Swanwick Star Issue No. 4 (2011)

Remembrance Day Gathering

Once again, this meeting was held at the Vancouver Public Library and lovingly catered and hosted. Twenty-one people attended in all. Many of them seemed to be new to K and had heard of it through our new meetup group.

K provided another “koan” in this lecture as he talked about the silence in meditation…

Afterwards, one participant talked about the importance of preparing a sacred space for meditation in order to allow this silence in… another mentioned the harmony of Nature in helping one to escape the bonds of consciousness.

Some of the new participants were quite taken with K’s emphasis on doubting things one is told to believe and felt that this truth resonated deeply with them. One lady in particular felt that she had done just this with Roman Catholicism. So, I told them that as a cancer biologist I also saw the beauty in this since science is all about doubting, questioning, and re-examining everything we already think we know.

It is interesting that newcomers seem to want a little structure and direction to the dialogue-exploration session following the DVD. They look to a central person, or, facilitator to fulfill this function and seem to appreciate some kind of understanding and encouragement in their quest. However, those already acquainted with K do not always like things focussing around one person and seem to prefer more of a free flowing discussion. Besides trying new formats for these gatherings, K blogging, and the meetup group on the internet, it might be an idea for those really passionate about the subject to start up a dialogue group. The Vancouver Public Library meetings really only provide an introduction to K and a taste of dialogue for people discovering his teachings for the first time. That is all the time permits! Hopefully, participants leave feeling that it was time well-spent, or, even energized by the experience.