The Council of Wisdom > Local Meeting Groups

Local Councils of Wisdom

We encourage members of the Council of Wisdom to form local groups for inspiration, discussion, and social fellowship and networking. In order to be listed on this page as a Local Council of Wisdom, we ask that your group function according to these guidelines:

• Meetings should be open to anyone who wants to attend, whether or not they are members of the Council of Wisdom.

• If the group ever needs to vote on anything, only Council members would be eligible to vote.

• Meetings should be held at least once per month.

Each meeting should have the following three components:

1.	Inspiration. Anyone may recite a passage from a scriptural text or any work of literature, a quotation by a great person, a poem, or something they themselves have written. People may also say prayers and affirmations, share visions, sing, or play musical instruments.
2.	Discussion. Anyone may share anything they wish to discuss that is relevant to the mission and purpose of the Council of Wisdom. Some possibilities would include talking about books, films, art, music, organizations and causes, ideas for bills to propose in the Council, and opinions about bills that have already been proposed. A moderator will keep order and allow everyone to participate in the discussions.
3.	Social. The group will eat a potluck meal together and enjoy casual conversation. People may leave whenever they wish.

• Generally speaking, the inspiration and discussion portions combined should last no longer than an hour and a half. Discussion should probably last something like three or four times as long as the inspirational part of the meeting.

• If a group grows to over 20 people regularly attending, it should be split into two new groups that will hold separate meetings. This is to maintain a friendly, casual, relatively unstructured atmosphere and so that everyone can speak during the inspiration and discussion portions of the meeting. Anything larger than 20 begins to get too big to allow this to happen.

• All groups in a metropolitan area or within a reasonable distance of each other in a rural area should come together at least once per quarter for regional meetings. The inspiration and discussion portions of these large meetings would necessarily be more structured and pre-planned, since there would not be time for everyone in attendance to speak. The social portion would be an excellent opportunity for networking and getting to know new people.

If you are a member of the Council of Wisdom and would like to start a local group in your area, please contact us. We would be happy to add your group to the list below.

List of Local Groups

Council of Wisdom of Greater Washington
     Moderator: Eric Stetson

     Location: Universalist National Memorial Church
1810 Sixteenth St. NW
Washington, DC 20009

     Meeting Time: usually the fourth Saturday of every month, 5 to 8 p.m.

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