Our January meeting featured excerpts from the audio CD “Thomas Merton’s Path to the Palace of Nowhere” narrated by former Trappist monk James Finley, Ph.D.
In February Dr. Robert Alan Jamison, M.D., FAAP, a longtime SOS member, told of his travels around the world as an international medical volunteer to treat patients in medically under-served areas. Dr. Jamison practiced 27 years in Morristown, Tennessee, before retiring in 2009 to start a new career as an international medical volunteer helping people in remote parts of the world. He also discussed how he decided to leave his medical practice in Morristown, Tennessee, to devote the “seonc half of his life” to helping others. For more information about Dr. Jamison’s work see the article in the January AAP News, the official newsmagazine of the American Association of Pediatrics. See also the recent article in the Knoxville News Sentinel by Kristi Nelson.
At our meeting on March 7, SOS member John Prados presented videos on Contemplative Outreach and Reflections on Centering Prayer featuring brief talks by Abbot Joseph Boyle, Father Thomas Keating and Father William Menninger, monks from St. Benedict’s Monastery, a Cistercian (Trappist) monastic community in Snowmass, Colorado.
At our April meeting, George F. Smith, a longtime SOS member, gave a beautiful oral and visual presentation on Celtic Spirituality, tracing its history from the earliest times to the present.
At our May 2 meeting, Monica Armstrong introduced us to the concept of “orientation, disorientation and our new orientation, Resurrection Within.” Orientation was described as periods in our lives when things are moving along smoothly. Disorientation is when something such as serious illness, a long-distance move, change of jobs etc. disrupts our lives and our routine. These are often followed by a new orientation which she described as “a resurrection within.”