Wisdom 2.0 comes to Europe

Ireland is known to have a number of “thin places”. 

In these places the veil between this world and what is referred to as the eternal world, is very thin. Such places are thought by many to have a special energy which can be sensed by those drawn to such sites, and which is said to often transform the one visiting. They are said to be stopping places where one can pause and ponder and catch a glimpse of something that lies beyond every-day living, and which is much greater than ourselves.

They are sacred, mystical places of listening, connection and creativity. 

The travel writer, Eric Weiner, writing on thin places in a wonderful piece in The New York Times, quotes Mircea Eliade who observed that “some parts of space are qualitatively different from others”, and an Apache proverb that takes the idea a step further: “Wisdom sits in places.”

I had researched the whole idea of “thin places” before I visited Ireland for the first time in 2013, and had visited some such sites.

I had not, however, expected to encounter another when I signed up for the Wisdom 2.0 Europe conference in Dublin!

Wisdom 2.0 conferences and events address the great challenge of our age: to not only live connected to one another through technology, but to do so in ways that are beneficial to our own well-being, effective in our work and useful to the world.

Wisdom 2.0 is a global community of people dedicated to living with deeper wisdom, compassion and awareness in the digital age, and I have been following the conferences via the internet and social media since the first one, started by Soren Gordhamer, @SorenG, was held outside of San Francisco in 2009.

Many of the themes of my website here2here - connectivity, cyberspace, interconnectedness, compassion and mindfulness would be looked at closely at Wisdom 2.0 Europe. 

That the conference was to be held in Europe was my opportunity to attend and so I set off from AbuDhabi2Dublin!

AbuDhabi2Dublin - an edit I came up with on the way over 

The conference far surpassed my expectations. 

Excellent presentations and workshops looking at Mindful Living and Mindful Business filled the three days.

Highlights for me were:

Otto Scharmer, @ottoscharmer1, explaining holding the space which allows creativity to come forth.

Tania Singer, social neuroscientist at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, presenting “Training your Mind and Heart towards a Caring Society: A Social Neuroscience Perspective”.

Gelong Thubten, Buddhist monk of the Kagyu Tibeten tradition, speaking on “The Power of Forgiveness”.

Tsewang Namgyal, Vice President of the Bank of Tokyo, sharing his personal story aided by images and leading us on Day 3 in a compassion exercise.

Rohan Gunatillake, @rohan_21awake, named in 2012 by Wired magazine in their Smart List of 50 people who are about to change the word, presenting “Redesigning not Retreating: the Future of Mindfulness and Technology” 

Conference participants have shared experiences, photos and even notes online (check the hashtags #wisdom2europe #wisdom2conf)

Between talks, over tea and meals, new and special connections were established.

There was an almost palpable energy that filled the air.  I have thought about it and can only describe it as a great sense of Presence. 

The event was held at Googles Offices in Dublin. (More photos can be seen in this gallery).

Who would have thought that this space in the midst of Dublin’s docklands district would be so thin!

During the closing ceremony one of the participants spoke as the voice of Ireland and encouraged us to find some place after the conference to connect with the earth and listen to what it had to say.  

Walking home I entered the grounds of  Trinity College and sat down to be still on a park bench.  Near me there was a tree.  As I became mindful of the sounds around me, birdsong from the tree filled the air.  I had never heard such a bird before and was struck by the beauty of its sounds.

When I shared this story with a friend back in Abu Dhabi, she picked up a poetry book and read me a poem by Rumi which contained the following words: 

“The bird of my heart has again begun to flutter.....

The water is flowing again in this river; by the riverbank the grass has begun to shoot. 

The dawn breeze is blowing again in the garden, it has begun to blow over rose and rosebed. 

Love sold me for a single fault; Love’s heart burned, and has begun to buy back.

He drove me away; compassion came to him and called; Love has begun to look kindly upon me....” 

Was this the voice of Ireland? Was this the voice of my heart? Was this the song needing to be heard in the digital age? Perhaps all of these and much more.  

She’s here! A new piece for LindArt inspired by Wisdom 2.0 Europe. 

I recalled what had been said at the start of the conference:

There is a need to connect with self before connecting with others via technology.

Related articles:

Whirling Dervishes - lessons for cyberspace

Social Media - Bridging Cyberspace

Mobile Technology and The White Rabbit

Linda in Wonderland

Cybeflanerie: Deep Listening in Cyberspace

Mindfulness and The Flaneur

Social Media - Bridging Cyberspace

A bridge, by definition, is a structure spanning and providing passage over a river, a road or the like. In the physical world, it spans two locations which are within a reasonable distance from each other. It enables one to get from here to there. 

When it comes to cyberspace, which is not localized but still very real, distance is no problem. In cyberspace - the mindspace we find ourselves in when using technology to communicate - time and space are at once both limitless and compressed. People from different time zones and different geographical locations are connected by the bridges of cyberspace. They are able to get from here2here. 

“When I see cyberspace, I see bridges. Perhaps I should say I see people, building bridges in cyberspace. Not bridges of steel, not even electronic bridges, but bridges of ideas that span the miles of physical space, cross the generations and connect people who would otherwise be unlikely ever to meet.” Dr Judi Harris 

Social media bridge cyberspace and are largely responsible for the incredible communication evolution currently taking place. They enable collaboration and sharing to take place without geographical, time or economical restraints. These bridges connect not only people, but also ideas, interests and cultures.

The builders of the bridges in cyberspace are its users aided by technology, but unlike in the physical world, each builder constructs only part of the bridge.  When a blog is published, a photo posted, an update made, or a tweet sent out, there are endless possibilities of where it will reach. The minute it is read or viewed, a connection is made, and one of many possible bridges is complete. 

The effects of cyberbridges are mind boggling, and today’s blog will be just one story in the bigger web of connections.

About a month ago I tweeted about an app which allows potential buyers to project art onto their walls to see what it will look like before they decide whether they should buy it or not. It was retweeted by the amazing artist Walt Pascoe, @waltpascoe, whom I have been following almost since I joined Twitter four years ago. Two weeks later his retweet was further retweeted by @irishetchings, an Irish artist based in Dublin.

!!!“@WaltPascoe: This looks promising RT @lindahollier: Amazing! Finestra App Projects Art Onto Your Wall http://t.co/CXpbxdE37H via @zite”

— Irishetchings (@irishetchings) July 14, 2013

When it appeared in my stream I was amazed.  I had never before made contact with anyone from Dublin, and this retweet arrived within a few days of our planned visit to Ireland. It appeared to me to speak of synchronicity. I have written about deep listening in cyberspace and felt I should pay attention. 

The three exclamation marks were the completion of a cyberbridge made possible by social media and would lead to quite an adventure.

I discovered that @irishetchings was Camilla Fanning, whose primary medium is etching. Particularly drawn to the fact that a recurring theme of her work is collective memory and shared imaginings I further explored her website.

Her blogs “Strumpets” and “Waiting for Beckett” are an interesting account of the development of her latest etching which would be on display in the Graphic Studio Dublin. There and then I decided that if it was possible I would attempt to see the etching while in Ireland.

There was also a link on her website to current events in Dublin, through which I discovered and subsequently attended a Tibetan singing bowl meditation. 

The day after I arrived, I set off in Ireland’s heatwave to find the studio in Temple Bar, an area on the south bank of the River Liffey in central Dublin. While there I took a photo of the etching. 

In the late afternoon, I was happy to have lunch at a beautiful little spot recommended to me by a mindfulness twitter friend @twenty1breaths. That evening, resting after a day’s walking and exploring (ever the flaneur!) I did some more research.

The title of the etching, “Waiting for Beckett”,  was obviously a play on “Waiting for Godot” by Dublin born Samuel Beckett.  To my delight I discovered that the Samuel Beckett bridge (this pdf has some lovely photos, and there are a few more photos of the bridge in my gallery “Ireland”) featured in the etching, was designed by one of my favorite architects, Santiago Calatrava, whom I had blogged about shortly after discovering him in 2009.  The bridge looks like a Irish harp on its side and is unique in Ireland in that it is able to rotate through an angle of 90 degrees. Amazingly, it was constructed offsite and made its way to Dublin by barge from Rotterdam.  

One of the paradoxes in Calatrava’s designs is that they contain both rootedness and movement and this is clearly demonstrated in the Samuel Beckett bridge.

Rootedness and movement are typical too of cyberbridges. With the body present and rooted in front of a device, one’s mind nevertheless is able to move rapidly in here2here space. 

Thinking about all of this, I decided that only one thing could complete my adventure.  The next morning, shortly after sunrise, I made my way along the Liffey river to find the spot which had inspired the etching. An hour later I reached the bridge and stood in awe of its beauty. Slender yet strong, it graced the landscape. I wandered over it until I felt I had found the spot which Camilla had used as her perspective. 

After taking a number of pics, I simply sat there for a while in the early morning. 

Later I worked on an edit and this was the result.

Before leaving Dublin to tour the rest of Ireland I was able to return to the gallery to purchase Camilla’s etching.  Somehow its story had become part of mine.