The Beshara Lecture 2023
The Coincidence of Opposites
Speaker: Iain McGilchrist
Sunday 9th July, 2023
14:00 – 15:30 BST (via Zoom)
How to Book
Free but registration by Eventbrite is required
Entry by ticket from Eventbrite
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-coincidence-of-opposites-tickets-642248832547
If there is Oneness, what are the Many? Are they the same? What do we mean? I suggest that the coincidence of opposites is a truth of unsurpassed importance, but that we have been educated into believing that it is, quite simply, nonsense; and that this plays a neglected role in our failure to make sense of the world.
Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, neurologist, philosopher and writer whose seminal work, The Master and His Emissary (2009) presented the notion that the two hemispheres of the human brain approach the world in two very different ways. He argues passionately for the importance – often overlooked in the modern world – of the right hemisphere, which sees the world as a unified, living process. In his most recent book, The Matter with Things (2021) – see this review – he further explores the philosophical implications of this idea. The book is a magnum opus of some 1500 pages which amounts to a very strong argument, supported by an extraordinary range of evidence, for a unified view of the cosmos. See Iain’s website for more details: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/
The Beshara Lecture is an event organised by the Beshara Trust, usually annually. A speaker is invited to present a paper on the ways in which a deep understanding of unity illuminates different areas of human knowledge, informing their research, practice or personal contemplation.
Mirrors of the Transcendent in the Cosmos of Ibn Arabi: The Body as Metaphor of Divine Self-Revelation
25th-26th July 2025
The Warburg Institute, University of London
A joint symposium held by the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society and The Warburg Institute.
More details: https://ibnarabisociety.org/events/
Booking: https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/events/cosmos-of-ibn-arabi-2025
Aspects of Science, Imagination and the Mystical
Saturday 14th June 2025
14:00–17:00 BST
The October Gallery, London
With Peter Coates
This talk will consider the vital role of the Creative Imagination in Natural Science and in the Mystical Philosophy of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi.
Contact: Michael Cohen london@beshara.org
Paradise E’Now or The Smile of the Spirit
Saturday 24th May 2025
14:00–17:00 BST
The October Gallery, London
With Charles Mugleston
A special Birthday Celebration with music, exploring, experiencing & soulfully enjoying the Ruba’iya’t of Hakim Omar Khayya’m translated & adapted by the Anglo-Irish genius Edward FitzGerald of Woodbridge, Suffolk into “English Music” in 1859.
Contact: Michael Cohen london@beshara.org
Open Meetings
Mondays 7th April, 2025
Monday 5th May, 2025
17:30–18:30 BST
Saturday 26th April, 2025
Saturday 24th May, 2025
9:00am-10:00am BST
Are you interested in sharing your thoughts and in contributing to the development of Beshara? We are excited to invite you to another series of monthly online Open Meetings
Know Yourself
Saturday 26th April 2025
14:00–17:00 BST
The October Gallery, London
You yourself are the object of your quest
Reading and discussion of a classic explanation of the Oneness of Being, attributed to Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi and Awhad al-din Balyani and translated from the Arabic by Cecilia Twinch.
Contact: Michael Cohen, london@beshara.org
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