A class series is a collection of classes on the same topic that spans a limited period of time. Often a series involves a class on the same topic that met weekly.
INTRODUCTION TO
Class series
The notion of a class series has a certain plasticity to it because what counts as the same topic and a limited period of time can’t be made precise.
For example, from 09/06/1979 through 03/05/1980, Anthony Damiani conducted an intensive examination of the core chapters of Paul Brunton’s The Wisdom of the Overself, from “The Meaning of Mentalism” through “The World-Mind.” At least one class, usually two, per week were on this topic.
Another example is the series on Iamblichus’s masterwork On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians (Thomas Taylor’s translation), which met mostly on Saturdays from 04/10/1981 through 06/13/198. In both of these examples, there is at least one class each week on the topic and there is a clear beginning and end to the series.
But there are other series in which the classes didn’t meet weekly, but the topic was so circumscribed that it makes sense to group all the classes on this topic together—for example, the classes on Jung’s horoscope given in a certain timeframe. Indeed, there are three individuals (Emerson, Jung, and Puccini) for which there are two different series on each one because the second series focused more on the meaning of their septiles and quintiles, which was not emphasized in the first series.
Finally, there are some series where there is a continuity of theme, or perhaps a continuity in the problem being addressed, over a period of time. A good example of this is the series titled “Western Alchemy: The Soul’s Transformative Journey in the Cosmos; Perspectives from Neoplatonism, Jungian Thought, and Tibetan Buddhism.” This series consist of twenty-eight items (classes and papers) spanning the period 01/23/1982 through 06/05/1982. As you can see from the title, the series pulls in material from many spiritual and psychological traditions, but the continuous theme is how the soul is learning from its experiences in the realm of becoming.
Browsing the archive by series
On the series page, you will find an alphabetical list of the class series by title. There are over fifty series at present. As more audio files are transcribed, we may identify and create new series. Browsing this list is a great way to see the breadth of topics and problems that Damiani investigated.
Each record provides a description of the series and the number of transcripts or papers in the series. If you choose to view a series, a new page opens and you will see the dates the series spans and a chronological list of all the classes and papers in the series. You can then choose whether to open one of them and view the document and listen to audio (if it’s a class) or return to the list of class series. Thus it’s possible to view all the classes and papers that belong to the series in the order they occurred, if you wish. The records have the same structure as the other documents in the archive. Click here to learn more about the structure of transcripts.
Also, if after searching the document archive, you select a transcript or paper that is part of a class series, you will see a link on the Overview page that will take you to that series, if you want.