Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom)

Rosary of the Pious

Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom): New Speakers Series at the Abode of the Message

This fall Seven Pillars launches a new speakers series, Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom), at the Abode of the Message in New Lebanon, New York.

Two initial talks are set for Sundays, November 1 and December 13, from 4-6 p.m. each day. Please read below for details and to learn how to join us.

THE WRITING CRAFT AND CONSCIOUS EVOLUTION

Sunday, November 1, 2009, 4-6 p.m.

With Richard Grossinger and Lindy Hough

Recommended Donation $5-$10. Abode Library.

Wife and husband team Lindy Hough and Richard Grossinger will share their writing and discuss writing as a craft, as well as discuss current themes related to consciousness and evolution. The first half of the afternoon will focus on the art of writing and its relation to spiritual practice and individuation; the differences between poem, story, and novel; why irony is so dominant in modern fiction today; and what it means to tell a story. The second hour will address the significance of 2012; human consciousness and how it is developing now; psychic experience and esoterica; and how these themes relate to their publishing business, North Atlantic Books.

Lindy Hough is a poet, essayist and fiction-writer who was the co-founder of Io Magazine, a literary journal prominent in the seventies and eighties, and North Atlantic Books, a 30-year old independent publishing company in Berkeley, California. She has published four books of poetry: Changing Woman, The Sun In Cancer, Outlands and Inlands, and Psyche, a long narrative poem, as well as an anthology of writings critiquing nuclear war and weapons. Her poems and dance criticism have been published in numerous journals over the years. Lindy is a Guiding Voice with Seven Pillars. www.lindyhough.com

Richard Grossinger graduated from Amherst College and has a PhD in anthropology from the University of Michigan. He is the co-founder and publisher of North Atlantic Books. Books he has authored include: Planet Medicine; The Night Sky; Embryogenesis: Species, Gender, and Identity; Embryos, Galaxies, and Sentient Beings: How the Universe Makes Life; On the Integration of Nature; and The Bardo of Waking Life. He has studied t’ai chi ch’uan with Paul Pitchford, Martin Inn, and Peter Ralston and craniosacral therapy with Randy Cherner and John Upledger. He and Lindy Hough live alternately in Berkeley, California, and Manset, Maine; they have two children: Robin Grossinger, an environmental biologist with the San Francisco Estuary Institute, and Miranda July, a writer, film-maker, and performance artist. Richard is a Guiding Voice with Seven Pillars. www.northatlanticbooks.com.

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THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSIONS OF WAR, WOUNDING AND HEALING

Sunday, December 13, 2009, 4-6 p.m.

With Edward Tick, Ph.D.

$15, $10/Abodians and Young Adults; Scholarships Available

Abode of the Message Meditation Hall

For as long as societies have had warriors, they have experienced the wounding to mind, body, heart and soul that we now call Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  PTSD is a new name for an ancient condition, made overwhelmingly more pervasive and destructive by the conditions of modern technological warfare. Together we will understand how modern war wounds the soul and war’s moral and spiritual dimensions.  We will explore how the four areas of Seven Pillars – cosmology, mysticism, chivalry and revelation -- unfold during combat and can be awakened and mobilized for war healing for individuals and entire nations. Spirituality has been used throughout time to tend the pain of warriors.  We will explore the essential conditions necessary for the spiritual healing of troops and veterans and how best to serve their spiritual distress both in the combat zone and upon return.

Dr. Tick is a leading expert on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and nationally recognized authority on the psychological, spiritual, historical and cultural aspects of war and the healing of PTSD.  He specializes in the transformational work with war veterans, survivors of severe trauma, and all who need psycho-spiritual healing. He's award winning book WAR AND THE SOUL prompted his founding of Soldier's Heart, a national not for profit, whose mission is to address the spiritual and emotional needs of veterans, their families and communities. He and his partner, Kate Dahlstedt, also lead healing journeys to Viet Nam and Greece.

Please RSVP for either of these programs by emailing wisdom@sevenpillarshouse.org or calling 518-794-8777.