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.

December 8th

We never got far in reading about Alan Watts and Zen as each controversial description of man's alienation led to a discussion on whether we agreed or not. To start us off I quoted the message on a display board outside of the church in Salisbury Road Totton. "Man is born with an emptiness inside that only God can fill" I agree with the statement except that God is a word that is interpreted by every religion and belief in many different ways.

November

We first of all read up and discussed an ordained minister's confession that he believed Christ was more of a Taoist and it was Paul who drew up the belief that salvation came from believing in Jesus Christ as the saviour. We then went on to look into Taoism.

There was no meeting in October - next month we will look at Lao Tzu's Taoism

Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation.
Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me,
strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death.
- Wernher von Braun

If you would like to join us email Bill

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We discussed the philosophy of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

The Cosmic Plenum: Teilhard's Gnosis: Cosmogenesis
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit priest-theologian and a distinguished geologist-paleontologist, who was born in France in 1881 and died in New York City in 1955. Following teaching posts in Paris and Cairo, he was assigned to China for many years. In China, Teilhard became imbued with a vision of working to build the future.

By the future he meant more than the building up of the physical world; he envisaged the irreversible ascent, through man's collective efforts materially and mentally, to reach what he called the Omega Point

August meeting

Mike joined us this month making seven in all as Pat is in the USA. We reviewed topics covered over the last sessions, Ancient philosophy, Descartes, and Friedrich Nietzsche. We then examined Buddhism before moving on to Zen.

July meeting

We discussed the perennial philosophy as truth self evident and beyond dogma that occurs throughout history. We then went on to look at 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. Decided very quickly not for us no wonder he went mad,
Next month we tackle Zen.

June meeting

For this month we looked at Gnosis and the esoteric teachings in most world religions. We then 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.

Group meet for the first time.

Philosophy.
For introduction we learned that apart from having a successful marriage to give an extra 5 years of life a belief in a philosophy was the next best thing.
Also it enables us to think clearly as this illustration shows.
To counter the argument that killing is always wrong and that therefore capital punishment is just legalised murder. Point out that if the person putting this idea forward can't see that there is a qualitative difference between killing for greed or lust or out of anger or malice and killing out of punishment by a duly appointed legal Authority then by their argument imprisonment should be regarded as legalised kidnapping and fines, legalised theft!

We then discussed metaphysics before going on to our own ideas and beliefs.
Next month Nietzsche or perhaps discuss the book by the American transcendentalist "In tune with the infinite"