Navigating the Territory of Change

Course Description

The world as we knew it before COVID19 has fallen apart. In alchemy this falling apart is the beginning of the work. In front of us lies a tremendous task for the individual and for societies. The world is changing but we cannot oversee what is happening. 

Yet, as our world continues to fall apart, we are simultaneously looking at the new world that is starting to emerge. We are all faced with the daunting question: How to evolve now that the world is in shambles? 

Although the shattering is still happening, this course will look for what was hidden. Or in other words, we will look for a new impulse of regeneration and for what is emerging. Together we will discover a new way of knowing the world that is post-objective and participatory. 

Based on notions of complexity theory, concepts from alchemy and the history of thought since the Renaissance, Robert Bosnak will guide participants through a process of exploring the territory of change by adopting a perspective that allows a new way of being in the world.  

Although Robert will look at the difficulties of these particular times we’re living right now, the course applies as much to our current global situation, as to any process of change we will go through.

This course is ideal if

• You are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of how to navigate times of change. 
• You want to learn about a new way of knowing and being in the world.
• You want to prepare yourself to navigate and participate in an emerging future.

Course Overview

This course will focus on the following themes: 

• The shattering. How to find our way through a phase of destruction. What kind of (alchemical) procedures can we apply? What are the pitfalls? 
• Emergence. How do we deal with self-organization? How to recognize the new impulse and image? How fast do we go with the impulse of regeneration (and how do we recognize its overpromises)? What is the opportune moment for action?
• How do we deal with a world in which knowledge is participatory and post-objective?
• Conflict between ongoing shattering and regeneration. How do we deal with this? How to deal with the tension? How to hold on to a semblance of psychological sanity? How to deal with multiple centrifugal forces occurring simultaneously? How do we deal with Zeitgeist and the spirit of the moment?

By the end of this course you will

• Recognize the dynamics at work in times of crises and major change.
• Be able to sustain the conflict of shattering and emergence.
• Deal with the terror of a post-objective world in which knowable reality is fundamentally participatory, and learn from the ancient project of alchemy to which this notion was standard.
• Become more versatile in an ever-changing world by recognizing the impulse of emergence from the unknown depths, and to welcome them to organize your life.
• Be more effective, creative and adaptive in dealing with shattering in your life.
• Have an ability to deal with the demands that arise in times of emergence.
• Develop the ability to become more elastic and adaptive in dealing with major crises in your life.