Distance Study is Postponed to 2014

Hedi Weiler and I have decided we need to postpone the distance study of Assagioli's Height Psychology until next year. She is still recovering from her surgery and I am in the midst of moving my practice into a new place and setting. Our energies are required in those arenas at this time. We appreciate the interest and will be posting off and on on this blog in the meantime. As soon as we know when the study will start, we will post the dates here.

New Online Distance Study Begins October 4, 2013!

Sign up for a three-session distance study of two of Assagioli’s monographs on higher psychology: “Transpersonal Inspiration,” and “Symbols of Transpersonal Experience.”* You can sign up by contacting Carla Peterson at carlapeterson(at)clearwire.net.

Hedi Weiler and Carla Peterson are the group facilitator/guides.  This study will consist of readings, reflection questions sent by email and posted on this blog, and conference call discussions. The conference calls will be on the dates below at these times: 2 p.m. Eastern time, 1 p.m. Central time, 12 noon Mountain time, and 11 a.m. Pacific time. For international times please see: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html.

  The first session on October 4, 2013 will introduce the group study process, practices to engage, questions for self-reflection, and resources for contemporary researches and writings on “higher” psychology.

 The second session on October 11, 2013 will offer participants the opportunity to discuss their insights, questions, and/or experiences with their reading of “Transpersonal Inspiration,” their engagement with practices of self-reflection, and explorations of contemporary ways of talking about inspiration and transpersonal experiences.

  The third session on November 1, 2013 will consist of discussion of “Symbols of Transpersonal Experience,” self-reflections by the participants and the further explorations by the group into contemporary descriptions and insights into transpersonal experiences. We will offer concluding thoughts and information about future opportunities for distance learning.

( *Transpersonal Inspiration” can be found at: http://www.psychosynthesisresources.com/NieuweBestanden/transpersonal_inspiration.pdf and “Symbols of Transpersonal Experience” at: http://www.synthesiscenter.org/articles/0211.pdf

There will be no cost for these distance-learning sessions, but contributions to the Center for Awakening will be gladly accepted! Contributions can be made online at CFA’s website www.centerforawakening.org or to Treasurer, at the address listed on the website.

International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace is September 21st, on a Friday this year. Let us exercise Good Will and commit to observing the International Day of Peace. 

Some suggestions for peace activities are presented in the official website. Here's both a link and a quote from that website:

Each year, events take place all around the world for the International Day of Peace. Every Peace Day event provides an opportunity to inspire individuals and empower communities to celebrate victories for peace that have been won throughout the year, and to rededicate our commitment to work for a more peaceful, just and sustainable world all year long.
A Peace Day event can be as simple as lighting a candle or meditate on Peace on September 21. It can be as complex as organizing a Peace Concert for thousands of people. In between, there is a whole scale of events on different levels that might fit your family, group, class, or community.

Synchronicity & Good Will

Feeling most appreciative of the concept of Synchronicity right now.

Have included a topical description which I rather like.

"...The idea of synchronicity is that the conceptual relationship of minds, defined as the relationship between ideas, is intricately structured in its own logical way and gives rise to relationships that are not causal in nature. These relationships can manifest themselves as simultaneous occurrences that are meaningfully related.

Synchronistic events reveal an underlying pattern, a conceptual framework that encompasses, but is larger than, any of the systems that display the synchronicity. The suggestion of a larger framework is essential to satisfy the definition of synchronicity as originally developed by Carl Gustav Jung^"

In an appropriate touch the above comes from Wikipedia*... I say 'appropriate' given our current topic of 'Good Will' since Wikipedia was created on the premise of giving as many people as possible access to information of all kinds without charge. And also for people to share together their knowledge, so that all might grow as a result.   imo a most noble concept, totally in the spirit of 'Love in Action'.

So ... back to Synchronicity.  Hedi's post with the idea of Goodwill being 'Love in Action' continues to stay alive in my thoughts, making my experience fuller day-by-day.  Thanks Hedi.

Quite by chance I came across this quote by Erik Erikson which was actually what I planned to share on this post.  So here it is - hope you enjoy....

"We Are What We Love"

Please everyone and anyone, if you are reading this and feel some inspiration calling, feel free to post any thoughts (full or budding!)  about our theme of Good Will that Carla has kicked off for us.

Would be great to hear where you're sitting with this concept and for us all to benefit from the immense wisdom I know is out there, as we connect heartfully with each other :-)

Arohanui Everyone.




^{*Thought I'd include this about Wikipedia also for anyone with an interest:}
Wikipedia (ⁱ/ˌwɪkɨˈpiːdi.ə/ or ⁱ/ˌwɪkiˈpiːdi.ə/ WIK-i-PEE-dee-ə) is a multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project based on an openly editable model. The name "Wikipedia" is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning "quick") and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's articles provide links to guide the user to related pages with additional information.
Wikipedia is written collaboratively by largely anonymous Internet volunteers who write without pay. Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles, except in certain cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism. Users can contribute anonymously, under a pseudonym, or with their real identity, if they choose.
The fundamental principles by which Wikipedia operates are the Five pillars. The Wikipedia community has developed many policies and guidelines to improve the encyclopedia; however, it is not a formal requirement to be familiar with them before contributing.
Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference websites, attracting 400 million unique visitors monthly as of March 2011 according to ComScore.^[1] There are more than 85,000 active contributors working on more than 21,000,000 articles in more than 280 languages. As of today, there are 3,977,584 articles in English. Every day, hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world collectively make tens of thousands of edits and create thousands of new articles to augment the knowledge held by the Wikipedia encyclopedia (see also Wikipedia:Statistics.)
People of all ages, cultures and backgrounds can add or edit article prose, references, images and other media here. What is contributed is more important than the expertise or qualifications of the contributor. What will remain depends upon whether it fits within Wikipedia's policies, including being verifiable against a published reliable source, so excluding editors' opinions and beliefs and unreviewed research, and is free of copyright restrictions and contentious material about living people. Contributions cannot damage Wikipedia because the software allows easy reversal of mistakes and many experienced editors are watching to help and ensure that edits are cumulative improvements. Begin by simply clicking the edit link at the top of any editable page!
Wikipedia is a live collaboration differing from paper-based reference sources in important ways. Unlike printed encyclopedias, Wikipedia is continually created and updated, with articles on historic events appearing within minutes, rather than months or years. Older articles tend to grow more comprehensive and balanced; newer articles may contain misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism. Awareness of this aids obtaining valid information and avoiding recently added misinformation (see Researching with Wikipedia).
What Wikipedia is not circumscribes Wikipedia's scope. Further information on key topics appears below. Further advice is at Frequently asked questions, advice for parents, or see Where to ask questions. For help getting started with editing or other issues, see Help:Contents.

Carla spoke recently about 2012 being an important year in so many ways ... and offered us the opportunity to explore Good Will 'together'. What a marvellous thing.

As I write I feel excited about the great potential awaiting us on this new journey.  The adventure of unearthing ideas/concepts to help build our individual and collective capacity - so we're more 'able' to approach each moment with sensitivity & mindfulness. 

I'm really curious to know - do others also have this experience of time speeding up too?  And moments - or even longer periods - of that scattered and unfocused experience?  I sure do!  

Roberto suggests 'The more conflict there is, the more energy is wasted'.  The idea of wasted energy really rings true for me, in my life.  I'm going on record here when I say I'm committed to re-channeling my own energies more effectively, more skillfully in 2012 - for the good of one and all.  

There's a wonderful phrase Roberto offers us, "Make haste slowly".   Those words keep making an appearance in my mind as I sit with all this.  As I explore the concept I want to acknowledge our earlier book study on the 'Act of Will', which has given/reminded me, of many skills which I've been able to utilise in this process! Tied up in this experience there's also a gradual, and ongoing, letting go and a 'grieving' for the time wasted as I've gotten caught up in the busy-ness of life and also for the reality that as one person there are limits to what I can do in any given moment.

Hedi recently spoke about Good Will as 'Love in Action'.  What a truly marvellous concept.  I think to myself in response 'Yes, there ARE ways I can contribute - now how can I share love with others practically?!'.  

So in the spirit of love I will take up your invitation Carla and share my earlier meditations in my next post.  This feels a very public place to share for a shy person like me - and I do this in the spirit of love even in the face of vulnerability...

 

Festival of Goodwill

Today is the Festival of Goodwill, among other names. Below is a
quote from the World Goodwill section of the Lucis Trust website.
For more information about this world wide organization see
lucistrust.org. It's very timely and comes right at a time when
Carla and Natasha are pondering this subject. Thank you
both for recognizing and following up on this much needed topic.

In Light and Love, Hedi


World Goodwill
...is working to establish right human relations through the use of the power of goodwill

The most contagious human quality which can be organised and made effective is goodwill. It has been defined as “Love in Action”. People of goodwill are potentially the richest asset in any nation, and can have tremendous influence on public opinion when properly associated and focussed. To bring in the new day, we do not need a further appraisal of the world condition based on a particular ideology or point of view. Rather, we need a deeper sense of reality based on spiritual values, and a new perception of humanity as a unit of divine life within an ordered and purposive universe.

GOODWILL IS... the touchstone that will transform the world

...a little Good Will emerges....

Greetings everyone

Well here we stand again at another point of transition on planet earth.  

Specifically I'm speaking about the twists and turns of the seasons...June is fast approaching,  bringing winter to the southern hemisphere and summer to the northern.  Once more we humans get to find ways to adapt to our external climates.

What about internally though - how are we weathering the seasons within us at this time in our existence?  How are we manifesting in the world?  For those who are willing ... some thoughts for hearty contemplation:

1) How do you find you're personally 'doing' with this concept of having Good Will for 'self' and 'others'? 

2) and how about globally, how does it feel we're going 'collectively' as the human race, as souls on a journey, as caretakers of the earth?

In 1974 Sam Keen spoke with Roberto Assagioli and during that meeting the subject of Good Will arose.

Sam Keen: 

Good will seems to belong more to religion than psychotherapy, Can’t the will be healthy without being good?

Roberto Assagioli: No. A person is always in a social context; he is not an isolated unit. So the more conflict there is, the more energy is wasted. If we are to have any deep peace it depends upon the harmonization of wlls. Self-centredness is deeply destructive to the cooperation without which a person cannot live a full life in community. Why should we consider good will an expendable virtue, a matter only for the religious? I can go even a step further. This same principle applies to an individual’s relation to nature and the universe. No person can take an arrogant stand and consider himself unrelated to the universe. Like it or not, man is a part of the universal will and he must somehow tune in and willingly participate in the rhythms of universal life. The harmonization and unification of the individual and the universal will – the Chinese identification with the Tao, the Stoic acceptance of destiny, or the Christian will of God – is one of the highest human goals, even if it is seldom realized.

So here we are - 38 years on - literally in a new millennia!  And yet, I'd suggest, as a species at least, we are still grappling with the same concept.  So in the spirit of 'picking up the proverbial ball' that Roberto has offered us in his words and ideas.

"How can we actively manifest Good Will in ourselves - and the world?"

more to come...