Author Archives: Peter

Wisdom University in Europe 2013

Posted on by
Reply

 

I am very excited by the program of events that we are offering through Wisdom University in 2013 – four intensives in the Netherlands that also make one whole, a sacred journey into the caves of Dordogne, and the annual pilgrimage to Chartres as the seven year Mystery School starts a new cycle. I don’t know if 2012 is the end of something, but 2013 is certainly the start of something!

[Note that WisdomU events are open to the general public as well as enrolled students.]

It is the first time that there are now enough courses in Europe for a student enrolled in Wisdom University to get all the credits they need in one year for a Masters degree in Wisdom Studies without leaving European shores (plus one virtual course and your dissertation). In this launch year, there is a special deal of the four Intensives in the Netherlands for the price of three, for enrolled students taking them for credit. And there is early bird discount until Jan 31 for students and general public!

The faculty who have agreed to teach with us on these intensives is stellar:

- Caroline Myss, well known and very in demand for her books on medical intuition and powerful public speaking on our spiritual paths. Caroline joins us for Wisdom as a Way of Life.

 

- Marja de Vries, author of The Whole Elephant Revealed, and teacher about the pattern that connects and the nature of or current transition. Marja joins us for the State of the World and Wisdom as a Way of Life intensives.

 

- Dr Jim Garrison, founder of Wisdom University, as well as State of the World Forum and the Gorbachev Foundation USA, well-respected writer, author and teacher. Jim joins us for the State of the World and Wisdom as a Way of Life intensives.

 

- Herman Wijffels, former CEO of Rabobank, Director of Dutch Social-Economic Council and Dutch representative at the World Bank, he is often cited as being “the best Prime Minister the Netherlands never had”. Herman joins us for the State of the World intensive.

 

- Apela Colorado, Ph.D, one of the world’s most respected authorities on indigenous mind and earth wisdom. Creator of the first doctoral program in traditional knowledge at the California Institute of Integral Studies. and the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network. Apela joins us for Ancient Wisdom and leads the trip to the caves of Dordogne, as well as playing a key role in the ritual at Chartres.

- Prof Ervin Laszlo, widely recognised for his work on systems theory and the Akashic Field. Author of more than 70 books, he has taught at the world’s top universities and been an advisor to UNESCO. Ervin joins us by skype (maybe in person depending on travel and health) for Frontier Science.

- Dr Paul Ray, most well-known for his groundbreaking sociological research into Cultural Creatives, he is a much sought-after teacher and advisor on the current movements in human culture and society. Paul joins us by skype for Wisdom as a Way of Life.

On top of this amazing teaching faculty, Wisdom University’s pedagogy is rooted in a holistic approach to the student. As such, afternoons of courses are devoted to transformational art and self-expression, linked to the theme of each intensive.

Richard Henry joins us for sacred geometry in State of the World; Calen Rayne brings his powerful and beautiful brushstroke process to Ancient Wisdom; Mariabruna Sirabella brings the SoulCollage experience to Frontier Science; and Marjolein Berger-Vos brings it all to a fitting close with you taking home your own sculpture at Wisdom as a Way of Life.

Gert van Santen and I will be hosting these events in turn, ensuring that each event works as a whole.

 

Here is an overview of the events with links to more info:

Ancient Wisdom – The Treasure of the Past

Looks at how our worldview changes when we honour our indigenous mind and earth wisdom. Healing our relationship to the earth and our body, inspired by ancient teachings. With Apela Colorado, Gert van Santen, Prof Matthijs Schouten and Calen Rayne. June 23-27, Mennorode, Elspeet, Netherlands

Frontier Science – The Promise of the Future

Leans into what our most challenging and holistic scientists are showing us about reality, what it really means to be deeply interconnected, and the implications of that for many dimensions of our lives. With Prof Ervin Laszlo, Peter Merry and Mariabruna Sirabella (and one more to be confirmed). October 7-11, International School of Philosophy, Leusden, Netherlands

Wisdom as a Way of Life – Action and Organization in the Transition

Given all that we know and sense, how do we lead ourselves, our communities and our organizations in the current Great Transition? What principles can guide us and what kind of people are rising to the challenge? With Jim Garrison, Caroline Myss, Paul Ray, Gert van Santen, Marja de Vries and Marjolein Berger-Vos. November 18-22, ZIN, Vught, Netherlands

State of the World - Seeking the Pattern that Connects

Explores the core of what is happening in our world at this time and reveals a deeper pattern that connects the surface events. WIth Dr Jim Garrison, Peter Merry, Marja de Vries, Herman Wijffels and Richard Henry. March 17-21, 2014. Mennorode, Elspeet, Netherlands

Journey to the Caves of the Dordogne

Go deep inside yourself and this ancient site, face your fears and emerge better prepared to face the challenges ahead. With Apela Colorado and Pascal Raux. In the Vezere Valley, Dordogne, France.

The New Chartres Academy: Grammatica – Illuminating the Language of Divine Consciousness

The New Chartres Academy launches a new seven-year cycle of the Seven Liberal Arts in 2013. The next octave of the New Chartres Academy will focus on the creation of the new human being, the Homo Universalis, and the resacralization of the Earth. Chartres cathedral, France.

It would be great to have you with us at this special time for humanity and this planet of ours.

A Penny for the Guy

Posted on by
Reply

To mark Guy Fawke’s night, here’s a short story I wrote in 1995 that jumped into my awareness this morning. I wrote it to honour Antonin Artaud, who inspired me in many ways.

He watched helplessly as the raindrops pulled his already bedraggled reflection rhythmically yet randomly one way, then another. He caught a brief glimpse of those sated, vacant eyes staring through him out of the water, before an unsuspecting drop sent concentric ripples radiating out from between his eyebrows. He breathed a deep sigh and forced his hands deeper into his coat pockets. He knew nothing could really separate him from his watery companion. Continue reading →

The Wisdom Factor

Posted on by
Reply

With Wisdom University in Europe, we are going to be launching an exciting new concept in October – the Wisdom Factor. There is a book coming out in Dutch first with essays by five authors – Dr Will Taegel, Dr Jm Garrison, Prof Matthijs Schouten, Irene van Lippe and Gert van Santen – followed by a two and a half day workshop with the authors deepening our understanding and felt experience of the Wisdom Factor.

In my words, the Wisdom Factor is accessing the dimensions of ourselves and our world that connect to our more intuitive and energetic sensing than to our rational mind. The conclusion I have come to is that this is essential for us to transition through the current turbulence.

You are welcome to the Book Launch on the morning of October 10th and the workshop on the afternoon of the 10th through to the afternoon of the 12th (which carries academic credit for Wisdom University students and is also open to others).

See Invitation Wisdom Factor book launch (Dutch) for more information on the book launch and Invitation Wisdom Factor Intensive (Dutch) for more on the workshop. Or feel free to contact me.

Suffering in transition

Posted on by
6

The question of why there is so much suffering in major transitions is really quite simple. It is caused by a combination of people from the old order clinging on desperately to what is ready to be released and people from the new order passionately obsessed with forming the new without honoring the foundations of the past that the new has emerged from. When we hold on to what is ready to be released we are afraid of losing what we know. When we obsessively push ahead with the new we are afraid of bring pulled back into the old. Both responses are based on a lack of wholeness ourselves. Both are running away from something, one the inevitability of renewal and the other the embrace of the good in the old.

So all we need to do is be ready to release that which is longer fit for purpose while honoring the past for what it has given us, and integrating the foundation stones of the path we have walked so far. This is the difference between an ecstatic birth and a traumatic birth. Which we choose is up to us.

From Evolution to Volution

Posted on by
9

From Evolution to Volution - the implications of cosmic geometry (cosmometry) on our understanding of life and the human story.

This is based on a paper submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for my PhD in Wisdom Studies at Wisdom University, following the course Fundamentals of Cosmometry, lead by Marshall Lefferts with guests.

The images of torus, jitterbug and vector equilibrium used with thanks to Marshall Lefferts.

Introduction

The idea that we as humanity have evolved in a linear process over time is probably one of the most widely accepted ideas across the human species. There is debate between more religious fundamentalist perspectives and more scientific-rational perspectives about exactly when it all began (eg a few thousand years ago versus 14 billion years ago), but they all agree on the idea that since that beginning we have been evolving through historical time with a past, present and future. Indeed, even our most popular philosophers and spiritual teachers tend to promote an evolutionary perspective (Wilber (1996), Cohen (2011), Laszlo (1996)). In my own book (Merry 2009) I adopted and connected these various evolutionary theories.

However, over the last year or so, I have come to question this perspective, and the cosmometry retreat has strengthened my belief that there is a more adequate perspective on our human reality that better reflects the fundamental dynamics of life. This paper attempts to explore the broader perspective and apply it to our human story. Continue reading →

Fundamentals of Energy Work

Posted on by
Reply

I’m very excited about this event I will be co-teaching on with Calen and Jini Rayne in Asheville, USA in September. We are pioneering an introduction to the basics in energetic work, to help people get a sense of what it is all about and then find their way into practices that suit them if appropriate. Calen is a true master of the invisible realms and Jini is one of the world’s most qualified Feng Shui practitioners.

Click here for more info on my site, or go directly to Calen’s site here. Register by emailing me (petermerry@wisdomuniversity.org) or Calen (crayne@wisdomuniversity.org). We are choosing to keep the group quite small first time round (c 15) and have a few places left, so if you feel called, act now!

Death and Life

Posted on by
4

I have just completed the original Quantum Light Breath process guided by Jeru Kabbal during which I sobbed with laughter at the realisation of who I am, who we are and what this is. I took life in and let what is dead go – and I allowed myself to accept that what is dead is actually dead, an old memory hanging around and in the way of what wants to be born.

And I realised that the old beliefs and structures of our civilisation are also already dead. They are dead. Dead. Let it in. They are dead. They are dead and they are deadening for us as long as we cling to them. They are still interfering because we are holding onto them, but I can assure you that they are dead. That is why we are in so much turmoil at the moment.

An economy based on monetary debt, competition, unlimited growth, the privatisation of wealth and socialisation of costs is dead. Energy use based on petrochemicals, consumer excess, unlimited consumption, conflict and pollution is dead. A relationship to nature that involves exploiting raw materials for solely our ends, industrial use as if resources were unlimited, waste and degradation is dead. They are all dead, but not yet buried – and that is the problem.

Anything that dies needs to be honoured for the life it had, blessed and released. For us to let go of our fascination with the dead beliefs and structures of the past, we need to see in them the beauty of the gift they gave, the contribution they made and give thanks. And grieve for their passing. Weep, sob, grieve for the end of something beautiful, honour it and let it go. For it is dead. We are then able to carry forward the essence of the gift that past form held.

We don’t have to fight against the old system, it is already dead. We will only create zombies if we fight it. Bless it, grieve for it and release it. That may be hard to accept, because pushing against something can help to define your identity and give you meaning. But you are pushing against a shadow – it is already dead. And it will deaden you as long as you allow yourself to be defined by it. Let it go – it is dead and wants to be released, not bound in the twilight zone, hanging around to haunt us. Ritually honour it and bury it. It’s dead.

Now turn your attention to life. Life is right here, under your nose, in this very moment, happening. It’s dancing in front of you, trying to playfully grab your attention and seduce you into dancing with it. It’s pushing its way through cracks in the dead concrete of the past, at every moment. It is pure joy, acceptance and love. Let it in. It’s right here, now. Raise your eyes, stop reading this and look around you. Yes, that’s it! you feel it in your heart. It’s so simple people, it really is. We make it so difficult for ourselves. I laugh tears when I see it – oh my word we make it so difficult. Yet it is so simple, so simple.

The past is dead. Life is the present. And the future is calling. Let’s let go, come present and bring this species of ours back to life.

Thank you Greece

Posted on by
3

I recently read a quote attributed to Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg’s prime minster and head of the euro group, to the effect that “we know exactly what we should do; we just don’t know how to get re-elected if we do it” (quoted in Guardian Weekly 25.05.12). I then heard Yiannis Milios, top Economic Advisor of the Syriza Party, currently polling highest in the run up to new elections, on BBC World Service’s Hardtalk.

Think for a moment about what Juncker is saying – according to our economic policy framework and paradigm, we know what we should do, but we also know that it would be immensely unpopular with people. What does that tell us? One of two things: either the people are ignorant and don’t know what is good for them and their countries, or the socio-economic paradigm from which our politicians are trying to manage the crisis is fundamentally flawed. I tend to go with the latter. They are trying to impose more of the old when the old itself is the problem – because they don’t know any better.

Listening to the Hardtalk interview, I was struck by how, for the first time in a long time, views that fairly fundamentally challenge the current economic paradigm and assumptions were given a serious airing. Something is shifting. And Greece is leading the way.

This is not to say that I agree with everything Syriza stands for nor the energy with which they are going about it. But that is not the point. The point is that life is giving form to a new way of thinking about our societies, and Greece and Syriza happen to be the channels for the new birth. Passion, positioning and polarisation is part of the process. This may sound romantic but is actually a blessing very much in disguise. Greece is the innovator here, and for an innovator to carve out a new paradigm at this level is going to be extremely tough.

The transition will be painful, as people struggle to make ends meet playing by the rules of a game that is dying. It will take time for the new ways to emerge and crystallise in such a manner that they really serve the needs people are feeling and can be widely adopted (see this emergence of local solutions as an example of innovation due to need). There will be recriminations towards the old order, babies will be thrown out with bathwater, sides will be taken, society will be polarised. But eventually the new order will settle down, people will have space in their hearts to forgive, they will remember the good elements of the old and will re-integrate what has been rejected too hastily, and Greece will once more have been the cradle of a new civilisation.

Thank you Greece for being so bold. Thank you for cracking the old mold. And thank you for the suffering you undergo for us all. We hold you in our hearts.

The role of pain and tension in evolutionary leadership

Posted on by
8

 

[This piece is written for Dutch book Bloei! on leadership and organisation. I was asked to write on "lijderschap" which in Dutch is a play on words. Leadership is normally "leiderschap". "Lijden" means to suffer.]

 

Passion – pp. stem of patī suffer (Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology)

Practice

We are on retreat with the Center for Human Emergence Netherlands. It is the last morning and we have just completed a forty-five minute session of Quantum Light Breath. I am sitting in a circle of seventeen people who fill a role in the organisation I founded and lead. I have just announced that I have something to say. My voice trembling with the emotion of the realisation that I have just had, I open my mouth to speak. I share that it has just hit me really hard what an honour it is to be entrusted with the leadership of these amazing people I see sitting around me. I tell that I allowed myself to accept that I may be worthy of their trust, which is a huge thing. I say that I realise that I have not always been able to see them for the great souls they are and have not honoured them fully in my leadership. For that I apologise and commit to remembering. The room is still. Then our master of ritual tells me to stand in the middle of the room and has everyone put their hands on my shoulders. People call out qualities that they respect in me and my leadership. I am rooted to the spot and feel my self expand. The pain of the realisation has bonded us more closely and installed me more deeply in my leadership role. Natural order is honoured. Continue reading →