How the basic training proceeds
The basic training consists of a series of fourteen workshops. The first three workshops last three days and the remaining workshops last four days. Between each workshop a minimum interval of 2 months is recommended. There is no maximum interval recommended. The workshops must be taken one by one in a logistic order because they are linked to each other. Students sign up to each particular workshop and not to the whole basic training that’s why they can decide themselves about the way and the length of their studies.
Lectures establish the structure of each workshop. Lectures offer a possible point of view at some principle, which occurs in our lives. This offered point of view is a part of the philosophy of Principles of Life but we don’t expect students to accept this point of view the way it’s explained but we suppose that it will become a basic point of their own reflection about the given topic.
Each lecture is followed by a „disquisition“- a couched dialog with a partner. The students do the disquisition in couples among themselves. In the framework of a disquisition one always does a „revision of his/her picture of the world“, which means that s/he is thinking about his/her own experience from his/her life with the topics, which were discussed during the lecture. The other person is couching him/her, which means that s/he is trying to support his/her revision by asking questions. The task of the coach is not to lead his/her partner somewhere by asking questions, the goal is only to understand how s/he works with the principle mentioned in the previous lecture in his/her life. In fact this system is very plain, we could say, that it’s like when two friends are talking over a cup of tea. However in the connection with the topics of the workshops it is very effective. Often, students are led to think about topics, which they’ve never thought about or not thoroughly. Many times they find out that they function or better to say don’t function based on some prejudice or fixed ideas, which they would have never believed that they had them.
However, the most difficult phase of the training is the next phase. The practical life philosophy wouldn’t be very practical if a person wouldn’t apply his/her results of his/her own thinking in his/her own life. This is sometimes easy and it goes on its own, but sometimes it isn’t so easy because we need to make many changes.
In order for you to get a better idea about the way the training goes, you can read here a fragment of the first chapter of the first workshop and the assignment forthe disquisition related to it. It is only a part of the text, there are e three other pages of the text prior to this, so in the context of the whole workshop everything will become more clear.