Teachers Course

Upon successfully completing the prior courses offered through Mysticweb, students had the option to take the Teachers course if they were interested in learning how to responsibly and effectively pass the information and practices they had learned onto others. Through the process of learning to explain spiritual topics to others, participants were also able to go further with their own learning, as to effectively explain the Mysticweb courses their topics had to be fully understood, and a participant needed to have a certain level of understanding based on practical experience. The Teacher’s Course provided participants with the training, background, and supportive environment they needed to be able to gain this understanding and experience to a level where they could competently teach others about Gnosticism. Course attendees who chose not to do the Teacher’s Course were welcome to continue the earlier courses for as long as they wished instead.

With a focus on learning how to pass on spiritual information clearly, in the Teacher’s Course participants learned how to guide lectures, explain topics in the most effective way, guide and answer questions about the practices they had previously learned, and to continue exploring Gnosis so that they were able to explain topics and practices from personal experience.

Entry into the Teacher’s course was dependent not only on completing prior courses, but also showing certain characteristics: those of responsibility, care, and understanding for general Gnostic spiritual principles. This was assessed by qualified teachers who had interacted regularly with the participants in previous courses and who could accurately assess their capacity to fulfill those responsibilities.

The course program was organized into a nine week format where participants could:

  • Deepen their own study, understanding, and experience of all previous course material learned
  • Get feedback, coaching, and general support from trained teachers who already had the experience of guiding classes and running groups or study centres
  • Get varying levels of hands-on experience in giving lectures, guiding practices, leading workshops, and all other aspects needed to effectively teach others
  • Interact with, get support and learn from others who were training to be teachers as well

  • Make use of the interactive, dynamic learning program provided by the structure of the course which included discussions within the group, weekly exercises, and opportunities to explore topics in more depth
  • Take on a more active role in passing on spiritual information to other people
  • Work on refining their communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills to be as effective as possible
  • Begin taking on greater responsibilities in the study group or center they attended or online if they were an online course participant

Meditation practice at a center

Structure

The Teachers course followed a nine week structure (originally eight, and later expanded to nine) like the other courses, with weekly topics related to learning how to teach being included each week. In addition to the weekly topics given in the Teacher’s course, participants actively took part in the practice sessions of the Advanced Investigation course. This allowed them to continue to develop a greater understanding of advanced exercises such as koans and eliminating the egos.

Within the supportive environment that the Teacher’s course provided, participants could gain experience on how to teach Gnosticism to others without the pressure of getting up in front of a live class. By practicing with mock lectures to the rest of the course participants, answering mock questions, and getting feedback, direction, and guidance from experienced teachers, participants were able to build up their confidence until they were ready to run live group lectures and practices.

This format also fostered a sense of community as well, as students were able to work together and had a shared sense of purpose when learning how to effectively pass on spiritual information to others.

Overview of Course Topics

This is an example of what a typical course round topic list would look like:

Participants in the Teacher’s course were promoted to trainee teachers when they were assessed as ready based on their understanding of spiritual topics and ability to teach others, but also based on their level of dedication, responsibility, and commitment towards this undertaking.

Entry into and completion of the Teacher’s Training course was considered a serious matter, as teaching others was a big responsibility requiring a great deal of care and understanding. Participants who completed this course and showed a satisfactory level of responsibility, were able to begin guiding public classes.

If a person did not pass the Teacher’s course for any reason, they could repeat the course and work on any areas necessary to be able to move on to the next step in a following course round.

All assessments of capability and readiness to move on to be a teacher were completed by qualified teachers who had already undergone this process and were experienced in what the needs of this role entailed.