|
Spiritual Inquiry and Inner development
Meditative Life
GERTRUDE REIF HUGHES 
is a former president of the Institute, a longtime student of anthroposophy, and Professor Emerita of English and Women's Studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She is also a member of the core faculty of The Barfield School of Sunbridge College, a low-residency Master's degree program that combines academic study, artistic exploration, and vocational reflection and contemplative practice. The author of Emerson's Demanding Optimism, Gertrude has published essays on nineteenth- and twentieth-century poets and various anthroposophical subjects. As a child, she attended the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City.
Two Week Program: July 13 - 26, 8:30 - 10:00am
Daily meditation can be a precious gift that we give to the world and to ourselves. Rudolf Steiner's classic description of anthroposophy as "a path of knowledge to unite the spirit in the human being with the spirit in the universe" also describes living a meditative life. For when we meditate, we turn our attention to the cosmos and so enable ourselves to receive inspiration from spirit sources. As we start to experience such inspiration, we begin to realize our own cosmic citizenship.
The course will offer daily experience in walking a path of knowledge. We will work with exercises to
concentrate our attention
cultivate our appreciation of nature
wake up to our inter-personal relationships
recognize our connection with the so-called dead
We will also talk about techniques for performing the exercises and living meditatively and we will consider how the human capacity to meditate is connected to consciousness, language, learning, and the physical body. Our goal will be to facilitate and support meditative life.
The course is open to beginners as well as those who have prior experience with meditation.
Text:
Rudolf Steiner, Start Now, edited and selected by Christopher Bamford (SteinerBooks)
Suggested reading:
Georg Kühlewind, From Normal to Healthy (SteinerBooks)
|