School of Metaphysics teaches listening, reasoning

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Since the mid-1970s, the School of Metaphysics in Columbia has been teaching students techniques in concentration, listening and reasoning. It's one of the oldest branches of the Windyville-based school, which has 16 schools across the country.

For most people, it started with a sign. Not a sign from God or a mysterious power, but the sign in front of the School of Metaphysics here, across the street from the Columbia Public Library.

"We're in such a high-traffic area that sometimes people will just come right up to the door because they are curious," director Judy Weber said.

A Columbia native, Nathan Mudrick said he must have driven past the sign hundreds of times, but he only ventured inside of the School of Metaphysics for the first time a few months ago.

Mudrick, 29, has recently returned from India, where he lived and studied for 16 months.

"It was a powerful transformation for me," he said. "I've had the opportunity to live with different cultures, and the school is helping me to refine these studies."

Though she is the official director, Weber also describes herself as a student and a teacher at the Columbia school, which is one of the oldest of 16 branches of the School of Metaphysics, headquartered in Windyville and incorporated in 1973. The school is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Students are asked for a donation of $15 each week, but there is no formal tuition.

'Beyond the physical'

The school's teachings are based on obtaining knowledge outside of ("meta") the laws that rule the physical world ("physics").

"We look at the universe that is beyond the physical: the mind," Weber said. "The school teaches how to use our minds."

The school's teachings are distinct from what students typically learn about metaphysics in a university setting, where students attempt to understand the world at an abstract level from philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, said professor Andrew Melnyk, chair of the University of Missouri-Columbia's philosophy department. Traditionally, metaphysics has been regarded as one of the main branches of philosophy, together with ethics, logic and the theory of knowledge, Melnyk said.

The curriculum at the School of Metaphysics is aimed at adults and is based on a four-cycle system. Weber has just begun the third cycle, but she, like many students, began teaching after completion of the first cycle.

A large part of the first cycle is learning the 10 Essential Life Skills, which include self-respect, undivided attention, memory, listening and reasoning.

All students receive a past-life report as part of the course work. They send their names and up to five questions to the Windyville headquarters, where a trained team of a conductor and reporter go into a "place in mind" to access the past life of the requester and to report any learning that will be significant to the requester in this lifetime.

Past life reports are just one of many intuitive reports -- including health reports and past life crossings of two individuals -- that can be done for anyone for $80. The school also offers past life reports for families of up to five people for $350. Business reports cost $1,008, Weber said.

The coursework is structured, Weber said, and the first-cycle students in Texas learn the same thing as those in Columbia. At the same time, the experience is also based on the student's individual progress and can take anywhere from nine months to a year.

"We specifically teach how to use our minds, so in that way it's very individual," Weber said. "Even though you are part of a class, you will learn what you need and what you want to know."

The first cycle also includes lessons about the mind-body connection.

"We learn how the mind is reflected in the physical body and how we can use our mind for healing," Weber said, adding that this should not be used in lieu of medical care, but to make people more aware of how the mind can affect the body.

"This is not a new concept, the idea that thoughts produce our health," she said. "Thoughts can influence our bodies' state, and if we change our thoughts, we can change our health."

Students study dream interpretation, which is a main focus of the school and also a service it provides to the community.

"Dreams are messages from our inner selves to our outer consciousness," Weber said. "Once we understand our attitudes, we can choose what we want to change."

The school's local branch opened in the mid-1970s and is one of the oldest branches, Area Director Shelia Benjamin said. According to Boone County Assessor's records, the school's current location was bought in late 1992 from Charles Hellem, a chiropractor.

Hellem used to run his practice from his home, Weber said, so there are both living a working quarters.

Weber lives at the school along with two other teachers, Jesse Reece and Rory Colgan. Like all teachers at the school's branches, the three are volunteers.

All of the school's branches are in homes, Colgan said, sitting in a living room with several golden orange walls, an exposed brick wall, wooden floors and Oriental rugs.

"Classes have always taken place in a houselike setting," said Teresa Martin, media coordinator for the national school. "The bedrooms are turned into classrooms, so it's a very comfortable and homey place."

Jerry Rothermel and Geraldine Hatcher laid the foundation for the school in the early 1970s when they began organizing discussions and study groups in Springfield homes, Benjamin said.

"They brought together a series of lessons so that people could be part of a more formal study," Martin said.

The school's Web site offers correspondence classes to those throughout the world, but the 16 physical branch locations are all located in the Midwest.

"A lot of people wonder about that," Martin said of the somewhat liberal school flourishing in a traditional part of the country. "Part of what's required for this study is stability. I think value system and the stability of the Midwest have lent themselves very well to the people who study these things."

Colgan, 22, moved to Columbia last week after graduating from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, where he also directed a branch of the school.

He said he's looking forward to starting his class in February and getting a college group together at the University of Missouri, similar to the Society for Intuitive Research that he organized at Illinois.

Early in his sophomore year of college, Colgan came across a flier for the school and began studying at the Urbana branch in September 2004.

Colgan directed the Urbana branch for almost a year and half while juggling volunteer teaching, work and classes to earn his associate degree in child development. He graduated in December.

He wanted to continue his involvement with the school, but as a teacher, not a director.

"It was a little too much," he said. "I felt like I was being asked to build a house, but I wasn't sure if I was laying the foundation correctly."

The board of directors could have placed him in any of the school's 16 branches, but Colgan said he's glad he landed in Columbia. He went on a bike tour of the city with another student last week to put up fliers for the school.

Currently, enrollment is low, Weber said. There are three teachers, including Weber, and five students who are not teachers. Weber has plans to grow the school, however.

Community outreach always has been a part of the school's mission, Weber said, and it's a good way to educate people about how they can benefit from what the school has to offer. The school sponsors lectures on a wide variety if topics, some of which are concentration, memory, listening in relationships, dream interpretation and undivided attention, which Weber said can be used to help parents of children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.

In addition to more lectures, Weber is looking into getting a show on KOPN, setting up booths on college campuses and continuing the school's presence at events like the Earth Day celebration.

"Columbia is very receptive," she said. "So many people here are focused on learning."