Evolutionary Guidance Media - Overview

Overview

Research in this area began at Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center by Dana Klisanin under the guidance of systems' scholars Bela H. Banathy, his son Béla A. Bánáthy, and Stanley Krippner, a distinguished scholar in the field of consciousness research and a leader in the transpersonal psychology movement.

The initial framework, evolutionary guidance media, was defined as "media designed both in content and context specifically for the purpose of guiding and/or facilitating the societal emergence of transpersonal consciousness – specifically planetary consciousness" (Klisanin, 2005). Planetary consciousness is "the knowing as well as the feeling of the vital interdependence and essential oneness of humankind, and the conscious adoption of the ethics and the ethos that this entails" (Ervin Laszlo, 1997, p. 143).

The framework was designed using a generic blueprint for the creation of evolutionary guidance systems as described by Bela H. Banathy (1996, 2000). Evolutionary guidance systems are systems designed such that human beings can take responsibility and control for their own evolutionary processes. Evolutionary guidance media includes input from ten interactive dimensions: social action, economic, wellness, moral, learning and human development, aesthetic, scientific, technological, political, and environmental. These areas are not value neutral but rather value-laden (geared toward promoting a more just and equitable quality of life for all beings). The collection and use of such data is an integral aspect of the research, design, and production of evolutionary guidance media.

In 2010, Ken Wilber's Integral theory (AQAL) was applied to the evolutionary guidance media framework; the scope and significance of the application led to the design of a meta-framework, EGM-Integral. The framework is designed to enable the conscious creation, use, and evaluation of media that aims to guide the evolutionary development of body, mind, and spirit, in self, culture, and nature. (Klisanin, 2010)