Theosophical symbol Madame BlavatskyDunedin Theosophical Society
PO Box 128, Dunedin. Upstart Building, 333 Princes Street, 
Jetty Street Entrance         Phone 03 471 7132
Regular Events

Meditation Group

Monday Nights 7.00pm

Healing Circle 

First Monday of the month at 6.00pm

Speaker

Wednesday Night  7.00pm

Committee Meeting

3rd Thursday of the month

(Members welcome)

Yoga

Friday Night   5.00pm

Library

Friday 1pm -5pm

Check our Calendar of Events

Follow up to Integral Theosophy workshop


In April 2010 we held a weekend workshop on  Integral Theosphy. It looked at bringing together the ideas of Theosphy and the Integral Vision being expounded through the Integral Institute. Following the workshop we had a follow up meeting. Here are some notes take of that meeting. Note that what follows is a summary of the discussions and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the committee.

It was thought thaht in many ways the Integral philosophy is not saying anything new, maybe it is really only using a more modern language. Some people at least mentioned a greater feeling of integration from the concept of the integral vision such as the four quadrants and the Integral Life Practice.

Tis led to a discussion of what Theosophy is. It is hard to define, since we are clear that Theosophy is not a dogma. Maybe we provide the platform for people to explore many different ideas. It was noted that Quest books, the Theosophicall Publishing Company published some early works of Ken WIlber and helped him get established. We wondered who we might exclude as being a member. How would we react if somebody came, professing to be a Nazi? Perhaps it is more useful to not get stuck in the detail, but acknowledge that there is something, perhaps not easily defined, that holds us together.. It was recongonised that whatever Theosophy is will change over time.

 We noted that Integral idea and theosophy both stress wholeness, evolution and values.

Community was a strong theme coming out of our weekend. We talked about how we can make sure our Wednesday night meetings support our theme of community. More informatio  about the talks might help. For example are they a formal talk, a group discussion or experiential theme.

There was a comment that we can easily learn about Theosophical philosophies and ideas. What our meetings need to be about is exploring ideas more widely.
There was a suggestion that to be a Theosophist is to:

Be Curious and be Kind

Others thought it should be Be Curious and be Friendly. We also talked about diversity and connectedness and how these seem to be opposites but actually support each other.

There was a vision presented of us forming a "lived community of spirituality". We generally agreed that we did share similar goals, but are individually diverse. We talked about how we are looking at developing a shared leadership and how that might look in practice.