Eye of the Storm Preview

Living in  the

Eye of the Storm

 

A Preview of our next

 

Day of Reflection

Sat 8th November

We meet in Satsang on Saturday 8th November at the Friends Meeting House in Wolverhampton ( UK).  The following notes outline some details regarding the content.

The Satsang Association is a companionship of spiritual seekers who are aware of their Source and the non-dualistic nature of both creation , themselves and the Source.

The Spiritual Journey can be long , at times lonely, and certainly challenging. Throughout the ages each generation, culture and tradition produces men and women who are spiritual masters/mistresses. In short they are mystics. Mystics are those who have had a genuine encounter with the Source or Ultimate Reality. This encounter, no matter how brief, changes them forever and influences their approach to creation , people and the Source. They are non-dualistic. 

Dualism is a serious issue in  our world. It is based on the 'false' idea that everything is Either : Or. This causes unecessary conflict in every area of life, be it religion, politics, culture, ethnicity etc.  It also 'infects' spirituality. In that it proposes a false dilemma regarding the nature of Ultimate Reality. The Source is seen either as Immanent  or Transcendent. Ancient spirituality has always opposed dualism. One of the okest recorded comes from the Hindu Vedas. Here the Sages talk a lot about Advaita ( non-dual or more correctly ' Not Two '). The Mystics of the past and the present warn us of the dangers oof Dualism which is a very ego centred approach to life.

Spiritual Seekers are always open to meeting and listening to the mystics and spiritual sages and to their advice regarding the dangers of Dualism. Each sage is rooted in their tradition and culture but have transcended its dualism. In short they 'integrate' the essence or essential truth of their tradition and are open to the inherited  wisdom, teachings and truth of the world. They have left behind the narrow boundaries so often present in the major Religions and have become true Spiritual teachers.

History has revealed great sages , mystics and masters who have travelled this road. The major Faith Traditions have many examples, some of them considered supreme.  Examples are Jesus the Christ, the Buddha, Mohammed the Prophet and the many sages of Hinduism.

Our upcoming Day of Reflection will draw on some of this great inherited wisdom. We will have input from :

Sister Ishpriya - The Spiritual Guide of the International Satsang Association and a renowned and gifted Spiritual Guide

Deepak Chopra - from the Hindu Tradition and a scientist and spiritual master

Eckhart Tolle - a renowned Spiritual Master with an affinity with Buddhism

These will help inform our Day of Reflection thus providing 'true and adult food ' for the journey

LIVING IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

The Satsang Association

 

DAY OF REFLECTION 

 

 

 

Living In

The Eye of the Storm

 

Saturday  8th November 2014 :-     10.30 – 4.30

Friends Meeting House, Summerfield Road   Wolverhampton

 

 

 

We live in a hectic, increasingly global and also a very troubled world. Modern life and competing needs , along with the new discoveries which challenge the old 'certainties' clash with our deep indwelling need to  be inter-connected with all and in touch with the Source or Ultimate Reality.

 

THis day will focus on the theme Living in the Eye of the Storm  and our need to balance our Inner and Outer lives by practicing compassion for self and others and developing our sense of our Real and True Self and of inter-connectednes.

 

It will provide the opportunity for Personal Reflection, times of Silence, Experiential Practices and  Sharing in a spirit of respectful mutuality

THIS IS AN OPEN EVENT – ALL ARE WELCOME

PLEASE BRING A PACKED LUNCH

 

Suggested Contribution  is £5 (to cover costs)

 

 

Global Family- Living Without Fear

REFLECTIONS ON SATSANG MEETING October 2014

Autumn Leaves :- Arrangement by Angela Creagh



We met in Satsang at the Friends Meeting House in Wolverhampton on Saturday 11th October. This  was an afternoon meeting and therefore our time for sharing was limited. Nevertheless, we used two video clips from Sister Ishpriya to guide our reflection and sharing.

The first clip focused on OUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for this one unique life. This is a central challenge for most modern societies. The famous psychologist Viktor Frankl, has both written and spoken on this issue. He maintained that much of the spiritual and psychological angst of western societies was rooted in our tendency to both avoid responsibility and to allocate blame and shame.

Ishpriya focused on our need to take responsibility every moment of every day for our life. She emphasised to importance of ( Mindful) Awareness and encouraged each individual to find moments of awareness every day.

Our 2nd , but linked theme, was our need to acknowledge that we were  part of a Global Family. Sister Ishpriya quoted a famous line from the Hindu Upanishads. I have also included the preceeding and succeeding verses for clarity.

He  moves, and he moves not. He is far, and he is near. He is within all, and he is outside all.

Who sees all beings in his or her  own Self, and his or our  own Self in all beings, loses all fear.

When a sage sees this great Unity and his Self has become all beings, what delusion and what sorrow can ever be near him?

She reflected on how this basic and fundamental tendency towards FEAR   was at the heart of so much violence and prejudice. Yet modern science and ancient wisdom knows that we are essentially one species and one family. Yet the false barriers of ethnicity, religion, culture etc block this realisation and in ignorance we can react out of fear 

Modern Neuroscience also supports this inherent tendency towards fear. Our primitive brain is 'programmed' for negativity and thus we can be programmed to automatically react negatively and with fear. However, these reactions are mainly part of the 'ancient' brain and developing our awareness can help us educate a, restrain and restrain our more basic reactions.

The Satsang Triple Commitment is a daily reminder of our need to develop our spiritual awareness and to break down both the internal and external barrriers that seperate us.

This COMMITMENT is the single most important one for any Satsang Member. It is their acceptance and recognition of their response and acceptance of personal responsibility

Satsang Members commit themselves to :

* a personal growth in spiritual awareness and practice

* helping remove the barriers of prejudice and ignorance which divide persons from each other.

* building up relationships of compassion and appreciation across frontiers of race, ethnicity, culture,language, economic class and religion.

And in so doing each member plays their part in an attempt to 

‘Create a Planetary Vision and a Universal Heart of Compassion’

We spend some time reflecting on our human tendency towards fear and how this was a major block. However, we also shared some positive signs of human growth and evolution in consciousness.  One of our members shared how her son, who was growing up in multi-cultural Wolverhampton, was already showing signs of feeling inter-connected and was and sharing the fruits of this experience. Another shared her growing optimism, that new shoots of evolutionary consciousness were springing up but reflected that, as with all growth, there are birth pangs and pain  and she read the following poem from Rabindranath Tagore to both commence and end the 2nd Reflection ( Video) from Ishpriya

WHERE THE MIND IS WITHOUT FEAR

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

Rabindranath Tagore

This poem by Tagore really sums up this topic and theme of false barriers between members of the Global Human Family. It reminds us that only by constant and regular practices of awareness can we hope to play our part in the necessary, and yet painful, changes in evolutionary consciousness that will help each of us become co-creators in the ongoing evolution of our Cosmos.

Reflecting on this 'necessary' pain or bith pangs and the tendency for people to despair,  I was reminded on a quote  that my wife Angela and I found helpful

‘Despair is suffering without meaning’ – When we can find meaning in our suffering there is no despair. ‘

(See Frankl Man’s Search for Meaning p 132-133)

There is meaning to our current suffering or birth pangs. Many of the Mystics both of the past and present, recognise our need to grow in spiritual awareness and all growth  and change  involves challenge and potential growth pains.

Next month we continue this journey into awareness in our Satsang Meetings with a Day of Reflection

Living in the Eye of the Storm

Saturday 8th November 2014



Questions for the Spiritual Traveller Pt 2

SATSANG MEETING Saturday 11th Oct

We recommence our  Satsang  meetings in Wolverhampton

Our theme will be to address and reflect on the  Inter-connectedness of the Global Family and the experiential spititual  journey towards awareness.

 We will address the questions :

Who Am I and Where Am I Going ?