Ecovillage Design Training of Trainers 2008
Worldview- Week 4
November 1st, 2008
Facilitated by
Pracha Hutanuwatr and May East
Holistic Worldview
"To dissolve a paradigm:
if we want to change it, we have to get into quantum level,
we have to invite insightful creative thinking that challenges
assumptions, breaks patterns and rewires our brains."
Danah Zohar
This module will give an overview of new concepts emerging
in modern science and the implications that this emerging
world view may have upon how we live and work with the land
and the natural world. It will introduce the major principles
and values of the emerging holistic paradigm and explore
their practical applications in our lifestyles.
Topics include:
What is a paradigm?
How do paradigms shift?
Comparing and contrasting the mechanistic and holistic approaches
Systems Theory
Gaia Hypothesis
Holographic Paradigm
Morphogenetic Fields and Formative Causation
Chaos Theory
Field Theory
Listening to and Reconnecting with Nature
In this module we will weave together the biocentric perspective
of Deep Ecology, the importance of wilderness for the planet
and humanity, and the role of people in helping to heal
the Earth's degraded ecosystems. Utilising experiential
deep ecology exercises, the module will also include nature
walks and visits to natural places of power.
Awakening and Transforming Consciousness
This module will explore
how consciousness creates reality. We will work with the
hypothesis that human consciousness is associated with the
formation of reality and the act of observation is a process
for collapsing the possible in the actual. We will explore
the power and influence of intention and motivation on living
systems. We will look at how my awakening is your awakening.
This exploration will run throughout the four weeks through
daily meditation, sharing and reflective practices.
Socially Engaged Spirituality
"Sulak and I share a conviction
that if we are to solve human problems, economic and technological
development must be accompanied by an inner spiritual growth."
The Dalai Lama
Too often the environmental movement has been thought of
as essentially different from the movement for social justice.
This split reflects the deep, unconscious division in our
minds between the human world and the natural world. This
module will explore the principles of a socially engaged
spirituality. We will look at how the transformation of
society may first begin within the self; how nurturing and
cultivating compassion, wisdom, and loving-kindness in our
hearts can have an influence in the social structures; how
by practising mindfulness we awaken ourselves to the present
moment and become aware of the suffering that surrounds
us; and how by awakening ourselves to suffering, we can
be the change we want to see in the world.
Celebrating Life:
Creativity and Art This module will explore how to integrate
art, land, creativity and community life. We will learn
how, by creating a culture of ethics, aesthetics and beauty,
we can free ourselves progressively from the tyranny of
materialism, which has separated us from each other and
alienated us from the earth. We will look at the role of
the artist in reinvigorating and healing local communities,
and at art as a liberating force for collective transformation
and self-realisation. We will work creatively with environmental
art in a variety of ways which are not simply about the
landscape, but which take place in it. Such art can contribute
to our becoming a less destructive and more benign presence
on our planet. We will also prepare for the EDE artistic
sharing.
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Pracha Hutanuwatr,
Thai activist and intellectual, is a former Buddhist monk
with a socialist background. He has worked under the guidance
of Buddhadasa Bhikku, a renowned, Buddhist monk and philosopher
who developed the concept of Dhammic Socialism; and Sulak
Sivaraksa, an influential, independent thinker. In 1988
Sulak and Pracha founded the International Network of Engaged
Buddhists. Pracha's present positions include Director of
Wongsanit Ashram and Director of Spirit in Education Movement,
an NGO organising Grassroots Leadership Training in South
East Asia. He has published several major books in Thai.
Recently he and Ramu Mannivan published (in English): Asian
Futures: Dialogue for Change, which contained intensive
interviews with 14 prominent Asian thinkers.
May East is a Brazilian
social change activist who has spent the last 30 years working
internationally with music, indigenous people, women, antinuclear,
environmental and sustainable human settlements movements.
Since 1992 she has lived at the Findhorn Foundation ecovillage
in Scotland where she is the Ecovillage Education Coordinator,
the Director of International Relations between the Foundation,
the Global Ecovillage Network and the United Nations. May
is a facilitator of the World Wisdom Council of the Club
of Budapest and works internationally as an ecovillage consultant
and educator. She is currently coordinating the establishment
of a UNITAR CIFAL training centre at Findhorn.
The EDE is being introduced
to the world at this time to complement, correspond with,
and assist in setting a standard for the United Nations
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014.
Training fees
For the whole programme
£1595 payable by participants with low income
£1835 payable by participants with medium
income
£2125 payable by participants with high income
£455/£515/£605 per module
according to income
Fees include tuition, accommodation, vegetarian meals and
field trips.
Please complete the Application
Form and Enrolment Questionnaire
Enquiries by e-mail: bookings@findhorn.org
Convert to your own currency using The
Universal Currency Converter
*If you cannot afford the full fee, please check
out our bursary guidelines.
* If you can afford to pay more than the full fee for this
programme, your donation will be gratefully received and
used to help those who cannot afford the whole fee.
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