At the beginning of 2023 the UK leadership team started discussions on how the WCCM in the UK might look going forward. We wanted to address the many changes that had taken place over recent years and reshape the community to better support all meditators in the UK.
In November 2023, a proposal was presented to the National Council meeting and with a few amendments accepted. If you look back to pages 3 and 4 of the January 2024 Newsletter you can read the key points, which focus on a more team based approach, making best use of technology, going back to basics and with a renewed emphasis on the School.
Readers may recall that a request for a new editor for the newsletter went out last year and I am happy to say that we now have one to take over from me…
In early June, Dr Sarah Bachelard arrived from Australia to lead ‘Pools of Grace’ the ‘Gathering’ at Minsteracres. The weekend was enriched for those attending by the addition of a selection of workshops on offer. Father Jim Caffrey shared the story of setting up a Contemplative Parish in the middle of Dublin, so relevant but profoundly challenging following the recent revelations of sexual abuse in Ireland and the subsequent large drop in church attendance. Paul Golightly introduced the work of Capacitar which helps people recovering from trauma. This fitted well with Terry Doyle’s session on reaching out to refugees, the homeless and people ‘on the margins’. Greatly appreciated were the body workshops and times for contemplative walks, led by Chris Hurley.
Caroline Price, who died in October 2023 at the age of 72, was a wonderful lady who is sorely missed by her friends in the Bristol/Bath meditation community and by her legions of friends beyond it. She had a deep love of God and for pretty much everyone that she met – we were all described as lovely!
When my daughter asked me why I was going on a silent retreat as she gave me a lift to the station, my answer was ‘I don’t know’. I knew I had booked my place in the wintery months and had been looking forward to being with members of the Community again but the reality of a completely silent retreat slipped into my consciousness and I felt unprepared. That was surely the best place to be, without expectations, without goals or assumptions. What I experienced over the long weekend gave me my answer. We live in a world that gives very little time for silence and though I struggled initially, the invitation to be with others in shared silence and gentle attention proved to be more enriching than I can put into words.
We have always been here; a human being is God’s being, temporarily clothed in human attributes. In silent prayer, we journey through layers of experience—thinking, feeling, relating—until we reach our essential, irreducible being: our soul. This soul maintains a constant, silent communion with God, the one being from whom everything and everyone derives its apparently independent existence.
Here we are, each seemingly a small drop
In the infinite ocean of life on Earth.
We see ourselves and others with a
Multitude of separate features; this or that, with
Our five senses, which segregate rather than integrate.
From birth to death, always doing…
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There are listings of UK events, key International events and selected offerings from Bonnevaux and the Meditatio Centre. The contacts list has been updated (the latest version is always available on the website).
The next issue will be available in mid-December. Please send articles to: uknewsletter@wccm.uk and events to: events@wccm.uk to reach us by 1 November.