Quest news is produced to introduce you to our staff and faculty and as well to pass on exciting information about the upcoming Esoteric Quest Conference and Tours.
Our main conference will explore The Mysteries and Philosophy of Antiquity exploring the spiritual experience, wisdom and art of Ancient Greece. The conference will be taking place September 3rd-8th on the The Island of Samothrace, Greece. The conference will be followed by two optional journeys. One will go to Turkey and the other journey will take us to Delphi, Eleusis, and other evocative mystery centers of mainland Greece. Please see www.esotericquest.org for more information.

A Message From Ralph White, Conference Director

You may be wondering why we chose the remote and mysterious island of Samothrace (Samothraki) as our next venue for an Esoteric Quest. I had been feeling for some time the yearning to go back to the roots of the Western Esoteric Tradition – to the beautiful harmony of philosophy, spirituality and geometry that characterized ancient Greece . There is something deeply refreshing about the world of Pythagoras and Plato and, of course, the mysteries themselves veil the most profound esoteric experiences

So Greece seemed the place to do the next Quest. The question, though, was where? We wanted to find an island first of all, a place of stillness and beauty where we could attune to the ancient truths with only sky, sea and mountain around us. We also wanted an island that had itself been an important mystery center. And lastly, we preferred something off the beaten track, largely undeveloped by the tourist industry.

When the possibility of Samothrace first arose, I was immediately excited. For a thousand years, from about 600 BC to 400AD, the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace had been one of the most important mystery centers of the ancient world. It was a Pan-Hellenic sanctuary, drawing people from throughout the world of Greek civilization, and according to certain esoteric traditions, it had remained spiritually vital long after other mystery centers had begun to fall into decadence.

Many significant figures from antiquity had journeyed to the island to be initiated into the mysteries. These included the father of history, Herodotus; the father of Alexander, Philip II of Macedonia ; the Egyptian Ptolemies; and the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Samothrace seems to have had a unique aura in the ancient world – it was most the most democratic of the mystery centers with all classes of individuals welcome. It has many other associations in antiquity: Homer, in fact, has Poseidon gazing from Mount Saos , the 5,000 foot peak that dominates the island, on the Greeks at the gates of Troy . Asia Minor is not far away.

When I traveled to Samothrace in November to explore the possibility of using the island for our conference, I found a quiet, welcoming place where I was immediately greeted by the mayor. It appears that no other international conference has ever taken place there. It’s also clear that you don’t make a casual visit to Samothrace – first you go to the port of Alexandropoulos in Thrace (a forty five minute flight from Athens), then you take a three hour ferry ride to the island. But your efforts are rewarded by a sense of serenity and mystery, a topography much greener than most of Greece , the quiet lap of the Aegean , and nights filled with brilliant stars.

It soon became evident that the island could function very well for our purposes and that there could hardly be a better choice for an event that addresses the mysteries, and the philosophy that emerged from them. I believe it will provide an evocative context for our immersion in the spiritual experience, wisdom and art of antiquity.

I should mention too that Samothrace is only a few miles from the nautical border with Turkey . In fact, you can reach Istanbul by bus from Alexandropoulos in about five hours. It therefore seemed only logical to continue one of our engrossing themes from last year in Andalusia and Morocco - the encounter with Sufism and Islam. So for those who wish to take a post-conference journey, a trip will be available to meet some of the most knowledgeable Sufi teachers of Istanbul , and to experience the multiple layers of Roman Byzantine, and Ottoman history and culture that characterize this profound city. It will be guided by Stephen Hirtenstein who did such a beautiful job last year leading the journey to Seville and Cordoba .

For those whose primary interest remains Greece itself, there will be an alternative post-conference journey back on the mainland to the mystery centers in Delphi, Eleusis , and Epidaurus , and a visit to the spectacular Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sounion , perhaps the most beautifully sited of all the ancient monuments. It’s hard to know which trip to take – I wish I could do both.

Participants in both post-conference journeys will have the chance to conclude this year’s Esoteric Quest in Ephesus in South West Turkey where there are not only the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but also the remains of the Basilica of St. John, the site where the Evangelist wrote his gospel. Lesser known monuments linked to the mysteries of antiquity, like the sites at Miletus and Didyme on the Turquoise Coast , will be our final immersion in the beauty and wisdom that lies at the foundation of the Western Esoteric Tradition.

So I hope you will join us on another Quest in early September. Greece will be the seventh in our series and our first to explore antiquity. A new world of esoteric wisdom beckons from the past, and I know that I, for one, can’t wait to go there.

Ralph

Where is Samothrace?

Samothrace is an island municipality in Greece, in the northern Aegean Sea. The town is locally called Chora. It is a self-governing deme in the prefecture of Evros and is the westernmost in the prefecture of Evros and the southernmost in the province of East Macedonia and Thrace. It is the southernmost island and point in Greek Thrace. It is only a few kilometres west of the maritime boundary between Greece and Turkey. The island is 17 km (11 mi) long and is 178 km² (69 sq mi) in size and has a population of 2,723 (2001 census). Below is a map showing the major mystery centers and sanctuaries in Greece and Turkey.

Upcoming Events at The New York Open Center:

Abraham, Ibn ‘Arabi and the Religion of Love; The Brotherhood of Milk
Stephen Hirtenstein, MA

Increasingly the patriarch Abraham is seen as a great source of reconciliation in the three Western monotheistic religious traditions. At the same time, he has often been enlisted on the side of intolerance and exclusivity. This talk will focus on the universal human nature of the Abrahamic message, as so eloquently expressed by the 13th century Andalusian Sufi master Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi and seek to show the crucial importance his teaching has for the present era. This talk will continue the themes of the Open Center’s Esoteric Quest for the Golden Age of Andalusia.

AN EVENING LECTURE
Friday, February 29, 7pm
08WSS01M
Members: $18 / Nonmembers: $20

Ibn ‘Arabi’s Teachings on Belief and Transformation; The Color of Water
Stephen Hirtenstein, MA

Ibn ‘Arabi was born in Al-Andalus in southern Spain and produced one of the most impressive and profound bodies of literature in the whole of Sufism. This workshop will focus in more detail on the wisdom of this great Sufi teacher regarding the nature of our belief systems. In what way are we bound by what we believe to be true? What role do faith and reason play in self-fulfillment? We will investigate how it is possible to move beyond a limiting mindset to the freedom of the heart in which Truth is to be found, through Ibn ‘Arabi’s penetrating insights into the binding character of belief and the way of the true gnostic.

A HALF-DAY WORKSHOP
Sunday, March 2, 1–5pm
08WSS00M
Members: $40 / Nonmembers: $50

Stephen Hirtenstein, MA, is the author of The Unlimited Mercifier, a spiritual biography of Ibn ‘Arabi, and co-translator of two treatises by Ibn ‘Arabi, Divine Sayings and The Seven Days of the Heart. He has been the editor of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society’s Journal since its inception in 1982 and is a co-founder of Anqa Publishing. Stephen was a presenter in last year's Esoteric Quest in Granada, Spain and led the post conference tour of Andalucia. Stephen will be joining us again this year leading the trip to Istanbul that will explore Sufism in the area.

Green Hermeticism; Alchemy and Ecology
Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, Peter Lamborn Wilson and Christopher Bamford

Hermeticism, or alchemy, is the primordial science of nature by which human beings in all times and places have sought to unite Heaven and Earth—divinity, cosmos, earth and humanity—for the sake of the world. At once sacred cosmology and spiritual practice, art and science, it has accompanied each religious epoch and every revelation from India and China to the Abrahamic traditions of the West. Nevertheless, in the revival of spiritual traditions and practices, hermeticism and alchemy—like Nature herself—have been largely ignored. Green Hermeticism proposes that it is time to explore not only our ancient masters’ “inner” sciences, but also their sciences of Nature, in order to recover a healthy, truly holistic way of healing our relationship to nature, the Earth and the heavens. Pir Zia Inayat-Khan will introduce the topic and speak about the cosmology, angelology and practices of Sufi hermeticism. Peter Lamborn Wilson will speak about hermeticism in art, language and magic, and propose practical applications such as the creation of astrological gardens. Christopher Bamford will address hermeticism as the paradigm for a new eco-spirituality.

Co-sponsored with Seven Pillars: A Contemporary House of Wisdom,

A ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM
Saturday, March 1, 10am–5:30pm
08WEC27S
Members: $100 / Nonmembers: $110

For more information or to register please see: www.OpenCenter.org or call 212-219-2527

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Please help us get the word out about our upcoming conference. You can help in the following ways:

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