U-Cafe at Cross Street Unitarian Chapel

U-Cafe

2010-12-13T13:53:00.001Z

U-Cafe came to an natural end.

There are lots more interesting activities at Cross Street Chapel

http://www.cross-street-chapel.org.uk/

What is Earth Spirit? U-Cafe on 25 June 2009

2009-06-20T15:20:00.002+01:00

U-Cafe have teamed up with the Earth Spirit Group that meets at Cross Street Chapel for their final event before the summer break.

We will meet at 7.00pm on Thursday 25 June in Perceival Suite at Cross Street Chapel for a question and answer session with members of the Eart Spirit Group. This is your chance to find out what Earth Spirt all about?

At 8.00pm the Earth Spirit Group will hold a celebration of the summer solstice to which all are invited.

This will be followed by some social time together.

All are welcome to attend.

U-Cafe 28 May -In the Footsteps of William Gaskell

2009-05-21T20:25:00.002+01:00

Interested in Manchester or Unitarian history?

Come along to Cross Street Chapel (7.oopm for 7.30pm) on Thursday 28 May 2009.

William Gaskell served for almost 56 years as minister of Cross Street Chapel in the centre of 19th-century Victorian Manchester, addressing the issues of his day, often amid great controversy.

John Midgley, an admirer of William, recently served for ten years as Cross Street Minister in a much-altered city and in a very different age, with altogether different issues to face and controversies to handle.

He will offer some reflections on the life and times of Rev. William Gaskell in the 19th century, with comparisons with his ministry of the same chapel in the 20th-2lst century

U-Cafe 26 February 2009 - "The Sacred Word"

2009-02-15T19:39:00.004Z

A creative workshop for adults will take place at Cross Street Chapel at 7.00pm on 26 February 2009.

This is safe and supportive space for meditation and creative play, with a focus on different chant traditions and illuminated manuscripts. No special skills required. Please bring some words that are sacred to you and wear old clothes.

Led by Rev Jane Barraclough. Open to all adults, of any religious persuasion or none.

For more details contact Jane on 0161 834 0019 or e-mail revjvb@gmail.com

U-Cafe 27 November 2008 - Question Time

2008-11-09T15:17:00.001Z

Question Time (based on the BBC programme) will provide an opportunity to put your questions to Rev. Jane Barraclough; Dawn Buckle, Executive Committee member, and Lizzie Roper, Unitarian Young Adults Network, about spirituality, Unitarianism and even current events – its up to you!
Tea/coffee from 7.00pm All welcome

Katrina's Victims Still Need Help - Volunteering in New Orleans - U-Cafe on 23 October 2008

2008-10-05T16:43:00.006+01:00

U-Cafe is open on 23 October 2008; 7,00pm for 7.30pm.

Fran Devine will talk about her two weeks volunteering in New Orleans with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, which is working to rebuild homes and communities following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She is in touch with the project and can report on the current situation following recent events.

For further information please read the attached article "Katrina's victims still need help" from "The Inquirer" (28 June 2008)

Derek McAuley will then lead a discussion about the role of social action in the Unitarian Vision.

U-CAFE OPEN ON 25 SEPTEMBER 2008

2008-09-10T19:18:00.005+01:00

HOW WE CAN USE EDWARD DE BONO'S "SIX THINKING HATS TO EXPLORE SPIRITUAL QUESTIONS"

A WORKSHOP WITH RICH DALEY

Tea/coffee from 7.00pm. 7.30pm start

U-Cafe on 25 September 2008

2008-07-20T18:59:00.003+01:00

U-Cafe is closed for the summer break but will resume on 25 September 2008 with the topic :

"How we can use Edward de Bono's "Six Thinking Hats" to explore spiritual questions"

with Rich Daley

7.00pm for 7.30pm. All welcome

Spirit Play with Rev. Jane Barraclough

2008-06-11T20:20:00.003+01:00

The final U-Cafe before the summer break will take place on 26 June 2008 at Cross Street Chapel.

"On the shores of endless worlds
Children Play"

Rabindranath Tagore

We will together create a safe and supportive space for meditation and creative play. Working from the inside out, we start with various forms of meditation, and move on to artistic expression of variious kinds. No special skills are required. This is art as process, not product. Please wear old clothes.

Tea/coffee from 7.00pm. All welcome.

Synthesise at U-Cafe in May

2008-06-11T20:18:00.001+01:00

John Shiers and Judy Benson, from Synthesise, introduced a stimulating evening at U-Café on 22 May 2008. They described their own spiritual journeys that has led them to establish Synthesise, a social enterprise drawing upon transpersonal ideas to produce social change. A mixed bunch of people; some Unitarian, some not, came along and explored together some of the emergent ideas.

Amongst matters discussed were:

· Political and religious “conversion” experiences and what they mean
· The influence of a religious upbringing to the development of a spiritual life later in life
· The need to value social change in the midst of a consumer society
· Unitarianism as vessel which can contain many differing perspectives

For more information on Synthesise follow the link.

At the core of Synthesise is the motivation to promote transpersonal values for personal, community and organisational development. The word “transpersonal”, is a shorthand way of talking about the connections we have with others, about the sense of the spiritual in our lives, and about the spiritual manifesting through relationship, work and everyday life. The implication of living transpersonally is that our greater connection with each other supports us to work for change, for a more sustainable way of living together. Towards a world that works for everyone.

U-Cafe 22 May 2008 with Synthesise

2008-05-16T18:58:00.001+01:00

“CONNECTIONS”
WITH SYNTHESISE

Visitors from Synthesise, a recently formed cooperative social enterprise, will talk about their personal spiritual journeys and how this led them to form this new organization working to establish a more humane and enlightened world.

“For us, the transpersonal is about connection. Connection with a deep and more inclusive sense of self and opening to the mystery which is at the heart of life is what we mean by the spiritual. This is very different than holding religious dogmas which all too often can close rather than open the gateways to the spiritual”

Tea/coffee from 7.00pm All welcome

For further information: http://u-cafecrossstreetchapel.blogspot.com/
To find out more about Synthesise: www.synthesise.org

24th April - The Ministry of Sound

2008-03-31T21:14:00.005+01:00

Wynne Simister will explore how musicians have a role in ministry and how the emotional, as experienced through music, should feed the spiritual. Music as part of the whole worship experience can increase the spiritual experience and individual and congregational growth.

Wynne is currently undertaking studies in sacred music at Bangor University. She is organist at Oldham Unitarian Church.

U-Cafe takes place at Cross Street Chapel. Tea and coffee is served from 7.00pm. All welcome.

The Unitarian Path

2008-03-31T21:08:00.002+01:00

U-Cafe attenders might be interested in an opportunity to explore Unitarianism in a relaxed atmosphere. "The Unitarian Path" is a chance to explore a Unitarianism over a series of Wednesday evenings in Chorlton from 9 April 2008.

For further information
http://unitarianpath.blogspot.com

Poetry Workshop

2008-03-31T20:41:00.005+01:00

Well known poet, Peter Sampson explored with the group how drawing up a list could be used to stimulate thinking to develop meaningful poems. We all had a go but I won't embarrass anyone by reprinting them!

As part of his introduction Peter read one of his own poems:

"Things my father could do"

Spit into the back of the fire

Turn a piece of metal on a lathe

Dance a quick-step

Ride his bicycle for miles with me on the cross-bar

Solve an intractable mathematical problem for his tearful son

Sing a comic song in the Sunday School pantomine

Play the overture "Poet and Peasant" on the piano

Build a perfect replica of a pullman car for my model railway.

The last thing I saw him do was

Fight the pain in his chest to wrestle with the clasps

On the tin trunk which was to be sent off to Cambridge

Containing all my worldly possessions.

When I received a telegram just before Christmas

To tell me I had won an award at Cambridge

He hugged me; he wept.

When he saw me play Richard the Second at school

He was full of wonder that his own son could be somebody

So different from the boy he thought he knew.

As a boy I had never seemed to be able

To satisfy his stern demands

By doing what he wanted or would have liked me to do

- maths, making models, fighting to defend myself -

But when I started to do the things I wanted to do

(Things I could do) he did not stint his praise,

Almost as if he was glad that I could cope

With what he could never understand.

Almost as if

When he knew that I could do without him

it made his day.

Peter Sampson

Peter also drew from our spiritual past with a poem by George Herbert

"Prayer"

Prayer the Churches banquet, Angels age,

God's breath in man returning to his birth,

The soul in paraphase, heart in pilgrimage,

The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth;

Engine against th'Almightie, sinners towre,

Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,

The six-daies - world transposing in an houre,

A kind of tune, which all things heare and fear;

Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,

Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,

Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,

The milkie may, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bels beyond the starres heard, the souls bloud,

The land of spices; something understood.

I've got a Little List" - Poetry Workshop

2008-03-09T21:24:00.004Z

Peter Sampson will lead a poetry workshop when U-Cafe next opens on Thursday 20 March 2008. This will be an opportunity to explore how poetry can contribute to one's spiritual development and there will be lots of participation.

Peter Sampson is a well known poet, writer and performer.

Tea/Coffee is served from 7.00pm. All welcome. No need to book

12 Step Spirituality

2008-01-30T20:10:00.001Z

U-Cafe next opens on at 7.00 for 7.30pm on Thursday 28 February 2008 at Cross Street Chapel.

12 Step Spirituality

What are the 12 steps?

What is their purpose?

An evening of discussion and discovery with members of Alcoholics Anonymous and members of other 12-step fellowships.

All welcome. Bring your Friends.

"The Spiritual path is a deeply personal experience"

2008-01-30T19:54:00.000Z

The first U-Cafe of 2008 was a stimulating and enjoyable event with the largest attendance yet; twenty-four people from a wide and eclectic range of backgrounds. We had ten members of Cross Street Chapel present.

Four members of the Manchester Buddhist Centre (three of whom are pictured opposite; Howard, Munisha and Ursula) joined us and got the discussion off to a good start by explaining why they were a Buddhist.

Phrases that stick in my mind are:

"feel found my spiritual home"

"expanding my mind and heart to the universe"

"spiritual path is a deeply personal experience"

"ethical framework to use in my life"

Discussion took place on varous tools and meditation practices, the relevance of addiction to the 5 precepts and the widespread but relatively unknown social action undertaken by Buddhists in all parts of the world. The evening closed with meditation.

Looking ahead - U-Cafe 28 February 2008

2008-01-13T18:06:00.000Z

U-Cafe will open on Thursday 28 February 2008 for an evening led by Danny Crosby on "12 Step Spirituality".

What are the 12 steps? What is their purpose? An evening of discussion and discovery with committed members of Alcoholics Anonymous and members of other 12-step fellowships.

7.00pm for 7.30pm. Cross Street Chapel. All welcome. Bring your friends.

Forthcoming meeting - meet some Buddhists

2008-01-13T18:00:00.000Z

The next opening of U-Cafe will be on Thursday 24 January 2008 at Cross Street Chapel with tea/coffee available from 7.00pm.

Visitors will be several members of Clear Vision, which is based at the Manchester Buddhist Centre. This will be an opportunity to hear a number of individual perspectives of Buddhism from mainly western believers and to ask questions and comment in a very informal way. Those that attended the event with Manchester's Liberal Jews will recall how a cafe-style allowed for mutual exploration in a safe enviroment.

All welcome. Bring your friends. Tea/Coffee available.

Jazz and Spirituality - John Midgley's talk

2008-01-13T17:53:00.000Z

I am very aware that there are many people in this world who do not like jazz - and will say so. Many a time I have heard people say they hate jazz , or say something like, “Well I like some jazz but I can’t stand that modern doodly doodly do stuff, I like to recognise the tune.“ Well, I have been listening to jazz since teenage years, I can cope with doodly oodly doo and I don't worry too much about the tune. But we’ll come to that later.

The purpose is to talk a little about the similarities I see between jazz and the kind of liberal, specifically Unitarian religion that I have been involved in from being a young teenager too. I am at a bit of a disadvantage because I am not a musician.

There is a certain amount of snobbery in my being a jazz lover. As a teenager, pop music was very much in the ascendant and I quickly came to feel that most if not all of it was dreadful - and I still do not know what people see in Elvis Presley and countless others. So, along with a tiny handful of likeminded pop-music haters I took to disappearing into a quiet corner to listen to jazz. That is perhaps a first clue to my theme. Most of my contemporaries would have nothing to do with jazz and nothing to do with organised religion. So to me, both are to do with being involved in an odd or even despised minority!

Another similarity is the fact that it is difficult to define, both jazz and Unitarian or liberal religion. But in both cases there is enough of substance and meaning for Unitarianism to be a form of religion and jazz a form of music. But also, both keep changing, both keep evolving, neither of them hold still, both constantly have to be thought through - again and again.

Both jazz and religion have a wonderful history. Most people here know that jazz has its roots in the music of the black people that were brought as slaves to North America, to what we call the deep south, around New Orleans. The slaves, and then liberated slaves began to play their kind of music, and this evolved into jazz. At first it was rather crude and hard for white listeners to follow. But the historians love to tell the story of one young black boy who at the age of about 11 or 12 in about 1900, was caught by the police one new year’s eve, running around the streets of New Orleans firing a pistol into the air. He ended up in a reformatory for orphans, where as luck would have it he was taught to play the cornet. When he emerged he joined some jazz musicians in the local bars, developed his skills, and one night, stood up and played this. The opening bars of West End Blues….

The historians will tell you that the world stood still and listened. The boy's name was Louis Armstrong, and the rest is jazz history or mythology.

Another way of getting into this is to look at the characteristics of jazz
Rhythm. All sorts of music has rhythm, but for jazz the characteristic beats are of 4/4 or 8/8, whether fast, medium or slow, giving the music a vitality, an energy. But other rhythms have been introduced too.
Then there is he blues, and I shall come back to this in some depth later. And then there is swing - impossible to define, but you know it when you hear it or feel it.

Then there is improvisation. Now this means, making up melodies, or creating variations on melodies. And this is where people who do not understand jazz start to confused, often because they don't know what’s going on. But jazz musicians see no real point in just playing a tune the same way every time. So, they improvise, they change it, they twist it around and vary it and reshape it, to the point where it doesn't quite sound like what it was.

Sometimes a musician will play and practice a tune, and improvise their variations on it, and then commit those variations to memory. Then each time they play the tune they will vary it in that way, or something very like it. (Some people preach sermons that way!)

Then there is what is sometimes called ‘the bag of tricks’. A musician will have some particular tricks of playing, a certain ways of re-shaping or varying or decorating a tune, and will improvise, using those tricks with whatever they play. (Some people preach sermons that way!)

Then there is spontaneous improvisation - this is when a musician will start with the original - and then quite spontaneously improvise - actually composing new music as they play. This is perhaps the highest form of improvisation- it is regarded as an art form - pure, spontaneous creativity. A very risky, courageous thing to do, but for the musician and the jazz lover, when it happens, it is truly wonderful, almost miraculous. (Some people preach sermons that way!)

Then there is collective improvisation. A band of musicians will chose a tune, play it through a couple of times then take it in turn to improvise, and then play together, all of them improvising at once. It’s at this point that people sometimes get confused because they have lost the tune! But usually, the original tune is in there somewhere and that collective creativity is truly wonderful to the jazz lover’s ear.

And I think that there is an analogy with our kind of religion at this point. There are basic religious themes or ideas, but individuals are allowed the freedom to improvise on the basic belief or truth, and create their own expression of it. And we do this together. So there is the collective improvisation, which can sound like a jumble, but there is enough to hold it together. And no musician says, You must all play it the way I am playing, - this is the right way.

To do that or say that - would not be jazz.

Listen to Chris Barber’s Jazz Band playing All the Gals Go Crazy ’Bout the Way I Walk.

Now, the blues. This is something that is part of jazz, or jazz is part of the blues or the two go together or whatever - the jazz enthusiasts debate this forever.

The blues is often thought of as simply sad music, but there is more to it that that and people get confused because sometimes the blues can get to sound quite joyful, exciting and uplifting.

The black people of the deep south were slaves and even when they were liberated they were oppressed. This comes out in their work songs, and then in the blues. But the amazing thing about the blues is that it will often start sad, but after a while it starts to change. The musician or singer expresses the sadness, the lament, or frustration or oppression or grief, and then the sadness will turn to frustration and then determination and defiance, even anger - and then- the very fact of expressing it, the physical or emotional experience of expressing it, provides a release from it, and the spirit of the person comes bursting through - sometimes as a wonderful expression of the triumph of the human spirit. Joy and hope come through - in the end. Daring to do this is a matter of freedom and social justice. So it is not just a sad song - it is at its best an expression of what it means to be a free person. And that breakthrough of release of the spirit is what jazz fans mean by the indefinable quality called swing. It’s hard to create artififally, and when it occurs spontaneously - it is artistic and the triumph of the spirit.

A simple illustration - Here is a song called The Postman’s Lament - played by Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen. he is suicidal - but joy comes breaking through!

Now I see similarities in this to the experience of worship - which is an opportunity to bring and share your joys and sorrows, dreams and frustrations - in the hope that the experience of expressing them and sharing them will relieve them.

Jazz music spread out from New Orleans, to Chicago then New York and around the world. As is spread it evolved, developed and changed - and there are now countless different styles, and then eras when the old styles are revived, but they are never the same - and there are similarities with the history of religion - and there are traditionalists and progressives, and even heretics (like Theolonius Monk - who once said There is no such thing as a wrong note!)

I must add that it was through listening to jazz as a youngster that I became interested in classical music. For me it is a fairly easy step from, say, Rachmaninov piano music - add the rhythm and the improvisation, and there we have Errol Garner’s piano jazz. There is a depth and serious-mindedness in jazz that is there in classical music too.

So to try to sum up, jazz and Unitarianism, liberal religion, have these things in common which are important to me:

* Freedom - freedom of expression
* Rootedness - the roots of music and religion are there - there is an appreciation of the past
* Individual expression - who you are as a person matters - you can make your personal contribution
* Creativity - and all the risks that that entails
* Improvisation - you do not have to be bound by what the past has thought and done.
* Collective improvisation - if we agree to be ourselves, together, then the collective creates something new and unique.
* The energy - the zest for living
* The hopefulness, the knowledge that the future will bring new ways of understanding and expressing even old and familiar themes.

A final piece to play, Dave Brubeck and his son, Chris - Black and Blue.

John Midgley

Jazz and Spirituality

2007-11-28T20:41:00.000Z

U-Cafe opened as planned on 22 November 2007. Rev. John Midgley, Minister at Cross Street played some of his favourite music and tried to explain the origins and appeal of jazz, and its near relations, the blues and "swing". He drew out some fascinating parallels with liberal religion.

Just as jazz musicians improvise, sometimes individually but occasionally collectively, so liberal religion gives opportunities for individuals to change and develop spiritually; again sometimes alone but often to mutual benefit together.

Man's search for truth: A physical scientist's perspective: talk

2007-11-28T20:35:00.000Z

Man’s search for truth: A physical scientist’s perspective
by Alfred A. Rabow
(delivered on 25 Oct 07 Cross Street Chapel, Manchester, UK.)

I’d like to start by mentioning a few things that had caused me to contemplate the question how science informs or misinform “Man’s search for truth.” The first was from a discussion amongst a group of men—This is a slight joke as it relates to the title word “Man’s” which John has seen fit to change in the title. I would have kept the original title as it is an allusion to Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s search for meaning” [0] as it happened that Mr. Frankl entitled his book that way—it is a part of our history. I will discuss Viktor Frankl’s work later in the talk.

So to continue, this was a meeting of a group of men (Derek, Danny, John and I.) In this meeting probing meaning it was stated “Science tells us that music is just vibration waves in the air.” And I thought, “Does science say this? No it does not.” After we talked this around another statement arose: “But science would say that a recording of violinist playing, recorded with perfect fidelity, is the equivalent of the violinist playing live for us as long as the sounds were indistinguishable.” And I thought, “Does science say even this? Again no.” So what does “Science” tell us and what do we expect Science to say? A second stream of thought came into my head: Birds or more specifically the corvids.

Corvids are crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays and my personal favourite the magpies. Rarely a day goes buy were on my way home I do not see a flock of crows—and here let me say your English crows look far more sinister than the American kind. The English crows seem to me to be asymmetric in their large wings that they seem to use as a menacing inky cloak. And they seem to hop club-legged like a perfect villain. On my way home I also almost always encounter magpies on the road. Often a magpie will get out of the way of my car at the last possible moment as I pass then get back to its carrion as I speed down the road. What does science say about the corvids?

Here I will include a quote from C. J. Herrick a noted scientist and founder of the journal Of Comparative Neurology: “It is everywhere recognized that birds possess highly complex instinctive endowments and that their intelligence is very limited” [1]. So birds have limited intelligence relying almost exclusively on instinct.

Is this true? Do you know whether it is true? Do I? Does science? The quote is from a man at the top of his field. He was the pre-eminent Animal neuroscientist when he made that statement in 1924—has this, the date it was said, just changed the “truth” of the statement for you?

Recent scientific experiments and publications report that corvids and parrots have intelligence comparable to that of primates and dolphins [2]. I will give an illustration of how corvids demonstrate their intelligence and how it is scientifically distinguished from instinct.

Western scrub jays store food for later use (called caching.) These jays will deploy a number of caching strategies if there is a competitor bird around: (1) hiding behind barriers and storing it in places that the other bird can see least well, (2) waiting until the competing bird is distracted before hiding the cache, (3) leading the competitor away from the cache, (4) making false caches containing stones or nothing at all, or, (5) coming back later and moving caches that were buried with a competitor watching. [2]

How do we know this is not instinct? A number of experiments demonstrate this, for example, that western scrub jays that have not personally been thieves do not think to use the caching strategies described above. The most reasonable explanation is that that individual jay, knowing what it is like to be a thief, imagined the other bird’s point of view as a potential thief—this is one of the hallmarks of intelligent behaviour that distinguished it from instinct--imaging the point of view of another. There are many other experiments that demonstrate this and other intelligent behaviour in corvids and distinguish it from instinct that time prevents me from telling but Science now says corvids are intelligent.

Not only does Science say that corvids are intelligent it says they posses intelligence comparable to dolphins and apes. That means as I drive home from work and see that murder of crows—they are thinking about each other and me much in the same way as would a pack of great apes would. As I see that magpie swoop down for that road-kill squirrel it is as if a dolphin has stopped by all pleased with herself for catching that fish in her mouth. Knowing this will I now share a profoundly different relationship with these individuals as I encounter them every day?

So Science is a system informs us about the physical world in important ways and that the “truth” can change so fundamentally that our beliefs may be turned upon their head. But surely science is a system that can address every problem will become more and more correct. I do not have time to prove that this is not true in this talk. And to be honest I am not sure I am up for the task—it does not seem like any fun and seems contrariwise to what I am trying to transmit to you folks.

So instead I will use the third tine of the trident that pricked my mind on Science and Truth. I had been enjoying reading Victor Frankl’s “Man’s search for meaning.” It may seem odd that I have used the adjective “enjoying” as the book concerns Victor Frankl’s experience in the concentration camps of Poland during WWII. But for me, as a Jew, his thoughts are familiar—all that is different are the severity of the cause and the seriousness of the contemplation. Otherwise, it is quite familiar and not shocking or saddening—it is how I think and feel. The book is a telling with authenticity and seriousness that immediately makes it an important exploration which moves me and which I can enjoy.

In “Man’s search for meaning” Victor Frank is both telling his personal story and relating what it meant to him professionally as he was a scientist, a psychotherapist, before and after his time in places the likes of Auschwitz and Dachau. And as I was enjoying it, sweeping it into my mind and soul, I came this passage [3]:

…what about human liberty? Is there no spiritual freedom in regard to behaviour and reaction to any given surroundings? …do the prisoners’ reactions to the singular world of the concentration camp prove that man cannot escape the influences of his surroundings? Does man have no choice of action in the face of such circumstances?

We can answer these questions from experience as well as on principle. The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of actions…We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be take from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

And I thought, “No it does not prove anything.” Scientifically that observation of giving the bread away does not answer the question of freedom to choose one’s own way. All that we have observed is that in a given circumstance certain individuals did ‘A’ and others did ‘B.’ It tells us nothing about whether they had to choose ‘A’ or ‘B.’ What do you think, does the above passage prove the described freedom?

And then I thought more. What am I doing applying the scientific method to this passage? What if instead I had read this passage from Buddhist monk Tich Nhat Hahn [4]:

The Four Immeasurable Minds are the basis for freedom. When we are in touch with things by means of the mind of love, we do not run away or seek, and that is the basis of freedom. Aimlessness takes the place of grasping. When we have freedom, what seemed to be suffering becomes Wondrous Being…Wondrous Being is beyond being and nonbeing. If a bodhisattva needs to manifest being, if he needs to be born in this world, he will be born in this world. There is still life, but he is not caught in ideas of being, nonbeing, birth or death.

Would I have applied the scientific method to Tich Nhat Hahn’s statement? What is true or untrue about both passages? Is this the question we want to ask? Is this how we choose to interact with them?

And reflecting on this, I remembered a passage from Viktor Frankl that had great meaning for me. It was only some tens of pages previous where he is describing a morning before the sun has risen in a camp work group. It is a group of men where everyone is fragile—many without shoes in the snow—many soon to die:

[another prisoner’s comment] brought thoughts of my own wife to mind…I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But my mind clung to my wife’s image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth—that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way—an honourable way—in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved achieve fulfilment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, “The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.”

--------- end of talk -----------

[0] Viktor E. Frankel “Man’s search for meaning”, Rider Publishing, London, 1959, ISBN 9781844132393.

[1] Herrick, C. J. 1924 “Neurological foundations of animal behaviour.” New York: Henry Holt. As quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_intelligence.

[2] Emery, N. J. and Clayton, N. S. 2004 “The mentality of crows: Convergent Evolution of intelligence in corvids and apes.” Science, vol. 306, pp. 1903-1907.

[3] Page 74, Frankl ibid.

[4] Page 243, Tich Nhat Hahn “The heart of the Buddha’s teaching”, Broadway Books, New York, 1998, ISBN 0-7679-0369-2.

[5] Page 48, Frankl ibid.

Coming up at U-Cafe: Jazz and Spirituality

2007-11-03T12:12:00.001Z

U-Cafe next opens on Thursday 22 November 2007 at 7.30pm as usual.

John Midgley, Minister at Cross Street Chapel, will talk about his not so secret passion:

Jazz and Spirituality.

Can you improvise religion?

What is the real meaning of "the blues"?

Where is THE TUNE?

All are welcome. No need to book. Tea/Coffee and in the Xmas spirit, mince pies, will be served.

The Search for Truth

2007-11-03T11:45:00.000Z

U-Cafe opened for second time on 25 October 2007. We had fourteen people along to explore science and meaning. There was an interesting mix of old and new people with some Unitarians as well as others interested in the issue.

Alfred Rabow introduced the topic with a fascinating talk on how science informs or misinforms "Man's search for truth". He drew heavily on Victor Frankl's classic "Man's Search for Meaning" on his experiences of life in the concentration camps during WW2. Alfred questioned the applicability of the scientific method in all circumstances.

We discussed our own perspectives in small groups and then had a general question and answer session together.

Reminder - U-Cafe on 25 October 2007

2007-10-21T20:34:00.000+01:00

The Search for Truth - a Physical Scientist's Perspective" will be the theme of the next U-Cafe this Thursday evening. Scientist Alfred Rabow will introduce questions such as:

Is science the only way to address important questions?
Will science be able to answer all the questions?
Does science have good information about how to answer all questions now?

There will be opportunities to explore this theme together drawing upon Alfred's introductory talk.

U-Cafe will meet on 25 October 2007 at 7.30pm at Cross Street Chapel.

All are welcome.

How Safe are Minorities?

2007-10-04T18:36:00.000+01:00

John asked me to post the following for him:

Address delivered at Lunchtme Service at Cross Street Unitarian Chapel
Wednesday October 3rd 2007

HOW SAFE ARE MINORITIES?
by Rev. John Midgley
Minister : Cross street Chapel

First they came for the Jews, but I said nothing. I am not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists. I said nothing. I am not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I said nothing. I am not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me, and there was no-one left to speak up for me.
Pastor Niemoller.

Last Thursday evening we launched a new activity here at Cross Street Chapel. It was an opportunity to discuss religious ideas, spiritual matters. In our publicity material we say that this is part of what we are here for - to provide opportunity to discuss our beliefs, our faith. So we launched a new way to do this - and we decided that in order to make this a fairly open and relaxed sort of discussion, we would do it café-style, and we actually called it U-Café. So, the coffee and biscuits were laid on, and we met the people who were to lead our first discussion.

These were Jews. For something over a year now, a congregation of Jews has been holding some of its meetings and services here. They are Liberal Jews and we decided that it would make for a good launch of the U-Café if we invited them to come and tell us something about themselves. We had a suspicion that Liberal Jews might well be to orthodox Jews as Unitarians (Liberal Christians), are to Orthodox Christians. And so, in many ways, it turned out.

They were a bright, interesting group of people. We learned a lot. Their history, the way they do things and why they do them, and something about their hopes for the future of their congregation. They enjoy meeting at Cross Street, but have hopes of a place of their own, one day. And because we’d agreed to conduct this meeting in this informal, café style, the subjects we covered ranged far and wide.

A fair amount of what emerged was familiar to me, but I hasten to add I didn't mind this. In my youth I actually worked for a Jewish youth organisation in a Jewish area of Manchester. I lodged with a Jewish landlady in Lower Broughton, and tried to enjoy gefilterfish. I studied Judaism as a student and for some years I taught comparative religion at our college here in Manchester where we train our ministers and similar courses for the WEA. I often took parties of students on visits to a synagogue, to meet and talk with a rabbi, and to experience Jewish worship.

But I have to say that last Thursday I heard something that I had never heard before. In our free-ranging conversation, we touched on the Holocaust, the systematic murder of millions of Jews (and others) in Europe under the Nazi regime. And we touched on relations between Jews and others in this country, now. And one speaker told us that there are Jews in this country who still live in dread that any day, anti-Semitism of the kind that the Jews experienced in Nazi-occupied regions of Europe could emerge again, even here in Britain. And that there are Jews, usually of the older generation, who keep a suitcase packed, and always have some cash readily accessible, so that if ultra-right wing politics emerged again, if the anti-Semitic attacks and purges and killings started again, they could quickly make their escape. Such people, in their fear, have a plan ready; where they would go, how they would get there, who they would turn to for help, where they might hide.

I was, quite frankly, astonished to learn this. It conjured up appalling pictures. As I drove home at the end of the evening, I kept turning this over in my mind. It reminded me, not only of stories and films and books about anti-Semitic persecution under Adolf Hitler, but also of the fact that it has gone on for centuries. I remembered Fiddler on the Roof, with its depiction of Jewish persecution in the towns and villages of Eastern Europe long before the rise of Hitler.

When I got home I went and sat for a few minutes in our spare bedroom where we keep our suitcases. And I stared at one, on the top of the wardrobe, trying to imagine it packed and ready for a quick getaway, if the persecutors came for me, or my family or friends. It seemed impossible to imagine. But many millions of Jews and other persecuted minorities found it impossible to imagine in Europe - until the day it happened. So I’m reluctant to say, ‘Ah, you are being paranoid, over-anxious. Nothing like that happens here…’ I remember my friend Mildred from London, telling how she and other Jews were out in the streets bandaging broken heads, after riots involving Oswald Mosley and his blackshirt followers, well within living memory. And if we adjust the story just a little, to black people or Asian people and others… it is not so unrealistic or paranoid perhaps.

When the Liberal Jewish congregation here held their High Holiday festivals here a couple of weeks ago, a police officer turned up offering help with their security. They didn’t need it.

I am glad that the Liberal Jews feel safe, meeting here. And may the day soon come when dread of persecution (packed suitcases, cash and plans at the ready), becomes a thing of the past. Forever.

The Search for Truth

2007-10-02T20:06:00.001+01:00

"The Search for Truth - a Physical Scientist's Perspective" will be the theme of the next U-Cafe. Alfred Rabow will introduce questions such as

Is science the only way to address important questions?
Will science be able to answer all the questions?
Does science have good information about how to answer all questions now?

There will be opportunities to explore this theme together drawing upon Alfred's introductory talk.

U-Cafe will meet on 25 October 2007 at 7.30pm at Cross Street Chapel. All are welcome.

Successful First U-Cafe

2007-10-02T19:37:00.000+01:00

U-Cafe had a successful launch on Thursday 27 September 2007 with members of Manchester's recently formed Liberal Jewish Congregation coming along to talk about their lives and faith. Thanks to Phyllis, Len, Chris, Nan and Jan for their openness and insights into a form of Judaism which is not very well known.

There was a lively and often challenging question and answer session with opportunities to learn from each other . The contrast between spiritual and cultural Judaism was highlighted as was the difference between orthodox, reform and liberal Jews. Indeed, it was made clear that unlike Christianity, there is infact, no orthodox position.

With a total attendance of 18, including a couple of visitors to Cross Street, U-Cafe got off to a good start.

If you would like to make a comment about U-Cafe just click on "Comment".

For further information on the Manchester Liberal Jewish Community.

Meet the Liberal Jews at U-Cafe

2007-09-23T19:24:00.000+01:00

The first gathering at U-Cafe on 27 September 2007 will be an opportunity to hear about Liberal Judaism. A small Liberal Jewish congregation meets regularly at Cross Street Chapel and a few of their members will join us to talk about their faith.

Some questions that may be explored. What is a liberal Jew? How do they differ from the orthodox? What are the challenges of being both liberal and Jewish?

Unitarians and Liberal Jews have much in common, sharing many religious liberal values. U-Cafe will be an opportunity to learn about how we and others with similar views can work together building on a common ethos of progressive spirituality.

U-Cafe will take place at 7.30pm in Cross Street Chapel. All welcome. No need to book.

U-Cafe - What's It All About

2007-09-23T19:03:00.000+01:00

U-Cafe is an opportunity to explore issues of faith and spirituality in a friendly and relaxed environment in City Centre Manchester. All are welcome to what will initially be a monthly informal get-together. There is no need to book and its free so just turn up.

U-Cafe is launched on Thursday 27th September 2007 at 7.30pm in Cross Street Chapel.

U-Cafe is not about promoting Unitarianism. Indeed, this would be a contradiction in terms. Unitarians believe that everyone has the right to seek truth and meaning for themselves. The fundamental tools for doing this are your own life-experience, your reflection upon it, your intuitive understanding and the prompting of your own conscience.

There are few places which give this freedom. So that's what U-Cafe is all about. The freedom to think, sometimes out loud, to hear new ideas and to grow as an individual.

Why come along.

U-cafe will take place at 7.30pm on:

27 September 2007
25 October 2007
22 November 2007