Growing Up

Continuing with our talk series on Pema Chödrön's "When Things Fall Apart," we'll be focusing on the development of spiritual maturity based on Buddhist Principles with a glimpse into Christianity's approach and that of other religions.

Join us this Sunday for another uplifting service and great fellowship. You deserve it.

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Sermon Notes

Book Talk Series

“When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times” by Pema Chödrön

1. Sunday, May 23, read chapters 1–4

2. Sunday, May 30, read chapters 5–8

3. Sunday, June 6, read chapters 9–12

4. Sunday, June 13, read chapters 13–16

Chapter 9 – Six Kinds of Loneliness

1. less desire → Brahmacharya

2. contentment → Santosha

3. avoiding unnecessary activity → Svadhyaya

4. complete discipline → Tapas

5. not wandering in the world of desire → Brahmacharya

6. not seeking security from one’s discursive thoughts → Ishvara Pranidhana

Chapter 10 – Curious About Existence

Three Truths/Marks of our existence:

• impermanence

  • “Impermanence is the goodness of reality.”

  • “Impermanence is a principle of harmony.”

• suffering

  • “Pain and pleasure go together—they are inseparable.”

  • “We can be big and small at the same time.”

• egolessness

  • “Ego could be defined as whatever covers up basic goodness.”

True Peace → Fourth Mark of our existence

• Curiousness allows mindfulness → key to joyful existence

Chapter 11 – Nonaggression and the Four Maras

Four Maras

1. seeking pleasure

2. trying to recreate ourselves

3. emotions keep us dumb and asleep

4. fear of death

“From an awakened perspective, trying to tie up all the loose ends and finally get it together is death, because it involves rejecting a lot of your basic experience.” (71)

Chapter 12 – Growing Up

“As long as we don’t want to be honest and kind with ourselves, then we are always going to be infants.” (77)

Sermons in this Series