Learning To Enjoy The World: A weekend with the writings of Thomas Traherne
Learning to Enjoy the World will be a contemplative virtual retreat exploring the writings of Thomas Traherne, 17th century philosopher, poet, theologian and cleric. One of the prominent themes running throughout Traherne’s writings is that of enjoyment and how to practise this discipline in relation to the world, God, and people. The weekend will try to create a space within which this concept of enjoyment may take root.
We will begin on Friday evening with an overview of Traherne’s life and work. Then during the rest of the weekend we will move through some of the sections of his most well-known book, Centuries of Meditations, interspersed with some of his poetry and other writings. The timetable will include suggested periods for private individual meditation and reflection, and will conclude on Sunday morning with suggestions for living with Traherne’s writings as a discipline.
Please note that this weekend is intended for those with little or no prior knowledge of Traherne’s work and will take the form of an introduction to his writings and to his vision of the world.
It will run (on Zoom) from 7.00 pm Friday 8th October to midday Sunday 10th October. 10th October is Traherne’s commemoration day, the anniversary of his burial at St Mary’s, Teddington in 1674.
The weekend will be led by David Buresh and Julie Parker.
David Buresh lives in Washington, DC. He first encountered Traherne’s Centuries of Meditations in 1982 while taking summer literature classes at Wheaton College, Illinois Ever since then he has considered Traherne to be a guide and a ‘friend’. In 2002 he published a contemporary edition of Traherne’s Centuries of Meditations entitled Waking Up in Heaven. He works with document management systems and is a graduate student in Library and Information Systems at The Catholic University of America.
Julie Parker is the Manager of The Fintry Trust and has organised the education programme for the last 23 years. She has a background in teaching and teacher-training, and was previously Vice-Principal of a specialist Further Education College in Kent. She has a particular interest in Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy.
Fee £40 per household
A retreat handout, timetable and Zoom link will be sent on enrolment. Readings will be supplied along with a pdf copy of ‘Centuries of Meditations’ as published by The Shrine of Wisdom.