Philosophy Blog
In her professional working life, Pilar was a librarian at the National Library in Madrid, combined with teaching. She wrote a brief history of Toledo for visitors to the city a few months ago. What made this walled city so important? How did it include three religions in one small city? Read on to learn about this UNESCO world heritage site
By Ian Manson
In early February 2026 a small group gathered at Waterperry House in Oxfordshire, England, to investigate a simple proposition:
“The ecological crisis is both a physical crisis and a spiritual one. Addressing it requires a new level of consciousness, where we understand that we belong to the larger family of life on Earth.”
The proposition is a quote from a book called ‘Replenishing the Earth’ written by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai in which she outlines her experience of finding spiritual values through her practical work with the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of the gathering was to investigate how we might participate in encouraging and developing this new level of consciousness.
Verena’s professional work involved translating Dutch, German, French and English. At Art in Action, the School’s large arts festival, she and her husband used to organise the section for Russian Arts where Robert developed a love of icons. Later she took the next step in learning how to write icons. Read on to discover where that has led her.
Serving as a paramedic in London during Covid left Pat exhausted. So he decided to take some time out – and cycle from London to Melbourne! 18 months and 13,000 miles later he describes his journey. Read on to hear his adventures. Pat has attended philosophy classes both in London and Australia.
Waterperry House, the School’s retreat centre in the South of England, is familiar to many members of the School all over the world. David has been its Bursar for nearly two decades and has overseen many developments in that time. Here he writes about one of them.