What we'll doTuesdays 18:00-20:00 - Starting Tuesday 26th April, 2022. (for young adults 13-18)
Landport Community Room, Horsfield Rd, Lewes, BN7 2TA.
This is a social event so join us from 5pm if you want to hang out before we get into activities, the room has a kitchen and we plan to make and share food each week.
These events are for curious minds who want to explore the world. Join us to discuss ideas which are actively suppressed at school and which are vital to a fulfilling life.
Over the coming months we intend to cover subjects like:
• Psychology and Philosophy - reading and discussing significant works.
• Critical Thinking and Logical Fallacies - how to tell when people are lying.
• Social Media - its effects on the brain and society.
• Money - learn about interest, the Goldsmith’s trick, banks and the significance of Bitcoin.
• Law - learn to identify inalienable rights and how to navigate the legal world.
• Communication Skills - crucial tricks if you want to avoid problems in your relationships.
• Quadrivium - a practical exploration of numbers, geometry based with production of artworks.
• Trivium - a practical exploration of language using poetry, short essays and linguistic tricks.
• Ancient Mysteries - discuss the seemingly invisible presence of our ancestors.
The most valuable learning experience you will ever have... or your money back.
To get started, we are inviting teenagers to join us for a four-week trial… for just £25.
Call Ian on 07476 179330 or Hannah on 07546 582899 to reserve a place.
The events are hosted by The Genius Tree, The Wellbeing Tree and New Paradigm Education.
Parents: go shopping or organise car shares… use this opportunity to go to the pub and socialise for a couple of hours?
One of our first intentions is to read two classic novels so that we can contextualise what's going on in the world at the moment.
Why 1984 and Brave New World?
In a time when the word Orwellian is being used on a daily basis, many people still don't actually understand what it means. Without reading George Orwell's classic 1984, it's impossible to really get what people are talking about.
The original dystopian horror story 1984, was initially titled 1948 because it so brutally depicted the reality of life under communist regimes in the USSR and China. The publishers were so afraid of reprisals that they published the book under the title we now know: 1984. Although the employment of technology via Big Brother gave the novel a futurist tone, it was actually a warning of what could happen in the West if we give ourselves over to the control regime of socialist dictatorship. Most of the techniques for controlling the population we see described in the book have been employed by totalitarian governments over the last hundred years.
This book changed my life. We read it at school at the age of 11 when I was suddenly awakened from the blissful ignorance of my childhood.
Where 1984 is the darker form of dystopia, control of the individual enforced by a culture of fear and brutal punishment, Brave New World depicts a fluffier version of hell on earth achieved by open access to sex and drugs and cinema, placating the people who inhabit this grim reality. In some ways, the book is even more chilling than 1984, as we witness someone capable of original thought as he awakens to his surroundings.
The world of futurist dystopian novels that can be found everywhere these days are pretty much all derivatives form these two classics and fans of The Matrix or Star Wars may recognise some of the themes.
These are the perfect books with which to make the transition to adulthood. Without understanding the implications of the social structures laid out in these two novels, we can be blind to the manipulations of the modern world. The way that prescription drugs, mainstream media, censorship, social media, outrage, monitoring and thought crimes are proliferating today, we would be foolish not to take notice of the grave warnings laid out in these two masterpieces.
When books are still being talked about nearly a century after they were written, it's usually for good reason.
