Symposium 2000 Newsletter
World Peace through Reverence for Life
September 30 - October 15, 2000
Thurston Moore, Editor September, 2000 Number 20
|
Items in this issue:
CURRENT SYMPOSIUM 2000 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Robert Thurman, Buddhist Scholar, Columbia University, Completes
Roster of Vanderbilt Speakers
Ten Universities and Four Religious Faiths are Participating in
Symposium 2000
Hideyo Noguchi - Doctor/Scientist - Shares Exhibit with Albert
Schweitzer at MTSU's Atomic Bomb Exhibit
Musical Meditation for World Peace Concert Gathering
Symposium 2000 Program Book
|
"The man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered
the value of life."
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) |
|
Robert Thurman, Buddhist Scholar, Columbia University,
Completes Roster of Vanderbilt Speakers
The Vanderbilt Speakers Committee will present Robert Thurman,
October 2, 2000, at 7:00 pm, in Langford Auditorium
on the Vanderbilt Campus: "Buddhist Philosophy: An Evening with
Robert Thurman." All Vanderbilt lectures are at no
charge and open to the public.
Popularizing the Buddha's teachings is just one of Thurman's creative
talents. He is author of books and articles about
Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics and culture.
Robert Thurman has made the teachings of the Buddha meaningful
and interesting. In doing so, he has become one of
America's leading voices for sanity and peace in the new millennium.
Time magazine chose him as one of its 25 most
influential Americans in 1997. The New York Times said Thurman
"is considered the leading American expert on Tibetan
Buddhism." Publishers Weekly chose his book, Inner Revolution:
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Real Happiness, as one
of the best books of 1998.
His work and insights are grounded in more than 35 years of serious
academic scholarship. He has B.A., A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from
Harvard and studied in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India and
the United States. A long-time advocate of
Buddhist monasticism, Thurman was the first American to be ordained
as a Tibetan Buddhist monk in 1962. He gave up
his robes after several years, however, when he discovered he
could be most effective in the American equivalent of the
monastery, the university. He is a popular professor in the Religion
Department of Columbia University where he holds the Jey Tsong
Khapa chair in Indo-Tibetan Studies.
Eleven years ago, Thurman co-founded Tibet House New York, a trendy
but serious non-profit dedicated to the
preservation of Tibetan culture on behalf of His Holiness the
Dalai Lama, who calls Thurman "an old friend." Thurman
serves as President of Tibet House. Whether he is using his obvious
talents to educate and inspire or to speak out for the
oppressed who are constrained from speaking for themselves, Thurman
is a celebrity of meaning, a man who lives his life
in cultivation of the Buddhist qualities of wisdom and compassion.
Ten Universities and Four Religious Faiths are Participating in
Symposium 2000
In addition to Vanderbilt University:
Chapman University, California
Marvin Meyer, Albert Schweitzer Conference
Columbia University, New York
Robert Thurman
Fisk University, Tennessee
Naomi Tutu and Raymond Winbush
Albert Schweitzer Conference
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Christoph Wolff
Hastings College, Nebraska
Elinore Barber
Albert Schweitzer Conference
Middle Tennessee State University
Hiroshima/Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibit
Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria
"Drums of Peace"
Old Dominion University, Virginia
Dwight W. Allen
Oregon State University, Oregon
Marcus J. Borg
Samford University, Alabama
Thomas E. Corts, President
Religious Denominations:
The Bahá´í Faith
"The Voices of Bahá" Concert
Presbyterian Church, Downtown Nashville
Nashville Chamber Orchestra
Unitarian Universalist Church
"A Musical Meditation for World Peace"
West End United Methodist Church
Albert Schweitzer Conference
|
|
Hideyo Noguchi - Doctor/Scientist - Shares Exhibit with Albert
Schweitzer at MTSU's
Atomic Bomb Exhibit
The year 2000 marks the 100th anniversary of Dr. Noguchi's first
trip to America. There are many parallels to the lives of
Noguchi and Schweitzer. While Schweitzer's artistic talents was
in music, Noguchi's was in art. Noguchi was not only an
internationally known doctor and scientist, but an artist of the
highest caliber.
In 1900, Noguchi came to San Francisco and later got a position
with the new Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.
Eventually, he was promoted to full-member status at the Institute.
In the early 1900s, the rate of death from yellow fever was very
high. The Rockefeller Institute sent Noguchi to Africa, but six
months after he arrived he contracted the disease and died ten
days later.
He is buried in New York. The inscription on his gravestone reads:
"Through devotion to science, he lived and died for
humanity."
The Mayor of Hiroshima Writes:
I send greetings to accompany the Hiroshima Boys' Choir. I know
they will touch your hearts and inspire you to
contemplate again the sanctity of peace when they perform for
you.
Unfortunately, our planet still bristles with vast arsenals of
nuclear weapons. We must continue making every effort to
make the 21st "a century of peace free from nuclear weapons."
I assure you that the city of Hiroshima intends to continue
spreading the survivor's message, that nuclear weapons are an
absolute evil that threatens the destruction of the entire
human race.
It is profoundly significant that you are reaching out to the
next generation through lectures, discussion, music and other
media to help them recall Dr. Schweitzer's ideals of nuclear abolition
and respect for human life. I hope your passion will
grow into a powerful force hastening the day when the world lives
in genuine and lasting peace.
Tadatoshi Akiba
Mayor, City of Hiroshima
Musical Meditation for World Peace Concert Gathering
with the music of SPACECRAFT
In celebration of Albert Schweitzer’s Reverence for Life philosophy
and hope for a more loving and compassionate world, SpaceForMusic.com Concerts, Tennessee Players, Inc. and Artists Against Racism (AAR) bring you an afternoon
"Musical Meditation for World Peace Gathering” on Sunday, October
1st, 3:00 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church on
Woodmont Blvd. in Nashville. The music group, SPACECRAFT will present a 30 minute meditational music environment open
to all members of the human race. The audience is requested to
use this opportunity to visualize love, compassion
and interconnection for all life on earth and the universe through
prayer, meditation or whatever method your culture may
spiritualize this truth. Throughout the course of the music, individual
members in the audience of different cultures will
recite words of reverence, inspiration, peace, wisdom, etc. that
have been a catalyst to them or their culture, in their native
language.
SPACECRAFT is known for intoxicating live performances in planetariums
and unique architectural spaces. Rob McClain
will supply and operate the esoteric “SAL Speaker” PA system which
will enhance the listening experience in the church,
no matter where you are sitting. This reverent musical gathering
will be recorded for release on mp3.com as downloadable
files and a CD available for anyone around the world to listen
to and/or purchase. The proceeds from sales and playback
money will be donated directly to the Artists Against Racism foundation.
It is our hope that you will enjoy and be inspired
by this unique musical moment.
CONCERT EVENT PAGE AT SPACE FOR MUSIC: Musical Meditation Concert with Spacecraft
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT SOME FREE MUSIC FROM SPACECRAFT at: http://mp3.com/spacecraft
Symposium 2000 Program Book
This beautiful full-color Program Book will contain 112 pages
plus cover. It will feature articles on Albert Schweitzer and
Bach and photos and bios of all speakers and participating organizations.
A limited edition with a deluxe UV coated cover
will also be available.
The Symposium 2000 Program Book is sure to be a collector's item
chronicling this 16-day event. It will be given free to
all those attending the Symposium events. For those who cannot
be here, the book can be ordered by mail: U.S.: $8.00;
Canada, $10.00; other countries $20.00. (Price in U.S. funds and
includes mailing.) For the deluxe edition add $5.00.
Albert Schweitzer
January 14, 1875 - September 4, 1965
See Newsletter, September, 1999 - #8
|
Conference Session Chairs
John Compton
Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, Vanderbilt, Dr. Compton has
been a professor at the University for 48 years. His
B.A. is from the College of Wooster and he received his M.A. and
Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale. His interests have
centered on the social and philosophical impact of the scientists.
Mary Katherine Morn
Mary Katherine is minister of the First Unitarian Universalist
Church. Her community work includes AIDS ministry,
working for women's choices in healthcare, anti-death penalty
advocacy, and supporting Headstart programs. She is
married to John Rakestraw, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt.
Raymond Winbush
Dr. Winbush is the Benjamin Hooks Professor of Social Justice
at Fisk University and Director of the University's
Race Relations Institute. He is the former Assistant Provost and
Director of the Johnson Black Cultural Center at
Vanderbilt.
Elinore Barber, Bach Scholar, Speaker at the Albert Schweitzer
Conference
Director Emerita of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute and former
Editor of BACH Journal, Elinore is currently
Historian/Archivist at Hastings College and Editor of the College
publication, "Rerum Scriptor." A guest in the Gunsbach
home of Dr. Albert Schweitzer in October, 1951 and again during
the summer of 1954, she received daily Bach coaching
from the doctor. Author of several publications, she is currently
engaged in the producton of "An Albert Schweitzer
Reader"-a collection of letters, interviews, photographs, and
other Schweitzer memorabilia geared to give the reader a view
of "The Doctor" in his own words and words of people who knew
him well.
|
|
Among Our Sponsors
Major events at Symposium 2000 are being co-sponsored by
these Vanderbilt University Schools:
• Blair School of Music
Mark Wait, Dean
• The College of Arts & Science
E. F. Infante, Professor and Dean
• The Divinity School
E. Jackson Forstman, Acting Dean
• Peabody College
Camilla P. Benbow, Dean
• School of Engineering
Kenneth F. Galloway, Dean
• School of Medicine
John E. Chapman, M.D., Dean
• School of Nursing
Colleen Conway-Welch, Professor and Dean
Symposium 2000 Website sponsored by spaceformusic.com |
Tennessee Players, Inc. 304 West Due West Avenue
Madison TN 37115-4511
|
|
