The Ways of the Heart I

11th February – 5th May 2022

The One Calling the Many: the first Ways of the Heart course exploring a spiritual life and unified perspective in the contemporary world.

NB. This course will be held at Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).

Course Description

“You start at a point beyond religion and go inwards from there.” So said Bulent Rauf, consultant to the Beshara Trust from 1971 to 1987.  His striking and intriguing statement is the starting point for the Beshara online courses, whose aim is to acknowledge the one reality that underlies all religious and secular beliefs and to allow for the exploration of inner meanings.

The Ways of the Heart courses are designed to facilitate an understanding of the deepest aspects of the human being. We are looking to awaken the identity that the 13th Century poet and mystic Jalāluddīn Rūmī voiced as: “I am not of the East nor of the West. My place is the placeless, my trace is the traceless,” and also when he says: “I am pure Light.”

The aim of these courses of study and discussion is to open up a transformation in perspective. It is based on a series of essential themes that are relevant, contemporary and timeless. There is an aspect of ourselves that longs to escape what the scientist, John G Bennett memorably called the ‘prison of consciousness’, and to find instead its own total liberation. As Rumi himself put it at the beginning of his epic Mathnawi: “Burst your bonds and be free!”

Students of these online Beshara courses are invited to study in the context of the remembrance of the most important point for people who want to taste such freedom; that there is in the whole of existence only one, unique, infinite, absolute existence.

The Ways of the Heart is for those who want to reach an all-inclusive point of view by knowing themselves fully, in a way that has been hinted at as being from above the apex of a pyramid. This view encompasses both the multiple routes up from the base as well as the apex itself. We are not here to look and search for God; we are committed to seeing God’s vision of Himself.

You can tell from this that the education of Beshara is about a way of learning that aims to bring out what is within, rather than being an accumulation of ideas or information. We say ‘of Beshara’ because this ancient word, Beshara, includes in its meaning the ‘good news’ of the availability of an education that makes clear the existence and role of the human spirit and repoints humanity to its original universality and singularity.

Self-knowledge is not something new, but is to be found afresh by each and every generation. It is waiting to be discovered in the meanings that have come down to us in the teachings of masters of wisdom throughout the ages. At its core such knowledge is timeless, but it comes to us wrapped up in many different modes of expression due to its appearance in many different times and places.

This is the first of the Ways of the Heart courses to be held in the Southern Hemisphere time zone. It consists of 6 themes and 12 online seminars. This course is complete in itself and open to all, both first-time students and those who have already completed other Beshara courses.

The materials for each theme will be sent three days before the first seminar. Each theme, which lasts 12 days, will be comprised of two Zoom online seminars – one to begin and one to end the theme. Between the two seminars there will be a course forum for discussion and reflection on the particular theme.

Each Zoom seminar will have facilitators to guide and support the understanding of content and its relevance to everyday life. Participants are urged to fully engage with the materials, contribute to the forum and complete a short essay, set of notes or presentation on one of the course themes.

Zoom is free to join – participants will need to download the Zoom App to participate in the course.

Course material will be shared as a PDF / Word file each week to be studied in preparation for the interactive Zoom seminars, and there will be a private Beshara Forum for exploring ideas as they arise.

Seminars will be recorded for students to listen to during the course period.

Course Aims & Objectives

The Ways of the Heart is a series of online Beshara courses designed for students who wish to gain an understanding of the Unity of Existence. This involves journeying inward to know yourself from a unified point of view. The courses explore how we interact in the world and the possible evolution of humanity, and start from the premise that every individual has the potential to understand their place and purpose in the universe.

Timetable

All Zoom seminars: 19.30 – 21.00 AEST (Tuesdays & Thursdays)

Theme 1 – Know Yourself
15th February: Zoom seminar
Forum discussion
24th February: Zoom seminar

Theme 2 – Praise
1st March: Zoom seminar
Forum discussion
10th March: Zoom seminar

Theme 3 – Humility
15th March: Zoom seminar
Forum discussion
24th March: Zoom seminar

Theme 4 – Theophany of Perfection
29th March: Zoom seminar
Forum discussion
7th April: Zoom seminar

Theme 5 – Service
12th April: Zoom seminar
Forum discussion
21st April: Zoom seminar

Theme 6 – Love & The Essential
26th April: Zoom seminar
Forum discussion
5th May: Zoom seminar

End of Course

Booking & Fees

Course administration fees:

Please note the course is limited to 18 participants.

For further information and to apply, please contact:
John Brown at besharacourses@beshara.org

Know Yourself & The Twenty-Nine Pages

Weekly from 16th July 2023
Sundays
11:00–12:30 BST

Online study exploring the oneness of being in the teachings of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi

‘Truth is One but the wise speak of it differently’

(Rig Veda)

A 5-module course from 8th September, 2021 to 4th May, 2022. Wednesday evenings from 7-8.30pm GMT/BST

This course will introduce participants to four major traditions of human wisdom – the philosophies of ancient Greece and India, Christian wisdom and Islamic Mysticism. As we progress through the course we will explore how these traditions might converse with one another and go on to consider what light these wisdoms have to shed on the issues the world faces today.

MESP logo

The Spiritual Journey in Poacher’s Pilgrimage

Thursday March 9, 2017

An evening with Alastair McIntosh, author of Poacher’s Pilgrimage: an Island Journey at The Sanctuary, Edinburgh.

Gustav Klimt

Exploring the meaning of ‘Know Yourself’ according to five wisdom traditions

27th September – 6th December 2023
Fortnightly Zoom sessions
19:00–20:30 BST/GMT

This course offers the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of what it is to Know Yourself in the mirror of five Ancient Wisdom traditions and to explore their relevance to each of us and to the current modern era.

This course is now full. If you would like to join a waiting list for the next one, please contact admin@beshara.org

“It is rather hearts, clinging to the door of the Divine Presence”

Learning from Ibn ‘Arabi

4th November 2023
14:00–17:00 GMT
The October Gallery, London

A talk and seminar by Eric Winkel

Mystic, philosopher, poet, sage, Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (1165–1240) was one of the world’s great spiritual teachers. Since 2012, Dr Eric Winkel has dedicated his life to the first-ever translation of and commentary on the entirety of Ibn Arabī’s al-Futūḥāt al-Makkīyah (The Openings Revealed in Makkah). Ten thousand pages of the original handwritten manuscript make up 37 books of the complete work. In this seminar, he will discuss Ibn ‘Arabi’s seminal work and its significance for us now.

Poetics of Science: Through Itself

Poetics of Science: Through Itself

June 23 – 25, 2017
Chisholme Institute, Scottish Borders, UK

The second of three seminar weekends – interactive presentations and workshops with speakers from diverse backgrounds, films and music nights.

The Ways of the Heart II: Oneness

14th October 2022 – 20th December 2022
20:00–21:15 BST/GMT

An online Beshara course exploring a spiritual life in the contemporary world.

Love and Knowledge in the Light of Unity | the Direct Path

Beshara Foundation Course

Introductory weekend at Sutton Courtenay Abbey, Oxfordshire
10th – 12th October 2025
(Zoom attendance also available)

10 x bi-weekly evening online sessions
23rd October 2025 – 26th March 2026
Thursday evenings, 19:00 – 20:30 GMT/BST

This course provides a full introduction to the principles of Beshara in terms of both knowledge and practice. Taking the metaphysics of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi as a starting point, the course explores what it means to understand oneself and the world in the light of the Unity of Existence.

Contact: besharacourses3@beshara.org

Learning from the natural world: Ibn ‘Arabi on the wisdom of the animals, plants and minerals

August 31, 2018 (11am – 12.30pm)
University of Melbourne, Australia

A public talk exploring some of Ibn ‘Arabi’s highly original – and currently relevant – writings on our relationship to the natural world.

The Secrets of Voyaging

Weekly on Saturdays
13:30–15:30 GMT online via Zoom

An opportunity to study and explore a recent translation of a seminal work of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi: The Secrets of Voyaging (Kitab al-Isfār ‛an natā’ij al-asfār).

Contact: Michael Cohen, london@beshara.org

Essential Rumi

Weekly on Tuesdays from 21st September, 2021
19:30 – 21:00 BST/GMT

A 6-week course focusing on the poetry of Jelaluddin Rumi.

Contact: besharacourses@beshara.org

Discovering Unity Weekend Retreat

November 25 – 27, 2016

Explore deeper questions in the light of the unity of all existence. Guided group study of wisdom texts, meditation and more. Held at the Chisholme Institute.