Hosted by Renée Tillotson with featured presenters

Saturdays 3:00 – 4:00 pm Hawaii Standard Time (HST)

Started April 11, 2020

Freely Offered

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This weekly offering gives spiritual seekers the opportunity to learn and share from the great wealth of the world’s wisdom traditions. Each week we will focus on one brilliant gem, a teaching to illuminate our minds and hearts.

Various cultures in all times and places have produced sparkling gems of inspiration – the crystallized essence of spiritual insight. In many cases we know something of the enlightened being – sage, seer, saint – who gave us that gem and lived his or her life accordingly. In all cases, these teachings have informed the lives of the tradition’s followers, bringing clarity to their daily decisions and depth to their meditations.

To begin each circle, one featured speaker will give a short presentation on a brilliant spiritual teaching from one of the world’s wisdom traditions, together with information on the Teacher who conveyed and embodied it. Weekly themes are paralleled with the Still & Moving Center’s handcrafted yearly almanac. 

The group will then take up the topic presented, with opportunity for free conversation and questions, wonderings and examples, of how we might apply this week’s teaching.

Moderated by Renée Tillotson, Director & Founder of Still & Moving Center, engaged in an earnest, life-long spiritual quest.

To view past talks click the links in the titles below.

Upcoming Topics

December 19: “Unconditional Love” by Mary Bird on the Catholic tradition as exemplified by Father Damien

December 26: “Self Crafting”

Past Topics

December 12: “Beneficent Sleep” by Manoj Chalam on the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism

December 5: “Selfless Service” by Franklin Perkins on the Confucian tradition from the perspective of Mengzi

November 28: “Right Meditation” by Kirk Gradin on the Bodhisattva Path of the Theosophical tradition

November 21: “The Guardian Wall” by Donna Moore on the Mahayana Tibetan Buddhist tradition

November 14: **Diwali Celebration** 4:30 – 7:00pm. Join us for this celebration of Light! (View the recording)

November 8: “Selfless Service” – Franklin Perkins on the confucian tradition from the perspective of Mengzi

November 1: “Preparation for Death” – Cliff Tillotson on the neo-platonic tradition

October 31: “Behind Thine & Mine: the Bhoodan Land Gifting” – Sarah Hodges on the Gandhian tradition (View the recording)

October 24: “Right Mindfulness” – Renée Tillotson on the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Pema Chödrön (View the recording)

October 17: “Irreversible Resolve” – Dr. Mark Morisaki on the Western Medical tradition (View the recording)

October 10: “Becoming Wholly Reliable” – Maurice Bisheff on the American Transcendental tradition of Emerson (View the recoding)

October 3: “All Men are Brothers” – Cliff Tillotson on the interfaith tradition of Mahatma Gandhi (View the recoding)

September 26: “Right Effort” – Tony Bonnici on the Zen Buddhist tradition (View the recording)

September 19: “Progressive Self-Awakening” – Fariba Enteshari on the Sufi tradition of Rumi (View the recording)

September 12: “The Bridge Connecting Heaven and Earth” – Elton Hall on the Theosophical tradition (View the recording)

September 5: “Vanquishing Victimism” – Ramdas Lamb on the Hindu ascetic tradition (View the recording)

Aug 29: “Right Livelihood” – Jonathan Colbert on the Theosophical Tradition (View the recording)

Aug 22: “Why Obstacles?” – Renée Tillotson on the Hindu mythological tradition of Ganesh (View the recording) 

August 15: “Casting No Blame” – Katharine Harts on the Christian mystic tradition (View the recording)

August 8: “Mental Hygiene” – Roger Johnston on the Stoic tradition

August 1: “Are We our Brothers’ and Sisters’ Keepers?” – Joe Miller on the Christian mystic tradition (View the recording)

July 25: “Right Action” – Debbie Rosas from the Nia perspective (View the recording)

July 18: “One-Pointed Focus” – David Sanders on the Hindu yogic tradition (View the recording)

July 11: “Egotism and Compassion” – Robin Fujikawa on the Dōgen tradition of Buddhism (View the recording)

July 4: “Spiritual Democracy” – Maurice Bisheff on the Native American and American Revolutionary traditions (View the recording)

June 27: “In the Language there is Life:  I ka ʻŌlelo no ke Ola” – Mālia Helelā on the Hawaiian tradition (View the recording)

June 20: “The Vision of Prometheus” – Jim Tepfer on the Ancient Greek tradition (View the recording)

June 13: “Self-Mastery and Freedom” – Veena Howard on the Gandhian perspective of the Hindu tradition (View the recording)

June 6:  “Development of the Neuro-Muscular-Skeletal System” – Rachel Klein on the scientific perspective and healing traditions

May 30:  “Right Intention” – Reverend Blayne Higa on the Jodo Shin Buddhist tradition (View the recording)

May 23: “Beyond Pleasure & Pain” – Cliff Tillotson on the the Bhagavad Gita perspective of the Hindu tradition (View the recording)

May 16: “Right View – Inner and Outer Perspectives” – Christopher Edwards on the sculpting tradition (View the recording)

May 9: Honoring the Behest of the Divine – Mary Bird on the Catholic tradition

May 2: “The Buddha’s Search to End Suffering” – Kirk Gradin on the Buddhist tradition (View the recording)

April 25: The Value of the Pause in Classical Indian Music – Joss Jaffe on the classical Indian music tradition

April 18: Re-becoming People of Place: Caring for our Earth and All Beings – Miku Lenentine on the Native American Tradition

April 11: Pythagoras on Meditation, the Heroic Ideal and Self-discovery – Jim Tepfer on the ancient Greek tradition

Directions for getting to the online Zoom class:

1. One hour in advance, kindly sign up for your live online class on in MindBody / on our website. Our desk staff will then email you a link to your class on Zoom.

2. Please use the link to sign into Zoom, 5-7 minutes before class, allowing extra time to download the the app if you are  new to Zoom.

3. Contact the desk staff at 808.397.7678 for troubleshooting.

Most of us have wondered, “Why am I here?” There’s a Sufi saying that I’d like to look at in regard to our son Govi: “Every soul is born for a certain purpose, and the light of that purpose is kindled in its soul.” And Plato affirms that we each see our life in great detail before we drop into it, and then we drink the waters of Lethe, and forget what we have seen.

No matter how much of the detail we have forgotten, we each maintain our line of life’s meditation, thrumming steadily beneath the surface of our everyday existence. To the extent we gain self-knowledge, we become aware of our life’s mission and meaning.

Govi became a father himself last week when Ryder Cliff Tillotson came into the world on August 30, 2017. Gazing at the miracle of little Ryder’s birth, I begin to see how Govi’s line of life meditation called Ryder into the world…with a lot of help from his wife, Caitlin!

Govi always saw himself following in his father’s footsteps, both in his line of work and in the family. As a little tyke, he said he was going to grow up and be “an Acacia guy” – the name of Cliff’s company at the time.

Also like his dad, Govi loved little kids. I remember now how he took his little cousin Ryan under his wing when the 6 cousins would annually go to family camp. Ryan was 6 years younger than Govi and followed him everywhere. Many older cousins would have brushed the little guy off as a nuisance. Not Govi. Ryan never spent any time in his own age group because Govi took Ryan directly under his wing and brought him along on all his own camp activities. (It’s interesting that his new son’s name is so similar to his little cousin’s.)

From a comment he made once as a teenager, I know Govi was already visualizing himself as a future family man – perhaps not even consciously until I asked him about it on his 15th birthday.

Govi’s first and only girlfriend, Caitlin, also envisioned a family of children. And before they married, they took in a troubled teenager for 3 years and in many ways parented her, even though they weren’t that much older than she was.

These I now see as earlier signals of some aspect of Govi’s line of life meditation – of course that’s really up to every human being to see for themselves, so my comments here are only my own musings.

Govi took his time in proposing to Caitlin, and then again in agreeing that they were ready to have children of their own. That, too, seems to have been part of his ideation on their being solid, reliable parents who had established their own relationship before bringing someone new into the equation.

Once they knew a baby was on the way, Govi was all in as a dad. New dads, in my experience are pretty clueless, as you can confirm with Cliff. Govi was as excited in his own quiet way as any mother to be that I’ve known! He joined Caitlin for a 12 week natural childbirth course and got training to be her birth coach. He told us excitedly when the baby reached the size of a blueberry, eventually a plum, and a sweet potato!

The next thing we knew, Govi had come up with the name Ryder, and gotten a surfboard for him (the little wave-rider, I guess) months before he was born! He also helped Caitlin put together the cutest little baby room in their house.

The two of them did tons of study about birthing and babies, so they were super ready when the time came, with a complete birth plan. I’m not sure of how much of it got followed, since she ended up having a belated, rough labor. But Govi was there with her and Ryder every step of the way.

In fact, Govi coached her through every contraction and push, no matter how stormy. He supported her from behind during her back labor and helped her in and out of the hot tub. Govi even had Caitlin pull against him with all her might while she was in her pushing phase.

After 42 sleepless hours of labor, Caitlin managed to avoid the C-section they were preparing for Ryder and pushed the baby out on her own. Govi, who had hoped to catch the little guy as he came out, had to clear the way for the worried doctors to take over. He stood watching, in tears of worry, as they cleared the baby’s air passage and allowed him to take his first breath and cry. Govi was finally able to heave a huge sigh of relief that his new son had made it safely into the world.

While Govi was awestruck by Caitlin’s determination and fight through incredible pain, Caitlin  was amazed at how unfailingly helpful Govi was in the hospital. According to the hospital staff, most dads stay on their cell phones during their wife’s labor. But Caitlin says all the nurses kept asking about Govi, “Who IS this guy!?!”

Perhaps you’ll remember me asking a similar question about Govi in a recent letter I sent you, wondering what was inside this mystery box of a son. Through this time of Ryder’s birth, I’m beginning to get a clearer picture of someone who long ago saw his future of becoming a father and brought that vision into reality.

“The future enters into us in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.” – Rainer Maria Rilke