Evolution

Just back from a residential week, which was remarkable in a number of ways.

Leaving aside my own personal experience of it - this blog is not really about me, but about the School as a whole - there were a number of welcome 'firsts'.

Dress Although some streams of the School appear to have adopted a policy of "carry on regardless", ours has definitely embraced the new freedom. Plenty of trouser-wearing women of course (they broke that taboo a few months back), but also some of the men have stopped wearing ties in the evening, unless they wanted to. It was just a handful, but the others will no doubt get used to the idea.

A 'Lucca' day We were divided into six teams, with tutors mixed in (first names in use). Some people were a bit cynical about the whole "team-building" idea, but speaking for myself I thought the 'experiential learning' was brilliant. My favourite bit was trying to build a bridge across a 'river' - it sounds like a nightmare corporate day out, I know - in which I discovered a lot about my own personal approach to teamwork, leadership and followership. Also very good was coaching, which differs from teaching in that the coach cannot tell the 'coachee' anything, either directly or in the form of rhetorical questions.

Meeting in a circle Never thought I would see this happen in the Ballroom. What I noticed - apart from the very intimate conversation that developed - was that it changed my attitude to what I was supposed to be doing in a meeting. I wasn't a passive viewer at any stage. I noticed that when everyone is in view of everyone else, I felt more responsible for myself and for others. No smart remarks out of the corner of the mouth or raising eyebrows at one's neighbour. The circle (or large oval - there were a lot of us) seemed to reinforce what we were about.

There were a number of other minor changes - tutors were swapped for the week; private study sessions; a panel discussion on other paths, people or organizations (Hare Krishna, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Sufism); presentations on exciting new developments being pioneered by people present on the week (Just This Day, an online Sanskrit dictionary).

Maybe the best moment for me was when an impromptu game of rounders started up on the front lawn, with men, women and children (yes - people had brought their children!) all taking part. I suddenly thought - this is the first time I've ever played sport with a woman here. It was great fun.

That would be my overall impression, I think: great fun, real philosophy. Not such an unusual combination, after all.

To anyone who might be in an area of the School where things have not started to move forward, I would say - hang in there. It's worth it.

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Letter from the leader

This letter from Mr Lambie has just been posted on the London site - I think that it's a good step towards a more open approach. What do you think about this, and about the content? - K

Welcome to what is intended to be the first of a series of letters to share some thoughts and reflections about the School and its work. I hope that members of the Schools both in the UK and around the world will find it of interest.

Aims
The principal aim of the School is complete liberation – or, to put it another way, the realisation of Man’s full potential. Together with that there is the secondary purpose of seeking to live and work in such a way as to serve and enrich society and the world in which we live.

Voyage of discovery
As far as the first of these aims is concerned, it is important to make the point that this is very much a voyage of discovery. What may have been understood or experienced in the past should not be taken as final and complete. Rather, it can serve as the foundation for something greater and finer to emerge. Every day provides opportunities for this to happen.
Although the great teachers set out their wisdom fully and generously, it is up to every individual to discover the real meaning and import of that for him or herself. Working together in a School does however mean that one person’s discovery can become everyone’s discovery, and in this way the process is enhanced.

Freedom is an inner state of being and as such it is difficult if not impossible for it to be quantified. Advaita philosophy does however give certain indicators. Where a person has greater energy, steadfastness, reason, love and happiness, and where there is a coherence between thoughts and actions, these do demonstrate a growth of freedom. Advaita philosophy also speaks of universal freedom and the complete elimination of misery. It provides the knowledge which, taken together with meditation, makes this possible. This remains the goal.

Spiritual and cultural heritage
As far as the second of these aims is concerned, the School, in addition to studying and teaching Philosophy, also aims to explore such subjects as art, music, law, economics, science, language, dance, renaissance studies, medicine and education in the light of Philosophy.
Recently, for example in Ireland, we spent a week considering the practical application of Platonic dialectic. London has just seen the book launch of a new translation by a School member of the Asclepius by Hermes Trismegistus. The teachings of such figures as Plato and Hermes Trismegistus may seem arcane but, when really connected with, they can provide invaluable and inspiring insights into present day life. A series of lectures entitled “The Philosophical Garden” on some of these subjects can be downloaded from this web-site.
The full list of all the School’s activities is long. In forthcoming letters I will say something more about these.

Liberation and service
The aims of liberation and seeking to serve society are not unrelated. Where there is a real sense of freedom, any service will carry something of that quality. It will be open, intelligent, creative and full of love. Likewise, in facing the challenges of the world, people often have to transcend their own, self imposed, limits. In rising to the occasion in this way, something of the true nature of the Self is experienced.

I believe the work of the School is of utmost importance. The philosophic teaching that has come from Shri Shantananda Sarasvati is capable of meeting the needs both of individuals and the world in a marvellous way. We do however need to continue with the process of discovery and give great care and attention to all that takes place. In this way we can best seek to fulfil our aims.

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In Memoriam

Yesterday we had a party for people who have left our stream over the years. This unprecedented event seemed to go very well. We didn't have a huge turn out (about 20 people, plus children), but everyone who came seemed really happy to be there.

For some reason, though, I felt sad and melancholic. I couldn't really put my finger on it during the event, but I believe that it was because yesterday represented the end of an era. Old Mr MacLaren would never have countenanced such an event - he took a pretty hard line on "leavers" - and when it finally happened, at the School's Waterperry home, it seemed to hit home that he really is gone now.

A few years ago I read a book called "Built to Last", which was a study of businesses that have lasted a long time, and why. One of the case studies was Disney, a company that went through a period of drifting immediately after the death of its founder. The authors of the book said that the problem with Disney was that for 15 years the first question everyone asked was "What would Mr Walt have said?" The company only began to revive itself when the management stopped asking this question and started to think for themselves. In fact what they did was restate the company's objective, which is to create happiness. Whether or not one likes Disney films, it will be evident that "How can we make people happy?" is a better question than "What would Mr Walt have said?" ... click "Read More"

Mr MacLaren's passing in 1994 was a dramatic event. I well remember the journey to Waterperry that night. Although we didn't yet know it, the elements seemed to express what had just occurred: it was the biggest electrical storm for years in the south of England. In the papers the next day I read how a girl playing football had been killed by the lightning. He was a force of nature, and I can't resist recalling here what Andrew Marvell wrote of Oliver Cromwell:

And like the three-fork'd lightning, first
Breaking the clouds where it was nurst,
Did thorough his own side
His fiery way divide:

...

Then burning through the air he went
And palaces and temples rent;
And Cæsar's head at last
Did through his laurels blast.

'Tis madness to resist or blame
The face of angry Heaven's flame
And if we would speak true,
Much to the man is due

Or perhaps it goes back even further - to the original genesis of the School in the teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. Gurdjieff, too, was a titan, and one with iron in his soul. He taught that unless someone had come under discipline, he did not really exist as a human being. Cruel stories cluster around him: how he made a fortune defrauding small-town mayors while working for the Russian railway; how he tortured horses so that they would obey no-one but him while he made his escape from Russia in 1917; his admiration for a Corsican bandit who would stare through his gunsight at a stretch of road for hour after hour, attention never wavering, waiting for the next victim.

Of course, there is much more to Gurdjieff, but if I overemphasize the cruel and harsh, it is because I think it's that element that passed out of the School yesterday. No longer will someone who leaves the School be ostracized; no longer will the fear of ostracism scare people into staying; and no longer need we see ourselves as superior in order to justify such behaviour.

This is, of course, a great day for the School. But if it also marks in some way the passing of Mr MacLaren, then perhaps it is natural to feel a certain sober regret. For all his foibles and his hardness, much to the man is due.

It would be interesting to hear what others felt yesterday, or in general about the recent developments.

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Signs of life?

This blog started 10 months ago following all of the kerfuffle over St J, created largely by an online bulletin board where ex-pupils aired their grievances. I was very frustrated that (a) all of this stuff hadn't been sorted out sooner (b) many people were still unwilling to admit that the School was at fault and (c) there was no forum within the School to discuss anything in a proper fashion.

The kerfuffle seems to have died down. I don't have any inside information on why that might be, but I would speculate that a number of actions including the official apology from the School and the truth & reconciliation meetings with governors must have helped. My feeling has always been that the people who suffered as children were mainly motivated by a wish to have that acknowledged. The dark mutterings about "hardened activists" do not seem to have been justified, on the whole.

Anyway, my concern was never primarily about St J because it really is none of my business, except in so far as it is an extension of the School itself and therefore a useful lever for change. So what sort of changes have been happening in the School? I know many people who read this blog don't have much of an idea about the experiments and new initiatives, so I thought it might be useful to list some ... click "read more"

1. Parties for "alumni"
Alumni is my term for people who spent a considerable time in School (say 3 years). The attitude to people who leave has always been that they have turned from the true path, but this seems to be changing. A number of parties are being held for such people. The intention is to expand the School's sense of its family, to acknowledge the contribution of the alumni, and to let them know that just because they don't attend any more doesn't mean they are unwelcome.

2. Experimentation with groups, study days and weekends
Experiments I have personally witnessed or heard about in the middle and senior levels include: groups sitting in a circle, students tutoring groups, students tutoring study sessions, groups being mixed up on weekends, "free form" reflection sessions in which it is left up to the intelligence of the student, experimental meditation techniques including those from other traditions. The last two study days I attended were essentially tutored by students.

3. Willingness to explore new online formats
It's now possible to download podcasts from the main web site, and the word is that online discussion groups will soon be started.

4. Links with other organizations
See "Developments" post below. This was pioneered by the Economics faculty a few years back, and - praise be - it is now filtering through to philosophy. The obvious and easiest step is to build connections with similar Advaitin/Hindu groups. I would also like to see us getting some help from university philosophy departments, initially perhaps for things like Plato and Ficino, but eventually including modern Western philosophy. Members of the language faculty attended the World Sanskrit conference in Edinburgh last year for the first time.

5. More liberal attitude to School members' time
In the last couple of years it has become acceptable to put family needs before that of attending one's group, weekend or whatever. Couples have been offered the chance to move stream so that they attend the same weekends.

6. The School asks questions
Again pioneered by the Economics faculty over a decade ago when they asked people to fill in a survey explaining their concerns about economics. The philosophy faculty (a notional entity, like the Alumni, but if you keep saying it, it might happen) seems to be starting to shift too. This is the biggest step, because if the School asks its members (or the public) a non-rhetorical question, it means that the School is finally surrendering a claim on knowledge. All of the preceding five points are helping to create the atmosphere for this.

So, there it is. My personal view, which you may not agree with, is that all of these points are positive signs of life, and that we are finally throwing off the blanket of fear that has covered us for so long, and discovering that the world is not actually opposed to us. Of course, these actions are not endorsed by all senior members - we don't have any way of knowing what they say in the smoke-filled rooms - but so far there has been no revolt.

Do you think some of these changes are wrong? Or do you, like me, agree with them? What other changes would you regard as a sign of health?

It would be very good to hear from everyone, and also from some new voices. I know we have more readers than participants.

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Developments

I heard recently about a new initiative, which is for the School, in co-operation with a number of similar organizations, to promote meditation as a part of daily life.

When I heard about this my immediate response was not "wow, that's fantastic" but "OK, now we're doing what we should". We are not going to transform the School by action, but since we are all bound to act, it makes a great difference what actions we engage in. Would others agree with me that this is the kind of thing we should be doing?

For me, an important issue is that we ought to be capable of giving more than people who are not actively involved in spiritual work.

Development, according to His Holiness, depends upon having more energy available than we need to live our lives. If our lives (including duties) are so exhausting, then we really aren't living properly. If we have nothing to spare for others outside School, we've forgotten the point. Do we expend all our efforts on School duties and on raising the funds to send our children to The Right School? Or is the School the "backstage" that enables us to perform our parts much more brilliantly than we might otherwise do?

There is no possible contradiction between philosophy and an expansive life that is of service to the entire community. Or is there?

Incidentally, if there are many more initiatives such as this (AND if the results are not claimed by the School, as so often) will we need this blog?

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