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This issue of our newsletter introduces our brand new programme. We realise that the ‘credit crunch’ may be making it hard for some of you to participate and we have therefore drastically reduced the fees for the majority of courses in the new programme and again, offered you an early booking discount. More on this below.
Also in this newsletter, we have new dates for next term’s open evenings, news of the much-awaited Gaia’s Kitchen and an article from faculty member Brian Goodwin.
We have put all our new short courses on-line in double-quick time to give you at least a taste and summary of what is to come in our next exciting programme. We realise that the ‘credit crunch’ may be making it hard for some of you to participate and have therefore reduced the fees for the new programme (from September 2008) for individuals, educational institutions and NGOs, for many of the courses. For example, a one week course is now £200 cheaper than it was last year.
Our programme will be mailed out in the coming weeks but we wanted to give you advance notice of the course dates so that you can plan ahead and take advantage of the 15% extra you can save on some of our short courses from September 2008 to April 2009 by booking before 20th July 2008.
See all short courses listed through to April 2009
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Extract of an article by Professor Brian Goodwin, Resident Scholar, Schumacher College
We all know that the assumptions about nature being mechanical and deterministic came badly unstuck in the 1920s when physicists developed quantum mechanics to describe the motions of elementary particles. It turned out that photons, for example, don’t obey our usual assumptions about the natural world. They are not waves or particles but both, being one or the other depending on how we look at them. And they are not localised in space-time, like a little marble in motion. Rather, they exist simultaneously in many possible states and express a particular set of properties depending on circumstances. There is complete consistency in their behaviour; it’s just that their consistency is not what we are used to in the large-scale world of everyday experience. Quantum mechanics describes for us a world of ambiguity that resolves itself into creative behaviour appropriate to circumstance.
I believe that biology is now entering this world of ambiguity as a result of the puzzles arising in trying to understand how genes work. We have assumed that their protein products must interact mechanically, but this is not consistent with the evidence. Different sets of genes can produce an organism of the same type, through various paths and in different time sequences. So there is no rigid, deterministic pattern of gene expression and interaction that is necessary in the development of an organism. On the contrary, there is ambiguity here. A colleague at Schumacher College, Philip Franses, and I call this primary ambiguity.
Complexity is a key topic in our forthcoming short course Soul of Science with visiting teachers Rupert Sheldrake and Arthur Zajonc.
Read more about Soul of Science
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There are still places on other summer courses. This is a truly delightful time of year to visit Schumacher College for inspirational lectures, group activities and self reflection. If you are a regular reader of the newsletter you will know that the forest garden is now a wonderful working space, adding to the already lovely surroundings of Dartington and South Devon. As you would expect from Schumacher College, we will have some of the world’s most experienced and informative teachers visiting, including Andrew Harvey, James Marriott and Mary Aver.
Reconnecting with Nature as Healer
May 5-16, 2008
Cathrine Sneed, Mary Aver
Participants on this course will look at two different dimensions of our relationship with the natural world; the way interacting with soil and plants helps individuals and how we relate to plants and the elements on a spiritual level.
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Creating Nature: Art in the landscape
May 26 – June 6, 2008
Susan Derges, Lynne Hull, James Marriott
Participants will discuss the relationship between art and the natural world. The course will involve exploration, discovery and creative practice in landscape.
Sacred Activism
July 14-25, 2008
Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, Andrew Harvey
Participants will develop and understanding of the principals of Sacred Activism. They will discuss visions of the world and how to deal with global crisis through Sacred Activism, sustainable wellbeing, environmental ethics and religion.
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For those of you who have waited for the new print of the sell-out Gaia’s Kitchen by Schumacher College’s Julia Ponsonby can now purchase copies from Green Books. With recipes for small and large numbers, from soups to bread and brownies this book is a delight to use and to give to others. If you have been to the College you will remember the deliciousness of these meals. If you haven’t, you should buy the book and be inspired to come to the College as well!
See information about Stephan Harding’s book Animate Earth
See information about Brian Goodwin’s book Natures Due
See course information – Real Food, Slow Food: Championing sustainable food
November 17 – 21, 2008 | Andrew Whitley, Carlo Petrini
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Bath Spa University
22nd to 24th August 2008
Speakers include: Dr. Onella Corazza, Clare Goodrick-Clarke, Paul Hougham, Prof. Nagatomo Shigenori, Dr. Gay Watson. Chairs: Dr. Peter Fenwick and David Lorimer
This is the first conference in a new series, which will investigate the many ways in which the body interacts with the world other than just physically. Mainstream Western philosophical traditions recognise only the physical aspects of the body, sidelining all the other ways in which we experience the world through our bodies in a non-physical way. Notwithstanding, other cultures and esoteric western traditions do recognise and consider how the body manifests and interacts with the world in other, subtler ways. This conference is designed to open up the field for exploration of new models of subtle bodies and subtle energy and our speakers will give us cross-cultural perspectives and enlarge our understanding of the relationship between the physical and the subtle as mediated by consciousness and intention. We hope that this in turn will contribute to reformulating our understanding of what it is to be human.
The Scientific and Medical Network
info@scimednet.org
(This is not a Schumacher College event)
New open evening datesSee new dates for summer term open evenings Next open evenings: Cathrine Sneed: Wednesday May 7, 2008 Mary Aver: Wednesday May 14, 2008 Lynne Hull: Wednesday June 4, 2008 Thank you! Open HouseThanks to all those that participated in our Open House last week. It was wonderful to have you along to celebrate the season of spring and all the new activities going on here at Schumacher College and Dartington. Open day at DartingtonPut the date in your diary: 31st May 2008 – Dartington Open Day |
Reconnecting with Nature as Healer
5 – 16 May, 2008 | Cathrine Sneed, Mary Aver
Creating Nature: Art in the landscape
26 May – 6 June, 2008 | Susan Derges, Lynne Hull, James Marriott
Soul of Science
16 – 27 June, 2008 | Arthur Zajonc, Rupert Sheldrake
Sacred Activism
14 – 25 July, 2008 | Andrew Harvey, Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim
Walking with the Earth Pilgrim
September 15 – 19, 2008 | Satish Kumar
Earth Jurisprudence: Making the law work for nature
September 22 – 26, 2008 | Cormac Cullinan, Mellese Damtie, Ng’ang’a Thiong’o, Ian Mason
Sustainability and Leadership: The personal challenge
October 14 – 17, 2008| Richard Olivier
Biomimicry: New directions in sustainable design
October 20 – 24, 2008 | Michael Pawlyn, Julian Vincent, Neil Thomas, Graham Dodd
Sustainability and Leadership: The organisational challenge
October 27 – 31, 2008 | Allan Jones, Gaynor Coley, Nick Robins, Paul Dickinson
Roots of Learning: Educating the whole person
November 3 – 7, 2008 | Jack Miller
Real Food, Slow Food: Championing sustainable food
November 17 – 21, 2008 | Andrew Whitley, Carlo Petrini
Ethical Pioneers: an interactive masterclass for the new entrepreneur
November 24 – December 5, 2008 | Including Chris Nichols, Karen Blincoe, Galahad JD Clark
Exploring Science, Matter and Consciousness
January 5 – 23, 2009 | David Peat, Amit Goswami, Peter Fenwick, Chris Clarke
Embedding Holistic Economics: For a global community
January 26 – February 13, 2009 | Manfred Max-Neef, Margrit Kennedy, Colin Hines, Wolfgang Sachs
Roots of Learning: Strategies for creative social change
February 23 – 27, 2009 | Kate Davies
Systems Thinking in Practice
March 9 – 27, 2009 | Gunter Pauli, Don Beck, Rob Hopkins, John Wood
How to Communicate Climate Change: The business challenge
April 2 – 6, 2009 | Ben Stimson, Andy Hobsbawm, Naresh Ramchandani, Antony Turner
Schumacher Certificate in Education
Schumacher College
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Schumacher College is an initiative of The Dartington Hall Trust, a registered charity, bringing ideas on sustainability to life.
