The Creation of Meaning - finding our own creed 20th -23rd July 2011
For some years now the question of creating a schooling course for young people wanting to find meaning within their lives has lived in many different individual and group conversations. The Regional Council and the priest's synod has pondered regularly, on the other hand, how we can make ourselves more visible to those who might find a calling into the priesthood. Now, after conversations which arose among helpers at the children's summer camp and then carried further in the synod and Council in March, an initiative has formed to make a beginning. This first seed will be laid in Grahamstown, from Wednesday, 20th July to Saturday, 23rd July. A group of students studying at Rhodes University will be the crystallization point. We intend to begin the day with the Act of Consecration of Man and also introduce Anthroposophy as a path of knowledge that can change us as human beings. We hope to develop these seminar courses into a path of becoming; meaning, that what we want to know is also what we want to become and do and express as human beings. This first seminar will have the title: THE CREATION OF MEANING. What does it mean to be young in this age?
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by David Nurse
If I don’t live my life according to my personal belief system, then things will lack meaning and value to me. It is equally true that I am continuously searching for my perfect belief system or creed. I test my personal creed in daily life and judge it accordingly. I continuously do and reflect, do and reflect, and in this process create meaning. There is a feed-back system between doing and understanding myself. This is an active process and requires continual initiative.
In order to understand ourselves better we did the following at the seminary:
The seminary participants were nine young people, mostly students from Rhodes University, with Rev. Peter Holman and Rev. Reingard Knausenberger. Being a seminary, the idea was that it is not a once-off gathering, but that it will be continuing in the future. We suggested a similar time as this to continue: just before the beginning of the semester in February 2012.
The seminary took place from 20th to 23rd July in the university town of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape and it was a group effort in organizing it. Private student accommodation was used generally to give people places to stay. For the Act of Consecration of Man we transformed an old Nun’s Chapel. The rest of the activities took place in a university seminar room. We prepared meals in a small serving hatch and ate in the corridor.
And we didn’t just sit on a chair all the time, but also moved, walked and talked a lot.
To me the seminar had a friendly and social atmosphere. It was a privilege to be among open minds who were willing to share how they would like to create meaning. I leave the seminar with a new motivation to work and wrestle with myself, to put my new knowledge into action. I have new goals in meditation and voice practice and a new way of evaluating and understanding myself and relating to the world around me.
If I don’t live my life according to my personal belief system, then things will lack meaning and value to me. It is equally true that I am continuously searching for my perfect belief system or creed. I test my personal creed in daily life and judge it accordingly. I continuously do and reflect, do and reflect, and in this process create meaning. There is a feed-back system between doing and understanding myself. This is an active process and requires continual initiative.
In order to understand ourselves better we did the following at the seminary:
- We formulated our personal belief system or ‘creed’
- We developed a picture of our own biographies and looked for significant memories and turning points
- We noticed how from birth on life develops in a series of threshold crossings, expansions and awakenings; this can continue without limits.
The seminary participants were nine young people, mostly students from Rhodes University, with Rev. Peter Holman and Rev. Reingard Knausenberger. Being a seminary, the idea was that it is not a once-off gathering, but that it will be continuing in the future. We suggested a similar time as this to continue: just before the beginning of the semester in February 2012.
The seminary took place from 20th to 23rd July in the university town of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape and it was a group effort in organizing it. Private student accommodation was used generally to give people places to stay. For the Act of Consecration of Man we transformed an old Nun’s Chapel. The rest of the activities took place in a university seminar room. We prepared meals in a small serving hatch and ate in the corridor.
- Some of the studies done were: The nature of the body, soul and spirit
- The nature of thinking and a modern form of meditation
- A study of Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 8, which led to a discussion of pre-destiny and man’s value to the earth
- We also took a look at world events, our place in them and how we contribute to them.
And we didn’t just sit on a chair all the time, but also moved, walked and talked a lot.
To me the seminar had a friendly and social atmosphere. It was a privilege to be among open minds who were willing to share how they would like to create meaning. I leave the seminar with a new motivation to work and wrestle with myself, to put my new knowledge into action. I have new goals in meditation and voice practice and a new way of evaluating and understanding myself and relating to the world around me.
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