In the short video Dr Stephanie Dowrick uses the familiar, yet wonderfully fresh “Mary and Martha” story from the Christian gospels to demonstrate the interdependence of reflection and action. It’s what she calls the “Yin and Yang” of spiritual life. Stephanie also points out that it is reflection that we often overlook or rush by […]
We are now in our sixth year of interfaith services in Sydney. Yet sometimes even “interfaith” seems too much of a label (although I did use it on the census form when asked to nominate my religion…!). Perhaps it’s enough to know that the spiritually inclusive services we offer each month, 3rd Sundays, 3pm, at […]
A brief extract from Seeking the Sacred, now available as both printed book and audio, sent with the latest Universal Heart Newsletter. Whatever else the sacred is, it points to this: we are members of a single human family, marvelous and terrifying in its diversity. If we want to blink a couple of times and […]
Dear friends Books/Audio * Events: Adelaide, Hahndorf, SA, Sydney, Coromandel * Sydney service * A positive view of our time Welcome! This will be a briefer Newsletter than usual, in part because I am experimenting with writing to you a little more often with less information. I hope this works for you. Several invitations follow. […]
In this recent short talk, Dr Stephanie Dowrick discusses some of the common obstacles to our personal peace of mind. These inevitably also “disturb” the peace way beyond ourselves. With a possibly surprising lightness and even optimism, she brings our attention to anger, greed and ignorance – all well known to most of us, all […]
All people are children when they sleep. there’s no war in them then. They open their hands and breathe in that quiet rhythm heaven has given them. They pucker their lips like small children and open their hands halfway, soldiers and statesmen, servants and masters. The stars stand guard and a haze veils the sky, […]
Can we any longer afford to ignore our power to harm one another? Or to recoil, helplessly? “Doing no harm” is an active choice, one which perhaps has a higher ethical and social value than any other, as suggested in this extract from Stephanie Dowrick’s latest and most overtly peace-making book, Seeking the Sacred. She writes: […]
To prevent the next war, we have to practise peace today. If we establish peace in our hearts and in our ways of looking at things, war will not come. The only way to stop a war is to create real peace. Thich Nhat Hanh
Reading activism – a request * “Speaking” the Sacred (Audio now out) * Book now for October Mana Retreat * Melbourne “Mana” group? * Interfaith service, Sydney, 17 July * Share this newsletter! * Social media * On-line bookshop Dear friends Over the many years that I’ve been (first) a publisher and then a writer, […]
Just published is the audio edition of Dr Stephanie Dowrick’s intimate, inspiring book, Seeking the Sacred, described by Claire Scobie in the Sydney Morning Herald as “A chalice of wisdom”. Whether you are a “seeker” or simply curious, this book speaks to some of our most pressing concerns, socially and personally, about what constitutes a […]
Appreciation and why it matters * Sept/October Retreat * YouTube link on Transformation * Visiting USA 12-17 June * On-line book buying including Bread of Angels * An appreciation reminder from Sufi poet Rumi * Interfaith service, Sydney, 19 June * Peter Damo “Sunrise” Dear friends My thoughts and prayers are with you […]
British writer and women’s retreat leader Gina Lazenby caught up with Stephanie Dowrick in Sydney recently. Here is a short video of Gina talking with Stephanie about her latest book, Seeking the Sacred, why she is an interfaith minister as well as a writer, big and small transitions and – particularly – identity and the […]