Yesterday I uncorked a bottle of tea I’d been quietly fermenting this summer. There is always a small moment of anticipation. The tea has been alive for months, shaped by thousands upon thousands of unseen relationships, each responding to one another in ways...
There is a kind of awareness older than any curriculum. The kind that notices the quality of light on a particular morning. That finds something in the movement of leaves, or the silence before rain. It is an awareness of the living world that most of us naturally...
TIES situates graduate study within the larger human journey to understand how we might live in deeper harmony with the Earth. In doing so, it draws on the work of Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, and Maria Montessori, who each emphasize the power of story in revealing our...
Certain moments in life ask for our attention quietly. Some arrive as curiosity. Some, as restlessness. Some, as the simple sense that there may be more to learn than we once imagined. Joseph Campbell spent a lifetime listening to such moments. He understood that...
I have found that observing the present moment with clear, non-judging attention gives the space to explore the mind’s natural balance and discernment which have been there waiting to unfold. In life, where learning cannot be separated from the environment, connecting all life experiences with curiosity could transform this curiosity into insightful creative learning experiences, in which one might find something unique to contribute to the world.
For two weeks in late November, a “Symposium” – a gathering of learned scholars, assembled around the relatively contemporary phenomenon of adolescence. Skillfully and heartfully guided by TIES faculty Steven Arnold and Julie Haagenson, two hundred registered...
(A post by TIES alumna Kasey Errico) I recently returned from a fall overnight experience with 17 adolescent learners. On our way from our campsite to the morning harvest, with the students in front of me, descending the hill toward the garden house of the Community...
Empathy, Compassion and Healing Our Planet As a teacher for 23 years, I have learned that one's capacity for empathy and compassion provides a platform for love, life and making a difference in our fragile world. When guiding students to fall in love with the Earth, I...
What is a TIES symposium? I was recently asked, "What is a TIES symposium?" Being on the inside, I think it’s easy for me to forget that our online gatherings are unique in their simplicity, and yet profound in their outcomes. A newcomer could easily pass, thinking...