Notes from the Field / January 2012
SPIN 2011
18-20th Nov. 2011
Ola Solawe
In modern-day rapid changes, information overload, ever-growing complexity and chronic stress are “normal” state. On a global scale these take shape of unresolvable conflicts, whose reasons and possible solutions remain totally unknown. One example is the latest crisis, unfolding before our very eyes.
We tend to cope with the madness of modern life in a few ways. Some of us try to keep up …
Notes from the Field / January 2012
David Holzmer
In A Theory of Everything Ken Wilber (2001) makes the point that “catalytic factors from several dimensions need to be present in order for transformation to occur”(p. 33). As Wilber goes on, he makes the point that conditions and/or circumstances from multiple quadrants of the AQAL model need to simultaneously be aligned in order to support movement into a new phase or stage of development. Considering the dynamics of creative tension—such as that described by Csikszentmihalyi (1997)–it could …
Notes from the Field / January 2012
Dmitry Baranov
Image acquired from the Wikipedia article on 2011 Russian protests
Dmitry Baranov
Russia witnesses a complex sociopolitical situation today. It is well-known that in 1917 the country experienced a revolution, the result of which was the overthrowing of the Czar’s power and the beginning of 70 years of the greatest experiment on creating a Utopian and ideal human society in the world’s history. It was supposed to be a society of liberated communists, developed, striving towards scientific …
Notes from the Field / October 2011
Brian Van der Horst
Europa, that cash cow of the occident, is bleating conundrums of continuity, at the time of this writing. Will the European Union survive the financial melt-downs of Greece, Portugal, Italy, and a smattering of middle-eastern nation-states? While Britain smirks with pounds of currency, the Greeks are even thinking of optioning out of the Euro and returning to the Drachma.
In France, the Integral University has even been running programs on Finance, Societe et politique integrals …
Notes from the Field / October 2011
Trish Nowland
Beginning in early 2011, through discussion and conversation, the Sydney Integral community built momentum and impetus so that the yearning amongst us, to render the heart of Integral Spirituality open and luminous, brought us to a place of shared vision, of seeking to birth something new, in our communal events.
Over the course of the last six months, we have nurtured three events to life which between them constitute three different …
Notes from the Field / October 2011
Lisa Jaya Waters
September was a month of interesting events: The final week of the Integral Leadership Collaborative Conference in which I played a minor role, but learned a great deal. The Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDi) Level 1 Certification with Don Beck in Dallas, TX was held September 6th – September 8th. Finally, A fascinating and inaugural, first of its kind, event within the Integral Theory field occurred at …
Notes from the Field / October 2011
Venwoude, the Netherlands 24th – 28th August 2011
Nynke Feenstra
At the beautiful retreat Venwoude we came together to explore and embody Integral Sustainability Leadership. Our group was 20 participants with 8 different nationalities from 4 generations. The seminar that was designed and organised by Anouk Brack, Miriam van Groen and Rik Hoevers amongst others, from Experience Integral, invited us into an impressive flow following Otto Scharmer’s U process. Every part in the program had its meaning and place …
Notes from the Field / October 2011
Review of Design Me a Planet
Michel Nguyen The
“Design Me a Planet” (“Dessine-moi une planète”) is the name of project founded by Michel Saloff-Coste and which is still in construction. The name comes from the sentence “Dessine-moi un mouton !” (“Draw me a sheep!”) taken from The Little Prince from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The idea is to create a think-and-do-tank on the theme of creating a vision for the future, and not only incrementing from today, as it …
Notes from the Field / October 2011
Review of 12th Integral University Day
Michel Nguyen The
On Tuesday 24th May 2011 took place the 12th day of the Parisian Integral University. The theme was “integral societies and politics”. Many speakers were part of the Club of Budapest: Ervin Laszlo himself, Bénédicte Fumey, Carine Dartiguepeyrou and Michel Saloff-Coste. Edgar Morin was on the agenda but was too tired to make it as he was between other conferences. Alain Gauthier made a presentation on integral leadership …
Notes from the Field / October 2011
Foreno Van Der Hulst and Willow Dea
In preparation for the Embodying Integral Sustainability seminar, facilitated by Experience Integral in August, Willow Dea and I prepared a 90 minutes session on Profit and Business Model Generation.
Foreno: The motivation to do this was the following: During my master’s program in Sustainable Development, I was interested in learning more about economics and business, as these fields have such a big impact on the social and natural environment. In …