Senior Members of The Seekers Café

Stephen Aronson

Steve received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1970. He taught as assistant professor of psychology in the early 70’s at Arizona State and Alfred University. He also served on staff at hospitals in Phoenix and Maine.  After three years of community mental health practice he founded North Country Consultants, LLC in 1975 to provide training and clinical services throughout Maine. He taught family practice to medical students at Maine Medical Center and designed and taught the first year of Behavioral Science at New England College of Medicine. In 1979 he co-authored a pioneering book, The Stress Management Workbook: An Action Plan for Taking Control of Your Life and Health with Michael Mascia, MD.  In the late 1990’s he co-founded Mental Health Associates of Maine, a multi-disciplinary psychological/psychiatric practice. Steve retired from clinical practice after 43 years of practice. In 2013.

Intellectually and emotionally, Steve has always been drawn to the mystery of existence. His interest in consciousness, as one of the most profound of these mysteries, led him to psychology as a career.  He submitted himself to nearly 20 years of his own analysis in a variety of disciplines culminating in 12 years of Jungian analysis, during which he came to ‘see’ the reality of the Collective Unconscious and the universality of symbols in religion and dreams.

In 1982 Steve experienced a ‘vision’ that was an overture to a series of synchronous events culminating in his discovery of the Gurdjieff Work.  He has dedicated his inner search to the methods of G.I. Gurdjieff since that time, accepting the responsibilities of ‘leading’ groups studying this system.   Steve’s immersion in ‘spiritual’ psychology led him to an interest in esoteric religion, particularly esoteric Christianity, and a recognition of the universality of the core of all traditions.  It also profoundly influenced his understanding of the structure and function of the human psyche and his practice of clinical psychology. He has made a number of presentations to the All and Everything International Humanities Conference and participates in groups in Portland Maine, Moscow Russia and Toronto Canada.

Although loving theoretical exploration of both psychological and spiritual questions, he remains dedicated to making the esoteric ideas come alive as actual subjective experiences.

He believes that only through direct experience can such ideas find real meaning so that the system becomes the ‘teacher’.  His primary objective has been to discover and share the practical application of these ideas and methods to the inner world of people.

Federico Balsa

The teachings of G.I.Gurdjieff were brought to Argentina  by Carlos Matchelajovic and his wife Daphne Ripman, who was trained as a Movements teacher by Jessmin Howarth . They had both been in the Fourth Way groups in Mendham founded by P.D. Ouspensky. When they settled in Buenos Aires, in 1965, they opened a bookstore which also served as a venue for lectures on the Fourth Way and soon after, for group meetings and Movements.

When I first met Carlos and Daphne, in 1981, the group they directed had over 300 members. I was thirty years old and had never felt the slightest interest in any kind of spiritual search. I had a layman´s knowledge of Existentialism and of the writings of Eric Fromm, Victor Frankl and Bertrand Russell. To be frank, I had quite a high opinion of myself and of my approach to life, as was the case with my circle of “intellectual”  and “artistic” friends. I supported all the right causes, entertained progressive views in politics and had dropped out of Law in order to pursue my teaching vocation. I viewed myself as a supportive husband, an excellent father and a committed and creative school teacher (i.e. everything my Methodist upbringing had taught me to be). However, at the back of my mind there were flashes of suspicion that everything I had built was “on the surface of my being”. I would sometimes become aware of traits in my personality that threatened my image of myself. My main source of anguish was that I was incapable of a true depth of authentic feeling. I would quickly suppress these thoughts, but they would keep popping up. I was drawn to the writings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky because in their description of the mechanicalness of man I saw a picture of the undesirable aspects of my personality. I had the expectation that if I studied the books and practiced diligently, I would get rid of those undesirable traits and keep the “good ones”. It took me several years to realize that the Fourth Way was about something of a totally different dimension than what I believed.

My wife had come across “The Psychology of Man´s Possible Evolution”. We both read it, and also “In Search of the Miraculous”. I was moderately impressed. My wife, for reasons I found incomprehensible at the time, and even for many years after, felt these ideas were more powerful than anything she had ever encountered in her life, and she immediately requested an interview with Carlos and Daphne in order to be admitted to their group. She was admitted and urged me to meet with them also, which I did after a few months.

I view my relationship with The Work in three stages:

From 1982 to 1993 “the mountains were still the mountains”. I was convinced that being a member of a Gurdjieff Group was proof that I was not a part of the  “mechanical mass of humanity”.  Of course, I was not yet “enlightened” but if I persevered in attending meetings punctually, struggling with the Movements classes in spite of my limitations and participating in retreats as often as possible, I would eventually come quite near to enlightenment. Almost certainly near enough to sit up in front with the more advanced members of the group and be empowered to comment on other people´s experiences and answer their questions.

From 1993 to 2011 “the mountains were no longer the mountains”. All my structures were shaken to their very foundations. This happened gradually, year after year. But gradually does not mean gently. Each degree was triggered by a devastating shock and accompanied by a whirlwind of confusion and agony.

From 2011 to the present “the mountains are once more the mountains”. At one level, externally, I am still the supportive husband, excellent father (and now also grandfather), committed and creative school teacher (now retired) and I still support all the right causes. But I no longer have a “high opinion” of what I used to call “myself”. And I experience moments of true depths of feeling. I have understood and experienced the idea expressed by many teachers in the Fourth Way that The Work works on you and in you. Your part is merely to remove the obstacles. Every day.                                                         

Richard Webb

Richard Webb’s bio.

Zeke Badger
OBJECTIVE
Self-Education through Experiential and Place-Based Education
To continue developing and implementing nature-based educational experiences that inspire and challenge individuals toward personal health, and a healthy relationship with the natural world through the use of adventure education, long distance walking adventures, and Rite-of-Passage endeavors.
QUALIFICATIONS
Thirty years of class teaching experience developing and implementing outdoor programs and environmental education experiences for adolescents at the secondary school level.
Athletic Director and basketball coach at the secondary school level.
Eight years experience as Adjunct Faculty for the University System of New Hampshire teaching
courses in Environmental Ethics, Natural History of Northern New England, and Outdoor Skills.
Wilderness First Responder and Wilderness EMT training through SOLO.
Developed a Mentoring Program for high school students mentor local elementary school children in experiences within the natural world.
Five years experience developing and directing summer youth camps in wilderness skills, and outdoor
adventure.
Extensive experience (at the personal level and as a group leader) in backcountry travel and wilderness excursions throughout the North American Continent and Europe; extensive Long-walking in the UK, Europe, and North America.
Adept at Primitive Skills and Wilderness Survival
Writer and Blogger
Owner and operator of a small family run business specializing in herbal products, and re-Wilding camps and outdoor programs.
EXPERIENCE
Owner Operator of Native Roots LLC,
Lyndeborough, NH, September 2017 to present
Small family-run business ethically crafting herbal health product.
Conducting re-Wilding weekend workshops for youth year round.
Running summer camps and Fall Excursions.
Life Science Teacher,
Virtual Learning Academy Charter School,
Exeter, NH, October 2015 to
present
Teaching on-line Biology, Marine Science, and Astronomy (half time)
Designed and implemented the HMS Trimester Experience; Three month long, all day multi-disciplinary immersion experiences for youth ages 16-18, involving wilderness education and excursions, and world travel.
Director of the Naturalist Program;  designed and implemented a multidisciplinary approach to teaching Life Science and Natural History through traditional field ecology techniques,
primitive skills , outdoor adventure education programming, wilderness rite-of- passage experiences, and long distance walking adventures. Inspired by Henry David Thoreau’s life and
writings.
Teaching classes in traditional Biology, Environmental Studies, Field and Winter Ecology, Zoology, Meteorology, Botany, and Evolution. Teaching manual art class on the Bowyer’s Craft (wooden bow construction), and Archery.
Served as the school’s Athletic Director for six years where responsibilities included organizational and financial oversight of three seasons of competitive sports, as well as non-competitive physical education activities, serving 120 students. Head coach for the men’s varsity basketball team.
Trip leader and trip organizer, taking students on long distance walks throughout North America and the UK.
Class mentor and student advisor responsibilities along with serving on several committees including Long Range Planning, Faculty Representative to the Board, Staffing and Program Committee.
Adjunct Faculty Member
University System of New Hampshire, 1986 to 1994 and Plymouth State
University, 2010 to 2015.
Teaching courses in Environmental Ethics and Natural History of Northern New England. (Conway NH and Manchester NH)
Teaching Outdoor Primitive Skills; Plymouth State University, NH Core Member of the Souhegan Transition Town Network, working with the towns of the Souhegan Valley in Southwest New Hampshire to create more vigorous communities and more sustainable
economies. Connected with the Transition Town Movement originating in Totnes, England.
Writer, blogger. Writing about the wealth of benefits deriving from walking, and long distance walking in particular (www.thelongwalker.com) Currently working upon Going Wild: Commentaries Upon Thoreau’s Walden, Walking, and Youth’s Adventure and Long Walking as a Rite-of-Passage.
Published articles in Wilderness Way Magazine, Green Teacher, and the Journal of Primitive Technology on experimental
archeology and the use of ancient primitive skills within the educational curriculum at the secondary school level.
Other Professional Experience:
Science teacher at Thayer High School, working with Dennis Litky and Ted Sizer, Vocational Specialist in Horticultural Therapy working with disabled adults; River Runner for the Appalachian Mountain Club; Instructor for the Audubon Society of NH.
EDUCATION
MST (Masters in Science Teaching) Environmental Studies, Antioch New England Graduate School, Keene, NH 1984
BS Environmental Biology, Plymouth State College, Plymouth NH, 1983
RELATED EXPERIENCE AND INTERESTS
Wilderness First Responder and Wilderness EMT training, SOLO, Conway NH
Certified Diver (NASDS)
Eight years of wilderness travel in the National Parks and Forests of the United States and Canada
Member of the Ramblers, UK
Tracker and Naturalist
Member of the Thoreau Society
Member of the Tolkien Society
Member of the International Youth Hostel Association, US
Extensive walking experience abroad; Europe, Northern Africa, and the Middle East
Robin Bloor

Robin Bloor was born in 1951 in Liverpool, UK. He obtained a BSc in Mathematics at Nottingham University and took up a career in the computer industry, initially writing software. From 1989 onwards, he became a technology analyst and consultant. He has thus been a writer of a kind ever since. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary Ph.D. in Computer Science by Wolverhampton University in the UK. He currently resides in and works from Austin, Texas in the USA.

In 1988, after drifting through several work groups, Bloor met and became a pupil of Rina Hands. Rina was a one-time associate of J. G. Bennett, a student of Peter Ouspensky’s, and later, a pupil of George Gurdjieff. Following Gurdjieff’s death, she remained part of J. G. Bennett’s group for a while. Subsequently, she formed groups both in London, where she lived and in Bradford in the North of England – initially in conjunction with Madame Nott. She was both an accomplished movements teacher and an inspirational group leader. She died in 1994 and is buried next to Jane Heap in a cemetery in North London.

Bloor leads a Group in Austin, Texas. Aside from the usual movements and Work activities, the group specializes in the study of Gurdjieff’s writings and the study of Objective Science, as articulated by Ouspensky in In Search of The Miraculous, and by Gurdjieff in The Tales.

He has written several books about The Work, including:

To Fathom The Gist Volume I: Approaches to the Writings of G I Gurdjieff

To Fathom The Gist Volume II: The Arch-Absurd

The Searchable Index to G. I. Gurdjieff’s Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson

The 1931 Manuscript of Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson

Robert Schmidt

Robert A. Schmidt, Ph.D., currently serves as spiritual director of Tayu Meditation Center.  Without any conscious sense of searching for such a person, and certainly without any understanding of the role, Rob Schmidt met his spiritual teacher Robert Daniel Ennis “by accident” on the same city block where Rob had been conceived a quarter century earlier. Over the next twenty years after that meeting, Rob undertook to responsibly act interiorly and exteriorly as an apprentice, and later journeyman practitioner. Along the way, he experienced careers as a blue collar worker in the printing industry and as a university researcher and lecturer in anthropological archaeology. Now more than forty years after his initiation, Rob operates a spiritual/religious bookstore in northern California, and maintains his commitment to expand, extend and elaborate his own understanding and demonstration of the Work that Mr. Ennis opened for him.

Stuart Goodnick

Stuart Goodnick, co-founder of the Mystical Positivist podcast and bloghas been a practitioner of Tayu Meditation since 1985 and a Tayu Meditation instructor since 1993. He holds degrees in Physics from Caltech and UCSC, and has been an engineering manager in the industrial motion control and software security industries since 1989. Stuart has also been a student of the shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo flute) under Master Masayuki Koga since 1996. In recent years Stuart has been applying the principles of spiritual practice and transformation in daily life as a senior executive in both Silicon Valley start-ups and global industrial manufacturers. He co-founded Many Rivers Books & Tea with Robert Schmidt and Jim Wilson in Sebastopol in 2002. A frequent writer and speaker on spiritual topics, Stuart maintains that rationality is no way the antithesis of deep mystical experience, but is in fact a necessary ally.