Integral Oceania Symposium

 

for Integral Practitioners and Enthusiasts

 

 

4 ½ day Program:       7pm Wed 18th - 4pm Sunday 22nd April, 2024

Weekend only:           7pm Friday 20th - 4pm Sunday 22nd April, 2024

 

The I-Oceania Symposium is an opportunity to explore the various tools and methods that are effective in experientially demonstrating the AQAL model, and in doing so to empower ourselves to live and work from a more integral worldview.

 

The proposition is that if this Integral stuff is really that hot (which I believe it is), then there exists ways of demonstrating that to folks who have never heard of it before in a way that is thoroughly compelling and immediately useful in everyday life. The outcome of the symposium is a shared collection of discreet Integral Experiential Exercises that behave like lenses that reveal one aspect of the AQAL model in all of it's radiant brilliance.

 

This type of collective sharing hasn't been done to date (at least, not in this part of the world) because the truth behind the AQAL model is still emerging into our collective awareness. But it would seem without doubt that there are dozens if not hundreds of perspectival lenses waiting to be discovered and harvested (many of them already used no doubt in other integral communities). The value of these perspectives is that each one makes some part of the AQAL model clear and experientially true to anyone with functioning eardrums and a curious mind.

 

 

The Real Opportunity

 

For myself, not as the organiser but as a participant, I am viewing this gathering as a rare opportunity to trail-blaze into some new terrain of collective human potentials, to return with a treasure bag full of stories, anecdotes, metaphors, powerpoint slides, images with penetrating captions, written pearls, poignant jokes and/or inspired insights that together make these new possibilities accessible to everyone with enough curiosity to listen in the first place. If the potential of the gathering is fully realised as I see it in my mind's eye, everyone leaves with an original and highly inspired outlook that will make us all natural guides in the emerging integral 'tourism' boom.

 

The outcome for those who show up could be one or all of the following…

 

• Learn new ways to explain and demonstrate aspects of AQAL that are fun and compelling
• Test your own ideas and get peer feedback from other emerging Integral Elders
• Explore content options for the Integral activities in your own work
• Explore what Ken means when he talks about the emerging economy of subtle energies
• Get a suntan by basking in the radiant warmth of the Integral Sangha

 

Or in integral terms:

 

• put your upper right in a place that is physically conducive to health and wellbeing
• practice the delicate art of engaging your lower left in the dance of an Integral We-space.
• get a shared education on the possibilities that exist to contribute and thrive in your lower right.
• immerse your upper left exterior in an experiential heart-mind funpark
• practise blissful surrender to your deeper potentials white sitting in resonance with an inspired Field.

 

The gathering is structured to accommodate those who can get a couple of days off work and attend the full four and a bit days, as well as those who can only come for the weekend. The two days prior to the weekend will be available to hard-core enthusiasts to get together to dream up the program for the larger weekend crowd (with plenty of space in that program for weekend arrivals to show-and-tell). So the actual agenda will be created through the course of the gathering, but the guidelines for all activities is 'don't just tell me, show me!'. We have projectors, white boards, sound systems with lots of music and the magnificence of Nature all around, so there are plenty of creative pallets as a basis for the 'show me' part.

 

I will arrange with our neighbour, the Chenrezig Buddhist Institute, that we might walk over the adjoining fields one fine morning to visit their gompa and perhaps sit with some of their sangha.

 

Where:  Worldview Centre, Maleny (SE Queensland)

 

The venue is our very own Worldview Centre near Maleny in the deliciously gorgeous hinterland of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland (about an hour by car or shuttle from Brisbane airport). It has huge views, a homely feel, two well-appointed meetings rooms and an energetic quality that must be felt to be understood. The Centre is also our home, but when in workshop mode it transforms into a sacred crucible that is profoundly supportive of deep inner work and open-hearted exploration. Accommodation is limited to 11 (or 13 at a squeeze) in farm-style shared accommodation, or there are a bunch of motels, B&Bs and country cabins nearby for those who must have the full compliment of creature comforts. We are due to finally get our website up in the next few weeks, so when that happens I'll update this page with the URL.

 

How Much? For those staying on-site (bed and all meals) the whole gathering for $550 (or $350 for the weekend only). For those staying off-site (no bed or breakfast but lunch and dinner and attendace at the gathering), $400 ($200 w/e only). Local accommodation can be reasonably priced but not cheap (starting at $70 night), so for the financially challenged, staying on-site will be the least-expensive option. We could also take a small number of campers which is cheaper still ($470/$360). The reason it can be so inexpensive is because we own the venue, and for an auspicious event such as this, we would look to make only a minimal profit.

 

 

What Now?

If this looks like something you want to attend, please drop me an email on terrybishop@optusnet.com.au. We have a comfortable mximum number of 30.

 

The collective tendency these days is to wait to the last minute before committing to anything (which makes sense... leaves open maximum flexibility), but the downside of waiting to commit is that we need to know ASAP that there is committment to this process so that we can start building the subtle energy container that will eventually hold the gathering. In my experience so far, the more people who leave it late to book, the more fractured and leaky the container.

 

So if some deep and quiet part of you is whispering that you need to attend THIS, then 'fess up to yourself and drop me an email! I'll put another posting on this site in the New Year to let you know if we have the numbers or not to proceed.

 

Love and Awareness.

Terry

 

tel: +(61 0)7 54 999 109