2015:


March: Evolution, Superstition and Religion - The dialogue, organised by Alan Buckle and Ernst Esztl, focused on a proposal that the Inquisition, the Taliban, Boko Haram and similar; the treatment of the Jews over the millennia; the present policies towards the Palestinians; and the parallel characteristics of the evolution and development of the secular religions such as Communism, Fascism, some Dictatorships and the behaviour of certain group-practitioners of Capitalism, are all logical and inevitable consequences of Evolution. The frame for discussion was that of psychotherapy and the effect of the left-side and right-side of the brain in perceiving a reality. Several additional questions were raised which will be taken up at subsequent informal dialogues.


2014:


May: Climate Finance - in collaboration with the Centre for Development Research at BOKU University, Vienna - was led by Ari Huhtala, Deputy CEO for Policy and Programmes at the Climate and Knowledge Management Network in London. The topics covered were: Global investment that needs to shift to support climate compatible development; Landscape of International Climate Finance; The Green Climate Fund (GCF); Mobilizing Finance via Capital Markets; Conceptual Framework for Readiness; The actors involved in readiness at country level.


2013:


November: Economics for the Common Good: presentation by Christoph Greil of an initiative by Christian Felber (http://www.gemeinwohl-oekonomie.org/en) . The idea is to provide an alternative way to the current neo-liberal economic system: while its goal and underlying values were found to be attractive, the means of application raised some controversies. The discussion focused on how a way forward might be found by viewing the proposal within the framework of Spiral Dynamics – as a means of taking into account the very diverse ways of thinking and values systems in all societies. Presentation available on request.


May: Shamanism - universal beliefs and values? Donatella Magliani (GOAL member) discussed whether shamanism expressed universal beliefs and values and how they related to stages of human development as expressed in Spiral Dynamics Integral. Experiential exercises helped the group to understand some shamanistic ideas.


March: Values that drive banking: Ramina Samii presented her study of banking at the time of the Renaissance and of the influence of the Medicis and other families in Florence, and of their relationships and close ties with the Church. The discussion focused also on the parallels with banking activities today and the drivers of those activities. Ramina’s paper is available from SevenPlus.


2012:


August: Given the “Indignados” and the “Occupy now” movements across Europe and USA in particular, we discussed the book by Stéphane Hessel “Le Chemin de l’Espoir” - Path of Hope.pdf - written with Edgar Morin.


May: We delved into integral politics and the values behind political thought - and had a very enriching experience. We discussed the following: Are You Liberal or Conservative.pdf, European Political Thought, Integral Politics.pdf, Integral Blair.pdf, Integral sees strange bedfelows: Turkish Politics, About Ken Wilber’s Integral Partisan Politics.docx


March: “Meaning-making”: the discussion focused on clarifying the difference between “meaning-making” and “sense-making”. Meaning implies there is an emotion / value attached to something, whereas “sense” refers for example only to the logic of its structure. The group then looked into the implications for communication between people at the different levels of the Spiral (SDI) and AQAL.


February: The Pre- Trans- fallacy; values, morals, ethics - presentations were made by Zsuzsa Gaspar on Pre-Trans-Fallacy.ppt. Ernst Esztl and the group discussed the relationship between values, ethics and morals with implications about “how to live”.


January: “How does value change contribute to the development of society? Are there patterns in the change of values of individuals and social groups? How is a change process driven? ” The discussion was based on a series of lectures on “Development Innovation” given at the Centre of Development Research of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (CDR/BOKU). The focus was on the complementarity between Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDI) and NLP - case studies from Uganda, Nepal and Austria/Hungary showed when / where value change took place through time. Reading material included: Alan Fowler CAS, Hall and Clark- CAS.pdf, S. McDonald-Human evolution.pdf. The session was led by Rico de Faria.


2011:


December: “2011 in retrospective”. The group reviewed reviewed the learnings from this year’s sessions - and had a few season’s drinks...!! In doing so, it also outlined the focus of attention in 2012.


October: “The Process Communication Model (PCM) as a possible tool for understanding what triggers / determines the intensity of values / value memes in the Spiral of human evolution” - this is in response to a specific question raised at the session of 27 August. Robert Prazak presented 6 personality types and their motivation, communication and distress / distress management attributes. The implications for values change were discussed.


August: “What triggers change in people’s value systems? Can leadership, communication and relationships be effective? How?” Following on the previous session, this one took the form of a whole day Workshop. The group identified what specific change each would like to see as a focus point for the day. Discussions took place within the framework of Spiral Dynamics 1108.ppt. They included specifically how value memes might be “awakened” and how their intensity and predominance in time might depend on individuals metaprograms (NLP) / personality types (PCM). A checklist was used (SDI conditions for change) to consider the “feasibility” of each participant’s desired change. The workshop was facilitated by Ernst, Harald and Rico, and attended by 15 people.


July: “Disconnectedness” of people from governments, corporate organisations and other institutions - this session followed that of 27 May. Is society in a “collective denial” of the impending consequences of a finite world? How can society take on new value systems that enable it to move to sustainable well-being? What triggers people to take on other value systems? Background to the discussion: see videos by David Brooks on The Social Animal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGfhahVBIQw; and by Jeremy Rifkin on The Empathic Civilization: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQN_13KawUw&feature=mh_lolz&list=FL8WY_sYtsa5I; and on The Third Industrial Revolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBLH_9MvCE&feature=BFa&list=FL8WY_sYtsa5I&index=2.

       Notes on the discussion: see Change of levels.doc and Reflections.doc.

       The session, led by Ernst Ezstl and Rico de Faria, was attended by 14 participants.


May: “Shadow and Greatness”. Harald Hutterer based his presentation on his forthcoming book with the same title; it deals with the “shadow effect” in line with C.G. Jung: shadows are the suppressed or unconscious part of the personality; without conscious dealing with this unconscious shadow it is only perceived outside the self and is therefore often projected onto others (Shadow & Greatness 1105.ppt.). See also 2 videos:The Shadow Effect by Debbie Ford and Search for meaning and 2 papers: Krise führt zum Wandel.pdf by Harald Hutterer and Bewusstsein als Fraktal by Elizabeth Diebold.


January: “Fundamentalism and Development”. Following on the previous session on Fundamentalism, Maria Sarkozyova led the discussion focussing on applying a dialectical method to our own perception of fundamentalism and development. The group reviewed the principles of Hegel and others:1.Everything is transient and finite, existing in the medium of time (this idea is not accepted by some dialecticians). 2.Everything is made out of opposing forces/opposing sides (contradictions). 3.Gradual changes lead to turning points, where one force overcomes the other (quantitative change leads to qualitative change) and  4.Change moves in spirals (or helices), not circles (sometimes referred to as "negation of the negation").

      


2010:


December: “Fundamentalism”. The session, based on Fundamentalism reading material.doc focused on: the origins of the concept of fundamentalism, various definitions and manifestations, the personal experience of participants, how to deal with fundamentalism, the psychology of fundamentalism. A discussion took place on the basis of Reza Aslan’s book “Beyond Fundamentalism” - see a summary of discussions: Meeting_041210.doc. See also http://www.esalenctr.org/display/fundamentalism.cfm. Leo Ziegler facilitated the session.


October: “Leadership and Culture”. Following the session of 1 May, the group focussed on the following documents that you are welcome to download:Leadership India.pdf, Leadership.pdf, Leadershiprevisited.pdf, Momentoftruth.pdf, and valueofleadership.pdf. The session was hosted and facilitated by Neha Chatwani.


May: “Leadership”. The discussion covered various aspects of leaders and leadership; it also focused on how Nelson Mandela brought the black and white population of South Africa behind the Springboks to win the Rugby World Cup in Cape Town in 1995 (film “Invictus”). See also Notes on the Leadership  discussion.doc. Rico de Faria organised this session.


February: “Meditation” - a discussion about mediation on the basis of texts / talks given by Ayya Khema, Alan Watts and others. The group also contrasted non-religious meditation with the Christian form. A meditation experience brought the session to a close. It was led by Zsuzsa Gaspar.


January: “On Dialogue” by David Bohm. Having all read this book, a ‘dialogue’ was practised to experience the process described. Three guests conversant with the work of David Bohm also participated. Elfriede Konas was the organiser of this session with advice from Hanna Mandl.



2009:


October: Integral Christianity - different interpretations / understandings of Christianity taking into account the levels of human development (Graves’ model / Spiral Dynamics integral) on the basis of papers: “Integral Christianity.pdf and A 2nd Tier Christianity.pdf. This session was organised by Zsuzsa Gaspar.


August: Ryszard Kapuściński “The Other” - using Graves’ model / Spiral Dynamics Integral, the discussion examined “the other” and showed how distinguishing different levels of human consciousness can help communication between social groups - for example in specific districts of the city of Vienna. This session of the Forum was organised by Guita de Faria.


May: “The Real  Evolution debate”- a discussion on 12 views of evolution.

       For more information about evolution, The+REAL+Evolution+Debate.pdf issued by EnlightenNext. The discussion was organised by Zsuzsanna Gaspar.


May: Focus on Spiral Dynamics Integral and a workshop given by Dr. Don Beck in London on 14 March 2009. It was organised by Ernst Esztl.





 

 

 

INFORMAL DIALOGUES