Proposed Research and Project Activities
(2013 - 2018)
Nat/PMA/2012/Coimbatore
The Centre will be involved in initiating, promoting and supporting activities that contribute to spiritually-engaged sustainable lifestyles, products, organisations, services, and institutions. It will work to partner and consolidate efforts that have been initiated by others in promoting spiritually-engaged sustainability.
The working approach of the Centre will therefore be governed by "cooperation, collaboration and partnership" with clear focus on concerns and issues that are being addressed.
The Centre's activities will cover three core areas:
(I) Broad Research Directions and Activities:
Towards a New 'Language' i.e. Orientation and Cosmology
Research activities will be undertaken on a regular and need basis (dependent on people and funds).
(i) (a) Critical review the “business-as-usual” approach to sustainable development and its impact on human societies, nature and our common future.
(b) Exploration of sustainability beyond the mainstream technological or economic points-of-views/practice.
(ii) (a) Exploration and promotion of the language of spiritually-engaged sustainability and futures (with the aim to engage and transform 'mainstream' discourses on contemporary global concerns and issues).
(b) Monitoring and cataloguing of notions such as gross national happiness (GNH) or well-being, spiritual quotient, spiritual capital, “green deen”, mindfulness, interconnectedness, servant leadership (and many more that have come into contemporary usage), etc., into a body of ideas, imagination, images and a language that inform discussions on spiritually-engaged sustainable futures.
(iii) Exploration, discovery and building a development logic of Being within a nature-oriented cosmology and moving away from the growth logic of Having (i.e. material possessiveness).
(iv) Exploration, discovery and promotion of new conceptions of personhood, community, nature and their deep inter-connectedness (to foster trust, dialogue/multilogue and friendship across age, gender, ethnic communities, perspectives, religious affiliation and regions).
(v) Systematic study of self-correcting, continually improving process-driven institutionalisation and governance of spiritually-engaged sustainable futures [with emphasis on civilisational dialogue and education (teaching-learning)] .
(II) Proposed Projects/Project Areas:
Creative Institutionalisation (Consolidation and/or Initiation of Civilisational Dialogue)
These projects are conceived as partnerships between the Global Centre, Centres distributed across the globe with similar aims and objectives, target communities and socially-conscious professional communities and foundations.
(1) Deep dialogue sessions (including regional and global events) in specific and relevant topics in any (or in combination) of the following categories (in order to encourage development of the 'spiritually-engaged sustainability' orientation):
(2) Publishing and production efforts -- books, blogs, bl-ooks, reports, powerpoint presentations, posters, information pamphlets, action packs, thematic websites, monographs, articles, coffee table photo-books, documentaries and audio recordings, etc...anything that promotes the cause of the Centre. (The periodicity of this effort will of course depend on people and funds.)
(3) Festival of Arts once a year to offer a platform for inventors, artists, designers, film makers and other communication professionals to promote the cause of the Centre through arts and sustainable designs. (As and when opportunities unfold, the Centre will also hold small-scale documentary film festivals, photo-exhibitions, and promote the cause of the Centre through art, etc.)
(4) People formation and leadership programmes/courses to support the cause of the Centre and such Centres that are globally distributed.
(5) Sustainable livelihood initiatives that are based on a sense of deep inter-connectedness with nature and communities (across space and time).
(6) Programming, building and disseminating deep dialogue-promoting, community-building social and digital technologies (softwares) and methodologies to support the concerns and cause of the Centre, and such Centres across the globe. (See here)
(7) Consultancy in the area of products, services and organisational designs that promote spiritually-engaged sustainability.
(III) Building Technologies and Knowledge Base:
Creating Networked Communities
The Centre will seek out and collaborate with like-minded individuals, organisations, foundations, and communities with the aim to build active networks. Such networks, it is hoped will help consolidate, transform and move the present human agenda towards spiritually-engaged sustainable futures. Behind the networks will be efforts to build humanity-and-nature-oriented spheres of activities surrounded by digital technology-supported dynamic knowledge base. This will be an ongoing activity.
The working approach of the Centre will therefore be governed by "cooperation, collaboration and partnership" with clear focus on concerns and issues that are being addressed.
The Centre's activities will cover three core areas:
- Towards creation of a new 'language' i.e. orientation and cosmology
- Creative institutionalisation (consolidating and building civilisational dialogue)
- Consolidation or creation of networked communities
(I) Broad Research Directions and Activities:
Towards a New 'Language' i.e. Orientation and Cosmology
Research activities will be undertaken on a regular and need basis (dependent on people and funds).
(i) (a) Critical review the “business-as-usual” approach to sustainable development and its impact on human societies, nature and our common future.
(b) Exploration of sustainability beyond the mainstream technological or economic points-of-views/practice.
(ii) (a) Exploration and promotion of the language of spiritually-engaged sustainability and futures (with the aim to engage and transform 'mainstream' discourses on contemporary global concerns and issues).
(b) Monitoring and cataloguing of notions such as gross national happiness (GNH) or well-being, spiritual quotient, spiritual capital, “green deen”, mindfulness, interconnectedness, servant leadership (and many more that have come into contemporary usage), etc., into a body of ideas, imagination, images and a language that inform discussions on spiritually-engaged sustainable futures.
(iii) Exploration, discovery and building a development logic of Being within a nature-oriented cosmology and moving away from the growth logic of Having (i.e. material possessiveness).
(iv) Exploration, discovery and promotion of new conceptions of personhood, community, nature and their deep inter-connectedness (to foster trust, dialogue/multilogue and friendship across age, gender, ethnic communities, perspectives, religious affiliation and regions).
(v) Systematic study of self-correcting, continually improving process-driven institutionalisation and governance of spiritually-engaged sustainable futures [with emphasis on civilisational dialogue and education (teaching-learning)] .
(II) Proposed Projects/Project Areas:
Creative Institutionalisation (Consolidation and/or Initiation of Civilisational Dialogue)
These projects are conceived as partnerships between the Global Centre, Centres distributed across the globe with similar aims and objectives, target communities and socially-conscious professional communities and foundations.
(1) Deep dialogue sessions (including regional and global events) in specific and relevant topics in any (or in combination) of the following categories (in order to encourage development of the 'spiritually-engaged sustainability' orientation):
- Peace, Dialogue and Democracy
- Commodification, Desire and the Good Life
- Poverty and Social Justice
- Labour, Future of Work and Leisure
- Globalisation and Human Rights & Security
- Education and People Formation
- Globalism, Regionalism, and Localism
- Dwelling and Urbanisation
- Femininity and Indigeneity
- Conventional, Alternative and Appropriate Technologies
- Health & Healing
- Victims of Economic Growth and Development (Refugees, Victims of Human Trafficking, etc)
- Food, Water and Energy Security
- Social Enterprise and Financial Models
- Cooperative Global Trade
- Media, Communication and Culture
- Transparency and the Quality of Everyday Life
- Sustainable Organisation, Social and Product Design
- Culture, Heritage and Future(s)
- Ecology and Planetary Consciousness
- Faith Communities, Perspectivism and Universalism
- Spirituality and Sustainability
(2) Publishing and production efforts -- books, blogs, bl-ooks, reports, powerpoint presentations, posters, information pamphlets, action packs, thematic websites, monographs, articles, coffee table photo-books, documentaries and audio recordings, etc...anything that promotes the cause of the Centre. (The periodicity of this effort will of course depend on people and funds.)
(3) Festival of Arts once a year to offer a platform for inventors, artists, designers, film makers and other communication professionals to promote the cause of the Centre through arts and sustainable designs. (As and when opportunities unfold, the Centre will also hold small-scale documentary film festivals, photo-exhibitions, and promote the cause of the Centre through art, etc.)
(4) People formation and leadership programmes/courses to support the cause of the Centre and such Centres that are globally distributed.
(5) Sustainable livelihood initiatives that are based on a sense of deep inter-connectedness with nature and communities (across space and time).
(6) Programming, building and disseminating deep dialogue-promoting, community-building social and digital technologies (softwares) and methodologies to support the concerns and cause of the Centre, and such Centres across the globe. (See here)
(7) Consultancy in the area of products, services and organisational designs that promote spiritually-engaged sustainability.
(III) Building Technologies and Knowledge Base:
Creating Networked Communities
The Centre will seek out and collaborate with like-minded individuals, organisations, foundations, and communities with the aim to build active networks. Such networks, it is hoped will help consolidate, transform and move the present human agenda towards spiritually-engaged sustainable futures. Behind the networks will be efforts to build humanity-and-nature-oriented spheres of activities surrounded by digital technology-supported dynamic knowledge base. This will be an ongoing activity.
