Mystics and Scientists 22 focuses on the Sun in the year of the total eclipse and on the element of fire after last year's conference on breath and air. We will be repeating our successful first evening introductory panel. Our speakers this year cover the usual wide range of disciplines and backgrounds: Professor Ravi Ravindra teaches comparative religion and physics and is coming over specially for the conference, as is renown futurist and economist Dr. Hazel Henderson. The Irish writer, philosopher and raconteur extraordinaire John Moriarty will be coming from Ireland. Prof. Bernard Carr combines his profession as an astrophysicist with a lifelong interest in psychical research. Jane Ridder-Patrick combines professional qualifications in pharmacy, herbalism, counselling and astrology, while Peter Bunyard is at the forefront of research in climate change.

FRIDAY 9th APRIL
7.45 p.m.	The Sun as a Symbol of the Centre	David Lorimer
8.30 p.m.	Introductory panel exploring the theme, with audience participation
SATURDAY 10th APRIL
9.15 a.m.	The Sun and the Living Cosmos	Prof. Bernard Carr
11.30 a.m.	Ancient Egypt: Sun-Day and the Ever-Present Sacred	John Moriarty
2.45 p.m.	Optional workshops
	Churning the Milky Ocean	Prof. Ravi Ravindra
	Journey to the Centre of the Sun	Jane Ridder Patrick
	The Flower-Girl and the Minotaur	John Moriarty
5.00 p.m.	The I of Consciousness - The Sun as Symbol of Self	Jane Ridder Patrick
7.45 p.m.	The Mystic Significance of the Sun	Prof. Ravi Ravindra
9.15 p.m.	Dialogue between Prof. Ravi Ravindra and John Moriarty
SUNDAY 11th APRIL
9.15 a.m.	Global Warming: The Sun and the Living Earth	Peter Bunyard
11.30 a.m.	The Politics of the Solar Age	Dr. Hazel Henderson
2.30-4.00 p.m.	Open Forum: Feedback and Discussion	The Lecturing Panel

Venue: King Alfred's College is set in attractive surroundings overlooking one of the oldest cities in Britain. One hour by train from London.

Accommodation: In single rooms. Most rooms are approximately ten minutes walk from the conference centre. Please note that the College is set on sloping grounds with steps between buildings. Please indicate on the Booking Form if you require special accommodation considerations due to a physical disability.

Fees: Residential option £168 includes accommodation, lecture programme, and all meals. Non-Residents £138 includes lectures and all meals except breakfast. Fees payable on booking. Vegetarian meals provided (also fish option - no need to ask in advance). 4% surcharge on credit card payments. All prices include VAT. Cancellations A fee of £20 will be retained, or £75 after 21st March; after 1st April, no refund.

Booking: Places are strictly limited (there will be no overflow hall this year) so early application is essential. Credit card booking is available on-line. Otherwise, please contact the SMN office for a booking form:

Tape Recording: Individual tape recording is not permitted.

Arrival: 4.00 - 6.30 p.m. on FRIDAY. Joining instructions will be sent with booking acknowledgement.

Departure: after tea SUNDAY

Meal Times:

Breakfast	8.00 - 9.00 a.m.
Coffee	11.15 - 12.00 p.m.
Lunch	1.00 - 1.45 p.m.
Tea	4.00 - 4.30 p.m.
Dinner	6.30 - 7.30 p.m. (Start 6.00 p.m. Friday)
Meditation (optional)	7.45 a.m.

Professor Ravi Ravindra, B.Sc., M.Tech., M.Sc., M.A., Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of Comparative Religion, Professor of International Development Studies and Adjunct Professor of Physics at Dalhousie University in Canada. He was a Member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton in 1977 and Founding Director of the Threshold Award for Integrative Knowledge. He has been appointed to the International Board for the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, 1999-2001. Recipient of many fellowships, awards, visiting professorships and research grants, Ravi is the author of more than a hundred papers in physics, philosophy and religion and of a number of books including: The Yoga of Christ, Science and Spirit (ed.), Krishnamurti: Two Birds on One Tree, and Yoga and the Teaching of Krishna. One of his courses, Mystical Consciousness and Modern Science was selected by the Templeton Foundation for an award in their Science-Religion courses in 1996.

Professor Bernard Carr, M.A., Ph.D., read mathematics as an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge. For his PhD he studied the first second of the Universe, working under Stephen Hawking. He was then elected to a Fellowship at Trinity and subsequently spent a year travelling around America as a Lindemann Fellow before taking up a Senior Research Fellowship at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge. In 1985 he moved to the University of London, where he is now Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary & Westfield College. He has held Visiting Professorships at various institutes in North America and also Japan. His professional area of research is cosmology and relativistic astrophysics, with particular interest in such topics as the early universe, dark matter and the anthropic principle. However, he also has a long-standing interest in the interface between science and religion and in the connection between mind and physics. He is particularly interested in extending the current paradigm of physics to incorporate consciousness and associated mental phenomena. For many years he has been an active member of the Society for Psychical Research, currently serving as both its Education Officer and Chairman of its Research Activities Committee. He is also a member of the Scientific and Medical Network.

Dr. Hazel Henderson, M.A. D.Sc. (hon) is an independent futurist, author of Building a Win-Win World and five other books, worldwide syndicated columnist, and a consultant on sustainable development. Her editorials are syndicated by InterPress Service to some 400 newspapers in 27 languages. She has published articles in over 250 journals. Her first version of her Country Futures Indicators (CFI c), an alternative to the Gross National Product (GNP) is a co-venture with Calvert Group Inc. She is a board member of the Worldwatch Institute and serves on many other advisory and editorial boards. She is a Fellow of the World Business Academy and serves on the Global Commission to Fund the United Nations. She has held the Horace Albright Chair in Conservation at the University of California (Berkeley), and advised the US Office of Technology Assessment and the National Science Foundation from 1974-80. She shared the 1996 Global Citizen Award with Nobelist A. Peter Esquivel.

Peter Bunyard, M.A (cantab), M.A. (Harvard) has been a Fellow of the Linnean Society since 1995. He read natural sciences at Cambridge and did research in insect physiology. He was a founding editor of The Ecologist in 1968. His forthcoming book on climate and life will be published by Floris Books in the autumn. Other books include: Gaia in Action (ed), Nuclear Britain, The Politics of Self-Sufficiency, Health in the Nuclear Age. He is the author and consulting editor, The Ecologist special issue on global warming in Spring 99. He has given keynote talks on Gaia, biodiversity and climate at many international conferences. He has lived on smal farm in Cornwall since 1972.

Dr. Peter Fenwick, M.B. Camb., B.Chir., F.R.C. Psych., D.P.M. was educated at Trinity College Cambridge where he obtained an Honours Degree in Natural Science. His clinical medical training was carried out at St. Thomas' Hospital in London. After obtaining experience in neuro-surgery he specialised in psychiatry. He is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Consultant Neurophysiologist at Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, and Honorary Consultant in Neurophysiology to Broadmoor Special Hospital. He has published numerous scientific papers on brain function and also several papers on meditation and altered states of consciousness. He is Chairman of the Scientific and Medical Network and also President of the U.K. branch of the International Association of Near-Death Studies reflecting his special interest in this field. He lectures widely in England, on the Continent and in the United States on brain disorders and has made many appearances on radio and television.

David Lorimer, M.A., P.G.C.E. Has been Director of the Scientific and Medical Network since 1986. He is author of Survival? Body, Mind and Death in the Light of Psychic Experience (1984) and Whole in 0ne (1990). He is also editor of The Circle of Sacred Dance - Peter Deunov's Paneurythmy (1991), Prophet for our Times (1991) and Gems of Love (1994). He was educated at Eton and the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge. After a spell in merchant banking, he spent a number of years teaching modern languages and philosophy at Winchester College before assuming his present position.

John Moriarty, M.A. writer and philosopher, was born in Kerry in 1938 and educated at Listowel and University College, Dublin. He taught English literature at Manitoba University in Canada for six years, before returning to Ireland in 1971. Sometime gardener, lecturer and broadcaster, he hosted a major series, ‘The Blackbird and the Bell’ on RTE in 1997. His books include Dreamtime (1994) and a three-volume epic Turtle was Gone a Long Time. He lives at the foot of Mangerton Mountain in North Kerry.

Jane Ridder-Patrick, B.Sc., M.R. Pharm.S., M.N.I.M.H., Dip. Couns. has a broad-spectrum portfolio of qualifications ranging from orthodox pharmacy through the alternative medical fields of herbalism, naturopathy and reflexology to the psychological arenas of psychotherapy and astrology. She is principal of the Scottish School of Astrology, which runs regular seminars on astrology and personal effectiveness, grounded in the transpersonal perspective. Her book A Handbook of Medical Astrology (Penguin / Arkana 1990) is a classic in its field.