Join us for our next Movie Watcher’s Group on Sunday, June 24 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT.  The film explores deep concepts of time, the universe, mortality, memory, and humanity. Mr. Nobody is a tale about choice. Nemo, a nine year old boy, has been thrust into a position where he must make an impossible decision – to choose between his mother and father. In the seconds preceding the rest of his life he wonders where each choice will take him. The dilemma that causes the film’s main problem (not knowing the future) once solved makes it all the more difficult – “I don’t know the future, therefore I cannot make a decision. Now that I know the future I still cannot make one”. The movie takes a four-dimensionalists view of the nature and existence of life in the universe. Each decision thus branching off creating an entirely separate alternative universe. The film also makes good use of chaos theory, string theory and the butterfly effect to accentuate the lack of control we as individuals possess. The film portrays a life where we are all subject to chance, to the dimensions by which we construct our reality (height, length, width and time), and to the imagination of our former selves. Please note, one critic describes this movie as one “that constantly engages the mind and rewards repeated viewings.”

You can find the movie playsheet, which provides helpful questions designed to facilitate a spirit centered movie watching experience, at this link:  Mr. Nobody Playsheet.

Remember to ask for Guidance prior to watching the movie and bring your insights to the Movie Watcher’s Discussion Group.

The movie is available to rent on Itunes, Amazon, Netflix and Vudu. 

Join us for our next Movie Watcher’s Group on Sunday, May 27 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT.  This inspiring true story of a rugged South African farmer, Angus Buchan, is set in the turbulent hills of the KZN Midlands. Angus’ manic quest for material success is slowly transformed into a wild love for God and people, as he wrestles with faith, hope, natural disasters and tragic personal loss.

You can find the movie playsheet, which provides helpful questions designed to facilitate a spirit centered movie watching experience, at this link:  Faith Like Potatoes Playsheet.

Remember to ask for Guidance prior to watching the movie andbring your insights to the Movie Watcher’s Discussion Group.

The movie is available to rent on Amazon, YouTube and Vudu. 

“It’s best to call Sufism a way of experiencing reality as love itself.” ~ Neil Douglas-Klotz

“Islam and Sufism are one. Teaching that to understand Islam one must be a lover, how can one understand Islam when the heart is empty of love?” ~ Zarina Bibi

“Sufism is about connecting with the intuitive parts of ourselves so that we can attune to the highest vibration in the universe, which is pure love. It’s about joining together in the mystical heart.” ~ Charlotte Karl

“Sufism is experience, and hence not to be defined …” ~ Idries Shah

What is this mystical Islamic religion, which has produced great seers such as Rumi and Hafiz? What do Sufis believe about God? What does it mean to totally empty yourself? Join us for “Introduction to Sufi Thought” and discover the heart of the Sufi by experiencing it directly, within yourself.

The primary objectives of this class are:

1.   The participant will become familiar with the mystical path of Islam known as Sufism.

2.   The participant will practice inner devotion and observe its effects.

Specific Information:
This class is 5 weeks long.
This class is offered on:
Thursday, June 7 – July 5, 2018
From 7:30-9:30pm Eastern Time, 4:30-6:30pm Pacific.
Homework begins June 1.
Facilitator: Rev. Carrie Christiansen
Cost is $100.
Textbook needed is The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish, by Neil Douglas-Klotz.

Class is offered in PalTalk. Familiarity with PalTalk is helpful.
Registration closes on May 29, 2018.

For more information on this class, click here.

Click to register

Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert interviews Joan Tollifson in a pre-recorded Satsang.

Joan Tollifson has roots in Buddhism and Advaita, but she belongs to no formal tradition. She is interested in seeing through the imaginary problems that we think are binding us and waking up to the aliveness of this moment, exactly as it is. Joan’s bare-bones approach is open, direct, immediate and down-to-earth. She invites a meditative exploration that is non-methodical and awareness-based, encouraging people to look and listen for themselves and to question all second-hand ideas and beliefs.

Joan is the author of 4 books: Nothing to Grasp; Painting the Sidewalk with Water: Talks and Dialogs about Nonduality;Awake in the Heartland: The Ecstasy of What Is; and Bare-Bones Meditation: Waking Up from the Story of My Life. 

Joan offers private sessions and other meetings. For more information, visit her website at JoanTollifson.com. 

Join us for our next Movie Watcher’s Group this Sunday, March 25 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT.   This month’s movie,”The Matrix”, is a metaphysical masterpiece of the transcendence of belief. Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives. By day he is an average computer programmer and by night a computer hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality, but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary computer hacker branded a terrorist by the government. Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines that live off of the humans’ body heat and electrochemical energy and who imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must return to the Matrix and confront the agents: super-powerful computer programs devoted to snuffing out Neo and the entire human rebellion.  Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss

You can find the movie playsheet, which provides helpful questions designed to facilitate a spirit centered movie watching experience, at this link:  The Matrix Playsheet.

Remember to ask for Guidance prior to watching the movie and bring your insights to the Movie Watcher’s Discussion Group.

The movie is available to rent on ITunes, Amazon, YouTube and Vudu. 

Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert will interview Floyd Henderson.

The Realisation of SELF means the shattering of the shell of separation so that the non-dual nature of Reality is directly known. How can this be different from person to person? Only in the ABSENCE of the person is this nature revealed. In this way, Floyd Henderson invites us to strip away all that is personal, all that is dualistic, all that separates us from this understanding of Oneness from our True Selves.

The summative statement I AM THAT; I AM describes that understanding of SELF in absolute terms as well as its expression in the relative. Floyd Henderson is THAT just like all human beings; however, Floyd is fixed unshakably in this understanding, so all functioning, relatively speaking, flows directly from this SELF-Knowledge.

In this way, the biographical details (such as, born in Louisiana; moved to Texas; worked as a teacher and business owner over several decades before taking early retirement to write; father of a daughter named Ashley; current resident in the community of Walden on Lake Conroe in Texas; years of seeking followed by twenty-five months in the forest dweller stage and experiencing a vision that resulted in the dramatic peripetia or flash of Realization; functioning as a Direct Path, Nisargan teacher; and author of over forty Advaita books) are the attributes or flavourings which coloured the pure consciousness in the particular shape and form at the relative level.

Yet, these attributes are false ingredients. They cannot provide a true answer to the question Who is Floyd Henderson? because he recognizes no who-ness at all … believes in no who that is living here at all. (From the forward by Louise Sterling for the book, The Advanced Seekers Series, Vol 1).

Floyd shares this additional information about his life:

during my early years I lived eight months out of the year with my parents in a dangerous part of a city on a street with two gang leaders and where I witnessed a stabbing on that same street before I was eight years old. The other four months of the year, I lived with my Cherokee / Medicine Woman Grandmother in her cabin in the piney woods of East Texas. Thus it was that by the ages of 5 and 6, I did not know either the term “duality” or the term “non-duality” but I had already witnessed both at play. In the part of the city where my parents lived – called “the slum” –  the misery and suffering generated by duality-based thinking and talking  and behaving was observed. By contrast, I had witnessed the type of existence which Grandmother enjoyed – and which she and I shared – because it unfolded in a non-dual style which allowed her to model peace and Love and contentment and independence and freedom from concepts.

Floyd’s books, including The Advanced Seekers Series for those seeking Realization via the Advaita teachings, can be found on his website: FloydHenderson.com

In the USA, Daylight Savings Time begins at 2am on Sunday, March 11. If you are in the USA, move your clock forward (from 2am to 3am.)

If you are in Arizona or a country that is not changing clocks this weekend, check the World Clock on Sunday morning to determine the new time conversion from your time zone to Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

See you in the Sanctuary at 9:30am ET on Sunday morning for meditation with Rev. Karen Worth, followed by the Weekly Gathering at 10:15am with Rev. Rubye Nasser.

Join us for our next Movie Watcher’s Group on Sunday, March 25 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT.   This month’s movie,”The Matrix”, is a metaphysical masterpiece of the transcendence of belief. Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives. By day he is an average computer programmer and by night a computer hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality, but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary computer hacker branded a terrorist by the government. Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines that live off of the humans’ body heat and electrochemical energy and who imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must return to the Matrix and confront the agents: super-powerful computer programs devoted to snuffing out Neo and the entire human rebellion.  Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss

You can find the movie playsheet, which provides helpful questions designed to facilitate a spirit centered movie watching experience, at this link:  The Matrix Playsheet.

Remember to ask for Guidance prior to watching the movie and bring your insights to the Movie Watcher’s Discussion Group.

The movie is available to rent on ITunes, Amazon, YouTube and Vudu. 

Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert will interview Floyd Henderson.

The Realisation of SELF means the shattering of the shell of separation so that the non-dual nature of Reality is directly known. How can this be different from person to person? Only in the ABSENCE of the person is this nature revealed. In this way, Floyd Henderson invites us to strip away all that is personal, all that is dualistic, all that separates us from this understanding of Oneness from our True Selves.

The summative statement I AM THAT; I AM describes that understanding of SELF in absolute terms as well as its expression in the relative. Floyd Henderson is THAT just like all human beings; however, Floyd is fixed unshakably in this understanding, so all functioning, relatively speaking, flows directly from this SELF-Knowledge.

In this way, the biographical details (such as, born in Louisiana; moved to Texas; worked as a teacher and business owner over several decades before taking early retirement to write; father of a daughter named Ashley; current resident in the community of Walden on Lake Conroe in Texas; years of seeking followed by twenty-five months in the forest dweller stage and experiencing a vision that resulted in the dramatic peripetia or flash of Realization; functioning as a Direct Path, Nisargan teacher; and author of over forty Advaita books) are the attributes or flavourings which coloured the pure consciousness in the particular shape and form at the relative level.

Yet, these attributes are false ingredients. They cannot provide a true answer to the question Who is Floyd Henderson? because he recognizes no who-ness at all … believes in no who that is living here at all. (From the forward by Louise Sterling for the book, The Advanced Seekers Series, Vol 1).

Floyd shares this additional information about his life:

during my early years I lived eight months out of the year with my parents in a dangerous part of a city on a street with two gang leaders and where I witnessed a stabbing on that same street before I was eight years old. The other four months of the year, I lived with my Cherokee / Medicine Woman Grandmother in her cabin in the piney woods of East Texas. Thus it was that by the ages of 5 and 6, I did not know either the term “duality” or the term “non-duality” but I had already witnessed both at play. In the part of the city where my parents lived – called “the slum” –  the misery and suffering generated by duality-based thinking and talking  and behaving was observed. By contrast, I had witnessed the type of existence which Grandmother enjoyed – and which she and I shared – because it unfolded in a non-dual style which allowed her to model peace and Love and contentment and independence and freedom from concepts.

Floyd’s books, including The Advanced Seekers Series for those seeking Realization via the Advaita teachings, can be found on his website: FloydHenderson.com