When a whole community is devoted to establish the changes they wish to see in today’s society, things really start to happen. In such a community, your development and progress will not be held back; it will be powerfully encouraged!
Community living is intended as a core part of the proposed Matrix Integral curriculum. It provides an excellent opportunity to experience in practice how we can live together in openness and tolerance, while encouraging the development of collective intelligence and creativity. Community living offers gifts and challenges, both of which serve as valuable learning opportunities.
What happens in a learning community that doesn’t happen in a typical community, or a typical school, is that every moment, every interaction, becomes an opportunity for wisdom. Being a community member will mean being willing to face yourself and others honestly and openly, give and receive criticism and praise, and staying open-minded. Your fellow students become valuable sounding boards for everything from academic analysis to personal growth.
What’s more, living in community provides an intensity of experience that can be an unparalleled learning opportunity. As community members spend a great deal of time together, sometimes a person’s originally endearing habits become grating and seemingly intolerable. This is when one’s true Buddha nature has to kick in, helped along by practices like meditation combined with laser-precision awareness of your self and your reactions. To further this process, we also intend to fully explore alternate ways of community decision-making, conflict resolution, and mindful communication.
Since all students will participate in classes on Transformative Communication, which includes training in giving ’sorted feedback,’ you will live among people who know how to give and receive criticism without offending each other. This is also of great benefit when working on developing a sharp perception of yourself and the consequences of your own actions. If you come with a fundamental willingness to be both honest in and responsible for your communication, your progress towards the second tier can be great.
Perhaps above all, in a community setting like this, deep friendships can grow in ways that are exceptionally rare in traditional settings. It is a true gift to experience the unique dynamics of friendships that bridge cultural differences. As a student at Matrix Integral, you will have the chance to leave with a network of friends from around the world. We hope for our students to keep many of these friendships for life.
The Matrix Integral learning community will be an evolving experiment on how to live together in a way that offers a real alternative to the current paradigm and a great opportunity for growth and development. We would love for you to join us. If you are interested in eventually participating in this program in development, contact us at student@matrixintegral.org.
