Alma Dell Smith

Thursdays, April 19 - May 24 10:00 a.m. - 12noon 6 sessions
Meeting House Offices, 121 Mt. Vernon Street

Some would say the purpose of meditation is to dispel the illusion of separateness, a way to cultivate an inner light and to experience peace and unity with Divine Reality. One style of meditation is to contemplate verses or phrases that guide awareness. The ecstatic teachings of Sufism, a mystical, ecumenical, and often persecuted branch of Islam, have been called the Path of Love, in which devotion to the Beloved, love between people, and selfless love of community through service lead to union with the Ocean of Consciousness or the ocean of your own soul. A revival of interest in the vast medieval Persian poetry of Rumi, Hafez, and others has exploded into the Western world through recent translations that have become bestsellers. In this course, we will explore this ancient literature’s symbolism and meaning, listen to the music of modern Sufis, and take time each session for personal contemplation.

Alma Dell Smith

Alma Dell Smith received her BA from Smith College and her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Georgia. She was on the clinical faculty of Boston Medical Center in psychiatry and in BMC Medicine’s Women’s Health Group for twenty years. She is currently an adjunct faculty supervisor at Boston University’s graduate training program in psychology. She is a member of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order of Boston. In addition to maintaining a private practice in Brookline, she and her husband, Lyle Miller, have co-authored two popular books: The Stress Solution and Stress and Marriage.