TIES LIVING JOURNAL
The Living Journal is composed of comments and testimonies from the TIES’ Community and is composed of eight main categories.
Updated: April 30, 2015
(1) EROS
Eros is a more-than-human context that involves attraction and beauty at every level in the cosmos and here on Earth. We assert that there is an unconscious love throughout the evolutionary history of the Universe drawing entities into relationship with one another . . . and that with the power of self-reflection, humans have taken Eros to another level where we can appreciate/love the splendor of the Universe: Cosmophilia, Ecophilia, and Biophilia belong to the human condition.
(2) COSMOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
The cosmological perspective provides an understanding that we are the result of 13.7 billion years of evolution. That we are made of the same elements that are in stars—that we are stardust. That we belong to the universe and the Universe belongs to us. It includes the knowledge that we all come from the same source: that everything in the cosmos exists in a network of relational nested hierarchies.
(3) GAIAN-SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE
The Gaian-Systems Perspective enables humanity to experience the Earth as an integrated whole composed of interrelated and interconnected systems that maintain life as if it were a living system on its own. In fact, the Gaia theory states that the Earth is a living entity because it has been able to balance itself over hundreds of millions of years to sustain life . . . that is, until the more recent activity of humans.
(4) INTEGRATIVE LEARNING
Integrative learning is education where content and process are seamless and contextual relationships form the basis of exploration. Inquiry is multidimensional, involving heart, mind, body, and soul.
subcategories:
(5) OBSERVATION & MEDITATION
Observing and meditating are processes imbued with the intelligence of love that allows for perceiving the “what is” without influence of past or future and without judgment—interpretation. Emergent “truth” may lead to right action.
(6) AUTOPOIESIS
In autopoiesis (from the theory of living systems), entities are continually in a process of self-making, both self-contained and in relationship (coupled) to their environment. There is a network of processes in which the function of each component is to participate in the production or transformation of all components. In this way, the entire network continually “makes itself” while simultaneously bringing forth a world.
(7) EXPANDING CONSCIOUSNESS
Expanding consciousness as well as tapping into morphogenetic fields may bring awareness beyond thought–mind, enabling humans to access collective wisdom and soul manifestation.
(8) TRANSFORMATION
In transformation we address the creative power of an educational experience, empowering individuals and groups to find deeper meaning in their lives in order to contribute to the greater good.
Thoughts leading up to this Living Journal . . .
Note to Colleague Pauline Matsis (2009):
Responding to your question: Why do I/we experience joy, humility, and appreciation in this work with adults? All this was amplified this week as we put together a collection of excerpts from students in order to prepare for Mexico lectures. What Marsha realized was that she experiences the same awe that she had/has working with children—they really “get it.” The assumption has been that it is too late for adults. But we have seen that if adults are engaged in an educational process that provides the same kind of “prepared environment” that one would have them prepare for working with children . . . transformation and awareness evolves.
Philip Snow Gang to Marsha Snow Morgan (2009):
Teachers cannot teach integration without having experienced it!
Philip Snow Gang (2014):
One of the questions that drives what I do:
What form of education might liberate children from age-old prejudices so that they become the creators of a “new human”—one whose integral relationship with the human and non-human world is bound in an integrated web of relationship?
