Kurt Leland, “Parsifal: A Theosophical View”
Saturday, July 20, 7:30–8:45 p.m.
Richard Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal (1882) was based on the legend of the Holy Grail and a brotherhood of Initiates acting as its caretaker. A frequent lecture topic for Theosophists in the early 20th century, Parsifal, with its themes of Buddhist reincarnation and Christian redemption, was seen as a parable of the Theosophical path of initiation. This program recreates such a lecture using antique magic lantern slides from the collection of the Theosophical in America archives, accompanied by a four-hand piano arrangement of the score that condenses five and a half hours of music into seventy-five minutes.
Kurt Leland, Lecture and Q&A
Sunday, July 21, 10:30–11:45 a.m.
“Elevating Consciousness by ‘Going Beyond’”
An ancient mantra from the Heart Sutra advises us that the ultimate wisdom is to keep “going beyond.” Every step on our long journey back to Oneness with Source is a “going beyond.” Some of us go by the path of Lawful Power, others by Loving Wisdom, and still others by Creative Action. Each of these paths can illuminate the way to a better world, teaching us the “right best steps” needed to go beyond our limitations in self-understanding and in service to others. What is Theosophy but the art and science of “Going Beyond”?
Kurt Leland Workshop
Monday, July 22, 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
“Daily Practices for ‘Going Beyond’”
In this workshop, we will learn a basic, an intermediate, and an advanced practice for identifying our limitations and finding steps to go beyond them. The basic practice is one we can do every day: “Show up. Be fully present. Be kind to yourself and others. Find a step to take in mutual joy and understanding.” The intermediate practice involves bettering the world by applying the basic practice to each level of Annie Besant’s “Ladder of Lives,” which embraces minerals, plants, animals, and people—as well as nonphysical beings, such as the human dead, nature spirits, devas, and angels. The advanced practice involves meditating on a set of six questions that can help us understand and elevate our consciousness toward what Annie Besant calls “The Mind of the Master,” thereby embracing and embodying the ideal of compassionate service to all beings.
Author and composer Kurt Leland is a national and international lecturer for the Theosophical Society. He is the author of books on out-of-body, near-death, and transcendental experiences arising from composing, performing, and listening to music. He has also published Invisible Worlds: Annie Besant on Psychic and Spiritual Development and an annotated version of Charles Leadbeater’s The Chakras, as well as Rainbow Body: A History of the Western Chakra System from Blavatsky to Brennan and The Multidimensional Human: Practices for Psychic Development and Astral Projection.