Courses

Life's Great Transitions and Four Essential Dialogues

This course will be presented in three sessions. In the first, members of the group will be introduced to each other and to the purposes of the course, centered about an understanding of Change, Transition and Transformation. The function of Rites of Passage and Erikson’s ages of Life will be explored. Assignments will be made for the next two sessions.

The second session will present the results of three-person groups and their development of the most important techniques and the great mysteries that need to be brought to consciousness in order to live effectively in the final quarter of life.

The third session will provide each individual with an opportunity to make a brief statement that expresses the sense of the essential dialog with the Cosmos. These can be poems, prayers, passages of scripture, clips from movies, statements from cosmologists or quantum physicists, or anything else that seems to point to the depths of life’s ultimate mystery. We will conclude with conversation about dying well and living fully.

Instructor: Bill Roberts

Three Tuesdays:
6:00-7:30 P.M. in the Butterfiled Room
May 10, 17, 24

Bill Roberts

Bill Roberts, Wesleyan ’63, was the minister of the First Church for 20 years. He left the parish ministry in 1989 and worked for KPMG and Prudential before beginning his own consulting firm. He has written two books: Initiation to Adulthood: An Ancient Rite of Passage in Contemporary Form and Crossing the Soul’s River: A Rite of Passage for Men (at Midlife).