BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.2.1//EN TZID:America/Los_Angeles X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:VEVENT UID:17166@uucpa.org DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260404T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260404T170000 DTSTAMP:20260329T172242Z URL:https://www.uucpa.org/events/resonant-reading-saturday-2026-04-04/ SUMMARY:Resonant Reading (Saturday 4/4)-Things strong\, fragile\, and beaut iful—Tolstoy DESCRIPTION:Resonant Reading (Saturday 4/4)-Things strong\, fragile\, and b eautiful—Tolstoy An exploration of ideas\, feelings\, and our life expe riences\, using a different short reading as our springboard each time. Th e sessions are on Saturdays\, 4-5\, and on Wednesdays\, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome to come twice a week or once in a while.\n\nThe participants over the years have found that the approach we take\, and the respectful\, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and con verse\, are as important as the reading itself. While many small groups be gin with a check-in\, with a session only an hour long\, Resonant Reading jumps right in to the conversation. Those who are frequently in the group get to know each other very well this way\, and those who are new will soo n find they are among friends.\n\n\n\nFacilitators use a light hand\, post ing the reading in the chat and calling on whoever's Zoom hand is up. Sugg estions for readings* come from group members\, who also take turns facili tating\, if they want to try that role.\n\nThe reading for this session: S aturday\, April 4\n\n\nI was returning home by the fields. It was mid-summ er\, the hay harvest was over and they were just beginning to reap the rye . At that season of the year there is a delightful variety of flowers—re d\, white\, and pink scented tufty clover\; milkwhite ox-eye daisies with their bright yellow centres and pleasant spicy smell\; yellow honey-scente d rape blossoms [...]\; and delicate almond-scented dodder flowers that wi thered quickly. I gathered myself a large nosegay and was going home when I noticed in a ditch\, in full bloom\, a beautiful thistle plant of the cr imson variety\, which in our neighborhood they call "Tartar" and carefully avoid when mowing—or\, if they do happen to cut it down\, throw out fro m among the grass for fear of pricking their hands. Thinking to pick this thistle and put it in the centre of my nosegay\, I climbed down into the d itch\, and after driving away a velvety humble-bee that had penetrated dee p into one of the flowers and had there fallen sweetly asleep\, I set to w ork to pluck the flower. But this proved a very difficult task. Not only d id the stalk prick on every side—even through the handkerchief I had wra pped round my hand—but it was so tough that I had to struggle with it fo r nearly five minutes\, breaking the fibres one by one\; and when I had at last plucked it\, the stalk was all frayed and the flower itself no longe r seemed so fresh and beautiful. Moreover\, owing to its coarseness and st iffness\, it did not seem in place among the delicate blossoms of my noseg ay. I threw it away feeling sorry to have vainly destroyed a flower that l ooked beautiful in its proper place.\n--Leo Tolstoy\, "Hadji Murad". \n&n bsp\;\n\n\nHow to join:\n\n Join this class from your Web browser: https: //zoom.us/j/91019857324\, passcode 227385\n Join this class using the Zoo m app: Meeting ID: 910 1985 7324\n Join this class by phone: 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)\, Meeting ID: 910 1985 7324\n Join this class by on-tap on mobile phones: +16699009128\,\,91019857324# US (San Jose)\n Phoning in\, but not in the bay area?  Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/abL 8clvIYT\n\nThis is the Zoom link for Saturdays. For the Wednesday Zoom lin k\, go to the Calendar and click on a Wednesday session.\n\nQuestions? Dro p an e-mail to resonant-reading+owner@uucpa.org.\n\n\n \;\n\n*This act ivity was formerly called "Sacred Text Reading." That proved misleading--f or one thing\, more often than not our sources are secular--but it's worth describing the qualities of a sacred text\, which we still look for in th e readings we choose. It is any reading that helps us to:\n\n connect to something of supreme importance to us\n feel more connected to other bein gs or to the universe\n feel more intensely alive\n align our lives with our values\,\n perceive or feel more deeply\n be more fully and authent ically ourselves.\n ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.uucpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09 /Resonant-Reading.png CATEGORIES:Adult,Learning,Ongoing Events,Small Groups END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260308T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR