|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
The purpose of this course is to introduce the mandalic reasoning and problem solving protocols which form the conceptual backbone of the entire year. The processes of asking questions in sequences which form the basis of an objective phenomenology will be introduced through study of the skeleton and the life organs. These scientific protocols will be linked to the epistemological protocols used in developing a meditative practice. In light and dark drawing the epistemology of the creative process is the focus, as students seek to become conscious of the forces in the psyche which lie hidden in the process of artistic work.
|
|
|
|
Lectures are given describing the four subtle bodies, the physical or mineral body, the etheric or life body, the astral or emotional body, and the True self. Lectures will also cover the concepts of body, soul, and spirit as three distinct entities. Other topics will include the three soul forces of thinking, feeling, and willing as they interact within the human being and a brief introduction to the seven year cycles of development in human learning which will be taken up at length in blocks during the rest of the year. Students will be given basic instruction in the journaling process and required to keep a journal of their inner work.
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
The skeleton will be worked with as a problem solving exercise. Question and answer protocols for group work will be explained and developed through practice in observing limb bones, the spinal column and the skull. Group work will focus on the problem solving processes of mandalic questioning. This involves placing questions in a context of earth, water, air and fire as different types of questions. An earth question asks, "What is different?" a water question asks, "What is changing?" an air question asks, "What is reversing?" and a fire question asks, "What is the whole?" These questions will be used later to develop insights into the processes of soul transformation. The mandalic form used by alchemists will be explored and amplified to serve as the basis for the work of the year.
|
|
|
|
|
The students will work on drawings in which the problem solving processes involving the dynamic of light and dark as elements of artistic creation will be explored. The goal of this art block is to confront the dynamic of light and dark in the human soul as an outward process of discovery and struggle through the process of organizing light and dark areas of charcoal on large surfaces. The focus will be on the experience of art as an analog for the inner life of the soul. It is not the goal of these art activities to develop self expression or to develop skills in rendering images of sense objects.
|
 |
|
|
|
