The course called ‘Discovering Unity’ is for exploring a perspective that proposes the whole of life as a Unity of Being, from both a practical and theoretical inquiry. Most of us sometime experience life as vitally interconnected. The point of view highlighted by the proposal of a Unity of Being, suggests that life is a factual Unity, because there is only Oneness. What we call interconnectedness is then actually an intimate relationship of Oneness to Itself. This raises the question, that if there is only One, then who are we? If as so often described, this flow of Oneness is the abundance of love magnifying it’s own source, it must then be at the heart of our desire to explore ourselves as being human.
The course is held over seven weeks, comprising seven evening sessions and one half-day devoted to exploring meditation. It is a seven week course, rather than a seven night course. So encouragement is given to furthering the inquiry in the intervening periods. The numbers are kept to a maximum of eight plus two correlators. The course does not ask anyone to join anything or take on beliefs which are foreign to them. It is for adding depth and perspective to our experience of ourselves and the world. The texture of the course is more of the nature of undoing and revealing, so that what emerges is according to the internal predilections of the people involved, rather than something externally acquired. It seems that when a group of people come together with serious intention, then magic happens.
To date, this will be the 11th running of this course in Oxford. We run it, because it seems to bring such benefit, and it gains a depth and a momentum all of its own, each time it happens. It brings together people who have a deep desire to share an openness to the fundamental workings of their experience. The two correlators are Derek Elliott and Ally Stott. www.allystott.co.uk . The course was built on an initiative originally started from the Chisholme Institute. www.chisholme.org . The location of the course is a dedicated space, five minutes walk from Oxford Railway Station.
Each evening starts with a period of meditation followed by conversation and contemplation. There is material supplied which acts as a background resource, which incorporates the themes of each of the weeks, which are as follows.
Week 1. Introduction
Week 2. The perspective of Oneness and our personal narrative. What does Oneness mean to us? Exploring what our deep seated aspirations are and how we intend to follow them.
Week 3. The Ten Thousand Things. Contemplating the Many with the eye of Unity. Exploring what we generally assume is a world where everything is separated. Exploring how we define ourselves by what we give ourselves to.
Week 4. Love and Knowledge. The Intimacy of Oneness. Exploring the proposition that it is the movement of the One with Itself, that really defines our nature. How and in what way do we understand our movement towards self-knowledge, as being incorporated in our own constitution? Exploring the nature of real knowledge.
Week 5. Only One. What is it like to be human? Exploring everything that arises, including ourselves, as a relationship of Oneness to Itself.
Week 6. Hooks in a river. The nature of flow and attachment. Working towards a way of barriers being dissolved, through an awareness being bedded in the depth of our being.
Week 7. Beginnings. Love and Beauty. The core of the exploration.