What we offer in the "all-inclusive" pricing of our educational programs:

We are "relationship" oriented and focus on establishing a mentor/student relationship that will provide you with the support necessary for higher levels of accomplishment, life integration and practical application to help develop personal skill and directly improve the quality of your life. We empower people to become self-empowered in their own lives. The Fee for each class includes:

1. A lecture guide which provides an introduction, orientation and program "overview" that familiarizes you with the material.

2. We offer competency based education - which means that all test questions are required to be answered in essay form in order to measure comprehension of "core concepts" contained within the material that is vital for it's actual integration and practical application into your daily life.

3. All programs come with level-1 mentoring to ensure a basic understanding of the material itself and to the process for accomplishment, with the availability of continuing services that will provide you with ongoing support to ensure your success.

4. Review of all answers to measure comprehension and provide any further insights into the material and provide constructive feedback if necessary.

5. We point out and focus on the 'core concepts" necessary for successful application in your daily life.

6. A certificate of completion with possible CEU's or college credits if desired.

• HUM: 201   Leonardo, The Turning Point

• HUM: 202   The Hidden Wisdom of Goethe

• HUM: 203   Benjamin Franklin, American Initiate

• HUM: 204   The Bagavad Gita, and Self-Education

• HUM: 205   Beethoven, The Spirit of Prometheus

• HUM: 206   Dante and the Way of Self Discovery

• HUM: 207   Truth and Science

• HUM: 208   Understanding the Modern Ego

• HUM: 209  Towards a New Form of Consciousness

• HUM: 210  Thinking about Thinking

• HUM: 211  Learning from History

• HUM: 212  The Profit Motive

Information on Ordering the whole HUM 201-212 series

Humanities 101 - 112          Humanities 301 - 312           Humanities 401 - 408        

Leonardo da Vinci was always motivated through his observation of reality "to transcend the real," to provide for humans something beyond the materialistic. Everything he did was the expression of some inner reality and everything he made, either in art or science, expressed something more. Thus his whole life and work is one of the first modern examples of the spiritual scientist - the individual who can reunite religion, art and science in a modern, transformed way. Leonardo was not frustrated by the paradoxical unity of the spiritual and the mundane. In fact, he thrived on it; it was the basis of his work, the essence of his being and his great legacy to us. The student will become familiar with the art of Leonardo da Vinci with special emphasis on The Last Supper and Da Vinci's astrological depictions of the 12 Disciples. The focus of this course will be to discover the wisdom that underlies this great work of art.

In light of the popularity of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, it might be interesting to take a special look at the figure of John, the Beloved Disciple. From the mural's recent restoration it is very clear that John is depicted in a very feminine way (as is Christ). This certainly does not mean that this figure represents Mary Magdalene. But it does indicate very much the feminine quality of Sophia (Wisdom), which in Christianity is related to the Holy Spirit and to the Mother of Jesus. Divine wisdom is the quality that both John and the Mother of Jesus possessed. It was also a quality that Mary Magdalene had. It is not hard to understand, therefore, that Leonardo would paint both Christ and John with distinctive female attributes.

Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. This course requires no prior learning but does require the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner.

More info...

(See also Study Questions and the Gospel of John.)

HUM 201:  $200    

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) had by any measure one of the most profound minds of all time. His friend, the poet Schiller, said of Goethe that "Nature has endowed him more generously than anyone since Shakespeare." Although Goethe is well known as one of the world's foremost poets and dramatists, his place in science has been inadequately appreciated. Goethe developed the basic principles of morphology, the branch of biological science which deals with the form and structure of animals and plants. It was Goethe who is given credit for naming this science from the Greek word "morphe," meaning "form," and "logos," meaning "active principles of." While botanists and anatomists had been occupied in analysis, striving to distinguish separate parts, and give them distinct names, Goethe's poetic and philosophical mind urged him to seek the supreme synthesis, and reduce all diversities to a higher unity. His scientific research led to the discovery that all plants are variations of one primitive type, and that nearly all parts of a plant are variations or developments of the leaf. Goethe is to German culture as Shakespeare is to ours. The thrust of this course will be to become familiar with the life and philosophy of Goethe by reading his biography and selected aphorisms. Not only will the student gain a great understanding of the wisdom of Goethe, he or she will enhance spiritual self knowledge.

Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. This course requires no prior learning but does require the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner. [Instructor: Andrew Flaxman]

More info...

HUM 202:  $200    

The end of June in 1787, found the Constitutional Convention, the meeting called to set the official course for the new nation, mired in disunity and indecision that threatened the whole project with failure. In one of the final public appearances of his life, Benjamin Franklin asked the delegates why they had not till then "once thought of humbly appealing to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understanding," and suggested daily prayers for the sessions. "The longer I live," he explained,

"The more convincing proofs I see of the Truth that God governs in the Affairs of Men. And if a Sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that "except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that, without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little, partial, local Interests, our Projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a Reproach and a Bye-word down to future Ages. And, what is worse, Mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate Instance, despair of establishing Government by human Wisdom, and leave it to Chance, War, and Conquest."

Benjamin Franklin was the most philosophical of the "founding fathers". This course will discuss his beliefs and his relationship to Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism. Students will read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin along with a biography of Franklin. Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. [Instructor: Andrew Flaxman

HUM 203:  $200

HUM 204: THE BHAGAVAD GITA AND SELF-EDUCATION

The Bhagavad Gita, the "Song of the Lord" is considered the most important, the most influential and the most luminous of all the Hindu scriptures. The Gita ranks without question with the greatest of Humankind's artistic, philosophical and religious works. Gandhi based his daily life on the Gita from his 20s on. Any sincere spiritual seeker of whatever path or religion will gain a great deal from its study. One's own tradition can be greatly enhanced and better understood by the encounter of a very different age and mode of thought. These scriptures will confirm and strengthen the sense of truth and the feeling for truth with regard to the supersensible (Spiritual) world. Its 700 stanzas distill the finest in India's vast and varied Vedic culture. The Vedas (meaning gnostic knowledge) are believed by Hindus to be based on direct knowledge of God and stem from a very ancient oral tradition that even predates the beginnings of Egyptian civilization. Our purpose in this course is to look at the culmination of this wisdom in the Gita and recognize its usefulness to us today.

Its implications for education have been overlooked in the West, for the most part. Students will read this "Song of God" in two different translations and compare it to How to Know Higher Worlds by Rudolf Steiner. The student will come away from this course not only with a great appreciation of the Gita, but a greatly enhanced spiritual self knowledge. Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. This course requires no prior learning but does require the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner. [Instructor: Antonio T. De Nicolas]

HUM 204:  $200

 

HUM 205: BEETHOVEN, THE SPIRIT OF PROMETHEUS

 In Greek mythology, Prometheus was the demi-god who stole fire from Olympus and gave it (and with it the beginnings of civilization) to Humankind. Zeus was so angered by this theft that he had Prometheus chained to Mount Caucasus where a vulture tore at his liver every day. For thousands of years civilization's great benefactor suffered until Hercules killed the vulture and set Prometheus free. In a transformed manner Beethoven's life and music are a recapitulation of this archetypal story. Beethoven was able to capture the "music of the spheres" and bring it within the province of Humanity, just as Prometheus did with fire. In studying his music and life we actually attune ourselves to much broader issues: the essential spiritual nature of all music; the role of sacrifice and an altruistic motive in creativity; the relationship between suffering and achievement in the personality of the artist himself; how music can be used to spiritualize Humanity; and what kind of music does this. This course will focus on the revolutionary nature of Beethoven, his spiritual growth, and how his music relates to the modern ego. Students will read Beethoven by W.N. Sullivan and listen to the Hammerclavier Sonata, the Symphony no. 3 and the Quartet for Strings, opus 131 in c# minor.

Using the inspirational approach to Beethoven, students will greatly enhance their appreciation of his music.

Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. This course requires no prior learning but does require the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner. [Instructor: Andrew Flaxman]

HUM 205:  $200

HUM 206: DANTE AND THE WAY OF SELF DISCOVERY

Dante Alighieri, the author of one of the world's great masterpieces, the Divine Comedy, was born in Florence, Italy in May 1265 and died in exile in Ravenna in 1321. To reach as many of his contemporaries as possible he wrote in the vernacular Italian rather than in Latin, the language of the Church and the educated. His great epic poem became immensely popular - with the invention of the printing press almost 400 Italian editions were published. Many great artists were inspired, including Botticelli, Michelangelo, Blake, Dore and composers Rossini, Schumann and List. There have been many notable translations into English including those by Longfellow, and in the 20th century, Dorothy L. Sayers. Although we learn these facts in school, how many of us know anything more about this great poem or understand it. In addition to being a great story, Dante's The Divine Comedy has important psychological and spiritual dimensions which can be appreciated today. Special attention will be paid to Paradiso as a description of self-actualization. Students will read this great masterpiece in its entirety.

Students will not only learn to appreciate this great masterpiece of Western Civilization, but he or she will learn much more about personal growth and spiritual development. The student will realize that this great poem can work as a meditation leading to great personal satisfaction and self-transformation. Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. This course requires no prior learning but does require the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner. [Guide by John Saly]

HUM 206:  $200  

 

When we observe the sun rise from the East, watch it move across the sky and then see it set on the horizon to the West, what do our senses tell us? The sun has made a semi-circle around us and the earth. The earth appears motionless and the sun seems to move. How is it then that we, along with most other Human Beings, believe that, contrary to these simple observations, it is the earth that rotates around the sun, not the reverse? Also we have learned that the earth rotates itself on its axis and is not stationary. Related to this modern perception is that most of us believe that the world is spherical. It is taken as a joke now that anyone would think the earth is flat. How could people have every believed that the world had ends to it? It is very hard to put yourself into another person's mind. It is even harder when that person lived hundreds of years ago. But people used to be brought up with completely different beliefs about themselves and the world that also seemed to conform to common perception: A round world seemed to require some people to live upside down, which seemed totally absurd. The point to the above is that what we see with our senses is not necessarily what we believe. Conversely what we believe is not necessarily what we see, but very often we believe it anyway. The focus of this course will be to discover the relationship between truth and science. Through a review of the history of science students will be able to distinguish between theory, belief and knowledge. Insights will be offered concerning the nature of reality. Reading will consist of two books: Catching the Light by Arthur Zajonc and Quantum Questions by Ken Wilbur. Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. This course requires no prior learning but does require the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner. [Andrew Flaxman]

HUM 207:  $200

HUM 208: UNDERSTANDING THE MODERN EGO

Two souls, alas! Cohabit in my breast,/ A contract one of them desires to sever./ The one like a rough lover clings/ To the world with the tentacles of its senses;/ The other lifts itself to Elysian Fields/ Out of the mist on powerful wings Goethe, Faust I, Sc.2 (Louis MacNeice translation)

The soul is traditionally defined as the part of the Human Being that thinks, feels, and makes the body act. Many religions teach that in death the soul and the body become separated, and the soul lives forever. The word "spirit," although used very often as a synonym today for "soul," implies even more the immaterial part of man as distinct from the body. Beginning with the second half of the eighteenth century, the word "ego," meaning "I" in Latin, came to be used more and more by philosophers and psychologists to denote man's self, his individual being, so much so that one could characterize the last century and a half as the age of the ego. By use of the word ego rather than soul or spirit we have been able to obscure any sense that we are not merely our bodies and that we have a place in the "Elysian Fields." The ego has become only that part of us that "clings to the world with the tentacles of its senses." The words we use reflect our consciousness. Losing our sense of body, soul, and spirit, we now consider ourselves only that aspect immediately available to our conscious, bodily self-awareness. This loss of awareness of our other self has led to viewing man as an animal. The animal, with feelings but no self-conscious awareness, has no ego. In contrast, the Human Being has an ego which can view itself in a very limited manner if it so chooses. Students will be exposed to their own sense of self through two great pieces of literature: The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy. Emphasis will be on the dangers inherent in becoming stuck in the "lower self."

Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. This course requires no prior learning but does require the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner. [Guide by John Saly]

HUM 208:  $200 

HUM 209: TOWARD A NEW FORM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Have you ever sensed a power in yourself which seemed bigger than you are? Have you occasionally found yourself in a flow where everything seemed to be turning out just right - the lights turned green, the elevator doors opened just as you got there - the hands in the poker game kept coming up with full houses and royal flushes? Have you risen to some occasion, and performed some feat and then felt amazed - pleased, but like you didn't really do it - something in you just took over and did it through you? Have you experienced a moment of total awe and rapture looking at some panoramic view, and felt totally at peace, and at "one with life"? Likely you have had one, or all of these kinds of experiences. The well-known humanistic psychologist, Abraham Maslow referred to events like these as "peak experiences" - moments in life that stand out as notable in some very special way. I know I have had such experiences. Like me, you probably wished that your whole life could be like this - that you would always experience yourself and your life as powerful, blissful, flowing and magical! But alas - as happened for Cinderella at the stroke of twelve, the magic we experienced disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and once again, we found ourselves in our "tatters" - our everyday "normal" existence.

The thrust of this course will be to understand the process of transforming our current "normal" state of consciousness to a healthy state of consciousness. Students will read Higher Creativity by Willis Harmon and Howard Rheingold, Mystics after Modernism by Rudolf Steiner, and From Normal to Healthy by Georg Kuhlewind. Thoughtful meditation suggestions are given. Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which ask for written response. This course requires no prior learning but does demand the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner. [Instructor: Andrew Flaxman]

HUM 209:  $200  

HUM 210: THINKING ABOUT THINKING

Here is a child-like riddle which can only be solved by a grown-up: What do we use most in daily life yet never see and barely, if ever, are aware of? As you try to puzzle this out, you are in fact automatically making use of just what the riddle is about - THINKING! And the way you see, or adjudge, or explain the rightness of that answer is through your THINKING about it! Only your THINKING can explain your own thinking - in fact, only your thinking can explain anything to you. And yet, our own thinking is one of the least understood aspects of ourselves. Very likely, the thinking we constantly use and on which we rely from opening our eyes in the morning to falling asleep at night, that very thinking which we identify with our own conscious self, our "State of mind," is what poses the greatest mystery to each of us, even to people who consider themselves experts on human nature. Moreover, if we are not conscious of what thinking really is or how it functions, we are in danger of under-using it, misusing it, and abusing it, thereby forsaking a fuller, more conscious life that could be ours. Popular wisdom in an old proverb calls attention to how urgent a matter is the quality of our thinking: "Sow a thought, reap a deed; Sow a deed, reap a habit; Sow a habit, reap a character; Sow a character, reap a destiny." Whether lucid, sloppy, penetrating, narrow, or confused, thinking can lead to what we do (DEEDS), how we live (HABITS), the kind of personality we develop (CHARACTER), and ultimately the very pattern of our biography (DESTINY). As we sow, or think, then so shall we reap! Our thinking has consequences, it seems: Man is not merely what he eats, as the earthy would have us believe, he is also what, and how, he thinks. Goethe once said that thinking about thinking would make one grow mad.

Students will learn how to begin this process without going mad by reading Thinking about Thinking by Alan Howard and the novel The Place of the Lion by Charles Williams. Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. There are questions following this lesson that require email responses. This course requires no prior learning but does require the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner. [Guide by Susan Lowndes]

(See also the Meaning of the Ten Commandments and Lord's Prayer.)

HUM 210:  $200  

HUM 211: LEARNING FROM HISTORY

What can history teach us about the justification of violence? Barbara Tuchman, the late popular historian, was skeptical of our ability to learn from history. The epilogue of her book, The March of Folly, is entitled, "A Lantern on the Stern," suggesting that history can tell us of the follies of the past, but is not too helpful in leading us to a wiser future. Thucydides seems to be equally skeptical when he begins his great History of the Peloponnesian War by "hoping that his study will be judged useful by those who want to understand clearly the events which happened in the past and which (human nature being what it is) will be repeated in the future." Why do political leaders throughout history resort to violence and war so often even when it is contrary to their own enlightened self-interest? How is it that wisdom does not seem to prevail in decision making?

Today it is considered an axiom that history repeats itself. Does this mean that each of us has to repeat this same history? This course suggests that within the framework of recapitulation, it is possible and even compelling to use the lessons of history to help to transform human nature. Even though it appears that history repeats itself, human nature does not remain static. It is history itself that is the transforming tool of those who will learn from it. Perhaps the most important lesson that can be learned from history is when, if ever, is violence justified? "The lantern on the stern" can become a beacon to enlighten the path to a better future. To accomplish this we need a philosophy of history that will give us a framework upon which to make individual decisions and applications. Secondly, we need concrete examples from which we can learn about the folly of the resort to violence.

This course will attempt to provide a way to learn from history. Students will read History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, The Prince by Machiavelli, On Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, and Letter from Birmingham City Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. This course requires no prior learning but does require the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner. [Instructor: Andrew Flaxman]

HUM 211:  $200

HUM 212: THE PROFIT MOTIVE

What is it to profit? In a business sense it means to have revenues exceed costs and expenses. In general terms it means to gain, benefit or take advantage of. In all meanings there must be an accounting to know if there actually is a profit. In all accounting, the time element is fundamental. A business reports a profit or loss for a certain period of time, say for a quarter or for the year. It is very common to think you have made a profit for a certain period of time only to discover hidden costs and expenses later that completely reverse the picture.

In the Bible the first use of the word profit meaning gain occurs in Genesis 37:26 when Judah argues against killing his brother Joseph by asking his brothers, "What will we profit by killing our brother and covering up his murder?" Instead his brothers sell Joseph to a group of traders traveling to Egypt for twenty pieces of silver. The concept of profit certainly begins on a very negative note. The true profit to this terrible transaction became apparent many years later when Joseph's family went to Egypt and found that their brother had become an overlord and was wiling and able to forgive and help his brothers. Profit in the Bible always included a moral and ethical dimension which greatly extended the time frame, even beyond physical life to include the impact on the soul. Throughout the Old Testament, the accumulation of profits was attacked as bad. For example, "Riches profit not in the day of wrath." (Proverbs 11:4) Ill-gotten gains are particularly sinful, such as, "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing." (Proverbs 10:2).

As we know, over the centuries some very fundamental changes have occurred which have brought a social acceptability to profits and to the profit motive. Through a review of history from Biblical times to the present, this course provides an overview of profit from different perspectives. Students will read The Worldly Philosopher by Robert Heilbroner, The Servant as Leader by Robert K. Greenleaf and The Soul of Economies by Denise Breton and Christopher Largent. Questions and thoughts follow the course guide which requires written response. This course requires no prior learning but does require the ability to think clearly and in an unprejudiced manner. [Instructor: Andrew Flaxman]

HUM 212:  $200 

Humanities 101 - 112          Humanities 301 - 312           Humanities 401 - 408    

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