Mysticism by Nic P. March 25, 2010

,     Our top secret presentation this morning was by Nic P. His topic was Mysticism. The whole group became very engrossed in Nic's self deprecating but moving presentation of some examples of mystical experiences that he has had.

Schedule for Near Future, SpiritMindBody Group

April 1, 2010       Bake Off and Board of Directors meeting.  (A Board of Directors' Meeting is in name only. There is no Board of Directors. All attendees participate in deciding and scheduling future presentations and the overall schedule.)

April 8, 2010       La Folia. The theme of this presentation involves music. You can google La Folia and find out where I am starting the presentation. But we will diverge. I hope you will be as moved as I was by a piece of music that we will end with. Come in good singing voices. Presented by Ann S.

April 15, 2010     Techniques for Experiencing Divine States. Presented by Dick Y.
 

Next Session, March 25 Presented by Nic P. Top Secret Topic

Thoughts for Pesach: sent by Gloria K.

Leaving Egypt and Seeing Our Fullest Selves --A Passover Message

from Rabbi Myriam Klotz and Diane Bloomfield

This message was sent to me by Gloria K, our Jewish clergy. I thought some might enjoy reading it for the upcoming Jewish holiday.

Aquinas Five Proofs

At various time like all humans, in our group,  we have wondered what God is, and indeed, probably most of us would admit we at times wonder if a God does exist. Is God a single being, a ground of being, or some force of quantum physics. As a possible answer to this age old question, one of our members provided this written version of Aquinas five proofs for the existence of God, as printed online at the website for John Carroll University in Cleveland.

The Evolution of God by Robert Wright, March 18, 2010 session

On Thursday, March 18, 2010 Dave K discussed the book The Evolution of God by Robert Wright. This book is quite a tome. As Dave said, you don't read this book like a novel. You need time and your need to approach it in small bites. That said, there is a lot to be gained by reading either parts or the whole of this important book.

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt Session 4

Here is a summary of Chapter 9, 10, and the conclusion, Chapter 11.

Bake Off March 4, 2010

     Today we had our monthly Bake Off in which members of the group bring items of spiritual writing or news of other sort with a spiritual bent to stimulate the discussion. As usual, these discussions can be free wheeling. A synopsis of today's discussion is presented here.

Kindness Poem, read by Eric at Feb 25 session

Kindness

By Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is

You must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment

Like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

Thinking the bus will never stop,

The passengers eating maize and chicken

Will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,

You must travel where the

Indian in a white poncho lies dead

By the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you, how he too was someone who journeyed through the night

With plans and the simple breath

That kept him alive.

Before you know kindness

As the deepest thing inside,

You must know sorrow

As the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

Catches the thread of all sorrows

And you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness

That makes sense anymore,

Only kindness that ties your shoes

And sends you out into the day

To mail letters and purchase bread,

Only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

it is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you every where

like a shadow or a friend.

 
The photos above are from the top in order:
 
Sunrise on the Holy Ganges River, the Aarti Ceremony of fire along the Holy Ganges River, riding the bus in India, a Hindu Holy man resting from the hot sun of the afternoon in Jaipur, women along the road with their colorful threads, bathing in the holy Ganges, the colorful scene of people along the holy Ganges River.