This was our third, 1st Monday for 2009, and we had a great discussion on Grace, Synchronicity and Serendipity.
Richard began the discussion by reviewing the “Three Faces of God” as explored by Andrew Cohen and Ken Wilber during their webinar which Richard attended on May 9. This was an excellent follow-up to our discussion in April when we explored the many ways to refer to a “superior force” in the Universe, the ineffable “Something Greater.” Briefly the three faces, as defined by Wilber, are:
1) Non-duality, the Ground of all Being, the Great Oneness.
2) Absolute Other/Being/the Thou, which we are probably most familiar with.
3) The Great Process of Becoming/The Creative, Evolutionary Force of the Universe.
These Three Faces are also explored on three separate webcasts of EnlightenNext; these can be downloaded and heard at: http://www.enlightennext.org/webcast/index.php?ecp=wc-052809&q=audio-us
Rosemary then read an excerpt from the Sunday “NY Times” Magazine interview with Robert Wright, author of “The Evolution of God” – a history of religion. The first provocative question the interviewer, Deborah Solomon, asks is: “The Evolution of God,” your new book on the history of religion, strikes me as a welcome antidote to the stream of books by atheists that have become best sellers in recent years. Doesn’t it seem as if atheism has become its own form of fundamentalism?” The full interview can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/magazine/31wwln-q4-t.html?scp=1&sq=Evolution+of+God&st=nyt.
We then moved into our discussion of the three areas of exploration for the evening. Eileen observed that Grace is something we get as a gift; it is not something we earn. All we need to do is “allow grace to happen.” We also explored the dictionary definitions of Grace, Synchronicity and Serendipity. The time went very quickly as we all shared stories of these phenomena from our experiences. Rosemary also shared a story from Martín Prechtel, one of Richard’s teachers; the story was taken from Martín’s book: “The Disobedience of the Daughter of the Sun.”
We concluded the evening with a “homework” assignment: we all thought it would be good to observe and remember all the incidents of Grace, Synchronicity and Serendipity we experience through June. And we can share these during our gathering in July.
For our July meeting, scheduled for July 6, 2009, 6:30 pm at Little Nepal Restaurant, we will explore our stories from June and also move into our next topic: Conscious Living.
Also, note that Rosemary’s new and revised website is now online: please explore www.rosemarybredeson.com and, while there, sign up for her weekly Ezine – “Wisdom Connections.”
May you be blessed with Grace, Synchronistic events and Serendipitous experiences!
Wisdom Connections 