Rumi - the Poet with Soul

By Shanti Clements

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī, known to the English-speaking world simply as Rumi, was a 13th-century Persian muslim poet, theologian, and Sufi mystic. His poetry, which in recent times was recorded on CD-rom by Deepak Chopra and friends, evokes the purity of unconditional love, devotion and spiritual unity.

Rumi believed passionately in the use of music, poetry, and dance as a path for reaching God. For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine, and to do this so intensely that the soul was both destroyed and resurrected. It was from these ideas that the practice of "whirling" dervishes developed into a ritual form.

Rumi encouraged the practice of samā, listening to music and turning or doing the sacred dance. Samāʿ represents the mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to the Perfect One. In this journey, the seeker symbolically turns towards the truth, grows through love, abandons the ego, finds the truth, and arrives at the Perfect. The seeker then returns from this spiritual journey, with greater maturity, to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination with regard to beliefs, races, classes, and nations.

To listen to Rumi's poetry, please visit this website:

http://www.rumi-wayoftheheart.com/

You might also like to view a video of his beautiful poem, Only Breath, below.

If you are interested in learning how to write and express your creativity in a soulful way, please visit our Writing With Soul webpage at http://circumference.net.au/personal-development/writing-with-soul/.
Our next Writing workshop begins October 12th.

With thanks,

The Circumference Team
http://www.circumference.net.au/

It's Not Always a Man's World

By Shanti Clements


A Homage to Two Pioneers of Personal Development:
Susanne Cook-Greuter &
Jane Loevinger







When you read Business literature or research into Ego Development, we often think of well-known writers such as Ken Wilber, Robert Kegan and William Torbert. However, it’s not always a ‘man’s world’. Two women have inspired my knowledge and passion for leadership … Jane Loevinger and Susan Cook-Greuter.

Who are they?
Susanne Cook-Greuter is an author and researcher from Harvard University. She has worked with Robert Kegan and William Torbert – two influential authors in the field of Adult Development and Business. She also designed the Leadership Maturity Framework, based on the ego development model researched by Jane Loevinger in the 1970s.

Jane Loevinger was an academic researcher who developed the first adult model of ego development. She integrated Eastern psychology perspectives of growth within a Western context, challenging the way that psychologists viewed adolescent and adult learning. She was the first female researcher to link cognitive, social and emotional intelligence with levels of consciousness. She also successfully improved on Jean Piaget’s 1932 framework of adolescent development- which had become the basis of Western educational systems in the 20th Century.

Loevinger’s work inspired Ken Wilber’s book, Spectrum of Consciousness, and has become the basis of ego development frameworks in the Western world. Cook-Greuter’s research has also been a major influence to the Corporate world, innovating 21st Century strategies in the way that leadership profiles and executive coaching are used to develop middle managers and leaders.

On a professional level, I’ve gotten to ‘know’ both Jane Loevinger and Susanne Cook-Greuter very well through my Masters and Ph.D research. On a personal level, I’ve learned a lot through Susanne’s mentoring/support of my research project. She taught me a tremendous amount as I used the Leadership Maturity framework and profile (the SCTi-map) to assess and explore the leadership journeys of school principals in NSW.

So thank you, Susanne and Jane! Without you, the fields of Personal and Corporate Development would not have a validated framework for adult ego and leadership development … plus you’ve proven that it’s not always a ‘Man’s world’ in the Corporate domain.