Writing as a Spiritual Discipline
Workshop by Georg Buehler

"Georg Buehler has a wealth of talents—one minute he is programming computers, the next minute he is working on his book. He is as skilled in one as he is in the other, and he is perpetually energetic. I don't know how he does it!" --Jay Hall, Vice President of Sales, MuTek Solutions "The best thing about the writing workshop that Mr. Buehler presented was that it was accessible to me. I have never considered myself a writer but have always wanted to write. The advice that he gave was easy to implement in beginning my writing practice." --Sean Ryan, NCSU '01 "Georg Buehler has obviously been at this for a long time. His insight and guidance are invaluable to participants. He understands what it means to be a young person seeking the spiritual in the midst of a busy life." --Augie Turak, founder, Self Knowledge Symposium

Thornton Wilder had a remarkable insight—the poets are much like the saints. Both are striving to attain the clearest, purest vision of themselves and of reality, and to share that vision with their fellow men and women. The processes that lead to spiritual insight—intense introspection, direct observation of the world, and an abiding love of the truth—also happen to be the processes that result in great literature and poetry.

The process of writing can be a powerful tool for self-discovery. Writing demands self-knowledge; it forces the writer to become a student of human nature, to pay attention to his experience, to understand the nature of experience itself. By delving into raw experience and distilling it into a work of art, the writer is engaging in the heart and soul of philosophy - making sense out of life. It is exactly this kind of real-life struggle with oneself that Socrates advised when he taught, "Know thyself," or which Christ advocated when he said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you."

Even if you don't aspire to be a great novelist or poet, the practice of writing can open you up to a whole new way of perceiving the world. Paradoxically, a ball-point pen to a three-ring spiral notebook can be the tools for discovering the ineffable.

The Workshop

• This is an introductory workshop—no prior writing experience or skills are required. (However, a love of reading books is required. No exceptions.) Some participants may be more interested in writing than spirituality, and others more interested in spirituality than writing—both will find lots to work on in the workshop.
• The workshop will consist of lecture, writing exercises, and discussion, in approximately equal portions. The workshop will touch on an extraordinary range of topics and thinkers, including:

Depth-psychologist Ira Progoff—Intensive Journaling
Writing teacher Natalie Goldberg—Writing from direct experience
French psychologist Hubert Benoit—Discursive writing
British educator Eduard de Bono—The structure of creative thinking
Zen teacher Richard Rose—Nostalgia in spiritual poetry
Novelist Kurt Vonnegut—Life as narrative
Southern novelist Walker Percy—semiotics: the power of words to hide and reveal

• This workshop is also literally "introductory," in that it is intended to introduce you to a lot of ideas and techniques which you can explore on your own. The Self Knowledge Symposium has its own group of writers who meet regularly—you may find this workshop to be a springboard for much more in-depth work with the SKS.
• This workshop is non-denominational; people of all faiths or non-faiths are welcome to join in. Don't get too hung up on the way we define spirituality. If you accept (or even just suspect) that there is such a thing as the "spiritual" and that pursuing it is a good idea, then you're in the right place.

Invite Georg Buehler to speak at your organization