Regular Community Events

Claymont work weekend

AN EXPERIENTIAL WORKSHOP

March 10-12, 2023

“With the present, repair the past and prepare the future” – G. I. Gurdjieff

This workshop will be an open-ended investigation into the boundaries and relationships between our essence and our personality. We will both examine and challenge our view of this distinction by means of our own moment-to-moment experiences of who we take ourselves to be. Our view for this workshop will be oriented toward the embodiment of Presence. We will locate and focus our work within the present moment: “All experience is contained within the Present Moment. This is the only immediate and irreducible certainty. The present moment is not a dimensionless point, but a finite region of experience. – J. G. Bennett

“Essence is what you are born with,” Mr. Gurdjieff said. We will examine some implications of modern ideas, including the role of trauma, about how we each actually developed from an essence being into a personality. We will practice inquiry to build competency to subtly shift our felt experience toward essence-as-presence. A further question to be addressed is: What exactly happens to our experience of personality, if and when our work unfolds so as to result in these experiences of essence and subsequent development of essence?

During the workshop we will practice: Sensing and breath-awareness exercises; Subject-matter talks, including the Systematics of Essence and Personality (two pentads); Spoken inquiries into the felt sense of personal truth; Gurdjieff’s Movements exercises; Practical work sessions for abiding in presence-in-action.

The seminar will begin with dinner at 6:30 pm on Friday March 10 and end after lunch on Sunday March 12. Suggested donation for the event is $150 if you are staying at Claymont, and $100 if staying off-site.  However, do not let cost prevent you from attending as financial assistance is available.

For more information, and to register, please contact Amy Silver, Registrar, at  Claymontgathering@hotmail.comChuck Riley will facilitate this weekend. He is a former President of The Claymont Society, who taught on several Claymont courses, including as lead teacher on two four-month residential programs. During 1972-1973, he attended J. G. Bennett’s Second Basic Candidate’s Course at Sherborne House. Chuck is also a long-time student of The Diamond Approach to inner realization.

Download Flyer

“No growth of being will take place without a corresponding growth in sensation”

What is sensation and how does it grow? How do we open ourselves to its presence in our bodies? Can I learn to bring it with me into my ordinary life, the walking, the talking, and all the other daily activities? On this weekend we will try to look into questions like these as we study one of the foundational practices of the 4th Way.

We plan to make this weekend very collaborative, a deep conversation and experimentation among friends. We will work with some exercises with a long history and some that arise from our immediate personal experience and we will look as well at some of the obstacles we encounter along the way.

The staff will provide some of the teaching material and participants will provide material that arises from their own efforts. We can be motivated and guided by theory and the words of our teachers but our own experience is the raw material of inner growth.

We hope this weekend will enhance our understanding of sensation and strengthen its role in our work.

Also, if you are interested in learning about the 4th Way and do not have much experience with the practice of sensation you are still very welcome to attend.

Activities for the weekend will include guided sittings and explorations, movements, practical work, and inner sharing.   You are cordially invited to join us in our work and exploration.

The weekend will begin with dinner at 6:30 pm on Thursday March 7 and end after lunch on Sunday March 10.   All activities will be at the Great Barn.

Suggested donation for the weekend is $195 if you are staying overnight at Claymont and $95 if you are not staying overnight at Claymont.   However, do not let the cost prevent you from participating, financial assistance is available.

For more information and to register please contact, the registrar, Amy Silver at Claymontgathering@hotmail.com.

For more information about the Claymont Society go to www.society.claymont.org

Download the flyer

April 18-21, Work Weekend at the Barn with a theme of Sensing, Sound, and Silence.

Relaxation and sensing can help us hear what we need to hear from inside ourselves and from Above.  Chanting of aspirational phrases can help us interrupt automatic and habitual thoughts and feelings – especially the negative ones – toward a state of inner relaxation, openness and receptivity.  During this spring weekend, let’s take a break from busyness of mind and heart and open to the beauty around us.

This weekend will combine some familiar 4th Way practices with zikr (chanting and dance) from the Mevlevi tradition. Time to listen to silence and to resonate with the beauty of spring at Claymont.  Time to open to what we need to hear, what we need to receive, and perhaps even Grace. 

The seminar will be led by Hardy Mason.  Hardy is a Mevlevi Sufi sheik and long-time student of the Fourth Way.

Note: Participants on the March work weekend at Claymont studying sensation may find this gathering a useful follow-on, but no previous experience is required.

The weekend will begin with dinner at 6:30 pm on Thursday April 18 and end after lunch on Sunday April 21.   All activities will be at the Great Barn.

Suggested donation for the weekend is $195 if you are staying overnight at Claymont and $95 if you are not staying overnight at Claymont.   However, do not let the cost prevent you from participating, financial assistance is available. 

For more information and to register please contact, the registrar, Amy Silver at Claymontgathering@hotmail.com.

For more information about the Claymont Society go to www.society.claymont.org