Improvisation and Spiritual Practice

Explicit content warning

10/18/18 • 49 min

The podcast of the Sacred Inclusion Network

For Jules Munns, the art of improvisation he's devoted his life to is much more than simply a type of theatrical performance. Improv, he says, is as an activity that helps people uncover previously hidden aspects of their selves and thus become more fully human.

Munns here explores the notion of improvisation as spiritual practice. Just as is the aim of passive meditation, improvisation helps practitioners achieve mindfulness, awakening and a connection to a larger Mystery and deeper meaning. In addition, it helps practitioners do something that most forms of mediation do not: connect and interact with others in surprising and unscripted ways.

Munns is the co-Artistic Director of the Nursery Theater and the founder of Slapdash International, London’s longest running festival of improvisation. He's also a performing member of the Maydays, an award-winning improvised comedy company with bases in Brighton and London. One of the UK’s most prolific improv teachers and actors, he's performed and taught at festivals across the UK and in countries including the US, Pakistan, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Finland.

Links:

The Maydays
The Nursery Theater
Jules Munns Site
Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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Links:

The Maydays
The Nursery Theater
Jules Munns Site
Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
Provoked by this episode? Record a response!
Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!

Previous Episode

The Radically Inclusive Ministry of Yvette Flunder

It was a gradual process that led the young Yvette Flunder to question the tenets of the United Church of Christ in which she was born and raised. She couldn't reconcile her emerging beliefs with her church's patriarchal orientation and its emphasis on preparing adherents for the next world rather than addressing the injustices and inadequacies of this one. She also realized she never again could call herself a member of a church that completely rejected same-gender-loving people such as herself.

Bishop Flunder here traces the path that led her to become a visionary religious leader with a mission of tending to the spiritual needs of marginalized people around the world, particularly those of African-American descent. She speaks of her vision of radical inclusion,which she believes requires an equally radical social ministry reaching to the furthest margins of society to serve all in need without prejudice or discrimination.

"The greatest mistake at the Christian church has ever made was to put a back cover on the book, to somehow suggest that we could make a manual out of the living word of God," she said.

Reverend Flunder is the founder and senior pastor of the City of Refugee United Church of Christ in Oakland, California. In 2003, she was appointed Presiding Bishop of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, a multi-denominational coalition of over 56 churches and faith-based organizations from all over the world. She’s also the author of Where the Edge Gathers: A Theology of Homiletic Radical Inclusion.

Links:

City of Refuge United Church of Christ
Fellowship of Affirming Ministries
Diversity and Spirituality Network's site
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Next Episode

Facing Death Without Religion

How do non-religious people – which now comprise nearly 30% of the American population – face the coming of death? That’s the subject of Dr. Christel Manning’s John Templeton Foundation-funded research project.

Although a fair amount is known about how religious people face the certainty of their demise, relatively little is known how non-religious people do. This category, which religious studies scholars refer to as "the nones," now comprises 27% of the population, up from about 7% in the 1980s.

Unlike their religious contemporaries, this group lacks the powerful set of stories, symbols and rituals that have for generations characterized the predominate American religious approach to dealing with dying. This group instead relies on different types of what Manning refers to as "maps of meaning." These might include the sense-making that comes from personal growth narratives gained from such processes such as engaging in a 12-step program or therapy after surviving a divorce.

In this podcast, Manning describes her own belief-system journey; what is currently known about how aging people in general approach the coming of death; and the new types of secular rituals that are emerging to help non-religious people become more comfortable with death and dying.