... Dr. Tim died on May 31, 1997. And on that day I would venture that the backplane of our planetary mind, the spirit world if you will...was vastly enriched with the new edge of human experience that Timothy's life so powerfully embodied. He was a modern hero with whom millions resonated, and whose mind and spirit opened many evolutionary pathways. ...   more »

This article describes one of the many NGO organizations now working to support the increasing number of slum dwellers around the world. SPARC originally focused on Mumbai, and is now branching out to network with other similarly-oriented NGO's working in other cities. This networking, mutual support and learning is supported by their increasingly sophisticated use of telecommunications technologies.

I think we need another term to describe these positive uses of telecom/computer technologies; e.g., their ability to facilitate the networking and empowerment of previously disempowered groups, ranging from computer programmers (Open Source movement) to slum dwellers. It's the other side of the coin from the "virtual class" types Rich so rightly critiques.

Half of the 14 million people in Mumbai, India's commercial capital, live in slums. A number of non-governmental organisations ( NGOs ) are working to help these communities but one NGO that stands out for its work with slum and pavement dwellers is the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC). ...   more »

My own take on the Indian economic boom in information technology is that it represents a form of neo-colonialist exploitation of the huge “standing reserve” (Heidegger) of the available talented engineers in Indian society.  While there maybe some trickle down to a portion of the non-participatory population from the information economy, the overall the quality of life conditions for the teeming masses of India is almost unaffected. I believe a parallel can be made between ...   more »

Another great Jean Gebser quote:

If our consciousness, that is, the individual person's awareness, vigilance, and clarity of vision, cannot master the new reality and make possible its realization, then the prophets of doom will have been correct. Other alternatives are an illusion; consequently, great demands are placed on us, and each one of us have been given a grave responsibility, not merely to survey but to actually traverse the path opening before us.

I think this perfectly describes the situation of IY folks ...   more »

This is the outline of a "visioning workshop" my friend & colleague Michael Gosney held last weekend in San Francisco re CALIFIA, his Green Century Institute’s proposed 10,000-person Bay Area EcoCity. Lots of connections, formal & informal, with Auroville here. -- I wonder if their "Word Cafe" method could be useful at Auroville? ...   more »

The spirituality of tomorrow will belong to mankind as a whole, not to the religious and moralist elite. That is why I emphasize that it does not matter if Sri Aurobindo is known or is not recognised much tomorrow, for the Supramental Consciousness will awaken mankind in general to spirituality and thus fulfil the work for which both The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have taken birth this time. ...   more »

Ask anyone here and they will tell you: Shanghai is the future. But that is not so. Shanghai is not the future; it is every future, a palimpsest of urban visions, a history of what is to come. Visiting Shanghai is a journey to the very near future by way of the very near past, a fact that contributes to a strange form of urban vertigo: I came here looking for the city of tomorrow and was immediately overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu. Shanghai is a fantasyland of architectural grandiosity where any drawing, no matter how insane or adolescent, may come to life almost instantly, without the citizens' committees, building restrictions, and expensive labor that hamper architectural geniuses elsewhere. ...   more »

.. For architects, China is the land of dreams. The construction statistics tantalize. The Chinese consume 54.7 percent of the concrete and 36.1 percent of the steel produced in the world, .. But Herzog & de Meuron .. has more work than it can handle. What attracted the [Swiss] firm's leaders to China is an openness to audacious projects, which they attribute to the lack of timidity and inhibition in the people there.
"They are so fresh in their mind," Herzog says. "They have the most radical things in their tradition, the most amazing faience and perforated jades and scholar's rocks. Everyone is encouraged to do their most stupid and extravagant designs there. ...   more »