Synthesis III

SYNTHESIS: WHAT VISONS AND ACTIONS WILL CATALYZE THE
EMERGENCE OF A CULTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS?

On Friday, June 4th, Michael Beckwith guided us through a visioning process during which
we considered the following questions within the greater context of our conversations up to
this point:

Question: What are the emerging principles of evolving global awareness?
Question:  What are models, metaphors and methodologies for awakening in our fields?
Question: What do we hold as the essential elements of the needed synthesis?
Question: Is there a social and mystical technology of synthesis?
Question: What is my commitment to this work?
Question: What shall we do—in action?

In response, the group synthesized its visions of some universal principles, guiding insights,
practices, commitments and technologies that will catalyze the emergence of a culture of
consciousness. Not ironically, when looking for a framework into which I might embed our
collective wisdom, I found that the Noble Eightfold Path of the Buddhist tradition worked quite
well.

Since many of our insights easily cross categories, please feel free to edit and rearrange my
structural choices as a way of engaging in our continuing dialogue!
It would be very interesting if those among us with knowledge of parallel systems in Christianity,
Islam, New Thought, Sufism, Judaism, Native American, Bahai’I, scientific, economic and other
traditions and disciplines would care to submit them into dialogue with reference to the notes
from our visioning process. Synthesis benefits from articulating “precise universalities.”

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path describes the way to the end of suffering, as it was laid out by
Siddhartha Gautama. It is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development with the goal of
freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and it finally leads to understanding the
truth about all things. Together with the Four Noble Truths it constitutes the gist of Buddhism.
Great emphasis is put on the practical aspect, because it is only through practice that one can
attain a higher level of existence and finally reach Nirvana. The eight aspects of the path are not
to be understood as a sequence of single steps, instead they are highly interdependent principles
that have to be seen in relationship with each other.

Wisdom

1. Right View
Right view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand
things as they really are and to realize the Four Noble Truth. As such, right view is the cognitive
aspect of wisdom. It means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature
of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning. Right
view is not necessarily an intellectual capacity, just as wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence.
Instead, right view is attained, sustained, and enhanced through all capacities of mind.

COMMENTS FROM THE SYNTHESIS DIALOGUES

• To reconnect individuals to our innate nature
• "There is nothing quite so painful as a broken heart. But a
broken heart is an open heart. If you can learn to live
with an open heart gentle transformations begins to occur."
• To be conscious at every moment of our inner identity of lovingkindness, and by
this become known to friend and foe alike
• Enable methods to synthesize thought and action and bring the balance to the
center of our work.
• Change the story in wherein Science has been elevated to the Priesthood. Revisit
the truth of our observations of the natural world in order to create a more
accurate and hopeful scientific story that integrates phenomenology with spirit in
sustainable abundance.

2. Right Intention

While right view refers to the cognitive aspect of wisdom, right intention refers to the volitional
aspect, i.e. the kind of mental energy that controls our actions. Right intention can be described
best as commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. Foremost is the intention of
harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop
compassion.

COMMENTS FROM THE SYNTHESIS DIALOGUES

• To spread goodwill,
• To struggle nonviolently for nonviolence
• Acknowledge that things are “not right”
• The principles of evolving awareness:
- To embrace Precise Simplicity (specify means and methods..)
- To be Non-judgmental
- To be Truly Universal
- To embody our Collective Interdependence

Ethical Conduct

3. Right Speech

Right speech is the first principle of ethical conduct in the eightfold path. Ethical conduct is
viewed as a guideline to moral discipline, which supports the other principles of the path. This
aspect is not self-sufficient, however, essential, because mental purification can only be achieved
through the cultivation of ethical conduct. The importance of speech in the context of Buddhist
ethics is obvious: words can break or save lives, make enemies or friends, start war or create
peace.

COMMENTS FROM THE SYNTHESIS DIALOGUES

• Those in power must be told the truth in a way that will be heard.
•` In order to acknowledge what is wrong, we must find our holy “No” to injustice.
Emphasizing only affirmation precludes the necessity in these hard times for
sacred negation in engaging complex and intractable injustice. Synthesis must be
preceded by proper differentiation of Yes/No/ and a Third Side.
• To voice clearly: Yes/ No / Wait a minute!

4. Right Action

The second ethical principle, right action, involves the body as natural means of expression, as it
refers to deeds that involve manifestation through actions. Unwholesome actions lead to unsound
states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind. Positively formulated, right
action means to act kindly and compassionately, to be honest, to respect the others, and to keep
relationships harmless to others.

COMMENTS FROM THE SYNTHESIS DIALOGUES

• Make a commitment to change
• To anchor the notion of our shared destiny, with emphasis on human dignity, and
empathy for the plight of the impoverished in order to ease it
• Action motivated by need to prove our own existence is not enough.
• Principles of evolving awareness are to be found in Dr. M.L. King’s definition of
the “beloved community.”
• Methodologies of awakening begin with education, ethics and spirituality of the
inner person.
• Help our children understand the true meaning of Power beyond hierarchy, class
distinctions, and domination of the overpowered above the dispossessed and
disenfranchised.
5. Right Livelihood
Right livelihood means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth
should be gained legally and peacefully. Furthermore any other occupation that would violate the
principles of right speech and right action should be avoided

COMMENTS FROM THE SYNTHESIS DIALOGUES

• To give and receive with authenticity
• Knowing when to stop “business as usual” because we are not applying our
efforts to the right business for cultural change
• Ask the Gandhian question: “Will it benefit the weakest and poorest among us?”
• Models and methodologies of evolving awareness:
    -   To live the experience that matter and non-matter are one
-   To recognize the fundamentals of spiritual capital and bring them into our
economic thinking and government policies
• Infuse meme of interdependence into the value system of our economics so that
spiritual riches are prized over the material.
Mental Development

6. Right Effort

Right effort can be seen as a prerequisite for the other principles of the path. Without effort,
which is in itself an act of will, nothing can be achieved, whereas misguided effort distracts the
mind from its task, and confusion will be the consequence. Mental energy is the force behind
right effort. The same type of energy that fuels desire, envy, aggression, and violence can on the
other side fuel self-discipline, honesty, benevolence, and kindness.

COMMENTS FROM THE SYNTHESIS DIALOGUES

• To promote education, interest and respect
• To respect, protect and awaken all life
• To base every interaction on Right Relationship; to develop technologies to
evolve social and emotional learning
• Any social and mystical technology of synthesis must “back away” from the
external to internal process; turn to cultivation of neglected internal technologies
such as character, virtue, truth-telling, courage, compassion.

7. Right Mindfulness

Right mindfulness is the controlled and perfected faculty of cognition. It is the mental ability to
see things as they are, with clear consciousness. Usually, the cognitive process begins with an
impression induced by perception, or by a thought, but then it does not stay with the mere
impression. Instead, we almost always conceptualize sense impressions and thoughts
immediately. We interpret them and set them in relation to other thoughts and experiences, which
naturally go beyond the facticity of the original impression. The mind then posits concepts, joins
concepts into constructs, and weaves those constructs into complex interpretative schemes. All
this happens only half consciously, and as a result we often see things obscured. Right
mindfulness is anchored in clear perception and it penetrates impressions without getting carried
away. Right mindfulness enables us to be aware of the process of conceptualization in a way that
we actively observe and control the way our thoughts go.

COMMENTS FROM THE SYNTHESIS DIALOGUES

• Think as “we” instead of “me.” How do we live as one humanity, and how far are
we, indeed, from actualizing this vision?
• To be open to the Now—leaving behind the certainty of what we already know.
• Technologies: Synthesis arises when belief systems are annihilated in that they
are lenses distorting reality. Meditation can facilitate the power of our
commitment to this work.
8. Right Concentration
The eighth principle of the path, right concentration, refers to the development of a mental
force that occurs in natural consciousness, although at a relatively low level of intensity,
namely concentration. Concentration in this context is described as one-pointedness of mind,
meaning a state where all mental faculties are unified and directed toward a unified goal.

COMMENTS FROM THE SYNTHESIS DIALOGUES

• Hold awareness that ignorance generates ignorance and wisdom procreates
wisdom
• Thousands of people come together in prayer and meditation as a “technology” to
effect change. Humanity seen as a psychosphere will allow the noblest in us to
emerge, regardless of geography.

Visit www.synthesisdialogues.org

June 21, 2004
Barbara Fields Bernstein
Co-founder & Director, Synthesis Dialogues I, II & III
Executive Director, Association for Global New Thought