techno-monastic -- High-tech communities informed by monastic practices
About techno-monastic	Danish English (USA) Norwegian Spanish (Spain) Swedish
Welcome to the Techno-Monastic Mailing List! Short version: This mailing list is about social-technological phronesis and community informed by monastic practices, methods and insights. Longer version: This is a mailing list for those who have an interest in certain aspects of the monastic life style, but who have no use for religious dogma or confessional demands. I thought about calling this forum Secular Monastics or a secular monastery[1], but I don't want to exclude non-religious spirituality. So the topic domain of this forum is both secular and spiritual. More specifically: If some of the following concepts, descriptions or images appeal to or interest you: The balance between individual and community, individualism and cooperation/fellowship, in a monastery. Can other types of communities, collectives or creative groups be organized in a similar fashion, or learn organizational lifestyle skills from monasteries and monastics? The dedication to self-development -- psychologically, spiritually, socially and artistically/creatively. How to achieve the peculiar mix of self-discipline and spontaneity, independence and friendliness, clarity and compassion, that seems to be the hallmark of many monastics, and a result of the monastic lifestyle? The slow and deliberate process of immersion into ever deepening knowledge and study, into a quiet inner space that stimulates decluttering the mind, allowing for the emergence of new insights about self and the world. How to achieve periods and moments of such tranquility, clarity and insight in the modern, hectic life in the 21st century? The social knowledge and skills that develop in a trust-based community rooted in shared values, principles and passions, and its healing effects. How to achieve this social learning and personal growth, and build, practice and expand trust-based social relationships, also on a cultural level and political scale? The practical and technological aspects of such a community. How to create, develop, maintain and grow modern, monastic-inspired, ecovillage type[2] communities or groups? A broad scope of interests and insights. You wouldn't find it odd for someone to use the words "artificial intelligence", "buddha nature", "open source" and "ambient soundscape" in the same sentence. "Open Source Spirituality/Religion"[3] may sound like an interesting concept or aspiration to you. If you like science fiction, and watched Babylon 5, you may have wanted to have a movie or TV-series all about the technomages[4]. Or maybe you wanted to BE a technomage! :-) -- then chances are that this forum may be of interest to you. Ordinary rules of civility apply and will if necessary be enforced by list admin. References [1] http://www.jasodin.com/huginn/stories/secularmonastery.html [2] http://openfarmtech.org/ http://p2pfoundation.net/Marcin_Jakubowski_on_Open_Farm_Tech http://permaculture.tv/open-source-ecology-and-open-farm-tech/ [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_religion http://www.integrativespirituality.org/ [4] http://tb.becket.net/poet-technomages.html oh, and maybe also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phronesis. How to subscribe to the techno-monastic list You can subscribe (or unsubscribe) yourself to the techno-monastic mailing list via this web page: http://mailman.gramstad.no/mailman/listinfo/techno-monastic . From this web page you will also find a link to the list archive. You will receive postings to the list by E-mail to your E-mail address as long as you are subscribed to the list. You can unsubscribe, change address, or change your subscription settings via the field at the bottom of the page ("Edit options..."). This mailing list is managed with the Mailman listserver. How to post to the list In order to post to the list, send your posting to this address: techno-monastic@mailmannospam.gramstad.no (remove "nospam" from the address). You will receive a copy of your own posting via the list when it is distributed. The first time you post something to the new list, your posting may be slow to go through - maybe up to 24 hours - because of an anti-spam measure at the new machine, known as greylisting, whereby the recipient machine checks to see if your machine/e-mail address responds/exists (spammers' don't, because they use forged sender addresses). If your posting is time-sensitive or you're just impatient, you can post your first posting a second time shortly after the first one, and the second one will go through right away (but so is the first one supposed to do, some time later). 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