{"id":451,"date":"2023-05-09T09:06:18","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T09:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/embryo.nl\/197-cursusinhoud-embryosofie-nl\/"},"modified":"2023-09-10T12:39:49","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T12:39:49","slug":"course-content-embryosophy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.embryo.nl\/en\/course-content-embryosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Course content, a journey through the embryo"},"content":{"rendered":"

A course with\u00a0images and anecdotes trying to find an answer to the ‘real’ questions about our prenatal embryonic existence.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Jaap van der Wal
\nanatomist-embryologist<\/p>\n

For information about the dates of courses go to\u00a0course calender<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a template of a course Embryo in Motion go to template<\/a><\/p>\n

Why a course about the embryo?
\n<\/b>During the last decades scientist have brought to light may new facts and findings about our prenatal existence. Moreover techniques have been developed which enable us more and more to \u2018manipulate\u2019 and \u2018create\u2019 the human embryo (.a.o. IVF, cloning, genetic engineering). Those facts and those techniques evoke questions about what may or what may n\u00f3t be allowed or permitted to do with embryos. However in spite of all this new knowledge and accomplishments the embryo still remains to many people a \u2018far-away-story\u2019. A lot of ignorance still exists about how an embryo looks like, in which way it exists, what an embryo in fact \u00eds. From the part of so-called \u2018regular\u2019 biology and medicine usually a very specific view on the embryo is produced, mainly \u2018colored\u2019 by the predominating image of man and nature in the field of science and scientists. In the latter view the embryo usually is considered in a reductionistic way, i.e. as a matter of cells, tissues, genes and so on. In that view there is no room for wondering and for questions about the deeper meaning and sense of this phase of human existence. Whereas the embryo has a lot to tell (\u2018to the wise\u2019) about the \u2018true\u2019 sense of our being human. The organizers of the course Embryo in motion want to inform interested people \u2013 in addition to the view and scope of regular medical biology \u2013 about the human embryo and want to do so from a point of view that leaves room for more spiritual aspects of being human and incarnation..<\/p>\n

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What is it about?
\n<\/b>Starting with the great themes of being born and dying, of conception and the \u2018beginning of life\u2019, the human embryonic development during the first weeks will be followed by means of images, stories, lectures and reflections. Hereby the human embryo is considered to be a incarnating human being, that exhibits human behavior in gestures of growth and metamorphosis from the first moment of conception on. The (scientific) methodology applied in this approach is the so-called phenomenology. For this approach it is more or less essential to come into touch with the embryo rather than to look at or think about it with the detached attitude of the scientific onlooker. To feel with, to get in touch with the wonder, so to say, by the way of your heart feeling, without \u2018loosing your head\u2019! Because facts and biological data have to remain the base of a scientific approach. There will be searched for sense and meaning of the \u2018sign-language\u2019 that speaks from the dynamics and gestures of growth and development in the human embryo: WHAT are we in fact DOING when we (still) are an embryo?<\/p>\n

Which questions are given a chance (a.o.)?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u25e6 Where are we coming from? From our mother? From an egg? From heaven maybe?<\/p>\n

\u25e6 What is happening in fact and in essence during a human conception?<\/p>\n

\u25e6 How about \u2018mind (spirit) and body\u2019 during the process of conception and during embryonic development?<\/p>\n

\u25e6 Is there a relation between being born and dying?<\/p>\n

\u25e6 What is a man DOING in the period he\/she exists as an embryo?<\/p>\n

\u25e6 What about the ethical values and human dignity of an embryo?<\/p>\n

\u25e6 Is the idea of incarnation in line and harmony with biological facts and data?<\/p>\n

\u25e6 What might a human embryo tell about human evolution?<\/p>\n

\u25e6 The view that human evolution is just a matter of hazard or of contingency, what has the embryo possibly to \u2018remark\u2019 on that?<\/p>\n

\u25e6 What kind of attitude I like (or need?) to develop towards abortion, IVF, genetic manipulation and cloning of embryos, and so on?<\/p>\n

For whom the course is meant?<\/b><\/p>\n

There will not be started from the presence of specialized (fore)knowledge in the domain of embryology. The person who presents the course has a long experience in teaching and in explaining this sometimes difficult matter. The course is meant for everyone who likes to form a view and judgment about the sense of this \u2018hidden\u2019 phase of human existence. It is meant for the interested layman as well as for those people who have to deal with the embryo from a more professional scope like doctors, midwives, paramedical therapists, haptonomists and teachers. The \u2018level\u2019 of the course can easily be adapted to the background of the participants and can even been adapted specifically to given target groups.<\/p>\n

By whom the course is given?
\n<\/b>Jaap van der Wal (*1947) is a physician who lost himself in the scientific domain of embryology as well as if human movement. In the latter field he graduated on a thesis about human proprioception i.e. the perception of movement and stature. By means of publications, articles and lectures he tries to bridge between regular biology and natural science on the one hand and a more spiritual view on man and nature. For this he follows the phenomenological approach of Goethe, the so-called \u2018science by heart\u2019. He is used to teach all kinds of public: from laymen to medical doctors, from scientists to people with an esoteric image of man and nature.<\/p>\n

What is the content of the course?
\n<\/b>A complete course Embryo in Motion will take at least six or eight day parts. Preference is given to a three day course, four days is also possible and gives room for extension of the program. Also short variants are possible like Friday evening + Saturday (including evening) with a part of Sunday or two and half days e.g. Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday. Of course variations on this principle are possible.<\/p>\n

The course is built up by short lectures, stories, reflections and discussions relieved by short sessions during which the participants themselves \u2018come into motion\u2019. The latter will take place by means of observations, of drawing and modeling of by means of \u2018body work\u2019. *<\/p>\n

The maximum number of participants is limited to about 25 persons.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 accompanied by the course leader himself or to the accompaniment of a teacher in bodily expression, an eurithmist or some other artistic teacher.<\/p>\n

How can you participate? What are the costs?
\n<\/b>You may apply for a planned course without any obligation. See below: electronic application and enquiry form. The costs for participation may vary from \u20ac 150,- to \u20ac 400,-. This depends on the length of the course (three or four day course or a weekend course), on the nature of the location, on the policy of the organizing institution and so on (like including or excluding meals and care). The fee includes mostly some readers, coffee and tea, but expenses for travel and overnight accommodation are mostly not included.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in organizing a course for a particular target group, you have to take into account the fee for the course leader and his expenses for travel and stay. Moreover you have to organize a suitable location and accommodation for the course and you have to count with a maximum number of 25 participants. Planning and form of the course are negotiable. For the participants you have in mind you have to determine a registration fee that includes the costs of the course itself plus some additional expenses for course material (\u2018readers\u2019) of about \u20ac 10,-).<\/p>\n

More information about dates of the courses you wil find here\u00a0course calendar<\/a><\/p>\n

Like to know more about te course or want to sign up? Click on the tab\u00a0Contact<\/a>\u00a0above.<\/p>\n

Sample the atmosphere?<\/p>\n

Greece, september 2015<\/p>\n