"We are not here to rule the world. We are here to connect with the greater community of Earth."

Thomas Berry

Today we face the challenge of moving from the current devastation and degradation of the planet's living systems to a new culture of regeneration and care that would seek the benefit and richness not only of us humans, but of life as a whole. Cosmologist Thomas Berry once declared that human society and the natural world will either move into the future as one integral community or experience misfortune along the way. The first premise of such a cultural transformation is the understanding that the universe is not a collection of objects but a community of subjects, that we as humans are part of a living, soulful world that has its own depth and meaning, as well as its own structure and form. Thanks to this, we can once again establish an intimate connection with nature and the cosmos and begin to listen to the voices and stories of forests and mountains, rivers and rocks, the magical moon and the mysterious night sky full of stars, and begin to ask: “Who are we? Where do we come from?”

Such an understanding opens the way for us to dialogue with the world and the deep cosmos, which, as the Australian eco-philosopher writes, Freya Mathews, "it signifies entry into an expanded realm of eros, in which self and world mutually awaken to a greater and more radiant state of fulfillment."According to a German biologist Andreas Weber Nature embodies the desire for connection. When we are in contact with it, we are engaged in an intense reciprocal exchange that stimulates our connection with other beings, which awakens our higher selves and allows us to be more alive and participate in the flowering of life within the biosphere. It is a path to a fuller and more mature life, which according to Weber is the core of true sustainability, and it is also a path to “comprehensive compassion” (Brian Swimme). Recognizing the subjective nature of the world allows us to align our desires with the desires and needs of the biosphere itself, and to actively complement and co-create it. This understanding also leads us to a deeper understanding of the story of our origins, showing us how communication and the myriad connections between different entities in the universe have formed a complex web of interconnections and symbioses that extends from the mystery of its origin to us.

As if he were here from heaven
circle of earth kisses
and had to in the glow of flowers
just dream your dream about him.

The van touched the field,
The ears of corn were swaying,
The forests rustled below
and the stars rose.

My soul was expanding
spread your wings in wide flight,
She passed through the silent world,
like flying back home.

During the seminar, we will primarily learn about three concepts of cultural transformation – vision Ecozoic era and "great work" Thomas Berry, vision culture and politics of liveliness (and erotic ecology) German biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber with practice ontopoetics Australian ecophilosophers Freya Mathews, based on her philosophy panpsychism; we will also deal with the epic of evolution and visions of a living universe – Stephan Martin –, the Gaia hypothesis, ecosophy, the return of enchantment (Thomas Moore), imaginative ecology. Together we will explore the burning questions of ecological ethics, the rights of nature, the commons, regenerative agriculture and other possibilities for shaping a regenerative culture – Johannes Heimrath, Lara Mallien, Alena Malíková, Jaromír Bláha, Jan Piňos, Martin Nawrath, Jana Suchánková, Barbora Kinkalová, Hana Bernardová and others.

During nature trips, we will attempt to develop contemplative sensory participation and communication with the living world around us – with animals and birds, with plants and trees, forests and meadows, stones and rocks, with streams and rivers, with the sky and stars, with the Sun and Earth, the Moon and the Milky Way, with air and water, with light and gravity – in an effort to deepen our ability to identify with all life. We will use wandering, Deep Time Walk, meditation, dance, song, counseling circle, ritual, the language of myths and archetypes. However, the main inspiration and tool for us will be poetry as one of the forms of mindful practice.attention-loving". We will develop poetic perception and poetize the world.

We will be inspired by the life and work of some famous poets and philosophers - Johann Wolfgang Goethe, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Joseph von Eichendorff, Karel Hynek Mách, Henry David Thoreau, Robinson Jeffers, Gary Snyder, Mary Oliver, Gregory Bateson, David Abram, Masanobu Fukuoka, Freya Mathews –, their ability to listen to the world, to understand it as a speaker in a dialogue, and to read meanings and symbols directly from the language of the world. We will also recall some of the experiences and rituals of indigenous cultures and why, as philosopher David Abram emphasizes, it is important today to speak “to” the world rather than “about” the world.

We dedicate a special program Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857), one of the last great German Romantic poets. Eichendorff's unique lyrical poems, characterized by musicality and masterly simplicity and ease, as well as his enchanting prose (From the life of a vagabond), were inspired by the landscape of Upper Silesia, where he was born in Lubovice near Ratiboř. In the last two years of his life, the poet spent the summer months at the Jánský vrch chateau in Javorník. Some contemporary Czech poets will also introduce us to their poetic work (Ludek Certik, Martin Nawrath and Pavel Janšta and Hiromi Ogata etc.)

During the seminar, we will explore the magic of nature in the Rychlebské Mountains on daily trips, which Zdeňka Morávková – Řezbová, painter and curator of cultural programs at the Dance Hall in Račí údolí, called “mountains of silence and stopping”; and we will also visit Lázně Jeseník. After the seminar, on Saturday afternoon, August 15, you can join us on a four-day hike that will lead from Račí údolí to the top of Králický Sněžník (1424 m above sea level). She will lead us Michal Kristynek, geographer and guide through the Rychlebské Mountains. The journey will be dedicated to a new cosmology, which will be introduced to us by an American astronomer Stephan Martin (We will send out an invitation to this journey.) From Králický Sněžník, some pilgrims will continue their journey through the Orlické Mountains, Broumovské Stěny to the peak of Sněžka (1602 m above sea level) in the Krkonoše Mountains.

George Zemanek

Lecturers and collaborators

Andreas Weber, Stephan Martin, Johannes Heimrath – Lara Mallien, Jiří Zemánek, Luděk Čertík, Martin Nawrath, Tomáš Daněk, Pavel Janšta – Hiromi Ogata, Michal Kristýnek, Alena Malíková, Jan Piňos, Jaromír Bláha, Jana Suchánková, Barbora Kinkalová, Monika Michaelová, Tomáš Gardelka, Tomáš Hrůza, Lenka Kubelová, Lucie Fryčová, Karel Čtveráček, Jan Pražan, Zdeňka Morávková-Řezbová, Hana Bernardová, Petr Lisý, Alexandra Brabcová and others.

"Ecosophy is not just the "science of the earth" (ecology), it is not even the "wisdom of the earth", but rather the "wisdom of the earth itself", which manifests itself to man when he knows how to listen to the earth with love."

Raimon Panikkar

Accommodation, payment and publications

IN Ecocenter Rychleby (Bílý Potok 152, 790 70 Javorník ve Silesia). The total price for food and accommodation is 3030 CZK. We will live in double and quadruple rooms. Vegan food, possibly vegetarian. Payment for the seminar: 4400 CZK. Total price: 7430,-CZKThe maximum capacity of the seminar is 35 students.

If you would like to register for the seminar, please let us know at one of these email addresses or by phone: sarvanga@centrum.cz, 777 117 466 (Jiří Zemánek), alena.malikova@bioinstitut.cz, 604 905 611 (Alena Malíková).

Once we confirm your participation, please send us a deposit. 1500,-CZK to the account number at Fio banka, a.s.: 2901522796/2010. Enter "[your name] - seminar deposit" as the variable symbol.

The deposit also serves as a contribution to the purchase of a plane ticket for our rare foreign guest and collaborator, American astronomer Stephan Martin, who will be one of the lecturers of the seminar. Therefore, we ask all serious interested parties to pay the deposit in time. If you decide to increase the deposit, it will make it much easier for us to reimburse the said plane ticket.

We are preparing to publish a publication for the seminar. Everything around me lives, feels, like me..., which will include Derrick Jensen's interview with David Abram "The Earth is Truly Intelligent", the manifesto "Towards a Culture of Aliveness: Politics and Poetics in a Post-Dualistic Age - The Anthropocene Manifesto" by Andreas Weber and Hildegard Kurt, as well as Andreas Weber's essay "Being Nature" and Freya Mathews' text "At Nature's Will".

If you decide to support us with a monetary donation – even if you do not directly participate in the seminar yourself – you will receive this publication from us for free. In this case, please contact Tomáš Hrůza: tomashruza@gmail.com

PILGRIM – The Wandering University of Nature

Nature for us is not primarily a collection of objects or a reservoir of usable raw materials, but above all a community of soulful subjects, a meaningful world that shapes, inspires, nourishes and supports us and with which we feel connected. We share Gregory Bateson's conviction that nature holds the secret to revitalizing our human systems, to growing the health of human communities and to healing our relationships. Today, we need to expand our intellectual knowledge of nature by learning directly from nature itself, by experiences and experiences that allow us to connect intimately with its processes.

Andreas Weber: Aliveness as the Heart of Economics, Ecology and Commoning