January Newsletter
31 January, 2025
Dear Friends,
As the dawning of the New Year continues, we are beginning to experience more light during our days here in Devon. We enter this fresh new cycle of life with a simple blessing, for the bold yet humble efforts of Schumacher Wild to bring more light, connection and solidarity to the world.
The illumination, or transformation, experienced by those who have studied at Schumacher College over the years has often been described as a ‘new way of seeing’, regardless of the subject being studied. This ‘new’ way of seeing takes the form of a gentler, more fluid, relational way of thinking-with, being-in, and reorienting-towards Life, in such a way that it brings life to light more wholly, and more deeply, in our minds, hearts and souls.
This ‘dynamic way of seeing’, as our long-standing late teacher Henri Bortoft described it, therefore offers individuals an expanded opportunity to learn with Life through encountering the dynamic nature of life itself more directly, more living-ly, and more lovingly. Practising this dynamic way of seeing enables individuals to shine the light of their own awareness in new ways, and in new places, making it possible for them to learn from, and to trust in, the reality of their own lived experience, and that of others – human and more-than-human.
The experience of seeing, understanding, and relating to life in this livelier, more fluid way not only enables the illumination of new insights – or a form of Living Knowledge - to emerge, but it creates the possibility for a more responsive, and reverent, re-turn to the world, and a re-newed capacity to co-create the conditions needed for Life to thrive.
Nurturing a ‘dynamic way of seeing’ and an ability to encounter life both more directly and more fluidly is a core part of the educational legacy that we will be continuing to expand upon through the activities of Schumacher Wild. Our aim is for this fluid, flexible and adaptable way of being, thinking and doing to find its way into new minds, lives, communities and systems. So that, in these turbulent times, like water itself, or like Proteus, the ancient Greek god of the Sea, we can together learn how to think-with Life, to become the same but different, in order to shapeshift our way into a collective process of renewal and regeneration.
Please do take a look at the wonderful courses that are being hosted by our dear collaborators, Hawkwood College, such as Peter Reason’s Living Waters course. And be sure to get in touch if you are interested in developing this ‘dynamic way of seeing’ with us here through our New Schumacher Foundation course, which begins in April this year.
Sending love and light from the shores of South Devon,
The Schumacher Wild Team x
Bantham Beach, Image Courtesy of Sarah Hawkins