Click link below for the Thirteenth Annual Language of Spirit Brochure
| los_2011_brochure_corrected.pdf |
The 13th Annual International Language of Spirit Conference:
How Technology has Impacted our Essential Humanness
In today’s fast-paced world, we are trying to keep up with more than time – but with technology. Technological advances are being pushed forward at a dizzying pace. But what is the impact of technology on the way we think, the way we know, and the way we express our creativity?
What is the impact of technology on science? Science is supposed to be about exploring the unknown, and technology the application of the known. But have the lines become so blurred that we are dependent upon machines to tell us what it true? Is all technology like the computer that only gives us what we have already conceptualized in some form beforehand – what is pre-programmed in? If so, do our preconceptions, biases and worldviews predetermine what we end up looking for and eventually discovering?
What is the relationship between technology and creativity? They may seem opposites, but as technology has changed, so have our ideas about creativity. We once accorded creative status only to the Gods, and accepted that human beings could only utilize creativity as a secondary reflection of a divine source. But then we began to see certain individuals as their own sun, as creative forces of their own. Those individuals, people like Einstein and Picasso, were elevated to God status. Genius, originally a verb, became a noun, housed in only certain individual geniuses. But the idea of the “lone genius” is also shifting. We are beginning to rediscover creativity in mundane places, not only in the arts and sciences, but everywhere and in everything we do.
Long ago, origin stories spoke of a creative cosmos. But then, we began to look at the cosmos as a reflection of our latest machines – first a cosmic clock, then a computer, more recently a hologram. But now we are coming full circle and again considering the birth of the cosmos as a creative act. But what is the relationship between the origins of the cosmos and the machines that study them?
Many of our ancient civilizations, like the Mayans, were able to make extremely accurate determinations of cosmic cycles without the benefit of today’s machines. Long before the Hubble telescope, the Mayans created a calendar, or set of calendars, based on movements of the cosmos. How did they do it? How did the Dogon people of Africa know everything about the Sirius star before a telescope had been invented? Indigenous peoples have long held practices that allow seeing with an inner vision. Can everyone access this ability, or must we rely on technology as a mediator?
For the past several years, we have dialogued about time and origin, space and place, and time travel. Come join us as we address one of the most pressing challenges to our essential humanness today: the impact of technology upon science and creativity.
HISTORY OF SEED
Source for Educational Empowerment and Community Development (SEED) was founded in 1996 to bring together Indigenous and Western ways of knowing. SEED is a 501c3 tax-exempt educational organization.
For its first seven years of existence, SEED operated exclusively as an open university, establishing a learning network of classes, seminars and workshops in northern New Mexico and beyond. An open university is about teachers teaching their life passion to students who want to be there; not for credit, but because they are genuinely interested in the course material and because it can make an immediate difference in their lives. Each semester, SEED offered more than one hundred different classes facilitated by approximately sixty instructors. Since 1996, over 10,000 students have participated in SEED programs.
From 1999 to 2003, SEED sponsored an annual summer camp for children, called SEEDlings. SEEDlings Summer Camp sought to bring to our future generations much of what we offer to adults. The camp emphasized environmental education, Native American practices and story-telling, mind-body disciplines, and the expressive arts. It was held in conjunction with Hummingbird Music Camp in the beautiful Jemez Mountains.
From 1999 until the present, SEED has sponsored the annual Language of Spirit Conference, featuring quantum physicists and Western scientists, Native American elders and linguists. The Language of Spirituality Conference is an international conference conducted primarily in a talking circle dialogue format, and has included moderator Leroy Little Bear, former Director of Native Studies at Harvard University, Nobel Laureate physicist Brian Josephson, as well as physicists Amit Goswami, William Tiller, Fred Alan Wolf, David Peat and Phillip Sakimoto, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, philosopher Ashok Gangadean, and Native American participants Linda Hogan, Nancy Maryboy, Gregory Cajete, Joseph Rael, and Paula Gunn Allen, among others. The history of the conference goes back to 1992, when Leroy Little Bear first approached David Bohm, and initiated a dialogue with Bohm, David Peat, Sagesh Youngblood Henderson, Dan Moonhawk Alford, and others, sponsored initially by the Fetzer Institute and then MIT. The 1992 dialogue coincided with the 500 th year since Columbus came to Turtle Island, and completed a cycle in which indigenous, wholistic thinking, once suppressed and disregarded, reemerged on equal footing with leading edge Western science. SEED agreed to sponsor these historic dialogues when funding sources ran dry, as they are the embodiment of our mission. Leroy Little Bear has been the moderator of all the dialogues.
As part of its transition to a degree granting graduate institute, SEED has sponsored conferences in each of the areas of proposed study. The Language of Spirit conference is a Science and Cosmology conference. SEED has also sponsored an Ecology Conferences (Oil and Water 2005): two Expressive Arts conferences (Art and Soul (2004) and the Talking Stick Film Festival (2008); and two healing conferences (Peace and Well-Being (2002) and Songs of the Earth (2005). SEED recently moved to a new location just one mile west of the UNM campus in order to facilitate collaboration with UNM by beginning to offer educational programs for credit in conjunction with NM’s largest educational institution. SEED also plans to initiate a BA completion program in conjunction with UNM or other accredited institution to facilitate the completion of four year bachelor’s degrees by Native and other students to provide a pathway for enrolling in SEED’s proposed MA program.
The SEED Institute continues to grow as four new components were added as part of the program which include 1) The Indigenous Elders of America, 2) SEEDlingsyouth component, 3) Striking Eagle Well Being Project, and 4) the New Mexico American Indian Classic basketball tournament. Furthermore, SEED has added an indigenous well being conference that will take place in April 2011. SEED has expanded its board of directors to twelve members. SEED has also added an advisory council which will assist in overseeing the development of our organization.
REGISTER NOW
Source for Educational Empowerment and Community Development (SEED) was founded in 1996 to bring together Indigenous and Western ways of knowing. SEED is a 501c3 tax-exempt educational organization.
For its first seven years of existence, SEED operated exclusively as an open university, establishing a learning network of classes, seminars and workshops in northern New Mexico and beyond. An open university is about teachers teaching their life passion to students who want to be there; not for credit, but because they are genuinely interested in the course material and because it can make an immediate difference in their lives. Each semester, SEED offered more than one hundred different classes facilitated by approximately sixty instructors. Since 1996, over 10,000 students have participated in SEED programs.
From 1999 to 2003, SEED sponsored an annual summer camp for children, called SEEDlings. SEEDlings Summer Camp sought to bring to our future generations much of what we offer to adults. The camp emphasized environmental education, Native American practices and story-telling, mind-body disciplines, and the expressive arts. It was held in conjunction with Hummingbird Music Camp in the beautiful Jemez Mountains.
From 1999 until the present, SEED has sponsored the annual Language of Spirit Conference, featuring quantum physicists and Western scientists, Native American elders and linguists. The Language of Spirituality Conference is an international conference conducted primarily in a talking circle dialogue format, and has included moderator Leroy Little Bear, former Director of Native Studies at Harvard University, Nobel Laureate physicist Brian Josephson, as well as physicists Amit Goswami, William Tiller, Fred Alan Wolf, David Peat and Phillip Sakimoto, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, philosopher Ashok Gangadean, and Native American participants Linda Hogan, Nancy Maryboy, Gregory Cajete, Joseph Rael, and Paula Gunn Allen, among others. The history of the conference goes back to 1992, when Leroy Little Bear first approached David Bohm, and initiated a dialogue with Bohm, David Peat, Sagesh Youngblood Henderson, Dan Moonhawk Alford, and others, sponsored initially by the Fetzer Institute and then MIT. The 1992 dialogue coincided with the 500 th year since Columbus came to Turtle Island, and completed a cycle in which indigenous, wholistic thinking, once suppressed and disregarded, reemerged on equal footing with leading edge Western science. SEED agreed to sponsor these historic dialogues when funding sources ran dry, as they are the embodiment of our mission. Leroy Little Bear has been the moderator of all the dialogues.
As part of its transition to a degree granting graduate institute, SEED has sponsored conferences in each of the areas of proposed study. The Language of Spirit conference is a Science and Cosmology conference. SEED has also sponsored an Ecology Conferences (Oil and Water 2005): two Expressive Arts conferences (Art and Soul (2004) and the Talking Stick Film Festival (2008); and two healing conferences (Peace and Well-Being (2002) and Songs of the Earth (2005). SEED recently moved to a new location just one mile west of the UNM campus in order to facilitate collaboration with UNM by beginning to offer educational programs for credit in conjunction with NM’s largest educational institution. SEED also plans to initiate a BA completion program in conjunction with UNM or other accredited institution to facilitate the completion of four year bachelor’s degrees by Native and other students to provide a pathway for enrolling in SEED’s proposed MA program.
The SEED Institute continues to grow as four new components were added as part of the program which include 1) The Indigenous Elders of America, 2) SEEDlingsyouth component, 3) Striking Eagle Well Being Project, and 4) the New Mexico American Indian Classic basketball tournament. Furthermore, SEED has added an indigenous well being conference that will take place in April 2011. SEED has expanded its board of directors to twelve members. SEED has also added an advisory council which will assist in overseeing the development of our organization.
REGISTER NOW
Registration Fees
Saturday Pre-Conference Pass $195
Early Bird Registration (by June 15th, 2011 $295
Regular Registration (by July 2nd. 2011) $375
Late Registration (by August 1st, 2011) $450
Individual Pre-Conference Workshop(s) $65 each
One Day Pass (Sunday or Monday) $150 a day
Saturday Lunch $25
Sunday Lunch $25
*PURCHASE ORDERS processing fee is $25
Early Bird Registration (by June 15th, 2011 $295
Regular Registration (by July 2nd. 2011) $375
Late Registration (by August 1st, 2011) $450
Individual Pre-Conference Workshop(s) $65 each
One Day Pass (Sunday or Monday) $150 a day
Saturday Lunch $25
Sunday Lunch $25
*PURCHASE ORDERS processing fee is $25
2011 LANGUAGE OF SPIRIT CONFERENCE FEES
(Limited number of seats available)
(*) Seed Tassel Foundation supporters are individuals who regularly contribute to SEED. If you would like to become a SEED Tassel foundation supporter, please contact us. We will send you a Registration confirmation once all required information is received in our office.
*Cancellation Policy: A refund of the conference tuition less a $100 processing fee is available if SEED is notified in writing of your cancellation at least 30 (thirty) days prior to the start of the conference. A full in house credit toward a future conference or SEED event is available, provided that SEED in notified of cancellation within 14 days of the conference start date. No refunds will be given within 30 days of the conference.