UNITY IN DIVERSITY SEMINAR SERIES

The aim of the Unity in Diversity seminars is to examine, in the most universal way, the primordial truths embodied in the diverse expressions of peoples, their cultures, beliefs and sciences.

Seminar 1

Zoroastrian Spirituality – The Relentless Pursuit of Good

An online seminar outlining the Zoroastrian Story of Creation and through that window showing some key theological tenets moving away from a purely transcendent monotheistic God.

Presented by Khojeste Mistree
Delivered 21st February 2021

Seminar 4

A Jewel of Indian Spirituality: Reflections on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

An online seminar exploring Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, one of a number of sutra texts from the late Upanishadic period. According to its Indian origins, yoga is not just a physical practice but a sacred science of right living and higher awareness aimed at coming to realise the inner truth of the universe – the Divine, God, the Absolute or whatever name one may use to refer to this highest value.

Presented by Elizabeth Roberts
Delivered 16th May 2021

Seminar 7

Kabbalah: The Mystic in the Market Place

Kabbalah, meaning ‘receive’, is a living tradition concerning life – its Source, purpose and its Divine plan. In its classical and contemporary form, the Tradition is relevant to all humanity, providing a path to Self-realisation. In this online seminar we will give a brief introduction to the Tradition and aim to show how the teaching is made real in the marketplace of life; providing perspective and hope for ourselves and our world.

Presented by Kurt Browne & Joanna Lapage-Browne
Delivered 30th January 2022

Seminar 2

The Transformative Power of Beauty: Joseph and the Myth of Reconciliation

An online seminar exploring the Joseph myth. Joseph is understood as one of a community of prophetic figures, whose story emerges as the epic and emblematic story of divine knowledge revealed to humanity. The centrepiece here is beauty, and the focus of the presentation will be on beauty and its intimate relation to truth.

Presented by Professor Todd Lawson
Delivered 14th March 2021

Seminar 5

Differing Voices Make Sweet Music”: Unity in Diversity in Dante’s Divine Comedy

Running throughout the three canticles of Dante’s Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) is the importance of community, that is bringing together the diversity of individuals into one unified society, all the varieties of humanity conjoined in the Divine Unity. The talk traces the journey through these three regions, focusing on Dante’s poetic (even mythic) rendition of the soul’s relation to these three aspects of Unity in Diversity.

Presented by Robert-Louis Abrahamson
Delivered 27th June 2021

Seminar 8

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Fables as Contemplative Wisdom

Robert Louis Stevenson’s fables are little-known masterpieces by this supreme story-teller. The fables show Stevenson following in a contemplative tradition unawares, trying to articulate his view of human life without the help of a religious or philosophical tradition. This talk is a time of story-telling, with readings from several of the fables, and commentary.

Presented by Robert-Louis Abrahamson
Delivered 30th October 2022

Seminar 3

The Joy of Embodiment

In this online seminar Andreas asks the question: Matter, is it not just “stuff”? Or can it be said to be experiencing as well in some way? In our embodied existences we are, at the same time, matter (our physical body) and we have an experiencing standpoint. We hence can say something about the joys (and sorrows) of being matter. The aim is to try to sketch a picture of perception not as representation of things, but as co-creation in a “poetic space”.

Presented by Professor Andreas Weber
Delivered 18th April 2021

Seminar 6

Finding Radical Freedom: Some Reflections on Meister Eckhart

Some say Meister Eckhart is simply a philosopher, the father of German philosophy. Others see him as the profoundest of mystics, “the man from whom God hid nothing”, “the mystic’s mystic”. Whatever else, Eckhart probed the depths of human freedom, unfolding the art of “living without a why”. In this seminar we try to catch a first glimpse of what such freedom might mean.

Presented by Jim Griffin
Delivered 10th October 2021

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