A Transformative and Holistic Educational Experience to Cultivate a More Just, Sustainable, and Fulfilling World
The certificate program in process thought and practice provides students with a unique opportunity to learn about the great diversity of process philosophies and the wide variety of ways in which those ideas can be expressed in everyday life. It begins with a general introduction to process thinking and ways of living and ends with an opportunity for participants to creatively and concretely express what they have learned. In between students will participate in courses covering a variety of topics: an in-depth look at Whitehead’s philosophy of organism, an exploration of religious traditions through a process-relational perspective, an overview of the complex landscape of ecological civilization, and an analysis of the relevance of Whitehead’s cosmology to the natural sciences.
We look forward to you joining us for this experiment in a creative, transformative, and holistic adventure of ideas.
“There is only one subject matter for education, and that is Life in all its manifestations.”
–Alfred North Whitehead, Adventures of Ideas
Program Requirements
Experience Foundation Workshops
Four workshops will be held at the beginning of the program. Students must attend or view each one.
Complete Required Courses
1 foundation | 2 electives | 1 audit
- Attend each class session or view the recording
- Complete required readings
- Participate in discussion forum
- Complete required project
Complete a Synthesis & Springboard Project
Produce one of the following:
- Research paper
- Creative localization project
- Work of art
Workshops
The 2026 program begins with four foundation workshops. Together with the Discovering Whitehead foundation course, they establish a shared vocabulary, vision, and experiential grounding for the remainder of program. They invite participants into process thought as a living tradition—rooted in philosophy, expressed in practice, and oriented toward the ongoing creation of a more just, compassionate, and ecological world.
- Introduction to Process Thought, led by Jay McDaniel
Saturday, April 4th, 9:00 – 11:00am Pacific - Introduction to Whitehead’s Philosophy, led by Bob Mesle
Saturday, April 11th, 9:00 – 11:00am Pacific - The Contemporary Process Landscape, with Bruce Epperly, Kaeti MacNeil, Jared Morningstar, Lauren Elizabeth Clare, Kathleen Wakefield
Saturday, April 18th, 9:00 – 11:00am Pacific - Eco-Spirituality: Spiritual Connections with the Living Earth
Saturday, April 25th, 9:00 – 11:00am Pacific
All students are required to either attend the live workshops or view the recordings.
Courses
Dates and times are subject to change.
Discovering Whitehead | Foundation (required)
This six-session course offers participants a guided introduction to Whitehead’s worldview, providing both conceptual grounding and experiential entry points into process philosophy. Participants may engage the material at varying depths, moving fluidly between experiential reflection and theoretical analysis, according to their interests and learning goals.
The course is supported by a Canvas-based learning platform developed by Chris Hughes, the Program Dean. The platform is designed to help participants engage Whitehead’s ideas at both experiential and theoretical levels, accommodating diverse learning styles and vocational contexts.
At the heart of the Canvas course is a focused glossary of twenty six key terms, drawn largely from John Cobb’s Whitehead Wordbook. Cobb’s Wordbook includes approximately fifty terms and is intentionally designed to help individuals and groups read Process and Reality in a careful, patient, and conceptually grounded way.
| Dates: | April 15 – May 20 |
| Times: | Wednesdays, 5:00 – 7:00 PM Pacific |
If you’re not able to join the program, but are interested in taking this class, you can do that by signing up here.
Instructors
Jay McDaniel
Chris Hughes
Processing Religion & Wisdom Traditions | Elective
We live in a world marked by great diversity, and if humans are to live peaceably together, we must seek to understand each other. In this course, participants will explore various world religions, as well as indigenous/traditional ways of thinking and living, through a lens of process and relational thought. Over the course of six sessions, we will discuss Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Indigenous/Traditional Ways. As we approach each tradition, we will seek to encounter its commitments and matters of ultimate concern alongside its primary practices, exploring how it may be situated within process and relational metaphysics. Through this lens, we might ask how each tradition fosters zest and enjoyment, nourishes its adherents’ spiritual and ethical lives, and knits communities together, with an eye on each tradition’s view of the proper relationship between the transpersonal or sacred and humans, as well as between humans and the earth.
| Dates: | June 2 – July 14 |
| Times: | Tuesdays, 5:00 – 7:00 PM Pacific |
Instructor
Leslie King
Whitehead’s Process Philosophy | Elective
Whitehead’s “philosophy of organism” is one of the most significant attempts in all of philosophy to think through what reality must be like because you are apart of it. His philosophical vision is at once vast, various, and prismatic. His wife Evelyn once used the wonderful metaphor of a prism to describe his thinking, saying: “It must be seen not from one side alone but from all sides, then from underneath and overhead. So seen, as one moves around it, the prism is full of changing lights and colours. To have seen it from one side only is to not have seen it.” The five sessions of this course aim to reveal the various sides, lights, and colors belonging to Whitehead’s process philosophy from the microscopic to the macroscopic, and in direct relation to your experience as an expression of the universe.
| Dates: | July 29 – August 6 |
| Times: | Wednesdays, 5:00 – 7:00 PM Pacific |
Instructor
Andrew Davis
Foundations of Ecological Civilization | Elective
This course explores visions of ecological civilization, drawing upon process-relational understandings of the cosmos; the history of ecological struggles and movements; and central ideas and practices that have emerged in philosophical, scientific, economic, artistic, religious, and activist communities of reflection. The purpose is to gather and build upon practical wisdom that has power to transform the downward spiral of ecological destruction and to foster movements for protecting, healing, and regenerating our broken planet. The course is an invitation for participants to travel into the midst of crises and seek possibilities for ecological justice and wellbeing.
| Dates: | September 9 – October 14 |
| Times: | Tuesdays, 5:00 – 7:00 PM Pacific |
Instructor
Andrew Schwartz
Process Thought & Science | Elective
This course introduces students to Alfred North Whitehead’s organic cosmology by exploring its relevance to contemporary natural science, including physics, biology, and cognitive neuroscience. In light of his protest against the modern bifurcation of nature into separate physical and psychical domains, the course examines the ways Whitehead’s process-relational ontology allows us to understand the knowledge produced by natural science as compatible with human experience, including the presuppositions of ethical social relations and cultural self-understanding. Whitehead’s “organic realism” makes it possible to re-enchant the world without contradicting the latest scientific findings. In fact, his philosophy of organism provides us with one of the most promising means of integrating the increasingly fragmented natural and social sciences into a comprehensive and potentially civilization renewing vision.
In this six-session course, students can expect to gain a deeper understanding of the major categories of Whitehead’s metaphysical scheme, receive an introduction to his novel interpretations of relativity, quantum, evolutionary, and complexity theories, and become familiar with the usually unspoken metaphysical assumptions underlying contemporary physical cosmology.
| Dates: | October 28 – December 2 |
| Times: | Tuesdays, 5:00 – 7:00 PM Pacific |
Instructor
Matt Segall
Synthesis & Springboard Project
The culminating experience of the certificate program provides an opportunity for participants to integrate and synthesize various aspects of the subject matters they studied within the program. This experience may take the form of an academic research paper, a creative localization project illustrating the application of process thought, or a work of art (including a performance) with substantial commentary.
Examples of possible projects include developing an introduction to process thought in a local setting, creating an open and relational arts festival, developing an urban garden, or setting up programs at a local library exploring the four hopes of the process movement. Participants can begin thinking about their capstone experiences early in the process and be in communication with the dean of the program (Chris Hughes) and other faculty members.
“The ultimate subject in education is Life in all it manifestations: human life but also the life of the plants and animals, the earth, and the wider universe. The whole of nature is alive.”
–Jay McDaniel, Open Horizons Website
Enrollment is limited to 35 students.
Registration closes on April 6, 2026.
Price
- Four workshops, Four courses, and Synthesis & Springboard Project
- One-on-one advising from the program dean
- Lifetime access to course session recordings
- Receive early notification of future courses
- Watch live or follow your own schedule
- Interact with program participants via discussion forums
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I can't attend the live sessions? Will they be recorded?
To accommodate students who live in many different places throughout the world, all of the live sessions for both the workshops and the classes will be recorded. So, if you’re unable to attend the live sessions, you will be able to watch at a time that’s convenient for your schedule. Either attending virtual meetings or watching the recording will fulfill the requirement.
Can I sign up for all five classes?
Yes. To complete the requirements of the program, each student must take the foundation course, two electives, and one class as an auditor. The fee covers the cost of those four courses. Any program participants who would like take the fifth class are welcome to do that and will be able to signup at discounted rate. All of the classes will be open to the public, so there will be participants and non-participants in each one. Program participants will be able to enroll in the fifth course at a discounted rate.
What are the requirements to audit a class?
Students are always encouraged to participate as much as they’re able to gain the most out of the experience, but receiving credit as an auditor only requires attending the live sessions or watching the recordings of the live sessions.
How do I select my electives?
Some time during the first course, you will be sent a link to a form that will enable you to select your electives.
Past Programs
Find out about out previous programs.