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INVITATION TO THE DEFINING ASSEMBLY OF THE EUROTAS CREATIVE INITIATIVE Thursday 25 — Sunday 28 May 2000 at Bad Kissingen, near Frankfurt, Germany The Second General Assembly of the EUROTAS Creative Initiative will take place at the same time as the EUROTAS 2000 Annual Delegate Council Meeting. Delegates of Member Associations from across EUROPE will take part as well as specially invited guests interested in the themes which form the basis of the current networks being developed across Europe of research and specialist meetings. Please let us know as soon as possible if you would like to join this special group. This web page describes EUROTAS and outlines the Creative Initiative and the the Bad Kissingen Conference.
The European Transpersonal Association (EUROTAS) provides a framework for cooperation between European national transpersonal associations and a network for individuals across Europe interested in a transpersonal vision for Europe. EUROTAS contributes to the rapid changes taking place across the planet which involve the relationship of individuals to one another, to the planet and to themselves. It is oriented towards reconciling the viewpoints of different disciplines, sciences, spirituality, philosophy and art. It offers a platform and a system of communication for promoting the holistic transformation of the human being in body,mind, soul and spirit. It is multi-disciplinary, embracing all sectors of life and society, but has neither religious, nor political affiliations and is not limited to any particular discipline, school of thought or technique. In Europe Transpersonal Associations started up in different countries and the first European Transpersonal Conference was organised in Brussels (1984). Later Conferences were held in Strasbourg (1990), London (1994) and Warsaw,(1997). The 5th Conference will take place in Assisi in September 2000 EUROTAS has a coordinating and communications role in Europe. Through the East-West project it has encouraged Central and Eastern European Countries to establish their own organisations which have become part of the transpersonal movement. The Creative Initiative is a EUROTAS project launched to enable individuals as opposed to associations to meet, study and develop their transpersonal interests. EUROTAS seeks to cooperate with individuals and groups which wish to introduce a transpersonal dimension to their individual and collective lives. It aims to serve not by leading, but by inspiring and creating new approaches.
THE EUROPEAN CREATIVE INITIATIVE (ECI) 1. The European Creative Intiative (ECI) The European Creative Initiative is a EUROTAS project which brings individuals together from across Europe who meet and work in order to seek new ways of introducing the principles and practice of the transpersonal approach into areas of everyday life. It is a kind of brains trust or think tank which explores a range of subjects such as management and government, health, education and other professional fields where this approach might be appreciated. It has a service unit which researches, co-ordinates and communicates the findings to a wider audience. The ECI is a framework for transpersonal creativity which enables participants to exchange ideas with the aim of reaching better mutual understanding, acknowledging what they have in common without sacrificing individuality and appreciating their different backgrounds and cultures. ECI bases its decision-making process on consensus, thus enabling decisions to be taken by general agreement. This method is called sociocracy. It works towards the integration of science and spirituality and, following the transpersonal path, what has been called the re-enchantment of Europe.
This is based around seven themes which are being studied by seven separate committees. Members of the Creative Initiative work on a committee of their choice, but can contribute to other Committees and even join them when they so wish. The Committees met for the first time in Hungary in August 1999 and will meet for a second time in Germany at Bad Kissingen from 25-28 May 2000. In the meantime small groups have plans to meet and there is an exchange and refinement of views by e-mail, fax and telephone. The work at present is divided into two groups: The first one consists of three practical schemes which are being developed in a European context. These are transpersonal training for psychotherapists, the Spiritual Emergency Network, and publishing and communication in a transpersonal setting. The second group consists of four themes. These are health, education, management and transpersonal research which are being studied and researched by their respective expert committees. The work on these themes reflects the four levels of consciousness: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. It can also be seen as one of the ECI suggested in terms of Walking the Four-Fold Way as formulated by Angeles Arrien - The Warrior, The Healer, The Teacher and the Visionary. He links the Warrior´s way with the expression of power, the Healer´s with the extension of love, the Teacher´s with modelling wisdom and the Visionary´s with expressing creativity and vision. These ways draw attention to the transpersonal concept of what management, health, education and research could mean. The work of the seven committees which is being constantly updated is summarized below. It is based on the meeting which took place in Dobogokoe in Hungary in August 1999 and subsequently amended by a meeting in Luxembourg in December 1999. After being circulated for comment to all those who were present at either or both of these meetings, a final version will be produced which will serve as the basis of discussions in Germany in May 2000
The Founding Assembly of the Creative Initiative was held last year at Dobogoko in Hungary. The Seven Committees discussed the following subjects: 1. The Training of European Transpersonal Therapists. 2. European Transpersonal Communication, Websites, Publications and Newsletters. 3. The European Spiritual Emergency Network 4. The transpersonal vision in health 5. The transpersonal vision in education 6. The transpersonal vision in management. 7. Transpersonal research. The work of these seven committees is described and updated regularly. Please write or fax for an updated report to Rumold Mol.
As a new and increasinly united Europe evolves around us, we are faced with the challenge to make this shared homeland of ours as human as possible and to raise and transform our individual and collective awareness and creative potential. In the separate countries of Europe, national transpersonal associations have for years made considerable contributions towards this aim. They took the initiative to form networks between people and organisations and developed a wide range of activities which helped spread the transpersonal vision. They published books, journals and bulletins, organised national networks for individuals in spiritual crisis and promoted the training of transpersonal psychotherapists. These national transpersonal associations also explored through study groups, conferences and in other ways important themes through which consciousness could be raised and which looked at such issues as health, education, management and others in a new and holistic way. These groups are dedicated to the transpersonal paradigm, which emphasizes the spiritual dimension of life while remaining at the same time well grounded in everyday reality, expanding the human field of experience well beyond the narrow limits of the purely personal.
With the birth of a Euro-land and the joining of the national transpersonal associations to form a new European Transpersonal Association, called EUROTAS, in 1987, the activities of the separate countries continued, but there was a felt need to co-ordinate them on a European scale. This required a coming together of individuals with a transpersonal vision from different cultures and subcultures of Europe to meet and reflect together.
In 1998, delegates to the twelfth annual Council Meeting of EUROTAS initiated a new project for this purpose to help individuals face the challenge of the current profound change of consciousness. The EUROTAS Creative Initiative was born. This project is rich in potential and will help promote the development of the transpersonal vision in Europe through the work of individuals. Our aim was for Europeans working in a wide range of professions to explore the transpersonal aspects of their respective fields of activity, so that they could offer something new and valuable to their fellow professionals and to the community at large. We proposed working with persons who have the expertise, the dynamics, the erudition and the human qualities to develop creative projects and help to put the transpersonal vision in the world. The project can be seen as a Europe-wide meeting of professional talent and transpersonal vision.
The ECI project is simply a method of pursuing this goal. It puts the talents of experts in a given professional field in touch with the gifts of others in the same field, but from other coutnries. The resulting wisdom asks to be transformed into a product. The method differs from the 'conference strategy', because everybody participates actively. We will invite experts who nourish, complement, evaluate and support each other and release their joint wisdom. In this way much hidden knowledge and wisdom may come to the surface. The project is a quest for excellent ideas which are not yet widely known.
The aim of the expert committees is to arrive at a product in the form of information and/or actions. The information will be communicated through, pamphlets, books, articles professional or popular journals, the development of a transcultural network 'Transnet' and worldwide webpages. Actions can range from a set of workshops and seminars in several countries, to European conferences on specific themses, the training of leadership functions with a transpersonal inspiration and the development of facilitators of transpersonal process and therapy, the changes to curricula and last, but not least, the creation of a European Transpersonal Journal and a Spiritual Emergence Network (S.E.N.)
We invited experts in specific professional fields such as health and education from all over Europe to form expert committees of some 8 to 14 participants. We asked them to reflect in a creative way on the transpersonal perspective of their specific fields and come up with innovative ideas. Their findings are published in EUROTAS Newsletter Number 7 which is available on request. At the First General Assembly of the Creative Initiative at Dobogokoe in Hungary, these expert committees agreed to meet at regular intervals and to keep in touch with one another to develop their thinking. The Second General Assembly will take place at Bad Kissingen near Frankfurt in Germany from 25-29 May 2000, with a planned participation of 50-70 interested persons from all over Europe.Some will have a transpersonal background and others will be interested to learn more about the subject.
Each expert committe has nominated its co-ordinator, who undertakes to see that minutes are distributed and contacts are maintained between meetings. These group activities may continue throughout the year independent of the general meetings which will take place at least annually.
Co-ordinators of the expert committees will meet to develop close co-operation between the different expert committees and support their activities. The team of co-ordinators with the initiators form the steering group of the project.
All participants volunteer their participation and share the organisational costs if necessary. Funds are available for the purpose of printing and issuing monographs which are the results of the work of expert committees. A small fund is available for persons from low budget countries to help with fares.
The convenors hope that the project will inspire many creative initiatives.Among those who have helped the Creative Initiatve are: Beata
Bishop -U.K.
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