The document outlines four stages of spiritual development: 1) Simplicity, focusing on presence, gratitude, and wonder through practices like "here", "thanks", and "O!" 2) Complexity, cultivating regret, asking for help, and compassion through "sorry", "help", and "please." 3) Perplexity, characterized by longing, refusal, and lament expressed through "when?", "no!", and "why?" 4) Harmony, entering non-dual seeing, surrender, and contemplation using "behold", "yes", and silence. The stages build upon each other as the spiritual journey unfolds season by season through life.

1. slides are/will be
available at
www.brianmclaren.net

2. In my travels, I’m finding four great
hungers:
2

3. In my travels, I’m finding four great
hungers:
1. For a fresh understanding of the biblical
narrative - a new theological framework.
(A New Kind of Christianity)
3

4. In my travels, I’m finding four great
hungers:
1. For a fresh understanding of the biblical
narrative - a new theological framework.
(A New Kind of Christianity)
2. For a fresh framework for mission.
(Everything Must Change)
4

5. In my travels, I’m finding four great
hungers:
1. For a fresh understanding of the biblical
narrative - a new theological framework.
(A New Kind of Christianity)
2. For a fresh framework for mission.
(Everything Must Change)
3. For a fresh view of Christian identity
(Why Did Jesus, Moses ...)
5

6. In my travels, I’m finding four great
hungers:
1. For a fresh understanding of the biblical
narrative - a new theological framework.
(A New Kind of Christianity)
2. For a fresh framework for mission.
(Everything Must Change)
3. For a fresh view of Christian identity
(Why Did Jesus, Moses ...)
4. A fresh approach to the spiritual life.
6
(Naked Spirituality)

7. The word naked in
the title suggests
that we’re seeking
to strip away the
distractions ...
and focus instead on the
development of our inner life, our
most intimate life, our life with God.

8. Like all living
things,
spirituality is
dynamic.
As individuals
and as faith
communities,
over time
we mature.
We develop.
We evolve.
We change.

9. Many of us have
experienced
patterns of change
or seasons of
development in our
spiritual life ...
distinct stages that
leave their mark on
us, like rings on a
tree.

10. New stages do
not replace
older stages,
but rather
embrace and
extend them.
10

11. Every stage
is good and
As I see it, beautiful in
its own way.
each stage in a
life with God
depends on the
earlier stages.
11

12. Each new stage opens up new soul-
space and expands our capacities
for love - so we can love God and
neighbor more fully. Isn’t that what
true spirituality is about?

13. After we complete the four stages once, we go
through them again and again, each time at a
higher or deeper level.

14. Of course, a four-stage
framework like this is only a
tool. Life itself doesn’t come
neatly divided into stages.
But for many of us, just as a
year has four seasons, the
spiritual life unfolds season
by season.

15. In each stage, we’ll consider three
spiritual practices appropriate to that
stage. And we’ll root each practice in
one simple word.
3 2
4 1

16. 3 These practices are like 2
postures of the heart - ways
we open ourselves to God,
ways we mature in the
spiritual life, season by
season, stage by stage, step
4 by step. 1

17. We all begin in Stage 1,
Simplicity.

18. The first word in
Stage One is ...
here.

19. Through here we
become present
to the Presence of
God - here and
now.

20. 2 views of God:
outside, above, up
there ...
around, within,
down here...

21. The Spirit of God
Gen. 1:2
Acts 17:28
John 16:8

22. here

23. Second is
thanks,
the essential practice
of gratitude.

24. The distribution of discontent
"Consumer society, by constantly making
us aware of what we don't have, instead
of making us thankful for what we do
have, has turned out to be the most
efficient system yet devised for the
manufacturing and distribution of
unhappiness."
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

25. Happiness doesn’t
come from having,
but from
appreciating ...
The BYTS

26. Psalm 92
Translating the joy of
gratitude into words,
music, art ...

27. thanks

28. Third is
O!
- the joyful practice
of wonder and
worship.

29. God as apprensible -
Not comprehensible.

30. God as glorious
mystery ...
Savoring God’s
splendor.

31. O!

32. These are foundational
practices of Stage One,
Simplicity.

33. Many of us continue on to
Stage 2,
Complexity.

34. In Complexity, the
word
sorry
introduces us to the
practice of regret.

35. Personal sin
(Psalm 32)
&
Social sin
(Nehemiah 9)

36. Seeking
forgiveness and
seeking
salvation/liberatio
n

37. sorry

38. The simple word
help!
is about expansion,
reaching out for
strength beyond our
own.

39. Asking for the
removal of stress -
or the increase of
strength and
character?

40. Philippians 4:6
Translating anxiety
into requests ...
Naming our need,
Directing it to God.

41. help!

42. 42

44. here, thanks, o
sorry, help ...

45. Next comes
please,
the practice of
compassion.

46. Responding to the
pain, grief, and
suffering of others
...

47. Not ignoring, distancing,
blaming,
explaining ...
but feeling with -
with those in pain and
with God.

48. Joining our compassion
with God’s greater
compassion.
“Holding them up to the
Light.”

49. please

50. These are three essential
practices of Stage 2 ...
Complexity.

51. here. thanks. o.
sorry. help. please.

52. Some of us never leave
Stage 2. Others move on to
Stage 3,
Perplexity.

53. Here, we learn
aspiration through
the simple question,
when?

54. Psalm 42
The unfulfilled
now

55. when?

56. What happens when
we wait and wait and
wait
and no help comes?

57. One of the most
challenging practices
is rage or refusal,
conveyed in the
simple word
no!

58. Lamentations 3:1-18
no!

59. no!

60. Your no is a refusal
to give up ...
and a refusal to be
satisfied with an
unacceptable
situation.

61. Stage 3 culminates in
why?
- the practice of
lament.

62. Beyond refusal.
why?
Not a demand for an
explanation ...
And acknowledgment of
unknowing.

63. Acceptance with hope...
Why?
Why does it have to
be this way?

64. Explanations/Reasons/Caus
es (from the past)
vs.
Possibilities & Purposes (for
the future)

65. Why?

66. here, thanks, o!
sorry, thanks, please
when? no! why?

67. sometimes uninvited
guests bring
unexpected gifts.

68. Beyond Simplicity,
Complexity, and Perplexity,
we enter Stage 4,
Harmony.

69. We enter this stage
through the practice
of meditation:
behold.

70. Non-dual seeing.
Seeing what’s there.
be-ing
hold-ing

71. behold.

72. Then comes the
simple word for
joining or
surrendering:
yes.

73. Not my will, but
your will be done.
No ... Yes.

74. yes.

75. Finally comes the practice
of contemplation, of simply
and silently being with, for
which there is no word -
only the gentle sound of
your own breathing...

76. God
and I have becomeliving
like two giant a tiny
fat people
inboat.
We
keep bumping into
each other
and laughing
(the Persian poet Hafiz)

77. 77

78. here, thanks, o!
sorry, thanks, please
when? no! why?
behold, yes, ...

85. here, thanks, o!
sorry, thanks, please
when? no! why?
behold, yes, ...

87. 87