So, after two days of sleepless misfortune in a foreign country, I finally arrived at my destination: The Beshara School at the Chisholme Institute, Scotland.

I was here to WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms involves working for your room and board) and my days had gently structured timetables, but I think my descriptive experience of Chisholme calls for a more unstructured stream of consciousness form.

Almost every day, I woke up for breakfast at 7:30, worked until coffee break at 10:15, worked more until lunch, worked after lunch, took a tea break, possibly worked more, had dinner, took care of any after-dinner chores, showered, hung out in the common room, and sank into bed.

The Beshara School is a self-described “school of self-knowledge” and esoteric learning. It was founded in the 1970s and has been running courses and community events ever since. The courses…