Finding Enlightenment Through Fiction

This thought-provoking course explores the profound wisdom hidden within the pages of great works of science fiction and fantasy. It invites students on a journey of self-discovery, guided by the meditations and contemplations taken from, and inspired by, these imaginative texts.

Participants will delve into the fantastical worlds created by visionary authors Frank Herbert (Dune), Robert Jordan (The Wheel Of Time), Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game), Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist), Brandon Sanderson (The Way Of Kinds), Mitch Albom (The Time Keeper), Luke Rhinehart (The Dice Man) and Eoin Colfer (The Supernaturalist), extracting deep philosophical insights, existential questions, and spiritual awakenings, that will illuminate the human experience.

By the end of the course, students gain a deeper appreciation for the power of fiction to provoke profound questions and inspire personal growth. They leave with a heightened awareness of the connections between literature, spirituality, and the pursuit of enlightenment, armed with new tools for introspection, reflection, and meditation.

This is your call to action - it is time to start your hero’s journey - let’s begin!

Leçon 1: The Flame And The Void

In this session we delve into Robert Jordan's 'The Wheel Of Time' series, and practice The Flame and the Void technique of meditation. This is an utterly simply, yet profoundly effective variation of single focused mindfulness meditation that can be easily taught to and used by meditators of all experience levels.

Leçon 2: The Litany Against Fear

In this session we explore The Litany Against Fear, as expressed within Frank Herbert's 'Dune'. This series of interconnected statements serves both as a prayer, visualisation and a practice that can be used to clear the mind, but also as a contemplation of the dualistic versus non-dual nature of consciousness.

Leçon 3: The First Ideal

In Brandon Sanderson's 'The Way Of Kings', characters discover and embody a set of ideals (truths) about themselves or the world. This process is transformative and results in tremendous increases of understanding and power. In this session we contemplate the first ideal, discussing its implications and possibilities for our lives in the modern world.

Leçon 4: A Fear Of Time Running Out

Mitch Albom's 'The Time Keeper' asks us to contemplate a world without time keeping, presenting us with a novel insight into an alternate reality, one in which we live in, and for, the moment rather than with our chronic obsession with time and all its implications - planning, fear, and related anxieties.

Leçon 5: Becoming What We Pretend To Be

Are we changed by the roles we are forced to take on? Does our job, circumstances or other external factors impact us, so fundamentally, that we are irrevocably altered? In this session we dive into a quote from Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game', contemplating the nature of identity and its relationship to the roles society puts us in.

Leçon 6: Just A Roll Of The Dice

In this session we delve into Luke Rhinehart's 'The Dice Man', contemplating (and perhaps experimenting with) its core proposition of outsourcing all choice to the randomness of a die roll. This session will ask us to contemplate our views of fate, free will, chance and the possibility of giving up total control over our decisions to randomness. Could we ever let go enough to even consider the possibility, let alone try it?

Leçon 7: Manifesting Your Heart's Desire

In this session we contemplate a quote from Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist' that touches upon the concept of manifestation - that is the process by which the act of thinking about/desiring a certain outcome or lifestyle brings it about, for better or worse.

Leçon 8: Visualising Your Pain Away

In this session we practice a form of visualisation found within Eoin Colfer's 'The Supernaturalist' whereby a character is able to significantly diminish their pain to the point of insignificance - we explore that practice and present alternative uses for it, including the observation and elimination of negative mental phenomena.

Reviews

As always, your offerings here on Insight Timer are so unique and so well thawed out and put fourth to us in a way that expands the mind and allows it to go places one would never think it could. Thank you for this course, and for opening my minds, and all sorts of different crazy directions now. my book list has gotten longer and I look forward to many more courses and offerings on Insight Timer from you brightest blessings and thank you Namaste 🙏

Very interesting course and exercises
Made me want to read the novels mentioned in the course