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2022 FMW Conference Report

June 20, 2022  /  Leave a Comment  /  Trackback  /  Posted in News

After an unavoidable 2-year hiatus, we were pleased to resume our annual event (that Franklin & Sherifa began nearly a century ago), on the theme of Wisdom from the Aphorisms. There were 15 participants—5 for the 1st time—2 coming the furthest, from Massachusetts (including a heroic pilgrimage through Death Valley), and 2 from North Carolina (with a heroic pilgrimage through LAX).

Our Keynote Speaker, Thomas J. McFarlane, presented and elaborated on Franklin’s Aphorisms on Law found within his Aphorisms on Consciousness without-an-Object. Tom showed how our thought processes responsible for there being a universe are inherently law-governed, tending toward Equilibrium. This is responsible for the orderliness of scientific investigation, societal organization, the constitution of rules necessary for games, etc.

He was accompanied by his friend Aaron Haas on Classical Guitar (who also shared his gift at the Round Table, enhancing our time together).

Ron Leonard presented Non-Duality, the essential notion (symbolizing Reality) at the core of Franklin’s philosophy, grounded most centrally in his Fundamental Realization of the High Indifference, and expressed in his Aphorisms on Consciousness-without-an-Object. Non-Duality is ineffable because language, concepts and logic—the essential tools of our rational minds—are necessarily dualistic, so to Realize our inherent identity as That, we must transcend the limitations of the rational mind as well as our reification and attachment to objects. His talk culminated in an invitation to Realize Non-Duality, reciting “Trust in Mind,” by the 3rd Zen Patriarch.

Doroethy Leonard was a founding member of the Phoenix Friends of Carl G. Jung, holding most of the Board positions—including numerous terms as President. She drew upon her lifelong study of Jung—whom Franklin suggested that she (and his other students) read—to present and clarify Jung’s Central Notions of synchronicity, archetype, self, shadow, etc.

Special Features—Two sessions discussing the Aphorisms on CWO, in particular those relating to Consciousness-without-an-Object (and without-a-Subject) and the alternative symbol of SPACE, deepened our immersion in the Conference theme—as did Franklin’s recording relating Primordial Consciousness to the metaphysics of The Secret Doctrine.

In contrast, Sultana Parvanta’s Somatic Awareness and Practice for Self-Healing and Baiba Strads’ group Sufi Dance Closing Ceremony provided a delightful sensing & feeling balance to the intuition & thinking so prevalent in discussing Franklin’s Work. The Dream and Tarot Circles introduced a third dimension, but privacy prevents revealing its content.

Special thanks to Doroethy’s daughter Jennifer Young and daughter-in-law Jessica Roberts for their support organizing and preparing meals and to her son James Young for installing solar power—now in all 5 residences at the Great Space—and opening the dwellings to accommodate our attendees, as well as cooking two versions of his famous chili.