Introductory

In 1997 the United Nations held their initial and decisive conference  in Rio de Janeiro on basic questions of environment, ecology and a global economy. The final document urged the leaders and people of the world for a radical new and changing view on these items- in the direction of real and profound sustainable and integral development. As a byproduct of this conference the ‘Charta of the Earth’ as a productive spiritual vision for the coming millenium was born.

The Institute for Inategral Development wants to support and strengthen the essential impulses in its own way. Now, that so many of the UN declarations failed a holistic view on the burning problems of mankind seems all the more important. To work for a common sustainable future of all sentient beings on this living planet is the challenge – not only for politicians but everybody.

The Awakening of the spiritual self and the unity of all life on earth are but the two sides of one coin. Considering the crises and wars  and environmental catastrophies all over the world, also regarding the ignorance, even cynicism of medias in the west in behalf of spiritual and ethical evolution it is of utmost importance to clearly recognize the context between subjective (inner) destructiveness and  outer wars. The possibility of peace without an adequate insight in one’s own personal peacelessness i.e. violence potential is naïve. To build up new material structures for peaceful development in communities and societies rests directly on this recognition.

I.                   The  Integral Training  (General Outlines)

Topics:                                                            Methods:

Ken Wilber: spectrum of consciousness -----   Integral dimensions: Quadrants, levels, structures

Body-fields: polarity, rhythms, pulsation-----  Voices of life: Deep ecology/environment art

Sense and senses: touch, expression, form---   Work with movement and symbols

Duality: fear and violence, gender dialogue--- Shadow work/ drama play/ focusing

Authentic communication: Self and others ---  Healing rituals/dance/mediation

The evolutionary process: deep time ---------   Vision Quest/Spiral dynamics

Wisdom of the heart: the inner witness -----     Meditations/text readings

Sustainability: integral spirituality-------------- Culture and Nature/Values

Ken Wilber and the Integral Theory und Practise

The work of the outstanding American scientist and philosopher Ken Wilber is dedicated to the integration of science and religion, transpersonal psychology and mysticism/meditation, postmodernism and spiritual wisdom from the East and the West. In his work meditation and scientific research complement each other. This also leads to an eminent  integrative approach concerning social, economical and political practice. Seen as the unfolding of an integrative map of consciousness Wilber’s research over the last four decades brings together the four central perspectives of the human spirit and unites them in what he calls ‘Aqual’ = all (four) quadrants, all lines and states of the evolutionary self:

            UL I                                                                                UR It 

           .........................................  AQUAL  .............................................         

           LL We                                                                             LR Its

The I or subjective consciousness in its evolving stages from primal sensual perception up to the highest spiritual awakening  (Upper Left quadrant=UL)

The It or external, material and behavioral (body) side of individual (inside) consciousness – development of brain/neurophysiology (Upper Right quadrant=UR)

The We orcultural/religious/ethical dimensions of organized human life, the intersubjective reality (Lower Left quadrant=LL)

The Its or institutions, social organisations, politicial parties, laws, i.e. the empirical manifestations of the life of societies and civilizations through history as the interobjective reality of the evolutionary process of spirit and matter.(Lower Right=LR)

These four perspectives connect in a multidimensional field of continuous interaction horizontally as well as vertically, thus resulting in a holistic matrix that covers life in all its aspects of material appearance and stages of consciousness: evolution as the driving force of all life in an upward and downward transformative spiral movement between Eros (sexual love) and Agape (spiritual love). The awareness of the ‘spectrum of consciousness’, as he titled his first book laid the ground for what he later called ‘integral transformative practise’ (ITP). The United Nations Development Program (UNDAP) has already adapted the integral approach.

I.    Peace work: Transcend and transform

Beginning with the destruction of the New York Twin Towers on 9/11 01 the world witnesses completely new forms of violence in the dawn of the 21. century. Besides the decline of the supreme executive power of the state  (its monopoly on coercive power) we see the ascent of war markets selling and distributing all kinds of arms). At the same time the appearance of the faceless individual suicidal terrorist on a worldwide scale highlights a new dimension of violence in a globalized world- a counterpart to the destructive  powers of unrestricted globalized markets and financial systems.

The arbitrary retrospective view on one’s ‘own’ national history, ethnical or religious identity for the ‘rightful’ liquidation of others, individuals or whole ethnies, signals a dramatic change of attitude in the relationship between war and peace.  That results  in the fact that there are no clear frontlines anymore between official enemies. Civil society, i.e. children, women, old people as well as material infrastructures, and the environment in large are suffering most under these circumstances of religious fundamentalisms and economic greed.

The question of prevention of these new manifestations of violence, hatred and ignorance today and in the future are ever more urgent. Peace research has become a must for postmodern societies. A prerequisite for authentic conflict management is based on the general insight that peace outside is in direct connection to peace inside. Peace workers need to remember that each day anew.  A second clue to peace is the acceptance of the hard truth that conflict, next to empathy, is at the core of life, fertilizing it: with each peace agreement we reach new horizons of challenging potential. No everlasting peace in sight but the big task to balance the forces of growth and destruction again and again. A healer’s work more than a politician’s! The band of cooperation and solidarity between man and man, between the sexes, classes and races and finally between man and nature has to be woven daily- today under the premise that there is but One world, One planet to live on.

The four sequences of the following Workshop Series on peace and conflict resolution are designed to include various sections in society and profession: social work, politics, intercultural relations, gender.

I.                  Peace with oneself 

Focus: introspection/personal biography; methods-

(Gestalttherapy, role playing, focusing, skript writing, unconscious affirmations/negations, breath/energy body work

·               What does peace mean for me? (experiences, phantasies) What importance has it in my life? What will I do for it to  keep it?

·               Which parts of my life give me peace? (Relationships, profession, sex, nature, meditation..) How do I experience such peace?

·               What keeps me basically restless/peaceless? How do I experience this restlessness?

·               What is my relationship with violence/aggression? What are my experiences with aggression in my biography?

           Am I capable to forgive myself? If not what hinders me?

II.                  Peace on the interpersonal level

Focus: intersubjectivity/freedom and limits/ contact and denial; methods-

(family constellations, authentic communication, gender dialogue/projections, ritual exercises, interpersonal perspectives, spiritual awareness)

·               What kind of relationship did I engage in in my life? (friends, family, work etc.) What kind of relationships do I miss?

·               What does love to the other sex/ to one’s own mean to me?

·               How important is community with others to me?

·               How much fulfillment/stress do I experience in relation to others?

·               How much authenticity do I allow in my relations to others? Am I able to listen, to accept critique?

III.               Peace in society

Focus: Systemic processes

(Politics of heart and spirit: Gandhi, Mandela, social visions: Right Livelihood Award, mind maps and rituals clarifying power/powerlessness, violence and reconciliation, strategies of globalization, medias and the civil society (with film material)

·               What does society mean to me? What kind of quality has my relationship within society?

·               On the feelings and meaning of power/powerlessness, guilt and victimization

·               The meaning of civil action in my life?

·               Peace pedagogy: Is peace education a realistic goal? ( The method of Transcend and Transform)/ Spiral Dynamics

·               Religion and politics ( in postmodern society)- a personal approximation

·               Intercultural ethics: The meaning of peace in religious and atheistic societies

·               Reconciliation: a must or just a dream?

IV.           Peace with Nature

Focus: Deep ecology/ Buddhism and holistic ethics- Invironmentalism

(relation of culture and nature in the west, evolution and the integral land map, vision quest, conference of life- voices of past, present and future, Zen and Heart meditation)

·               What does nature mean to me? ( personal experiences and reflections)

·               Which experiences with nature are central to my life?

·               How do they connect with my inner nature?

·               the relation between nature and man in my historical/ethnical background?

·               Basic human needs and sustainable ecology/society- a questionaire

Leitung:                                                       

Dr. Peter Erlenwein

·        Intercultural projects and seminars

·        Lecturer at the College of Rosenheim/Germany 1987-1994

·        (subject: space, man and symbol) 

·        Visiting professorship for Interreligious Dialogue

·        (De Nobili College, Pune India) 1997-2001

·        Member of the Integral Forum, Germany 2002/10

·        Lecturer at the C.G. Jung Institute, Zürich 2003/07

·        Member of Refugio Munich, Center for traumatized refugees 2oo6/10

       Radiojournalist for intercultural topics,  stationed in San Francisco (2011/16)

·        Author: The spirit of Awakening 2004/ Projects of hope, 2006 (Coauthor)/ And saw the heaven open 2014