A cornucopia of wisdom from classical philosophy to third eye awakening set minds abuzz in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, last month thanks to Assoc. Prof. Jay Shaw, a “unique treasure” as all concurred, re the inspiration behind the gathering.
By attendee Vonnie Boston
The distinguished thinker at the city’s Victoria University compiled a weekend conference titled: Mind Body Self – that both inspired for its cross cultural breadth and confounded with so much to digest.
The real punch from the moment it started to the final whistle was the interdisciplinary mix and the encouragement of diversity…gone was any layman concept of philosophy fixed in stone as surely as Rodin’s sculpture. No, this started with politicians, parliamentarians and professors weighing in at the inauguration evening, including the Mayor of the City, Celia Wade-Brown, a one-time philosophy graduate herself, giving time when in particular demand as the conference coincided with the big birthday celebrations for the city’s 150th anniversary, but she was delighted to make time to welcome the spread of ideas and ethnicities and congratulated all involved.
More than 40 papers were presented by distinguished scholars from all over the planet … from Calcutta to California and Haiti to Hawaii and many points besides, came theories spanning voodoo, Krishna consciousness, dualism, quantum mechanics, Vedic, Bhuddist thought and a myriad of other precepts re the soul, spirit and self; or no self as one claimed and which had my neighbour in hot dispute… Later that neighbour was, however, totally silenced, rendered completely inarticulate, when the young woman trained in the Nithyananda Sangha technique, demonstrated blindfold reading via use of her awakened third eye… Mind you, most people were bowled out by that one, while trying to grasp the potential or possibilities of either a past life as a tuatara ( New Zealand’s ancient, lizard-like creature renowned for its acclaimed possession of a third eye) or the prospect of becoming an adept in “Kundalini Shakti: Awakening Higher Consciousness and the 3rd Eye – a practical approach”as the presentation was called.
And a student nearby, for remember we were in the hallowed halls of a university, promptly saw how beneficial such a “practical approach” could be re. finals coming up if you needed to catch a glimpse of your brighter neighbour’s answers! That then set minds, like mine, cavorting about re a few steps on up to wi-fi of the wits when we must surely be able to outdo the tuatara and read the Prof’s mind? So what point then in learning all these things? About there, I’d say we’re back with Rodin just representing The Thinker!
But it’s possibly a bit early in our evolution to become totally catatonic, so mercifully, Dr Shaw stepped in and indicated in his summing up how much is still to be addressed even though so much had been covered with people coming from universities all around the world and indicating a clear need for bringing not just East and Western philosophies into the fold but ways of thinking and understanding cultures from many forms of belief, both traditional and modern and art interpretations too – as the paper on handling grief via Rabindranath Tagore’s art captured; and the theatrical interpretations resulting in catharsis in the African Yoruba culture emphasised, as it linked in Oedipus (Sophocles) and sons killing fathers…and discussed a paper: “This is (Not) Us: Engaging the Yoruba Philosophical Imperative of the Gods are not to blame.”
Energy field theories, morphic resonance, meditation, the indeterminable boundary between sanity and madness as addressed by Hegel and Freud, symbolic physical diseases and the mind-body relations in such, the latter was presented by a Western medical doctor, and again served to emphasise how boundaries in so many areas and viewpoints were being confronted and crossed in this gathering of mind explorers.
The thoughts, the contributions and concepts were often poles apart but the mighty thing was the dynamic that such discourse engendered in all who participated … the minds/souls/spirits, whatever you liked to label them, that were sparking at every turn created a sense which many remarked on, of identity in the divergence, a sense of excitement and a delight and energy of a true party of exploration carrying the light and inner knowing to some as yet to be reached new shore… and all thanks to that other Shaw! (Sorry, but this peanut thinker couldn’t resist that pun.)
And apologies for not explaining or even beginning to discuss all the multifaceted treats on offer but it was in such abundance no report could encapsulate the whole, however all is not lost – for a book reprinting all the papers is in production and if you look up Dr. Shawhttp://www.victoria.ac.nz/hppi/about/staff/jay-shaw at the university, you will be able to track when it is released and also appreciate his outstanding background and realize what an erudite, global scholar he is having contributed to the world from his Eastern beginnings and spiced that with Western approaches to result in such a broad perspective which has culminated in setting up an event such as this conference which is planned to become an annual fixture and encourage far greater interdisciplinary approaches and understanding in future.
Vonnie Boston, soul painter and author of The Pike Miners – their eternal essence –
bosvb@yahoo.com
