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Knights & Maidens of the Roundtable


I wanted to draft something grand as an introduction to this POD, but upon reflection cannot improve on Janos’ original post on GW’s blog …

“We are only a half-human species. Modern humans (sapiens sapiens) are about 100,000 years old and our philosophical efforts to understand who we are and where, that started our struggle to become...(more)
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  Keith : Gentle Soul

Primary Objective

Keith said Aug 8, 2007, 1:48 PM:

 

If you are new to the pod, please read this first.  If already a contributing member, please refer to this often.  Cross-linking, as usual, is highly encouraged.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

From the main page …

“I suggest that this context helps to foster a more creative attitude when viewing the causes and agents of our modern, very sophisticated, slave society. I am dreaming of twelve teams each made up of twelve modern “knights” (144) working together to subdue the (roughly) ten thousand year old conspiracy of a minority to dominate and exploit the surplus labour of the majority.

Zaadzland would be a good community to recruit from. This grand project could start with only a few who could agree a shared vision relevant to the task. Part of the initial team's work would be to engender/design/invent the organic process “snowball dynamics”.

It is suggested that teams would deploy their creative efforts of renewal in twelve areas of human concern (a provisional list): Economics, Politics, Philosophy, Psychology, Education, Sciences, Arts, Healing, Faiths, Esoterics, Biosohy (self development), Symbiosophy (social development).” [Emphasis mind]

So here we are, Modern Knights and Maidens gathered together to engender/design/invent change.  We will be reviewing our past, assessing our present, and creating a format or formula to foster growth, creating a more equitable society.

Together we will change the world …”


HOW TO GET THERE

  1. Even though everyone is free to comment wherever we feel a contribution can be made, we must eventually find one topic to call home.  Which one?  Ah!  Always “follow your bliss”.  One's vocation or training may not be one's passion.  Go with passion.
  2. Each of the ”twelve groups made up of twelve members each” must come up with their own agenda, criteria, objectives, plans.
  3. Eventually there will be at least twelve facilitators *slash* moderators each responsible for a single topic.  We should be considering who the leader is or should be for each group.
  4. We're not to tear down or criticize.  This is a pod to build up … to plan … to come up with a workable way to move the planet forward.  If someone brings up a current issue that needs attention, this is fine … but must also suggest solutions.  Merely pointing out problems is not part of the objectives.  We are brainstorming solutions.
  5. We are building community.  Traveling Alchemist offers information here that community has three essential ingredients:
  • Inclusivity
  • Commitment
  • Consensus

          Based on his experience with community building workshops, Scott Peck says that community building typically goes through four stages:

  • Pseudocommunity: This is a stage where the members pretend to have a bon homie with one another, and cover up their differences, by acting as if the differences do not exist. Pseudocommunity can never directly lead to community, and it is the job of the person guiding the community building process to shorten this period as much as possible.
  • Chaos: When pseudocommunity fails to work, the members start falling upon each other, giving vent to their mutual disagreements and differences. This is a period of chaos. It is a time when the people in the community realize that differences cannot simply be ignored. Chaos looks counterproductive but it is the first genuine step towards community building.
  • Emptiness: After chaos comes emptiness. At this stage, the people learn to empty themselves of those ego related factors that are preventing their entry into community. Emptiness is a tough step because it involves the death of a part of the individual. But, Scott Peck argues, this death paves the way for the birth of a new creature, the Community.
  • True community: Having worked through emptiness, the people in community are in complete empathy with one another. There is a great level of tacit understanding. People are able to relate to each other's feelings. Discussions, even when heated, never get sour, and motives are not questioned.  [For more information click here.]

As I draft this we are still in chaos, which is waining, and emptiness is quite evidently emerging.

Please refer back to this if a conversation gets too far off topic.  Any suggestions or additions you would like to see please e-mail Janos or Keith.

  Keith : Gentle Soul

Re: Primary Objective

Keith said Aug 8, 2007, 3:27 PM:

 

Resurrected1 sent this along to me suggesting we may all want to see it, but she didn't exactly know where it would fit.

It fits right here.  She is correct.  This, everyone must see.

          The Shift

Very short, only 6 1/2 minutes long.  We are perfectly in alignment with the emerging Zeitgeist.

  Keith : Gentle Soul

Re: Primary Objective

Keith said Aug 8, 2007, 5:27 PM:

 

Janos' web site … for reference

If reality is a seamless whole, then all disciplines investigating that reality are intimately connected. No one branch of knowledge can develop separately from all others and do full justice to itself.
Forums to develop the synthesis of:
Economics Faiths Education Politics Psychology Arts
Esoterics Symbiosophy Biosophy Philosophy Science Health
The study/research/discussion events centering on these subjects are intended to promote efforts to train the mind to see fields of knowledge as integral parts of one interrelated whole.
Experts are welcomed but everyone is encouraged to develop and hold informed and considered views on others' expertise.

The idea behind these forums is to evolve a new kind of learning institution in the form of future-evolution-oriented places of learning with faculties sharing a 'Round Table'.
The notion of a round table is meant to convey a collaborative and friendly approach to learning for the love of a subject, not necessarily for academic benefit or career gains.


Forums to develop holistic understanding are expected to appear depending on demand. Lot of this work could be done now in virtual places like the Paragonian University or Zaadzland, for example, but meetings in real space will still be essential.
Introduction
According to a holistic view of knowledge any subject is a composite of all other subjects.

A holistic philosophy requires a holistic theory of knowledge–a new epistemology.

A theorem of holistic knowledge:

Any subject is a composite of all other subjects.

The symbol above illustrates this.

…A circle with twelve lines radiating from the centre (but do not join) and extending beyond the circle creating twelve equal sectors…

Every division indicates a major discipline of study. They extend into infinity both outwards and inwards; but the circle and the lines show that the mind must have boundaries when it is dealing with subjects; but the centre is empty because the subjects converge and fuse into a composite whole.


Applying holistic thought
Philosophers and scientists have recognised the need for this approach. The study of whole systems has been developing during the second half of the 20th century under such headings as general systems theory and systems sciences. Interdisciplinary research, cybernetics, operations research, systems analysis, are all disciplines engaged in understanding problems in a holistic way. Not an easy task:”…everything in the universe is connected to everything else… and if each relation helps to determine the nature of the thing that is related, then everything is what it is because everything else is what it is. This is perhaps rather confusing, and sounds metaphysical. But the resulting thought is important: the totality of what exists is an integrated system, and anything split off from the totality and considered separately is incomplete. In practice, we have to split things off and consider them separately, but we shall have to be extremely careful how we do it.

“We cannot bring everything into consideration and somehow must determine the boundaries of the problem in hand. Again, in practice, the scientist needs to enlarge the scope of her study in every dimension until the factors she is bringing in seem to make no tangible difference to the answers she is getting. At the very least, this process is going to take her outside the apparent problem area by one step in every direction.” (Stafford Beer, Decision and Control, 1996)


What is holistic thought?

Dealing with wholes requires specific methodologies. The kinds of methods required emerge from the qualities natural to whole systems. General Systems Theory and the Systems Sciences mark humans' developing ability to study phenomena in a holistic way.

The internet, with its ability to interconnect individual thinkers and form a world-wide problem-solving community, is a powerful tool and promises a quantum step towards co-evolving an integrated view of knowledge – a view corresponding more closely to the holistic nature of reality. With the press of a button we can visit, join, or participate in the endeavours of knowledge-communities anywhere in the world. Examples are Principia Cybernetica, Union of International Associations, Rainbow Tribes, True Democracy–at last!, Global Justice Movement, Beyond Politics.

scroll down to see animations scroll down to see animationsOne of the components within the holistic theory of knowledge is the holistic knowledge base. Its representation is the mandala described earlier. A better model can be a regular solid with twelve 'corners' and 20 triangular sides – an icosahedron. The thirty 'edges' then naturally integrate the subjects into a holistic object.

The subjects are not separate disciplines but are composed of the other disciplines, being facets or sub categories of  the one chosen to be the dominant focus of attention at any one time. The twelve-ness, though arbitrary, proposes a useful convention:

Twelve subject facets give an enumeration where the classes are not meaninglessly general, yet, are not too numerous to clutter the representation with too much detail. Resolution of finer details can be easily achieved by subdividing the facets and/or combining separate facets or their sub-divisions.

The mandala can also represents 'faculties' of a new type of learning circle. The vision is to attract for every facet a group of enthusiast-specialists–ideally twelve for each facet–in love with chosen fields of study and life application.
 


Animated Models

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Animations created by seminara@condottiero.com">Anthony Seminara at Condottiero Design

 



Avatar of Synthesis

According to Alice A Bailey (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy), one of the Beings associated with human development in the near future is the Avatar of Synthesis so named because of the quality and objective of the force It wields. As the Being Itself does not take physical form, a lesser Avatar who can descend into the physical plane is waiting a call from humanity and thus transmit the stimulus and quality of the force of the greater Avatar.


Knowledge without action is sterile; action without knowledge is blind.

Knowledge of spiritual matters is also sterile unless it is expressed through action in the world. Love is not enough. It is love in action that has the power to transform the world. As a saving force, spirituality is to be practiced through physical world reality not in parallel with it.

The challenge to people of goodwill is to perceive the opportunities in the crisis facing humankind. A prerequisite for meeting this challenge is the transforming, consciously, of goodwill into will-to-good. The world does face a megacrisis of resource shortage, overpopulation, pollution, alienation and crime, confusion, fear of the future, disconnection with the past. All these problems may herald a catastrophe or, through the effort needed to eliminate them, can lead to a glorious new future.

Human evolution is the unfoldment of spirituality through the plane of manifestation. This unfoldment is at a cross-roads as evolution itself had often been at cross-roads in the past; and we are responsible for the outcome through conscious evolution. It is true that we have not done very well so far; but we can do a lot better as implied by our capacity to learn from mistakes, if we choose, and by the obvious power to change our environment for better or worse.

As appropriate ways of knowing are essential to guide appropriate action, it is proposed to somehow develop an Institute of Holistic Knowledge or Institute of Holistics. Some basic ideas towards this [*]
If interested, please help us to refine and develop them. The weekly forums are intended to be part of this effort and the subjects are treated as interdependent aspects of the whole which is “more than the sum of the parts”.


Holism as a philosophy is expounded fully in a remarkable book, Holism and Evolution by General Jan C Smuts written in 1926.

A recent book The Fifth Discipline- Art and Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter M Senge on systems thinking in a managerial context, is a good source of ideas about knowledge as a holistic enterprise.

Holism suffers the disregard of the academic world. The term is impishly mis-pronounced as 'woolism'. The real problem is that while the methodology is sound, it is more difficult to make it rigorous to meet the standards which analytic and compartmentalized thought can achieve. (See the attempt by Stafford Beer quoted earlier.) >


* Social Change Forums: Think-tanks, Study/Dialogue Events, Neighbourhood or Roundtable Forums could be started by two or more people. The number of participants would be less important than the quality of their vision, thought and commitment.

Conscious Evolution for the 21st Century

With Humankind a species has appeared in evolution which can direct its own future. This is conscious evolution.

Man is in the making; but henceforth he must make himself. To that point Nature has led him, out of the primeval slime… Let him look no more to her for aid; for it is her will to create one who has the power to create himself. If he fails, she fails; back goes the metal to the pot; and the great process begins anew. If he succeeds, he succeeds alone. His fate is in his own hands... G. Lowes Dickinson, quoted by Kenneth Walker in Life's Long Journey

The biggest danger to a civilization is the corruption of its philosophy and the devaluation of the role of ideas in the public mind. 


Culture, civilisation, the quality of private and social life, the values we embrace; all this is expressed in practical ways through the institutions we build in society. And the human aspirations that give purpose to these institutions are, in the final analysis, the result of the dominant philosophy in society.

  janos : Practical philosopher

Re: Primary Objective

janos said Oct 15, 2008, 11:42 AM:

 

We are perfectly in alignment with the emerging Zeitgeist.

A frustrating experience, watching that film. Where do these well heeled beautiful people live?

Certainly not in the doorways of the homeless or in the starving refugee campls.

“The Good World is inevitable”, we are told. It is happening. Help! I do not see it.

“There is often no greater obstackle to [improvement] than the assumption, even insistence, that it has been [or is being] attained.”

  janos : Practical philosopher

Re: Primary Objective

janos said Aug 2, 9:41 AM:

 

I wrote this entry before I watched The Zeitgeist Movement: Orientation Presentation which is a comprehensive systemic overview of what is wrong and how to put it right. The presentation at nearly an hour and forty minutes long. It is extracted from the more extensive “Activist Orientation Guide”.

A highly recommendable presentation—“orientation” describes it perfectly. Well worth spending the time on.

This cartoon also sums up the change needed.

 “Our Crisis is a birth”

Paradigmshift
  Keith : Gentle Soul

Re: Primary Objective

Keith said Aug 2, 2:20 PM:

 

Your link, Janos, is missing.  Here it is:  The Zeitgeist Movement: Orientation Presentation.


I have a question:  Today in the US we are neck-deep in debating health reform.  The argument presented by those who are perfectly content with the status quo is that only the free market can do an efficient job of managing supply and demand, that “socialized medicine” doesn't work and is akin to being un-American.

If as being argued, the free market is the best manager of health delivery, then why, pray tell, has our system become so out of balance, priced itself essentially out of the market for increasing segments of the population, and is almost universally detested?

To those who would argue that “social management” (generically speaking) is abhorrant and will not work, how can our current capitalistic systems be supported, while the entire planet is experiencing such a severe recession which may in the future be labeled Great Depression II?  Would this not be proof-positive that our systems should be reassessed?  All the knobs, levers and buttons our leaders normally use to maintain continuity and balance simply … are not, and likely will not … work.

Any thoughts?

  janos : Practical philosopher

Re: Primary Objective

janos said Aug 2, 3:40 PM:

 
…only the free market can do an efficient job of managing supply and demand…

This is the “market fundamentalist” stance. It is quite difficult to engage with because it has the characteristics of an article of faith. George Soros talks a lot about this in his critique of the current form of theory-dominated capitalism.

In my understanding, the theory fails to recognise that the market's supply and demand mechanism can see only “effective demand”, demand backed by purchasing power.
Real demand, with no adequate dollars to give it a voice, goes unheard on the market.
Also, efficiency is overvalued in the market fundamentalist model and is taken to be the supreme and over riding factor and is forced into areas os social functionality like education and health where  rigorous measurement is not possible without reducing human participants to things.
These schools of thoughts should take some lessons from living systems where a great deal of “redundancy” is tolerated in exchange for viability and stability.

Going back to health care, I just don't see why the general standard of health of the people should be subordinated to the calculations preformed by the a-human mechanism of market forces.
It may be true that bad doctors for example would eventually loose their practice for lack of clients, but our concern should be the waste and suffering before enough people relised that they should not go to him.

Of course the market would not be allowed to reign supreme like that. Legal action would be taken after the first few cases of malpractice. But that is just the point, the market forces cannot be left to their own devices where human well being and lives are at stake.
  Keith : Gentle Soul

Re: Primary Objective

Keith said Aug 2, 4:22 PM:

 

I just completed the video and am astounded by the attention to detail.  

Would advise others to view with an open mind, as it might appear too science fiction.  But realize while watching the video or reading their material that all the technology and material needed to turn this into reality … is already here!!!

There will be, I can easily see, much resistance to this by those who are entrenched in the old system.  I would offer that this may be our future, but not our immediate future … unless … there was a total collapse of our present economy and government, world-wide.

Is this what Universe has in store for us?  Possible.  I would argue, Janos, that this would require a complete change in our mind-set.  Such changes normally occur over many, many years involving several generations.  I love the concepts and the fact this is “off-the-shelf” ready to go today.  I do.  I think it's fantastic.  But at the same time, this would be a massive, massive undertaking and require upending centuries of societal conditioning.

I joined, BTW.  This needs to go viral, really.  A bit over 300,000 members world-wide would definitely be enough to get a few pilot projects up and going, but many more would be needed before any kind of tipping point is reached.

I do agree with you about health delivery.  I'm advocating change.  I would, however, drop everything in a heartbeat and advocate this if things take a sudden downward turn and if there was more support from others.

Along this line, BTW, just read this morning that the largest country in the US state of Alabama is laying off two-thirds of all its employees due to lack of funds.  This has been an on-going trend … and I only see it continuing.  The state of California has been doing the same thing.

Are we seeing and will we be continuing to see governmental breakdown?

I think we will.

  Domus Ulixes : Some Kid

Re: Primary Objective

Domus Ulixes said Aug 3, 2:49 AM:

 

hihi, I like the video.
Though I do not agree that capitalism is obsolete as a system.
I do agree that a new social system is required in over capitalised area's like America.

It is a very good and clear video. Where can I download it?

  Michael : Promise Keeper

Re: Primary Objective

Michael said Aug 8, 2007, 3:45 PM:

 

I don't know how far everyone is on in group formatn, but I'd definately want to be a member of the Esoterics group. i've done a lot of work in the past few years on building up an alternative esoteric framework, a new collective archetypal framework, useful, I think, for undermining “the system” and replacing it within something better.

for example, i have these new stories of creation

http://www.michaelsharp.org/Ascension-Awakening/The-Lightning-Path/The-Parable-of-the-Garden/

http://www.michaelsharp.org/genesis/

and also this new tarot deck with new, high energy archetypes that do not participate in wht I like to call the “old world” structurs of slavery.

tarot introduction here

http://www.michaelsharp.org/Tarot/Tarot-Book/Enlightenment-and-the-tarot/


sample of a new card

http://www.michaelsharp.org/Tarot/Tarot-Cards/The-Fool-becomes-Joyful/

i have more, like for example a completely positive, non-hierarchal, non-dualistic cosmology and theology in the book of light: the nature of god, the structure of consciousness, and the universe within you. free at this link
http://www.avatarpublication.com/ebooks/thebookoflight.pdf

like just about everything i write.

anyway, I think  I have a good foundation for a new esoteric of spiritual freedom and would love to participate and and build this up along with other like minded members. I already have a pod with this intention

http://pods.zaadz.com/thegreatawakening

and a podcast with the intention of introducing the new esoterics in a grounded sort of way

http://greatawakening.michaelsharp.org

anyway, i throw my tarot cards on the table so to speak and dream of a collaboration taht will totally transform this world

namaste

ms



  Keith : Gentle Soul

Re: Primary Objective

Keith said Aug 8, 2007, 4:53 PM:

 

Michael,

Please re-post this in the Esoteric board.  It is up to the members of each board to decide who the facilitator will be.  Each is self-activating and self-governing.

You have some grand and wonderful ideas here, my friend.  Looks like you are way ahead of the curve, actually.  Either communicate with the people in the Esoteric board or invite fellow Zaadsters you are aware of to join the effort.  Only twelve to a group.  Must be kept manageable.

Janos and I are talking back and forth about further suggestions, which will be forthcoming.  I'm sorry, I can't keep up with each board individually.  So if you get stuck, or need anything, please e-mail Janos or myself.  I was going to choose one of the twelve for myself, but I feel my place is to assist Janos, so suppose that makes me the official Knight Secretary.  This is officially his pod, which it should be.  We are breathing life into his vision, a grand vision.

: )

  Fusedroot : Evolution Evolving

Re: Primary Objective

Fusedroot said Aug 24, 2007, 2:57 AM:

 

Well I'm here also …  mainly watching.

http://nurseryexotica.net/   … pets & pals : leaf-insects, tortoises, Baobab Tres, Moringa (!!!)

Lite

ºjlz

  janos : Practical philosopher

Re: Primary Objective

janos said Aug 28, 2007, 3:26 PM:

 

And very nice to have you around, too. Welcome Nzira.

Any positive attention “paid” to the contents here is appreciated and counts towards good karma :-).

  janos : Practical philosopher

Re: Primary Objective

janos said Sep 14, 9:17 AM:

 

And a faithful watcher, thank you.
———————————————–
This is what could be:

and this may be the process:

Fromknowledgetolife317x197 Paradigmshift
  janos : Practical philosopher

Re: Primary Objective

janos said Aug 2, 10:02 AM:

 
Not quite sure how the threading works. This post should follow Michael's statement of preference for the Esoterics board.

The twelve modules or departments are of course need to converge to develop or identify resources to advance one common task the transformation of the troubled world we know into the Possible Good World (PGW).

So contributions need to qualify as a resource and, if needed, the sponsor may have to indicate (as Michael done in his post — referenced) to the “collective” how it furthers overall task advancement.

Our goal is this:
Fromknowledgetolife
 

Re: Primary Objective

cosmicbdog [no longer around] said Aug 8, 2007, 6:35 PM:

 

I considered the phase in which this newly forming pod is at and wondered where I felt were at… and I actually need to disagree slightly on this one in that emptiness is emerging.


Emptiness exists and in a sense I think it would be safe to say that the people found in this pod are people of Zaadz who have already fully experienced phase 1,2 and 3 before arriving.

This pod, in my view is a result of that emptiness, and here now is the initial teething of True Community.

Talk about Snowball Dynamics, lets talk about polishing our Knights & Maidens tools and have our best conduct ready for the table at large. Be always in our highest energy and most beneficial to the whole.

I have some questions though guys…

What is the rush? What is the urgency?

Do we want to make the same mistakes our leaders before us have not knowingly made because they have been fueled by a similar desire to change the world?

How to know what is truly coming a selfless desire to heal the world and what is coming from a need to change due to a personal dissatisfaction with the world as it is?

Intention… volition…

What we find countlessly repeated throughout history is do good people moving ahead at full speed without firstly even arriving or qualifying themselves to ensure that it is complete love, fullness, acceptance and readiness to change that is being recultivated and reseeded into the world..

I am here to build up … to plan … to come up with a workable way to move the planet forward. but before that we need to firstly ensure that we're coming from complete abundance. Because abundance is the only thing thats going to last right?What else is going to wipe out greed and need? Limitation is shaky ground… and limitation I feel when there is harsh regulations about our conduct. So we're building something thats going to last… it needs solid foundations which ultimately need to be very easy going to deal with the massive change.

Tolerance… not something the government has shown to us. Is that working out for them / us?

  sandy : Activist and Ambassador

Re: Primary Objective

sandy said Aug 8, 2007, 6:48 PM:

 

'tolerance , has it worked”

my answer would be yes -but just tolerable!

 

Re: Primary Objective

PerpetuallyMe [no longer around] said Aug 8, 2007, 7:22 PM:

 

Cosmic…

DITTO on every single thing you've written here.  I've had some uneasiness in the last two days, and you nailed the source.

What IS the rush?

  Keith : Gentle Soul

Re: Primary Objective

Keith said Aug 8, 2007, 7:52 PM:

 

This is precisely what Janos and I have been discussing … ”How to move forward?” … ”Should there be rules?” … ”What to do to facilitate?” …

And you are correct Bobby … we have all eternity.  There is no rush.

You may also be correct regarding the community phase.  Was nothing but chaos two days ago, let me tell ya!!!  Has calmed down now.  I would actually be very excited if, in fact, your observation is the correct one.

With regard to limitations and regulations of conduct on this pod … let me add this …

Other than those governing everything on Zaadz … there are no rules.  Nothing is any different here than any other pod.  Everything posted on this thread are suggestions and a minimalist rough draft outlining direction.  If you read some of the threads, you'll see this … ”Now, what are we doing?” … ”How are we to organize?” … ”What's our goal?“  So we're merely pointing in a certain direction.

No one is telling anyone what the goals are.  No one is telling anyone how to organize.  The original vision for the pod was to have twelve groups of twelve members each.  This was the original intent.  Will this be the final result?  I don't think it will.  As we evolve as evolutionaries the dynamic may become such that we find a six-member focus group is best in Esoterics but, wow!, we need 24 in Politics!  And Bobby in Australia is just a whiz in philosophy, but by golly! he's also a slam dunk when it comes to economics!  He'll contribute to both.

You can read what was written as “RULES!!!” but they're not.  Merely guidelines and suggestions.  Every single one of us are here because we choose to be here … and that freedom will not be taken away.

I must add this as well.  If there was not a suggested structure or guidelines … nothing would be accomplished.  This pod was formed with the specific intent to accomplish something.  To do that we must cooperate.  To cooperate we must know what we're cooperating about.  My feeling is that those in the pod with a lot more life experience than I have will agree. 

If this community reaches consensus that there's a better way to cooperate and still reach a self-defined objective … then so be it.  You are always in control. 

 

Re: Primary Objective

Gemstar [no longer around] said Aug 8, 2007, 8:11 PM:

 

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I have grown weary from trying to keep up on the postings, and it will probably be several days where I just catch up to what has already been put out and have time to absorb it properly.

I really do think it is premature to give anyone the authority to move into leadership of any particular section, other than that I think, that since it was originally Janos' idea, perhaps he should be the one to ultimately decide who he see's as being the best fit for leadership of each section, rather than to just decide on it, on the basis of who has the most stuff available in whatever form to push things in any particular one direction, and can then claim they have the top of the heap.

We're just too new at some of this.  It's like trying to cram meat through a baby bottle nipple - things will clog and back up, and the kid will end up screaming.

My ultimate feeling on this - it's time for a “Time-Out” - or you can probably expect that many will just give up completely. (Some of us do have to stop reading occasionally to make a living).

Cheers!

Gemstar

  janos : Practical philosopher

Re: Primary Objective

janos said Aug 9, 2007, 1:51 AM:

 

 

Sheila,
I love that baby metaphor, and it is full of implications bursting to be “unbundled” (excuse the unintended pun).

We do have eternity on one level, but on another the urgency is great.
The baby may be just a baby because it has not been allowed to grow up. That bay can be seen as we, the common majority, referred to in “…subdue the (roughly) ten thousand year old conspiracy of a minority to dominate and exploit the surplus labour of the majority”.

But forgive me for barging in with such heavy stuff. It is to be dealt with in the topics where it is relevant (mainly economics and politics, but also philosophy).

I just want to say that it is a humbling experience for me to see so many people, like yourself, who have their own projects up and running, taking an interest in this pod.

 

Re: Primary Objective

cosmicbdog [no longer around] said Aug 11, 2007, 5:06 PM:

 
“Once upon a time,  a man is walking through the forest, still unaware and afraid. He hears crying in the distance and is alarmed. There is danger and chaos. He runs to the sound and finds a woman laying on the ground in agony. There is blood and the man assumes she is wounded. It sounds like she is dying.”

The truth is, the woman is not in trouble, but is giving birth. Such is the confusion we live in, the inability to see the perfection, when what we have is a still unfolding perception.

Everyone for the first time seeing a mother giving birth would assume there is probably a problem. But after a big of awareness, the baby birth process is what it is and we're not alarmed but excited about it.

Now mother earth, yes, power has grown into the hands of a certain few, but this could also be likened to seeing the mothers stomach filling up. Looking like she has a severe imbalance, but because we know she has a baby, we're able to transcend our previous perception and now see that inflation and imbalance as a beautiful thing.

Here we have now a planet giving birth to a new paradigm. How many of us have seen that birth before? Probably not many, yet certain many are that there needs to be change. True this is… I  feel it too… but how can we make sure we're not killing the baby in process? 

wholistic awareness…

I love this wholistic (just realised u termed it holistic is there a difference?) community conversation you've created janos. I imagine seeing that icosahedron being a matrix of our communication together as a community. The greater connectivity we can generate between each of these different areas of thought the more wholistic, and therefor supportive view of the whole situation. We can attain through our collaborative and dynamic discussions of each others niche observations, truly good inspirations for humanity.

I love the idea of that. My resisters generally come up though as soon as timelines come in, or pressures… just because I want to make sure we're not doing the lack fear thing that has bound us to so many false assumptions of what actions should be taken. I hold a very rebellious key of process and truly believe that if process is fully surrendered to, then objectivity becomes miraculous and beyond anything we could ever pin point our minds on. Going back to the mumma giving birth to a baby at 3 months… the man is looking at the woman thinking she's sick and tries to massage that lump out of her belly… oops…. i know this is totally irrelevant thought but what if woman has a periodical cycle in her bleeding because her DNA has been programmed over thousands of years into babies being pushed out prematurely while man became intelligent and tried to heal her from her sickness? Its all good as life found a way by giving her more chances, but perhaps life could have been better for woman on earth if that continual distortion of life hadn't been continually applied by mans stupidity pretending to be intelligent?

If mad had of had the opportunity to tap into this icosahedron in the past he might have saved a few lives… streamlined the evolutionary process instead of messing it up… maybe

Life does find a way to cope with whatever we do to bend the light that comes into our world, but my offering here is purely that when we come from Primary Support and assume we don't necessarily know what is around the corner, I find it actually makes us more locally beneficial because we are humbled….investigative… purposeful and intentional… Process… communication… let them flourish and objectivity will flourish.

Love the guidelines guys. Wasn't trying to hold up what was going on in any way. Just offering the ol' polar view.
  Traveling Alchemist : Meanderer

Re: Primary Objective

Traveling Alchemist said Aug 9, 2007, 7:04 AM:

 

I brought the information about community building to this pod because I have experienced it through the Peck model.  It is not the only model.  Most folks who are employed have more experience with team building and organizational methods.  Organization has been brought up in our discussions regularly.

In community building, all members are leaders, there is no heirarchy; each person is responsible for the success of the community.  Each person has an equal voice, and decisions are made by consensus.

Here is some information about the community building model, and how it correlates with team building.  Please note at the end of this article how community building is different.

The four stages of community formation are somewhat related to a model in organization theory for the five stages that a team goes through during development. These five stages are:

  • Forming where the team members have some initial discomfort with each other but nothing comes out in the open. They are insecure about their role and position with respect to the team. This corresponds to the initial stage of pseudocommunity.
  • Storming where the team members start arguing heatedly and differences and insecurities come out in the open. This corresponds to the second stage given by Scott Peck, namely chaos.
  • Norming where the team members lay out rules and guidelines for interaction that help define the roles and responsibilities of each person. This corresponds to emptiness, where the community members think within and empty themselves of their obsessions to be able to accept and listen to others.
  • Performing where the team finally starts working as a cohesive whole, and effectively achieve the tasks setof themselves. In this stage individuals are aided by the group as a whole where necessary, in order to move further collectively than they could achieve as a group of separated individuals.
  • Transforming This corresponds to the stage of true community. This represents the stage of celebration, and when individuals leave, as they must, there is a genuine feeling of grief, and a desire to meet again. Traditionally this stage was often called “Mourning”.

It is in this third stage that Scott Peck's community building methods differ in principle from team development. While teams in business organizations need to develop explicit rules, guidelines and protocols during the norming stage, the 'emptiness' stage of community building is characterized, not by laying down the rules explicitly, but by shedding the resistance within the minds of the individuals.

It does take time to create a viable 'structure' through which these zaadz groups will offer their visions as a group.  There really is no rush.  One lesson here is that, as most of us are used to the current dynamics of our cultures, we must rush to accomplish…whereas in making a change, slowing down to become cohesive will inevitably serve the greater whole.

  Keith : Gentle Soul

Re: Primary Objective

Keith said Aug 11, 2007, 8:56 PM:

 

New word:  icosahedron
                    
noun
                     any polyhedron having twenty plane faces
           
                     From Dictionary.com

 
 
 
I'd not seen this word before, so thought I'd better look it up and post as others may not understand as well.  GREAT WORD!!!!!!  Thank you Bobby.


I feel this needs to be discussed.  On the one hand, as stated, we certainly don't want to give birth prematurely, as this will certainly diminish the life-expectancy of any project.

However …

On the other hand, we have events occurring in the world today that suggest the old is quite literally coming apart … now … before our very eyes.  Whether the fall begins Monday morning, or next week, or next month is not relevant.  The old paradigm will fall.  It's failing now.  It must.  It cannot be sustained.  It has no energy to sustain it, which is why it's fighting so hard to stay alive.  All the new energy has and is shifting back to the people, as highlighted in the short video The Shift linked above.

Mark my words on this … When the first major system collapses … a chain reaction will begin that cannot be stopped …

We always have choices.  We can choose to wait, to debate, to merely sit here and talk and talk and talk.  Until that first major collapse occurs, like the world financial markets for example, where we might be too late to affect meaningful change.  Too little, too late.  And all this will have been for naught.  We're merely wasting our time and energy.

Or we can be ready … because we all know this change is coming.  When it does start … it will be swift.

Should we not at the very least build an incubator so that if the birth must be induced prematurely we can increase the chances for life?  Can we agree on that?

  sandy : Activist and Ambassador

Re: Primary Objective

sandy said Aug 11, 2007, 9:04 PM:

 

I can agree on that Keith -
a premature baby is a gift and a
treasure and incubated correctly
grows into the most learned knowing
of us all.
We can begin like that and i feel we are in the
right environment here?

 

Re: Primary Objective

cosmicbdog [no longer around] said Aug 12, 2007, 6:53 PM:

 

Lol Keith. Funny you say that about the icosahedron because I only just learned about it before I made my post in the post you made of jano's documentation!


So, thank you Janos :P

I do agree with everything you have said also Keith.

  Traveling Alchemist : Meanderer

Re: Primary Objective

Traveling Alchemist said Aug 12, 2007, 6:56 AM:

 

In response to you Keith, we are not in control of the failure of the old paradigm, just as we are not in control of the new one.  Our preparation here is not wasted, for we do have foresight.  We are being called upon to be ready.  Timing is perfect, so we will not be premature or overdue in our involvement.  We have our fingers on the 'pulse' of the patient.  The transformation will happen according to its right time.

  Keith : Gentle Soul

Re: Primary Objective

Keith said Aug 12, 2007, 1:51 PM:

 

Of course you are correct T.A.  We can only control the world we live in. 

  katrinamae : I am here now with you.

Re: Primary Objective

katrinamae said Aug 14, 2007, 12:28 AM:

 

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  katrinamae : I am here now with you.

Re: Primary Objective

katrinamae said Aug 14, 2007, 12:38 AM:

 

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=125351681

I'm sorry 'bout the previous post - for some reason, the formatting doesn't work on Zaadz, so above is a link to my Myspace page, whre I have a couple links that everyone can use to take some action. 

One consists of six icons that has a link beneath them so you can bookmark it or whatever and help six different charities just by clicking on the icons (that's it - the advertising goes straight to the charities - all we do is click once a day!).

The other is Windows Live Messenger, where I'm personally helping refugee children every time I start an Instant Messenger conversation, but there are other charities you can choose from. If you already have Instant Messenger, you can still participate. Just go click on mine to get started.

Another is a “Prosper” icon, which is a person-to-person lending/borrowing site - some people don't condone loans/debt, but they can be very good leverage if used wisely, so I figured if anyone has a non-profit they've always wanted to start, or a small, conscious business, or whatever other creative ideas you can possibly think of to use money to fuel change and growth around the world, go for it.

(Keith, I thought the best place to post this would be here, since the focus is on knowledge and action?)

  Keith : Gentle Soul

Re: Primary Objective

Keith said Aug 14, 2007, 4:06 PM:

 

This is fine Katrina.  Just a reminder, this is not “my” pod, nor does it belong to Janos.

This is “our” pod. 

  janos : Practical philosopher

Re: Primary Objective

janos said Sep 14, 9:27 AM:

 

Thank you, Keith, for the reminder. It is our pod—to use the original Zaadz terminology.

However, thanks are due to Keith for setting it up for us in the first place.

Also remember to think of which “sector” is our main interest and which other sectors are our affiliated or related interests.
My home is, for example, economic (spiritual economics, to avoid misunderstanding). But related homes are philosophy, politics (governance) and education.

This is something to do with the “holistic methodology” required by a new investigative pradigm.

Cosmoboros
  Fusedroot : Evolution Evolving

Our Primary Objective

Fusedroot said Sep 2, 2007, 5:08 PM:

 

Hi http://primaryobjective.notlong.com is a 'neatened' & appropiate link straight to this thread from the  outside matrix.

lite
ºjlz