become oppressive depending on who are involved.
• Self-help books on spirituality are many but guidance is badly needed.
• 'God-is-me' is an illusion.

• What would you expect to gain from rituals and sacred texts?
• Why can a few bad apples turn you off apples altogether?
• Are there ways to overcome such hindrances?

Organized religion is failing the Western world and no longer needed! Debate this in two groups - one agrees, the other doesn't.

• The major world religions have 7 basic insights in common

1. There is, in fact, a transcendental Reality - a reality that extends beyond human reality.
2. People can connect with that Reality - the Reality can present itself to them.
3. The nature of the Reality is supreme beauty, truth, righteousness and goodness.
4. The Reality is one of love, mercy and compassion.
5. The way to engage most truly with the Reality is through a change of heart, a correct self-regard, and prayer.
6. Loving one's neighbor and even one's enemies is important.
7. Being involved with the love found in the Reality brings divine knowledge. A true connectedness becomes possible, that may lead to being at one with the divine.

• A truly meaningful spirituality is always personal and requires ego changes.
• Many people feel incapable of really getting in contact with their deeper self.
• Ego dressed up with a spiritual veneer will not provide significant spirituality benefits.
• A spiritual journey towards real wellbeing involves unlearning and the discovery of a renewed self.

• What do you conclude from the major religions having seven common insights?
• How helpful, or not, is it that the human ego is powerful?
• To be liberated from your negative self, what does that mean?

Article heading: 'Why ego can restrict the development of a deeper self - Things you need to know!'
If you were to write on this topic which ideas would you incorporate? What are these things that one needs to know? What is ego about anyway? Discuss in groups. (Ego represents our consciousness and thinking processes - the way in which we respond to the world in trying built an identity and coping as best we can.)

• True spiritual freedom is achieved by divine help.
• Monotheistic faiths are the most personal - involves dynamics like being known and understood.
• Though God having 'human' qualities the greater reality of God remains outside of human perception.
• A focus on the Christian faith will reveal a potentially rich spiritual fulfillment for people.
• Thinking through spiritual information is good but not sufficient for real understanding. That involves the intuitive, the non-rational as well.
• Mystery is at the heart of the religious quest. That's exciting.
• Taking a selective approach to religious insights that are of fundamental importance will not reveal the full benefits of what's on offer.
• Is God better off dead? That's an illusion.

• Why is it so difficult to become truly free?
• What are the benefits and the dangers of rational thinking?
• Why would people shun mystery in their lives?

The rational and practical side of a person comes from the left side of the brain. The feeling and intuitive comes from the right side. Ideally people are in touch with both sides. In the modern world using the left side of the brain is most effective in making a living. Why is that so and what is your response to that? Here is a list of words. Place them in a left and right column. Why are both sides important for a healthy spirituality? The list on the next page is what the columns should look like using the words. The group leader can mention words at random.

• God is uncreated
• The mind is unable to fathom this, only intuition can lead the way.
• Finally the acceptance will be an act of faith.
• There is a created realm with angels and dark angels, plus a universe that includes the earth.
• The created realms somehow exist in the uncreated, in God.
• The existence of God cannot be scientifically proven only hinted at.
• Intuition as a human ability is as valid as rationality.
• The nature of God is love, goodness and peace.
• The real problems in the world are deeper than mere human behavior - evil has saturated the very fabric of the earth.
• Death is not a victory of evil over good, but shows the dominance of evil in the created world.

• Why may people find it difficult to trust in the idea of having faith?
• Why are intuition and rationality of equal importance, or why not?
• If God is so good, there shouldn't be evil in the world. Really?

A French philosopher named Rene Descartes once decided about being alive that, "I think, therefore I am." But it could be "I am, therefore I think" has been one response to this. What's the difference? Imagine someone looking at a sky full of stars. What might be some subtle differences in this experience depending on each statement? Which of the statements is more open to spiritual enquiry? Which one are you personally more comfortable with and why? Discuss in groups and construct a response under the title of "I am aware because...!"

• God is One and God is Trinity.
• In God love and purpose are perfected to the point of complete unity.
• God is not male but genderless. Both male and female reflect God's image.
• The acceptance of these ideas requires faith in response to mystery.
• Every major religion recognizes evil spirits - Christianity calls the leader Lucifer, Satan or the Devil.
• There are both good and evil forces in play that influence human behavior, often on a wide scale.
• God, as a force of love, decided to nullify the power of evil not arbitrarily but by facing it off once for all at a level playing field.
• This field, the knowledge of good and evil, exists in human beings.
• People have been created in the image of God. The Son of God was born in Bethlehem being of both divine and human origin.
• His divinity was now subject to all the dynamics of the created world.

• Why might the idea of a God who is One and also Trinity be difficult to accept?
• What is your response to the personification of evil as dark angels while God's angels are working for good?
• The Son of God born as a baby is a mystery. How do you feel about this, also in light of what has been explained?

Debate on the topic: 'Are we better off without religion?' One group will take the perspective: 'Religion does something to people. It allows for an evil spirit and turns the world into a mess.' The second group takes the perspective: 'Without religion humanity would be lost. It's not religion's fault that people use it for destructive purposes.'

• Jesus walked for three years showing wisdom and an ability to heal that was out of this world.
• Declaring himself the Son of God eventually led to his crucifixion.
• His disciples were on a rollercoaster ride of confusion and emotion.
• At the beginning of his walk Jesus prayed for 40 days in the desert being tempted by Satan.
• His next brutal encounter with the Devil in prayer was in Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion.
• On the cross the worst of evil was happening to Jesus in body, soul and spirit, but he never allowed evil to invade his essential being.
• That was Satan's downfall - good had overcome evil in a lasting defeat.
• Nobody understood that until later.

• Why might you expect the wisdom of God to be different from the way people tend to look at things?
• If you would have walked with Jesus, how might you have found to be him so very different?
• How does prayer expose a person to the spiritual realm, you think?

There is a press conference by a group of five people addressing the press to tell that good has definitely overcome evil even though you cannot see it yet. The journalists, as always, are skeptical and put all kinds of hairy questions. Act this out. Write a few headlines for the morning papers. And finally consider why the journalists thought to have the right to be critical and whether that reason is valid.

• Jesus rose again on Easter Sunday never to die again.
• He appeared in a newly created body of a substance completely different from the human body but looking similar.
• His appearance ushered in the beginning of a New Reality that had not existed before in which evil and death no longer play a part.
• Those seeking to be in relationship with Jesus will partake of this New Reality by being born of the Holy Spirit.
• It guarantees them eternal life - a life that continues in the presence of Jesus forever.
• Following Jesus is foremost a matter of the heart - if the heart seeks to express the nature of Jesus, all is well.
• God will accept anyone who follows Jesus, warts and all - no questions asked.
• Jesus left for Heaven and will return one day - nobody knows when.

• A person in the likeness of earth, but with a spiritual body. Would that be possible?
• Anyone would love to see a world without evil and death. Why is the Christian offer of this coming about so outrageous?
• What is simple, it seems, and what is not simple, about becoming a follower of Christ?

You saw a movie about Jesus called 'The Man From Outer Space.' Explain the outline of the story, what impressed you, and what you found incredible? Prepare in small groups.

• God is love, and those in relationship with God should make it their aim to practice love which means following the given instructions.
• Jesus is the Son of God. The essential components of the Jesus story should never dismissed as untrue or inconsequential. That would reflect the spirit of the antichrist.
• Secular thought as well as Christian scholarship may be tainted by this spirit.
• God can illicit emotions in a person but often is present without this being so.
• Developing as a Christian will take time and interaction with a church or group of Christian is rather essential.
• There is an affirmative approach in being a Christian with a positive 'can-do' attitude.
• There is a reflective approach which is happy to step away from things, let them be, and dwell in God's presence in stillness.
• Becoming a Christian is not difficult - being one not hard. Just try to live a good life in the presence of Jesus.
• Christians need not be boring - quite the opposite. Vibrancy is a sign of a healthy Christian life.
• You are welcome to make mistakes.

• Why is it helpful that loving God is practical rather than a necessary feeling?
• Any idea why people would consider following Jesus for the too hard basket?
• What would decide for you whether you will live as a Christian?

'Becoming a Christian is not difficult - being one is not a bore! But religion doesn't help much!' You are to speak on this topic to a group of church representatives. What ideas would you present for making people feel more accepted and supported in church in becoming their own person in Jesus Christ? Work in small groups.