Why this project?

I was brought up without religion, in a family with a strong sense of service to the common good. Now, I work at a university which is also both secular and - as a public institution - oriented to the common good. However, I’ve felt for a long time that the secular world lacks something in its efforts to draw and hold people together. One possibility is that we haven’t figured out how to repeatedly acknowledge our common humanity and smallness within the mysterious (and magnificent) ecosystems of which we are part. And this matters because unless we get together and assert over and over that we are just people amongst people; and the mystery, hope, and uncertainty that is our lot; I suspect we can’t help but pull against each other.

I’ve also come to think that we do better as individuals when we see ourselves as in service to something beyond our own lives. As human beings we live in continual relationship with other people, the natural world, the built environment, our possessions and so on. Our lives resonate outwards and the world outside gets in. We can try and shield ourselves, or we can work with our ever-connectedness. And working with it seems to me to involve loosening our grip on our “selves” and embracing our role as contributors to something bigger. As Karen Armstrong wrote: We are most fully ourselves, when we give ourselves away.

Religion offers God - or variations - as a way to capture much of this. We are in relationship to others, there is a unity-that-is-all that can never be fully known, and one of our tasks is to live with these insights. In practical terms, this often translates to a focus on other people. Life’s most urgent and persistent question is ‘“what are you doing for others?” said Martin Luther King. (The natural world is more strongly emphasised in cultures that live in close relationship to the land and waterways - kaitiakitanga and buen vivir are examples.)

So… in 2021 I was on research and study leave from my position at the University of Auckland, and acted as a "secular priest" to try and explore if and how we can introduce these “religious” elements into a secular context (that is without reference to a god or a network of gods). The project relates to my previous work on core human values and values-based practice. This work includes my book and website on The Infinite Game.

The title of “secular priest” was crazy, presumptuous and off-putting to many (I was told the latter many times); but as a friend said while I was in the thick of the project, “You’ve put together the eagle and the dragon - now just ride it and see where it goes”. So ride it I did!

I had three personal vows - simplicity, hospitality and pause - more on those here.

As a secular priest I saw myself as a companion for those who wished to explore questions such as: How can I deepen my connection to what matters? How can I honour the mystery and complexity of life while doing what needs to be done? How do I find both humility and purpose? And, crucially, I offered opportunities for people to consider these questions alongside others. Despite the “priest” title, I in no way saw myself as closer to a universal truth than anyone else. In fact, welcoming everyone as peers was key to this project.

So I put together a number of activities - personal conversations, services and ceremonies - and invited people to join in.

The research element involved me taking notes and reflecting on the activities, as well as getting feedback from participants. Details are available on information sheets linked to the pages above. I also attended a Christian church for the year in order to try and experience a religious setting in some depth, and interviewed people with formal religious roles - again mostly in Christian settings. I read a lot of theology too. I am currently attempting to write a book on what I’ve observed and learnt over the year - sign up for updates if you’d like to know how that turns out.