Course Syllabus and Dates

Week 1: Being alone and loneliness – What are we to learn from them? – 1st October
Week 2: What brings happiness? Wisdom from celebrities – 8th October
Week 3: Greek philosophy – 15th October
Week 4: Indian spirituality – 22nd October
Week 5: China and Taoism– 29th October
Week 6 Review and reflection – 5th November
Week 7: Christianity and mysticism – 12th November
Week 8: Islamic mysticism – Sufism – 19th November
Week 9: Discovering the world beyond science – 26th November
Week 10: Review and group-based practical exercise – 3rd December

Live Zoom meeting dates: Tuesdays, 19:00–20:30 BST/GMT

Course basis

The course is based on the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’. These are five evidence-based actions that have been shown to help improve a person’s mental health and wellbeing:

1. Connect (social connections); there are weekly opportunities for connecting on Zoom and possibly an in-person residential after the programme.
2. Be active (physical activity); there are short exercise videos – the programme suggests following a 10-15-minute workout, twice a week.
3. Take notice (mindfulness, meditation); there are guided meditation videos/audio links.
4. Keep learning (studies, learning something new); core part of the course
5. Give (service, volunteering); (homework)

Weekly meetings

The course consists of ten weekly live sessions on Zoom. We will meet on Tuesday evenings (19:00 – 20:30 UK time) to study and discuss each week’s content.

Sessions will begin with a short meditation to free the mind from daily distractions.  There will then be a review of homework from the previous session and a chance for free discussion. Then we will move on to the particular topic of the session (see below). This will be introduced by watching a short video or reading a short text. We will then together explore the meaning of the video/text.

 Homework

Between the weekly meetings, you will be sent video and audio links and asked to partake in short physical activities and guided meditations. You will be asked to complete a weekly diary recording some of your experiences and thoughts. The activities are short and easy to follow.

Learning Platform

We will be using Google Classroom, a learning platform to share questions or understandings linked to each theme with facilitators and students. It is also a good opportunity to keep in touch with others during the week about how you are doing with the physical activities, meditation, and reflective exercise tasks. Additionally, the learning materials such as videos and text that we will watch/read together during the live sessions will be uploaded on Google Classroom after each session should anyone want to engage with them again. On the whole, the aim of using the platform is to provide an opportunity to share, discuss and ultimately create a sense of community.

Your commitment

In addition to the 90-minute sessions each Tuesday, you will need to spend between 1 to 1.5 hours spread over the week for your ‘homework’. You should aim to attend all the weekly sessions but of course circumstances might mean you have to miss one. Recordings may be made available for you to watch again or to view if you unfortunately could not attend. This will depend on all the participants giving consent for the sessions to be recorded.

Assignment

You will be invited to complete one piece of work at the end of the course (e.g., essay, reflective diary or video presentation) of approximately 1,000 words or 1-2 pages. The assignment will be about what you learned from the course and how you linked the practices with the weekly study contents. Alternatively, or similarly, you can also write about how you connected the different ancient wisdom traditions with each other as well as the wisdom that celebrities and alike put forward. We believe that the assignment will provide an excellent learning experience because it requires you to think and reflect on your learning.

A different sort of course

What sets it apart is that the course addresses all of you: your heart, your mind, your body. There is what one might call theoretical learning, but the most powerful learning will be through what you experience during this course. We intend that you will end this course happier and wiser than you began it. The aim of the course is not to purely accrue academic knowledge but rather it is self-development.

This is a pilot course, so we want to learn from giving it. We will ask you to complete a short questionnaire on wellbeing before and after the course to see if indeed the course has made a difference to you. We will also want your feedback – what did you like about the course? What could be done better? etc.

This is an online course. However, should there be sufficient interest an additional residential weekend may be organised after the online course.

The course will be led by Dr Richard Gault and Dr Sam Fardghassemi.

Richard Gault is a retired academic who has taught at universities in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands where he now lives. His main interest was the history and philosophy of science and technology. He has had a long association with the Beshara Trust. Following his retirement he was Principal of the Chisholme Institute, a school itself long linked to Beshara education. He is a regular contributor to the online Beshara Magazine.

Sam Fardghassemi has a PhD in psychology from UCL exploring young adults and wellbeing and currently works part-time as an academic for UEL. Sam has been a student of Beshara for the past four years and is also now a Trustee with the aim to make the knowledge of higher and universal principles of life more accessible to people. Previously, Sam studied psychology at Cambridge and Buckingham universities and generally has a keen interest in spiritual education and growth.