Richmond IONS December Meeting 2019 (December 14) and Central Virginia IONS Community Group Meeting. It will feature a talk by Tom Coates and music by Dan O’Neal.
Where: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, New Parish Hall, 12291 River Road, Richmond, VA 23238
When: Saturday, December 14, 2019, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by a potluck lunch at the conclusion of the program.
Richmond IONS December Meeting Program
“Another Day at the Amusement Park.”
Our December 14, 2019 program will feature a talk by Tom Coates, our group’s only still-active original member. He is one of our most popular guest speakers. Dan O’Neal will provide live music. This is a continuation of Tom’s Self-discovery series aimed at exploring the multidimensional facets of human identity and every human’s search for his or her authentic Self.
The Dalai Lama has often identified Mao Tse Tung (nka Mao Zedong) as his “greatest spiritual teacher.” This is despite or perhaps due to the fact that the Communist Chinese, at Chairman Mao’s direction, invaded and annexed his native Tibet in 1950. They eventually forced the Dalai Lama to flee to India in 1959 and spend the rest of his life as a refugee in exile.
In this year’s installment of his search for Self series, Tom will examine a variety of social, cultural, political, religious, spiritual and other currents and themes, in an effort to determine how they may influence and shape our ideas, our beliefs, our behaviors, our experiences, our lives, our world and our reality.
Tom also will explore how the personal/individual and sociocultural/collective metaphors we choose to describe, define, conceptualize and contextualize our lives will either have the effect of expanding and enhancing our experience, our lives and ultimately our spiritual growth and evolution, or have the opposite effect – of contracting and limiting our experience and our lives; and stories – some farfetched, some miraculous, some disturbing – illustrating these points will be shared.
An open-mic discussion
Tom will conclude the program with an open-mic discussion of our group, its meaning and significance to its members, the larger community and the world at large, We’ll explore some of the challenges and opportunities we face as a group.
The meeting will also include an experiential meditation exercise. It will create a space within which each of us can personally access and experience new and deeper layers of meaning about who we are and the purposes of our lives at levels which surpass and transcend our rational, intellectual understanding.
This promises to be another blockbuster program. It will be a fitting way to conclude our group’s twenty-fourth year and usher in its twenty-fifth. As always, Tom promises some secrets known only to a few will be revealed. Another not-to-be-missed program for all who can attend! See you there!
About Tom Coates, Our Richmond IONS December Meeting Presenter:
Tom Coates is a Richmond-based lawyer who has represented numerous spiritually oriented and public interest groups throughout his career. He was a co-founder of Richmond’s Ekoji Buddhist Sangha in 1985. And he has been a member and contributor of the Richmond IONS chapter since its formation in early 1996.
In his spare time he enjoys reading, creative writing, painting, woodworking, alpine skiing, biking, backpacking, sailing, time travel, metaphysics, and relaxing with his family at their ancient Outer Banks beach cottage or their Appalachian Mountains retreat. He still reports that his most significant unfulfilled ambition of this lifetime is to make
love to an extraterrestrial female, preferably of Pleiadean or Sirian origin.
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