Temenos Academy Newsletter June 2022
Temenos Academy
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TEMENOS ACADEMY
PATRON HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES
NEWSLETTER JUNE 2022
LECTURES
PROFESSOR SPIKE BUCKLOW Monday 13 June In the chair Julia Cleave Traditionally, life has been divided into a varying number of stages. One of these schemes, made famous in Jaques' speech in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, involved Seven Ages. This talk will consider human life in terms of those Seven Ages, elaborating upon them with reference to the lore associated with each Age’s governing planet. Pointing out how Shakespeare adapted the scheme, the talk will start with its origins – in Plato’s Myth of Er and Cicero’s Dream of Scipio – and its astrological basis. It will then move through each Age in turn, from Lunar infancy through Mercurial childhood, Venusian adolescence, Solar adulthood, Martial man- and woman-hood, then Jovian maturity to Saturnine old-age. The talk will show how the characteristics of each Age reflected the characteristics of its governing planet. In a geocentric universe, life in Seven Ages reflected the souls’ journey before birth and was a rehearsal for the soul’s return journey after death. SPIKE BUCKLOW is the Professor of Material Culture at the University of Cambridge and Director of Research at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, an internationally recognised centre for painting conservation. He has a first degree in Chemistry and worked in film and TV making special effects before the coming of CGI encouraged a career move. He has had the good fortune to work on two of the country's most important altarpieces (the Westminster and Thornham Parva Retables) which prompted an interest in medieval art and science. He is the author of numerous books on the subject including The Alchemy of Paint (2009), The Riddle of the Image (2014) and most recently The Children of Mercury (2022). Venue and timing Doors open 6.15pm Admission
Metaphysician, Heal Thyself! Koranic Perspectives on the Ecological Crisis DR REZA SHAH-KAZEMI Monday 20 June In the chair Emma Clark The ecological crisis is one of the many symptoms of a spiritual malaise afflicting the human race, as Seyyed Hossein Nasr has been arguing for over half a century. This lecture will aim to demonstrate ways in which this metaphysical diagnosis emerges out of key Koranic perspectives on the relationship between man and nature, or between the microcosm and the macrocosm: 'Corruption has appeared on land and at sea because of what the hands of human beings have earned' (30: 41). As regards the 'solution' to the crisis, this is summed up in the words, 'God will not change the condition of a people, until they change the condition of their own souls' (13:11). This means that it is incumbent upon those with faith - an opening to metaphysical realities, those which, literally, transcend 'nature' (physis) - to try to transform, if not transcend, themselves, thereby magnetising, as it were, the grace of God by which, alone, the root-cause of the ecological crisis can be removed. REZA SHAH-KAZEMI is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. His books include Common Ground between Islam and Buddhism (2010); Paths to Transcendence—According to Shankara, Ibn Arabi and Meister Eckhart (2006); The Other in the Light of the One: The Universality of the Qur’an and Interfaith Dialogue (2006) and Seeing God Everywhere: Qur’anic Perspectives on the Sanctity of Virgin Nature (2021). Venue and timing Doors open 5.40pm Admission free
René Guénon’s Crisis of the Modern World Revisited PROFESSOR PATRICK LAUDE Thursday 30 June In the chair Professor Grevel Lindop The publication of The Crisis of the Modern World in Paris in 1927 was seminal in terms of setting the parameters of traditionalist thinking. Since then, the book has been a reference for those who, in one way or another, strive to contemplate with lucidity the darkening of the horizon of our world, as it moves away from what Guénon used to refer to as ‘metaphysical principles’. The matter, however, is not to be ‘against the modern world’. This, according to Guénon himself, would be giving to the modern a reality that it does not have since, for the French metaphysician, it is only in a way an ‘illusion’. On the other hand, it would be forgetting that the modern world has a positive role to play in the unfolding of human history. So, what are we to learn from this book for today some seventy-five years after its publication? A native of France, PATRICK LAUDE has been teaching at Georgetown University since 1991. He joined the faculty of the School of Foreign Service in Qatar, where he teaches courses in religious studies, in 2006. A former fellow in philosophy at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, he earned a Master’s degree in comparative philosophy from the University of Paris IV Sorbonne in 1982, and a doctorate in French literature from Indiana University in 1985. Professor Laude's scholarly interests and output lie in comparative mysticism, poetry and mysticism, and Western representations and interpretations of Asian spiritual and wisdom traditions. He has extensively written and lectured on figures of European spirituality such as Jeanne Guyon, Simone Weil, Louis Massignon, Henry Corbin, and Frithjof Schuon. He has authored a number of books and monographs, including Surrendering to the Self - Ramana Maharshi's Message for the Present (2022); Shimmering Mirrors: Reality and Appearance in Contemplative Metaphysics East and West (2017); Apocalypse des religions: Pathologies et dévoilements de la conscience religieuse contemporaine (2016); Pathways to an Inner Islam (2010); Louis Massignon: The Vow and the Oath (2011); Pray Without Ceasing: The Way of the Invocation in World Religion (2006); Divine Play, Sacred Laughter and Spiritual Understanding (2005); Singing the Way: Insights in Poetry and Spiritual Transformation (2005); and Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998): Life and Teachings (2004). Venue and timing Doors open 6.15pm Admission
HARMONY
EVENTS
The Harmony Institute will this summer host two conferences at the Lampeter Campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. The first of these, ‘The Harmony of Heaven and Earth’ takes place (in person and on-line) 25-26 June. For more information, please refer to http://sophia-project.net/conferences/conference2022/index.php The second conference, ‘Harmony, Holism, and the Future of Healthcare’, held jointly with the College of Medicine, is on 14-16 July. For more information, please refer to https://harmonyinstitutehealth.com
NEW BOOK BY VALENTIN GERLIER Temenos Academy lecturer, tutor, and member of the Academic Board Valentin Gerlier’s new book Shakespeare and the Grace of Words – Language, Theology, Metaphysics (ISBN 9781032121406) has been published by Routledge. For more information, please refer to
WEBSITE ARCHIVE This month we feature from the Archive lectures given by Professor Keith Critchlow: https://www.temenosacademy.org/professor-critchlow-lectures/ The website Archive hosts many audio and video recordings of lectures, digital versions of all thirteen issues of the journal TEMENOS, and the texts of seventy articles from Temenos Academy Review. New material is added regularly. https://temenosacademy.org/main-lecture-archive https://temenosacademy.org/temenos-journal-archive https://temenosacademy.org/temenos-academy-review-archive Many of our audio recordings are available as PODCASTS.
PAYPAL GIVING FUND UK The Temenos Academy is registered with PayPal Giving Fund UK. When using PayPal if you choose you may also make a donation in support of the Temenos Academy. Thank you.
FURTHER INFORMATION & BOOKING Telephone 01233 813663 Email temenos...@myfastmail.com
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