Gnoseologies: ReSpell: Religion, Spirituality, and Well-being. A conversation with Anthropologist Eugenia Roussou
In this Gnoseologies event, Giovanna Parmigiani, CSWR Research Associate, will talk with Eugenia Roussou, PhD, sociocultural anthropologist, about her ethnographic research on contemporary religiosity and well-being in Southern Europe; the anthropological study of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM); transreligiosity, and spiritual elasticity; and her work as the principal investigator for the project “ReSpell: Religion, Spirituality and Wellbeing: a Comparative Approach of Transreligiosity and Crisis in Southern Europe.”
Eugenia Roussou, PhD, sociocultural anthropologist, is the principal investigator of “ReSpell: Religion, Spirituality and Wellbeing: a Comparative Approach of Transreligiosity and Crisis in Southern Europe,” funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. The Centre for Research in Anthropology, where Roussou is a senior researcher, hosts the ReSpell project in Lisbon, Portugal. She is the author of Orthodox Christianity, New Age Spirituality and Vernacular Religio…
Programming Series: Gnoseologies. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Event Coordinator
(617)4954476.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Zoom.
For more info visit harvard.zoom.us. Reading Group: Psychedelics and Aesthetics
Registration is required.
How do psychedelic experiences influence the perception of art and beauty? What role does aesthetics play in psychedelic experiences, and how does it impact ethical considerations?
This biweekly reading and learning group led by CSWR Student Research Assistant Tristan Angieri, MDiv ‘26, will explore these questions and more, focusing on the relationship between psychedelics, aesthetics, and ethics. Participants will examine psychedelic practices in various contexts, including clinical, underground, indigenous, and other cultural settings. Topics will include the aesthetics of psychedelic experiences, the role of the ludic and creativity in psychedelic experiences, and the influence of religion, spirituality, and culture on taste-making in psychedelics.
Each session will focus on one or more specific psychedelic substances and companion works of art/media or practices, using diverse readings for analysis. Participants will engage in text-based discussions and optional experiential…
Programming Series: Spirituality and Psychedelics. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
Dance Workshop: G.I. Gurdjieff’s Movements
Registration is required.
Please register via the "Sign up" link.
As part of its broader fall programming around the life and teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff, the CSWR has partnered with the Gurdjieff Society of Massachusetts to offer a series of Movements workshops. These intentional dance exercises, a unique offering of the Gurdjieff teaching, have the potential to transform. They ask participants to be whole and to activate increasingly strong and lively attention throughout the body in motion or stillness. The exactitude of positions, changes of rhythm, and the demand for the dancer to move parts of the body independently or simultaneously with other parts all conspire to create inner conditions necessary for a changed experience of oneself. The dancer may discover moments when a finer quality of attention emerges, a more total attention rooted in mind, body, and heart. Through the beauty and rigor of the form and the richness of its music, the Movements call forth a total participation of all that one is.
G…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024, 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM.
Multifaith Room, Swartz Hall, 45 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
For more info visit eventactions.com. The Other Side of the Gateway: Space Rocks as a Pantheist Limit-Case with Professor MJ Rubenstein
Registration is required.
Register to attend in person.
Register to attend on Zoom.
If the contemplation of plants can be a “gateway drug” to pantheism, then what lies on the other side of the gateway? If we consider ferns, maples, and maitakes to be not only animate, but (inter)personal, where will we stop? Rivers? Mountains? Pebbles and stones?
This presentation turns to the space industry’s current priorities as tests of these limits. Considering the alleged emptiness and inanimacy of outer space, are the industry’s lunar mining, asteroid harvesting, and Martian terraforming ethically admissible—even commendable—goals? Or are there reasons to restrain or reconfigure this “human progression” beyond Earth? Might we have to start listening to rocks?
Speaker's Bio:
Mary-Jane Rubenstein is Dean of the Social Sciences and Professor of Religion and Science and Technology Studies at Wesleyan University. She is the author of numerous books on the intersections of science and religion, including Pantheologies:…
Programming Series: Thinking with Plants and Fungi. Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
(617)495-4476.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM.
Common Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
“A Remarkable Life in Poetry” with Isaac Jarnot (formerly Lisa Jarnot)
Registration is encouraged.
Please register to attend in person, Please register to attend via Zoom
Isaac Jarnot’s new book, Four Lectures (by Lisa Jarnot, Wave Books, 2024), comprises autobiographical essays that form an intimate, uncompromising, and generous glimpse into a remarkable life in poetry. Jarnot will read poems as well as excerpts of these talks.
Poet's Bio:
Isaac Jarnot (formerly Lisa Jarnot) was born in Buffalo, NY, and educated at the State University of New York, Buffalo. He is the author (aka Lisa Jarnot) of several collections of poetry, including Night Scenes (Flood Editions, 2008), Joie De Vivre: Selected Poems 1992-2012 (City Lights Publishers, 2013), and A Princess Magic Presto Spell (Solid Objects, 2014; Wesleyan University Press, 2019). He has been a visiting professor at Naropa University, Brooklyn College, and the University of Colorado, Boulder. He lives in Jackson Heights, Queens, holds a master of divinity degree from New York Theological Seminary, is a PhD student in…
Programming Series: Poetry. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Thursday, October 17, 2024, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM.
CSWR Common Room
42 Francis Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138.
For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu. A Decolonial Lens on Psychedelic Ethics Workshop Series: Aesthetics and Experience: Psychedelic Representations
Registration is required.
Please register via the "Sign up" link.
This series of six workshops, led by Christine Hauskeller, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Exeter, explores the intersection of decolonial theory and psychedelic ethics. Participants will examine power dynamics within the evolving field of psychedelic studies, focusing on conflicts between diverse knowledge systems and practices. Beginning with an overview of decolonial concepts, students will progress through critical analyses of clinical research, aesthetic representations, and the commodification of psychedelic experiences. The final sessions will focus on those objectified by colonizing practices in the psychedelic space, namely plants and animals, indigenous groups, and underground practitioners.
Each workshop will begin with a 30-minute introductory lecture, followed by a collaborative discussion to gather ideas and perspectives. In addition to the workshop sessions, a small group of students will create a poster or brief t…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Psychedelics and Ethics. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
“emBRUJAda: charms for the living,” A Book Talk With Visual Artist Karen Lofgren
Registration is required.
Please register to attend via Zoom.
Visual artist Karen Lofgren will be in conversation with Psychedelics and Spirituality program leads, Paul Gillis-Smith and Jeffrey Breau, on her recent publication, emBRUJAda: charms for the living (2023).
As a visual artist, Lofgren engages with epistemologies beyond Western European colonialism, and as a gardener, Lofgren lives these epistemologies through inter-species conversation and planting medicine gardens across the world. Her work is driven by an interest in fostering a dialogue across the Americas from a feminist and decolonial view, and emBRUJAda functions as a window into this dialogue. In both English and Spanish, emBRUJAda pulls together annotated artwork, photographic collage of exhibitions and studio spaces, and prose on sentience, ritual, curses and cures, and voice. The book is punctuated by essays and correspondence from Lofgren, alongside Mexican vocalist and performer Carmina Escobar; Peruvian feminist art historian,…
Programming Series: Spirituality and Psychedelics. Psychedelics and the Future of Religion. Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM.
Zoom.
For more info visit harvard.zoom.us. Reading Group: Legacy and Teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff
Registration Required:
Building up to the December conference, the CSWR will offer a biweekly reading group to introduce the legacy of G.I. Gurdjieff, a philosopher, mystic, composer, and dance teacher, whose spiritual teaching, known as “The Work,” has had a long and far-reaching impact on his contemporaries and the new religious movements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The group will be led by Carole M. Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, with guest participation from Gurdjieff Society of Massachusetts members. Additional information forthcoming.
Instructor’s Bio:
Carole M. Cusack, PhD, MEd, is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. She trained as a medievalist, and her doctorate was published as Conversion Among Germanic Peoples (Cassell, 1998). Her primary research focuses on contemporary religious trends and Western esotericism. Her books include Anime, Religion and Spirituality: Profane and Sacred Worlds in…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Thursday, October 24, 2024, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
Reading Group: Thinking with Plants and Fungi
Registration is required:
Meets biweekly from 3-5 PM at the Center for the Study of World Religions.
Recent scientific research has shed light on the sophisticated ways in which plants and fungi sense, make sense of, and interact with the world. Alongside these discoveries is a wave of interest in the “more-than-human” humanities, this scholarship raises fundamental questions about the nature of the human and the non-human: what is mind, where does it extend, and how? How do plants and fungi trouble our understanding of “thinking" – and perhaps cause us to reconsider what it means to be human? How do we ethically work with them? What cultural frameworks give us opportunities to think about next means of engagement? In its third year of gathering, this reading group will explore these questions and more. Past scholarship has included works by leading thinkers such as Emanuele Coccia, Monica Gagliano, Suzanne Simard, Michael Marder, and more.
Email plants@hds.harvard.edu to be added to the reading group…
Programming Series: Thinking with Plants and Fungi. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Thursday, October 24, 2024, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
Reading Group: Psychedelics and Aesthetics
Registration is required.
How do psychedelic experiences influence the perception of art and beauty? What role does aesthetics play in psychedelic experiences, and how does it impact ethical considerations?
This biweekly reading and learning group led by CSWR Student Research Assistant Tristan Angieri, MDiv ‘26, will explore these questions and more, focusing on the relationship between psychedelics, aesthetics, and ethics. Participants will examine psychedelic practices in various contexts, including clinical, underground, indigenous, and other cultural settings. Topics will include the aesthetics of psychedelic experiences, the role of the ludic and creativity in psychedelic experiences, and the influence of religion, spirituality, and culture on taste-making in psychedelics.
Each session will focus on one or more specific psychedelic substances and companion works of art/media or practices, using diverse readings for analysis. Participants will engage in text-based discussions and optional experiential…
Programming Series: Spirituality and Psychedelics. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
Dance Workshop: G.I. Gurdjieff’s Movements
Registration is required.
Please register via the "Sign up" link.
As part of its broader fall programming around the life and teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff, the CSWR has partnered with the Gurdjieff Society of Massachusetts to offer a series of Movements workshops. These intentional dance exercises, a unique offering of the Gurdjieff teaching, have the potential to transform. They ask participants to be whole and to activate increasingly strong and lively attention throughout the body in motion or stillness. The exactitude of positions, changes of rhythm, and the demand for the dancer to move parts of the body independently or simultaneously with other parts all conspire to create inner conditions necessary for a changed experience of oneself. The dancer may discover moments when a finer quality of attention emerges, a more total attention rooted in mind, body, and heart. Through the beauty and rigor of the form and the richness of its music, the Movements call forth a total participation of all that one is.
G…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024, 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM.
Multifaith Room, Swartz Hall, 45 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
For more info visit eventactions.com. Walking Tour of Harvard’s Psychedelic History
Registration is required.
Please register via the Sign Up link.
While research on psychedelics is ever present in our contemporary moment, there is a long tradition of interest in psychoactive drugs at Harvard University—from the ethnobotanical studies of the 1940s, to “mind-control” experiments of the 1950s, to the “heyday” of psychedelic research and activism of the 1960s. This walking tour traipses through the history of psychedelics at Harvard—stitching together figures as far back as Ralph Waldo Emerson, to little-known heroes of ‘60s drug culture, to contemporary felons, fugitives, and academics. This tour will be guided by the program leads for psychedelics and spirituality at the Centre, Jeffrey Breau and Paul Gillis-Smith. The tour is also accessible via Spotify, linked here.
The tour will cover about 2 miles. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended. The tour will convene in front of the CSWR, at 42 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA, at 5:00pm, and conclude in Harvard Square at the Kennedy School,…
Programming Series: Psychedelics and the Future of Religion. Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
(617)495-4476.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
Center for the Study of World Religions
42 Francis Ave.
Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit eventactions.com. A Decolonial Lens on Psychedelic Ethics Workshop Series: Colonizing or Respecting Nature
Registration is required.
Please register via the "Sign up" link.
This series of six workshops, led by Christine Hauskeller, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Exeter, explores the intersection of decolonial theory and psychedelic ethics. Participants will examine power dynamics within the evolving field of psychedelic studies, focusing on conflicts between diverse knowledge systems and practices. Beginning with an overview of decolonial concepts, students will progress through critical analyses of clinical research, aesthetic representations, and the commodification of psychedelic experiences. The final sessions will focus on those objectified by colonizing practices in the psychedelic space, namely plants and animals, indigenous groups, and underground practitioners.
Each workshop will begin with a 30-minute introductory lecture, followed by a collaborative discussion to gather ideas and perspectives. In addition to the workshop sessions, a small group of students will create a poster or brief t…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Psychedelics and Ethics. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
Gnoseologies: "Other Words, Other Bodies. Embodied Epistemologies and Ethnographies of Healing." A conversation with Anthropologist Emily Pierini
TBD: GNOSEOLOGIES: Other Words, Other Bodies. Embodied Epistemologies and Ethnographies of Healing. A conversation with Anthropologist Emily Pierini.
Programming Series: Gnoseologies. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, MDiv '23
CSWR Event Coordinator
617.495.4476.
Wednesday, November 6, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Zoom.
For more info visit harvard.zoom.us. Reading Group: Legacy and Teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff
Registration Required:
Building up to the December conference, the CSWR will offer a biweekly reading group to introduce the legacy of G.I. Gurdjieff, a philosopher, mystic, composer, and dance teacher, whose spiritual teaching, known as “The Work,” has had a long and far-reaching impact on his contemporaries and the new religious movements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The group will be led by Carole M. Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, with guest participation from Gurdjieff Society of Massachusetts members. Additional information forthcoming.
Instructor’s Bio:
Carole M. Cusack, PhD, MEd, is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. She trained as a medievalist, and her doctorate was published as Conversion Among Germanic Peoples (Cassell, 1998). Her primary research focuses on contemporary religious trends and Western esotericism. Her books include Anime, Religion and Spirituality: Profane and Sacred Worlds in…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Thursday, November 7, 2024, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
Reading Group: Thinking with Plants and Fungi
Registration is required:
Meets biweekly from 3-5 PM at the Center for the Study of World Religions.
Recent scientific research has shed light on the sophisticated ways in which plants and fungi sense, make sense of, and interact with the world. Alongside these discoveries is a wave of interest in the “more-than-human” humanities, this scholarship raises fundamental questions about the nature of the human and the non-human: what is mind, where does it extend, and how? How do plants and fungi trouble our understanding of “thinking" – and perhaps cause us to reconsider what it means to be human? How do we ethically work with them? What cultural frameworks give us opportunities to think about next means of engagement? In its third year of gathering, this reading group will explore these questions and more. Past scholarship has included works by leading thinkers such as Emanuele Coccia, Monica Gagliano, Suzanne Simard, Michael Marder, and more.
Email plants@hds.harvard.edu to be added to the reading group…
Programming Series: Thinking with Plants and Fungi. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Thursday, November 7, 2024, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
Reading Group: Psychedelics and Aesthetics
Registration is required.
How do psychedelic experiences influence the perception of art and beauty? What role does aesthetics play in psychedelic experiences, and how does it impact ethical considerations?
This biweekly reading and learning group led by CSWR Student Research Assistant Tristan Angieri, MDiv ‘26, will explore these questions and more, focusing on the relationship between psychedelics, aesthetics, and ethics. Participants will examine psychedelic practices in various contexts, including clinical, underground, indigenous, and other cultural settings. Topics will include the aesthetics of psychedelic experiences, the role of the ludic and creativity in psychedelic experiences, and the influence of religion, spirituality, and culture on taste-making in psychedelics.
Each session will focus on one or more specific psychedelic substances and companion works of art/media or practices, using diverse readings for analysis. Participants will engage in text-based discussions and optional experiential…
Programming Series: Spirituality and Psychedelics. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Wednesday, November 13, 2024, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
Dance Workshop: G.I. Gurdjieff’s Movements
Registration is required.
Please register via the "Sign up" link.
As part of its broader fall programming around the life and teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff, the CSWR has partnered with the Gurdjieff Society of Massachusetts to offer a series of Movements workshops. These intentional dance exercises, a unique offering of the Gurdjieff teaching, have the potential to transform. They ask participants to be whole and to activate increasingly strong and lively attention throughout the body in motion or stillness. The exactitude of positions, changes of rhythm, and the demand for the dancer to move parts of the body independently or simultaneously with other parts all conspire to create inner conditions necessary for a changed experience of oneself. The dancer may discover moments when a finer quality of attention emerges, a more total attention rooted in mind, body, and heart. Through the beauty and rigor of the form and the richness of its music, the Movements call forth a total participation of all that one is.
G…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Wednesday, November 13, 2024, 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM.
Multifaith Room, Swartz Hall, 45 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
For more info visit eventactions.com. "On the Nutritive Soul: Hegel, Goethe, Agnes Arber" with Dr. Daniel Carranza
Registration is required.
Register to attend this event in person.
Register to attend this event on Zoom.
Description:
Since Aristotle, the Western philosophical tradition has concerned itself with a logically constitutive rather than an empirically descriptive (or “biological”) concept of life. According to this logical concept, life is not merely a self-sustaining configuration of physical matter. Instead, the living being is living by being animated from within by a constitutive principle of active inner unity. Aristotle called the “soul” and Hegel’s life the “immediate idea.” In other words, life calls not only for conceptual definition but for a new concept of the concept altogether to do justice to its uniquely vital being. The talk briefly reconstructs this philosophical tradition's logical concept of life as articulated in Hegel before turning to Goethe's heterodox, anti-traditional take on the idea of life and its subsequent empirical-scientific development in the work of pioneering British…
Programming Series: Thinking with Plants and Fungi. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Wednesday, November 13, 2024, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM.
Common Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit cswr.hds.harvard.edu. A Decolonial Lens on Psychedelic Ethics Workshop Series: Respect for the Expertise of the Marginalized and Outlaws
Registration is required.
Please register via the "Sign up" link.
This series of six workshops, led by Christine Hauskeller, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Exeter, explores the intersection of decolonial theory and psychedelic ethics. Participants will examine power dynamics within the evolving field of psychedelic studies, focusing on conflicts between diverse knowledge systems and practices. Beginning with an overview of decolonial concepts, students will progress through critical analyses of clinical research, aesthetic representations, and the commodification of psychedelic experiences. The final sessions will focus on those objectified by colonizing practices in the psychedelic space, namely plants and animals, indigenous groups, and underground practitioners.
Each workshop will begin with a 30-minute introductory lecture, followed by a collaborative discussion to gather ideas and perspectives. In addition to the workshop sessions, a small group of students will create a poster or brief t…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Psychedelics and Ethics. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Tuesday, November 19, 2024, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
Reading Group: Legacy and Teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff
Registration Required:
Building up to the December conference, the CSWR will offer a biweekly reading group to introduce the legacy of G.I. Gurdjieff, a philosopher, mystic, composer, and dance teacher, whose spiritual teaching, known as “The Work,” has had a long and far-reaching impact on his contemporaries and the new religious movements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The group will be led by Carole M. Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, with guest participation from Gurdjieff Society of Massachusetts members. Additional information forthcoming.
Instructor’s Bio:
Carole M. Cusack, PhD, MEd, is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. She trained as a medievalist, and her doctorate was published as Conversion Among Germanic Peoples (Cassell, 1998). Her primary research focuses on contemporary religious trends and Western esotericism. Her books include Anime, Religion and Spirituality: Profane and Sacred Worlds in…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Thursday, November 21, 2024, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
Reading Group: Thinking with Plants and Fungi
Registration is required:
Meets biweekly from 3-5 PM at the Center for the Study of World Religions.
Recent scientific research has shed light on the sophisticated ways in which plants and fungi sense, make sense of, and interact with the world. Alongside these discoveries is a wave of interest in the “more-than-human” humanities, this scholarship raises fundamental questions about the nature of the human and the non-human: what is mind, where does it extend, and how? How do plants and fungi trouble our understanding of “thinking" – and perhaps cause us to reconsider what it means to be human? How do we ethically work with them? What cultural frameworks give us opportunities to think about next means of engagement? In its third year of gathering, this reading group will explore these questions and more. Past scholarship has included works by leading thinkers such as Emanuele Coccia, Monica Gagliano, Suzanne Simard, Michael Marder, and more.
Email plants@hds.harvard.edu to be added to the reading group…
Programming Series: Thinking with Plants and Fungi. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Thursday, November 21, 2024, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
Walking Tour of Harvard’s Psychedelic History
Registration is required.
Please register via the Sign Up link.
While research on psychedelics is ever present in our contemporary moment, there is a long tradition of interest in psychoactive drugs at Harvard University—from the ethnobotanical studies of the 1940s, to “mind-control” experiments of the 1950s, to the “heyday” of psychedelic research and activism of the 1960s. This walking tour traipses through the history of psychedelics at Harvard—stitching together figures as far back as Ralph Waldo Emerson, to little-known heroes of ‘60s drug culture, to contemporary felons, fugitives, and academics. This tour will be guided by the program leads for psychedelics and spirituality at the Centre, Jeffrey Breau and Paul Gillis-Smith. The tour is also accessible via Spotify, linked here.
The tour will cover about 2 miles. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended. The tour will convene in front of the CSWR, at 42 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA, at 5:00pm, and conclude in Harvard Square at the Kennedy School, at…
Programming Series: Psychedelics and the Future of Religion. Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
(617)495-4476.
Thursday, November 21, 2024, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
Center for the Study of World Religions
42 Francis Ave.
Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit eventactions.com. A Decolonial Lens on Psychedelic Ethics Workshop Series: Collecting our insights, trying to name the loose ends, open Discussion
Registration is required.
Please register via the "Sign up" link.
This series of six workshops, led by Christine Hauskeller, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Exeter, explores the intersection of decolonial theory and psychedelic ethics. Participants will examine power dynamics within the evolving field of psychedelic studies, focusing on conflicts between diverse knowledge systems and practices. Beginning with an overview of decolonial concepts, students will progress through critical analyses of clinical research, aesthetic representations, and the commodification of psychedelic experiences. The final sessions will focus on those objectified by colonizing practices in the psychedelic space, namely plants and animals, indigenous groups, and underground practitioners.
Each workshop will begin with a 30-minute introductory lecture, followed by a collaborative discussion to gather ideas and perspectives. In addition to the workshop sessions, a small group of students will create a poster or brief t…
Programming Series: Transcendence and Transformation. Psychedelics and Ethics. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Tuesday, December 3, 2024, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
G. I. Gurdjieff Conference (Opening remarks and film screening), Dec 4 & 5, 2024
Registration is required. Space is limited. Registration is not a guarantee of attendance. Registration is on a first come-first serve basis. All registrants will be notified of status (Registered, or Waitlist) by Friday, October 18, 2024.
Register to attend in person.
Register to attend on zoom. *Please note that the film will not be shown on zoom; just welcoming and opening remarks.
Celebrating the centenary anniversary of his visit and Movements performance at Harvard, the conference will focus on the legacy and teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff, a charismatic philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and, in his words, “teacher of temple dancing” from the early twentieth century. Gurdjieff taught the Fourth Way, which aimed to connect practices involving emotions, body, and mind as a way of reaching higher states of consciousness and awakening from the state of “waking sleep.”
The conference, planned in partnership with Carole Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, and the…
Contact: Laurie Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
Email: ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Harvard Science Center
1 Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit gurdjieff.hsites.harvard.edu. G.I. Gurdjieff Conference Film Screening and Conference Opener
Registration is required.
Please register to attend in person.
Please register to attend on zoom.
Welcome Remarks (Charles Stang, Carole Cusack, Alexandre de Salzmann), Documentary Screening: Georgi Ivanovitch Gurdjieff: The Seekers of Truth 1 by Jean-Claude Lubtchansky, Reception.
Contact: Laurie Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
Email.
Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Lecture Hall C, Science Center, 1 Oxford St. Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit gurdjieff.hsites.harvard.edu. G. I. Gurdjieff Conference December 4-5, 2024, Center for the Study of World Religions
Registration is required. Space is limited. Registration is not a guarantee of attendance and is on a first come-first serve basis. All registrants will be notified of status (Registered, or Waitlist) by Friday, October 18, 2024.
Register to attend in person.
Register to attend on zoom. *Please note that the film will not be shown on zoom; just welcoming and opening remarks.
Celebrating the centenary anniversary of his visit and Movements performance at Harvard, the conference will focus on the legacy and teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff, a charismatic philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and, in his words, “teacher of temple dancing” from the early twentieth century. Gurdjieff taught the Fourth Way, which aimed to connect practices involving emotions, body, and mind as a way of reaching higher states of consciousness and awakening from the state of “waking sleep.”
The conference, planned in partnership with Carole Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, and the Gurdjieff…
Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM.
James Room, Swartz Hall, 45 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit gurdjieff.hsites.harvard.edu. G.I. Gurdjieff Conference
Registration is limited and required for attendance. There will be no same-day registrations.
Register to attend in person.
Register to attend on zoom.
Register to attend the piano recital on zoom.
This event will bring together practitioners and scholars from both within and outside the Gurdjieff community for conversations, exchanges, and reflections on the spiritual and scientific influences that shaped Gurdjieff, the embodied practices central to his teachings, and their related cultural contributions. The conference will feature two keynote speakers: Alexandre de Salzmann, President of the International Association of Gurdjieff Foundations, and Carole Cusack. Additionally, there will be four panel discussions involving over 12 scholars and practitioners, as well as a recital of the Gurdjieff/de Hartmann piano music.
Contact: Laurie Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
email.
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
James Room, Swartz Hall, 45 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit gurdjieff.hsites.harvard.edu. G. I. Gurdjieff Conference December 4-5, 2024, Center for the Study of World Religions, Piano Recital
Registration is required. Space is limited. Registration is not a guarantee of attendance. Registration is on a first come-first serve basis. All registrants will be notified of status (Registered, or Waitlist) by Friday, October 18, 2024.
Register to attend in person.
Register to attend on zoom. *Please note that the film will not be shown on zoom; just welcoming and opening remarks.
Celebrating the centenary anniversary of his visit and Movements performance at Harvard, the conference will focus on the legacy and teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff, a charismatic philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and, in his words, “teacher of temple dancing” from the early twentieth century. Gurdjieff taught the Fourth Way, which aimed to connect practices involving emotions, body, and mind as a way of reaching higher states of consciousness and awakening from the state of “waking sleep.”
The conference, planned in partnership with Carole Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, and the…
Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator
ldsedgwick@hds.harvard.edu.
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM.
Harvard-Epworth Church
155 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit gurdjieff.hsites.harvard.edu. Symposium: A Decolonial Lens on Psychedelic Ethics
Registration is required.
Please register to attend in person.
To conclude our “Psychedelics and the Future of Religion” series, visiting scholar Christine Hauskeller will organize a symposium that summarizes the ground covered during her workshop on psychedelic ethics and decoloniality. This symposium will focus on the harm done by colonizing practices in the psychedelic space, namely plants and animals, indigenous groups, and underground practitioners.
Instructor's bio:
Professor Christine Hauskeller is a philosopher with training in sociology and psychology. Her research interests include a range of topics in Moral Philosophy and Empirical Ethics, Feminist Philosophy and Decolonizing Approaches; Frankfurt School Critical Theory, Philosophy of Medicine and the Life Sciences (especially psychedelic psychotherapy, genetics and stem cell research), and Science and Technology Studies. She is co-editor of Philosophy and Psychedelics: Frameworks for Exceptional Experience (2022) and Principal Investigator for…
Programming Series: Psychedelics and the Future of Religion. Transcendence and Transformation. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM.
CSWR Common Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
For more info visit harvard.az1.qualtrics.com. Reading Group: Psychedelics and Aesthetics
Registration is required.
How do psychedelic experiences influence the perception of art and beauty? What role does aesthetics play in psychedelic experiences, and how does it impact ethical considerations?
This biweekly reading and learning group led by CSWR Student Research Assistant Tristan Angieri, MDiv ‘26, will explore these questions and more, focusing on the relationship between psychedelics, aesthetics, and ethics. Participants will examine psychedelic practices in various contexts, including clinical, underground, indigenous, and other cultural settings. Topics will include the aesthetics of psychedelic experiences, the role of the ludic and creativity in psychedelic experiences, and the influence of religion, spirituality, and culture on taste-making in psychedelics.
Each session will focus on one or more specific psychedelic substances and companion works of art/media or practices, using diverse readings for analysis. Participants will engage in text-based discussions and optional experiential…
Programming Series: Spirituality and Psychedelics. Contact: Laurie D. Sedgwick, CSWR Events Coordinator.
Wednesday, December 11, 2024, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Ave. Cambridge, MA.