An Institute for Reflection

An Institute for Reflection

Socrates thought he could accomplish this worthwhile goal. It is a cornerstone of our way of thinking. To reverse the message in dated phraseology of Dante’s The Divine Comedy: ‘Prepare to meet thy salvation all ye who enter here!’ The carving for The Thinker by Rodin is no longer associated with The Gates of Hell of Dante’s original concept and today is a symbol of philosophy and knowledge.
Consciousness

Consciousness

One of the conundrums that nowadays particularly intrigues the reflecting world in that of consciousness. We all have it but what is it and what if anything is particular to the human race in possessing it? Is it likely that we alone have the key to understanding what is going on - - or perhaps the key is illusory?
Driifloat

Driifloat

Floatation therapy is a powerful method for rest, recovery and health maintenance. It can re-train your body into better sleep patterns, reduce the effects of deep-set stress and improve longevity.
Further Reflections on Reflection

Further Reflections on Reflection

We can think about why we think what we think and think how best we can think. The best means to the best ends begins in the best thoughts. Watch the observer – you – and give ‘him’ the best advice you can. The process points up the purpose. It is as true for reflection itself as for anything else.
Graham Gibbs‘ Reflective Cycle

Graham Gibbs‘ Reflective Cycle

The theoretical approach of reflection as a cyclical model was further developed by Graham Gibbs (1998). This model is based on a six-stage approach, leading from a description of the experience through to conclusions and considerations for future events. While most of the core principles are similar to Kolb’s, Gibbs’ model is broken down further to encourage the teacher to reflect on their own thoughts and feelings.
Guiding Principles

Guiding Principles

Reflection is an Activity that does not own up to the name. It is aligned with a horizontal True North of ourselves. It is a cylinder too often uninspected under the bonnet in the engine that drives people forward into life’s choices. It is time in our speeded-up world that it has a more recognised niche in our communal psyche. Reflection impacts positively on us and on our societies. We are what we have thought. We should think again.
Have you Suffered a Bereavement?

Have you Suffered a Bereavement?

Please accept condolences from someone who has undergone the loss of someone dear to them. How do you feel and what should you be feeling? What justifiable comfort can you seek? Where can it be found? What ideas now are the best ones to lodge in your thoughts? Can you feel in any way better by approaching your bereavement in the best way tailored to your own unique situation?
Humour

Humour

Some Meditation sects in the East kick-start sessions with a bout of belly-laughing to ginger participants into a happy mood and generally imbue their thinking with a sense of proportion.
In a Session of Reflection

In a Session of Reflection

Why should ‘one size fit all’? What are you thinking when you reflect? Can your own thoughts be prescribed for you by anyone else? Are they the same as thoughts that anyone else may have in a similar context or are they more personal to you? This is a subjective voyage. One individual’s ideas during one sitting are here. Do you think in the same way?
Learning Cycle by David Kolb

Learning Cycle by David Kolb

David Kolb proposed that if people become better at using all stages of a learning cycle, notably including reflecting on experience, they will become better life-long learners, and be more successful. His concept is among many that advocates 'trial and error' (extending to reflection, conceptualization and experimentation) through direct personal experience

Non-Duality And It’s Implications

Non-duality, frequently rendered from the Sanskrit terms Advaita (“not-two”) or Advaya (“not-two” or “unique”), is a key principle in numerous philosophical and spiritual traditions worldwide. It maintains that ultimate reality constitutes an indivisible and unified whole, suggesting that distinctions such as self and other, subject and object, and Creator and creation are conceptual constructs or illusions.
On Science

On Science

It is a strongly held view of many people that there is no such thing as an Afterlife: all we have is here in earth and when we die, it is curtains on any existence we can have. To someone postulating this, and it is usually with confidence, the question can be put: ‘How do you know?’ It is unlikely to elicit from the sceptically minded anything resembling a proof.
The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary

Come on in... One idea in Western-style Meditation is to become more grounded in oneself as opposed to trying to transport oneself out of one’s skin up to a Great Beyond.  The Institute’s main sanctuary is Eastern in style but it is for each individual to come up with personal ideas of a place conducive to allowing his or her personality to emerge.
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