_{With living human systems, a key determinant of the quality of the connection between the individuals in the system is the belief system of the respective participants.}

Just as the printing press changed the connection between people because it allowed millions more people to become familiar with different ideas and beliefs more quickly, the Internet has extended the senses of mankind so that we can familiarize ourselves with seemingly limitless new ideas and beliefs and experiences at the speed of our computer modem.

The Internet is an extension of our senses.  And this means something deeper than you might have imagined.  If you want to treat your senses to a “wake up” call,  you will enjoy the perspective of Marshall McLuhan.   Check him out.

What is important is the manner in which he met others; the quality of each relationship was vital to Buber. In Buber’s own words: “I think no human being can give more than this. Making life possible for the other, if only for a moment.”

We are all in this together.
We can bring what is outside inside. We can turn the existing disintegrative arrangements upside down.

The Grand Integrator Model

We are all connected whether we believe it or not. There are biological connections across the gaps between each person and the world around them. There are historical connections across the generation gaps. There are social connections across the gaps between all the people on the planet. All the parts are connected which is to so say there are relationships between all the parts. These connections might be so weak as to be undetectable or they might be magnificently strong. These connections might be destructive or life promoting. They might be pleasurable or they might be painful. There are both spiritual and physical connections.

In all living systems, these relationships are constantly changing. With living human systems, a key determinant of the quality of the connection between the individuals in the system is the belief system of the respective participants.

The belief systems that affect human relationships negatively and lead to human pain and suffering are based on ignorance, distorted or cut off by anger, made toxic, limited and poisoned by arrogance, misguided and blinded by greed, and haunted by a human history of misbehavior.  Sages throughout history have pointed this out.

And…

There is hope in that the mind that adopts the belief that is destructive to relationships is also capable of producing the medicinal belief that can heal the connection. There is hope in that the ignorance that prevents productive and creative relationships can be dispelled with knowledge. There is hope in that emotional dyscontrol can be unlearned and calm equanimity can be learned. There is hope in that arrogance can be replaced by equal respect for all. There is hope in that we can learn discernment and discrimination and not be dominated by our immediate impulses and greed. There is hope in that patterns of human behavior can be deconditioned. Negative effects can be reversed, passions can be calmed, entitlement can dissolve into humility, anger can be turned to mercy and equanimity, and ignorance can be enlightened. Individually and especially together we can positively and creatively affect the things that affect us negatively.

Just as the printing press changed the connection between people because it allowed millions more people to become familiar with different ideas and beliefs more quickly, the Internet has extended the senses of mankind so that we can familiarize ourselves with seemingly limitless new ideas and beliefs and experiences at the speed of our computer modem.

Some belief systems disintegrate us individually, our community, our society, the human race. Disintegrating beliefs hold that science and religion are incompatible. Disintegrating beliefs separate the experiences and wisdom of one generation from another. Disintegrating belief systems lead to despair about seeing a positive future. This age has been thought of as the age of compartmentalization, fragmentation, isolation, and mass hypnosis, all of which are barriers to healthy integration and blind us, numb us, deafen us to the knowledge that we have a capacity to sense and believe that we are all in this together.

The Internet is a medium with the capacity to spread the knowledge needed to wake us up, familiarize us with different vital, creative, adaptive perspectives and experiences. The Internet is a tool for us all to connect.  The connection might be only as author and reader or it can be reciprocal or interactive; but it is a connection, a relationship.   Connecting is activism.  Action is necessary for change, individually and collectively.

The internet also provides us with the capacity to keep a critical eye on our many other sources of information.   see SourceWatch

The exposure to different view points can be enlightening. Many brilliant thinkers have grappled with the problems and obstacles to achieving an integrated, living planet that is healthy and well-functioning.

This website is an experiment in making connections between human beings who have had a passion for solving the problem of weak or damaging human relationships. Although there is much decay in the global social body and soul, there is also great vitality. This website is a place to become familiar with the creative spirit and vitality that is “out there” now and has been “out there” for generations. The offerings here are intended to be introductions. We can bring what is outside inside. We can turn the existing disintegrative arrangements upside down.

We are all in this together. Reach out with your hand across the gap between you and them and shake their hand as you read what they say. They will captivate your curiosity and enrich your sense of who we all are. These are some of the wise men and women who speak to how we are all connected and how we can be enriched by our being integrated.

This website will be continually changing, expanding, and creating more connections. Society, the world community, is becoming more complex. It can and will become infinitely more complex. Believe me when I tell you that the mental models about how humans connect that are associated with the thinkers you can meet here will help you integrate the beautiful complexity that you will encounter as you explore human life and relationships on this planet.

Go to the Meet Some Integrators (Meet/Links) page. It contains the meta-model or mental floor plan for integrating in a meaningful whole all the references you can explore. It is the model based on how the human mind naturally creates models according to innate grammatical rules. It is the system of mental modeling described in the work of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy.   It is called Metanomics or the Grammatical Method.

Think of the Meet-Links page as a place to be present before you choose which way to turn your mental focus.  Pause, breathe,  feel your sense of presence and then decide from which position do you want to view your experience, or our experience, or “it’s” experience, or the future which will be affected by our actions or non-actions. We can pause at the meeting space (around the fire) give our self time for integration. Of course, we can do that (i.e. be mindful) at any moment, in any place and any time.  

At the Meet-Links page, at the top of the page, you can click on History-Past and meet a range of Integrative Historians.   You can click on We-Inside and explore the creativity and ideas of a brilliant group of thinkers and activists who share their insights into our subjective experience and how we are all in this together.   Or, click on Science-Outside and open a door to a large circle of Integrative scientists.  Or, click on Political-Future and explore the reading room full of Integrative futurists, activists and others with action plans to lead us to a more integrator society in the future.  

The links on the website were selected because they represented cross cultural, cross discipline, cross generational, integrative, hopeful, healing perspectives and a treasure of useful information that we need to know in order to be both be well differentiated and able to function as a integrated whole for the well-being of all of us.   Across disciplines and cultures and generations we can see, hear and feel the unanimity of thought, feeling and belief.   We are offering a view of patterns that connect.

Allow me to suggest that you continue on the Meet some ‘integrators  page by clicking here.