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Film class:
Friday, January 5, 7-10:30 p.m.
The Razor’s Edge, based on Somerset Maugham’s novel of a young man who experiences a close encounter with death in WWI. When he returns home following the war he finds that his old interests and values no longer speak to him. He had changed but also lost his bearings. He begins a search to try to understand life and his many questions. His explorations take him to Paris, where he probes the great works of philosophy and literature, to manual labor in a coal mine and finally to India where he meets a Guru who guides him to the realization of his oneness with God. He then returns to Paris where he meets up with old friends from his earlier life. His interactions with them reveal the shallow self-centered basis of their (and previously his) lives and also his own helplessness to change them or even get them to understand. Nevertheless he is at peace and lives a life of surpassing kindness, even while unhesitatingly witnessing to the bitter truth he sees around him. The film was nominated for an Oscar in 1946, and one member of the cast, Anne Baxter, won an Oscar for best supporting actress.The film captures Maugham’s book very well, and certain significant aspects of a serious spiritual search.
Following the film we will explore some of those themes.
Location: a private home in SW Minneapolis, call or register for address
Cost: $12Class:
Sunday, January 7, 2-5 p.m.
Introduction to the Perennial Philosophy: the basis of Two Wings teaching.
Outwardly the world’s religions seem at odds but in the mystical core of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam the founders and mystics of these great traditions arrive at the same ultimate spiritual experience and similar insights into the human condition and what is necessary to resolve it. They discovered the same meaning and ultimate goal of human life: that there is a spiritual Reality underlying all of life and it is possible for human beings to know it, come into accord and even merge with it. Realizing this in our particular life is our ultimate fulfillment and what we really seek, as we chase after this or that desire, whether it be career, family, relationships, money or__- fill in the blank.These discoveries are sometimes called the Perennial Philosophy. They have been known by a few individuals everywhere and at all times– and so are called perennial. Just as mystics are few and far between, so too, has recognition of this perennial wisdom been scarce, and even hunted as heresy by the orthodox institutional religions. This perennial wisdom is what our planetary culture desperately needs at this critical point in human history. In order to solve the urgent problems of humanity at the dawn of the 21st Century we must understand their source in illusion and ignorance of the spiritual underpinnings of life. Because of this ignorance (often willful) we humans have violated spiritual law, leading to our present state of crisis. In order to effectively address these problems we must understand their spiritual foundation (and do our own inner work if we are to truly understand it) in order to intelligently engage with these seemingly intractable problems, seeking divine guidance at every step.
It takes a long time to fully realize these truths but even intellectual understanding of the common foundations of the world’s great religions can help us understand what’s needed, assist in healing sectarian conflict, and align our intention towards uniting the religious traditions in the common endeavor of healing the earth and human society.
Aldous Huxley wrote a book, The Perennial Philosophy, where he identified the common understanding at the mystical heart of the religious traditions and distilled the findings into four great themes. In this introductory class we will explore these themes. The following class, “How to Know God” will further develop these themes and begin experiential exploration of what they mean in our individual lives. This is the basis of Two Wings spirituality.
Location: a private home in SW Minneapolis, call or register for address
Cost: $25
Class-Workshop
Sunday afternoons, January 14, 21, 28, February 4, 11,18; 2-5 p.m.
Beyond Therapy: How to Know God– Transforming Our Life With the World’s Wisdom Traditions
This class will include lecture, discussion, experiential exercises and reading outside of class. We will explore the difference between ordinary religion and the mystical inward path to actually realizing the promise of the great religions. When we approach the mystical heart of the great religions we pass beyond sectarian differences to the place where the traditions meet. This means that mystics from all the traditions reached experience of the ultimate spiritual Reality underlying all of creation. Following from this they also came to a common understanding of the human condition and how to resolve it. As this is understood, experienced and integrated, one’s whole life is transformed and one begins to realize the potential and divine purpose of one’s life. This process takes many years, but even from the beginning one’s life becomes supremely meaningful and compelling once one awakens to the real purpose of human life. I can attest to this from my own experience.We will draw on the teachings, poetry, stories and practices from the world’s mystical traditions and will, in particular, find new meaning in the Bible, and a different understanding of who Jesus was and what he was really teaching– from a mystical and more universal perspective than that found in the institutional church.
We will explore themes such as:
• What is the purpose and goal of human life?
• Who am I?
• What does the word “God” mean? To whom/what does it refer?
• What is the real meaning of the Fall from the book of Genesis in the Bible?
• What does salvation really mean? How is it accomplished?
• The question of theodicy: how can we understand the seemingly impossible conundrum of how an all-powerful and loving God can allow the tragedy and suffering in the world? The Book of Job is relevant here.
• What is “fierce grace”?
• Is there spiritual meaning in suffering, loss and pain?Text: Aldous Huxley’s The Perennial Philosophy
Location: a private home in SW Minneapolis, call or register for address.
Cost: $180 for 1 or $340 for 2 people registering together [a $20 discount]
Spring 2007
World Religions: Source of Conflict or Source of Confluence
The realization that we are one world is gradually penetrating our consciousness. The transition to a global community is fraught with many dangers but also awe-inspiring possibilities. One of the latter is the opportunity to learn from the great wisdom traditions of the world, gleaning teachings from them which enrich our own lives and spiritual journey. At the outer level, the religions of the world seem to differ and are often the source of conflict. At the inner, mystical level, in the heart of each tradition, there is a confluence of insight into and experience of the divine ground of existence. This class will explore both levels, but will focus on the latter. Text: The World’s Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions by Huston Smith
Science and Religion: What is the right relationship? How both are metaphors pointing to a deeper reality.
Embracing the Other: In this class, we will explore some of the problematic aspects of Islam and even the jihadi terrorists, as a spiritual challenge to us and our task to embrace the whole, in ourselves and in the world.
The Power of Myth, using Bill Moyer’s interviews with Joseph Campbell as the basis of contemplation and discussion
Enlightened Christianity: the Christian tradition at its deepest, mystical and universal level– a reinterpretation of the canonical gospels: who Jesus was and what he was teaching– according to the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and the deepest understanding of the world’s wisdom traditions. This perspective transcends Christian particularity and isolating attitudes of superiority, to place Jesus and the tradition within the family of the world’s great teachers and bringers of light.
The Gospel of Thomas: one of the “Gnostic” gospels discovered in 1945 in Egypt. A great find, revealing the repressed mystical teachings of Jesus that show a very different picture of what he taught than that proclaimed in orthodox and evangelical Christianity. These teachings strongly resonate with the Perennial Wisdom, taught throughout the world by other great religious Masters.
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene: discovered in the late 19th century. This too is often referred to a “Gnostic” gospel. It is, in the sense that it is concerned with inner knowledge of the Self, with “gnosis.” It reveals that Mary Magdalene was perhaps Jesus’ most fully realized disciple and also suggests that Jesus had a very different attitude towards women than that adopted by the church. This is the real thing, only hinted at in The DaVinci Code.
Archetypes of Women’s Lives: drawing on mythology and fairy tales to help women understand the universal themes and patterns animating their lives.
Ongoing Training Group: Getting Serious,– for people drawn to pursuit of transforming spiritual growth. This will include individual work, and practice and reading outside of class.
Writing Your Spiritual Story: Becoming more conscious of formative periods and episodes of your life by writing them for others – a different process than journaling, requiring awareness of the reader and attunement to the creative process.