Forums and Three-Day Intensive
The Sophia Center regularly invites from the community: artists, activists, ritual makers, theologians, ecologists and other contemporary spiritual leaders to share their wisdom and bring fresh perspective to the students and faculty.
Sophia Room (look for sign at Chapel level)
3500 Mountain Boulevard, Oakland, CA
510-436-1046 or 800-794-8813
FORUM ADMISSION: $10 AT THE DOOR
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FALL SEMESTER- 2009
THURSDAY AFTERNOON FORUMS
Thursday, September 24
1:30-4:00 PM
John Bowman
“The Media and Mindfulness: The Dulling of our Consciousness”
This is a forum about how modern media affect our mindfulness and how our consciousness is clouded, crowded and eventually deadened by television, the Internet and other media. We will explore ways a person who is seeking higher consciousness can survive in a cultue that spews out such an overwhelming amount of stimulation. The media promote violence, consumerism and disconnection. Together, we will discuss steps we can take to heighten our consciousness even in the midst of the commotion swirling all around us.
JOHN BOWMAN a 2007 graduate of HNU’s Sophia Center with a MA in Culture and Spirituality, is a former longtime journalist. He and his wife, Valerie, also a Sophia graduate, are writers and editors, now living in Roseville, CA.
Thursday, October 1
1:30-4:00 PM
Michael Wombacher
“An Introduction to Evolutionary Enlightenment”
What is the relationship between timelessness and time? Between enlightenment and culture? What is a new overarching spiritual paradigm that can meet us at that place where our spiritual longing intersects with our care for the world, empowering both to heights neither could attain alone? Join author Mike Wombacher in an exploration of these and other questions in a focused afternoon session on …… through a combination of audios, videos and brief readings from his book, 11 Days at the Edge, Mike will help introduce the basic principles of Evolutionary Enlightenment in what is sure to be a passionate inquiry into the nature of Meaning and Purpose in our time.
MICHAEL WOMBACHER has known Andrew Cohen since 1994 and formally became a student of his in 2002. Since then he has become deeply involved not only in the practice of Evolutionary Enlightenment, but in its dissemination, hoping to help create the seeds of a new culture based on enlightened values. In his 2008 book, 11 Days at the Edge: One Man’s Spiritual Journey into Evolutionary Enlightenment, he chronicles his experience with Andrew Cohen, his soul-level reckoning with the deepest existential questions and his reflections on the post-modern spiritual scene. Barbara Marx-Hubbard called his book “epic in scope and purpose,” and Christian evolutionary thinker Jim Marion referred to is as “spirituality and the cutting edge of human evolution.” Mike lives and works in Berkeley, CA.
Thursday, October 29
1:30 – 4:00 PM
Arthur Poulin
“Reflections on Contemplation, Creativity, and Beauty”
Arthur will take you on a contemplative journey behind the scenes of a painting and into the creative process to see how God is discovered and revealed there in the quest for beauty. Hopefully this will also serve to affirm how the gifts of contemplation, creativity, and beauty are universally within and among all of us.
ARTHUR POULIN is a Camaldolese monk and artist living at Incarnation Monastery, Berkeley, California. In his paintings, he tries to reflect the stunning and transforming beauty that is mirrored everywhere in creation. Arthur is presently preparing for an exhibit in September 2011 at the I. Wolk Gallery in St. Helena, Napa Valley, CA.