LIGHT UPON LIGHT continues April 2!

Light Upon Light continues with an exploration of the science/art/philosophy of alchemy, the secret process by which base or common metals (or qualities) are transformed into gold (spiritually understood as wisdom, truth, virtue, enlightenment, immortality). In his popular Persian work, The Alchemy of Happiness, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111) wrote, “Know, O Beloved, that the human being was was not created in jest or at random, but marvelously made for some great purpose…When, in the crucible of abstinence, he is purged from base passions he attains to the highest end, and, in place of being a slave to anger and lust, he becomes endowed with angelic qualities…But the spiritual alchemy that effects this change in him, like that which transmutes base metals into gold, is not easily discovered…”

DATE: Friday April 2, 2010
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Lower level, Noor Cultural Centre
ADMISSION: $5

The Light Upon Light Spirituality Discussion Series features a variety of spiritually nourishing subjects in an inclusive space where participants of all faiths actively contribute in a manner that is respectful to all. This series is led by Dr. Timothy Gianotti (2007-2008 York-Noor Chair of Islamic Studies, 2008-2010 Noor Fellow in Islamic Studies at York University).


PREVIOUS TOPICS (from fall, 2007 until present): Spiritual Knowledge / Love / Tests & Trials / Loving Universally while Living within Particularity (featuring the writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook) / On the Importance of Being a Stranger in the World / Dreams, Death and the Journeys of the Spirit / On the Art of Being Grateful / The Importance of Solitude / Core Paradoxes: freedom in servitude, wealth in poverty, life in death, gaining by spending, spiritual advancement through sin / The World of the Unseen / Spiritual Storytelling / Being a Perpetual Beginner / The Poetry of Kabir / "with a little help from my friends..." The indispensability of community for walking the path to God / Rumi & the Wisdom of the Reed Flute / Spiritual Chivalry / Tests and Trials Revisited / Glimpses of the Religious Ideal: Spiritual Masters, Sages, and Other Friends of God in the Jewish and Islamic Traditions (special Muslim-Jewish "Twinning" session at Temple Emanu-El, Toronto) / The Mysteries of Light and Darkness / Pilgrimage