Educational Trips

Moniack Mhor Creativity in seclusion

Tucked away in the Scottish Highlands, Moniack Mhor is central in providing an immersive creative writing space. Despite the 3hour drive, Moniack made up for it through its scenery, which was perfect for brewing up inspiration for our creative stories, not to mention a lunch stop at The House of Bruar.

On arrival, we got to work straight away. Every day we took part in writing tutorials with our amazing tutors Jen Hadfield (poet) and Kevin MacNeil (poet, novelist and playwright). With diverse activities, their tasks drew inspiration and creativity out of us which we did not expect. From writing ourselves as a musical instrument to acting out our own characters, we saw how the creative process could take many forms, giving us a new perspective to how we could plan and visualise our stories. Over time, we got to know both our tutors and the George Watson’s pupils on the trip so much better.

In the evening we’d share what we had been working on around the fire. We created our own kind of community, commenting and complimenting on what others had done, inspiring each other on how we could improve our work. Moniack as an environment helped our work evolve. From the snow-coated mountains that splayed outside the windows, to the roaring fires and cups of tea inside the cottage, some seriously cosy vibes were created. Motivated to work on our stories, and with the assistance of our tutors (and maybe a few too many digestives) we left Moniack with some great creative work under our belts. So after all the morning walks around the centre, and the laughs together in the evening, as we drove away from the centre there was some underlying sadness but, on the most part, we returned home relaxed and ready to reflect on and utilise the skills we learnt while on the course.

Head Girl Louise

Out of all the school trips I have been on, Moniack Mhor was one that will stay with me for a long time! The big house was so cosy, and my friends and I stayed in the room in the cottage which looked out onto beautiful scenery. The trip made me comfortable in expressing ideas, and more confident in sharing my work with other people beyond just teachers which is something I've always found difficult. The tutors were lovely, and you'll definitely make friends with the George Watson’s girls too!

Religion & Philosophy Trips: Higher trip to Samye Ling Monastery, September 2019

Kagyu Samye Ling, Europe’s largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery, was founded in 1967 by two spiritual masters, in the rolling hills of southern Scotland. Today, Samye Ling – named after the first monastery to be established in Tibet – is a centre for Buddhist teaching as well as the preservation of everything from Tibetan religion, culture and art to medicine, architecture and traditional handicrafts.

The sight of the Stupa and a statue of Nagarjuna mesmerised me as we arrived. The bold white walls of the Stupa which housed sacred relics associated with the Buddha, stood next to a prayer wheelhouse. Inside each prayer wheel cylinder are printed Buddhist mantra – prayers – which, when turned, are said to activate and spread the blessing of the mantra throughout the

environment for the benefit of all beings and the planet itself, generating good karma – the positive or negative consequences of actions.

Notably, the nuns and monks who roamed the gardens surrounding the Stupa and Temple all sported burgundy robes and styled a shaven head, which symbolised simplicity and detachment from materialism. Despite this traditionalism, we did discover that the monks and nuns were in fact allowed mobiles and laptops in their quarters.

Reflecting on our time at Samye Ling, it was the selflessness of everyone we met that stuck with me. It was believed that enlightenment had been reached by some of the residents at the monastery, however, out of modesty they chose not to share or boast about their escape from Samsara – the cycle of death and rebirth: proof of their concern for the needs and feelings of others. Buddhists believe that the notion of ‘self’ results in harmful thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. I found this idea of impermanence, known as ‘Anatta’, very valuable. Anatta teaches that nothing within us is immune to the process of change and, as a result, there is no eternal soul. This belief hugely interested me as it allows the monks and nuns at Samye Ling, along with many other Buddhists, to reduce selfishness, desires, craving, hatred, pride and egotism; an ability and virtue I feel we should all aim to embody. Eilidh Page, Lower 6

The Brain and Belief

Religion and Philosophy Talks: Dr Sarah Lane Ritchie on the Brain and Belief, December 2019

Earlier this year we were lucky to have Dr Sarah Lane Ritchie visit us to give a talk on neuroscience and belief. Dr Lane Ritchie is a lecturer in Theology at the University of Edinburgh. Her talk was extremely engaging and focused on the Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR), which explores the relationship between belief and the brain. In particular, she opened us up to the idea that belief is not a unique or abnormal thing only associated with the spiritual world, but is a natural product of the way our brains work. Even if we are not religious, we all share beliefs in other things like football teams and political leaders. This tendency towards belief may be the result of our evolution. One specific idea Dr Lane Ritchie talked about was Agent Detection, a response that credits events in life to the work of an intentional being. It is suggested by some evolutionary scientists that Agent Detection helped early humans to survive in dangerous environments, but it means that now our brains are naturally disposed to think that events are the result of beings. This may explain how the concept of God developed. Dr Lane Ritchie also talked about other benefits of belief to our survival, like the way that it tends to motivate people to act in self-sacrificial and loving ways towards others which can help an overall community even at personal expense.

I found her talk really interesting especially as a Religion and Philosophy student because she covered reasons for our belief in religion that I had never learnt about before. It was fascinating to get an insight into our evolution and how our brains function in such a way that we are drawn towards religious belief. Dr Sarah Lane Ritchie was a great speaker and had admirable knowledge and intelligence on this topic which made her talk and the question and answer session excellent. Naomi Scott, Lower 6