A gathering of unlearning and reimagining
Realisation is a gathering that is part retreat, part symposium at St Giles House, Dorset. It is for those actively working at the interface between society and soul, and who feel the gravity of our times. Over the course of four days, you will engage with some of the most exciting thinkers and practitioners of our times, share experiences and expertise, music, movement, food and plenty of conversation.
Realisation unfolds through three interconnected dimensions:
Getting Real
Getting Real is about reckoning with the state of our world today — acknowledging the challenges and complexities of our planetary moment. For some, this may mean deepening their understanding of ecology or economics; for others, it could involve exploring art, philosophy, or storytelling. What matters is the commitment to see through delusion, listen deeply, and engage curiously with what the world is calling for.
Becoming Real
Becoming Real focuses on inner transformation — the personal work of becoming the kind of human being the world needs now. This may take the form of deepening a meditation practice, cultivating virtues through acts of service, or reconnecting with wildness through wilderness. What’s crucial is the conscious intention to engage in a practice or practices that deepens your sense of soul.
Making Real
Realisation is not always a linear sequence, but Making Real is often the natural unfolding of the first two dimensions. Getting Real enables a deeper seeing into the world, and Becoming Real enables a deeper seeing into oneself. From this comes the call to create. Given who you are and how the world appears to be, what do you feel called to create? How can you be of service?
St Giles House
Resourced by an astonishingly beautiful place that carries the memory of the complex struggles of generations and has inspired philosophical and political innovation for centuries, Realisation is a space to reckon with now, imagine alternative futures, and develop a sense of calling and response, independently and together.
St Giles is the home of past politicians, philosophers and social reformers who have had a profound impact on the society in which we live. Our vision is to bring together a wide diversity of people with different views and perspectives to stimulate discussion, provide new insights and allow participants to learn and share ideas with others. Workshops will encourage participants to think, feel and explore what system change feels and looks like, and to reimagine what we are capable of.
Participants are asked to come with all that they are and with all that they are contemplating, from disquiets to skills, from convictions to uncertainties. Questions that arise over the weekend are rich and various. Who are we? What characterises our times? What am I being called to do? How do we find the resources for social transformation? How can deep change be fostered? How can the soul thrive in troubled times? What might St Giles House offer given its history and beauty?
