ART AS A MANNER OF LIVING
Living Diversity & Generating Imaginative Space
This course explores a) the relationship between Art and the act of integrating, b) the activities of living diversity and generating imaginative space, c) the art of triggering experience, and d) the understanding of Art as a manner of living which arises when we distinguish previously confused phenomenal domains and find ourselves inviting ourselves and others to the experience of Responsibility and Freedom. This exploration is undertaken with a view to providing a firm foundation for understanding the nature of truly holistic and systemic designing. The course consists of a combination of experiential exercises and theoretical discussion, and includes readings by Gregory Bateson, Martin Buber, E. E. Cummings, Rodney Donaldson, T. S. Eliot, Humberto Maturana, and Heinz Von Foerster.
The class meets for 3 hours, one day a week, for 8 weeks (exact time, day, and dates to be determined by participants).
EMOTION, ETERNITY, & THE IMPLICIT
Explorations in Language & Love
An intensive practicum in the experience of Freedom, this course examines selected invitations to the Eternal Present, while simultaneously exploring a) the emotional roots of language and humanness, and b) the nature of discerning, and operating in, the implicit. While practicing attending to the implicit, participants read William Blake and Martin Buber in the light of Second Order Cybernetics, and explore the relationship between fear, Freedom, forgiveness, Error, transcendental ontologies, Acceptance, and descriptive and orientative relationships to language. Reading includes works by William Blake, Martin Buber, Rodney Donaldson, Peter Fisher, Maurice Friedman, Humberto Maturana, and Stephen Mitchell.
The class meets once a week, usually from 6-8:30 p.m., for 10 weeks (exact time, day, and dates to be determined by the participants).
MATURANA READING CIRCLE
In Crazy Tiger’s "Reading Circles," we take selected works by important systemic thinkers and read and discuss them together line by line for deeper understanding. When we reach a passage which anyone feels needs elucidation or fleshing out of the implications and consequences, we pause in our reading and discuss it until we are satisfied that we have grasped what we can of the meaning & significance of the passage in question--and then we go on in our reading. Past participants have experienced enormous leaps in their grasp of Bateson & Maturana through this process.
This particular circle will read essays by Humberto R. Maturana, starting with his foundational "Ontology of Observing." If the class so desires, we can begin the course by exploring Maturana’s "Introduction" to his new book, as well as Rodney Donaldson’s "Foreword."
The class meets for 3 hours, one day a week, for 8 weeks (exact time, day, and dates to be determined by participants).
KILLING KARMA, KISSING KLESHAS
Epistemology & Choiceless Awareness
In Spring 2008, by popular demand, Crazy Tiger will again offer this exploration of the best of Tibetan wisdom, building upon the epistemological and spiritual work undertaken in previous courses. While encouraging participants to continue to expand into greater levels of courage and exploration through intensification of the practices of a) transmuting emotions, b) exposing our projections, and c) inviting ourselves into the Aliveness of the eternal present, this course will introduce participants to the Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions of Tibet, and invite to the building up of a habit of continually examining "the nature of" whatever one finds oneself experiencing. In the process, participants will learn unequivocally how to kill karma. Experiential work will be supplemented with readings from a variety of Tibetan sources, current and past. As always, the explorations will be enriched by references to the work of Bateson and of Maturana.
Prerequisite: "Emotion, Eternity, & the Implicit."
The class meets 3 hours, one day a week, for 8 weeks (exact time, day, and dates to be determined by participants).
DZOGCHEN & MAHAMUDRA: A READING CIRCLE
Prerequisite: "Killing Karma, Kissing Kleshas."
This class meets for 3 hours, one day a week, for 8 weeks (exact time, day, and dates to be determined by participants). In Spring 2008, it appears that the class will meet on Mondays, 2:30-5:30 p.m., beginning April 21.
(Comments from previous participants in these courses may be found below.)
COMMENTS FROM PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS IN THE ADVANCED COURSES:
"Art as a Manner of Living"
The assignments were very stimulating! This class affects me daily.
I am constantly amazed at the levels and kinds of serious learning that occur in Dr. Donaldson’s classes. Outstanding education!!!!!
The experiential projects and assignments were most valuable for me.
Dr. Donaldson has the quality of bringing out the best in everyone. Great course.
I greatly appreciated the instructor’s careful attention to individual student growth.
Rodney pushed me to do the very best work I am able to do. He creates an atmosphere of safety and challenge. Now I see why people say the first two courses are just the beginning-
incredible learning!
The assignments were helpful to my life in general. And I had FUN!
I loved the well-thought-out progression/building of themes & assignments from week to week.
I am humbled by the care and attention Rodney pays to each individual.
This course touches every moment of my living.
"Living Systemic Design"
This course followed excellently after the other courses of Rodney’s, a great opportunity to practice & develop clarity in designing for a variety of circumstances with a variety of co-designers & specific design challenges.
What a joy it is to practice designing under the tutelage of a master systemic designer!
I especially appreciated how we together painstakingly examined each design and explored in minute detail how to improve it. This opened whole new dimensions of design for me.
I am awed by how much there is to learn before one can truly say one is designing wholistically and systemically. This class was a revelation and an inspiration. I have never been so completely challenged on so many levels. Thank you, Rodney.
"Emotion, Eternity, & the Implicit"
I especially appreciated and admired Rodney’s openness and honesty.
Rodney takes us to the edge, and encourages learning on numerous levels.
Rodney lives this!
A context was created such that I could meet my fears and experience a major turning point.
I learned how I block myself from taking responsibility for my actions and emotions.
Rodney’s homework assignments challenge me to really understand myself.
We were invited to engage with all our being.
Rodney’s exercises are the most transformational I have ever experienced.
"Reading Circles"
I was afraid that just reading together might be boring- Was I wrong! I think Rodney works even harder in reading circles than he does in his other courses. His expertise is remarkable.
I can’t believe how much I didn’t understand before. This was really valuable.
Rodney’s challenge to us to provide a scientific explanation of "cognition" by ourselves out loud together-
from scratch!-
was the hardest thinking I’ve ever done.
Although I’d been reading Bateson for years, I came away with my understanding tripled.
I’ve done four of these reading circles now, and I’ll continue to do more. This is the real stuff.
Additional comment from a course "repeater":
I see now why & how Rodney himself flourishes in these courses: Every time he "repeats" a course, he’s adding new levels - & there are already plenty of levels the first time, because that’s what he’s about! I gained even more the second time around than I did the first. Thank you, Rodney!
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