What is an underlying question that gives form
to your work or interest in this field?
How does an organization operate so that it can harvest
individual experiences in ways that allow the wisdom to be available
to all?
What is your personal experience of collective
wisdom in groups?
For many years, as a member of the Institute of Cultural
Affairs (ICA), I have experienced the profound ability to take diverse
experiences and knowledge and forge incredibly creative ideas and writing.
This has been in both relatively small groups, but it is most exciting
when done with literally hundreds of people, all creatively aligned.
You experience your brain being wired with others, like a series of
computers hooked together. When it is functioning at its best it is
magical!
What is it about the work in this field that excites
you and connects you to your own deepest self?
I have been working for a number of years with private
sector companies in India on transformational processes. Since much
of the depth wisdom of India is based on the understanding of your interior
energies, I have worked extensively on what energy looks like in a larger
form like a corporation. I have been able to discern that the Spirit
(both individual and collective) can be understood in three distinct
forms, one of which is the collective wisdom energy that this group
is trying to understand. My edge is presently getting this communicated
in such ways that this form of the collective Spirit can be understood,
nurtured and harvested.
Please provide a brief storyline or snapshot of
what brought you to this work.
All the years I have been with the ICA have been a profound
journey in collective consciousness. Our theoretical work and practical
methods of individual and collective spirituality has shaped my life.
My 18 years in India, working with my wife Judy in organizational transformation
has been like “coming home”. It would take a book (which
I’m working on!) to share all the experiences and theoretical
frameworks that have been so helpful to me in my journey. There are
three authors that have been exceptionally helpful to me; J.G. Bennett,
author of The Dramatic Universe, C.S. Lewis who shaped my early consciousness,
and Robert Campbell, author and friend who wrote Fisherman’s Guide.
His book allowed me to understand the universal nature of the System,
as he describes it and it has been with me in my work ever since (1986).
As for mentors, there are so many, but I will lift up just a few. From
the ICA there are literally hundreds, but the Dean and his wife, Joe
and Lyn Mathews, are at the top of the list, followed closely by David
McCleskey and George Walters. I would like to also lift up the woman
who brought poetry into my life, David's wife, Pat Webb. From India
I would share much of what ever I have accomplished here with my dear
friend V.S. Mahesh. He, more than any other I know, showed my what depth
consciousness combined with a strategic mind can do within an organization.
How would you like to be available to others in
this field?
I live and work in India most of the year, so most contact
would be by email. But twice a year (December-January and May-June)
you can find us in Mexico at our home just north of Puerto Vallarta.
It is a great place for depth conversation, meditation, yoga, swimming
and reconnecting with nature. I would enjoy dialoguing with anyone working
on OT, the arenas of collective energy systems and the practical processes
of building organizations that are places of true human development.
