THE PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF COLLECTIVE WISDOM
WHAT IS WISDOM?
Q: IS THERE ANYONE WISER THAN SOCRATES?
ORACLE: THERE IS NO ONE WISER. THE DELPHIC
ORACLE
KNOW THYSELF
SEEKING WISDOM FROM THE POLITICIAN, POET, AND ARTISAN, AND NOT FINDING IT,
SOCRATES SUGGESTS THE ORACLE CALLS HIM WISE BECAUSE HE KNOWS THE LIMITS OF HIS KNOWLEDGE.
HAVING HUMOR AND HUMILITY IN THE FACE OF ALL
WE DO NOT KNOW.
ZALMAN SCHACHTER SHALOMI, WORLD WISDOM CHAIR, NAROPA
UNIVERSITY
HOW THEN SHALL WE PURSUE WISDOM?
WHAT SOCRATES PRACTICED
•WISDOM IS DISCOVERED THROUGH INQUIRY AND BY CHALLENGING OUR CERTAINTY.
•WISDOM IS REVEALED IN DIALOGUE AND THE INTERACTION OF IDEAS.
•WISDOM IS FOUND IN THE SOUL’S MEMORY OF TRANSCENDENT IDEAS... SUCH AS BEAUTY, JUSTICE, AND TRUTH.
MAJOR INFLUENCES & BEGINNING ASSUMPTIONS
Leadership begins with a transformation from within, a shift deep within our own souls.
“Build, therefore,
your own world.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
In man the perpetual progress is from the Individual to the Universal, from that which is human, to that
which is divine.
KEN WILBER’S 4 QUADRANTS
Collective Wisdom is an Awareness of the 4 Quadrants
COLLECTIVE EXTERIOR
COLLECTIVE INTERIOR
INDIVIDUAL INTERIOR
INDIVIDUAL EXTERIOR
WISDOM is an Appreciation for WHOLENESS AND INTERCONNECTEDNESS. AN ENCOUNTER WITH EDGAR MITCHELL
A COSMIC FIELD
EMERGENCEAN ABILITY TO SEE BEAUTY AND ORDER ARISING FROM WHAT MAY APPEAR, AT FIRST, AS CHAOTIC AND DISTURBING
SACRED SPACE
MOMENTS & SPACES WHERE TWO WORLDS FLOW INTO EACH OTHER, THE VISIBLE WITH THE INVISIBLE, THE FINITE WORLD TOUCHES THE INFINITE
DIALOGUEThe human capacity to make meaning depends on a suspension of any one individual having always to be right... a greater collective wisdom becomes possible
when ideas are no longer the possession of one person or subgroup, but are shared by those who
helped shape it together.
Collective Wisdom
involves the pursuit of Universal principles shared within the human community such as truth, beauty, justice, and compassion. At a practical level, collective wisdom involves a deep understanding of groups resulting in good judgment, respect for others, and the objectivity to see what is needed in the moment.
THE POWER OF HUMAN CONNECTION
THE ABILITY TO FEEL CONNECTED IS WHAT GIVES US A SENSE OF MEANING AND PURPOSE
The fields of neuroscience, psychology, sociology, and even behavioral economics are beginning to reveal a convergence.
We Are Social Animals
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We are not individuals who
form relationships. We are social
animals, deeply interpenetrated
with one another, who emerge out of relationships.
David Brooks
WE ARE SOCIAL ANIMALS & SPIRITUAL BEINGS•Attunement - An ability to sense
one’s surroundings, and fall into rhythm
with others.
•Mindfullness - An ability to monitor one’s own thoughts and feelings with serenity. Expanded Attention & Focus.
•Metis - The ability to see patterns
and derive meaning from complex
situations.
•Empathy - the action of understanding and being with the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another; to be in suffering with another - em patheia.
Collective Wisdom: A World View that Joins SPIRIT WITH HUMAN ASPIRATION
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
MAHATMA GANDHI
HOWARD THURMAN
MARTIN LUTHER KING
NELSON MANDELA
Social Change requires a determination of the heart when all else tells you to
give up.
• DEEP LISTENING
• SUSPENDING CERTAINTY
• SEEING WHOLE SYSTEMS/ SEEKING DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES
• RESPECT FOR OTHERS/ PRACTICING GROUP DISCERNMENT
• WELCOMING ALL THAT ARISING
• TRUST IN THE TRANSCENDENT
What Personal Actions and Commitments Enables Collective Wisdom to Arise?
Source: The Power of Collective Wisdom by Briskin, Erickson, Ott, Callanan
Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that. Because what the world needs is people
who have come alive.
Howard Thurman
TAFELMUSIK BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
THE FOUR SEASONS MOSAIC
There are moments when groups and larger collectives feel more alive, when members feel more connected to each other and to larger life forces, more vibrant and capable of extraordinary action.
COLLECTIVE WISDOM SHOWS UP IN EXPERIENCES OF DEEPENING CONNECTION:
WITH OTHERS
IN RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE, SPIRIT AND COSMOS.
IN MOMENTS of TRANSCENDENCE& SUFFERING