Foundational Quests
There are three foundational quests: the quest for knowledge, the quest for
consciousness and the quest for meaning. In a quest process of emergence groups
spend three to five days in inquiry, dialogue, self reflection, study and conversation to gain
deeper insights into themselves and to better understand our organizations and the world
we live in. Sessions are informal, with small group breakouts for specific tasks, full group
discussions, short lectures, and presentations of results. Experienced, knowledgeable
leaders/facilitators ensure effective inquiry through open communication, dialogue, and
mutual respect. Significant time is set aside for use of the 26,000 volume library,
meditation through the Labyrinth, self-reflection, social interaction, and relaxation.
Each person's journey will be different, because each of us travels our own path through
life. The underlying theme is to better know ourselves, others, our situations, and the world
around us. Each of these realities give us both insight and opportunities. As in many
explorations, we expect more questions will be raised than answers found. However, the
journey itself may well be the answer.
Group prices are available.
The Quest for Knowledge (path to high performance)
As the pace of our lives quickens and the work environment becomes more dynamic,
uncertain and complex, our greatest strength is our knowledge, our capacity to understand
and take effective action. This Quest focuses on knowledge: what it is, what it means to
each of us, and how to find, create, share and apply it. We can all improve the way we
learn, how we manage our own knowledge and use it to make better choices and decisions
in our personal and professional lives.
Managing and leveraging our own knowledge to help ourselves, others and our
organizations may be the greatest challenge we face. By exploring knowledge, its
strengths, limitations and possibilities we can learn about ourselves and how to manage
and apply knowledge to grow and become more competent. By exploring such processes as
conversation, listening, reading, dialogue, discussion, reflection, relationships, networking
and inquiry we can improve our capacity to create, leverage and apply knowledge. By
exploring the strengths and limitations of logic, analysis, reductionism, mathematics and
science, we can better assess their value limitations and applicability to understanding and
solving problems. By exploring how our experience, intuition, judgment, knowing, and
unconscious mind can help us learn and understand we open other avenues for learning and
sharing and using knowledge.
The Quest for Consciousness (window to the world)
This journey is an inquiry into the nature and meaning of consciousness and its impact on
our lives. Consciousness is essentially the window through which we understand and relate
to the external world. Thus consciousness, the brain, the mind, the unconscious, intuition
and feelings are what we have to work with in sensing, interpreting and acting on the
world.
Other subjects discussed include the mind/body problem, maintaining a healthy
brain/mind, altered states of consciousness, lucid dreaming, knowing, hemispheric
synchronization and heart-math. Understanding consciousness is an age old problem and an
active area of current research and debate. Nevertheless, as an inquiry into possibilities,
this Quest looks at consciousness from the viewpoint of how we can use what is known and
what we learn through introspection, study and dialogue with others to help understand
ourselves and thereby become our own agents of change and growth.
The Quest for Meaning (roots of wisdom)
The deepest questions we can ask usually relate to the purpose and meaning of things.
Whether we are contemplating the meaning of the Universe, the purpose of Life, the
meaning of our own lives or the significance of some event to us or someone we love, we
are continuously trying to understand our world and our place in it. While there are few, if
any, definitive answers to questions of meaning, many people have thought through the
possibilities and there is much to be learned from them. Gaining an awareness of what
science, philosophy, religion and spiritualism say about the meaning of things can help each
of us seek and understand and appreciate our own place in the Universe. Seeing how other
individuals have found meaning in their lives and learning how to assess a situation for
meaning and purpose will provide a broader perspective for our own search. Thinking
about what is really important to us: truth, beauty, goodness, love, our family, wealth,
power, etc. will allow us to better understand ourselves and perhaps to gain the knowledge
and wisdom needed to make decisions and help others we care for. This exploration offers
many ideas--if they come at all, the answers must come from each of us personally.
The quest provides an atmosphere, a process, and an opportunity for study, reflection,
dialoguing with others with similar interest in interpreting and understanding our world.
Potential topics for discussion include scientific and religious explanations of the origin of the
universe, sense-making, wisdom, the roles of art, rituals, music, signs and symbols and
architecture in finding meaning, and how others have found meaning in their lives, work
and religion.
Contact Dr. David Bennet directly at 304-799-7267 or email Dr. Alex Bennet at
alex@mountainquestinstitute.com for more information. Weekend Getaways can also be
arranged through Cindy Taylor (Event Manager) or Andrew Dean (Inn and Retreat Center
Manager) at 304-799-7267 or cindy@mountainquestinstitute.com
