Tasmania – October 2021 – Religions for Peace Australia

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Greetings of peace! It’s hard to believe that we are nearly half-way through spring and well into October. We hope you are well in everyway and experiencing success in all you do.

This month members of Religions for Peace Tasmania Branch invite you to join them in a number of initiatives to support Climate Action in the lead up to COP26 in Glasgow.

Greetings of Peace!

It’s hard to believe that we are nearly half-way through spring and well into October. We hope you are well in everyway and experiencing success in all you do.

This month members of Religions for Peace Tasmania Branch invite you to join them in a number of initiatives to support Climate Action in the lead up to COP26 in Glasgow.

Firstly we would like to pass on ARRCC’s (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change) encouragement for the School Strike 4 Climate Action on Friday 15 October from noon to 2.00pm at Parliament House lawns. Faiths 4 Climate Justice Global Day Of Action

Secondly, there will be a silent vigil for to heed the cry of the earth. It will be held in the Peace Garden at the Friends Meeting House, 5 Boa Vista Road New Town, from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm on Sunday, 16 October. There is limited seating there, so please bring a folding chair if you are coming.

Thirdly, at 8am on Monday October 18, there will be a gathering outside St David’s Cathedral, Macquarie St, Hobart, which will display banners, and peacefully draw attention to the Climate Emergency. Interested people are also invited to walk from there to the office of Senator The Hon Jonathan Duniam for further silent action. Please let people know and be there if you can.

We’d also like to let you know that Hundreds of people of faith have letter-bombed the PM on climate – Eternity News

Finally, there are two significant global gatherings coming up via the internet. The Parliament of the World’s Religions will be holding its global gathering on 16-18 October 2021: 2021 VIRTUAL | Parliament of the World’s Religions

Everyone is welcome to register and join in as you are available.

Religions for Peace Asia is having its 5 yearly Assembly 17-22 Oct https://rfpasia.org/. The Chair of Religions for Peace Australia, Emeritus Professor Desmond Cahill OAM is Co-President of the Asian Chapter and members of Religions for Peace Asia will be presenting during the conference. Again everyone is welcome to register and join in as you can.

Holy Days in October 2021

Date	Event	Faith/religion
7 – 14 October	Navrathri	Hinduism – the Nine Nights of the Divine Mother
15 October	Vijaya Dasami	Hinduism – Victory of the Divine Mother over evil.
20 October	Installation of Scriptures as Guru Granth Sahib	Sikhism
1 November	All Saints Day	Christianity
2 November	All Souls Day	Christianity
4 November	Diwali / Deepavali	Festival of Light: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism
6 November	Birth of the Bab	Baha’i
7 November	Birth of Baha’ullah	Baha’i

Aligning your finances with your faith to protect the planet.

Greetings from the ARRCC Divestment Group and thank you for being interested in our series Aligning your finances with your faith to protect the planet.

We are running the introductory 90 minute session on BANKING again on Monday 11th October and repeating it on Thursday 14th October (session times below). If you find our sessions helpful, we wonder if you could share the following Trybooking registration link with other people in your faith community: https://www.trybooking.com/BPHPL

There is also a Facebook post at https://fb.me/e/4rIkKhOcL you may also like to share.

A participant who recently attended the session on Banking said: I was not aware which banks were funding fossil fuel companies.

The session times are either

Monday 11th October
* Melbourne/Sydney 12 noon
* Adelaide time 11:30 am
* Brisbane 11am
* Darwin 10.30 am
* Perth 9am

Thursday 14th October
* Melbourne/Sydney 7.30pm
* Adelaide time 7pm
* Brisbane 6.30pm
* Darwin 6pm
* Perth 4.30pm

Hindu Society of Tasmania

Hindu Satsang Group Discussions
The discussion this month will be held on 21 October 2021 6.10-8.00pm at the Baha’i Centre of Learning, 1 Tasman Hwy, Hobart (in person or by Zoom)
Satsangs are held on the third of each month.

Dr Nagaratnam Jayasreedharan (Sree) will be presenting and discussing a pre-recorded lecture given by Swami Sarvapriyananda of the Vedanta Society of New York titled ‘The Language of Paradox in Advaita’. The lecture focuses on three key questions: Why the language of paradox? Why God is beyond language? How does it help us spiritually?

If you are interested, please email to the coordinators Ajit (ajitsr@gmail.com) or Sree (njayasreedharan@gmail.com) or SMS Ajit Ramadas: 0411 300 630 or Sree: 0413 936 936

The Hindu Society of Tasmania, Aryasamaj of Tasmania, Deepavali Tasmania and other like-minded associations have jointly been holding Satsang Group Discussions on various Hindu spiritual and philosophical subjects since 2016. Hinduism encourages freedom of enquiry of life. It has resulted in multiple pathways, teachers and practices which may sometimes conflict one with another. In spite of the many differences, there are even more commonalities, like reincarnation, the laws of karma, the cyclic nature of creation and dissolution, the notion of Atma or Jivathma (Soul), Paramatma (Supreme Soul) etc, to be found across them.

These sessions are an opportunity for community members to share and gain understanding on the various aspects of Hindu philosophy. The purpose of these discussions will be to cover various related topics and their associated vocabulary so as to provide a broad understanding of the embedded ideas and insights.

The purpose of the discussions includes the following:

To encourage enquiry and study of diverging Hindu philosophies/faiths
To study the fundamentals of various philosophies/faiths within Hindy culture
To be aware of the difference in viewpoints in diverse philosophies and practices
To share various cultural practices and the rational behind these practices
To encourage self-study and to share the information gained from the same
To share enquiries and personal views on various eternal questions of life
To encourage the practising of various noble human values common to all philosophies
To encourage enquiry into the common and special attributes of soul and mind
To familiarise with concepts such as Atma, Paramatma, Brahman, Prakruthi, Karma, Laws of Karma, Cycle of Creation etcTo Practise universal principles of ‘Ahimsa’, Satya

The Calm Collective

The Calm Collective (Australia) is being launched as a collaborative network, to bring together long-term meditators, faith leaders and well-wishers from all backgrounds and walks of life.

It has one aim: To establish a collective, silent intentional space that gathers the power of presence for 10 minutes each week. These focused spaces are designed to generate atmospheres of calm, healing and hope.

The initial call to action is to gather from 9.00 – 9.15pm, each Sunday evening, from September 26th through to Sunday 19th December, 2021, to support Australia and our world during difficult times ahead.

The holding of these weekly spaces will be accompanied by a couple minutes of inspirations and reflections by a long-term faith and/or meditation practitioner.

Sunday 3rd October: Dr Tami Roos (Founder of Love Your Mind).

Sunday 10th October: Asher Packman, President of Meditation Australia

For details of how to attend the online gathering, please click here

Brahma Kumaris

Calm in Crisis

The world is changing fast. To thrive in crisis, we can learn to reconnect with our core stability, inner peace and power and gently remove anxiety, stress and depression.

The Speaker is Charlie Hogg, the Director of the Brahma Kumaris Australia. He regularly speaks at international forums, seminars, retreats and workshops. Charlie will explore how we can become architects of a better life by cultivating a sense of purpose and self-worth.

Zoom meeting Thursday 28 October 2021 7.00-8.30pm. Zoom link: http://tiny.cc/CalmInCrisis

Enquiries: 03 6278 3788

Sacred Conversations

SACRED CONVERSATIONS is an interfaith outreach and dialogue group that encourages people of different faiths and cultures to come together in a spirit of deep respect, understanding, peace, and love! We meet at the Bahai Centre of Learning on the last Saturday of every month from 2pm to 4pm.

For those who are unable to join us in person, you can still have access to the meeting via this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6401673016

If you would like to participate in promoting spiritual diversity and oneness, please feel welcome to join us for respectful dialogue, prayer, meditation, music, friendship, and more.

Enquiries: 0401 673 016 or julianmcgarry@gmail.com

National Council of Churches Australia

Via Bishop Huggins (President of the National Council of Churches):
About Praying and Meditating for a Beneficial UN COP 26

This Note encourages people of faith to offer their spiritual practice towards a beneficial UNCOP 26.

It is at the request of the Interfaith Liaison Committee to the UNFCCC that Ms Sarwat Tasneem and Bishop Philip Huggins have consulted and now offer these recommendations. Aware of this as divine providence, two of us have been brought together to bring this Note to you.

After consultation, our recommendation is that people of faith join in three additional contributions through the days of UNCOP26.

HOW CAN YOU PARTICIPATE?
At noon each day: Silent Prayer and Meditation, perhaps with symbolic actions of our respective traditions- for example, ringing bells, lighting candles, standing silently together wherever we are.

*7pm Deep Meditation and Prayer, according to our spiritual practice. Below is a prayer bidding from Lindsey Fielder Cook that can be used or for inspiration.

We, voices from faith communities across the world, join in prayer for meaningful decisions at the climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow.

We pray for courage and compassion to transform those human activities destroying nature and alter the climate system on which our lives depend.

We pray our hearts to reject fear and embrace love, hope and transformation for a more healthy, safe, clean and sustainable world. We pray for strength that our lives be patterns and examples.

We pray for protection of climate activists and environmental defenders, who often risk their health, if not their lives, to break silence.

We pray for protection of climate scientists to work without intimidation and with sufficient funding and support.

We pray for protection of the poor and most vulnerable communities, those least responsible yet most affected by our insufficient climate action.

We pray that our leaders listen to grasp the urgency expressed, in the latest science, and to guide our economic systems to reject dependence on extraction, exploitation and accumulation through dispossession.

We pray for wisdom, courage and compassion in our climate negotiators, to find shared solutions together that honour needs of the poorest, which reflecting meaningful action from the richest and highest emitters.

We pray the developed countries will lead in greenhouse gas emissions and climate finance, as they promised in the Paris Agreement.

We pray leaders in all countries will do all they can to rapidly reduce extraction and burning of fossil fuels, and promote sustainable economic, social and political systems to stabilize global temperature rise at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

We pray that developed countries meet their promise of 100 billion dollars a year to help developing countries implement climate action, money in the form of grants rather than loans.

We pray for sufficient finance to Loss and Damage, supporting those communities already profoundly affected by climate change no matter what we do.

We pray for the completion of the Paris Agreement Rulebook, including ambitious, effective and fair compliance in common time frames and transparency in reporting.

We pray for human rights and Indigenous People’s Rights to be included and protected in the Rulebook language, including protection of these rights in carbon trading schemes.

We pray for an inclusive conference, in which the voices of the least powerful are heard alongside the most powerful.

We pray, in this pandemic time, that access to vaccines is a human right for all, and that delegates attending the COP remain healthy and covid-free.

From 5-7 November, there will be a pilgrimage weekend of ‘Faiths for Climate Justice COP26’. This will be ahead of the crucial final week of COP negotiations.

As with all pilgrimages, the physical element is there to challenge the emotional and psychological. Reflection is the essence of all journeys. A mid-COP26 program will provide a platform for delegates, visitors and participants near and far to recharge spiritually and to re-centre on their own journey.

Ahead of the crucial final week of COP negotiations, this weekend of deep contemplation, meditation and prayer, will bring people and communities together across cities and countries especially on the 6th November.

Within a 24 hour window, across countries globally, for 1 hour leading up to a 12 noon silent prayer (local time) – we invite faith groups, and communities to come together in a symbolic act of unity for climate change. This can be reflected in an appropriate manner.

We envisage a virtual and in-person journey of reflection and connection for the good of this common cause.

SILENCE IS RELIGIOUSLY NEUTRAL

Our experience from interfaith involvement is that silent prayer and meditation allows us to each make our spiritual contribution.

With gratitude for you and prayers now, Bishop Philip. See https://www.melbourneanglican.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/PRAYING-AND-MEDITATING-COP26-.-6.docx

Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

The Past and Future of Armistice / Remembrance Day: A Global Webinar

Mark your calendar. We’re planning a big online event for November 4, 2021, at 3 p.m. ET. Details coming soon. Plan to wear a sky blue scarf and a white poppy!

For more information and news about Peace Activism on November 11th
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