MAY 4 Dreams at The Riverside Church* 5 Focused Intention 6 Spiritual Enquiry 7 Ultimate Issues: The Field: The Connection Across Space and Time, Session 1 11 Book Discussion: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying 14 FIONS Edgar for Noetic Leadership 2008 Award Ceremony* 15 Making Meaning: Channeling 18 Dreams at The Riverside Church* 19 Film: Part 4 - Crossing the Event Horizon* 30 New Physics* JUNE 2 Focused Intention 3 Spiritual Enquiry 8 Dreams at The Riverside Church* 8 Book Discussion: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying 11 Ultimate Issues: The Field: The Connection Across Space and Time: Session 2 19 Making Meaning: Amazing Grace...In Your Dreams 22 Dreams at The Riverside Church* 29 New Physics* (*Events in bold or with an asterisk are open to the public.) Mark your calendars! FIONS 2008 Edgar Mitchell Award for Noetic Leadership Award Ceremony* Woodson C. Merrell, MD, Sc.D, honoree (with an exclusive video dialogue between Drs. Merrell & Mitchell) Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 6:30 pm All Souls Unitarian Church Lexington Ave. & 80th Street PROGRAMS • FILMS • SPECIAL EVENTS Sunday, May 4, 18, & June 8, 22 EXPLORING DREAMS AT THE RIVERSIDE CHURCH* A dream workshop offers a way to look into the creative resources in our dreams. Dreaming is a kind of thinking while we’re asleep, and can be nurtured toward a deeper understanding of ourselves. FACILITATOR: Allen Flagg TIME: 2:30 - 4:30 pm LOCATION: The Wellness Center at The Riverside Church 91 Claremont Avenue, (one block west of Broadway, between 120th and 122nd Streets). Ask at the Security desk for room number. SUGGESTED DONATION: $2 each session for use of the Wellness Center’s facilities. TO REGISTER: Call Allen Flagg (212) 532-8042. Monday, May 5 & June 2 FOCUSED INTENTION "Using your thoughts to change your life and the world". Following Lynne McTaggart’s suggestion in The Intention Experiment, this ongoing group meets on the first Monday of each month to join the growing collective that understands the extent to which our focused intention can influence matter. People have an opportunity to share and discuss an individual intention-personal, work-related, issue-related-then examine and clarify the motivations that underlie the presenting need and, if appropriate, ask for group support. Then the group devotes time for each person to practice focusing on their specific intention into the circle. Please plan to arrive a few minutes early so we may start on time. TIME: 7:00 – 9:00 pm (Please note new time.) LOCATION: Upper West Side TO JOIN: Call Jane at 212 580-1007 or e-mail janehg4@verizon.net. Tuesday, May 6 & June 3 SPIRITUAL ENQUIRY The Spiritual Enquiry group screens videos, followed by discussion and a period of silence. The focus is on spiritual practice, finding ways of accessing our inner depths through meditation and self inquiry. We look to the teachings of sages like Ramana Maharshi, the Dalai Lama, as well as teachings from other traditions. On occasion guests are invited to make presentations, or to lead meditations. We also share our own spiritually-inspired poetry, art and music. FACILITATORS: Richard Schiffman & Bernard Starr TIME: 6:30 pm LOCATION: Marymount College Chapel, Main Building 4th floor 221 East 71st Street, (Bet. 2nd & 3rd Aves.) TIME: 6:30 pm RSVP: Bernard Starr: OmniCns@aol.com. Wednesday, May 7 & June 11 ULTIMATE ISSUES - THE FIELD Lynne McTaggart in her books, The Field and The Intention Experiment, points to a new understanding of reality and individual identity. From a non-technical viewpoint, we review issues she raises, especially evidence for a "New Physics" that she has uncovered in the process of interviewing scientists around the world. We also draw upon related issues that are the topics of discussion in FIONS and IONS, as well as topics discussed, and scientists interviewed in the movie What The Bleep!?-Down The Rabbit Hole. Topics include non-local connections, the nature of consciousness, ESP, remote viewing, and our understanding of time. (No prior scientific or spiritual viewpoint is required or assumed.) Wednesday, May 7th topic: THE FIELD: The Connection Across Space and Time, Session 1 Continuing from our April DVD overview of Lynne McTaggart’s views, we will talk about the original ideas from The Field. Arthur will play a portion of the first of two recently released CDs (from Sounds True) that outlines her main ideas – in her own words. There will be time for discussion and evaluation. Previous attendance at the April session is not necessary. Wednesday, June 11th topic THE FIELD: The Connection Across Space and Time, Session 2 A continuation of the May session, using the second CD as a starting point. FACILITATOR: Arthur Wiegenfeld TIME: 7:00 - 9:00 pm LOCATION: West Side Manhattan (directions provided upon registration). TO REGISTER: E-mail Arthur at artw@rcn.com Please enter: "Ultimate Issues" on the Subject line), or call 212-724-4335 and leave your name and phone number. E-mail response preferred. RSVP is required as space is very limited. If you register and then are unable to attend, please be sure advise Arthur. Sunday, May 11 & June 8 BOOK DISCUSSION New Focus: A six to eight session study of the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. In this comprehensive presentation of Tibetan Buddhist teaching, the author, Sogyal Rinpoche, makes accessible to modern westerners the essence of the classic Tibetan Book of the Dead. His aim is to instill in the reader a view of death as an integral part of life and to effect, in turn, a revolution in the way we look at death and care for the dying. Concepts and terms such as emptiness, compassion, karma, phowa, the nature of mind, and ground luminosity, become clarified and gain enhanced meaning a one reads through the book. Registration required. Please call early to obtain reading for the first meeting. You must be a member of FIONS to join the discussion. The group meets the second Sunday of the month. FACILITATOR: Barbara Terwilliger TIME: 3:30 pm LOCATION: West Village TO REGISTER: Call 212-989-6812. Wednesday, May 14, 6:30 pm FIONS Edgar for Noetic Leadership Award Ceremony* Dr. Woodson Merrell, Honoree All Souls Unitarian Church Lexington Ave. & 80th Street Join us as we honor Dr. Woodson Merrell with the 2008 Edgar Award on May 14 at All Souls Unitarian Church. Dr. Merrell is the M. Anthony Fisher Director of Integrative Medicine at the Continuum Center for Health and Healing (CCHH) in New York City, a part of Beth Israel Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive academic integrative medical center. Dr. Merrell passionately believes that integrative medicine is the future. He started one of the nation’s first courses in integrative medicine for medical students in 1994 at his alma mater, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Merrell has spearheaded the impetus to bring energy healing to all patients at Beth Israel Hospital who so desire, and was a key co-sponsor of the ten-day 2007 Donna Karen Urban Zen Forum on Integral Health. Dr. Merrell will share some of his insights into what it means to be part of "changing the story of our future." ADMISSION: $10 IONS/FIONS Members: $5 TO REGISTER: or for more info: E-MAIL: fions@mindspring.com PHONE: 212 741-2207 Thursday, May 15 MAKING MEANING CHANNELING Most of us have heard of Edgar Cayce’s work of trance-induced meditations during which he would source medical information and treatments for people seeking help for a variety of physical problems. The teachings of Seth, channeled by Jane Roberts, are archived at Yale University. Mozart, in a letter to his father, said "Everything is composed, just not yet written down." Ernest Holmes referred to "Universal Mind". Joseph Campbell gives the poet of consciousness the highest compliment. "They come from an elite experience, the experience of people particularly gifted, whose ears are open to the song of the universe." Let us explore the phenomenon of channeling together. Writer Nancy Rhodes will read from her manuscript, a story that is coming through her and wants to be written. FACILITATOR: Dorothy Baker TIME: 6:30-8:30 pm LOCATION: Upper Westside location. TO REGISTER: Call Dorothy at 347-268-0933. Monday, May 19 FILM OF THE MONTH SERIES* This is the final installation in the 4-part series of Nassim Haramein’s Crossing the Event Horizon: Rise to the Equation. Nassim’s films take you on a journey through humanity’s evolution, exposing the changes needed to produce an all-encompassing unified physics; a unification of not only the four forces of nature, but also evolution and the occurrence of consciousness. Part 4: Unlocking the Mystery – The Future is in Our Hands Bible, The Arc of the Covenant, Knights Templar, Emmanue– l’s Tomb, Kabbalah, Tree of Life Decoded. LOCATION: META Center 214 West 29th St 16th Floor (btw. 7th and 8th Avenues) ADMISSION: $10 TO REGISTER: Call FIONS at (212) 741-2207. Sunday, May 31 & June 29 NEW PHYSICS* Explore how the discoveries in physics affect our spiritual, emotional, and physical lives. The New Physics group follows the breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe and our place in it. FACILITATOR: Allen Flagg TIME: 2:30-4:30 pm LOCATION: The Wellness Center at The Riverside Church 91 Claremont Avenue (between 120th and 122nd Streets. Ask at the registration desk for the room number). DONATION: Suggested: $2 towards cost of the room. TO REGISTER: Call Allen Flagg (212) 212-532-8042. Thursday, June 19 MAKING MEANING AMAZING GRACE...IN YOUR DREAMS In shamanic and religious traditions, dream incubation was used to access the divine for inspiration, healing and guidance. Sigmund Freud eliminated the divine and offered the unconscious, while Carl Jung retained the Self as a representative of the divine. Lou Hagood, psychoanalyst and member of several FIONS Dream Groups, will lead the discussion. His presentation will discuss accessing the Divine through dream-incubation questions and the interpreting the responses received. FACILITATOR: Dorothy Baker TIME: 6:30-8:30 pm LOCATION: Upper West Side Call Dorothy at: (347) 268-0933. New Bohm Group to Start in May! A study group to read and discuss the work of David Bohm will be open to members in May. The group’s aim is to formulate an in-depth understanding of what Bohm calls his "map of thinking," and its relationship to the process known as Bohm Dialogue. This would be the first step towards the formation of a Bohm Dialogue group based on the understandings derived through the study process. Reading selections would be chosen from but not limited to: Infinite Potential, On Dialogue, On Creativity, Thought as a System, The Essential David Bohm. Some of this material will be available on the internet. Please call Barbara Terwilliger at 212 989 6812 to indicate interest. Location will be determined by number of registrants. FACILITATORS: Kathryn Arizmendi, karizmendi@gmail.com Bob Barone, 212-749-1204 Also of Interest The Essence of Reality, A Clear Awareness of How Life Works Presented by Author Thomas Daniel Nehrer June 15, 3:00 pm The New York Theosophical Society 242 East 53rd Street Thomas Daniel Nehrer is the author of The Essence of Reality: A Clear Awareness of How Life Works. Through a long inner journey, Tom regained the piercing awareness of an earlier, fleeting mystic experience, yielding a unique "clear awareness" of the inner/outer flow, shedding fear and self-doubt in the process while spurring abundance, health and success along a fascinating life track. Tom will be delving deeply into the Oneness of Consciousness/Reality. While trying to manipulate a world we perceive as distant and apart from us, each of us unconsciously reproduces patterns in the health, success and relationships of our lives. Tom’s unique overview of prevalent spiritual disciplines, healing techniques, teachings of the great masters and modern science – revealing their innate shortcomings as well as value – brings unmatched insight to any open-minded listener sincerely seeking to understand "How Life Works". For more information visit his Web site at www.nehrer.net or contact The New York Theosophical Society at 212-753-3835 or 212-758-5521. Mirabai Starr at New York Open Center Mirabai Starr, author of critically acclaimed new translations of the Spanish mystics, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, will be teaching at the New York Open Center June 13 and 14, as part or her East Coast tour to promote her most recent publication of a series of six "Devotions, Prayers, & Living Wisdom" books, one for each of the following saints and mystics: St. Michael the Archangel, St. Teresa of Avila, St Francis of Assisi, St. John, Hildegard, and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mirabai speaks and leads retreats on the connections between the teachings of the mystics, contemplative practice, social action, and the transformational power of grief and loss. She has offered talks and workshops for Episcopal churches, Unity Church, theological seminaries, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Buddhist retreats, writing conferences, Lama Foundation, Caroline Myss Educational Institute, and the New York Open Center (both in the U.S. and Spain). For more information, including other locations on the tour, visit Mirabai’s Web site at www.mirabaistarr.com. 2008 IONS Community Gathering – Nov. 15–20 The IONS Community is sponsoring a "Consciousness Cruise" with IONS President, James O’Dea, Rose Welch, Assistant to the President, and other IONS members. The cost of the cruise is $79 a day, meals and taxes included. Prices start at $394 and includes: food, cabin, taxes, fuel surcharges. (Drinks and required tipping of $50 are not included.) Optional insurance is $59. All the above costs are based on double occupancy. If you want a single cabin, there will be an additional charge of $170 for an interior and $230 for an outside cabin. Penthouse suites are also available. ITINERARY: Five-day/5-night cruise out of San Diego to Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. TO SIGN UP: Visit guitar.rani@aaa-calif.com, and complete the registration form online, or fax it to Rani at (818) 340 5048. For further information, call Tahdi (818-888-6004) or William (818-341-8817). A TEACHING OPPORTUNITY IN THE CENTER FOR LEARNING AND LIVING AT MARYMOUNT MANHATTAN COLLEGE The Center for Leaning and Living (CL&L) at Marymount Manhattan College is seeking teachers for the Fall semester beginning Oct. 6, 2008. Courses consist of eight sessions once a week for one hour and twenty minutes. The faculty is made up of volunteers who share their expertise and experience, lead thought-provoking sessions, and challenge active and involved students to think critically and speak out intelligently. Students are largely retired professionals, academics, business people, and others with extensive and interesting life experiences--they are thoughtful, intelligent and involved making for an exciting intellectual and experiential sharing environment. The courses are wide-ranging reflecting the broad interests and open-mindedness of the students. A number of Coalition for OneVoice and FIONS members are already teaching in the program. Recent course offerings have included such topics as: Changes in Middle East Governance: Political Upheavals Taking Place in Changing Environments Inside Television News Religion and the First Amendment Kafka’s Short Stories American Female Playwrights Female Old Masters (in art) Spirituality in Film If you are interested in offering a course, or would like to suggest an idea or topic, contact: Bernard Starr Marymount Manhattan College 221 East 71st Street CL&L Program Committee & former Executive Director E-mail: starrone@aol.com