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

14th March, 2021
Online via Zoom 16:00 – 17:30 GMT

This event is the second in a series of seminars under the general title Unity in Diversity.

Led by Todd Lawson

Seminar Description

The story of Joseph, encountered successively in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and in the Quran, represents an enduring myth whose various themes and wisdoms have had great influence on Abrahamic religious culture. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the Joseph myth retold as the “most beautiful of all stories” in the Qur’an. Here 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. Along with the timeless values, spiritual attributes and human failings highlighted in the story, there is a certain, almost uncanny, topicality “disguised” in the Qur’an’s story of Joseph. This presentation may be thought of as a “slow reading” of the Sura of Joseph as a renewable myth for our current collective plight. The dynamic relation, taught by the Qur’an, between truth and beauty and their power to transform “lead into gold” inspires hope for the planet and a peaceful global community.

Speaker

Professor Todd LawsonTodd Lawson is Professor Emeritus of Islamic Thought at the University of Toronto where, over the past three decades, he has taught courses and supervised graduate work in Quranic Studies, Islamic Mysticism, and Islamic Philosophical Theology. He has published several books and articles and spoken on these and related topics in universities across the world. His interest in Islam is deeply connected to what might be characterised as its uncompromising “Gospel of the Oneness of Humanity,” the enduring contributions such an elevated anthropology has made and continues to make to our shared cultural and social reality, and those inexhaustible spiritual resources which continue to nourish Islam’s distinctive and compelling teaching of unity and the interconnectedness of all things. His most recent books are: Intimacy and Ecstasy in Quran Commentary and Being Human: Bahai Perspectives on Islam, Modernity and Peace.

Todd lives in Montreal with his wife Barbara.

An interview with Todd can be found here: https://besharamagazine.org/metaphysics-spirituality/the-unity-of-humanity/.

Booking

Cost: FREE via Zoom

Registration must be made via Eventbrite

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& Wednesdays from 9th September 2020 (20:00 – 21:00 BST)

One session per week (6-7 week period)

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18:00 – 19:00 Saturday CDT
10:00 – 11:00 Sunday AEDT (09:00 – 10:00 AEST from 1st April)

A reading group for online study of the spiritual poems of Üftade, one of the greatest Ottoman Sufi masters, in English translation from The Nightingale in the Garden of Love.

Contact: Mary Boyd-Brent at boydb002@umn.edu

The Ways of the Heart I

25th February – 19th May 2022

The One Calling the Many: the first Ways of the Heart course exploring a spiritual life and unified perspective in the contemporary world.

NB. This course will be held at GMT.

Contact: besharacourses@beshara.org

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From 15th May 2025
20:30–21:30 BST

An opportunity to study and explore the timeless wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita in an online group setting. All welcome.

Contact: John Brown at besharacourses@beshara.org to book a place.

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The Cornucopia Room, Scottish Borders
and
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Mulberry House, Edinburgh

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Love Divine: a conversation between Rumi and St. John of the Cross

Meditation and poetry workshops 

Fortnightly from 18th January – 29th March
Saturdays: 10:00am – 11:30pm (GMT)
or
Fortnightly from 25th January – 5th April
Saturdays: 10am – 11:30am (Pacific Time), 12:00pm-13:30 (Central Time), and 5:00pm-6:30pm (UK time).


Meditation workshops following a format of reading some lines of poetry with contemplative meditation and shared reflections. There are a few places left.

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Chisholme Institute, Scottish Borders, UK

This being human is a guest-house. Every morning a new arrival…‘  An 8-week in-depth foundation in mindfulness with 7-day retreat.

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The October Gallery, London

Contemplative study of a few poems by the 20th Century Scottish Poet Edwin Muir

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16:30 – 17:30 BST

A series of sessions exploring the practice of meditation from different traditions.

www.berwickmeditation.co.uk