Ancient wisdom in today’s business world
Stanton Library, 234 Miller Street, North Sydney
Saturday 18th April 2015 from 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Today we are taught the primacy of “the bottom line”, the importance of goals and strategies, and the necessity to keep moving. In our rhetoric we are modern, and we are proud of it. We have cast off the naivety and blindness of superstition, and we chart our future based on proven facts.
Yet the call of ancient wisdom has not gone away. It sits there like an ache in our almost-and soon-to-be perfect world. It looks askingly at our intransigent personal, social and environmental problems. Is this simply romanticism, or is there something there that we have fallen away from? We know we can’t go back, but is there something of great value in the ancient traditions that we need to identify and bring with us into our uncertain future?
This café offers a rich conversation in which you can participate. We will have four panellists who will provide quite different perspectives for ancient wisdom:
- Neerja Ahuja – the Indian holistic medicinal approach called Ayurveda
- Donald Marmara – The Circle of Life: Learning from the Native American Medicine Wheel
- Susan Goff – re-learning indigenous connections with Country in cross-cultural relationships
- Dean Collier – the insights of metaphysical traditions on the nature of human essence.
We are looking at the relevance, or timeless value, of the worldviews of indigenous peoples, cultures and traditions in the contemporary business world, in contrast to prevailing views and assumptions.
The session will be chaired by Glenn Martin, SLaM Committee and student of ethics and I Ching.
We hope you can join us, enjoy the conversation and enrich your understanding.
Prices: $35 Non-Members; $25 Financial Members
Download the brochure for this event to share with your friends: SLAM-cafe-flyer-18-April-2015
Speakers
Susan Goff
Understanding and including Traditional Owners’ cosmology is foundational to ethical, and therefore sustainable life in Australia. Susan is a Pakeha woman (non-indigenous Anglo New Zealander) and since 1990 has been working with Traditional Owners and other people identifying with Aboriginal cultures in social and environmental research environments. In that time she has co-created hybrid ways of developing cross-cultural relationships characterised by respect, responsibility, resilience, flow, a good deal of hilarity and stories around fires. Her intention is to co-learn contemporary cultural practices and turn her focus to non-indigenous systems with these understandings so that Aboriginal voices can be heard and their perspectives included in policy and practice. This she sees as is her only legitimate stance in the current politic, and a journey that has formed Susan’s adult life. Susan’s website is www.cultureshift.com.au Susan has a lengthy list of publications on her website.
Donald Marmara
Donald Marmara had the privilege of serving an apprenticeship with Sun Bear, a Native American Medicine Man. This gave him the opportunity of directly experiencing the lives and teachings of Native Americans. He will share his experience of Native American Culture and his understanding of the essence of the teachings of the Medicine Wheel, which considers life as a circle, where all beings, including humans, animals, plants and minerals, are interconnected, interdependent and equally important. We will be invited to reflect and consider if and how we can apply this understanding in a predominantly materialistic and hierarchical society. Donald’s website is Core Development: www.coredevelopment.com.au
Neerja Ahuja
Neerja has been principal consultant, trainer and facilitator at Ayurveda Awareness Centre (AAC) for more than 15 years now. She has led numerous educational workshops, retreats and seminars, and nationally recognised qualifications Cert IV / Adv Dip in Ayurveda. Neerja consults clients for diet, life style routines for physical, mental and emotional hygiene, disease management and reversal, offering a variety of Ayurvedic detoxification and de-stressing treatments along with other wellbeing recommendations for practical living.
Neerja will be talking about the secrets of ancient wisdom of Ayurveda as relevant to modern life – looking at the effect of food on your temperament and how to choose the “right” food for you for happiness and peace. Neerja’s website is www.ayurveda-awareness.com.au
Dean Collier
Beyond the Age of Psychology, what’s next? Dean has never been the same since 1980 when he received an awesome clairvoyant session with Francie Willams, the founder of the North Shore Parapsychology School and Alternative Clinic in Auckland. “If you can do that, lady, why can’t I?” Francie replied, “Anyone can, but it takes three things: study, discipline and dedication.” Now with over 23,000 hours of recorded clairvoyant insight work and the leadership topic of Business Intuition, Dean’s drive is to link people with the source of their intuition and recognise their unique vibrational pattern of human essence. Ancient wisdom is supportive to know self, create self and understand others. Dean’s website is www.deancollier.com Here are two articles by Dean, from the ebook (2015) Motivating your mind, inspiring your spirit.
Glenn Martin
Glenn is chairing the panel. He is on the Management Committee of SLaM. He is a writer and educator. Here is an article he wrote on the idea of ancient wisdom, from his “Glenn the Pen” blog: The single goal and ancient wisdom.
Readings on ancient wisdom
Here are some readings that may help you to get a focus on the topic.
(1) Big picture wisdom: Metatheorising ancient, scientific and indigenous wisdom perspectives for global environmental leadership, by Mark Edwards, Roberto Biloslavo, Blaze Kwaymullina and Ambelin Kwaymullina. This is from our journal and it is on our website: http://www.slam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/JSLaMvol7no1_Edwards.pdf
(2) Book: The Fall: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of A New Era, (2005) by Steve Taylor.