A Manichaean Journey
to the Heart of Our Time

A Weekend Workshop with Christine Gruwez

Co-sponsored by the Threefold Branch and Threefold Educational Center
Friday, October 19-Sunday, October 21

“I accept the darkness around me by learning to accept the darkness within me; from there I can redeem the darkness in me with the help of the light within me.” — Christine Gruwez

The human being can be understood as a mixture, an interweaving of both the forces of good and evil. If we accept the darkness as well as the light in ourselves, there is a path of healing whereby not only the pain caused by evil can be transformed, but the being of evil itself.

This Manichaean path in dealing with good and evil is a way out of the dualism in which we still are immersed today, toward an attitude of real compassion that works not only on the soul level but also on the level of the living etheric substance that is humanity.

The Manichaean stream has endured many transformations, from the Ismaelis and the School of the Ishraqyun and others in the east to the Cathars, Knights Templars and others in the west. Today, the main question is how to live and practice this impulse. At a time when every individual from every part of the world is confronted with world-shaking events we have become “spectators,” unable to manage or take part in such events. What can be done?

The Manichaean path can teach us how to overcome this state of inertia or “spectatorship,” and how to redeem the forces of evil that are at work.

About Christine Gruwez

Christine Gruwez has followed the history of Mani and his communities throughout the Far and Near East, from the Balkans to North Africa, Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, along the Silk Road to Japan.

Her book, Walking with Your Time: A Manichaean Journey, addresses how to become a contemporary human being and the question of good and evil in our time.

Christine studied philosophy and linguistics at the KU Leuven, the Catholic University in Louvain, Belgium. She met anthroposophy through the Waldorf school in Antwerp, which her four children attended and where she taught from 1976 to 1986. She then taught for a decade in the Waldorf Education Training Program. Since 1997, Christine has led seminars and conferences at Emerson College, at the Goetheanum, and in Japan.

The publication of Bernard Lievegoed’s The Battle for the Soul renewed her contact with the Manichaean impulse. Having studied the language and texts at university, her life’s research question became: How can we actualize what historical Manichaeism has initiated in human history?

Workshop Schedule

The schedule is subject to change.

Recommended Resources

Christine Gruwez, Walking with Your Time. Available at www.lulu.com.
Sergei Prokofieff, The Occult Significance of Forgiveness. Published by SteinerBooks.
Richard Seddon, Mani: His Life and Work. Published by Temple Lodge.
Andrew Welburn, Mani, the Angel and the Column of Glory: An Anthology of Manichean Texts. Published by SteinerBooks.

Workshop Registration

Workshop Fee: $150. Click here for information about onsite registration.

Meals

Meals are not included in the workshop fee. Threefold Café, located in Main House, serves nutritious, reasonably priced, mostly organic and biodynamic food. The Café's meal service is buffet with a vegetarian option and usually a meat or fish option, prepared from scratch. The nearby Hungry Hollow Co-op Natural Foods Market serves organic take-out, and there are many restaurants within driving distance.

Housing

If you need housing for the workshop, you must make separate arrangements. For information about housing at Threefold and area hotels, please click here.

Workshop Location

The workshop will take place in the Living Room of Threefold Main House, 285 Hungry Hollow Rd., Chestnut Ridge, NY. For detailed directions to Threefold Educational Center, plus a map of the campus, please click here.

For More Information

... About the workshop, contact Gino Ver Eecke at 845-356-1380 or gfbver@gmail.com.

... About registration, contact Lory Widmer: 845-352-5020 x18 or events@threefold.org.