Pathfinding 2025, October 15-19 Hesperus Village, Toronto, Ontario
Pathfinding in
Uncertainty
Cultivating Capacities
for Leading into the Future
A Four-Day Intensive
Convened by Leah Walker and John Bloom
15–19
OCT
2025
Hesperus Village
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
There is a clarion call for reimagined personal and organizational leadership that flows from an ever-living social reality when one experiences the outer world and the inner world of the self simultaneously.
Introduction
This four-day intensive will develop capacities for self-knowledge as a foundation for leading and serving others in a time of uncertainty, distrust, and a willful by-passing of truth. Leading out of one’s intuitive sense for the future, out of a mood of inquiry rather than outcome, brings one, regardless of experience or origin, to a threshold, a gateway to community. This recognition and how to navigate it lie at the heart of this intensive. We will work together in the urban and beautiful surrounds of Hesperus Village just north of Toronto with open spaces and woodlands close by.
What We Will Do Together
- Practice creative group processes for deepening social understanding
- Engage in biography work to enhance one’s own individuality and to develop capacity to perceive the individuality of others
- Cultivate reflective, meditative practices for oneself and across an organization
- Explore decision-making and leadership style through three perspectives: cultural, rights, and economic
- Address intergenerational leadership issues and constructive conditions for succession
- Understand what is newly needed in the field of social agreements, how they are co-created and managed as a path to organizational effectiveness in the world
True individuality is born of committed work toward self-knowledge; it is ethical when one knows that the point or goal of self-knowledge is greater capacity to serve others. Increasingly, leadership toward the new community will depend on one’s capacity to perceive the “I” of the other. Exploration of the nature of such soul-spiritual practices and facility in their use is needed now more than ever.
How We Will Work
This intensive includes significant content, yet our way of working together will happen largely through experiential, living processes. Every aspect will be an exploration of new ways of leadership, new ways of connecting inner experience and outer reality, and new ways of being and working in groups and community.
Who Will Come Together
The invitation goes to those carrying responsibilities within spiritually based organizations, and anyone who feels they would benefit from and could contribute to this level of engagement. The intention is for participation to be guided by interest and need. Space is limited to allow for working closely and deeply.
Conveners
Leah Walker has a deep interest in human development and earth evolution as described by Rudolf Steiner. She holds a master’s degree in educational psychology from the University of Texas at Austin, is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and a biography worker. Leah served as a faculty member of the Center for Biography and Social Art for many years. In 2017, she was part of a team that reimagined the organization of the Worldwide Biography Conference, grounding it in threefold principles, and this imagination continues today.
John Bloom co-founded Spirit Matters—Serving Anthroposophical Initiative in 2021 to further work developed over 23 years at RSF Social Finance. As part of his work at RSF he convened conversations, programs, and workshops that addressed the intersection of money and spirit in personal and social transformation. As part of his work there, he developed a contemplative-based leadership and personal transformation program to cultivate and encourage organizational leaders in new ways of being and practicing in order to shift old behavioral patterns and shape new ones.
Particular and essential human qualities are necessary in our time—among them we will focus on clarity of perception and conscious vulnerability. In an ever-evolving way such qualities belong to one who is capable of leading first oneself and then others toward a more human future, toward new community.
About Spirit Matters
Spirit Matters is especially interested in leading-edge initiatives, practical innovation, and economic regeneration. Spirit Matters serves and supports initiatives and organizations whose work is furthering the social, spiritual, and economic impulses found in and inspired by anthroposophy in its most universal and non-judgmental understanding and practices. The organization’s intention is to help further a more just and equitable world, while recognizing that spirit awareness and practices matter toward that end.
Costs and Logistics
The cost per person for the four days will be CAN $950.00, meals included. Participants will be responsible for their own transportation to and from the Pathfinding Intensive, and for their own housing. We are suggesting this amount as a guidepost for participant’s contribution to the intensive, and recognize that some may provide more, some less in the spirit of creating an associative community. Our hope is that participants ask for support from their respective organizations where possible, or reach out to us and others to consider alternatives. We are committed to making this intensive open to anyone who feels aligned with its purpose and called to engage with the future of leadership. The Intensive will run from 4:00 pm on Wednesday to 1:00 pm on Sunday.
Contact
For program information contact John Bloom at spiritmatters.sai@gmail.com
