At least one of my blog labels/themes has the term "progressive" in it. To use the adjective "progressive" is often seen as problematic because it appears to label those who don't share your viewpoint as regressive. In this sense it seems to be a schismatic word. However this interpretation understands the word in a linear sense and therefore assumes that progression is about heading to a higher or further place ....read more....

Jim Burklo's blog continually throws up quirky, creative and sensitive ways of looking at practical spirituality. Today he's written about a more open view of friendship that I think can come about with greater spiritual depth. Here is part of what he had to say.....

Everybody needs friends who will speak up when they sense something isn't quite right.  We all need somebody to seek us out, if we should suddenly fall off the social radar.  We all need friends who don't just throw up their hands when the going gets rough, but roll up their sleeves and try to be useful.  It helps to get specific about the kind of intervention and support that we need.

Of course, friendship can get tricky if we intervene too much in each others' lives.  Few of us want friends who are going to take over and boss us around.  But neither do we want friends to fail to show concern when we appear to be in crisis.  Sometimes we let our friends down when we go too far in protecting their privacy.

Each of us draws the line at a different place, so what a great idea it is to speak up and tell our friends what we hope from them in tough times!

I admire the "friendship contract" that Jesus specified for his disciples.  He let them know what he wanted from them.  He spelled it out in detail:  stay with me, watch with me, pray with me, preach with me, heal with me, continue my work after my death. To be sure, they broke that contract repeatedly.  But his "contract" with them was ultimately unforgettable.  Even after he was gone, they tried to follow it with each other.  His is an example for us to emulate in expressing to each other what it really means to be friends.

I'm continuing to be energised by reports of "nonsense" and how it's essential to the creative life. This report from Salon explores how "nonsense" from children begins to make a lot of sense in generating creativity. Yesterday I was in a meeting where someone described a planning techniques where "it felt like we were children again and it felt so good." And of course the Jesus character in the Christian testament loves to draw the parallel between the life of the child and the spiritual life - which I think is also the highly creative life.