Handout for

Integral Spiritual Activism:

How Consciousness in Action Can Uplift the Level of Integrity

and Well-Being in the Body Politic of the World

A presentation to the Austin Chapter of the Institute of Noetic Sciences ,

September 25, 2007

Oliver W. Markley, Ph.D.

 

The Central Challenge of Humanity

“When one species attains a position of dominance over all the other species in the ecology of its planet, if it is both egocentrically greedy, and has a powerful set of technologies through which to amplify the expression of that greed, then unless that dominant species can find a way to limit or to transform itself and its greed-based systems into something more wholesome, it will foul its planetary nest as surely as the night follows the day ... perhaps even to its own extinction.”

 

Source: “The Fourth Wave: A Normative Forecast for the

Future of ‘Spaceship Earth',” by Oliver Markley

  As recently stated in the website of Congressman James E. Clyborn, Chair of the new Congressional “Clean House Task Force”:

1. "We must restore the integrity of the House. Integrity, basically defined, is when words and deeds do not part."
2. "We must transcend politics as usual in Washington and bring transparency to the process of government".
3. "We must enact legislation to rein in Washington money and fully empower all Americans. The system is simply not working and we must take action now to fix it."

Source: http://clyburn.house.gov/pressroom-statements-detail.cfm?id=5 ; emphasis added

 

 

 

The “4-Way Test” of Rotary International

This 24-word test is used world-wide as an ethical guide for people to follow in their business and professional lives involving sales, production, advertising, and all relations with dealers and customers.    In the things we think, say or do :

Source: http://www.rotary.org/aboutrotary/4way.html

 

Summary of Findings re: Intentional Mental Influence and Causation

Source: The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts

                             to Change Your Life and the World, by Lynne McTaggart

 

Three Questions to Orient Ourselves as Social and/or Spiritual Activists

  1. “When I look at what's happening in our world, concerns I have include…”
  2. “My positive vision for what I'd like to see happen is….”
  3. “Steps I can take to move in this direction include…”

    Source: Based on suggestions in The Great Turning Times – a free email

    newsletter  about findingour power to respond to global crisis.

Website: http://www.GreatTurningTimes.org

 

Three Questions to Help Assess the Risk

of Working Radically to Improve Integrity

 
  1. What are the risks that you would have to take [or maybe have already started to take] to actively work to increase the level of integrity in your personal and public life in ways that are both self-critical and challenge powerful people and institutions in order to get at the root of what is needed? What risks would you have to take to do that?
  2. What risks will you take if you don't work for integrity in these ways?
  3. If you decided to take the risks inherent in Question 1, what will you need in order to survive and thrive as an activist and as a person: What will you need from yourself? What will you need from other people? And what will you need from the institutions and organizations in your life, both public and private?
 

(You might note that people in positions of privilege tend to exaggerate the risks in Question One and under-estimate the risks in Question Two.)

Source: Professor Robert Jensen, University of Texas at Austin

 

References

* Harman, Willis, Global Mind Change - The Promise of The 21st Century, Second Edition (1998).

Hawken, Paul, Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming (2007).

Hawkins, David, Power Vs. Force (1995).

* Hurley, Thomas, “Changing Images 2000,”    http://inwardboundvisioning.com/Docs/Changing%20Images%202000.pdf .

*** Korten, David, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (2006).

Macy, Joanna, Coming Back to Live: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World (1998).

** Markley, Oliver, “Getting Real about Integrity,” a booklet of resource materials for workshops of The Integrity   Project, (2007), http://www.InwardBoundVisioning.com/IntegrityBooklet.htm .

 

_____ “Mental Time Travel : A practical business and personal research tool for looking ahead,” Journal of Futures (in press), doi:10.1016/j.futures.2007.06.006; http://inwardboundvisioning.com/Docs/VisionaryTimeTravelCS.htm .

 

_____ “The Fourth Wave: A Normative Forecast for the Future of ‘Spaceship Earth',” (1994), posted at  http://www.inwardboundvisioning.com/Docs/SpaceShipEarth.htm .

 

Markley, Oliver (Proj. Dir.) and Willis Harman (Proj. Supv.), with Joseph Campbell, Duane Elgin, Arthur Hastings and Brendan O'Regan, Changing Images of Man (as SRI report, 1974; as published book, 1982).

** McTaggart, Lynne, The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World (2007).

Moyer, Bill with JoAnn McAllister, Mary Lou Finley & Steven Soifer, Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements (2001).

** PEERS--Public Education and Empowerment Resource Service, http://www.peerservice.org/, online publishers of:

http://www.WantToKnow.info - Revealing major cover-ups and working together for a brighter future
http://www.inspiringcommunity.org - Building a Global Community for All
http://www.weboflove.org - Strengthening the Web of Love that interconnects us all

http://www.transformationteam.net - Conscious community in action .

Rotary International, “The Four Way Test,” posted at http://www.rotary.org/aboutrotary/4way.html .

Wilber, Ken, The Integral Operating System, Version 1.0 (2005); The Kosmic Consciousness set of interviews on CD (2003); and a variety of other resources on integral theory. Website: www.Integralinstitute.org .


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

As recently stated in the website of Congressman James E. Clyborn, Chair of the new Congressional “Clean House Task Force”:

 

1. "We must restore the integrity of the House. Integrity, basically defined, is when words and deeds do not part."

 

2. "We must transcend politics as usual in Washington and bring transparency to the process of government".

 

3. "We must enact legislation to rein in Washington money and fully empower all Americans. The system is simply not working and we must take action now to fix it."

Source: http://clyburn.house.gov/pressroom-statements-detail.cfm?id=5 ; emphasis added