Activity

Thank you for starting the topic. When I first read the newsletter on Friday in the IBHA membership mail I was surprised, and also surprised that it was in the forum of a newsletter- it seemed the kind of discussion that might go on in a meeting, but not a newsletter. Then I wondered if I should prepare a reply, but it felt like the reply would be one of ‘against’ and not written from the perspective of standing for the BH event (cosmogenesis) we are all participating in…even those who are not literate in BH, even those of the tribal fisher people who are loosing their lands because of goveernment intervention so wealty locals and tourists can holiday there…who know how to live with the land but not grounded in BH. Last week I was part of a forum sponsored by an agency which funds internatioanal development projects. Those of us in the room (myself and my colleague excluded) were all from various south asian networks who had promoted development of a particular kind and were now questioning it because it had not resulted in the ‘common good’ of humans or non humans….the two of us were coming at the issue from an integral perspective and that the development model as currently understood did not do justice to the good of the development of Earth as a healthy Commons. I found I had to keep refocusing the group ‘back’ to our cosmology…our integral cosmology…otherwise the conversations kept going over the horrible situations we witness daily over here in India and now increasingly around the world. The conversations were at a dead end because they did not have anywhere else to go….ie they had not entered into the new perspective to analyse but more importantly to act from. Faith Based Organizations (as they call religous organizations) have been very active trying to bring up the levels of the poor and disenfranchized, yet many of them are from the old cosmology and are problematic.

So……I understand various approaches to the topic ‘religion’ and we would say that the popular understanding of ‘religion’ is problematic as is the term education (it is limited now only to schools) and even research methodology itself if coming from the cartesian perspective.

As humanity awakens to our Deept time Journey together it is crucial for the conversation of the fourfold wisdom of science, religion, tribals and women…this conversation will lead us forward with an integral understanding of existence . That understanding will then be practiced in our families, in our homes and work and recreation. not just schools which is the dominant focus of the IBHA at the moment. That will change with time as more and more people, inspired by the story join. that is the value of the DTJ network…it embraces both the academic conversation and the practical application (now primarily in schools but also in various social justice and environmental sectors as well as the arts.

In the wrap up section at the end of the IBHA conference I stated this and also suggested they look at the Earth Charter as a model to look at the various sections where integral understanding is practiced. (eg business, schools, arts)

The movement is way to young to begin limiting!

As far as research goes…….there are new methodologies being used that are crucial for capturing experience..narrative being my favorite since I was tracing narrative and somatic ways of knowing…how they are not supported themselves in cartesian families, schools, work or recreation . In the future, and wanting to insure academic rigour, what will the judges be using as their criteria to insure validity. If something is academically valid shown through a particular research modality, and the reviewing person is biased against the findings because they fall under the language of ‘religion’ what would that say about an international organization that is actually tracing the development of the Cosmos, and the meaning aspect children face when looking up and wondering what their responsbility is….right now it certainly is not ‘taking care of the commons!).

Rambling conclusion….

I was just in a book store and i saw a book on architecture with the title “THE OTHER ARCHITECTURE; TASKS OF PRACTICE BEYOND DESIGN” This points out the two sides of cosmology, and also perhaps the deficit/void within the current IBHA meetings and also the reluctance to engage publicly and proudly the topic of religion. Religare, the understanding of being bound has been lost over time but can be retrieved in the fourfold wisdom conversation…that is the understanding of our sacred architecture..we know the foundations of our integral design.The Other architecture has yet to be developed. These are our tasks of life practice ….the vestigial practices of living as an integral unit and celebrating our integrity can be fostered, and indeed are being fostered beyond school rooms in our families, in our work and in the ways we re-create ourselves.

Sorry to be so long winded but i kept thinking of it last week when in the ‘development’ conversation of social injustices, and environmental degredation. I live in the very palpable and distressing vision of this and it drives me nuts when ‘academics’ get caught up in arguments that limit the conversation, ignoring that the issue of BH and its importance is actually a ‘religious’ issue.

What a language paradox!!!

Orla