The Foundations of Agency
A 6-Week Intensive Workshop for Anti-Mimetic Leadership
No more life hacks. Not another shortcut. This is a workshop to help you build real agency.
Six weeks. Fifteen ideas. Weekly challenges that usher in real change.
What's At Stake
"The purpose of education is to form a new subject, which is the protagonist of its own existence."
— Luigi Giussani
You know the drill. You’ve read self-help books, philosophical tracts, even religious texts. You’ve watched hours of content. But most of what you consume only registers briefly, then fades away. Momentary conviction doesn’t survive contact with real daily life. You’re smart, ambitious, capable—often successful by external measures. But there is a gap between what you know and how you actually live and make choices. Your potential gets neutralized by habit, distraction, imitation, fraught relationships, or inertia. With each new thing you learn comes the gap between thought and action that seems impossible to cross.
The Foundations of Agency is an experimental, intensive workshop designed to help you close that gap. Created in collaboration with entrepreneurs, academics, artists and more, the workshop takes you through the process of learning, discerning, and applying new concepts—both at work and at home.
Testimonials
"Foundations of Agency was exactly what I would have wanted out of my liberal arts university experience. Intellectually and spiritually expansive. I cannot recommend Foundations of Agency highly enough."
— Matt Kramer, Writer, Cohort 1
"As a licensed counselor with decades of experience, I highly recommend accepting the invitation to grow through the Foundations of Agency intensive."
— Sean Slevin, LPC, LMFT, Cohort 1
"I learned crucial concepts about how to practice more agency in my life, and I met interesting people from around the world. You will make new friends."
— Bonnie Kavoussi, Writer, Cohort 1
Is this workshop for me?
Foundations of Agency is a 100% virtual workshop that utilizes a cohort-based model: you will work with other talented and emerging leaders across industries and disciplines, learning from one another as you move through the core curriculum.
Designed by entrepreneur and author Luke Burgis and novelist Jordan Castro, each 40-day sprint is led by world-class facilitators across multiple disciplines.
Who It's For
- • Leaders and future leaders who are unsatisfied with the status quo
- • Anyone experiencing tension between their current work and life and the one they know is possible
- • Creators who sometimes feels paralyzed or stuck due to the overwhelming and complex demands on their time and energy
- • Executives, educators, parents, entrepreneurs, writers, artists and others who have a deep sense of responsibility to others
- • People seeking a talented network of peers who to help them achieve their most important goals
Who It's Not For
- • Those not willing to commit 10-20 hours per week to doing the work required in the workshop for the full 40-days (Note: it can all be completed on nights and weekends)
- • Those who do not crave interdisciplinary ways of learning and do not want to be exposed to classical literature, poetry, philosophy, or fundamental theological concepts in the pursuit of wisdom
- • Those uncomfortable at the idea of engaging in vulnerable conversations and investing in new relationships and ways of being in relationship
Three Habits of Agency
You will learn 15 key concepts and build three habits:
Attention
See the forces at work in the world and in your own life.
Integrity
Act in ways that honor your values without falling victim to unhealthy group dynamics.
Fortitude
Develop the resolve to persevere in the change you want to make.
Course Curriculum
A six-week intensive workshop to practice creative freedom and responsibility in your life and work.
Transformative Experience
A deep dive into the nature of change and the process of transformation.
- Transformative Experience
- The Nature of Agency
- The Differentiation of Self
Sensing the Environment (Part I)
Learning how to see anew, and awakening all of the sensory faculties.
- The Sensus Communis
- Relational Triangles
- Mimesis & Anti-Mimesis
Sensing the Environment (Part II)
Making judgments about what is real and what is fake, and choosing the truth.
- Thick & Thin Desires
- The Solid & The Pseudo Self
- Parrhesia
Entering the Struggle (Part I)
The technological world and our battle to forge a solid self within it.
- Acedia
- Discernment/Testing
Entering the Struggle (Part II)
The new ways of living and being available within the environment.
- Value-response (Reverence)
- Generative Desire
Building the Real
Taking real action to forge a new world in the coming days ahead—it's time to build.
- Creative Realism
- Mystagogy
Course Structure & Commitment
You can do anything for six-weeks—and it is the period required for serious habit formation to change.
Format
- • Sunday night: New "probe" + reading & video
- • Monday & Thursday: 1.5 Hour Live Sessions
- • Saturday: 90 minute small group workshop
- • Online community portal for live support and fellowship
- • Weekly submissions + peer/mentor feedback
Commitment
- • Six hours of synchronous discussion weekly, with at least 3-6 more of offline work on your own
- • Weekly challenges due every Saturday evening
- • Every participant must commit to putting in the effort to be there for the others
Cohort 1 is Now Closed
A Letter from the Founders
There is no productivity hack, social media post, or AI tool that can give you real agency: the power to act boldly, while navigating real and imagined constraints, to shape a meaningful life.
We designed this workshop because real change is hard. Resistance appears at every step. The first move toward freedom is learning to see the forces shaping your action—and then learning how to defeat the negative ones while harnessing the positive ones for good.
The Foundations of Agency combines two elements: a set of core concepts that help you recognize these forces in your own life, and weekly challenges that require you to act on what you learn. You will work on real things that matter to you. There is no busywork.
Your life is unrepeatable. If you don't act on what is yours to do, it will be lost. This workshop exists to help you do it.
— Luke Burgis and Jordan Castro
Become AI-proof.
Become an agent.
Tuition
$1,495 USD
6-week remote workshop with weekly live sessions, personalized feedback, and community access.
Cohort 1 is closed. Cohort 2 opens April 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Anyone who can commit to attending the live sessions and doing the work over the age of 22.
Yes. All participants must apply and be accepted before the course begins. The application helps ensure the cohort is composed of individuals who are ready to engage with the material and one another in a serious, generative way.
Live attendance is important. If you miss one or two sessions, you may watch the recordings—but that should be the exception, not the rule. Please do not apply unless you plan to attend the sessions live. That said, you’re welcome to join from wherever you are—even if you're eating, walking the dog, or commuting.
No grades. No traditional homework. This is adult learning. You’ll complete weekly challenges that require real-world effort and post them for feedback, but your growth depends on your own level of engagement. The workshop focuses on habit change, creative work, and deeper participation in relationships.
We are offering a special first-cohort price of $1495. The cost will rise significantly after the first two cohorts. We may offer group discounts for 3+ people applying from the same organization—contact us at admin@cluny.org for more information.
The workshop is experiential and highly participatory. You won’t be passively consuming content. You’ll be exercising your agency in every aspect of the experience. FOA’s semester-long version won the Catholic University of America’s Advancement in Teaching Award for innovation. If your organization is interested in a one-day version of the workshop, either on-site or at our D.C. campus, contact us.
No. All required materials are included. We do recommend optional readings throughout the course, but they’re not essential to completing the core curriculum.
Yes. Each group is free to choose a meeting time that works for everyone, as long as it works for everyone. Agency begins here.
Yes. If you miss more than two live sessions, your facilitator will reach out for a conversation. You may be asked to leave. This workshop relies on peer-to-peer support, and the absence of even one person affects the group dynamic.
No, we do not offer refunds at this time.
No. Each participant must apply and be accepted before the course begins.
Expect 6 hours of live sessions per week, plus 3–10 hours of personal work and challenge time. Some participants spend more, depending on the depth of their engagement.
Yes. We are actively developing a high school version and plan to offer an international option in the near future.
You’ll use Zoom, Slack, receive text message updates, access content through our Kajabi portal, and use a generative AI tool of your choice for at least one challenge.
Absolutely. We also welcome conversations about private cohorts or on-site workshops. Reach out to admin@cluny.org. For now, all individual enrollments must go through the application process.
Participants who demonstrate excellence during the course may be invited to facilitate future versions. Facilitators are compensated.
Sorry, no scholarships are available at this time. If you are accepted into the workshop and have difficulty paying the tuition, we would be happy to help promote or support your self-organized, agentic fundraising effort.
Yes, there are no payment plans available at this time. The full tuition will be due roughly 2 weeks after your acceptance notification to reserve your place in the workshop; if we do not receive your full tuition, we will make your spot available to another applicant.
We’re looking for people who want to Build the Real.
Questions, thoughts, or hesitations? We welcome them. Reach out.
This photograph is of a bronze sculpture that my grandmother, Verna Bartnick, created. It's called "Time to Let Go", and now sits overlooking the bay in downtown Traverse City, MI.
My grandma went back to school and learned art under an apprenticeship in her late thirties—while raising 7 kids. She passed away in early 2024, but she left a strong legacy in our family and beyond.
When I view this piece of her art, I think about agency. I think about possibilities. I think about love. And that is what this course is ultimately about.
—Luke Burgis