Regular Community Events

Claymont Society for Continuous Education

Work Weekend

Claymont Society for Continuous Education

Working with Movements and the Enneagram,
March 6-8, 2020

We are pleased to announce our first Work Weekend of the decade

The Enneagram symbol stands at the heart of the Gurdjieff Teaching and yet in his writings Gurdjieff said very little about it. Much of what others have written on the subject since his death, while often engaging, suffers from seeing this remarkable symbol as a way of knowing rather than an activation of typically disengaged aspects of our being. We have been left to ourselves to discover its potency and its application through contemplation of the symbol itself and the internalization of its intelligence through the other activities he left us, such as the Movements and the structure of various kinds of group work. From the classroom to the kitchen to the Movements Hall we will use study, inner exercises, and active participation to help us understand how we can engage this symbol to help us live intelligently in more than one world.

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 Friday March 6 and end after lunch on Sunday March 8.   All activities will be at the Mansion.

Suggested donation for the weekend is $120 if you are staying overnight at Claymont and $75 if you are not staying overnight.   However, do not let the cost prevent you from coming, financial assistance is available.

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

Jesus Christ, Through the Lens of the Jesus Prayer

April 29-May 1st, 2022

In the first of a series of work weekends about the Five Prophets, Claymont is offering a weekend: “Jesus Christ, Through the Lens of The Jesus Prayer.”

The program will be led by Georgia DuBose, an Episcopal priest who first began working with The Jesus Prayer, or Prayer of the Heart, when she was 16; Georgia was encouraged to explore it further by Pierre Elliot.

James Farrelly, a writer and former educator, will collaborate with Georgia. James has also had a long history of work with The Jesus Prayer. Both will share their understanding of the prayer, inviting participants to share theirs as they wish.

This event will begin a process whereby participants work to connect or reconnect with the living streams of spiritual traditions that have nurtured the very foundation of The Claymont Society. In subsequent cycles, we will explore the practices / traditions handed down by the Holy Saints Moses, Mohammed, Buddha, and Llama.

For the first in the Series, we will focus on activities and practices during the weekend that will include work with Movements embodying The Jesus Prayer. There will be periods of silence and solitude, walking meditation, and some practical work.  Other experienced practitioners may join via Zoom or livestreaming. Participants are encouraged to minimize electronic communications during this event. This event may serve as an introduction to the prayer for those unfamiliar with it; participants who have worked with The Jesus Prayer before may find it useful to renew their work with a group.

You are cordially invited to join us in this work.  If you wish, please give us some indication of your years of experience with this practice and a short statement as to its personal benefits for you.

The seminar will begin with dinner at 6:30 pm on Friday April 29 and end after lunch on Sunday May 1.

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.com

A time to enrich and sustain three-centered awareness within oneself and within the group.

The possibility that finer energies are generated as a result of conscious work together makes collective Work with the Gurdjieff Movements a beneficial endeavor for one and all. Conscious work in the kitchen and on the grounds will also be included.

Join us at the Great Barn, Claymont Society for Continuous Education

September 15-18, 2022

The event begins with dinner on Thursday, the 15th and ends on Sunday after lunch.

Suggested donation for the event is $250 if you are staying at Claymont, and $125 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.com

Claymont Members Doug and Marla Londraville returned three times this Spring and Summer to resume the project they started last fall of repairing, restoring and painting the Great Barn. This summer, working in 90+ degree weather, they made great progress with the paint sprayer, completing the West Kitchen side and painting all the way down to the Octagon. They even painted the old boiler room and paint shed. They also patched and prepped much of the rest of building so we can continue the work in October.

We still need to complete a stretch along the walkway on the north side; finish the south east side and five sides of the Octagon!  That may sound daunting but not to Doug and Marla, who took on the entire building.

You are cordially invited to help out with this effort.  The work weekend begins with dinner at 6:30 on Friday October 7 and ends on Sunday October 9 after lunch.

Suggested donation for the event is $200 if you are staying at Claymont, and $125 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.com.

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.

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“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

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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