Capra Course alumni talk about their transformational experiences
Another year has gone past, and as we prepare for the next Spring 2020 Edition of Capra Course, we are also reflecting on the Fall 2019 course and reading through the generous and kind testimonials that our course alumni have sent to us.
We wanted to share some of these with you, especially so that those who are considering taking the course now may get a flavour of what it is our course participants and alumni particularly love about Capra Course. One of our alumni, Luka from Spain wrote to us to say:
“There are too many things I learned from the course. I watched most lectures twice, some three times and participated in the study group organised by one of the alumni. Every week the course provided tons of inspiration and intellectual fuel.”
Hearing such positive feedback makes us feel committed to continue offering the course and making it available to everyone who may want to participate. Here are some of the themes that came out while reading the letters from our alumni:
Change in thinking
Many past alumni and participants speak about the change in thinking and the lens through which they see the world the course afforded them. For example from Lorena Magallenes, one of our scholarship participants from Mexico, said:
“I am deeply grateful for this opportunity that has opened many doors to explore the world and life from a holistic perspective.”
Lorena also described the journey she experienced going through the 12 weeks of the Capra Course: “I knew Fritjof’s work before, however having the opportunity to listen to him for 12 consecutive weeks in such a friendly and open-minded environment has definitely surpassed any expectations. During the course, I felt that Fritjof was holding my hand along the journey of life, from the origins until the life we live nowadays as human systems in a social environment.”
Making complex topics understandable
Many people have read Fritjof’s books, but the course gives a very accessible way to engage with the content of the Systems View of Life and Fritjof’s life’s synthesis on systems thinking, born from years in academic science and then writing, teaching and speaking in the years since.
“Fritjof has been able to synthesize all this immeasurable amount of information in the course in an extraordinary way. Although the contents in his book are much more extended, I feel he carefully picked the points to make the course a coherent, dynamic and enjoyable journey.”
Fritjof has a gift to bring holistic systems thinking into reach, and make complex, abstract topics and examples very tangible and real for people.
“I loved the way he linked the idea about systems interaction in living organisms all the way to the development of living systems and societies, through the increasing of complexity. The examples and analogies presented in the course were right to visualize concepts that might be very abstract to someone who is just starting exploring these topics. I saw deeply how everything is interconnected.”
A new perspective on life
Dastan from Germany wrote to us to tell us that the Capra Course had helped them gain a new perspective on their life, seeing patterns they had not seen before and furthering their life philosophy:
“One of the reasons why I applied and wanted to follow the Course was that, I wanted a perspective and big picture view on my life. I first came across Mr Capra’s “The Web of Life” book in my teenage years and that book greatly influenced me and my vision of the world by giving me fundamental concepts and perspectives. I am currently 32 and I think it is that age when a person needs a new fresh perspective on his/her life to move forward and to add new perspectives and find out the patterns happening to their life. The Course greatly helped to see new things and get a new perspective on my life. It helped to establish further my own life philosophy for which I am very grateful.”
Applying the concepts learned to real life context
It is also always very rewarding to hear about Capra Course alumni and about how they are bringing what they learned during the Capra Course into their specific context. Here, Lorena talks about how she will bring Fritjof’s teachings into her work as a Physics teacher:
“I am a physicist, currently working as an educator in an alternative school in England. I teach a class called Patterns and Complexity and ALL the lectures in the Capra course could potentially contribute to my classes in one way or the other. In several classes, when we were talking about the importance of systemic thinking to solve global problems, I already refer to Fritjof’s work and examples plenty of times. The content of the course has definitely enriched the contents of my classes and given me hundreds of inspirational resources to teach the Systems view of life to the younger generations.”
Connecting with Fritjof and others on the alumni forum
During the duration of the Capra Course, participants are part of a dedicated course participant forum, where they can discuss the lectures and topics each week. Fritjof logs onto this platform each day and tries to spend an hour answering the questions and contributing to discussions on the forum.
Many participants tell us that this is a part of the Capra Course they appreciate the most!
“I was amazed at the quality of content and discussions happening in the forum as well. Although I was not an active participant due to lack of time, I was often lurking around!”
A community of practice for life
Other participants wrote to us to say that they saw Capra Course as more than just a course, but a philosophy and practice to be returned to year on year:
“I would like to point out, that this is more than just a course. I would love to keep revising it once a year, because I think that from the first try we may miss some of the information which we may notice on the second or third revisit of the Course. The volume of valuable information is very high.”
Indeed, we totally agree – we see the Capra Course as a community for life, and the material that becomes available to you as something you can return to many times more than once! This year we have started to offer our Alumni a 50% discount to return to the course and take it again, and we look forward to welcoming our Alumni back again.
Would you like to join the Spring 2020 Edition of Capra Course?
You can register for the Spring 2020 Capra Course at this link: https://spring.capracourse.net/product/the-systems-view-of-life-online-course/
If you are an Alumni who would like to take the course again, please get in touch at capracoursepub@gmail.com and we will give you a 50% discount code.
If you are a group of 10 or more who would like to join Capra Course together, please get in touch for a 10% off discount package plus a 1 hour Skype teaching session with Fritjof included.
