This course explores human prenatal development and how the shaping of the body (morphogenesis) expresses essential attributes of the development of the human being as a being of spirit and matter, of body and mind. The scientific method of phenomenology is used to open up a truly holistic understanding of the human being. By following the processes forming the human embryo, the course will shed light onto such themes as healthy development, the purpose and wisdom of the human form, and, indeed, the very meaning of human existence. The embryo as a psychosomatic unity of Spirit and Matter, Mind and Body. Or like Andrew Taylor Still mentioned it: Man is Mind, Motion and Matter.
This is what you are going to learn:
In the human embryonic development we are dealing with what could be mentioned as “still functioning in forms”. By this is meant that the gestures of growth and development that the human embryo is performing could be interpreted and understood as human behaviour. And as a kind a pre-exercising of what later on will appear as physiological and psychological functions. “The body developed out of us, not we from it” (Rumi).
The human body gets its shape and form during the embryonic development in a continuous process of change and metamorphosis. Using the phenomenological approach it is possible to understand those gestures as human behaviour. During the early phases of human existence the processes that accompany the (at least conceivable) act of incarnation may be “read” from the biological facts. Those gestures also are a kind of echo or recapitulation of the gestures of development of man as a species. In this way biography and biology meet. The embryonic existence is no a merely passed phase of human life, the embryo still exists in us: also in our unconscious physical existence and body we act as beings of soul and body.
The human embryo seems to be a kind of continuous empathetic equilibrium between ‘introvert antipathy’ and extravert sympathy’ in relation to its context and environment. This polarity seems to be active in various dimensions and directions a.o. between head and extremities and between cranial (head) versus caudal (pelvis), while in the trunk and the vertebral column (the so-called Middle) the typically human quality of going upright and balancing seems to be preserved.
During its total development the embryo is the expression of the presence of a being, which is able to mediate between “Heavens” (celestial forces) and “Earth” (terrestrial forces) and that like every living being exists in breathing between Chaos (motion, process, time) and Cosmos (Form, Structure, Space).
The Course consists of 4 main parts:
A. Where do we come from? – Understanding the incarnating Embryo
THE UNDIVIDED EMBRYO
Participator or onlooker? Two realities in one. Understanding or explaining? Goethean and phenomenological approach. Holistic science, a way to overcome and to enlarge Cartesian natural science? Polarity and/or duality? Spirit and matter as One What are we actually doing as embryo? Mind and body in the womb? Gestures of growth as human behavior and expression.
Where do we come from? The embryo as centripetal existence: from yond to here. How the soul shapes a body. The prenatal gesture of individuation and DE-velopment. Prenatally we have ‘two bodies’. Being born as gesture of dying and emancipation.
B. In the Beginning Heaven and Earth – Conception as primordial Polarity
THE POLARITY EMBRYO
The Breath of Life between Chaos and Cosmos, Yin and Yang with in the Middle health and dialogue: Meden Agan. Death has two faces, Life is the Middle. Trinity of the animal body with trunk as the ‘functional elevation’. ‘Dynamic morphology’ of fertilization and conception.
Phenomenology of the egg cell principle and the sperm cell principle with a Steigerung between two polarities with ‘turning inside out’ as signature of ‘The Middle’. The process of debiologicalisation as intermediate between spirit and matter. How does spirit come ‘into matter’?
The biology of incarnation? Getting or making children? Reproduction or ‘passing on life’? The fertilized ovum (egg) as the undivided human body. The first week: organism and wholeness versus cellularity with differentiation and organization as the essentials of embryo life. Mineral body, time is not there yet. Nidation, the primordial dialogue of pregnancy.
C. From Heaven to Earth – Individuation and Incarnation
THE THREEFOLD EMBRYO
The processes of the first embryonic week, when only the dimension of space is present. From the ‘physical way of being alive’ to the ‘plant man’ (germinating and growing out) in the second week. The first axis in the body: the ventrodorsal direction in relation to environment. In the second week the lifetime dimension appears: Man is not ‘there’ yet, the embryo as nonindividualized being. The incarnation process of the heart: man is ‘coming to here’. After the cranio-caudal and left-right polarity the dynamics of embodiment: the animal body. Fascia and blood as dimensions of mediation and innerness. Individuation & twins. The rhythmic segmentation of the middle: metameria of the body: Form, Rhythm, Cycle. Parietal vs visceral organization. From a being with mere ‘outside’ to a being with ‘inner content’ (body cavity).
D. Embryology of Freedom – Man as equilibrium between Heaven and Earth
THE UNIVERSAL EMBRYO
The third phase: from a being with only ‘outside’ to a being with ‘inner content’ (body cavity and organs). From growing out to growing in: ‘animal man’. Dynamics of incarnation: de-lamination and individualization. Two bodies: Mirroring the macrocosm in the microcosm of the bodily organization. The extremities as a new principle. De-folding and “opening” of the body position.
Polarities between arms and legs, head and extremities with the trunk in between as the image of freedom. Arms mediate. With the polarity of head and periphery, threefold being now appears in all dimensions. The fourth phase with unfolding the human erect posture. The conservation of the upright body as essential for the human quality of maintaining freedom and equilibrium. Man as the ‘adult embryo’ and ‘first-born’ creature. Retardation and non- specialization as clue. Man as mediator. Embryology of freedom.
Note: The lectures are subtitled in Greek.
Course Features
- Lectures 18
- Quizzes 17
- Duration 54 weeks
- Skill level All levels
- Language English
- Students 237
- Certificate Yes
- Assessments Yes
2 Comments
Hi,
Is this course self study or group learning scheduled at a specific time? If the later please can you advise of dates and timings?
Thank you!
Jacqui
Hi Jacqui,
Thank you for your interest in this excellent course. It is a course that you can do it at your own pace. Virtual meetings can be arranged with your mentor so that you can ask questions, get answers and be supported with your study. Please let me know how best we can help.