Inquiry Sunday November 6, 2016   Sunday was a full day of “inquiry”, with morning and afternoon sessions bringing out a good number of participants. Eight of us watched three videos on the subject of “the holographic universe,” beginning with an interview between Jeffrey Mishlove and Michael Talbot, author of the book The Holographic Universe. It is an excellent discussion which sheds light on recent studies on the nature of the observer and the observed, a popular subject with David Bohm and J. Krishnamurti, as well as other concepts scientists are exploring which have correlations with nondual spiritual insights concerning the “oneness” of all reality. Two other videos exploring the same domain were helpful in making sometimes difficult scientific concepts more accessible to the average person. One of the speakers, Professor Susskind, did acknowledge that it might take quite a lot of education for most people to grasp some of the complexities. For the afternoon session, the co-authors of two interesting books, Blowing Zen and The Shadow that Seeks the Sun, were present to talk about their spiritual adventures in India. Ray and Dianne Brooks conducted the gathering in front of fourteen others with humour and wisdom as they spoke of their experiences with teachers in Rishikesh and of the truths of nondual understanding which bring seeking and suffering to an end. Ray’s long-time interest in Krishnamurti, and his meeting with K in Ojai, California, were significant contributors to his own realization. Dianne read some passages from the second book which pointed to the essence of what he learned and now lives in his daily life. Questions were fielded and there was some interesting discussion amongst the group on the topic of fear and conflict. It was an afternoon apparently enjoyed by all present.

  Science and Nonduality Weekend October 21-23, 2016   Eight people attended the various presentations available from this year’s conference in San Jose, California. There were no major technical problems and the weekend unfolded in a relaxed manner, with most of the six participants who took in the entire weekend attending almost all the events. There were a mixture of pure scientists and pure non-dual presenters, with others somewhere in between. Subjects included an opening talk by Rupert Spira on “The Nature of Consciousness,”, followed over the weekend by Heart Intelligence, Christianity and Unknowing, Inherited Family Trauma, The Spiritual Dimension of Trauma, Being a Self, Mind-Body Mechanics, The Qualitative Science of the Heart, Is the Soul Obsolete?, Mongolian Shamanic Trance, Emotional Sentience, Science and Spirituality, The Freedom of Nothing to Grasp, along with an excellent video presentation by Ken Wilber entitled “The Edge of the Unknown in the Human Being.” Some entertaining humour was inserted with Swami Beyondananda, and some traditional satsang with Francis Lucille. There were four panel discussions over the weekend. We added videos of David Bohm in conversation with David Suzuki, an interview with Michael Talbot, author of The Holographic Universe, and a video of the same name. We also played an audio clip of David Bohm speaking on the nature of thought and its tendency to deceive itself. Highlights for the writer were Kabir Helminski (The Qualitative Science of the Heart), Swami Beyondananda, Francis Lucille, Joan Tollifson, and particularly Ken Wilber, who was obviously suffering from a debilitating disease. There was far more material than can be described in this report. Overall, there seemed to be a fairly good integration of the scientific perspective with the “spiritual” one, and many presentations were inspiring, but sometimes the scientific language was all but incomprehensible to the majority of us who took part in the live streamed event. All participants reported that they enjoyed the weekend very much and found it to speak to some of their real interests.

  Victoria Krishnamurti Event Church of Truth, October 9, 2016   On Thanksgiving Sunday only one person joined me for the afternoon event. We read a handout from Freedom from the Known, then watched a video on Awareness from the Evelyn Blau series Beyond Myth and Tradition. Krishnamurti spoke about awareness, concentration, and attention, emphasizing the kind of attention that arises with a deep interest in looking at oneself without evaluation or judgment. That attention has no subject who is attending and no boundary or limitation. Looking with this kind of attention is to enter a state of non-division and moment to moment transformation. After discussing the handout and video material and taking a short tea break, we watched a clip of Rupert Spira answering a question about depression. He suggested the questioner become interested in the awareness which is perceiving the depression. Inquiring into the nature of awareness increases the sense of our unlimited nature and gradually starves the energy of depression – or any other emotional conflict. There was some valuable discussion of the Spira clip. Even though the turnout was minimal, the session was appreciated and felt to be very helpful.

  Inquiry Sunday October 2, 2016   The Inquiry Sunday is comprised of a morning and an afternoon session. Seven people attended the morning showing of the film The Holographic Universe, which describes the latest findings of quantum physics in relation to the question of how reality is perceived and understood by the human brain. Many of the ideas are difficult to fully grasp as they are so contrary to all we have been taught, but examining the concepts presented certainly seemed to open our minds to new possibilities in the way we look at our experience. There can be a kind of deconstruction of our conditioned beliefs about the self and the world. It was definitely an interesting and even challenging exposure to ideas which question and transcend our conventional thinking. For the afternoon session we had the pleasure of listening to a short reading of a paper by a professor from the University of the Philippines in Manilla. Arturo was a visitor at the Centre for several weeks and had been joining in with the Center programs while he was here. On this occasion, he opened the meeting with a paper on the essence of Krishnamurti’s teachings, including the “deconstruction” of the self and of our use of words and language. It was a helpful entry point into our group discussion and the dialogue was found very useful and enjoyable by the six people attending. We were able to sit outdoors and be inspired by the lovely property in our experience of inquiry.