Discovering Unity
Saturday, 30th May, 2026
19:00
Saturday, 6th June, 2026
14:00
Return
Discovering Unity
This seven-day course has a daily schedule of text-based study, meditation, work and devotional practice.
All meals are taken together. The course is full time, as the aim is to cultivate a constancy of awareness of reality, in which there can be no time off…
To this end, participants are asked to make whatever arrangements beforehand so that they can engage fully with the course without distraction.
Study is working with textual material, drawn from different spiritual traditions, though some texts, such as the pivotal work of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, provide an integrated metaphysical foundation in the understanding of unity.
Others deal with aspects that each of us might encounter in our spiritual journey, and the cultivation of interior qualities of soul and heart. Some of the texts have been written specifically for students of courses at Chisholme. Study of spiritual literature provides context for interpersonal exchange and understandings. Study sessions are in a designated study room, seated around a table.
Each day includes three thirty-minute meditation practices. Some sessions are guided, some silent. There might also be a walking meditation, or Qi Gong or Tai Qi. Sitting meditations take place in a designated meditation room.
Work in the course context is the practice of bringing wholehearted awareness to the task that is given. This might be housework, gardening, estate work, or preparing food in the kitchen.
Devotional practices, such as zikr (remembrance) kindle our interior response to our being here in this world. These practices help to activate our relationship to the one reality, and to return the love that brought us into being.
For some, the Discovering Unity course may provide a taste of the Six-month Course. For anyone contemplating joining the latter, taking part in a Discovering Unity course beforehand is essential. However, the course is self-standing, and for some a taste is sufficient…
The course runs from 7pm supper time on Saturday, until after lunch the following Saturday, and is fully residential.
COST – The cost is £455 for the week, including accommodation and all meals.
A deposit of £50 will be required on acceptance.
For payment options please contact us.
For enquiries and to apply please email secretary@chisholme.org
About the courses at Chisholme
All courses at Chisholme, however much their formats differ, begin with the principle of the absolute unity of existence, in view of which unity all life, in whatever sphere, is interconnected and interdependent.
If this is so, then who and what am I? Is it possible for me to come to know my reality and place within the one absolute existence? And what is the way forward, to know myself within the context of unity? That such knowledge is possible, and that there is indeed a way towards it is the reason for all courses that Chisholme offers.
There are different lengths of courses at Chisholme. From a weekend to six months, the course comprises a beginning, a middle and an end and has a continuity of participants throughout. Each participant begins at the same starting point as every other, and all complete the course together. To begin at the beginning, it is important that each participant, whatever their prior learning and experience, enters upon the course with ‘beginner’s mind’, as far as possible putting aside all previous understandings, with a freshness of intent and enquiry.
This kind of knowledge cannot be taught as such, and for this reason Chisholme has no teachers. Rather, this knowledge is within each of us already and reveals itself as and when we are ready, when the time is right. Chisholme’s courses aim to provide the best circumstances for each participant to approach this transformational moment, whether during the course or in the future.
Each person’s journey to self-knowledge will be different.
Please email secretary@chisholme.org
to register your interest.
RELATED EVENTS
Visit the BESHARA website for a comprehensive series
of online and in-person study events and courses.
A BESHARA FOUNDATION COURSE
Love and Knowledge in the Light of Unity | the Direct Path
This course provides a full introduction to the principles of Beshara in terms of both knowledge and practice. Taking the metaphysics of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi as a starting point, the course explores what it means to understand oneself and the world in the light of the Unity of Existence.
Contact: besharacourses3@beshara.org
UNITY IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
Browse BESHARA MAGAZINE online which considers unity, inclusion and interconnectedness in all areas of contemporary thought, from spirituality to science, economics and the arts.