Personal and Spiritual Exploration for Adults, June 2020

Learning and exploration are about the transformation of the individual, our community, and the larger society. Participation helps us grow in wisdom, compassion, and ethical living. See our upcoming activities, programs, and workshops for adults.

To contact the facilitator in regard to any offering, you may email AdultRE@UUSM.org with the title of the group in the subject line. Your email will be forwarded.

Do you have a passion or an expertise? Are you a chef or a gardener, a historian or an actor? Would you like to offer some help, support, or some frivolity to our UU community via Zoom? We’re seeking programming that is fun, informative, and engaging. Please let us know if there’s something you’d like to offer and the Adult RE Committee will help you to do it. Email the Adult RE Committee (AdultRE@UUSM.org) or Teri Lucas (uusmREassist@uusm.org) and we can work with you on presenting your ideas.

Special Offerings

Nature Journaling  Sunday, June 21 – Online Zoom

Dorothy Steinicke will lead a brief discussion of how important natural places have been to us. We will then engage in some exercises using writing and drawing to more closely observe natural items. She will address the anxiety that the majority of people feel about drawing. We will take time to work individually and then share, not necessarily what we have done – although that will be welcome, but what insights we gained from making our observations. We will start with brief times of observation and then gradually extend them. Dorothy has designed this group so that it can be done by people who do not currently have access to the outdoors. Contact: Dorothy Steinicke. We will meet on Zoom from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. A lifelong lover of the outdoors, Dorothy Steinicke has more than twenty years experience leading hikes for children and for adults and introducing people to different aspects of nature in Topanga Canyon, Ballona Wetlands, and Dockweiler Beach. She surveys beaches for the Audubon Society looking for endangered beach birds. She has been involved in programs that document amphibians in local creeks and has been involved in programs to monitor turtle populations.

Tarot Meditation Workshop 4 Tuesdays, beginning June 30 – Online Zoom

The Tarot, it is said, is a symbolic picture of the universe in its many layers, from material to the spiritual and beyond. Currently, the Tarot has as its basis the mystical Jewish Qabalah, drawing into it various Medieval and Renaissance systems such as astrology, alchemy, numerology, sacred geometry and mathematics, world mythology, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, and even Freemasonry. In modern times, it acquired Jungian psychological commentary as well. The Tarot itself is a fascinating, intricate system of interconnecting pictorial symbolism that is meant to catalyze helpful transformations within ourselves and our psyches, affecting not just behaviors, but perhaps even granting serendipitous opportunities. Jonathan Buudha Quant has been a practitioner of Tarot meditation for over 20 years and is eager to introduce you to Tarot meditation. Whether you are new to Tarot, or believe you know much, you will certainly gain fresh insights. This class will meet on Zoom from 7:00 to 8:30 pm.

Community Building Through Personal Development:

Online Coffee & Teahouse Conversation  Wednesdays – Online Zoom

Bring your tea or coffee cup and have a check in with Reverend Jeremiah and your fellow UUs. We shall examine our current lives, as well as focus on UUA monthly themes at our weekly Wednesday check-in. Scheduled for every Wednesday from 1:30 to 3:00 pm. Contact Reverend Jeremiah at minister@uusm.org for the Zoom link.

CommUUnity Connection Meetings  June 3 – Online Zoom

A time to connect with others and share experiences during this time of isolation. Margot Page and Wendi Gladstone will be conducting this meeting. Email CommUUnity@uusm.org to register for this 7:00 to 8:00 pm Wednesday Zoom meeting.

Exploration of Ideas:

AAHS Freethinker Forum  Sunday, June 28 – Online Zoom

AAHS (Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, and Secularists) is an open group that meets for a lively and engaging discussion on topics of politics, science, religion, and philosophy. We also host occasional guest speakers, films, and outings. We are a home base for non-believers and questioners, but everyone is welcome. For many, atheism/agnosticism is a first step; Humanism is the thousand steps that come after. We’ll meet from 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm via Zoom. Contact: James Witker.

Science Non-Fiction Book Discussion  Tuesday June 16 – Online Zoom

We will discuss Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, by Sonia Shah. The author, a science journalist, concentrates on the viruses and how their infectivity and pathogenicity change over time and circumstance, with particular emphasis on cholera. Politics and preparation are woven in. The book was published in 2016. To receive the Zoom link, you will want to be on the group email list. Contact: Rebecca Crawford at sci-nonfiction@uusm.org for more information. We meet from 7:30 to 9:00 pm.

UU Men’s Group  Thursdays, June 4, June 18 – Online Zoom

The Men’s Group offers a special opportunity to the men of the congregation and other like-minded men to join our welcoming group with provocative and stimulating discussion and to get to know others with UU perspectives in a more meaningful way. The topic for June 4 is: “There are in fact no masses, but only ways of seeing people as masses.” (Raymond Williams (1961), Resources of Hope: Culture, Democracy, Socialism) It seems that it is human nature to label and categorize people we do not know well personally. What is an example of people you realize that you tend to regard mainly by a group label? How is this bad for them and for you? The topic for June 18 is: Recalling an important conflict in your life, did you handle it successfully? If not, did you benefit from the experience in a similar situation later in life? For more information and Zoom link, contact Richard Mathias.

Meditations:

An Enjoyable Dive into Who and What We Are  Mondays, June 1 and June 15 – Online Zoom

Bill Blake will present an enjoyable dive into the “who and what” we are. This on-going, twice a month class on the 1st and 3rd Mondays is presented to help participants master specific meditation skills. We endeavor to answer the questions Who am I? (attitudes and beliefs) and What am I? (essence or true nature). This class will include meditations that explore participants’ spiritual goals. The monthly group meetings will also focus on insights gained throughout the month. It is expected that participants will develop and enjoy a regular meditation practice. The class meets from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Contact: Bill Blake.

Open Meditation  Mondays, June 8, June 22, June 29 – Online Zoom

We gather twice a month to sit together quietly for 20 minutes, to walk with gentle awareness for seven minutes, and to explore the integration of meditation with ordinary life through reading and sharing. Anyone who senses they would benefit from 20 minutes of silent, non-guided sitting is welcome to join us. We have found that this time of quiet meditation and shared exploration can be deeply nourishing – a time of simply “being” amidst all the “doing” of our lives. We meet from 7:30 to 9:15 pm. Contacts: Bev Shoenberger or Carol Ring.

Open Meditation: Wellsprings  Tuesdays and Thursdays – Online Zoom

These are exceptional times, Taking this time for quiet meditation and sharing in the intimacy of having sat in silence together can help sustain and ground us during these difficult days. We trust each of you will use this group in the way that fits your needs. We listen to brief readings, sit together quietly for twenty minutes, journal and share with each other what’s on our hearts. This time of quiet meditation and sharing can help sustain and ground us during these difficult days – supporting us to pause and rest in our embodied experience, as it is. We simply sit together in our shared humanity. We call off the struggle to become other than we are. These are drop-in groups. You are welcome to join us when it feels right to you. If you come in late or need to leave early, just do so quietly. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from 12:00 to 1:00 pm online. Contact: Bev Shoenberger.