Explore Life To The Full…
The Tonbridge, Kent course offers a practical means to discover fully who we are, understand how to relate to the world we live in and see what gets in the way of being happy, peaceful and free.
Students are invited to see life as a place to test the words of the wise through practical and mindful exercises.
11 weekly sessions
The eleven weekly sessions explore central human questions through discussion, practical observation, conversation and reflection in good company.
New students will join the group that started in September 2023.
The theme for the group will be Love. See opposite column for more detail.
* Meditation
If there is demand, there will be an additional session to find out more about mantra-based meditation.
Self-enquiry through practical philosophy
Themes included in the course:
The important subject of love. What is love, how is it gained and how is it lost? Different aspects: love, friendship, desire. Is love universal or limited? Does everyone have pure love within their nature?
Pure love expressed through the creation. The effect of pure love being governed by wisdom, attachment or delusion. Thomas à Kempis: the nature of love in overcoming all limits.
The expansion and strengthening of pure love. Constancy in love. Shakespeare’s sonnet: Let me not to the marriage of true minds. Love is the natural in-between. Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy.
Directing love to the true essence. Viktor Frankl. The absence of love and its effect. The Upanishad’s view of love.
The nature and effect of gratitude. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Where is love experienced? A model of the structure of mind and heart.
Rumi: love poetry. Mikahil Naimy: Book of Mirdad.
His influence on CBT. Vice Admiral Stockdale, held in captivity in Vietnam in 1965, survived by remembering Epictetus. Ficino on love.
The relationship between law and love. The commandment to love one another. Freedom of law and love together. Do we work for love, duty or reward? What is it to work with love? Kahlil Gibran. Alexander Solzhenitzyn – the realm of the last inch.
How are love and knowledge related? Can we work with both of them together? Khalil Gibran. Review.