1. Cindy Sadlek will lead a discussion of the American philosopher Ken Wilber's book The Integral Vision: a very short introduction to the Revolutionary Integral Approach to Life, God, the Universe, and Everything beginning Wednesday, October 12 and continuing October19th and 26th, in the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 3707 Eastern Ave., Davenport. It is offered both at 10:30 am and 7 pm. To register, contact the church secretary, Stephanie Lanoo, at 563 359 0816.
Wilber asks: What if we attempted to find the critically essential keys to human growth, based on the sum total of human knowledge now open to us? His answer is a kind of meta-structure of human experience and, more importantly, human potential. His Integral Map, or Integral Operating System (IOS), is drawn from developmental psychology, worldviews, multiple intelligences, gender studies, the nature of consciousness, etc. Wilber asserts that the IOS approach to life permits all fields of endeavor at last to speak with one another in a common language. Clearly, however, spirituality dominates much of his thought. Wilber's work is still accessible and at times surprisingly practical. Some language spirals up majestically, recalling great Eastern texts. Reminiscent in spirit and watershed import of Ram Dass's Be Here Now, Wilber's work may well become a popular classic for explorers on the frontiers of humanity.
2. Kathleen Lawless Cox, former poet laureate of the Quad Cities, will present a workshop on writing poetry related to nature and spirituality on Saturday
morning, October 15, from 9 am to noon in the Social Hall of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 3707 Eastern Avenue, Davenport. It will include
readings of poetry of Kabir, Mary Oliver, Pablo Neruda, Whitman and others. There will be discussion of the content, techniques and emotional and
intellectual responses to the poems, the connections and reflections the words arouse as participants come face to face with nature. The workshop will include writing time and time to share poems by participants. To register, email qcuu@mchsi.com, or call Kathleen Lawless Cox at 309 794 9773.
nces both in Germany and in Iowa on Sunday, October 16, starting at 2:00 p.m. at the German American Heritage Center, 712 W. 2nd St., Davenport, Iowa. This program is free for members and free for nonmembers with a paid museum admission. Milena Oda was born in Czechoslovakia and now works in Berlin as an editor, translator and journalist for Radio WDR, Der Freitag, Prager Zeitung, Literární noviny, and others. Her play Mehr als Meer was staged at the Central European Theatre Festival and at the 2009 Forum of Independent Theatre Groups in Alexandria. Oda is the recipient of the 2007 Marguerite d'Or in Vienna, and was nominated for the 2007 Ingeborg-Bachmann award. Her work, in German, Czech, and English, has been featured in the Top-22 Anthology, Ostragehege, Labyrint Revue, Lauter Niemand, Volltext, and Contact. In 2010 she published her first novel, Ich heisse Diener [Call Me Servant]. She participates in the International Writers Program courtesy of the Max Kade Foundation. Find out more about her at 
