Winter Courses (2013-14) by Rod Hemsell
THE UNIVERSITY OF HUMAN UNITY WINTER COURSE SCHEDULE
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Auroville and the Religions We want the Truth. For most men, it is what they want that they label truth. The Aurovilians must want the Truth whatever it may be. Auroville is for those who want to live a life essentially divine but who renounce all religions whether they be ancient, modern, new or future. It is only in experience that there can be knowledge of the Truth. No one ought to speak of the Divine unless he has had experience of the Divine. Get experience of the Divine, then alone will you have the right to speak of it. The objective study of religions will be a part of the historical study of the development of human consciousness. Religions make up part of the history of mankind and it is in this guise that they will be studied at Auroville – not as beliefs to which one ought or ought not to adhere, but as part of a process in the development of human consciousness which should lead man towards his superior realisation. PROGRAMME Research through experience of the Supreme Truth A life divine but NO RELIGIONS Our research will not be a search effected by mystic means. It is in life itself that we wish to find the Divine. And it is through this discovery that life can really be transformed. (The Mother, 1970) The Philosophy of Religion will be a research based project to consider the basic beliefs and doctrines of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity through the writings of such thinkers and systems as Sankhya and Vedanta, Mahayana and Vajrayana, the Patristics, Catholics, and Protestants, Plato and Aristotle, Anselm and Aquinas, Sankara and Madhava, Kant and Hegel, Heidegger and Gadamer, Newman and Ricoeur and Derrida, etc, with reference to Sri Aurobindo's Essays on the Gita. The Poetry of Sri Aurobindo will follow the pattern presented in 2008 and 2009 under the title Mantra, Metrics and Meaning, with a predominant focus on Savitri. Venue: Savitri Bhavan, Garden Room downstairs Day and time: Thursdays 4:30-5:45 (Phil of Religion) tea at 5:45 6:00-7:15 (Poetry of SA) Dates: Dec.12th – Feb. 27th Related texts and courses may be accessed online at <www.universityofhumanunity.org> |