The IDG framework invites not just the acquisition of knowledge, but the embodiment of wisdom; not merely the development of skills, but the transformation of self. This requires the death of ego and the rekindling of soul, bridging the original divide between false self and true self.

Country: New Zealand
IDG HUB: The Collaborative Advantage
Link to website: https://www.garyshaw.co.nz
Link to presentation: Bridging Polarities Body as Spirit

As per the recent IDG posts highlighting this work, my wife is a somatic embodiment coach and this year we began blending our work to help others recognise the inherent value within the IDGs, not as mere knowledge acquisition or simply to develop new skills, but to embody wisdom and as a path of individual, organisational and cultural transformation. Our sense is that many seem to be co-opting the IDG framework to further their good intentions, but while the imperial human ego is still in place they are unwittingly perpetuating the status quo and repackaging business as usual.

The wisdom traditions of every culture are aligned when they say that wisdom is more about unlearning than learning, more subtraction than addition, more descent than ascent, letting go of our assumptions and ideas rather than attaching ourselves to new ones. The path of transformation is one of letting go. And like the noble caterpillar, such transformation requires the surrender and death of the ego. As Goethe said, we die and become, die and become.

The way of BEING we long for means bridging this original polarity. In the depths of individual tragedy and collective trauma – we come upon an invincible presence that doesn’t prevent the tragedy, but shines mysteriously in the tragedy itself. This is the ground of BEING within which we are unshakable, invincible, indestructible.

The impact we have witnessed as we have invited individuals, teams and organisations into this path has been small, subtle – yet profound. Participants said they came to acquire more knowledge but were leaving with greater wisdom. Attendees courageously turned toward their wounds, buried trauma and unconscious assumptions in recognition that hurting people hurt people – but healing people heal people. With great humility, conference goers became more aware of the role that their shadow played, as well as the necessary inner work of welcoming that which they had previously resisted – only to discover the untapped reservoir of potential that lay within.

We have learned that the inherent potential of the IDGs is not as just another learning and development framework around which the human ego can wrap itself, but rather as a tangible path of genuine transformation that can illuminate the false self and rekindle the true self. The earth aches for the bridging of this most fundamental polarity.

For a multitude of historical, cultural, religious and political reasons there is a split in the way we see ourselves and the planet. We experience our small, isolated, separate self as divorced from the larger interconnected web of life of which we are a part. And while intellectually we might understand this, our individual suffering and collective trauma tell us otherwise. The most fundamental polarity to be bridged, one that infects, infuses and is present within every other division, is the polarity between our ego and our soul. The IDG framework can help bridge the ancient duality between the false self and true self.