CONVERSATIONS THAT MATTER
Integral Salons- for the Integral European Conference. A conversation with Monia Fruehwirth
Register for the Integral European Conference 2021 HERE.
Heidi writes
In 1977 Ken Wilber wrote his first book “Spektrum of Consciousness”, the beginning of an inquiry into the world’s wisdom traditions. The question was: what is the connection between different schools? How can we understand which practices are good or better for a determinate situation and which ones better are applied to other situation?
This question attracted me in 1979 in his book “No Boundary”, the first one I read after the fascinating and very touching story of his life with his second wife “Grace and Grit”. He showed that the effectiveness of certain therapy schools were valid for people in certain stages of their personal development, but wouldn’t work or even be harmful for those in a different stage. This insight had the potential to end the war between different schools, each of which were convinced that their method was “right”. Now it became clear that they were “right, but partial” everyone of them were right in a certain realm of application.
The next book I was fascinated with was “Up from Eden”. I couldn’t wait to be home from work for being able to continue with reading. There were so many answers to questions I had had for so long, so mayn AHAs about things which had bothered me and which I just couldn’t figure out in their contradictions.
Meeting integral theory by reading the books was really life changing. But I had nobody to talk with. Nobody around me seemed to be interested at all in what was so fascinating for me, I met rolling eyes when I tried to bring up the topic. It was very frustrating – until I heard about a small conference in Berlin calles “Arbeitskreis Ken Wilber”. I took a plane and participated, just listening to the program and talking to people in the intervals. What a relief it was! No rolling eyes at all, but an understanding and willingness to talk about the things which I had been holding in my mind for so long, all by myself!
From then on I went to every meeting of this sort and became a member of the newly founded “Integrales Forum”, the first group or association I ever became a member in my whole life! Since I live far away in rural Umbria/Italy, I was not able to attend the new initiatives, the regular meetings which were organised in many cities in Germany, Austria and Svizzerland by enthusiastic Wilber fans in order to allow the direct exchange on what anyone learned from his books. These developed into what we call “Integral Salons”.
In 2006 I joined the first one week long gathering of the “Integral female consciousness field”, co-organised by Minia Fruehwirth and I started to get ever more involved in the “integral Community”. With my husband Mark Davenport I attended the European Integral COnference in 2014 and in consequence we founded the “Wisdom Factory”, a video podcast in service of the integral worldview and integral practitioners. It became one of the first “Online Salons” within the “Integrales Forum”.
Integral Salons have the promise and capacity to develop and proliferate integral thought and integral ways of being in the world. A jump into the “integral stage” by many people would be badly needed in our present time where separation and fight against “the others” is making life difficult and in danger of disastrous outcomes. We need to grow up as humanity, we need to find the connection, the bigger picture, in order to find better solutions. Integral Salons do their best to inspire individuals to take the leap into a much wider consciousness. The map by Ken Wilber is a very valid guideline for everyone of us to recognise what is going on, what is missing in our response and where we need to focus more.
In my conversation with Monia Früuhwirth we explore the beginning of the integral movement in Europe, the idea of creating “salons” which in her hometown Vienna had a long tradition in the cultural life. She was engaged from the first moments in creating the Vienna salon, but also in collaborating – as first woman in the movement – with the Integrales Forum, translating books by Wilber into German, holding live interviews with him and occupying herself with the media released by this organisation. Although she has “retired” from many organisational aspects of the association, she is still co-leading the salon in Vienna and some other integral inspired groups.
Enjoy our conversation!
Videopost for Mai 2021
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