Social Change
How Can We Bend History? How Can We Participate in Shaping This Awesome World We Live In?The Social Change Collection shares the experience of a body of people who, with serious intent, sought to alter the course of history in the latter half of the Twentieth Century. Three decades on, the papers themselves seem musty. Even to those of us who were there, much of the language is off-putting at first glance, like messages from a world of long ago and far away. Mark my word, however, the life experiences which these materials describe are much with us today.
Those people lived in a chaotic, crowded, rapidly changing world. So do we, and more so.
Those people struggled to understand the complexity of the social interactions policies and institutions shaping so much of their lives. So do we, and more so.,
Those people took upon themselves the responsibility to decide on behalf of all what was needed and to act on those decisions. So do we and more so.
Those people developed methods and approaches and internal resources that made them effective and gave them the courage to care. So must we and more so.
Those people reached out around the world far beyond their own situation in Global Campaigns to offer the fruit of their experience to men and women who care in organizations and communities in every continent on the planet. So must we, and more so.
My intent on this platform is to offer you, the searcher, a taste of our articulated experience so that you can choose wisely whether and how to explore further either
by exploring the 250+ resources which document this intriguing history for wisdom and courage
by engaging today in YOUR situation with those around you and . . .
with ICA’s around the world who carry on the legacy that has evolved,
with ICA’s Technology of Participation (ToP) network of facilitators and trainers who are actively working with communities and organizations all over the place, or . . .
CREATION (from the Institute Global Song Book)
Refrain:
We stand beyond our life and see,
We stand beyond our death and really see,
What’s required of those who give their death to history;
And it is now that we must do
What other ones must always seek to be,
To discover what’s required of us
To set men free.
A time to set forth a new demand,
A time to look into the past,
For without “what has been,” there is no “yet to be;”
Nothing that we do then could last.
Refrain:
The global task now has claimed our lives,
Who knows where our bodies they shall find?
But with us, anew, now the mystery appears,
The meaning of the life of humankind.
Refrain:
Explore the collection. Its broad themes link helpfully to other collections in this Archive--and your own journey
Grasp the sense of history that impelled us. Do we still live in this world?
Explore the dynamic model of society we created out of the wisdom of our time. What picture of society do you operate from?
Look into the grassroots research and reinvention effort that transformed the Institute. How are your connections being recreated?
Explore the programs, methods, philosophy and active spirit of planetary service that ensued. How are you serving?
Take a look at the Research Assemblies and other events that marked our journey. What is keeping you alive, caring and moving forward?
This collection is being curated by James Wiegel on behalf of the ICA’s Social Research Center. Contact Jim by email for questions about the material presented here and to report corrections and to recommend additions.
This is Tazo. I visited the JWM archive of personal papers in 2015 at the Wesley Seminary in Washington, D.C. It took several days/visits to get there at the right time for the person who needed to approve access. Access was given by handing me a list of titles of papers and items in the archive and then their needing to copy each one to be reviewed. There was some relative to the social process triangles and the States of Being charts, but I did not see anything more than what is stored (or was) at ICA in Chicago. The only book that I recall was a volume of Auden’s Complete Poems…Most of the staff at the Seminary Library was curious about the collection “since no one” apparently had signed in for access prior to my visit. My interest beyond the incredible work and research done within the order is the foundation of methods provided by Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology which was based on small group methods and consensus building in Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s. After Joe’s death, Lynn Mathews also chatted with me for a couple of hours about Joe’s excitement of pushing thru the States of Being charts…He apparently felt a significant break-through to an even deeper level was “almost within reach.” Thx for All That You Do!
This note from Tazo Sschafer is valuable to me especially in relation to this bit “the foundation of methods provided by Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology which was based on small group methods and consensus building in Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s,” partly because it gives a glimpse into how Joe got where he got to.
Likewise the conversation with Lyn:” After Joe’s death, Lynn Mathews also chatted with me for a couple of hours about Joe’s excitement of pushing thru the States of Being charts…He apparently felt a significant break-through to an even deeper level was “almost within reach.”
Thanks, Ann, Jo and Wayne Nelson in their book “Getting to the Bottom of ToP” also explored this connection. There is some amazingly technical phenomenological language in a description of the dynamics of the early LENS course as well. Hope you are well. Best to Desmond
I was a participant in the Global Odessey VI I think . I intentionally went to the globe first in my relationship with the O.E. I never regretted it , but realized I had no photographs, only my reflections. I am interested in the group names. I do know that David Reese led the group. Nothing I did before or after matched the impact. Does anyone remember? Thanks in advance.
Hi Jim, is it possible for me to get a copy of that description? I am currently trying to map the connections between ToP methods and phenomenology and it sounds like the description your cite might be really helpful.
Thanks!
Robert