Monday Good Company

Design consultant, artist and illustrator with a lifetime interest in non-dual teachings and a love of things Colet, along with a team of others Jonathan hosts Monday Good Company at Colet House and on zoom,  bringing us a wide selection of presenters from all different disciplines: academics, artists, authors, doctors, mystics, performers, poets, theologians and scientists.

John Prendergast is a spiritual teacher, author, psychotherapist, and retired adjunct professor of psychology who offers residential and online retreats worldwide. As we open to the realization that personal identity is a social construct, we may discover a profound inner freedom that supports an ease of being and the natural unfolding of our humanity.

The Dalai Lama has famously and frequently said: ‘My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness’. Kindness is a powerful force when coupled with presence and self-awareness. It is also good for our health. James will speak about four levels of kindness: kindness to oneself, to others, to animals and to the planet.

James Whiting has been a follower of non-dual teachings for almost 50 years. He is an inter-faith minister, a trustee of the Miracle Network and was editor of the Society’s magazine between 2014 and 2020.

Louisa was introduced to dreamwork during a retreat in the Catskill Mountains in 2001. A dream that later unfolded in waking reality led her to a local dreamworker who became her teacher.

This marked the beginning of her initiation into dreamwork. Since then, she has been dedicated to practicing and sharing this unique approach. Rooted in non-dual teaching, it allows the dreamer to uncover gateways within the landscape of a dream that reveal the dreamer and the source of all dreaming to be one.

David Lorimer, MA, PGCE, FRSA is a writer, lecturer, poet and editor who is a Founder of Character Education Scotland, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network (www.scientificandmedical.net) and former President of Wrekin Trust and the Swedenborg Society (www.swedenborgsociety.org.uk). He has also been editor of Paradigm Explorer since 1986 and completed his 120th issue in 2026. He was the instigator of the Beyond the Brain conference series in 1995 (www.beyondthebrain.org) and has co-ordinated the Mystics and Scientists conferences every year since the late 1980s (www.mysticsandscientists.org).

Originally a merchant banker then a teacher of philosophy and modern languages at Winchester College, he is the author and editor of over a dozen books, including Survival? Death as Transition (1984, 2017) Resonant Mind (originally Whole in One) (1990/2017), The Spirit of Science (1998), Thinking Beyond the Brain (2001), The Protein Crunch (with Jason Drew) and A New Renaissance (edited with Oliver Robinson). He has edited three books about the Bulgarian sage Beinsa Douno (Peter Deunov): Prophet for our Times (1991, 2015), The Circle of Sacred Dance, and Gems of Love, which is a translation of his prayers and formulas into English. His most recent books are his essays, A Quest for Wisdom, his poetry collections Better Light a Candle and Being Together, and co-edited books Spiritual Awakenings, The Playful Universe – Synchronicity and the Nature of Reality, The Great Upshift and Wisdom and Science – A Necessary Dialogue.

Ileana, Sylvia, and Matthew will guide us on a journey of discovery through the concept of ‘coherent water’, exploring its uses and benefits, as well as the project aimed at recreating the ‘liveliness’ of natural spring water in an urban setting like London, where our connection to nature is often distant.

“The Last Transition: Threshold Consciousness and the Approach of Death”

What happens to consciousness as we near death? This talk looks closely at the threshold states that emerge in the final phase of life—moments where language falters but meaning deepens. Through interdisciplinary perspectives, we’ll explore how these experiences challenge our assumptions about mind, identity, and continuity, opening a space for a more nuanced understanding of the dying process. In this lecture, Felicity reflects on the liminal space between life and death, where consciousness appears to shift beyond ordinary structures.

And asks “What can these moments teach us about being alive, and about the nature of letting go?”

Felicity Warner is the joint founder of Death is Not the End(www.deathnotend.com) and Soul Midwives, an international community of holistic and spiritual end-of-life therapists. A recognised thought leader in threshold consciousness, her work explores the profound shifts in awareness that occur as life draws to a close. She is the author of three bestselling books on death and dying—A Safe Journey Home, The Soul Midwives Handbook, and Sacred Oils. Through her teaching, writing, and advocacy, Felicity continues to reshape how we understand and support the final stages of life. More information can be found at www.soulmidwives.co.uk.

Professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in the Department of Psychosocial and Cultural Processes. Member of the Discourse Analysis and Semiotics of Culture Faculty. He has conducted studies with native peoples of Mexico in the areas of health and conception of the human body. In recent years, he has delved into Eastern Sufi thought. He published in Spanish the translation of Book 1 of Jalaluddin Rumi’s Masnavi, translated from the Persian by Alan Williams.

Billy Doyle teaches Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition, an approach based on listening to the body and has its foundation in the non-dualistic perspective.

He was drawn to the non-dualistic teaching of the East in his 20’s and in the 1980’s met Jean Klein, a master of Advaita and Yoga, in London. The meeting had a deep impact and he subsequently spent many years attending Jean Klein’s retreats and dialogues in UK and abroad.

Billy runs retreats in UK, and teaches yoga as well as non-duality discourses online.

He is author of “Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition: the art of listening”, which follows the teachings of Jean Klein and also two poetic books written from a non-duality perspective: “The Mirage of Separation” and “Ocean of Silence”.

An independent researcher educated in Art History, Comparative Religion at SOAS, and Islamic Manuscripts at Birkbeck, she has spent over 25 years immersed in the study and practice of Persian mysticism. First introduced to Sufi traditions by her father, a scholar of Persian literature, her path has been shaped by the teachings of Rumi, Attar, and Ibn Arabi, as well as guidance from figures like Martin Lings and Professor Alan Williams.

A long-standing member of the Colet House community and the Gurdjieff Society, her work integrates rigorous text study with contemplative practice. Key to her journey was her close collaboration with Richard Stevens, with whom she spent years studying the Qur’an and classic translations of Rumi while engaging in traditional Turning practice and writing on Sufi philosophy.

Philip Marvin has been associated with the Society as Chairman, Trustee and teacher for many years. He has been a teacher and student of non-dual philosophy for over half a century.

Richard Larcombe is a longtime member of The Study Society who, alongside his wife Rachel and pianist Richard Womersley, leads the Monday Movements to Music class at Colet House. Currently serving on the Round Table, Richard was previously a trustee and the Society’s Treasurer.

Sue Cassini Nisbet is part of the Colet meditation team and was inspired to create our regular Sunday and Wednesday zoom meditation, which she leads.

A devoted follower of Dr Roles and H.H. Shantanand Saraswati, Sue is also a Dervish Turner and for many years organised live music for the Dervish Turning Ceremonies.

With a career broadcasting at the BBC and her life as a singing teacher Sue is passionate about music bringing us these wonderful ‘Quiet’ evenings celebrating meditation, music and readings.

Michael Sternfeld is a Certified Master Somatic practitioner and Vedic scholar, as well as a Ramayana specialist with 35 years of deep study, publications and productions.

Working in the spirit of the oral tradition he has produced a complete audio production of the Ramayana, as well as his latest project—Sita’s Gems.   Currently concentrating on integrating the two strands of the Somatic and Vedanta together Michael is working with the subtle depths of the Ramayana. As he writes:

“At its deepest level, we find the impulses of the Ramayana are actually structures of our own consciousness, our own Self. All the characters of the Ramayana are aspects of our own nature, playing out all its possibilities and tendencies.”

During his session with us, Michael will be exploring how we can embody these divine impulses within our own nature.  He will be joining us on the Monday Good Company on Zoom from his home in the USA.

The Wound as Door (Rescheduled talk from 13 April)
What if the wound is not the obstacle to liberation — but its precise vehicle?

Most spiritual paths seek to transcend suffering, to rise above the confusion and pain of human experience into clarity and peace. This talk explores a different possibility: that the emotional body — with its shame, grief, rage, fear, longing — is not the problem the path solves, but the terrain through which the path moves. Every emotional tone is an alchemical gateway, carrying a specific intelligence, a specific transmission, that deepens our aliveness in the fire of realization.

Drawing on thirteen years of lived process and the Seven Gates of Embodied Liberation, this talk explores how the core wound of unworthiness — when met with unconditional presence rather than managed, bypassed or fixed — reveals redemptive love at its core. The obstacle is the invitation. The poison was always already the medicine.

Viivi Jokela is a Finnish teacher and writer based in Helsinki, working at the intersection of nondual inquiry, direct insight, and embodied liberation. She supports individuals through awakening processes, dark nights, and the integration of the shadow, working in satsang format and 1:1 dialogue.

Following a full career in International Banking and a traumatic kidnapping, Emma took to meditation and Buddhist philosophy, particularly about compassion. She formally converted to Buddhism and became the first Western woman to be ordained as a Bhikkhunī in Bhutan in 2014. When still the only Western woman to hold this title, she founded Opening Your Heart to Bhutan, an organisation benefiting Bhutanese children focusing on providing access to and training to ensure safe healthcare and education, disability aids and educational projects.

Emma has given talks internationally, including the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong, the Oxford Human Rights Festival and a Ted Talk and is the subject of the short film “Happiness” by the Dalai Lama Centre for Compassion in Oxford.

She won a Points of Light Award from the British Prime Minister for her service in Bhutan and was shortlisted for the Asian Voice Charity Award for “Most Inspiring Individual in Charity” in 2018. The proceeds from her autobiography entirely benefit the charity and she has just completed a months long fund raising walk round Bhuttan.

Faith & Stillness

Andrea set out on a spiritual journey over 40 years ago when she began questioning the deeper meaning of life.  This journey led her to living in ashrams in India, having a family and career and learning from spiritual teachers and sacred teachings. Following decades of watching her thoughts and meditation, previously overlooked, she discovered Stillness.  Andrea is a coach and mentor, focused on helping people to calm their minds.  She has also written a book on choices and was recently the Co-Chair of Colet House.

Who is this character that we appear to be. How do we try to improve ourselves to reach realization

Stuart invites you to dialogue to see through beliefs that cloud one’s knowing oneself before conditioning 

Stuart Schwartz offers Satsang in the US and Europe, he holds retreats at Aherlow Castle in Ireland and in London. You can visit his site at www.satsangwithstuart.com

Father Laurence Freeman is Director of The World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) a global, inclusive contemplative community. A Benedictine monk of the Congregation of Monte Oliveto Maggiore in the Abbey of S Maria del Pilastrello, Lendinara Italy he lives at the WCCM home in Bonnevaux France, a centre for peace where meditation is practiced and taught as a way to personal and organisational transformation.

A core community and a daily rhythm of meditation, work and study support its widening outreach to society at large and a deepening of the Christian relationship with other faith traditions. Father Laurence encourages the teaching of meditation to children and young people as a way to encourage a ‘contemplative revolution’ in consciousness to help regain the spirit of wisdom tradition in the world today.

Writer, citizen of the world and international teacher, Fr Laurence has inaugurated an MBA course on Meditation and Leadership, and has led to a Contemplative Healthcare initiativein Ireland. He is the author of many articles and books including: Light Within, The Selfless Self, Your Daily Practice, Jesus: The Teacher Within, First Sight: The Experience of Faith, Web of Silence, and his latest book Good Work Meditation for Personal and Organizational Transformation. He collaborated with the Dalai Lama on many dialogues and the groundbreaking book The Good Heart. In 2010, he launched Meditatio––the outreach programme of the WCCM––which promotes meditation as a universal wisdom that opens the common ground of humanity and engages with the secular world in the fields of Education, Medicine, Leadership, Science, Business and Social Justice.

Paul Maiteny has been involved with the Study Society since 1978, exploring meditation, Advaita, the Fourth Way ,and everyday ecological living as expression of non-dual reality. A psychotherapist, ecopsychologist, anthropologist and educator, he combines decades of research, teaching and practice in various aspects of the interrelatedness of ecology, psychology and spirituality as one integrated whole. Paul contributes to community engagement, participatory learning, and the integration of material and spiritual life within the Society.

Chika Robertson is a violin professor at both the Royal Academy of Music and for Chicago Summer Opera. She also serves as an international music examiner, adjudicator and workshop presenter. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has introduced major compositions and worked alongside celebrated figures such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Neville Marriner, Arvo Part, Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Bassey.

As CEO and co-founder of the ‘Music Mind Spirit Trust’ (MMST), she directs programmes that encourage musical participation across all age groups in diverse communities and cultivates fresh opportunities for emerging artists, including MMST’s Young Artist Musical Ambassador (YAMA) programme at the Academy. She and her husband, Prof Mark Ross Clark, founded MMST’s British Opera Academy to foster healing, harmony and unity through the power of music globally.

Chika’s professional journey is anchored in values she acquired from the Study Society under Dr Roles over forty years ago at Colet House, where she is a Trustee.

 

Philip Beckwith, a committed long-term member and trustee of the Study Society, will be examining the emergence of a new paradigm in the way we view ourselves the world and reality.

Martin Redfern spent 30 years producing science programmes for BBC Radio. He is a past trustee of the Study Society and the Scientific and Medical Network and chairs the Music Mind and Spirit Trust.
Kirsten Dwight was a documentary researcher – producer specialising in religion and ethics for BBC Radio 4 (though they never met there). She managed an Open University project on intercultural dialogue in partnership with the British Council. This culminated in the conference ‘Belief in Dialogue’ in the UAE. They met each other there and eventually married.
So a major podcast series last year on ‘Big Questions’ in science and Islam was a natural collaboration for them. They will share highlights from the series.

Mursal Kharoti is an independent researcher, published poet and peacebuilder. With a background in psychology, Kharoti works at the intersection of community healing, creativity and societal impact. 

In this talk, Kharoti will propose that the Confession of Unity – “There is no reality but God” – serves as a metaphysical antidote for the rise in toxic beauty culture, drawing on the ideas of psychoanalysts Jacques Lacan and Carl Jung, as well as Sufi metaphysicist Ibn Arabi.  She will also touch on how the final ‘wave’ of feminism will be spiritual, interpreting Hazrat Inayat Khan’s words, “I can see as clear as daylight that the hour is coming when women will lead humanity to a higher evolution.”