Opening the Mind’s Door

SCHUMACHER COLLEGE
An International Centre for Ecological Studies

Opening the Mind’s Door : Schumacher College

by Rajni Bakshi

This article originally appeared in The Hindu 2002

To see the World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an Hour

William Blake

Open evenings at Schumacher College always begin with a peaceful silence. The gathering of about a hundred people pauses for five minutes of meditative quiet before delving into a variety of contemporary issues. The next hour and a half is devoted to a lecture and discussion on matters like — ecology and the sacred, responsible science, farming for better food, finding our place through the maze of globalisation or something perennial like the enchantment of everyday life.

That opening silence, a few precious moments of collective solitude, almost represents the ethos of the Schumacher “ mission “. Here is an endeavour towards building a better world by simultaneously seeking the light within and “ heaven in a wild flower.”

In the morning, on lucky days, the sun breaks through the stubborn English skies to pour through the ceiling-high windows and drench that lecture hall in a cool brilliance. Now a small group of about 20 people, from different corners of the world, is engaged in an intense exploration of varied political, economic, philosophical or psychological questions.

Earlier in the morning they all gathered for a brief exercise session in the adjoining room which is a small atrium filled with plants, the occasional ringing of a perfectly tuned wind-chime and presided over by the life-size painting of a Korean monk. There is a pervasive sense of comfort with a refined aesthetic that lends itself to relaxed spontaneity. Just before that morning lecture some of the course participants have been cooking the day’s lunch which, like all meals here, is simple, vegetarian and delicious. At the same time other course participants and college staffers have, together, been cleaning up different parts of the 600 year old building which houses the college.

Here is an institution that runs with crisp efficiency and is also permeated by love and affection. It is a college that feels like home, with a palpable warmth greeting everyone who walks across its threshold. E.Fritz Schumacher would have enjoyed being here. For this is a place where one finds community-living which combines learning and teaching with cooking and cleaning, singing and dancing. But this is not why the college is named after E.F. Schumacher — philosopher, economist and author of the famous book Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered.

The college does more than just honour the memory of Schumacher as a remarkably creative individual. It is committed to the vision to which Schumacher dedicated his life. This vision can be understood as “ reverential ecology “. “Reverential economy and ecology

say that you must know your limits and learn to live within them. Then everything will be recycled and regenerated , “ says Satish Kumar, the Programme Director of the College. This would mean a social and economic culture in which no one is made to

“ pay the price of progress.” The foundational principle of Schumacher College is that the grim reality of ecological collapse and widespread poverty can, and must, be changed. How this can be done is an old and difficult question. The answer, Schumacher wrote in 1973 on the concluding page of Small is Beautiful, “ … is as simple as it is disconcerting: we can, each of us, work to put our own inner house in order. The guidance we need for this work cannot be found in science or technology, the value of which utterly depends on the ends they serve; but it can still be found in the traditional wisdom of mankind.” This is the core of Schumacher College’s mission.

Courses at Schumacher College usually draw on multi-cultural sources and explore the paths to an ecological sustainability that ensures human well-being, social justice and spiritual richness. The aim here is to evolve holistic world views in which the earth and all of life are seen as a web of relationships. This is done by taking lessons from the natural rhythms of the earth and thus challenging the prevailing culture which is based on domination over and control of nature.

For example, in March 2002 a course called “ Seeing with new eyes: Science and the Nature of life “explored how modern science is itself changing and dissolving the old view of the universe as a meaningless machine made up of disconnected atoms. The course studied changes coming from cosmology, high-energy physics, quantum theory and biology.

In February 2001 a course entitled “ The Market: Master or Servant “ explored the human deprivation and other social problems created by the prevailing free-market culture and asked how the market mechanism can be made to serve the common good of all.

These themes lead naturally to challenging the very nature of capitalism and its compelling drive for unlimited growth. “ Capitalism has to be reformed to develop some communitarian ways of life and its difficult for us to make this shift, both psychologically and economically,” says Stephan Harding, the staff ecologist.

This is the predominant challenge of the early 21st century and Schumacher College is one of the places that is addressing both its conceptual and practical dimensions. Courses taught at Schumacher, since its inception in 1991, give a broad picture of the creative possibilities before humanity today. Thus teachers at Schumacher include intellectuals, writers and activists who have been doing path-breaking work on these questions. Fritjof Capra, author of the famous book Tao of Physics and more recently of Web of Life, has taught several courses here since the College opened. Hazel Henderson, who has written several books on how economics can be more humanely redefined, is another regular. Others include: Paul Hawken, famous for his ideas on The Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism; Wolfgang Sachs, editor of the Development Dictionary; and Vandana Shiva, the eco-feminist well known for her critique of India’s green revolution.

Most of the teachers who come to Schumacher are otherwise writers who do not fit into the formal teaching structures of universities. So they enjoy coming face to face with students from a wide-range of backgrounds. This gives these cutting edge thinkers a chance to fine-tune their ideas and modes of communication. Plus, the steady passage of such people through the College creates its own synergy.

Every year, for the past ten years, Schumacher College has offered about nine three-week courses. Most of these courses involve two to three teachers and there is room for a maximum of 25 participants. The fee for each course, which is now about 1500 pounds, includes the tuition, boarding, lodging and field trips. Since many eager participants cannot afford this fee the College offers subsidies for a few participants on every course.

Since 1999 the College has also offered a series of five-day Business and Sustainability Courses, specially designed to bring together people from the corporate sector with teachers who work with them on how to make businesses more ecologically sustainable. The College now also runs an MSc. program in Holistic Science, in collaboration with Plymouth University.

However, at the core of Schumacher College are the three week courses. As the participants work together both intellectually and at domestic chores the group naturally coheres. The purpose of these courses is not transmission of ready-made knowledge. Instead, the crux of the education system, being explored at Schumacher, is a shared exploration of how to live a fulfilling life. Holistic learning, says Brian Goodwin, co-ordinator of the MSc, “ is the instinctive, natural mode of acquiring knowledge which we see especially in children, while formal education dulls these instincts and substitutes narrow, specialised knowledge and skills.”

Schumacher College aims to build an atmosphere and a working-living culture in which these basic instincts of holistic living are recovered and nurtured. “ A very important part of education of the future will be to connect to the ecology of the place and do it with hands-on practical work by finding ways of integrating theoretical aspects with practical aspects, “says another staff member Gideon Kossoff. As most Schumacher staff members agree, the College is still evolving towards this goal.

The College’s formal self description is : An International Centre for Ecological Studies. But for many of its admirers, like the author Hazel Henderson, it is a rare institution offering an education for the 21st century. In 10 years the College has attracted course participants from 75 countries. The participants are anywhere from 18 years to 80 years old. Some are already seasoned social-political activists, others are potential world-changers working in main-line professions — a software engineer, a corporate consultant, an economist, an urban community worker.

The impact of Schumacher College is difficult to assess in tangible terms.” Some people who have participated in Courses here do say that they’ve had a life changing experience — they quit jobs and make life changes. Many of them are already at that stage of life and this process just gives them a nudge “ says Gideon.

For example, Morag Gamble, came to the College as a course participant and stayed on as a helper. In a recent article on Schumacher by David Nicholson-Lord in Resurgence Magazine, Morag talks of how being at Schumacher was a transformative experience for her. “ I had been an activist since the age of fourteen but I was tired of fighting against things. I wanted to work towards solutions. It was an amazing ten months. It just blew my mind. It set my life on a completely different path.” Subsequently she returned to the permaculture community of Crystal Waters, in Australia, and set up a series of courses on ecological issues.

Much of the success of Schumacher College can be attributed to the sound principles on which it is founded. It was clear from the outset, says Anne Philips, that life at the College had to manifest the values the you are teaching about. Thus at Schumacher there are no dividing lines between thinkers, cleaners, cooks and managers. While each staffer has a specific role he or she also participates in the full range of work at the College.

Some of this success can be attributed to the benevolent spirit which pervades the old parsonage where the College is housed. But, as William Thomas, one of the College staffers cautions, the building is not Schumacher College: “ the College just occupies the building but it does fits like a hand in glove…the amount of space and the shape of the place must affect what we do and how we do it.”

Schumacher College is now established as one of the nurturing grounds of innovative thinking that seeks solutions to the many perils facing humanity. Some forums of the mainstream are beginning to sit up and take note of this presence.

For example, Satish Kumar, was invited to address the World Economic Forum at Davos last year. This does not mean that mainstream institutions are on the verge of transformation; yet there is hope. Brian Goodwin suggests, “ Humanity pursues an idea and its consequences single-mindedly until it takes us the edge of an abyss. Then we look over and say “ This is not where we intended to come,” as happened , for example, with nuclear weapons — but we turned back from that brink. “

Schumacher College is a tiny post of intense creativity, on that creative edge of chaos, where the future of our civilization is evolving. This open-ended, dogma-free quest for truth is the source of powerful positive energy. Thus many seekers find at Schumacher the warmth and rejuvenation that comes from what in India is called sat-sang — company of truth. There is no secret “ formula “ that can create it or force it to happen. This is a rare conjunction of life journeys and spiritual energies — savoured and nurtured by those who seek “ To see the world in a grain of sand.”

Schumacher College is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and as a charity (company no. 1485560, charity no. 279756). Registered office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, UK.