21 December

This month we viewed a short film All You Need to Know about Angels, an Interview with Dr. Joy Philippou, President of Body, Mind & Soul International.
We do have an open mind and who is to say it is impossible, living is a miracle so why not another, although not persuaded that Angels exist we accepted that Joy is joyous through having the belief in Angels and a cosmic Christ who acts as a intermediary to God.
Her obvious health intelligence at an age that most of us are getting very tired she sparkles with a glow that is a testament to her faith.
We then went on to look at another person who claims to be enlightened A man, indeed, who was spiritually enlightened twenty years ago. Eckhart Tolle (pronounced Toll-ee) says that while “there are shifts in intensity”, he remains in the same state of “bliss and peace”. He no longer sits on a park bench but lives in a high-rise in Vancouver and teaches others how to attain enlightenment, among them Gillian Anderson of The X Files; Cher, who says he “has changed my life”; and Meg Ryan, who introduced Oprah Winfrey to Tolle’s first book, The Power of Now: A Spiritual Guide to Enlightenment. Last year, Winfrey chose the book for her Favourite Things show, saying she had read it eight times and keeps it on her bedside table. Sales skyrocketed: The Power of Now — with an original print run of 3000 — became No. 1 on Amazon.com and spent 20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, selling more than one million copies in North America. Released in Australia in 2000, it was still on the top 10 list this year, and has been translated into more than two dozen languages.

Not having time to see a film of his we just discussed his philosophy of living in the "now" by letting go of the ego, where the world is enshrined with the light of God. We are not sure that this is the state we ought to live in constantly although it may be needed each day to help centre our being.
I have read A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle and found it very "enlightening." It is in the Totton library

Will look at this subject again.

November meeting

After settling down we watched a video of the Rev. Tom Honey on the subject of How could God have allowed the tsunami?


We then discussed the implications related to the video before our tea break afterwards we read two papers one short one on the Bushido way of life which although to be admired in some respects we were not that persuaded that it was a healthy philosophy. The second paper's topic, extracted from Farley Malorrus's show on July 20th 1987, discusses how we can all Expect a Miracle just by affirming this as thought within a Mantra. A cheerful note to end on

October meeting

For a light hearted but thoughtful introduction to today's meeting we watched Julia Sweeny recounting her presentation of Letting go of God. Chapter one "There is no Santa Claus"

After this we had a free ranging discussion before reading a collection of sayings from masters who have reputedly found enlightenment. We then discussed our views as to what enlightenment is. This topic engaged us even through our tea break.

21 September

Today we started by watching a short film about the origins of Christianity. The revelations that the three kings was a reference to the three stars pointing to the star of the east on the 25th December and the same virgin birth, twelve disciples and the cross story that date back far into the past long before the reputed time of Jesus. Even the Egyptian god Horus was born of a virgin all linked to the worship of the sun.

"Stories from the life of Horus had been circulating for centuries before Jesus birth (circa 4 to 7 BC). If any copying occurred by the writers of the Egyptian or Christian religions, it was the followers of Jesus who incorporated into his biography the myths and legends of Horus, not vice-versa.

Author and theologian Tom Harpur studied the works of three authors who have written about ancient Egyptian religion: Godfrey Higgins (1771-1834), Gerald Massey (1828-1907) and Alvin Boyd Kuhn (1880-1963). Harpur incorporated some of their findings into his book "Pagan Christ." He argued that all of the essential ideas of both Judaism and Christianity came primarily from Egyptian religion. "[Author Gerald] Massey discovered nearly two hundred instances of immediate correspondence between the mythical Egyptian material and the allegedly historical Christian writings about Jesus. Horus indeed was the archetypal Pagan Christ."

We went on to discuss many other ideas as to the right way to live including discussing "The tribe" where Bruce learned that suffering was caused through desire. Then further discussion on the permanence of the ego and the realization of the Self.

August Meeting

We studied a philosopher who died this year at the age of 98. He was still vigorous in manner and speech until the end. At the age of 30 he made a discovery that seems bizarre yet obvious to everybody when told. His Revelation gave him a life long crusade to pass on his discovery, helping people to discover a new richness to their lives. Curious? Come along to next month's meeting on the third Friday and I will tell you about him.

We had a shorter philosophical meeting as after a break we watched the DVD that Dave made of the general meeting's high spot listening to the U3A's own music group.

13th July

I did have a subject to discuss but we carried on with last month's discussion so we never got round to anything else. What we did discuss is the esoteric knowledge in this context meaning the "inner" (eso-), in the sense of the inner consciousness; the contemplative, gnostic, wisdom perspective, as opposed to the "outer" (exo-) or Exoteric, i.e. the outer or surface or everyday consciousness. Esoteric and Exoteric are the two basic ways of looking at reality - the intuitive and the rational.

Back to the 3rd Friday next month.

June

An amusing meeting today. AS Geoff joined us for the first time we started to review the previous year's monthly discussions. We agreed that philosophy is a life extending practice although this depended on it being a positive philosophy - that led to what is a negative philosophy.Then we covered Gnosis (Union with God) and the esoteric teachings in most world religions. The following month we read part of the "In tune with the infinite". The author Ralph Waldo Trine appears to see the world as the kingdom of God in his book. Where God is both transcendent and immanent. That led to what is the meaning of the words. We touched on Nietzsche's ideas - the complete antithesis. Nietzsche believed in nothing except the self in time and his loathing of those who believed in the timeless being.

Because of the time being limited we broke off to look at the film "The secret beyond matter" This led to a lively debate.
Next meeting on the second Friday of the month.

May meeting

Today's investigation as to reality was a touch hard to grasp. If science explains how our senses work in the objective world by receiving only electrical signals from all of our five senses then logically we live within our own brains. No sentient being now or ever in the future will know reality directly. But is science right?

April Meeting

Interesting discussion at today's meeting. We first reviewed the report in the new Scientist that confirms our feeling that there is a law of Karma.

ANTISOCIAL behaviour doesn't just harm society - it may also harm the perpetrators' health. That's the message of a 30-year study examining the hidden costs of petty crime to society.
The researchers, who monitored 500 children for 30 years. "It's the first study to demonstrate the link between children who engage in antisocial behaviour and deficits in physical health when they grow up," says study leader Candice Odgers of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London. As well as accounting for more than their share of crime in later life, "they also incur hitherto unrecognised medical costs", she says.
Although these individuals accounted for just 10 per cent of the sample, they were responsible for 18 per cent of traffic injuries, 29 per cent of the days spent in psychiatric hospitals, 72 per cent of the months spent in jail and 42 per cent of the total months where study members were homeless or taken in by others.
Persistent offenders also had three times the healthy blood level of C-reactive protein, a marker that indicates raised risk of heart attacks or stroke. It is surprising to see this marked risk for heart disease in such young men, Odgers says. "As we follow them to their 50s and 60s, the health burden will likely get even worse."

We then went on to learn about the emptiness of matter.

"Can anyone imagine this entire planet squeezed down to the size of a pearl? But that's what matter is without empty space between particles.
All this shows that matter is 99.99999 percent void - just an illusion of whirling electrical charges. If a c.c. of matter from a pulsar weighs 10 million tons, how much actual matter is in a 200-pound person like me? If the empty space were squeezed out, there wouldn't be enough to see with a microscope. We think we have substance, but we're composed of NOTHING."

After this it was easier to understand David Bohm, whose work inspired many people all over the world, his contributions to science and philosophy are profound. Bohm says that the universe is like a hologram.

16th March meeting

For a change we studied the text of a speech made by Vaclav Havel
The Need for Transcendence in the Postmodern World
In this postmodern world, cultural conflicts are becoming more dangerous than any time in history. A new model of coexistence is needed, based on man's transcending himself.
Vaclav Havel is the president of the Czech Republic. The speech was made in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, July 4, 1994.

Amazing, a politician with intelligence and spiritual wisdom.

Joke
"Make me one with everything." said the buddhist monk to the hot-dog vendor.
The hot dog vendor prepares the hot dog and gives it to the monk. The monk pays him and asks for the change. The hot dog vendor says: "Change comes from within."

February meeting

To start the meeting off we played a DVD showing the traditional Buddhist philosophy with its emphasis on meditation and cultivating the right mind over many years to gain enlightenment. We went on to read various quotes on the immediacy of zen type enlightenment with the realization that samsara is nirvana.

The Secret: First 20 minutes

This is the first 20 minutes of the global film phenomenon "The Secret". It is authorized by The Secret LLC for personal use only.

Keith Ward

Keith Ward is Regius Professor of Divinity at http://resources.theology.ox.ac.uk/staff.phtml?lecturer_code=Kward Oxford University. For more info go to www.meaningoflife.tv.

January Meeting

This month we examined two philosophies. We watched an introductory twenty minutes of THE SECRET on the Internet at The Secret

We all thought this was mainly true. Hard to take in if you have chronic sickness and maybe in poor circumstances. Have a look and see if you think the secret is right.
We then examined another philosophy which is directly opposite including studying Shakespeare's King Lear in his not understanding "nothing". We also thought this too is right but perhaps a philosophy more appealing for those who have already succeeded in living a full life.