The Parts and the Entirety

 

This page describes:

1. What the Image that you just saw symbolizes
2. What it signifies for our every-day reality
3. What we do about that may benefit you
4. How to navigate this site.

The Image that you saw before entering this page...

... is a Mandala - a universal symbol known in all cultures of the world. It consists of a center and of concentrically growing rings around that center. Thus, it represents the relation between the Parts and the Entirety, the Center and the Periphery, and the dynamics and energies between them. The Mandala is symmetrical. In relation to the center, every single fragment, no matter where, has its corresponding counter-part. The symbol points to a burning question of our time - how to comprehend and deal with the myriads of fragmented realities forming our increasingly interconnected world?

Parts and Entirety - in our every-day reality

Let us put names to some of the faces in the image that you just saw. Each symbolizes a particular person, collective, system or even an idea or energy, for example:

 

Example part Individual Company Government NGO Board of Directors Scientific discipline Leader Transnational corporation Political party Democracy Rational thinking My knowledge Action Rational reasoning Inclusion of otherness

Example entirety Community Market Hemisphere Society Social context Body of human knowledge Autonomous responsibility Global interconnectivity Integrative participation Autonomous growth Wholeness Reality Engagement Wholesome relating Identity

Example counter-part Group Industry Multilateral organism Civil society Stakeholders Science Followers Global fragmented realities Res Publica Societal organization models Mind My certainties Reflection Inner life Repulsion of otherness

 

The relations between the Parts and the Entirety are constantly changing in a process of configuration, de-figuration and re-figuration. In addition, emerging new developments - for example globalization, cutting-edge technology, the privatization of access to means of mass destruction, the cloning of life - shed a new light on our Mandala.

Our vocation and work

We have lived and worked in many different and diverging cultures, social contexts and sectors in the world. We have experienced the diverse perspectives, beliefs and parameters of each of these parts - and we have shared the hopes and fears, convictions and doubts, joys and anxieties of the people in each. We have witnessed and partaken in the various manners of dealing with a seemingly fragmented, contradictory and confusing reality - such manners, in all areas, ranging from collective depression and impotence to fundamentalist enthusiasm, from regressive seclusion to lashing out for world-wide dominance, from self-inflicted victimization to notions of supremacy, from suspending life in contradictions to ignoring complexity or making either-or decisions.

From that longtime experience our vocation has emerged - helping to gain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the Mandala of our reality. We explore, design and help to deploy novel ways to relate with others, to respect their genuine otherness and to connect with them - people, collectives, ideas - beyond the limits of antagonism. For that purpose, we aim to enhance personal and collective autonomy - the freedom and faculty to articulate conclusive questions and weigh the answers

This website introduces the Application Part of our undertaking - where we work with leaders, decision-makers and their groups in different sectors. Jointly with you we initiate, design, structure and implement integral developments in the concrete context of your reality.

Our Further undertakings include broad-spectrum research in different areas and sciences, joint thought-initiatives with experts from a variety of disciplines and practices, and integral forms of articulation including the arts. We develop specific instruments designed to generate and deploy integral knowledge for transverse challenges, for example: Education, social transformation, communal development, political reforms, leadership, or conflict resolution in and across different cultures, religions, sectors and social contexts.

How to navigate this website

You have at your disposal various elements to navigate this website. As you enter the different sections, you will find:

• A short text outlining the respective topic and stating concrete examples
• A navigation map (access by clicking it) illustrating the thematic structure of the topic - click the individual elements to the right of the map to learn about the specific content and case examples
• Mr. Fivehair (access by clicking the image) commenting on the topic in a metaphorical form.