Professional Education
Towards A Cultural-Spiritual Approach to Dying and Death

This course is offered in cooperation with the Section for the Performing Arts, the Section for Literary Arts and Humanities, and the Collegium of the School of Spiritual Science, Goetheanum. It is the result of two years of intense preparation by the course conveners, consultation and development with our teaching faculty. Participants will be taught and guided by inspiring and competent tutors in theoretical and creative subjects in both face to face and online session.

We decided to work together out of the insight that most people do not understand how to die, how to consciously meet Death, prepared and with equanimity. Predominantly, conventional approaches to quality end of life care offer a way to relieve pain and suffering, to provide compassionate support to family, friends and carers and increasingly include information that directs the terminally ill towards voluntary assisted dying.

Death, in this stream of thinking, while it cannot be defeated can be ‘managed’ and scheduled – and therefore the spiritual dimension of the act of dying becomes an abstraction.

The consciousness, understanding and reverence that should surround dying and death and life beyond the threshold, have been silenced, misrepresented, denied and ‘dropped’ from the cultural-spiritual life of individuals and communities. It is often, at best, addressed with an ‘end of life plan’, ‘life insurance’ or ‘insurance’ that covers care or funeral costs.

As course presenters, we feel a deep need to build, cultivate and humanise a personal and communal awareness and out of this to develop a deeper relationship with Death, an understanding of the individual path of dying, and of the actual, autonomous moment of death.

There is a further question we wish to explore. Our fear of death and dying has separated us from life imbued with Spirit and pushed us deeper into materialism and consequently onto a path of destruction we now know by the term of ‘omnicide’. Can we resolve to find new approaches to dying and death for the sake of Earth’s healing and to evolve humanity towards freedom and love? Our increasingly challenging times will provide us with opportunities to realise and to deepen our spiritual interconnectedness and responsibilities.

Find out more

Prospectus

Please explore the prospectus and contact us with any questions. A detailed programme will be available in December. 

Please direct enrolment inquiries to Irmhild Kleinhenz 0444 551 381

When and where

Duration: March 24 – November 24 2024

Venue: Harmony Centre, Mittagong, NSW 2575, Australia

Contact

Irmhild Kleinhenz 0444 551 381