AT PLAY WITH WORDS

Alternate Tuesdays @ 7pm starting Sept. 7. $100/semester.
A workshop for those seeking a different approach to writing. By engaging with specific aspects of language and rhetorical approaches in a highly structured way, participants will gain new means to work and play with English. Each of the six self-contained, three-hour workshops begins with assignment of a problem to be solved through the act of writing and is followed by assessment of the solutions and discussion of insights acquired about creative process. Instructor:Anne Armentrout.

PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY

Alternate Wednesdays @ 7pm starting Sept. 22. $80/semester.
Why is the common understanding and practice of religion in modern Western society so often experienced as unsatisfying? Why is the focus of American society supposed to be 'happiness' yet so many individuals seem to be anything but? This course will attempt to offer some answers to these question as well as an understanding of spirituality which will offer an alternative which builds on the best within several traditions. Instructor:Terence Hoyt.

FAIRY TALE GROUP

Every Monday @ 7pm starting Sept 13. $120/8 weeks, w/ option to continue.
I have found that a person's favorite fairy tale somehow seems to encapsulate their future destiny, as if the soul knows and recognizes - in the story - the tasks, struggles and conflicts it will face. Fortunately, the story also contains a gift of transformation. As we were enchanted, so we can be redeemed. We start the first meeting by sharing our favorite story, or one that made a deep impression on us. In a further meeting, we will explore the origins, structure and function of fairy tales. By the end of the course, participants are encouraged and instructed how to write their own fairy tale, sharing with the group how it speaks of their own inner situation. Instructor:Gisela Kirberg.

POSTMODERN THOUGHT: PHILOSOPHY FOR THE INFORMATION AGE

Every Tuesday @ 6pm starting Sept. 7. $95/semester.
Do you find it difficult to understand how Tony Blair of the British Labor Party and George Bush of the Republican Party have joined forces to support the same policies? The answer can be found in the Western philosophic response called Postmodernism. Both of these leaders are grappling with the same conditions: deindustrialization. The information age has changed the economic model. The class structure and the role of the state Soviet Union's collapse has resulted in the rise of the United States as the sole superpower and has discredited Marxism as a progressive social program. Identity movements - social movements based on race, gender, ethnicity, sexual identity and transgenderism - have challenged hegemonic power through diversity. Postmodernism has provided a mosaic of profoundly conservative response to the conditions of change. To understand these changes in the world around you, like the Blair-Bush alliance, join me in examining the principle thinkers of the information age! Instructor:Sandra Karp.

IMPROVISATION GROUP

Alternate Wednesdays @ 7pm starting Sept. 22. $5/session.
Do you feel the loss of the imagination and creative expression in your busy life? Ever want to just engage in purposeless explorations of new ways of thinking, acting and being in the world? This group is dedicated to creating a space of such exploration through the techniques of free movement, theater games, active imagination, playback theater, archetypal amplification, and vocal experimentations. This is not a performance group. Our goal is to create a solid trusting group environment in which new characters, movements, expressions and behaviors can emerge within a supportive non-judgmental atmosphere of "play." The experiences of the group may be personal, humorous, collective, archetypal, spiritual or thoroughly novel. Instructor:David O'Donaghue.

SIX PATHS TO DREAM WORK

Want to learn some new ways of understanding your dreams? Then this class is for you. We will learn six distinct methods of amplifying and interpreting dreams from psychoanalytic, Jungian, gestalt, Senoi, somatic and creative modalities perspectives.. The class will involve dream sharing and active practice with partners, so it will be important for participants to bring in their dreams. Being an experiential and active class, little outside reading will be necessary but will be suggested. Instructor: David O'Donaghue.

THE MODERN SELF & ITS METAPHORS

For the fall, we'll begin by reading and thinking about Charles Taylor's well-known Sources of Self, in which Taylor compellingly reflects on the formation and perpetuation of the "modern" identity. We will also develop a keener eye for the metaphors used in our modern conception of ourselves by considering George Lakoff's Philosophy in the Flesh.

These works provide our "theoretical focus", intended to inspire thought work on the part of group members. Thought work is a process by which an individual (i) identifies a personally relevant issue - a reason for thought work - ranging in kind from the conceptual to the emotional, (ii) decides upon and makes use of intellectual, interactive or experiential resources to aid in the thought work, (iii) assesses the usefulness of the resources, and (iv) reassesses the direction of thought work. The purpose of thought work is to advance ourselves intellectually and practically in a much more deliberate manner. Instructor: Drew Chastain.

EXISTENTIALISM

"Existence precedes essence" was the declaration among a number of philosophers from the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth who claimed that our embodied, emotional, and sensual experience in life should be the basis for our cognitive understanding, rather than grand conceptual schemes of "reality" designed artfully by intellectual castle builders of the ideal. Our lives are full of contradictions, anxieties, vague disruptive feelings that cannot be contained adequately within one grand narrative. We live in partial fictions and remaining true to these as fragments in our lives requires a philosophical stance in life and this stance is called "existentialism." This class will introduce some of the major thinkers in the existentialist movement: Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Camus and Heidegger. Instructor: David O'Donaghue.

CONCEPTS OF RACE

This course will explore the conceptual background informing the distinction between humans based on skin color, and the ramifications of this distinction. Leading questions for this group are "what does whiteness mean?" and "what does blackness mean?" To be announced through ERACE, with guest facilitators from ERACE expected, the discussions in this course should prove to be mind-expanding, with the goal of giving us a better understanding of ourselves, no matter what our skin color. Instructor: Drew Chastain.

METAPHOR IN THOUGHT, ART & CULTURE

What is a metaphor? What is the difference between the metaphorical and the literal? How do we understand metaphor? How common are metaphors in literature and everyday communication? Do dominant metaphors differ from culture to culture? Are metaphors cognitive or aesthetic in function? What makes a metaphor good or bad? Can metaphor be used to describe what literal language cannot?

A comprehensive contemporary theory of metaphor will be introduced and numerous examples discussed to provide greater perspective on the workings of metaphor. Light reading and at-home exercises are recommended. We will gain an appreciation of the pervasive use of metaphor in the thought, art and everyday life of all cultures. Instructor: Drew Chastain.

ARCHETYPES AND CREATIVITY

This class will look at Jungian theories of the creative process through discussing the book Witness to the Fire: Creativity and the Veil of Addiction by the Jungian analyst Linda Leonard. Instructor: David O'Donaghue.

THE CRAFT OF WRITING

(For ages 20 to 80!) Whether you're a beginner or seasoned writer, this course will fuel your creative fire and hone your skills. Through lectures and eye-opening in-class exercises you'll learn to brighten your writing. You'll leave with new "gadgets" in your writer's toolbox, techniques that apply to fiction, poetry, memoir, magazine articles--even personal letters.

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

The course is a general introduction to philosophical questions. It presupposes no prior familiarity with philosophy. We will take into account some historical texts in philosophy, but these will be to support the discussion of ideas, especially those are applicable to modern life.

Throughout the course you will be introduced to a variety of issues that have plagued Humankind throughout time and some of the different ways many Philosophers have thought about them. Throughout history Philosophy has made a distinctive contribution to our lives, how we perceive the world, how we respond to it and what many of us wish to believe to be ‘indubitable knowledge’. However, these perennial questions are still at the forefront of our existence.

POETRY

This class will concentrate on the work of one poet over the summer. Suggestions have been made that it be W.B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens, or W.H. Auden. We will read the poems together and discuss their meaning. Instructor: David O'Donaghue.

THE SECRET HISTORY OF FOOD

Maybe you remember hearing in school that the "New World" was accidentally discovered on a spice-hunting trip. Not a quest for land, at least not at first. Not even a quest for gold. The society we live in today emerged because 15th-century Europeans grew so frustrated with their dull, dull diet that they sailed halfway around the world for a little coriander. On one of those trips Christopher Columbus went the wrong way and found America instead.

Following food is a surprisingly efficient way to access the history of the world. It also gives us a picture of history that includes women to a much greater degree than you usually find in more traditional narratives. The history of food relates intimately to broader cultural developments—and vice versa. Moreover, unlike other academic subjects, we witness the consequences of food history firsthand every night on our dinner plates.

DOING ART ARCHETYPALLY

C.G. Jung described how certain themes and symbols have occurred cross-culturally in cultural myths and stories and individual dreams and creative work. He called these archetypes of the collective unconscious and he found that through accessing these forms, individuals were able to live more authentic and meaningful lives. In this learning activity we will explore our own access point to archetypal images and forms through actively doing art, rather than studying the archetypes themselves.

This group will consist of people doing various art activities together and exploring their creative connections with archetypal forms and energies. Each participant will bring his or her own materials to the studio at the Lyceum and work on projects both individually and collectively in a manner that allows for archetypal themes to be expressed. Together we will view the works created as contact points for our own archetypal relations. Instructor: David O'Donaghue.

ARCHETYPAL PSYCHOLOGY STUDY GROUP

This group will focus on a discussion of the ideas of the leading representative of Archetypal Psychology, James Hillman. We will begin our study with Hillman's book: Re-visioning Psychology. Archetypal psychology deals with the function of the imagination, dreams and myth in creating creative options for personal identity and meaning. A basic understanding of Jungian concepts is probably helpful for this study. Instructor: David O'Donaghue.

A MUSICAL ODYSSEY

Explore music from the Middle Ages to the present, referring to influential crosscurrents of art and literature along the way. Participants are encouraged to share their own favorite selections from the various historical periods. We will be mindful of Igor Stravinsky's admonition : "The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music. They should be taught to love it instead.

YOGA

For more info contact David O'Donaghue.

ECOLOGICAL ISSUES

For more info contact David O'Donaghue.

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

Many contemporary societal problems have been with us for decades. Various groups argue, often adamantly and contentiously, for their solutions. Do these disagreements result from conflicts of interest? Do they arise because of different underlying assumptions? Are there even technical solutions available? Do political considerations make problems intractable?

A discussion group will select issues and explore them, addressing these and other questions. Competing views will be reviewed and discussed from relevant political, economic, legal, philosophical, historical, religious, cultural and other perspectives. These issues are complex which is why they persist. Better understanding of the issues is the objective. Conversion of viewpoints will be rare and is not the objective. The group will meet twice monthly at a time to accommodate its members.

COSMOLOGY

Picking up on a theme from Ph.D. cosmologist, Brian Swimme's video series, Canticle of the Cosmos, we'll explore the history of the scientific study of the universe from Copernicus to Einstein to the present. (How can we see where we are going if we don't know from whence we've come?)

We welcome people who are interested in researching particular scientists and presenting them to the group-- a collective effort of shared inquiry. The only requirement is a highly developed sense of curiosity and wonder about the natural world.

SOUL CLASS

For more info contact David O'Donaghue.

ZEN MEDITATION

For more info contact David O'Donaghue.

THE WHAT, WHY, AND HOW OF ALTERNATIVE HEALING

There are a million healing practices available: everything from putting crystals on your forehead, to drinking soup made from funny plants to smoothing your aura. Do they work? How do you know what might work for you? Can anybody cure you?

This workshop will look at healing, curing and the practices aimed at making them happen. We will look at models of health, disease and wholeness that will help make sense of all the seemingly different practices. Modern science is providing mechanisms that explain why many of the traditional practices work. We’ll talk about, and try where it is appropriate, several practices. That means no gall bladder surgery. You will have a chance to see how and why the practices work, using the most powerful scientific tool available: direct observation and experience.

We will also look at your role in your healing, whether you are having bypass surgery at Duke medical center or having a soul retrieval by a shaman beating a drum.

At the end of the workshop you should have an understanding of the healing process and practices that can help. You should be ready to be a more informed consumer of healing services and a more effective participant in your healing process.

For more info contact David O'Donaghue.

MEET THE PEOPLE WITHIN: SUBPERSONALITIES AND ACTIVE IMAGINATION

Do you ever have a part of you that just doesn't seem to get with the program and, when it comes up, tends to interfere with plans and intentions? Find out about a fun and creative way to deal with aspects of yourself that seem to have a life of their own in this experimental workshop. This two day workshop will present a model of subpersonalities that we all with us and teach methods by which these can be accessed and creatively integrated using active imagination, dialogue, improvisation and art. This workshop promises to be fun and helpful at the same time. Instructor: David O'Donaghue.

THE NEW WORLD OF PUBLISHING

This two-hour lecture gives writers an update on the publishing industry, providing information on the current practices of traditional publishing houses and new modes of publishing such as print on demand (POD) and electronic publishing (E-books). The pros and cons of self-publishing will also be discussed. A number of frequently asked questions will be answered: Is it possible to get published in today's big business, bottom line publishing world? Do I need a professional editor? Do I need an agent? How will I market my book?

For more info contact David O'Donaghue.