Greetings!
Nearly forty years ago, I began offering public seminars, and I
have enjoyed discussions with participants from all over the country (and even
from a couple of foreign countries).
For years, I have been asked to give summaries of these discussions.
Of course, nothing is as much fun as being in the discussion
itself. But a summary gives a
flavor of the discussion and offers insights that keep the discussions going in
our own minds and with our own friends.
To that end, I offer these talks.
PLEASE NOTE that beginning autumn 2009, I am offering a subscription series on an alternative approach to history, called 'The Big Picture Time Machine.' Without a genuine history — more than just dull facts about wars and politics — we are like a sentence in a paragraph with the rest of the paragraph missing. What does our life mean in isolation? A real history adds the paragraph, the chapter, and the whole book, so that we see more and more about what the sentence means — what our lives really mean in the big picture. Please contact me directly for more information on this different look at how we got here.
Thanks!
Chris
I. LIVING IN
OUR COMMUNITIES: THE ECONOMY AND DIALOGUE
1. How Do We Turn the Economy Around? (1 Hour)
Why does the economy seem to be collapsing? What can we do about it?
This one-hour talk ranges over the history of capitalism, showing
how two opposite approaches to economics lead either to (a) inevitable crises
or (b) prosperity. But these
approaches represent strategies that we engage in everyday. Therefore, we can change them and thus
the economy itself.
As classical Chinese philosophers wrote, by identifying the root
of the problem, we can grow new trunks and branches. This talk shows how can we change our deep philosophies to
guarantee our security and the prosperity of future generations.
2. The Art of Dialogue (1 Hour)
When we talk, do we really talk to each other? How can dialogue lead to deeper
relationships?
This one-hour talk covers the basics of dialogue, drawing on
William Isaacs' recent dialogue study (‘Dialogue and the Art of Thinking
Together’) and on the work of Douglas Stone and his co-authors at the Harvard
Negotiation Project (‘Difficult Conversations’). Marshall Rosenberg's ‘Nonviolent Communication’ as well as
Rupert Ross' work with native peoples in Canada (‘Returning to the Teachings’)
get special focus, showing how gentle and open communication can be.
For learning how to use language to build relationships and
communities, this is the talk!
3. Future Thinking (1 Hour)
Beginning in 2009, famed futurist Eric Garland (author of 'Future, Inc.' and president of Competitive Futures, Inc.) and I began to give talks on where world societies are headed. Eric focused on trends, and I offered a philosophical and historical context. In this one-hour summary, I review what Eric and I presented in January and July of 2009 — about what a sane future may look like and how we may get there.
II. LIVING
IN AN EXPANDED UNIVERSE: INTUITION TRAINING, TIME AND PROPHECIES,
ENLIGHTENMENT, KARMA, DREAM INTERPRETATION, ASTRAL TRAVEL, AND LIFE AFTER DEATH
1. Intuition Training (1 Hour)
How does intuition work?
Can we train our intuition the way we train our intellects?
This one-hour talk explores new ideas about intuition and the
brain. It then summarizes the
different types of intuition and how each may be trained. For combining intellect and intuition
to get a bigger perspective, to see things more whole, this is the talk.
2. Time, Prophecies, and Future-Seeing (1 Hour)
Is 2012 the end of the world? How do we count time, and how do we think about it? What does the future portend?
This one-hour talk ranges over time issues, focusing initially on
the Mayan calendar's much-discussed end of the 13th baktun in
2012. Time expectations such as those
around 2012 show us how we think about the future, including how future-anxiety
is created and can be reduced.
The talk ends by reviewing history’s most famous prophecies,
including those for our immediate future.
And there’s some good news there.
3. Enlightenment – A Discussion (1 Hour)
What is enlightenment?
How do we know what an enlightened being is?
Taking a philosophical approach to an ancient subject, this
one-hour talk focuses first on the obstacles to discussing enlightenment. Then it looks at what enlightenment may
be.
Two teaser notes: enlightenment may not be the function of
separate individuals (there may be no such thing as an enlightened person), and
the process of moving toward enlightenment is not mysterious.
4. What is Karma? (1 Hour)
How do we think about karma in the 21st century, and is
this true to the original idea of karma?
How does karma make us feel about ourselves?
In the context of destiny and empowerment, this talk
clears up the confusion over karma.
How we think about karma has been confused by Western notions of fate,
sin, judgment, and flawed human nature.
As a result, we end up with what India’s reformers of 2500 years ago
called a cruel doctrine. And it
makes us feel bad about ourselves and our lives.
This talk goes back to karma’s origins and offers a
positive approach to ‘karmic’ living and acting in the world.
5. Dreams and Dream
Interpretation (1 Hour)
What are dreams, and what do they mean?
This talk takes a look at the history of dream interpretation,
surveying the fascinating roles dreams have played in human life. It summarizes traditional ways of
interpreting dreams, offering a short course on how each of us may work with
our own dreams.
6. Astral Travel: Can We
Park Our Bodies and Take a Trip? (1 Hour)
What is astral travel, and what does it mean that we may
be able to go out of our bodies?
Having an out-of-body experience (OOBE), or astral
traveling, has been reported in cultures as far back as we have histories and
all over the world. But it still
sounds odd to those of us who do not consciously go out of our bodies
regularly.
This talk takes a look at the phenomenon of OOBEs and
some of the accounts that lead individuals and entire cultures to take astral
travel very seriously.
7. Life After Death
(1 Hour)
Is there life after death or not? Can we prove either position? And if there is life after death, what might it be like?
This one-hour talk surveys views about the afterlife: on one hand,
the materialist position that nothing survives death, and on the other hand,
the metaphysical position that at least some form of consciousness continues
after death. It looks at the
suggestive evidence for the latter (since by definition, no evidence exists for
the former): near-death experiences, stories collected by researchers, and past
lives retrieved during hypnotic regression.
Finally, the talk closes with a brief description, from cultures
that take the afterlife seriously, of what we might experience if we live in
(or die to) the next dimension.
8. Psychic Protection (1 Hour)
We know that things are working out as they
should. We also know that we can
use all the help we can get. This
one-hour talk looks at the big perspective that allows us to protect ourselves
without feeling paranoid.
Balancing big-picture optimism with here-and-now caution, we can use
specific visualizations — several provided here — to feel more secure in our
lives.
III. SEEING A LARGER WORLD:
FINDING AND USING PHILOSOPHICAL TOOLS
A. Seeing through Enlightened Eyes: Atomism vs. Holism (1 Hour)
One of the most important tools anyone can have to
understand what’s going on in the world is that of worldviews. There are basically two different ways
of looking at the world, and this talk summarizes those. The category of worldviews is the
fundamental key to all clear thinking.
B. Watching Processes Unfold: The Sevenfold Creative Order (1
Hour)
Odd as it sounds, human processes follow a specific order,
unfolding in seven stages (plus or minus two). If we know these, we can handle our projects and
relationships (even romantic relationships) much more creatively.
For instance, this philosophical tool keeps us from being
fooled when the challenge stage (stage 2) occurs between two people, which we
often mistake for the end of a relationship.
And the sevenfold order helps us look ahead and
strategize for future stages of any project.
C. Looking Down from Olympus: The Four Levels of
Consciousness AND How Understanding and Action Evolve (1 Hour)
Three simple thinking tools — the four levels of
consciousness, the fourfold ‘cybernetic feedback’ order, and the spectrum of
action — show us how understanding and behavior develop.
With these three (and the sevenfold order given in
another talk), we can keep ourselves from being ‘dumbed down’ by
one-dimensional analyses of our lives.
As a result, we can engage more fully in both thought and action.
D. Thinking Clearly:
Avoiding Logical Fallacies (1 Hour)
Often, we feel frustrated in discussions. We may not seem to see something
clearly. Or more often, our
discussion partner says something that just seems off. But we cannot put our finger on why.
This talk explains common fallacies in reasoning and so
offers us valuable tools for discussion.
Being familiar with these fallacies enables us to think more clearly and
not be confused by illogical arguments.
And when it comes to thinking, this clarity is lots of fun.
E. Discovering Our Inner Brilliance: The Twelve Stages of the
Mystic Path (4 Hours)
What is mysticism?
Are mystical experiences limited to a special few, or may any of us have
such experiences?
Based on the book, ‘Love, Soul, and Freedom: Dancing with
Rumi on the Mystic Path,’ this four-hour talk summarizes the stages of
discovering our own ‘inner mystic.’
The special gems here are Rumi’s poems, many of which appear within the
discussion of the mystic path.
IV. TRAINING OUR
SYMBOLIC CONSCIOUSNESS: SYMBOL SYSTEMS AND HOW THEY WORK
A Quick Way to Learn the Basics of Psychological Astrology (4
Hours)
Can learning astrology be fun? Over the years, many clients have requested astrology in an
easy-to-learn format. While
mastering any discipline takes years, most requests are for the basics only.
So, using the non-fatalistic approach of psychological astrology
developed in the 20th Century, this talk offers a quick overview of
an ancient art.
PRICES:
If you order a single CD, the price is $45, which includes my
shipping the CD to you.
If you order two or more CDs, you pay only $35 each, which
includes shipping.
If you order six or more CDs, you pay only $25 each, which
includes shipping.
NOTE: There is a
special sale price for the astrology series: $110 for all four hours.
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR ORDERING:
Chris Largent, 1202 Hillside Road, Wilmington, DE 19809,
302-571-9570, ideahse@aol.com.
Please send a check for the amount, made out to Chris Largent, to
the above address.