Hello, learners. Welcome to The Glass Bead Game.
What is the Glass Bead Game? The Glass Bead Game is the name we give to a collection of wonderful lectures that seek to supplement a dying art: learning.
This year, Castælio will offer twelve lectures and twelve seminars on the liberal arts, given by subject matter experts who have generously offered to share their singular understanding of the world.
But WHAT is it? // Structure
Simple. There are three aspects to the Glass Bead Game.
Lecture / Listen
The tutor will record a 15–30+ minute lecture on a prompt related to the year’s central theme. (In 2023, it is Strategy.) This lecture will be uploaded to Vimeo, and the transcript and the private link to the video will be sent out to the course’s students. Here’s Lecture 1: Dynamism.
The upload will take place on the third Friday of the month.
Contemplation
The students will watch the lecture, and each will think, truly think, about the information that has been shared. Each student is to write three questions, which they will send to the tutor by the fourth Thursday of the month.
Seminar / Speak
Seminars are held on the fourth Friday of the month. The tutor will read out and respond to three of the questions – from there, you will be able to interrogate the ideas offered by the tutor, ideally to the best of your abilities.
But where are the tests? The examinations? Will I be quizzed?
Rest, weary worker. By virtue of asking to play the Glass Bead Game, it is assumed you know how to (or know not to) fill in bubbles on a multiple choice sheet, and regurgitate memorised information.
The purpose of the Glass Bead Game is to fan the flames of your passion for the liberal arts, your desire to understand the human condition better than you did previously. Tests won’t help you with this.
Nothing is required of the student, in the way of examinations, but the creation of a Life by the end of the course. A Life is a special kind of stylistic essay; you will be tasked to write a fictitious autobiography set in any period of the past you please.
Where do I sign up?
The 2023 Course is only available to those who are part of the Infinity network.
As you have access to this Notion page, you are virtute et armis, a member of the cognoscenti.