A Question and Invitation for New Members

[Balder]

In the past two to three weeks, 20 new members have joined the forum, but so far most of you have not posted anything.  This is actually a frequent, long-term issue here, and I'm having a hard time understanding it:  we admit many new members, and are currently maxed out at 150, but the majority never post at all.  I wonder what the reason for that is, and would like to hear if there is anything in particular that causes people to hold back (other than something like lack of time).  If I can do anything, or change anything, to make people feel more welcome here, please let me know.

In any event, with this thread, I would like to invite new members to join or begin a conversation.  If you would like, please use this thread to introduce yourself to the forum -- to let us know what brought you here, what your interest(s) in these themes are, etc. 

Several of us long-term members have a few long-running discussions and inquiries in progress, and I'm sure we'll continue to pursue them in the fairly concentrated way we do here, but I'd also love to hear from new voices and to invite your participation in the ongoing experiment that is IPS.

[Tony Birdfield]

Hello, I have just joined today. I live in the UK. Thankyou for allowing me to join this very special forum. I have been following the development of Integral philosophy casually since early 1980s .(particularly wilber). Ihave spent more time studying it seriously over the last 3/4years and have done some of the wiberian trainings including Integral Mindfulness. I am also trained in a Tantric lineage of meditation, bodywork and Healing called Buddho.

Our lineage started a similar forum in the UK and we also found that only a handful of people would participate in discussion. It became apparent to me that those who didnt participate were not confident in putting their own views forward or even challenging lines of debate. I know how frustrating it can be when people seem to be non-participants in something that one values so much.

Tony Birdfield www.the-healing-space.net

[Balder]

Welcome to the IPS group, Tony.  It's unusual that you joined, because all members are supposed to be approved by me, but that has not been happening for the past few weeks.  I have been removing users who become members without approval, assuming they are bots, but I'm glad you've posted here and let me know you're a real individual!  Happy to have you here. 

This Ning forum has become pretty quiet in the past year or two, with most activity having moved over to the sister site on Facebook.  But I am expecting a possible resurgence of activity here, since a study group on integrative meta-theory is starting up and there may be some use of / participation on this forum as part of that.

Whether or not that happens, I look forward to interacting with you here.

All the best,

Bruce

[Tony Birdfield]

Thankyou very much for your welcome. One thing I would like to ask is -could you steer me to some useful reading specifically relevant to this forum. I have been studying the usual wilber texts as well as Dustin Dipernas ideas and bringing some of it into my practise but I would like some guidance for your particular emphasis.

Regards Tony Birdfield

[Edward theurj Berge]

I and Bauwens just wrote a piece in Spanda Journal specifically referring to this forum and elaborating on some of the topics herein: Collective Enlightenment Through Postmetaphysical Eyes, pp. 85 - 92. A good intro to the forum and what goes on here.

[Wilfried Graf]

Welcome. I am very thankful for your invitation to join. I was working since 1983 at the Austrian peace center in Schlaining and since 2011 at Klagenfurt University (retired 2017) and founded 2011 the Herb Kelman Institute for Interactive Conflict Transformation in Vienna, with affiliates in the Middle East. I am a scholar-practitioner in international conflict transformation, exploring the religious dimensions of violence and peace, with an on-going focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the conflict about the Holy Esplanade in Jerusalem. Between 2002 and 2010 I was engaged in dialogue projects within and between Sinhala/Buddhists, Tamils/Hindus and Muslims in Sri Lanka. I think that political-religious dialogue within and between religious groups and leaders can contribute a lot to peacemaking including the preparation negotiations. More general I am interested in theories and methods of violence prevention, peace mediation and reconciliation, based on a philosophy of radical humanism. I am researching ways of how to connect peace studies (Kelman), critical realism (Bhaskar), complexity thinking (Morin) and analytical social psychology (Fromm) in inter-disciplinary research and interactive practices.

 

[DavidM58]

Welcome Wilfried! As you can see, this space is not very active at this point, but glad to have you aboard!