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munis wis uuuy tO express mimscit wich unusual treedom and to come to a fuller and deeper understanding of himself, Living and working together with these vital issucs and this challenging material, members af the group find chat they expericace a mew quality of association with une another. The usual barricrs to free communication are diminished, and the possibilities of new depths of relationship appear. The individual is encouraged by this climate to look honestly ac himself as he now is, and dares co consider the possibiliry of a change. History of the Seminars we The Sequoia Seniinar is a contemporary expression of an effort begun before the turn.of the presene century by Dr. Henry Buston Sharman. He was con- cerned with the rising cide of cynicism and loss of basic faith in any eternal veritics which scemed in intellectual circles to sesult from the supposed conflice berween science and religion. A scientist himself, he saw no necessity for any such conilict. He believed that there were basic truths about the process whereby human personality achieves its highese expression and char these must be fusdamentsl in any mature and sophisticated religion. He belicved, further, that any such cruths could be discovered by any honest, sincercly scurching mind willing to observe the same high standards of intellectual integrity required by the scientific method or by aay other rigorous scholarly inquiry. Accordingly, he sce about developing a method of approach co test his theury. Ie seemed ro Sharman that a critical study of che mind of any great religious genius oughe ro reveal a recognition and an understanding of the mosr basic principles of cricatation, of integration, and of personal effectiveness. He began, therefore, to explore the mose nearly original records which have been pre- served to us of che life and the expressions of the mind of Jesus of Nazareth, whom he regarded for a number of reasons as one of the most promising figures to examine. This exploration, utilizing the findings and the methods of modern literacy and historical criticism, led to his conviction thac this was indeed a fruitful body of material for such critical steady. 6 a hey eee bark ED Pre traning and rigcrous questions, lat qw che development of a serks of annua! summer sepunus. Thise were or six weeks’ duration ara comroraible can in the Caaadian wilderness. Here the olinon and the setGie taciitaced the group's concentrauon on the task at hand with the minimum ot dutraction and interruption but with ample opportunity and facilitics for recreation. Those who launched the Sequoia Seminar had the prividege of participating in chis activicy under Sharman’s leadership. The great values chey derived from thar experience motivated chem to seck means for making thom available to others, In the sammer of 19-16 dicy held a seminar of this kind for a duration ot four weeks at a fishing ledge on the Klamath River among the redwoods of Northern California. For the next four summers rwo such seminars were held each year at the Asilamac conference grounds facing che ocean at Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula, In 1951 the seminar was moved to the Sequoia Seminat’s own Camp near Ben Lomond. Experimentation has led to the shortening of the period of the introductory seminars to nwo weeks and the reduction of the size of the group to cighteen, The program and the methods continue to be expermmearal wad che constant endeavor is to improve the procedures through which che parucipants may with the maximum freedom, but also with die maxinum stimulation toward critical and independent thinking, work toward formulating thar own outlook on and program far life. Ta recent years it has become apparent that, even when a person has come clearly to a decision as to che orientation his life shall assume, he ages the help of others to implement this decision. This fact led to the establishing of a Series of continuation seminars. Some of these are one week In duration, some two. Their name varies; some concentrate on clarification of the issues en- countered in the introductory seminars, others on knowing the self, still ochers on techniques and procedures related to pursuing the way of life which seems to be implicit in the teachings of Jesus. Program The introductory seminars last for a period of nwo weeks. Every morning of this period is devoted co the group discussions. Afternoon and evening pragrams are worked our by the participants of cach seminar to meet best the needs of the particular group, Part of every afternoon is generally free for individual and group relaxation and recreation; often extra afternoon sessions are scned- uled co fill a anced felt by the goup to relace their tentative findings more directly to everyday personal relations. Recorded music usually plays some pace in the day's activities. For those who ase interested, an opportunity is provided 10 experiment with the contribution of creative work with art materials. 7