KOSMOS FALL 2018  >  STUDY GUIDE > WEEK THREE

Welcome! 

Here are the selected articles and features for Week 3 | What Consumes Us?

Refer to previous weeks’ instructions for using the self-paced study guide. Remember to share your thoughts in the comment section at the end of each article, or on our Facebook page: Kosmos Journal Quarterly Study Group.

Let’s get started!

Consumption as the Path by Jeff Finlin

Healing the Hunger by Lyla June

These two features examine some of our addictions and teach us that even in the midst of terrible suffering, there is growth. There are many kinds of addictions. We can even be addicted to our own point-of-view!

What are some ‘addictions’ that may be holding you back from living a more fulfilling and peaceful life? 

On a sheet of paper, draw a ‘river’ representing your ‘addiction.’ Where are the headwaters or source? When did the river get faster or slow down? And where are the waters of your addiction carrying you? What or who has impeded or enabled the river at various times? 

How can our darkest time also be one of the most important parts of our journey? Would you give up some of the hardest times in your life, knowing how they helped you grow and become who you are today?

The Problem with “More” by Mark Longhurst

Consider this passage:

We’ll never be satisfied with gadgets, accolades, and more stuff, but the alignment of human desire with divine desire is the goal of our longing. As one of my teachers, James Finley, says, “We are made in such a way that nothing less than an infinite union with Infinite Love will do.”

Infinite Love is the intervention to the greed-fueled, desire-addled world in which we find ourselves. Wholeness and union follow the dark night.

Can you think of anything you really craved that lost its appeal once you acquired or achieved it? What percentage of your possessions would you say are sacred to you? If you had 10 minutes to leave your house forever, what would you take?

What do the words ‘Infinite Love’ mean to you? Do you think such wholeness and union are possible for you in this lifetime? Why or why not?

 

Water and the Rising Feminine with Pat McCabe, Li An Phoa, Eve Miari, and Judy Wicks

A Tale of Two Pipelines by Victoria Price, with Mallory Spencer and Malinda Clatterbuck 

These two companion pieces look at fracking, pipelines, and the effects of the fossil fuel industry on real communities. Collectively, the six women in these stories are consumed by their missions to protect families, communities, and the Earth.

What is your feeling about the issues raised in these stories.

What is your own relationship with water? Do you love the ocean or swimming in a clear lake? How much do you know about the health of your watershed?

Do you feel inspired by any of the women in these stories? Is there a community or political concern that ‘consumes’ you? What are you doing or will you consider doing to help the situation?

Wind | A Letter to My Daughters by Theodore Richards

Theodore Richards traveled the world prior to cell phones and today’s prevalence of the Internet. How well do you remember the time before these dominant technologies?

Reflect on the following and write brief vignettes in your journal, or share in your group or with your children.

What was it like to…

try and locate a long-lost friend?
find information about a historical figure or event?
be lost without a map?
try and find an address in a big city?
reach your family in an emergency?
‘call collect’ person-to-person?
retrieve your message from an answering machine?
coordinate a group of friends to meet?
speak to someone overseas?
use a pay phone?
have a ‘pen pal’?
travel in another country?