The last 40 years have seen an explosion of interest in the West and worldwide in consciousness, personal growth, holistic practices, and green and sustainable values. This profoundly creative impulse of renewal, with its many positive consequences in wellness, psychology, meditation, ecology and the embrace of a globally interconnected future, has had an invigorating effect on a society that might well have continued on a course of decline and empty materialism.
How has this consciousness revolution come about? Where do its roots lie? How did it find expression in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s and where is it going today? New York Open Center co-founder, Ralph White, who has lived for decades at the heart of the holistic awakening, takes us on a journey into recent history, cultural transformation, the emergence of centers of new, holistic learning, and the long road from the cultural periphery to a worldview that carries important seeds for the human future.
He also addresses how the holistic worldview first appeared, its evolution throughout the twentieth century in both America and Europe, and its role as an essential ingredient of modernity. This is an opportunity to consider some of its great personalities and practices, and its growing permeation of mainstream culture on a worldwide basis.
Ralph White is the co-founder of the New York Open Center, the city’s leading venue for holistic
learning for the last 34 years. He currently directs the Art of Dying and Esoteric Quest
conferences. He is the author of a memoir, On the Quest for a Life of Meaning, and edited Lapis
Magazine for six years. He is a world traveler, speaker, writer, sometime radio host, and
organizer of multiple events to do with consciousness, spirituality, ecology and social change
over the last four decades.
Ralph is in the unique position of having been closely involved in three leading holistic centers. He spent three years at Findhorn in the late 70s and was the first Program Director of the Omega Institute for Integral Studies. Ralph was present at the first Gathering of Holistic Centers over thirty years ago and has attended them faithfully ever since. He lives in New York City and is a Board Member of HCN.
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