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July 2009 
Lets meet in Istanbul
Posted on Jun 24th, 2008
by 
Albert
Albert
This is a vivid, breathing report from my colleague at Integral leadership Reivew ,Yene Assegid. its about a recent integral event in Event inIstanbul, Turkey. As today Germany meets Turkey in Soccer/football in Basel/Switzerland, I found these notes from the field very impressive and honest , personal and with emotional directness which is a precious new quality for integral communication.
Istanbul is a very exciting location in Europe. See also:
Miniskirts Meet Minarets in New Istanbul
That country-modern Turkey-is a geographic crossroads, where the European landmass meets the Middle East; it's a religious and cultural crossroads, where traditional faith and modern secularism converge; it's also a political crossroads, where the most progressive society in the Islamic world is trying to make a historic leap into the European Union.
Thanks Yene, football game today evening in Switzerland wil breathe surely the same spirit.
Lets meet in Istanbul
Yene Assegid, Notes from the Field
SubSaharan Africa Bureau Chief, Integral Leadership Review
"When you reach the Hagia Sofia, go towards the Blue Mosque and take a left - there we will be."After a long journey from Freetown, Sierra Leone to Istanbul, Turkey, through Casablanca, Morocco, I arrived in Istanbul and fumbled across this new place to find my little hotel. It had been a little over 30 hours of travel and by the time I reached my bed, I could only collapse into sleep. In the early hours of the morning, I remember a moment of semi-sleep, when I was enveloped by the sounds of ancient songs of prayer. I was not sure where I was. It took time to realize that I had traveled and that I was in Istanbul in a room that had not yet become mine. The prayers were so intense, the voices so clear and ancient. I remember opening up my soul to them and turning over in the sheets to close my eyes again and travel through time, nursed by the sounds sent enchantment and praise to God. I am not sure if I can say that it was meditative. It was certainly something completely new to me, yet, somewhere in my being, I knew that this moment was a gift and opening to a new field of existence.
It was this April. This would be our second gathering for what we had called "Integral sans Frontières". We, we were individuals from across the world who decided to gather to share and discuss the application of the integral approach to international development. We came from everywhere and on this day we would come together to co-create yet another level of understanding of how we can use the palettes of integral for our individual paintings in expression of our dreams and vision for this world.
Our story started in October 2006, when a small group of international development practitioners met in Perpignan, France to explore ways to support each other in applying the integral approach to international development. All the "I's" merged in a "we". This "we" encompassed the world. We meshed together South America, North America, Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia and birthed a community reflecting the expression of integral through so many cultures and environments. It is an understatement to say that it was great; it was rather a precious gift to witness and experience how much was being done around the world. At the end of the gathering, a beautiful field came into being and anchored its foundation in the four corners of the world.
Personally, I had come to Perpignan with curiosity, enthusiasm and a desire to learn, as well as the hope of having our questions answered. I believe this is also true for most participants. At the end of Perpignan, it seems we went home with even more questions than we came with. Yet, I believe that, collectively, we also left knowing that in this field of inquiry we could indeed count on one another to deepen both our understanding of what is so in the world and how we can use all of what integral offers to raise our efficacy in finding solutions for the great inequities of current global reality. The greatest success of Perpignan, in my opinion, was the birth of Integral Sans Frontières, "ISF", (integral without borders). Emails, visits and phone calls kept our energy and conversations continuing. Through it all our commitment was to find means to meet again and further deepen that which we started.
About a year and half later we re-grouped; this time in Istanbull, Turkey in April 2008. It feels so good to see that the baby that was born in France had grown to become a toddler and it had just started to take its first steps. And this baby took us for a stroll in Istanbul to a place located a stone throw away from the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. We were soaked in the colors of this ancient city. Wherever we went, whatever we saw, whatever we heard, we were reminded of ancient history, legends, dreams and visions that are as old as the world itself. This baby was born among close to 20 or so of us in France. This time, the family had grown; there were 48 relatives and many more who sent their energies but could not be part of the gathering. Once more, the whole world was there as we each brought with us our own spheres of existence. There was, however, something different this time. There was something even more beautiful than last time. What was beautiful was the witnessing of how ISF had evolved; it had expanded.
Read More...
Istanbul is a very exciting location in Europe. See also:
Miniskirts Meet Minarets in New Istanbul
That country-modern Turkey-is a geographic crossroads, where the European landmass meets the Middle East; it's a religious and cultural crossroads, where traditional faith and modern secularism converge; it's also a political crossroads, where the most progressive society in the Islamic world is trying to make a historic leap into the European Union.
Thanks Yene, football game today evening in Switzerland wil breathe surely the same spirit.
Lets meet in Istanbul
Yene Assegid, Notes from the Field
SubSaharan Africa Bureau Chief, Integral Leadership Review
"When you reach the Hagia Sofia, go towards the Blue Mosque and take a left - there we will be."After a long journey from Freetown, Sierra Leone to Istanbul, Turkey, through Casablanca, Morocco, I arrived in Istanbul and fumbled across this new place to find my little hotel. It had been a little over 30 hours of travel and by the time I reached my bed, I could only collapse into sleep. In the early hours of the morning, I remember a moment of semi-sleep, when I was enveloped by the sounds of ancient songs of prayer. I was not sure where I was. It took time to realize that I had traveled and that I was in Istanbul in a room that had not yet become mine. The prayers were so intense, the voices so clear and ancient. I remember opening up my soul to them and turning over in the sheets to close my eyes again and travel through time, nursed by the sounds sent enchantment and praise to God. I am not sure if I can say that it was meditative. It was certainly something completely new to me, yet, somewhere in my being, I knew that this moment was a gift and opening to a new field of existence.
It was this April. This would be our second gathering for what we had called "Integral sans Frontières". We, we were individuals from across the world who decided to gather to share and discuss the application of the integral approach to international development. We came from everywhere and on this day we would come together to co-create yet another level of understanding of how we can use the palettes of integral for our individual paintings in expression of our dreams and vision for this world.
Our story started in October 2006, when a small group of international development practitioners met in Perpignan, France to explore ways to support each other in applying the integral approach to international development. All the "I's" merged in a "we". This "we" encompassed the world. We meshed together South America, North America, Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia and birthed a community reflecting the expression of integral through so many cultures and environments. It is an understatement to say that it was great; it was rather a precious gift to witness and experience how much was being done around the world. At the end of the gathering, a beautiful field came into being and anchored its foundation in the four corners of the world.
Personally, I had come to Perpignan with curiosity, enthusiasm and a desire to learn, as well as the hope of having our questions answered. I believe this is also true for most participants. At the end of Perpignan, it seems we went home with even more questions than we came with. Yet, I believe that, collectively, we also left knowing that in this field of inquiry we could indeed count on one another to deepen both our understanding of what is so in the world and how we can use all of what integral offers to raise our efficacy in finding solutions for the great inequities of current global reality. The greatest success of Perpignan, in my opinion, was the birth of Integral Sans Frontières, "ISF", (integral without borders). Emails, visits and phone calls kept our energy and conversations continuing. Through it all our commitment was to find means to meet again and further deepen that which we started.
About a year and half later we re-grouped; this time in Istanbull, Turkey in April 2008. It feels so good to see that the baby that was born in France had grown to become a toddler and it had just started to take its first steps. And this baby took us for a stroll in Istanbul to a place located a stone throw away from the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. We were soaked in the colors of this ancient city. Wherever we went, whatever we saw, whatever we heard, we were reminded of ancient history, legends, dreams and visions that are as old as the world itself. This baby was born among close to 20 or so of us in France. This time, the family had grown; there were 48 relatives and many more who sent their energies but could not be part of the gathering. Once more, the whole world was there as we each brought with us our own spheres of existence. There was, however, something different this time. There was something even more beautiful than last time. What was beautiful was the witnessing of how ISF had evolved; it had expanded.
Read More...
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