Conscious Relationship as a Spiritual Path, a Personal Perspective by Bill Kastenberg Ph.D

FREE ADMISSION – 1757 Ashland St., Ashland, OR. One mile west of I-5 Exit 14

What is a conscious relationship? What stands in the way of having one?  And how can it be overcome?

In February 2022, I published a memoir, As a Matter of Heart: A nuclear engineering professor’s life-changing journey from safety to self that addresses these questions from a personal viewpoint.  In it, I begin with my childhood circumstantial and existential wounding and tell the story of my path to healing through a conscious relationship. The story’s focus is my quest to discover my authentic self, the person hiding behind a façade I called The Professor and set him free. The memoir also describes my experience as an emotional growth facilitator working with individuals, couples, and groups.

In this presentation, I will describe the childhood trauma that initiated my journey and illustrate my quest for healing with selected readings from my memoir. Based on my personal inner work and my experience as a facilitator, I will also present a set of Values or Principles that I believe can form the basis for answering these questions, and can lead to a compassionate, conscious, ethical relationship—one that I would call a sacred relationship.

William E. (Bill) Kastenberg, Ph.D. is a Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. During the latter part of his academic career, he team-taught a course with his wife entitled, “Ethics and the Impact of Technology on Society.” During the Covid epidemic, he taught (remotely) a Freshman Seminar entitled, “Ethics in an Age of Existential Crises.” The seminar continued for three semesters, each with a different group of students.

Following retirement in January 2008, he trained as an emotional growth facilitator, and then worked with clients on healing the wounds of the heart through conscious relationships. As an outgrowth of his academic life as a teacher, advisor, and mentor, he has led men’s groups in exploring healthy masculinity, as well as facilitating individuals and couples in a psycho-spiritual process focused on healing childhood trauma. He and his wife work with couples, especially those in long-term relationships, where one partner or both are retired or near retirement. They live in Ashland with their Maltese, Bogie.

Presenters Website: https://www.asamatterofheart.com

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