The Annual Training consists of the Basic Course and the Advanced Course. We have deliberately chosen a shorter period than one year for the Basic Course. The daily work with the cards is very intensive, and involves a certain process of will. To what extent this is possible over a whole year and what tools are needed for this, we do not yet know. We are in an open development process and very excited about sharing experiences with you. For those who want to deepen the work after the 30 weeks of the Basic Course with The Philosophy of Freedom, there is the possibility of an Advanced Course. The content of this course is derived from the Basic Course, but it is possible that it will focus on a completely different area of spiritual development than the thinking of The Philosophy of Freedom. For example, the Advanced Course of the 2nd cycle includes work with feeling and a beginning with How to Attain Knowledge of Higher Worlds by Rudolf Steiner. We think that over time, with you and other participants, various possibilities for deepening The Philosophy of Freedom will develop and we look forward to this process.

The only prerequisite is the joy and commitment to spend ¼ hour each day with The Philosophy of Freedom cards. The more concentrated and consistent this is, the more effective the training will be. In addition, it is worthwhile to read the book, to exchange ideas and to make The Philosophy of Freedom a main occupation during the time of the training. But this is entirely up to your freedom and possibilities.

A commitment is a pledge that you make to yourself, to another person or to a cause when something is truly close to your heart. It is a free will decision. It is good to start the Basic Course with an inner commitment for the training period.

The training is divided into three parts. The first one lasts 12 weeks and includes the first part of The Philosophy of Freedom. The second part is also 12 weeks and includes the second part of The Philosophy of Freedom. Over Christmas, after the second part, there is a two weeks break. The third part goes for three weeks and ends with the final conference.

Each participant will receive a box with The Philosophy of Freedom cards at the beginning of the training. Each week you will receive a supportive email letter from us that frames the content of the training. About every 4 weeks there will be a group Zoom conference. We will support you in forming regional or digital groups and in finding a buddy (practice partner). 

That depends entirely on your concerns. If you find that you are simply having difficulty getting into the willed process, then we are happy to support you in that. If you find that this approach is not for you, and you need something else, then you can simply tell us. Apart from your own inner commitment, there is no obligation to do anything.

Yes, absolutely. This is what we have designed the Annual Training for. The Basic Course is structured in such a way that it is not mandatory to have read the book beforehand. One will still be able to get into the thoughts and benefit from the training and its developmental process. Through the daily immersion in the thought process with the help of the cards, a power is created which later makes it easier to work on The Philosophy of Freedom as a whole by reading it. Some things, however, can only be understood in the context of the whole text.

There are about 15 to 30 cards per week. This sounds a lot at first, but it is mitigated by the fact that several cards illuminate a topic from different angles. From our experience with the past two cycles, this number is quite doable and also allows for a meditative deepening of specific thoughts. Some chapters are divided into several sections and weeks.

We are not concerned with perfection, but with the joy of practice. It is important to us that The Philosophy of Freedom appears as a whole before the inner eye. We would be happy if, after the Basic Course, you have the impulse to deal intensively with The Philosophy of Freedom for the next few years and if this makes it easier for you to get started. You are also welcome to help develop the Annual Training further.

The Philosophy of Freedom calls itself a philosophy because it takes its starting point philosophically and ties in with what was thought in our Western culture about the cognitive process and the world until the end of the 19th century. But by making thinking itself the object of observation, it aims at discovering the reality of thinking, not mere thoughts about thinking. It does not want to be a doctrine; it wants to be experience.

Diving into the reality of thinking is an exciting process that challenges our whole person, not just intellectually. In our western educational culture, we often learn a kind of mechanical thinking that lives in definitions and does not lead to experience. In our science, and also for example in medicine, it is almost an ideal not to let our own individual feelings and sensations flow in. We live in a time in which what we think intellectually, what we feel in our heart and what we finally do, are sometimes far apart. The approach of The Philosophy of Freedom is different. Here are some quotes: "The knowledge of things will go hand in hand with the formation and development of the emotional life in one who is oriented toward totality." "This immersion takes place with a power flowing in the thinking activity itself, which is the power of love in a spiritual form." "For he who turns to the essential in thinking finds in it both feeling and will in the depths of their reality."

Just as an example, Sadhguru, a contemporary teacher from India who has great significance meditatively as well as socially and societally, says: "What people believe as God is essentially the source of creation. We must understand that the most significant quality about the source of creation is intelligence. If you find access to this dimension of intelligence, which is the very source of creation, your life shall become magical" (Sadhguru-App, on August 22, 2020). Rudolf Steiner, in keeping with his time and culture, put it this way in the last chapter of The Philosophy of Freedom: "Life in reality, filled with the content of thought, is at the same time life in God."