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Welcome to The New School at Commonweal.
The New School presents conversations, readings, and performances with thought and action leaders of our time. We are a community of inquiry in culture, the arts and sciences, health and the environment, and inner life. Most of our events are free, and so are our podcasts—almost 150 on iTunes and our Library.
For directions to New School events, click here.
To post or find a ride to a New School event, use our Facebook page. Please carpool if possible.
To contact The New School, TheNewSchool@Commonweal.org or 415.868.0970.
Upcoming New School Events
Sunday, June 9
10am - 4:00pm
Exploring the Landscape of the Wild Mind
A Day-long Retreat with Bill Plotkin
Co-presented with Point Reyes Books, held at Commonweal
Tickets: $100
Bring your own lunch.
Please register on the Point Reyes Books website.
Our wild minds possess astonishing resources—untapped potentials and depths we might not even know exist until we discover how to access them, cultivate their powers, and eventually integrate them into our everyday lives. At Commonweal, we'll explore these resources—the four dimensions of our innate human wholeness—and identify the four kinds of wounded subpersonalities that supported us in childhood but are now barriers to our full and authentic humanity. Cultivating our multifaceted wild minds and uncovering the gifts of our subpersonalities constitute the best preparation for the descent to soul—the initiatory journey that reveals the largest story we're capable of living and enables us to serve the greater Earth community as visionary artisans of cultural evolution. We'll explore the landscape of the wild mind through a variety of soulcraft practices such as creative expression, solo exercises while wandering on the land, voice dialogue, journaling, and deep imagery.
Bill Plotkin, PhD, describes himself as a "psychologist gone wild." A cultural visionary, author, and wilderness guide, he's been blazing new trails for decades. His ecocentric re-visioning of psychology invites us into a conscious and embodied relationship with soul and with the natural world. He is the founder of Colorado Animas Valley Institute and author of Wild Mind, Soulcraft, and Nature and the Human Soul. Visit his website for more information.
Held at Commonweal.
Sunday, June 30
2-4pm
The Faraway Nearby
Conversation with Rebecca Solnit and Michael Lerner
Co-presented by The New School at Commonweal and Point Reyes Books
Held at Commonweal. Please register for this event using our online registration system.
Rebecca Solnit is the author of twelve books, including A Paradise Built in Hell, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, River of Shadows, which won the national book Critics Circle award and the Mark Lynton History prize, and Wanderlust. The recipient of a Lannan literary award, she lives in San Francisco.
In her new book, The Faraway Nearby, a fitting companion to her much-loved A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca explores the ways we make our lives out of stories, and how we are connected by empathy, by narrative, by imagination. In the course of unpacking some of her own stories—of her mother and her decline from memory loss, of a trip to Iceland, of an illness—Solnit revisits fairytales and entertains other stories: about arctic explorers, Che Guevara among the leper colonies, and Mary Shelley's Dr. Frankenstein, about warmth and coldness, pain and kindness, decay and transformation, making art and making self. Woven together, these stories create a map which charts the boundaries and territories of storytelling, reframing who each of us is and how we might tell our story.
Held at Commonweal. Event is free, and donations accepted with gratitute.
Sunday, July 7
10am-4pm
Nothing Special: The Mystery of Everyday Life
Day-Long Exploration with Angeles Arrien and Michael Lerner
Held at Commonweal. Please register for this event using our online registration system. Seats will likely fill quickly.
As a cultural anthropologist, Dr. Angeles Arrien's research and teaching have focused on values and beliefs shared by humanity cross-culturally, and on the integration and application of multi-cultural wisdoms in contemporary settings. In classes, groups, and workshops, she teaches universal components of leadership skills, communication, health care, and education. Her work reveals how indigenous wisdoms are relevant in our families, professional lives, and our relationship with the Earth.
Join us for a day with Angeles and Michael Lerner—where they'll explore her varied and illustrious career, her her Basque roots, and her life journey and inspirations, what she's doing now, and what is still to come.
Angeles Arrien, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist, award-winning author, educator, and consultant to many organizations and businesses. She lectures and conducts workshops worldwide, bridging cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions. Her work is currently used in medical, academic, and corporate environments. She is the president of the Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education and Research. Her books have been translated into thirteen languages and she has received three honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of her work.
Angeles' books include The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary; Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them, (Winner of the 1993 Benjamin Franklin Award); and The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom, (Winner of the 2007 Nautilus Award for Best Book on Aging). Her recent book, Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life is a Gold Medal Co-Winner of the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY Award) in the category of Inspiration and Spirituality.
Held at Commonweal. Event is free, and donations accepted with gratitute.
Fragrance-free events: Please refrain from wearing perfumes and colognes when attending events so that those who are sensitive to chemicals may also attend.
Handicap accessibility: Commonweal Gallery is on the second floor and is not wheelchair accessible.
Getting to Commonweal
The New School events are held in the main Commonweal building at 451 Mesa Road, Bolinas, CA 94924, unless otherwise noted. A sign on the front door will lead you to either the Library or the Gallery, depending on the size of the event.
Download a map (PDF) with driving directions to Commonweal.
Click here for driving directions from Google.
We request that you carpool, if possible, to help with parking congestion (and pollution). Click here to get to our ride share page (password: thenewschool).