WoK's original purposes

In response to Bruce's thought about discussing WoK's original purposes, in October of 2011, these quotes are from some early transcripts:

----------------------------------

Stim Morane: Overall topic here is something like Contemplation in the Modern World (including the ordinary world of us laypeople, and the scientifically-informed world) ...
What was meditative/contemplative practice originally, how did it change, what is it now? ...
It used to be based on technical forms of samadhi, very difficult, requiring of protracted periods of retreat training, immersion. Time to achieve what is accepted as competence level is now far shorter. The very notion of competence has been redefined ...  more oriented towards lay-people. It used to involve primarily monastics and hermits ... more world-oriented. It used to emphasize more of a transcendence orientation, whereas now it often emphasizes relevance to daily life. This claim can't be pushed too far, since it was always related to very concrete features of life as a human being. But ultimate thrust was still more transcendence-oriented than now.

http://waysofknowing.kira.org/4Transcripts/2009.02.12_-_Workshop_01

-----------------------------------

theme: how contemplation compares with science ...
"contemplative spirituality uses a certain way of knowing, not to see or get something else, but because that knowing is itself the point" ... seeing what kind of knowing you are already engaged in, and in what that gives you ... what it does and doesn’t contribute to your self understanding

http://www.kira.org/index.php?option...126&Itemid=157

-----------------------------------

Pema Pera: the key ideas, as you can see on the page that I just quoted is:
Pema Pera: 1) science is empirical and rational
Pema Pera: 2) contemplative investigations are in their own way empirical and rational
Pema Pera: 3) it is a fascinating challenge and adventure for us to explore what this empirical and this rational ingredient really means, in practice, in both cases

http://waysofknowing.kira.org/4Transcripts/2009.01.29_-_Workshop_02

-----------------------------------

Stim: It's a matter of seeing more of how nature works

http://waysofknowing.kira.org/4Transcripts/2009.02.12_-_Workshop_01

-----------------------------------