Richmond IONS January 2024 Meeting (January 20) and Central Virginia IONS Community Group Meeting. It will feature a talk by Thomas Coates and a celebration of our group’s 28th Anniversary.
Where: In person and online. Through ZOOM (Meeting ID: 865 1815 1952, Passcode: 142841) and in person at River Road United Methodist Church, Contemporary Worship Center, 8800 River Road, Richmond, VA 23229.
When: On Saturday, November 18, 2023, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, with a Potluck Lunch at the conclusion of the program. Also remember our FREE BOOK EXCHANGE. Bring books you’re done with to our meeting and take home all you like.
Richmond IONS January 2024 Meeting
“The Evolution of God in Human Consciousness and Implications for Humanity.”
Ideas about God or Gods have evolved substantially during the course of the current cycle of human history, which began roughly 6,500 years ago. Traditional indigenous cultures were more organically aligned with their natural surroundings than we are today.
They were animistic in their orientation and connected with spirits everywhere, which most often were mediated by tribal shamans. We are taught to believe that animistic/shamanic belief systems and practices later evolved into polytheistic religious belief systems, as illustrated by the various pantheons of gods of cultures throughout the ancient and
“classical” world, including the cultures of India, Babylon, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome and many others.
We are also taught that starting between three and four thousand years ago, the Hebrews (later to become known as Jews) began developing the concept of monotheism, quite a novel idea at the time, and that it eventually gave birth to the two great monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam, whose combined followers today comprise more than half the world’s population. There are many misconceptions about this which we will explore.
Notwithstanding humanity’s so-called evolutionary advances with respect to notions of God, the state of our modern world makes two matters crystal clear: First, the planet-wide chaos, conflict and environmental degradation we continue to experience is directly related to our conflicted concepts of God.
Second, in order to resolve such problems going forward, our concepts of God will have to evolve further still – from ideas which foster separation (among us as humans, between us and our environment, and between us and God) to one which fosters Unity with all-that-is.
This talk will build on the talk given in May 2023 by Robert Bushman (entitled “Who Is God? A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament”), and will offer suggestions about where we may go from here to initiate this next evolutionary leap in our consciousness, in order to save both ourselves and our environment.
About Tom Coates, our Richmond IONS January 2024 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 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 and their Colombian Andes Mountains retreat. He now is looking forward to undertaking a new role as an ambassador for Earth in the Galactic Federation.
About Central VA IONS Community Group:
Central VA IONS Community Group is an unincorporated association and a local community group of The Institute of Noetic Sciences, an international association based in Petaluma, California (www.noetic.org).
We do not promote any religion, religious organization, doctrine or set of beliefs or practices and we are open to all. Central VA IONS entirely depends on voluntary donations of its members and friends to support its programs, mailings and other costs.
We appreciate a love offering at each meeting from those attending who are not dues paying members. Richmond IONS/Central VA IONS meetings take place each month at locations announced in its program notices (currently on Zoom) and are open to all. Our website is at richmondions.com.
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