Invitation to Learn

A range of  new IL activities! 

Writing Our Own Stories  - drop in workshops at Brighton Peace Centre from 1st July, Wednesdays, 6-8pm  

Matters of Choice classes starting 1st and 3rd September, on Tuesday mornings (10.30 - 12.30 in the North Laine, Brighton) and Thursday evenings (7.30 - 9.30, Brighton Unitarian Church). 

Reading Group on Antisemitism starting 14th September on Monday evenings, 7.30 - 9.30 in the North Laine.

Further details to follow. 

The ‘People and Power’ classes are currently looking at the power of groups. Scroll down for posting on current writing workshops (fully subscribed)

Having completed our survey of 15 powerful individuals we are now looking at groups. This is a vitally important subject, but one which is often overlooked, partly because of misguided ideas that generalising about certain groups (though not so much others) encourages prejudice.

A group is any gathering of more than two people which recognises itself and is recognised by others in some way. This obviously includes states, but it also includes families, companies, trades unions, religions, ‘the people’ and so on endlessly. Groups exist to exercise power, or at the very least if they exist they do exercise power. This is a reality which is readily accepted for certain kinds of groups, but less so for others. We will not be making such distinctions.

The full programme from now until July, including five concluding classes, is shown below. For those who have already seen the programme, please note the change of date for the class on Christianity / Churches (from 21/22 April to 26/27 May).

If you have not already attended these stimulating discussion classes, which take place in a convivial atmosphere, please phone me on 01273 602168 or 07984 90034 for a brief chat and for details of the venue. The classes take place on Tuesdays from 10.30 to 12.30 and on Wednesdays from 7.30 to 9.30. The drop-in rate is £6 per class, or you can pay £25 for five consecutive classes.

Fifteen classes on powerful groups

10/11 Feb: The family

Half term

24/25 Feb: Voluntary associations / trades unions / the masons / football supporters’ clubs

03/04 Mar: The nation / the state (as two distinct groups)

10/11 Mar: School / Academia

17/18 Mar: The armed forces

24/25 Mar: Islam / The Mosque

31 Mar/1 Apl: The rich

Three-week Easter break

[21/22 Apl: Cancelled: Christianity / Churches - Postponed to 26/27 May]

28/29 Apl: City / town / village

05/06 May: The media

12/13 May: Judaism / Jewishness

19/20 May: The people

26/27 May: Christianity / Churches - This class replaces that originally scheduled for 21/22 April

02/03 June: Multi-state groups: Europe, the UN, global identity

09/10 June: Male / female

16/17 June: The company / corporation

Resolving the problems of power: disempowerment and empowerment

23/24 June: The wresting match of power

30 June/1 Jul: Recognising power and how it disempowers us

07/08 July: Empowering ourselves 1: techniques

14/15 July: Empowering ourselves 2: morality

21/22 July: Empowering ourselves 3: accepting our ultimate powerlessness

* * * * *

Current Series of ‘Writing Our Own Stories’.

Christine Hollywood successfully concluded her second series on ‘Writing Our Own Stories’ at the end of January. She went travelling for the next couple of months, and then resumed with the current third course of six workshops from May 5th to June 16th. This course is fully subscribed, but further courses are planned. I can personally vouch for the value of Christine’s approach to this subject, as I have attended all the courses so far.

Tuesdays, May 5th, 12th & 19th, and June 2nd, 9th & 16th

The venue is in the North Laine, and the timing is from 3 to 5. The fee is £36 for all six workshops payable in advance. Let me know if you are interested in future ‘Writing Your Own Stories’ courses by calling me on 01273 602168 or 07984 900394, or by emailing me on francis@invitationtolearn.co.uk.

‘Writing Our Own Stories’

Following the success of the first series, which was completed on 18th November, a second series of six workshops will commence on Tuesday 2nd December. As with the first series, these will run from 3 to 5 p.m. There will be three worshops before Christmas (ending 16th December) and three after, starting on 13th and ending on 27th January. There are one or two places still available. See the ‘Classes’ page (scroll down past the People & Power item) for futher details. Students on the first series of these workshops, which are facilitated by Christine Hollywood, who recently completed an MA in Creative Writing and Personal Development at the University of Sussex, were very positive in their feedback, and several are staying on for the second series.

People & Power Classes continuing

The People and Power classes will continue to look at powerful individuals up until February, and will then turn to powerful groups. Attendance continues at a very satisfactory level, with excellent discussion. The class handouts for the first five classes in this series (which looked at the theory of power) can be found on the ‘Ideas’ page of the website. It is suggested you read these if you were not able to attend those classes, but would now like to attend. Look at the ‘Classes’ page of the website for the on-going programme to the end of July 2009. Please note the addition of two further ‘powerful individuals’ to the programme, Ataturk on 9/10 December, and Mohammed on 27/28 January. There is no connection between the original subjects for these dates and the new ones. We will take the original subjects in the first half and the new ones in the second half of the class. These additions were made at the suggestion of some students.

To enrol on either of these series, contact me, Francis. I will then tell you the venue, which is in the North Laine of Brighton.

On Saturday 24th May six of us gathered at The Community Project, Laughton Lodge, Ringmer, East Sussex, to discuss ‘Rules and How to View Them’. Two members of the community also joined us. Although we were disappointed that our planned four-day ‘retreat’ had to be reduced to a one-day event, condensing the discussion in this way did not detract from our enjoyment. There was a particular focus on the kind of rules which are not stated, but which we obey, sometimes without even realising that we do so.

The location of the study day at Laughton, and the participation of two of the Laughton Lodge members was extremely fortuitous, for the Community Project has an issue about rules. Some maintain that their only rule is that there are no rules. Sarah Berger addressed this whole issue during the second session and we were given a fascinating insight into the working of this remarkable co-housing project. Sarah and Julian Morgan-Jones also gave us a most informative tour of the Project in the afternoon.

The last session addressed the issue of self-imposed personal rules, and the degree to which one should feel bound by these. This brought matters much closer to home, and to quite a degree of soul-searching.

We didn’t reach unanimity on this whole subject, but a number of interesting ideas came up. I guess we all accepted that rules are necessary, but that they should sometimes be disobeyed. Breaking rules may be because they are bad - that is they require us to do bad things -, or simply because to feel fully human we need from time to time to experience freedom from restraint. You might say that this reflected a rule that we should be allowed occasionally to break many rules, though how you distinguish between the breakable and the unbreakable rules, and how you decide what is more than occasional was unclear. We probably all agreed that our own self-imposed rules should be flexible enough to allow for self-development.

Three of us non-’communards’ stayed on overnight and the next day went for a two-mile walk through the lovely surrounding countryside to Laughton village and back. By good chance the forecast rain did not materialise!

Feedback on the study day was unanimously favourable. Thanks are especially due to Christine for the absolutely delicious food, to Sarah for making the arrangements for our use of the Community’s facilities and for her talk on rules in the Community, to Julian for his lively discussion of the issues in relation to the Community Project and help with the tour, and to all the other participants for their enthusiasm and openness.

* * * *

Please note that next year’s programme of weekly classes will be on the subject of ‘People and Power’. You can now find the detailed programme by clicking on the ‘classes’ tab at the head of this home page. You need to scroll down to the end of the current programme ending this July.