The Study of Consciousness
10/11 - 11/29 (7 weeks) You'll receive new materials every Friday and can go at your own pace throughout the week.
Overview of the course:
This course is intended to introduce students to the study of the phenomenon of consciousness, with the goal of helping them to identify and discuss select philosophical, scientific, and religious as well as psychological perspectives surrounding consciousness itself. We will also look into how these perspectives relate to the idea of the transformation of consciousness.
We will begin with an examination of consciousness in the general sense, and we will focus on the “hard problem” or “mind-body problem" as it is revealed through philosophical and scientific discourse. We will introduce a discussion of life and the connection to consciousness, and we will continue with a broad overview of the human consciousness in an effort to distinguish a couple of its elemental features that differentiate the latter from other forms of consciousness. Participants will then be ready to address the question: Does the human consciousness transform or evolve? In doing so, we will also view the transformation of the human consciousness as response to crisis.
Materials:
It is recommended that students purchase the book The Ever Present Origin by Jean Gebser, as they will be asked to read sections of it during the course. All other materials (including original audio lectures created by the instructor for this course, supplementary articles, videos, podcast episodes, etc.) are included in the course.
Instructor bio:
Ersi Danou is the co-founder of the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, and a producer and director known for To onoma mou einai Anna, A Sea Apart, and Kingdom by the Sea. She holds an M.A. in Consciousness Studies from the University of Philosophical Research.
image credit: Christine Nguyen
The Philosophy of Music
10/11 - 11/22 (6 weeks) You'll receive new materials every Friday and can go at your own pace throughout the week.
Overview of the course:
For millennia music has been attributed with the capability of expressing emotions and of sharing insight into the human condition. It was believed that, as a universal phenomenon, the human mind could interpret music and comprehend the inherent harmony of the universe. In the Middle Ages, music held an indispensable role not just found in monastic chant but in philosophy and theology as well. Can music, as Plato suggested, give us a glimpse into the cosmos and the world of ideals? What value can music possess that can benefit humanity?
These topics have been tackled by some of the greatest minds including Pythagoras, Aristotle, Boethius, and Schopenhauer. The student will confront these and other fascinating subjects by being introduced to different music philosophies such as Formalism, Expressionism, and Symbolism, and will benefit from the exposure to diverse music pieces that will assist in the perception of the music experience. Music will also be perceived from the point of view of religion, social philosophy, aesthetics, and postmodernism.
Materials:
All materials, including audio lectures created by the instructor, are provided in the course.
Instructor bio:
Juan Hernandez holds an M.M in Music Performance from CSULA. His areas of research include music aesthetics, music history, classical guitar, and vocal and instrumental performance of sacred music. He performs classical, Latin American, and popular modern music. He is a member of the Orange County Guitar Orchestra under the direction of David Grimes, and participated in the release of the album Toccata.
image credit: Wassily Kandinsky "Composition VIII" (1923)
The Seeker's Guide to The Initiates of the Flame with Mitch Horowitz
November 15th-December 20th
(three video lectures, one live 90-minute online session, and weekly supplemental materials and online discussion)
Video introduction to course from Mitch Horowitz
About the course:
In this four-part video course, we explore the background, meaning, and hands-on relevance of Manly P. Hall’s first book, The Initiates of the Flame, written in 1922. Presented by PEN Award-winning historian and widely known voice of esoteric ideas, Mitch Horowitz, this distance-learning opportunity explores the esoteric ideas in Hall’s classic text and updates them into practices and methods that are of special use to the individual seeker today. Includes supplemental readings and message-board dialogues with Mitch and other students.
About the instructor:
Mitch Horowitz is a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library, lecturer-in-residence at PRS, and the PEN Award-winning author of books including Occult America; One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life; and The Miracle Club: How Thoughts Become Reality. Mitch has written on everything from the war on witches to the secret life of Ronald Reagan for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Salon, Time, Politico, and a wide range of zines and occult journals. The Washington Post says Mitch “treats esoteric ideas and movements with an even-handed intellectual studiousness that is too often lost in today’s raised-voice discussions.” He is making a feature film on the occult book The Kybalion, shot on location in Egypt. Mitch narrates many audio books, including Alcoholics Anonymous. He received the 2019 Walden Award for Interfaith/Intercultural Understanding. The Chinese government has censored his work.
The Basics of Esoteric Symbolism
November 15th-December 20th
(four video lectures; weekly supplemental materials and online discussion)
About the course:
The surreal stories, diagrams, and images of the world’s various belief systems can often seem too wacky and intimidating to ever try to approach. Yet, they are incredibly easy to unpack once you know the basic language they all generally speak.
The Bible, Kabbalah, Tarot, Alchemy, Buddhism, Hinduism, and countless esoteric mystery schools (to name a few) all tell the same story with, phenomenally, the same symbols. What are they saying? What’s the deal with snakes, lions, and triangles being used the same way by dramatically different people separated by continents and millennia?
To find out, join us for this course exploring their simple narratives and symbols so you can become forever literate in this timeless language. The goal of this class is to give you the basic tools of symbolic interpretation so you can immerse yourself in esoteric art, movies, myths, and seemingly complex philosophical systems with ease and confidence.
About the instructor:
Stephen Reedy is a multifaceted multitasker. As a filmmaker, he learned the transformative value of verbal and nonverbal communication. As a fancy-pants marketing guy, he learned the ways of emotional manipulation on a global scale. As a comparative philosophy dork, he learned that, miraculously, people from all cultures through all time keep saying the same mysterious thing with the same surreal imagery. What are they trying to say? And how? Exploring this with energy, excitement and rational functionality is what he’s all about.
The Philosophical Research School
