Labyrinth Workshop - Tuesday, November 10 at 7 pm.

A Labyrinth Workshop will take place in the Parish House of Old Ship Church, First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, 107 Main Street in Hingham, on Tuesday, November 10 at 7 pm. Arrival and welcome from 6:45pm.

Labyrinth walking has been practiced in a great variety of cultures and religions for many thousands of years. This form of meditative walk, is known to clear the mind and to bring up personal insights.

In this 2 hours workshop you will discover :

• prehistorical labyrinths and their metaphorical meanings
• fascinating symbols of medieval Christian floor labyrinths, such as ours
• different strategies to walk any labyrinth
• guidance to prepare yourself for a deeply meaningful meditative walk.

We will start with an illustrated lecture presentation, proceed to the labyrinth floor for your silent candle lit walking meditation, then silent writing about your experience, followed by voluntary circle sharing and exploring how to possibly integrate your new found insight into your life.


Liliane Verdier has been presenting this well received workshop to the public and special interest groups, such as a Bible Study Class and a Men’s Spiritual Quest Groups since 2000. 20% of the $15 admission fee will go to support Old Ship.

No pre-registration. Please put the date on your calendar and post. Thank you.

For more information contact Liliane at 781-749-9581 or Lilianevhing@aol.com

Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Oct 26, 2009

This week, take some time to consider what your life purpose is. Not the ultimate, join-with-God, but the specific: what are you focusing on now. Look at those tendencies, aversions, and desires that have been with you since you were very young. What do they imply about what you are doing here this time?

thinking...

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

-William James

10 Rules for Being Human

By Cherie Carter-Scott (website)

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.


2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life."


3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."


4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.


5. Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.


6. "There" is no better a place than "here." When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."


7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.


8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.


9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.


10. You will forget all this.

As Edgar Cayce put it, “You grow to heaven, you don't go to heaven.” More at EdgarCayce.org.

Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Oct 19, 2009

This week, keep an eye out for a glimpse of ego. At some point, you will find yourself complaining, or justifying your actions, or worrying about some outcome, or being ashamed, or proud, or...


When you do, stop. Just step back gently in your mind, and have a look, without judgement:

What is going on? What is the mechanism? Are you arguing with someone in particular? Are you being judged by someone in particular? Are you trying to fit yourself into some particular shape?


Is the intended result that 'you feel good'? - or that you avoid 'feeling bad'?
What, exactly, is the feeling that you are trying to achieve or avoid?


Just look and see. Write it down, Patty. Like taking apart a pocket watch... How does it work?

It is To Dream

Day’s echoes fade,
But still I lie, unable
To drift away.

When finally I awaken near dawn,
With images fresh
From another world,
I resent it;

Why does it pull me so?
Is that other world better than this?

This strange World of Day, so little changing,
Hard as rock in it’s demands
and expectations.

Again I’m asked,
To wash clothes,
Pay bills,
Make money,

And follow rules,
Not of my own making.

Or are they?

In night-time’s world I sometimes know,
That it is I who builds it:
The curtain parts.

Day-time’s world has thicker curtains,
Yet –
At times it is given me to see:

I ask to serve, and
There you are,
Needful of a lift.

And a few loose phrases,
That I heard this morning,
Bouncing in my head:
Now come unbidden
From my own mouth.

Witness I am,
Or so I’d thought.
As first I struggled to know;

But now I wonder if,
The Reason I am drawn
To this World of Day,
Is any different from the Night’s:

-- It is To Dream
That I Am Compelled.


--------------------------

Alan Montgomery
September, 2006

Photos from Saturday's reincarnation conference in Lexington, MA

We had a great time this past Saturday! About 120 people attended the talk by Dr. Charles Thomas Cayce entitled “Is Reincarnation Unnecessary?”

The short answer, for each and every one of us, was a resounding “Yes.&rdquo Each of us has the opportunity to complete the work we came to do by the choices we make. Dr. Cayce provided seven key elements shared by the 18 people his grandfather Edgar Cayce told that this could be their last lifetime on the Earth, if they so chose. As with all the information Cayce provided, the keys are straightforward enough — forgiveness, kindness, gentleness, joyfulness, meditation and the like. But the will to do so is up to the individual.

To learn about other spiritual events we offer, check out our greater Boston A.R.E. website calendar at www.are-northeast.org/boston/cayce-calendar.html. Events are open to all. Hope to see you there next time!

A method is only a means

Remember: A method is only a means, not the meditation itself. It is through practicing the method skillfully that you reach the perfection of that pure state of total presence, which is the real meditation.

There is a revealing Tibetan saying: “Gompa ma yin, kompa yin,” which means literally: “ Meditation is not; getting used to is.”

It means that meditation is nothing other than getting used to the practice of meditation. As it is said: “Meditation is not striving, but naturally becoming assimilated into it.” As you continue to practice the method, then meditation slowly arises. Meditation is not something that you can “do”; it is something that has to happen spontaneously, only when you have perfected the practice.

Join us on Facebook

We’re on Facebook! Be a part of the Greater Boston A.R.E. community, no matter where you are. You can friend us (or become a fan, I forget which) in two ways: by a link or by keyword search. For the direct link, go here: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126683747575&ref=ts (if you haven’t already, you’ll need to sign up for a Facebook account). To find us by keyword search, from within Facebook search for Edgar Cayce A.R.E. Greater Boston.

P.S. Our official web site is at www.are-northeast.org/boston, where you can find all local events, study group information, and more.

November Retreat: Surfing the Waves of Change

Wisdom House (map)
229 East Litchfield Rd.
Litchfield, CT 06759
Friday, Nov. 6 – Sunday, Nov. 8
$100, including meals and lodging

The practical, profound teachings of Judith Pennington, integrating science and spirituality, have awakened thousands of people to an inner certainty of higher awareness. An internationally published journalist, author, speaker, singer, and coast-to-coast teacher of meditation and consciousness expansion, she is known for her warmth, sensitivity, inclusiveness, and clear communication. Ms. Pennington is a popular A.R.E. speaker from Virginia Beach. You may have heard her speak and play guitar at a previous all-day A.R.E. conference in Lexington, MA.

Please sign up early! This will help us with planning.

(Registration prices: ONLY $100 for weekend, including delicious meals (was $170); $50 for Saturday-only, with lunch (was $70); Saturday dinner $16. Event takes place at Wisdom House in Connecticut. Register by contacting Win Howie at cayce-northeast [at] comcast.net or 1-781-878-3828. Leave a message and your phone number and your call will be returned. Mail check made out to “A.R.E. of CT, Inc.” to A.R.E.-Northeast Region, 9 Bramble Circle, Rockland, MA 02370.)

Local Boston-area events calendar at www.are-northeast.org/boston/cayce-calendar.html.

Group meeting update: our next book

Well, we recently finished our “Search for God, Book II,” and “Experiments in a Search for God,” and then enjoyed the first half of a DVD called “Reincarnation” by John van Auken, a popular A.R.E. speaker. We’ll watch the last half on Monday (10/12). Then it’s time to begin our new book, which was unanimously, and quickly, selected by attendees at our recent meeting (miracle of miracles! Hee hee!). So... on Monday, October 19... 2009... we will be starting... our new book... (this part is called suspense building)... something different but very much in the be-here-now zone... a book... called... (drum roll)... “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle!

New and used copies can be bought on Amazon (or elsewhere). Here’s a link: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61)
You don’t need a book to attend meetings. See the column at right, under “About Us,” for meeting location.

Hope to see you soon! And remember: just Breathe.