Mental Condition, Social Communication and Technological Innovation – Interconnected Resources for Ecological TransformationMental Condition, Social Communication and Technological Innovation – Interconnected Resources for Ecological Transformation
Why do we (human beings in general) not act, though we know basically what needs to be done? How can we enhance and speed up the processes that would lead to a fundamental turn in our behavior?
University for Life and Peace (Ling Jiou Mountain, Taiwan; Yangon, Myanmar)
In Cooperation with the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich (LMU),
Germany and the Federation of Scientists (VDW), Berlin, Germany
Online Winter School Oct 28-29 / Nov 11-12 / Dec 2, 2023
Mental Condition, Social Communication and Technological Innovation –
Interconnected Resources for Ecological Transformation
PROGRAM
Background
From Insight to action.
“This way it is not enough” (E.U.von Weizsäcker) Conference after conference sets new targets in order to avoid destruction of the conditions for life on earth. The two most important issues being probably global warming and the fast destruction of biodiversity. More and more governments, industries, research centers and large civil movements (such as “Fridays for Future”) do see the problems and engage in preventing the ecosystems from collapse. But this is not enough. Why do we (human beings in general) not act, though we know basically what needs to be done? How can we enhance and speed up the processes that would lead to a fundamental turn in our behavior? Why do we not act with sufficient intensity?
These are the basic question for our Winter School. These questions will be focused in two practical dimensions:
- How to create and enact individual motivation and courage for ecological change based on creativity and the joy of engagement?
- How to engage and integrate institutional or social actors by overcoming inertia and selfcentered attitudes?
Mental condition (thinking, feeling, will) is shaped by our ways of thinking and evaluating internal as well as external processes (mind and nature). This is not fixed. We can learn to live in harmony within ourselves and with our environment. Many people (especially indigenous cultures in the forests) do still have a mentality we can learn from. In modern sciences this is being taken up by fascinating research about the life (and sensitivity) of plants and animals: Plants and animals are not objects to our disposal but co-beings, and we humans share our life with them. What does this mean for our communication with other forms of life, and for the development of our technologies which are not tools for using and exploiting nature in destructive ways, but instruments for sharing with nature the fundamental resources of life. If we develop patterns for our life style which are based on the three aspects of this title as interconnected resources, we might develop a spiritual ecology in depth.
