Programme Krakow 2004

KRAKOW, POLAND, 29-31 OCTOBER 2004

Towards a New Renaissance - Values, Spirituality and the Future

Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

Session 1

Prof. Henryk Skolimowski
A New Renaissance - Our Only Choice
A New Renaissance is not a luxury but a necessity - as the present civilization has been disintegrating and dysfunctional for quite a while. A New Renaissance cannot be a return to the classical Renaissance. With a new vision we must forge in new directions. With a new vision we must find new foundations for our thinking and our world view. With a new vision we must renew the meaning and the source of the spiritual and the sacred, which are indispensable for human existence. The task is vast and we must be bold. Proposed in my presentation is a new cosmology, a new creation story and a new ethics - all woven together - as a foundation for a new renaissance.
The creation story. At the beginning was light. And all there is comes from light. Light is genesis. Genesis is light. The genius of light has worked through its three major syntheses: Photosynthesis (creation of Life; biological life is nourished by light), Logosynthesis (creation of Logos and culture; cultural life is nourished by the light of Logos); Theosynthesis (creation of religions and gods; spiritual life is nourished by the light contained in deities).
The ethics of light. It is the ethics of abundance. Light always and always gives. Light is inexhaustible. The ethics of abundance spells out as its values: giving, generosity, altruism, sharing, solidarity, love, harmony, transcendence, spiritual quest. The ethics of altruism and love is possible because it is in the nature of the evolving cosmos, as governed by the laws of light, which are cosmic laws. Creativity. Creativity is the heart beat of the universe and the essential spark of human life. We are creative because the cosmos is creative, because light is creative. To be is to create. A New Renaisssance, like all previous renaissances, will celebrate this insight, because creativity is an ascending angel which makes new worlds and new spiritual departures possible.

Joanna Handerek, Jagiellonian University
Place in Culture - questions about man.
People of the Renaissance looked to the Greco-Roman world not only in search of certain patterns but mostly for exculpation; for an explanation of human nature, the uniqueness of man and his role in the surrounding world, as well as for an understanding of their own inner weaknesses. During the course of history, it often happened that someone denied and rejected the heritage of preceding generations. Yet it was Bernard of Chartres who said that all that we had we owed to past generations, upon the shoulders of whom we kept finding support. Medieval man searched for answers to his problems in the same cultural source as Renaissance man did: in Greco-Roman civilisation. It might therefore not be true that the Renaissance brought a major breakthrough. W. Benjamin wrote: "The clear awareness of being placed in the very centre of the ultimate crisis seems to be a chronic state for humanity". The notion of the Renaissance brings the need for a reconstruction of all lost values and for finding reference to aspects that are typically human by nature. It could all the more be true that contemporary man, living in a polyphonic culture, may feel the need for such value "reconstruction", for achieving oneness or overcoming that "chronic threat".
This article, following the concept of Plessner and Gehlner, refers to research on culture in its various aspects. Having shown man as a being conditioned by biology and culture, Plessner has pointed out that he intrinsically belongs to culture. For it is culture that determines human behaviour, builds man's consciousness and his world of value. Plessner mentions the concept of Dilthey, which draws our attention to aspects of history and the changing eras in human existence. Man has been strongly tied to his history, his époque and has been very much shaped by them; yet he is also a historical being, who has been drawing upon his past and has also depended much on it. In this context, life is a continuance of the ever-changing cultural elements influencing man and his history. The "Renaissance" itself is embedded in the culture continuance process, culture having been filled with the contents and values of the past. Plessner has also shown that in order to be able to provide a comprehensive picture of man, a number of studies and scientific disciplines need to be employed. The narrow humanistic or biological approach is deprived of the comprehensive, multi-dimensional view. According to Scheler, philosophy can allow us to obtain a broader picture, a picture which would not only provide an opportunity for contemporary man to take a step back and look from a distance at the continuous uncertainty or lack of understanding of its own condition, but which would also allow for multi-dimensional research.

Justyna Miklaszewska
In Search of Utopia for the 21st Century
The topic of this paper is the presence of ethical values in contemporary economics and political thought. This problem will be analyzed in the broader context of the relevance of cultural values to the development of contemporary societies. I will argue that the commonly shared view that "culture matters" appears to be the most significant element of 21st century utopias.

Ove Sviden
Towards a Millennium of World Peace
We live in a time of a Spiritual Awakening.
Old materialist values are crumbling.
¹Mean Monarchs of Monetary Means¹ prepare to conquer the exploitable world for them to dominate.
Egoism is becoming the ¹Beast at end of time¹.

But, at the same time a civil disobedience is emerging in people's minds as Green Dreams for Clean Environment, Health, Peace and Economic Democracy.

The clash between the old paradigm values and the new ones might be described as a Renaissance and the Fall of the Roman Empire - put together!
Perhaps already before year 2012

I look forward to communication with students of all ages to help co-create a PEACEFUL NEW WORLD ORDER.

Love is emerging. Envision Green Health, World Peace and Economic Democracy.

Let us co-create an inspired future!


Session 2

Leszek Sosnowski, Jagiellonian University
The Aesthetics of Disharmony
Beauty - Goodness - ... And The 20th Century

The relationship between important categories of the past, such as beauty, goodness and truth, has dramatically changed in the 20th century. The rupture of the connection between them was caused by art's appeal to new rules that are hedonistic in character. Pleasure becomes one of the most important values in the art of the second half of the last century. However, pleasure has varieties of forms, from positive to negative. Efforts made by artists to attain this value touch upon taboo and lead to the creation of art which uses surprise and shock in its expression. One could say the bigger shock than better art. This factual situation does not have theoretical acceptance in aesthetics, which is shown by the thought of Hans Georg Gadamer, Helmut Kuhn, Henryk Skolimowski, or Wladyslaw Strózewski. In spite of individual differences, for all of them the close relationship between beauty, truth and goodness is still essential in art. The paper will scrutinise and discuss examples of modern art and some ideas of the philosophers mentioned above in the aspect of their similarity against the background of such categories as the solemnity and festivity of art or works of art (die festlichkeit der kunst oder kunstwerk).

Dr. Frank Lyons
Humane Architecture - Ordinariness and a New Set of Values
Within contemporary architectural and artistic circles novelty is regularly valued above content. The 'shock of the new' together with an insatiable need for instantly renewable images has replaced slowness and beauty as cultural qualities. Such a positioning of architecture and the arts, which reflects the broader value systems of western culture, is challenged by this paper. It will be argued that a new set of values are needed; values rooted in human spirituality. As a way into this realm, the paper examines the concept of 'ordinariness'. The paper stresses the importance of accepting ordinariness as the starting point for any work of architecture. It examines the way in which the ordinary has always been valued in vernacular traditions and in this context examines Heidegger's concept of the usefulness of an object. To support the argument examples are taken from medieval art and architecture, Van Gogh's paintings of field workers are examined and the paper concludes with a survey of the vernacular timber buildings of southern Poland.

Ewa Bialek
The Vision of Wholeness from the Viewpoint of Psychosynthesis
Understanding relations between objects, and perceiving the nature of reality in which we live not as material, but spiritual, recognizing certain higher order, understanding the meaning of life, as opposed to chaos, we are prompted, or obliged even, to re-examine the way we think about everything that surrounds us in the categories of balanced development and health. Such a perspective seems to be a necessity now, given the current state of health of the individual, the family, societies and the world, including the pollution of the natural environment. Owing to combined accomplishments of various contemporary branches of science - medicine, psychology, physics or quantum mechanics, we are now able to perceive the world, as H. Skolimowski put it, as a sanctuary, and to see man, with his forgotten spiritual nature, as a multidimensional being. In doing so, we achieve the balance between science and spiritual traditions. First of all, however, we start to move backwards to the "beginning" - to the philosophy of science. This means setting goals and tasks for learning and education of an individual that involve exploring and teaching spiritual aspects of man and the world; in other words, it is the renaissance of spirituality in culture and the world.
The author, the first person in Poland to introduce psychosynthesis (psychology with a soul) to the academic level, will present in her speech how psychosynthesis refers to the comprehensive view of man and the world and to "the education in different fields that prevents a necessity of therapy".

Beata Szymanska, Jagiellonian University
West Meets East - Contemporary 'Eudaimonia'
In this short article I wish to underline some of the characteristic features of the contemporary reception of Eastern philosophy. By "reception" I understand the assumption of certain themes in Indian, Chinese, and Japanese thought by contemporary Western culture - by its "spirituality", not by its academic interpretation. I believe that the fundamental characteristic of this reception is its goal - to provide man with a way of achieving a positive state of well-being. This is due to the fact that Eastern thought accepted only those currents of thought - and the concepts proper to them - which were conducive to such an end, completely setting aside others, which are of interest only to specialists. I also call attention to the fact that this kind of goal already existed at the beginning of its reception in Europe - in Romanticism, where its representative, in this case an important one, was Arthur Schopenhauer.
The second phase of its reception was "neo-romanticism" - the philosophy of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The contemporary "postmodern" reception possesses all of the typical features of the previous ones and is a consequence of their characteristic tendencies: a peculiar rebellion against the domination of reason, religious individualism, the acknowledgment of self-development as the fundamental principle of ethics, with philosophy as an instrument for achieving a positive state of happiness, in the sense in which Schopenhauer characterized the state of nirvana.

Session 3

David Lorimer
Towards a Culture of Love
The Bulgarian sage Beinsa Douno (Peter Deunov 1864-1944) spoke of the eventual advent of a culture of love on the earth. The main principles of his teaching are Love, Wisdom and Truth, plus Justice and Virtue making up the symbolic pentagram. He spoke within a framework of an evolution of consciousness from individual to collective to a cosmic consciousness in which each individual senses their connection with the whole and acts accordingly. This entails a corresponding evolution in what he calls the four degrees of human culture:

• Violence - force, domination, power
• Law - threat, control (external)
• Justice - universal, excludes privilege
• Love - life for the whole

Likewise, his analysis of four social systems runs:

• Clericalism, corresponding to the prevalence of outer ceremony
• Militarism, corresponding to the use of force
• Capitalism, corresponding to exploitation

The shortcoming of all these systems, in his view, is that they all employ the same methods of violence, constraint, control and fear. Only with the application of love - the fourth system - are these contradictions overcome and is a virtuous circle established. However remote a culture of love may seem, it provides a compass for a new renaissance.

Dr Marek Oziewicz, Round Table for Young Adult Fiction
Institute of English Studies, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Mythopoeic Fantasy and the Battle for Human Values
Literature has always contained a response to the cultural conditions dominant at a given time as well as elements of a vision for the future of the civilization that produced it. It has been one of the searchlights employed by great minds and imaginative geniuses to help their societies progress towards greater integrity and better future. This pattern was significantly disrupted at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries as the bleak materialistic logic drained men of the sense of purpose, ethics, beauty and kindness. In a response to the vision of the world as irrational play of chaotic forces, a group of British writers endeavored to save human values in the realm of mythic imagination. With Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia modern mythopoeic fantasy was born. Soon it was destined to take a prominent role in the profoundest ideological conflict of our century.
The following text outlines the place of fantasy literature and strategies it employs in the current battle for human values. On the example of such authors as Madeleine L'Engle, Ursula LeGuin, J. R. R. Tolkien, and C. S. Lewis I argue that the genre plays an important role in shaping modern readers' holistic response to contemporary challenges. In an imaginative secondary world fantasy explores the consequences of holism, organicism, the need for tolerance and understanding, thus bringing forth the awareness of how crucial these are to the survival of our primary world. In this and numerous other ways, as I demonstrate, fantasy contributes to the shaping of, in Joseph Campbell's terms, the modern mythology of the unifying human race.

Juanita Skolimowski
The Light of Wisdom
A new Renaissance will emerge through new vision articulated by those less bound to the present declining cycle. New vision, creativity and insight are paramount to bring forth a new civilisational structure for humanity. Wisdom is an essential element of the new vision. If we have not understood our human experience of unwisdom, then we have not learned the true Light of Wisdom. Then our visions will be inadequate - coming and going.
We, as humanity, must now use the Light of Wisdom to evolve and live harmoniously with all life. Without it we are doomed. We have the Light of Wisdom within us - shining through us from time to time. Some recognise it; many do not. It is obscured by fragmentary, negative and confused consciousness. Yet, we all have it within us and must uncover and use it for the well being of all. In fact, that is the only way that the Light of Wisdom as a faculty can be used.
In this dark time we can use the Light of Wisdom to illumine and transform the world. To me, the Light of Wisdom is: the clarity of seeing; the clarity of being, the clarity of knowing. It is manifested through us in our attitudes and actions, especially spiritual and ethical living, among whose components are:

1. to refocus on the steady, reflective and meditative mind;
2. to consider the well being of the other as well as of self;
3. to take responsibility for one's actions before acting
4. to give what we have to humanity and not to hold back selfishly.

The talk will further articulate the Light of Wisdom and its consequences.

Dr Lance Butler, Rue de la République, 64290 LASSEUBE, France
A Chance of Harmony : Deconstruction, Science and Spirituality
The Scientific and Medical Network is orientated towards overcoming a binary opposition: that which separates science from spirituality. We hope to bring scientific rigour to matters spiritual and broader horizons to matters scientific.
We hope that increasing harmony between these two imagined opposites will be the hallmark of 21st century thinking but I do not think we can go forward much further without taking into account a third force, one which is highly dominant in the humanities and social-science departments of universities worldwide but of which neither mainstream science nor thinking of a Network kind has taken any serious notice. I refer to poststructuralist thinking in its many guises and to the general intellectual movement that we know as deconstruction.
Scientists tend to dismiss deconstruction; people with spiritual interests seem scared of the French monster. In both cases there is resistance to the complex discourse and apparently nihilistic thinking associated with Jacques Derrida and his fellow poststructuralists. But this thinking is in fact precisely in line with Network ideas and is 'scientific' in the best sense. It is exactly the opposite of either kind of fundamentalism. It undermines claims of originary and unchanging Truth just as good science and good spirituality must do. It works with truths, in the plural, which is surely what the Network is all about.
There is nothing for us to fear from this third force, and much to be learnt. Books such as the Conversations With God series by Neale Donald Walsch are excellent examples of deconstructive thinking which, far from being arrogant as many suppose is in fact imbued with a radical humility.

Session 4

Max Payne
The Self-Consciousness of Science must lead to the Quest for Spiritual Insight
In the 21st century it is necessary to start from science, but the self-consciousness of science taken to its limits forces us to recognise the question of spirituality. Mind cannot be reduced to matter, The attempt is practically unachievable, theoretically impossible in modern quantum theory, and philosophically contradictory: consciousness cannot explain itself away in terms of that fragment of itself which is higher mathematics. Science is a grid our minds impose on reality.
The two major alternative perspectives on mind/matter are bi-focal duality, and matter as an emanation of higher Mind. Both question the dimensions of consciousness. Rationality is unlikely to be the highest and ultimate level of mind. It is necessary to recognise the wider dimensions of mind in the consciousness of animals. Parapsychology therefore comes in from the fringe to the centre.
What is the field of being in which separate minds exist and communicate? This is the arena of mysticism, and the religions of the world have crystallised "downwards" from this "upward" impulse. The parallel example of science shows that such crystallisation is always arbitrary, limited and totally necessary. Science also shows the possibility of an open, self-correcting system in which the process is more important than the conclusion. This offers the prospect of mutual respect amongst religious systems, and their transcendence in the quest for spiritual insight.

Justyna Oziewicz, Ph. D.
Candidate, Institute of Philosophy, University of Wroclaw
The Reinterpretation of Western Culture:
Simone Weil on Ancient Greece, Christianity and the Enlightenment
This paper explores the relevance of Simone Weil's thought to the modern world by locating it in her re-evaluation of Western civilization's perception of its own Greek roots. If we had followed the ancient tradition, as we think we did, Weil asks why we feel so much inferior to the Greeks. Why is Western civilization in such a deplorable condition? Her answer is that at some point we have actually breached away from the spirit of the Greeks and moved increasingly towards materialism-a paradigm and practice unthinkable to ancient philosophers, scientists and artists. The separation of religion and spirituality from the rest of social life, which seems natural even to the majority of Christians nowadays, would have been judged monstrous by the antiquity. Greek philosophy, science and art all had religious roots, and the entire Greek civilization, in Weil's opinion, was "nothing else but building bridges towards God, bridges that could link human misery with the divine perfection." The failure of the modern world, she asserts, lies in preserving those bridges as something to look at, but with no awareness of their use.
The paper presents Simone Weil's views on the schizophrenic either-or dilemma of identifying our cultural roots: those who, like Nietzsche, admire Greek culture turn their backs to Christian inspiration; those who stick to Christian tradition feel compelled to renounce the freedom of thought and dignity of man, expressed in Greek philosophy and art. It argues that the problem lies in misinterpretation of Greek culture, which was humanistic in a spiritual and not lay sense, and postulates the holistic, spiritual paradigm as a way to counter the profound crisis in the modern civilization which fails to nourish man's higher cognitive, affective and spiritual faculties.

Piotr Skubala,
University of Silesia, Department of Ecology, Katowice, Poland
Living on the Symbiotic Planet
A comment against "nature red in tooth and claw"
It seems to be crucial to fathom a mystery of life on the Earth, because the system of values and our behaviour depend on the picture of life we accept. Nature is usually perceived as cruel and composed of independent individuals. Competition and the survival of the fittest are still regarded as driving forces of nature. Examples of collaboration are treated as curious details.
A totally different opinion, in which symbiosis is basic phenomenon in nature, is recently hardly studied. Mycorrhiza appears to be universal and crucial for life on the land. We find many new examples of extraordinary symbiotic interactions. New evidences, which confirm the Serial Endosymbiotic Theory, are found. The hypothesis of symbiogenesis is still studied. The Gaia hypothesis is lively discussed. I hope that a quite different vision of ecology will be accepted by most scientists, thinkers and society in the nearest years and environmental philosophy will find strong support in biology. On the other hand, eco-philosophy may help to incorporate the idea into biological thinking.

Andrzej Warminski
Bionomics - Man: Necessary or Accidental Being?
Man is very much interested in his future, in the fate of individuals and communities, and this curiosity has been constant for centuries. Different utopias and dis-utopias, scientific prognoses, and irrational visions present their own versions of this future. However, the specificity of every period of culture causes those old questions and answers receive a new sense.
Globalisation is one of the most frequently discussed matters in recent years, and has allegedly already gone beyond the economic sphere of man's life, expanding to the remaining spheres of his activity (contrary to the opinions of alter- and anti-globalists). Reality, however, proves more complicated, escaping banal unifying formulas. African or Asian countries can be good examples of it. The history of European culture also shows that only the elites were "global", while the masses remained "local".
Transformations in man's mentality and spirituality have a very similar character. Artists and futurists often try to describe the development of culture and, though they are ahead of their time, they often make mistakes in diagnosing the coming future.
The Era of Aquarius has not come yet. Does there exist a chance of fulfilling the prophecies of the affirmative transformations of man? Will they belong only to the elites, or to most people? Can one exclude total disaster of an ecological, military, economic, or cultural character?

Session 5

Diana Clift
Can We Improve on God? The Need for a Post-Secular Morality
There are three features of the morality of almost all religions which predisposes them to conflict.

1. their scriptures are written for men by men about men. Female experience is at best ignored and at worst despised. This leads not only to injustice but a world view in which the human person is in permanent conflict with the world, themselves and others.
2. they are essentially arrogant in their conviction that a particular set of beliefs is The Truth and therefore all others are wrong.
3. they all (whether explicitly or implicitly) apply the concept of collective guilt, which disconnects guilt from responsibility, hence justifying 'punishing' the innocent.

These are all features of the Iraq disaster and have contributed to the appallingly dangerous situation in the Middle East. Secular humanism has challenged religious certainties proposing an essentially egalitarian morality based on the golden rule. However, it also denies the reality of spiritual experience. I suggest that the way forward requires a new postsecular morality which applies the best of science and secular humanism but acknowledges that there may be other factors beyond material human experience.

Erlendur Haraldsson
Psychological Scars from a Distant Past?
The psychology of children who speak about a previous life
I will present a few new cases of children who claim to remember a previous life, and describe attempts to verify the statements that they made about the previous life. Besides, in order to answer the question:
"Do these children differ psychologically from children in general?" I conducted two psychological studies in Sri Lanka (n = 30 and 27) and one in Lebanon (n = 30), administering several tests to the children and a control group of peers of the same age, and interviewing their parents and teachers about their behaviour and personality. Significant findings emerged, some of them particularly relevant to the fact that a large majority of the children speak of memories of how they died, in most instances suffering a violent death.

Piotr Mróz New Order in Russian Spiritualism
Abstract not submitted.

Peter Bowman
Mutual Aid for Mutual Benefit - A fundamental law of nature.
One of the cornerstones of the Western Economic System is the notion of competition based on "survival of the fittest." One way this principle has been justified is by assuming it is in accord with the laws of nature but how valid this metaphor of competition in nature? Are individuals of the same species or different species occupying the same territory actually in competition with each other or is the exact opposite in fact the truth? A century ago naturalists from Eastern Europe, including Peter Kropotkin presented the opposite case that "Mutual Aid," the way creatures actually work together for their mutual benefit, is in fact a more fundamental law of nature.
The notion of mutual aid provides an uplifting and enlightening lesson for mankind (those who have the eyes to see) from nature enabling us to be reminded of our interdependence and interconnectedness in accord with the traditional wisdom teaching of mankind. Recent developments in ecology, the acceptance of symbiosis, recognition of the role of mycorrhizal fungi in the "wood wide web" have all served to further elaborate the law. A number of observations taken from a recent visit to the Wilderness Areas of South Africa will serve to further illustrate the law at work.

Session 6

Wojciech Konikiewicz
Harmonia Mundi and A New Renaissance
The idea of harmony though always respected, hardly echoes in today's world structures, mostly based on much less abstract pillars of profit and perfect organization. Thus they produce highly efficient, specialized, one-dimensional men. Moreover, most of the population is exposed to permanent informational aggression that limits, or even blocks a natural human capacity for reflective, abstract and creative - also artistic - thinking.
These can be well developed by art, which has been always a field of spiritual growth of the mankind .The ancient, traditional unity of body, mind and spirit, still attractive, can be nowadays achieved also by most up to date means. Technology, incorporated by artists and humanists, can work in Harmonia Mundi's favour, however hi-tech reality is still two-edged phenomenon.

Tadeusz Forgacz
New Economy in Fukuyama
Abstract not submitted.

Dr. A. Pruszkinski
Cancer Epidemic: Sign and Significance for Human Values
In the year of 2000, 5, 317 905 new cancer cases and 3, 522 366 deaths were registered in the world. Cancer incidence in rich countries (euro-atlantic culture) was 1.96 fold higher than in poor countries in spite of homogenization of culture and on age structure differences.
The incidence of cancer is increasing, however some fluctuations are observed in the different types of cancer. In Poland 30% cancer patients survive 5-years after diagnosis, in EU-countries - 45% patients, and in US - 60% patients. It was confirmed that cancer is a disease of genes.
Cancer epidemic - as every epidemic in history of human being - is the sign which has its own significance. Arise of new cancer cases could be explained as a result of tension between nature (genes-matter) and culture (word-spirit). The cancer epidemic is the evidence that continuity between nature and culture was disrupted. The presently dominating economical approach to human being is in our opinion the main cause of this disruption. The main goal of human life is consumption which creates the carcinogenic life-style, "unfriendly" for our genes since childhood. Of course it doesn't mean that only life-style is responsible for cancer epidemic. However, this type of reflection let to discover epidemics as a "hidden ethical power" phenomenon.

Ed Sarath
www.edsarath.com, The University of Michigan
Creativity, Consciousness, Education and the Future
Towards a new academic landscape for our times
This talk is about the important role education needs to play in preparing individuals and society to address the social, economic, and environmental challenges of our times. That this will entail a shift from a fragmented and narrow view of human development to a more holistic, integrative approach requires little elaboration at this juncture in human history. How this transformation will take place, given education's long held patterns of resistance to substantive reform of any sort, is the pressing question.
I describe three waves of reform - or educational revolutions - through which this shift has already begun to happen, and will come to a head in the future.
The first revolution has to do with creativity, and involves a shift from exclusive emphasis on facts and skills toward a more balanced kind of learning where problem-solving, adaptability, synthesis of diverse knowledge, emotional development, relationship skills and personal expression are considered equally important.
The second and third revolutions pertain to consciousness: revolution two involves applied exploration of consciousness through meditation and related practices; revolution three involves a transformed and more complete understanding of the nature of consciousness (from a materialist to a nonmaterialist perspective) than currently prevails in academe.
I close by citing practical strategies corresponding to the three revolutions.