Rossel might be closer than you think! Or he might be engaged to come to a place near yours. Take advantage of Rossel's schedule by knowing it in advance. As dates are scheduled, we'll post them here, along with other calendar news.

May, 2012

New course beginning May 8 --
4 Tuesdays from 1-3 pm at the Women's Institute of Houston (www.wih.org):

“Mystic Awakenings”
Reading the Testimonies

All around is a growing disillusionment with organized religion on the one hand and scientific materialism on the other hand. Neither of these fully satisfies our profound inner hunger for spiritual experience. Is the answer to our existential problem to be found in meditation, in yoga, in prayer, in acts of devotion? Must we be shamans or saints to achieve a glimpse of the divine?

In these four sessions we read and examine “awakenings”—the mystical transformations of individuals both extraordinary and ordinary. Testimonies of mystics and mystical texts (drawn from Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and other sources) demonstrate that the path to deeper meaning is not “for others.” Just as these individuals pierced the veil of the ordinary to behold timeless beauty and fill their lives with sacred light, so can you and I. While no single path is right for everyone, some path exists for each of us.

Literacy is the only prerequisite for this class. Readings will be provided. No one has to have received a divine call (we need not even believe in the divine) to join us in the quest for a more luminous and inspired reality.

September, 2012

New course beginning September 4 --
12 Tuesdays from 1-3 pm at the Women's Institute of Houston (www.wih.org):

"THE BOOK OF EXODUS"
Salvation and Revelation--Then and Now

The Book of Exodus contains the two central events of ancient Israel: the passage of the people from slavery to freedom and the forging of a nation with God as its king at Sinai. These are the Jewish messages which both Christianity and Islam considered necessary for their own future. Neither of them is without precursors in the even older literature of Egypt and Mesopotamia, but they were crafted in uniquely splendid fashion by the authors of the Hebrew Scriptures. Even today, the messages of redemption and revelation continue to inspire us and fill us with admiration.

In our study of Exodus we will discuss the world in which the text was constructed, the meaning it had for its original readers, the meanings assigned to it through the ages, and the relevance of the Book of Exodus for our time. The textbook for the course is any edition of the Bible that contains the entire Old Testament (the Hebrew Scriptures).