We meandered about for a while until we somehow came up with the subject of nostalgia which, according to its etymology, from Greek nostos ‘return home’ + algos ‘pain’, which was used to translate the German Heimweh, means acute homesickness. (I am afraid I may have confused this meaning by translating nostos as ‘old’, meaning […]
The conversation began with a consideration of K’s notion of consciousness as the repository of the universal history of humanity. This modulated into a general consideration of the attempt by humanity to cultivate a set of values as a way to transform itself. One of the participants, who seemed to be something of a religious […]
We began with the topic of hope. One of the participants had seen a recently released interview with Jane Goodall for a Netflix series entitled ‘Famous last words.’ The interview had been made to be shown only after her death. At one point the interviewer had walked out of the room, leaving her alone with […]
This afternoon, from 15:00 to 16:30, we held our Sunday dialogue on the south lawn of the main house of the KECC Swanwick Centre. There were some 14 of us in attendance. After the introductions, we began by exploring the question of our universality as human beings. This corresponds with K’s fundamental statement that we […]
With cooler weather and only intermittent sunshine, we met for the first time in several years in the exquisite living room of the main house. This was a delight for everyone and a first for most of us. We began the meeting with a few minutes of silence. Afterward, several participants mentioned that the beauty […]
The meeting began with a few minutes of silence and a suggestion to give attention to one’s breath during the silence. Afterwards, several participants said they appreciated the “quality” of the silence, noting that there was a sense of relaxation in the stillness, especially since some had driven to the meeting in heavy and noisy […]
It was a sunny, but windy afternoon. After some discussion about whether or not to gather indoors or outside on the lawn, we agreed to try outside. The meeting began with a few minutes of silence and a suggestion that as part of our inner silence, we give attention to the diversity of sounds that […]
We began the meeting with a few minutes of silence. After the silence ended, several participants commented on the sense of being deeply nourished by the stillness that was present in the group. One participant noted how the silence seemed to bring everyone closer together, even though some of us had met for the first […]
On what at times was a cool, windy day we decided to go ahead and hold the dialogue outside at the Swanwick property with the beautiful ocean view and the wind talking as it flowed through the large trees surrounding us. As before, being outside to dialogue in a beautiful spot added a sense of […]
The ten participants shared a period of silence to begin the dialogue. A question was asked regarding the silence: Was it peaceful or was it somewhat oppressive? Oppressive in the sense of self-conscious chatter dominating the quiet period. The group felt that just going into the silence instead of moving on to the reading portion […]