SPIRITUALITY AND POLITICS
3 Thursdays at Inner Alchemy, 7-9:30pm May 16, 23 and 30th.
"This timely class has had the most profound impact of any class I have ever taught." Michael Bogar
Mahatma Ghandi said: “Those who believe religion and politics aren't connected don't understand either.” Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Righteous Mind, addresses this very matter. We will venture into these delicate archetypal fields of soul-making in order to see how and why “spirituality and religion” embrace all of life—including our most cherished and passionate socio-political beliefs, values, opinions, thoughts, and actions. This will not be a partisan-based approach. Democrats, Republicans, Socialists, Libertarians, Independents and the apolitical will be respected and asked to examine their assumptions about “the other”. If it really is “all God,” then that includes our politics, social issues and distinctive culture of origin. Join us for an experience that may fascinate, challenge and transform our view of "spirituality" as it relates to political, social and cultural concerns.
Michael Bogar
Michael Bogar has two graduate degrees in biblical and theological studies. He is completing his PhD in Myth and Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. The title of his dissertation is: Watching God Grow Up: Reading the Bible as Stages and Modes of Consciousness. He is the Director at the Spiritual Enrichment Center on Bainbridge Island. He teaches World Religions for Central Texas College at their Lewis-McChord campus in Tacoma, as well as regular classes at the Seattle Center for Spiritual Living and the Seattle Unity Church, and other venues. Students and audience members frequently comment on his depth of scholarship, personal approach and sense of humor. Michael has taught the classical religious texts from many religious traditions and is a very effective teacher of spiritual and psychological phenomena.
Michael brings a full-life experience to his teaching. He can relate to a wide range of human experience and has a way of communicating to those at the top of their game and those ready to quit. He views life as an educational experience that he calls soul-making, requiring both negative and positive relationships with people, circumstances, ideas and emotions. There is no wasted moment in a soul-making life.