The Beshara Trust

You can contact the Trust by sending an email to the Secretary

Make a donation to the Trust

Also on this page:

Swyre Farm
Chisholme House
Bulent Rauf
Sherborne House
Chisholme Institute

The Beshara Trust, Registered Educational Charity (England and Wales Number 296769). Beshara welcomes every race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, and physical ability.

The Beshara Trust was originally established as a charity in the United Kingdom in 1971 to represent a universal intention which is summed up in its foundation document like this:

"The object for which the Trust is established is the advancement of education in the consideration of the basic unity of all religions, in particular by the provision of courses to provide an understanding of the relationship of man to the universe, the earth, the environment and the society he lives in, to Reality and to God." Full text (pdf)

The Trust is supported entirely by philanthropic donations and voluntary work by people supportive of its aims.

Recent developments

Below you can read about the history of the Beshara Trust since its inception.

More recently the Trust has undergone changes as a result of the setting up, in 2008, of a new forum, called The Beshara Meeting, which is open to all those who wish to actively contribute.

At the same time a new set of Trustees have been appointed. The Trustees are very keen to re-establish connection with existing supporters, to invite participation in this new impetus and to develop communications. An online Forum has been set up and a database for Beshara organisations and the Beshara School is being created. This will work as a distributed office that can enable people in any country to manage their interactions with others.

The Trust is currently working with the Chisholme Institute on a joint plan of action in furtherance of their common aims. A Communications Director, funded through the Trust, has been appointed to drive this programme forward. The Trust is pursuing funding possibilities to support this programme, in particular the Self Knowledge and Global Responsibility project which began with the symposium at Chisholme in September 2009. From this have emerged different ways in which the dialogue can be reported and made available to a wider audience through film, audio, the development of interactive networking media, the Beshara and Symposia websites and a Journal. A further Symposium is planned for September 2010.

The Beshara Trust is sometimes able to offer scholarships for students studying essential writings from the Abrahamic and other traditions, at the Beshara Schools (web link). It can also consider applications for small grants for specific projects which are in accord with its aims. If you need financial help with organising a lecture or study programme, publishing a book, article, film, video or some such initiative, please do get in touch by emailing trust@beshara.org

Historical Notes

In the 1960's a revolution in consciousness began which gave rise to a sea-change in human awareness. Initially in the west, and predominantly youth-based, this movement had world-wide implications.

This was a time of great questioning of the established order, variously manifesting in political unrest, anti-war demonstrations, the growth of feminism, a profound change in race relations and a new kind of music. It gave momentum to the civil rights movement in the US, and led to world-wide protests against apartheid. Above all there emerged the feeling that there was more to life and another way to be than simply continuing in the ways of previous generations. And behind the face of 'flower power', there was also more than a little acknowledgement of the Reality of Love.

One of the places where this revolution began was England, and it was to England that Bulent Rauf, later to be Consultant to the Beshara School, was directed in the mid-1960's. Born in Istanbul, Bulent had received a traditional Ottoman education. He then went on to receive the best of Western education at Cornell and Yale in the US. All this came on top of what he called an 'atavistic' esoteric education, his family on both sides steeped in the inner knowledge of the unity of existence.

Bulent saw his work to be with those who were declaring that "all you need is love". Yes indeed, he would agree, adding however that the lover must know for certain who and what he or she loves, or else all the lover's energy will be squandered. Bulent recognised the need for education and was instrumental in the establishment of the Beshara School. He was responsible for the design of its courses and remained consultant to the school until his death in 1987. His advice to the students of the courses has been published by Beshara Publications as 'Addresses I' and 'Addresses II'

Beshara came about to promote knowledge of the unity of existence. This knowledge is the essential ingredient in the development of each person, so that first one knows that one has an aim and then that one reaches this aim. This aim – our purpose here in this life – is to come to know ourselves and consequently to know God, the Real. It was for this reason that the Beshara School was established at the Chisholme Institute in the Scottish Borders in 1975. Since that time, hundreds of students have come from all over the world to spend time at Chisholme, as students or working as volunteers. Here they are immersed in an environment of living study, undertaking an education devoted in every detail to the fact and truth of the unity of existence. The Beshara School now also offers courses and study groups in many locations worldwide.

The Beshara Trust: Early history and activities

Swyre Farm

In the early seventies, the Trust established an open centre at Swyre Farm in the Cotswolds where programmes of study and spiritual work were developed and run throughout the year. People came to Swyre Farm from all over the world, to work and study.

Chisholme House

It soon became evident that a place was needed where more intensive direct immersion in the matter of the Unity of Existence would be possible, and in 1973 work started on restoring the then derelict Chisholme House in the Borders of Scotland, and the Beshara School ran its first course of Intensive Esoteric Education there in 1975, with 36 students.

Sherborne House

In 1976 a greater number of applicants for the course meant that it was necessary to develop a larger centre. Sherborne House in Gloucestershire, close to Swyre Farm and the previous home of courses run by the well-known J.G. Bennett, was ideal for this purpose. The Trust had enjoyed a close relationship with J.G. Bennett who, from 1972 to 1974 had given a series of talks to students at Swyre Farm published as 'Intimations' by Beshara Publications.

Swyre Farm was sold in 1978 and the Trust concentrated its activities in the converted stables at Sherborne for many years and later at Frilford Grange in Oxfordshire,where it operated from 1988 until 1990. Since then the main focus of the Beshara School has been The Chisholme Institute, though there are also courses in Australia, Indonesia and the United States.

The Chisholme Institute

In 1979 a new charity, the Chisholme Institute, was set up. This took over ownership of Chisholme House and was licensed by the Trust to run Beshara courses there.

The Beshara Magazine

There were 13 issues of Beshara Magazine which appeared between 1987 and 1991. It was an attempt to express the principles of Beshara in the widest possible context. Its subtitle on later issues was "A unified perspective in the contemporary world" which expressed its basic purpose. It tried to look at the way that the principle of unity was emerging in all sorts of different ways in our time – in science, in politics and economics, in religions in terms of ecumenical movements and in spirituality in terms of the increasing awareness of the esoteric wisdom traditions.

When the magazine started in 1987, the Beshara Trust had a centre at Sherborne, Gloucestershire. Here seminars were held with invited speakers from different fields with the aim of developing a dialogue between these specific areas of expertise and the more general 'self-knowledge' established at the Beshara School. Over the next few years, at Sherborne and at Frilford, there were meetings with scientists such as Rupert Sheldrake, John Barrow, Brian Goodwin and Mae Wan Ho; with ecologists and economists such as Jonathan Porrit and Paul Ekins, and with representatives of the religious traditions such as Dom Sylvester Houedard and Bishop Kallistos Ware. Seminars took place on particular themes such as 'Creativity' and 'Education' which aimed to explore important contemporary issues.

The magazine was a highly regarded and successful attempt to take extend this dialogue further, both in terms of reaching out to an even wider group of specialists, and in terms of audience, so that people who could not attend a seminar would nevertheless have the opportunity to participate in the dialogue.