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Thursday Evening Programs

The Power of Awareness

May 23, 7 p.m. Live Webcast

PabloSender_FMost human beings deal with the challenges of daily living by means of physical actions, emotional responses, and intellectual endeavors. Although these may be appropriate coping skills on a practical level, they rarely address the root cause of the difficulties we encounter, and we tend to repeat mistakes or create new problems in solving the old ones. Fortunately, we all possess a higher faculty—one that can bring about a fundamental change in ourselves and in society. This faculty, variously called awareness, mindfulness, or witnessing, becomes an active power when we discover how to tap into it. 

Pablo Sender, Ph.D., became a member of the Theosophical Society in his native Argentina and has presented Theosophical lectures, seminars, and classes in India, Spain, England, and the three Americas. His articles, in Spanish and English, have been published in several Theosophical journals.

10 for guests   $5 for members  

Join Pablo for the Living Theosophy Series.

The Dynamic Core of Buddhist Meditation

May 30, 7 p.m. Live Webcast

Santikarro_FThe meditation teachings of early Buddhism emphasize a dynamic interaction of tranquility and seeing clearly. Along with mindfulness, we cultivate an awareness that is clean, clear, undistracted, steady, bright, malleable, and agile. Too much of one factor can mean too little of another. We will consider the harmonious integration of these key factors. 

Santikaro is the founder of Liberation Park, a modern expression of Buddhist practice, study, and social responsibility, located in rural southwestern Wisconsin. There he teaches Buddhism and meditation with an emphasis on the early Pali sources. Seminal life experiences include nineteen years as a Theravada Buddhist monk, nine years studying in Thailand with renowned master Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, and, more recently, an aggressive lymphoma and successful chemotherapy.

10 for guests   $5 for members   

Join Santikaro for Entryways into Mindfulness with Breathing, a day of meditation on Saturday, June 1. See Workshops and Retreats!

Emerging Mythologies for the Aquarian Age

June 6, 7 p.m. Live Webcast

Ray-GrasseWe live in a changing time when the mythologies that have guided us for millennia appear to be losing their grip or morphing into extremism. As a result, many are now searching for new stories that can help us better understand our world or provide guidance. In fact, there are already intriguing signs of a new set of mythologies emerging into global consciousness, which are dramatically different from those of our past. Explore some of those possibilities and discover how their precursors may already be showing themselves in cinema, literature, science, and even television. 

Ray Grasse is a Chicago based astrologer, musician, and writer. On the editorial staffs of Quest Books and Quest magazine for ten years, he is currently associate editor of The Mountain Astrologer magazine. Author of The Waking Dream (Quest Books, 1996) and Signs of the Times: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events (Hampton Roads, 2002), Ray has lectured internationally on the topics of astrology, synchronicity, meditation, and hypnosis. He has written often on mythology and studied during the early 1980s with mythologist Joseph Campbell. Contact Ray at jupiter.enteract@rcn.com or through his website: http://www.raygrasse.com/.

10 for guests   $5 for members  

Learn about the Secrets of the Esoteric Tradition with Ray. See Classes and Groups!

 

Gong Sound Meditation

June 13, 7 p.m. 

MarianKraus_FThe goal in all healing, meditative, and spiritual pursuits is to raise an individual’s vibratory frequency which will only change through the principle of vibration. As a student and practitioner of metaphysics for over thirty years, Marian presents sound excursions by incorporating dynamic rhythms and harmonic compositions. Performing on three large gongs, he generates a broad and fascinating spectrum of vibratory frequencies, which have the power to transform one’s nature of being. While taking listeners into otherworldly realms, his gong sound meditations provide spaces for healing. 

Marian Kraus, born in Europe, has a love and fascination with nature and the inherent order of the Universe, which consistently fuels his growing desire to express beauty and harmony through light and sound. After two decades in the corporate world, he began his new career as a professional architectural and fine art photographer in the Chicago area in 1999. A long-time hand drummer, he expanded his creative repertoire by expressing images through the sound of gongs. To find out more please visit www.GongSoundHealing.com

$20 per person (pre-registered)   $25 at the door

Space is limited! Please register in advance to assure a place. Call 630-668-1571, ext. 315. Please bring a blanket or mat to lie on.

 

Steps to Transcendence

June 20, 7 p.mLive Webcast

Tim_Boyd_FFor many of us, a great deal of our personal energy goes into maintaining our network of relationships and responsibilities. Just making it through the day without anger, conflict, irritation, or sadness can often feel like a major accomplishment. In our quiet moments, we become aware of the deeper potentials—a greater life for us to live. Transcendence is one of our deepest resources, not only the experience of saints and sages. What is the nature of this hidden life, and what do the wisdom teachings of the ages have to say about how we might realize it? 

Tim Boyd, president of the Theosophical Society in America (TSA), is a founding member of a spiritual community that was active in Chicago’s inner city for more than 25 years. His involvement with the Theosophical Order of Service and the Chushul orphanage in Tibet led to an audience with the Dalai Lama. This meeting resulted in the TSA sponsoring His Holiness' visit to Chicago in July of 2011 for a two-day event which was attended by ten thousand people.

10 for guests   $5 for members