This site seeks to tap and open deeper holistic, integral and global dimensions of the ((internet website)) potential and I would like to make some opening comments to orient you to what may be new or unfamiliar in expanding to a global perspective and experiencing reality through the ((global lens)) and the ((technology of awakening mind))™. This is followed by a brief ((guide)) to the site. It is not necessary that you read what follows first before exploring the site. If you choose to move through the site first and explore this Orientation and Guide later perhaps what follows may make even more sense.
Introduction to ((Logos))
This is a primary website for the ((Logos Institute))® and a range of integral allied and intimately related initiatives and activities that have been unfolding for over three decades.
The name "Awakening Mind" is at the heart of my signature work which focuses on The Awakening of the Global Mind ©, and which has appeared in diverse multimedia presentations over the past decade as well as in the form of a forthcoming book for the general global culture.
This lifelong work may be summed up in finding that when we step back from privileging any one more localized worldview or cultural lens and enter the more expanded and expansive space across and between diverse worldviews – cultures, religions, perspectives – in their evolution through the ages, and on a global scale, striking patterns are revealed which are not as obvious from more localized perspectives.
In entering this global perspective between worlds, which dilates and awakens the global mind, it becomes quite apparent that we humans co–create our living realities – our worlds, our cultures, our religions, our experience – through the conduct of our minds, through our cultural lens and our mental practices. This global perspective which taps the collective wisdom of our great traditions confirms in a dramatic way that we are as we mind – that our mentality and mental practices are all–important in shaping the quality of our life and human condition at the individual and collective level.
This highest finding of global wisdom reveals that humans across all borders have been in a challenging, even painful, evolution from egocentric or monocentric patterns of minding which are found to be at the core of a wide range of individual and cultural pathologies and often devastating, chronic dysfunctions. In brief, it is found that such egocentric patterns privilege its own worldviews and unfolds in a destructive dynamic which fragments the Self, polarizes its world and experience, fractures the self from the unified flow of existence, and directly results in diverse forms of alienation and violence to self and others. Our highest philosophical and spiritual teachings through the ages have diagnosed this malpractice and prescribed diverse strategies for advancing and maturing to more integrative, holistic, dialogic and non–dualizing patterns of being a human.
In this context of global wisdom, through the global lens, it is further disclosed that there is and must be a fundamental Unifying Force, Origin, Infinite Presence... that is the generative source and resource of all possible worlds, cultures, religions, perspectives and forms of life. And although our great cultural traditions have sought to name this all–important Primal Source – that which is First – or even to warn that it cannot be named or approached in ordinary words, the inevitable result seems to be that our more localized languages and perspectives continue to eclipse, distort or displace the Global Essence, Power and Presence of this Infinite Primal Source.
A central theme of The Awakening of the Global Mind in the re–telling of our human cultural evolution from a truly global perspective is precisely this at once exhilirating and agonizing self–birthing of the human species to its mature form in the overcoming of the destructive ways of egocentric life as we advance individually and collectively in awakening the global heart and mind. In this historic journey from egocentric patterns of minding to more holistic, integral, dialogic, non–fragmenting, non–violent and non–polarizing patterns we mature to our full human form as wholesome individuals who live and move in the Unified Field of Reality which calls forth the awakened global mind. In this deeper encounter with Integral Reality it becomes manifest that What is First – the Infinite Primal Source – is ever–Present and is Infinitely Global in every possible way, and as the source of all possible worldviews and perspectives, opens a global space, requires a global lens with a truly holistic and integral technology of mind, and invokes a truly Global Name.
This global narrative of the human evolutionary drama suggests that it is therefore of the utmost importance for our individual and collective interest and well being that we find a way to clearly mark and demark the difference between the destructiuve patterns of egocentric minding and the more healthful patterns of entering the global lens and mind in negotiating the Unified Global Field of Reality. And over the years in my teaching, research, public presentation and scholarship I have introduced simplified "markers" which encode these two contrasting technologies of being a human and makes quite explicit these two profoundly diverse dimensions of human life, experience, language, thought and existence:
Whenever we are living, thinking, minding, experiencing and speaking through the egocentric lens, in the egocentric mind and technology, we mark this with "single brackets"= /.../™.
So lets mark any word, term, concept, utterance, phenomenon..., call it "X", appearing through the egocentric mind, voice, lens... between the markers – thus, /X/™.
In this way we make it explicit that we are speaking and minding through within the /egocentric/ pattern.
By contrast, I use "double brackets" – ((...))™ to mark any word, term, concept, utterance, phenomenon..., again call it "X", that is being processed in and through the ((integral technology of mind)) thus, ((X))™.
And in this way making it fully explicit that now we are in the integral and global dimension of experience, language and consciousness. So the ((...))™ sign functions as a specific ((technology and process for transforming mind, consciousness and life)), and accordingly transforms the significance of whatever its surrounds to its full ((holistic)) import and being, and thus functions as the ((global lens))™.
With these markers demarcating the two great technologies of life and mind in the human condition we may sum up the main event in human evolution as precisely this profound transformation from /life/ to ((Life)); and here it may be said that the primary and decisive event in the human condition facing us at this critical stage is our individual and collective crossing from /egocentric life/ to the maturation and awakening of the ((global mind)). Our global narrative suggests that this monumental crossing as a species into the ((global lens)) is nothing less than our maturing to our true form as ((Humans)) and the very essence of our ((sustainability)) and ((flourishing)) as a ((human family)) sharing the ((common ground)) of our ((Sacred Earth)).
In this ((light)) we have suggested ((Logos)) as a truly ((Global Name)) for the ((Infinite Primal Word, Force, Energy, Source)), and the ((Logos Institute)), written explicitly with ((..)) together with this ((Awakening Mind)) website are designed to help ((Hold the Space)) for and ((facilitate)) this challenging and supreme human ((transformation)) of our emergence together as ((global citizens)) in an unprecedented ((co–awakening of the global heart and mind)). Accordingly, this ((website)) is designed to function as a ((portal)), a ((global lens)) which reflects the ((holistic, integral, dialogic, recursive, global,...)) dynamics of this ((global dimension)). In this respect, the various ((initiatives)) and ((activities)) that are herein presented are designed to ((open and hold)) a ((global space)) where people across all borders may convene in ((deep dialogue)) and in building an ever expanding ((critical mass of global citizens)) coming together in ((common cause)) and ((global common ground)) in the emergence of our ((global community)).
((Guide to the Site))
Since this ((site)) seeks to help ((model)), open and tap the ((holistic dynamics)) of the ((Unified Field of Logos)), the ((Logosphere)), it is itself ((conceived and designed)) in the ((integral dynamics)) of ((global lens)). Here it is recognized that this ((Logosphere)), the ((Unified Field of Reality)) is the ((Primal dimension of Language, Information, Rational Intelligence...)) wherein all ((points)) are dynamically ((inter–connected)) in a ((holistic)) and non–/linear/ ((network of dynamic relations)). In a sense, this ((integral space)) is multi–centric and each ((locus)) is at the the same time a ((center)) and links with every other ((point in the Field)). It is this ((reflexive and recursive)) dynamic structure that ensures that the ((local)) and the ((global)) are always in ((communion)). So in this way the ((architecture of the site)) is continually growing and organic, and all items are in ongoing ((mutual amplification)), each reflecting the ((whole)) and in ((boundless inter-connectivity)). In this spirit this ((site)) is intended to be an ((open invitational portal)) to join with others ((individuals)) and ((organizations)) in a growing ((global network)) designed to encourage a ((resonant energy field)) in which ((awakening hearts and minds)) may enter the ((communion of global community)). In this respect this ((site)) is itself a working ((model)) of the ((transformative technology)) for ((awakening global mind)).
Thus, this ((mandala design)) is set up is such a way that each ((satellite)) when entered becomes, in a real sense, a ((center)) through which the others may be seen and approached. For example, when you visit the ((Logos Institute)) locus this becomes an ((organizational center)) which incorporates and orients the many other diverse initiatives and activities presented in this ((site)). The ((Logos Institute)) which is a 501 non–profit ((educational organization)) seeks to open and hold the ((...)) sacred space of ((Logos)) which is vital for the great ((awakening event)) that is accelerating on this planet. It is thus not a /physical institute/ located in /space/ in the ordinary sense. Rather, it seeks to be a ((portal)) through the ((global lens)) to ((network)) in the deepest sense with others in the emergence of an enlightened ever expanding ((global community)).
Similarly, when you visit the ((Haverford Professorship)) satellite you will encounter an alternative ((vital center)) and ((lens)) through which the diverse activities and initiatives presented here may be ((viewed)). For in a real sense the ((fruits)) of my lifework which are herein presented were developed over my past thirty–seven years of teaching, research, scholarship and community service as a professor at Haverford College. In a sense the ((College)) has been a ((primary living laboratory)) in which my ((philosophical experiments)) were conceived, tested and developed over decades. So my ((professorship)) at the College may be viewed as an ((organizing center)) for the ((continuum)) of my ((diverse activities)).
Again, as one of the initiatives of the ((Logos Institute)) and my ((Professorship)) I have focused over the past decade in co–founding and co–directing the ((Global Dialogue Institute)) as a primary instrument for implementing the ((technology of Deep-Dialogue)) at a ((local, national and global)) level in cultivating ((global common ground)) across and between diverse worldviews. I regard this ((initiative)) as a primary expression of my ((research and scholarship)), hence integral to my life and world as a ((philosopher, teacher, professor and global citizen)). You will see that each ((satellite)) will introduce key ((documents)) that will in turn ((augment, amplify and complement)) items found at other ((loci)).
Thus, still another key initiative is the co–convening of the ((World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality)) which brings eminent and emergent ((global leaders)) together in ((Deep-Dialogue)) to help further ((open the global lens)) providing ((global vision and wisdom)) for the people of the planet at this remarkable and challenging time of ((transition and transformation)). And, again, our attempt to reach out to the public through the ((multi-media)) - hosting television shows, participating in national radio interviews, national video series, public appearances, in print, and, of course, through this and other web-sites - are all organized under our generic initiative, ((Global Lens)). So this ((satellite)) focuses of bringing together in ((mutual amplification)) our various forms of ((outreach)) through diverse media to facilitate and accelerate the primary event of the ((awakening global mind)) and the convening of the emergent ((global community)).
So we hope you will have an exciting and enjoyable time exploring the ((labyrinth)) of this ((site)). And we invite you to contact us and ((join in common cause)) in ((co–creating an awakened global community)) if you are so moved. And feel free to create a ((link)) to our ((site)) if you feel it will augment and complement your initiatives.
Additionally, we would like to thank Michael Mosaro Scheickl and Brüno Wurtenberger of "Grooving Spirit" for providing the theme music for ((AwakeningMind)).Org. Visit the "Grooving Spirit" website at http://www.groovingspirit.com.
Best wishes,
Ashok Gangadean
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