Report AGM 2003 Aberystwyth

Scientific and Medical Network Annual Gathering

"Technical Advance, Responsibility and Sustainable Lifestyles"

Aberystwyth, July 2003

Report by Max Payne, Sheffield

There may have been those who came to this Annual Gathering who had wondered if the subject of technical advance and lifestyles was too down market and earthy for an S.M.N conference which more usually occupies itself with lofty thoughts about the expansion of consciousness into wider and higher realms. If so they would have been proved very wrong, and been given much food for thought into the bargain. East and West, the disciplines of yoga, meditation and contemplative prayer are based upon strict regimes of life style and diet. In the same way a human society which aspires after the higher levels of knowledge and spirit cannot be easily based on economic structures that are wasteful, inefficient, polluting and often unjust.

TIMOTHY GLAZIER began the conference by suggesting that the whole economic system of the world was bedevilled by naive monetary economics based on the concept of private property with which we can be free to do what we like. A holistic view would proclaim that the planet and its resources belonged to us all, and we must therefore all acknowledge our mutual responsibility for it. HORACE ROGNART pointed out the planet cannot easily sustain many more than 10 billion people with an acceptable quality of life. We are already rapidly approaching that limit. Stopping the population increase means accepting an ageing population, and he suggested patterns of diet and life which could make this acceptable.

PETER HARPER gave a fascinating analysis of sustainability and lifestyle. On one grid are technical solutions like the generation of electricity using wind and the tides, conversion of automotive power to hydrogen. Ranked alongside are cultural solutions which involve living a simpler life with organic food and abstaining from air travel.

On a grid at right angles he plotted an axis going from realism to idealism. The idealist wants the green and simple life now, the realist observes that the comfortable middle class life is still possible with good insulation, fuel efficiency and an effective recycling system for household waste. Exactly what is possible was revealed by an visit afternoon visit to the Centre for Alternative Technology. This fascinating educational centre is dedicated to showing how a complex of buildings serving many people can be run on renewable energy sources and using local and recyclable materials. Even experts in the field had their eyes opened to exact possibilities of wood as a renewable resource, and wool as a superior alternative to fibre glass as a house insulation. It was a "warts and all" exhibition. Visitors were left in little doubt that solar panels have yet to be made economically viable in Britain..

As a complete contrast that evening BART VAN DER LUGT gave a meditation through slides, music, words and poetry on the mystery of the very moments of birth and death. Perhaps the poignant awe and compassion which was awoken in the hearts of the audience had its epicentre in pictures where birth and death coincided. The parents of a still born child were shown welcoming it with respect, and carrying it to its funeral with love.

The following morning, TONY MORSE gave an impressively convincing account of the possibility of using tidal power to generate electricity from the inexhaustibly renewable source that surrounds this island. One remains amazed that only weeks later the government should announce a big program of wind power generation, when by Tony Morse's account, tidal power can be order of magnitude more efficient.

The towers are near invisible, the environmental impact can be minimal, it requires no great public works like dams, and since the fluid density of water is 800 times that of air, it taps much higher kinetic energy than any wind mill. Of course, a conference such as this would be sensitive to the question of pollution, but few would have thought of low frequency noise as a serious environment hazard. HAZEL GUEST'S research opened new avenues of concern, particularly as it seemed that the field includes areas of classified weapons research.

As befitted the theme of conference BO AHRENFELT suggested that the role of body in information processing and decision making is normally underestimated. Psychotherapy should therefore be reorientated. The whole body, and not just the brain is the seat of primary consciousness. The cortex is secondary and complementary.

Another reorientation was suggested by ZOE CAPERNAROS. She questioned the "pill for every ill" drive behind the multinational pharmaceutical industry. Not only is it questionable whether every illness is remediable, it leads to the drive to discover new complaints, so that new pills can be sold to cure them. We should learn to live with uncertainty and a sustainable life style.

MIKE KING asked us to step outside our immediate concerns and to see ourselves and our concerns as all part of a vast cultural movement into a post secular society. Society, he suggested has always existed in a dynamic tension between jnani - knowledge seeking, and bhakti - loving and worshipping - aspects. The rise of science, culminating with Darwin's "Origin of Species" destroyed that equilibrium. Post-secular culture seeks ways to restore it. ANN RODEN brought us back to ourselves with an Ayurvedic perspective on a healthy sustainable lifestyle based on locally grown food. JEAN HARDY and WENDY STAYTE did a workshop on sustainable ecology with spirit and AMRIT SORLI led a moving directed meditation. Saturday evening had the traditional session of liberated fun when members entertained each other with music, poems, stories and sketches.

The formal proceedings of the AGM. finished with the ceremonial enthronement of PETER FENWICK as President, and DI CLIFT as a vice-president of the SMN. This was both a mock-serious and serious occasion. Dedicated service was recognised with a mock coronation to everyone's huge enjoyment.

Max Payne is Chair of the Network Trustees

Abstracts