Creative Business Networking
Cultural Creatives Business Network (cultural-creatives.net) is hosting a creative networking event from 5-10 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31, at Loring Park Community Arts Center, 1382 Willow St. Minneapolis. Erl Morrell-Stinson, who specializes in Behavioral Change Communication with business applications in sales, and personal development, is the keynote speaker. With specialized keynotes, workshops, seminars and training programs, he has served clients such as First National Bank, Wells Fargo, Price Waterhouse Coopers and U.S. Customs. He applies his gift of storytelling and mastery of analogy toward helping others find freedom, joy and spiritual depth in their work and personal lives.
The evening’s plans include fine chef-prepared cuisine, inspirational ideas, innovative networking and engaging conversations with Cultural Creatives in business. The networking activity is a new twist on the infamous holiday office party-the white elephant gift exchange. Instead of the proverbial Velvet Elvis’s and rock-hard fruitcake, Cultural Creatives Business Network introduces the Green Elephant Gift Exchange to encourage giving, prosperity and health to one another and our planet. The CCBN has revised this game to be a fun business networking experience. A portion of our proceeds will be donated to charitable causes. Register at www.cultural-creatives.net/events/register.htm by midnight Tuesday, Jan. 28. Call (763) 535-0880.
Two Wings Spirit
Classes and workshops, based up the teachings of the Perennial Philosophy, directed towards both intellectual understanding and direct experience, will be presented by a new Twin Cities-based spiritual school, Two Wings Spirit. Bevalyn Crawford, a former physicist who became involved with the counterculture in Berkeley, Calif., in the 1960s and 70s, became involved in the Human Potential Movement and later lived in ashrams in India, Europe and America while studying with a guru for eight years.
Crawford will teach from the tenets of the Perennial Philosophy, which explain: that there is a spiritual reality underlying all of the phenomenal universe; that human beings are capable of not only knowing about the Divine Ground but are able to inwardly experience it directly; that human beings have an ego, which most of us in this culture assume ourselves to be, and the Higher Self; and that the goal of human life is to shift our identity from ego to Higher Self and, in our interactions in the world, to make ego the servant of the Higher Self, our true identity.
She plans to teach not only from these tenets but from her own experience and the stories, poetry and teachings of the world’s mystical traditions.
"I believe the many crises we face at this point in history can only be solved when humanity understands that these dilemmas have come about because we have violated and misunderstood (often willfully) the spiritual foundation underlying the world and human nature," she says.
"We need the unified vision at the mystical heart of the world’s religions as the foundation for true spiritual cohesion in the human family. Ecumenism is only the beginning. I believe spreading this vision is a crucial step in the evolution of humanity on earth and the foundation for world peace. Perhaps even more important is to fulfill the need of individuals to know and realize the goal of spiritual life: recognition of the Divine within them and the living of this realization in ordinary life."
Upcoming classes in January include "The Perennial Philosophy" and "How to know God." Films will be shown to illustrate various spiritual themes, the first of which will be The Razor’s Edge, Somerset Maugham’s story of a young man’s spiritual search, at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 5. Classes on World Religions will be offered in the spring.
For more information, visit www.twowingsspirit.org, call (612) 920-0339 or e-mail [email protected].
Mystery of Crop Circles
A three-hour talk on "Crop Circles – What are they? Why are they here?" will be presented by Anita Collodoro at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23, at The Learning Annex. Anita recently was in England and experienced a Crop Circle first hand. A graduate of Santa Sophia Seminary as a Certified Teacher in Esoteric Philosophy in 1995, has been teaching for more than 15 years.
"The crop circles are here to communicate to us, but also on a larger scale they are helping to shift the collective consciousness," she says. "It is believed that the crop circles are created by sound and light by technologies much farther advanced that we know on the earth, at this point in time. The energies of the Crop Circles are also affecting the earth directly since they are strategically placed on planetary ley lines, the energy then travels around the globe. The frequencies also affect the grain in the crop and gets into the food chain, which people may consume all over the globe.
"As far as who creates the circles, there are different theories but there is one thing everyone agrees on and that is, we are a part of a much larger Galactic community and we are being helped along in our process of ascension. The Crop Circles are a blessing to all of humanity."
For registration, call the Learning Annex at 1 (800) US ANNEX (1-800-872-6639) or visit www.learningannex.com and click on Minneapolis classes.
January retreat
The Benedictine Center in Maplewood is offering a retreat January 26-27 that will help participants find balance and healing by focusing on their bodies’ inner wisdom. It will be led by Virginia Matter, a Benedictine sister, and Joanne Dehmer, a School Sister of Notre Dame, who are trained in a technique known as Bio-Spiritual Focusing that can release traumatic memories and feelings stored in the body.
"Focusing," explains Matter, "is a way to move out of our heads and pay close attention to what’s going on in our bodies. Once we experience our feelings, we can gently nurture and invite them to tell us more about why we feel the way we do. We then become more congruent and can make better decisions based on the loving wisdom deep inside."
Matter is also a spiritual director, master potter and teacher of Centering Prayer. Sr. Joanne Dehmer is a staff member of the Loyola Center and has been a spiritual director for over 35 years.
The $210 cost includes room and board. To register online, go to www.stpaulsmonastery.org and follow the link to the Benedictine Center. For more information, call (651) 777-7251 or e-mail [email protected]. The Benedictine Center, a ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of St. Paul’s Monastery, is located at 2675 East Larpenteur in Maplewood.
