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The human brain processes information through thinking, to survive, to navigate in the world and to develop new ideas that will improve our lives. The global world in the early twenty-first century is based on a hierarchy that controls all areas of our lives, directing the information that comes to us and limiting our independent thinking. The Academy of Thought is a meeting place for a new community of independent and free thinkers. Ideas and innovations were always created by individuals, but since the Greek Academy of Plato and Aristotle (2400 b.c.) there is no place for individual thinkers to support and inspire each other. The developing of ideas and their realization require certain conditions that might contradict each other: individuality, dialogue and resources. Nowadays, there are no training programs for free thinkers. Gifted thinkers and innovators cannot develop new ideas without being dependent on investors or employers, which limit their freedom, individuality and the options of inspiring dialogue. Western culture is based on a hierarchy of power, a hierarchy of knowledge and information, and a hierarchy of resources. In old days this hierarchy was controlled by emperors and Popes, capitalists and aristocrats, and in the last three centuries this hierarchy has been controlled by few global corporations that exploit the ideas of individuals to create technology that amplifies their power. Patent and copyright laws farther reduce the freedom of thought of individual thinkers. In the hierarchical world human thinking is utilized to strengthen the power of those who control power and capital, to create more sophisticated technology and for faster utilization of natural resources. In this way thinking, which is the most essential human resource, leads to ecological disaster, destruction of the human community and the disintegration of the democratic idea. The new Academy of thought, in a small Bulgarian village, is designed for a small community of free and independent thinkers who will help and support each other and develop ideas that will enable to adapt to the rapid and revolutionary changes of the twenty-first century in the fields of ecology, in the creation of new communities, in the field of new energy and in the development of new methods of thinking. At the same time, the academy will host different groups of experts in different fields, for joint thinking about the necessary adaptation in the changing world and for concentrated thinking workshops. The Academy of Thought will spread new ideas that will replace the destructive selfish-competitive culture with empathy-based collaborations with the goal of creating a tolerant human community and a balance between human civilization and nature. Basic assumptions
While creative thinkers are the main source of scientific, technological, social or cultural developments, since the Greek Academy of Plato and Aristotle (2400 bc) thinking is not taught in schools or academies or universities, and methods of thinking are not developed in such institutions (the last one was developed by Descartes, 1637). Now, in 2022, there is not a single academy of thought that trains experts in developing ideas in the fields of scientific research, technology, economy, politics, culture, etc. In the last fifty years I have been researching human nature and human creativity, in order to develop a new method of thinking. I have experienced composing music, painting, literary writing, business management, psychotherapy, developing ideas and inventing patents. I have developed the 'Emotional Training’ method and the 'Emotional Thinking' method, which is a new method of thinking, and the concept of ‘Sharing Autonomy’ for creating a community appropriate for the Twenty-First century. ‘Emotional Thinking’ is a method of thinking that enables us to use our emotional skills to challenge our thinking patterns and create new ideas. In my research I discovered that empathy is an emotional skill that enables us to create a human community because it allows the human brain to communicate quickly with network of other brains in order to share information through which we can better attune to reality. In the same way, empathy enables us to share our thoughts with others, thus improving our ability to develop new ideas. This is the platform for the new Academy of Thought I established in the heart of nature, in a small Bulgarian village. THE ACADEMY OF THOUGHT The Academy of Thought is a unique environment that provides conditions for productive thinking and collaboration that serves as a catalyst for the development of ideas. The academy is a meeting place for the academy members, as well as thinking experts, entrepreneurs and idea developers who can enrich and improve their creative skills, learn new thinking methods and share their ideas in a safe place. The academy will serve as a laboratory for developing methods of thinking and developing ideas that will help to cope effectively and creatively with the climatic, political, technological and social changes of the twenty-first century. The Academy of Thought is located in a small village near the town of Kyustendil in southwestern Bulgaria, in the heart of nature. A stream flows beneath the house, and two springs in the garden create a small and quiet paradise for thinking and for meetings. The house includes five two-room apartments, each with a shower, toilet and kitchenette, which will host members of the academy and seminar participants. On the first floor there is a community kitchen where members of the academy (up to ten participants) can cook together, eat together, talk, listen, share and discuss various topics. The community kitchen is a meeting point that creates intuitive thinking modes that optimize the thinking processes of each of the participants.
The Academy of Thought will operate on four parallel lines:
1. Regular meetings of members of the academy.
The members of the academy will consist of a community of twenty free and independent thinkers, experts with experience in thinking and developing ideas from various fields, representing new ways to cope with the rapid changes of the twenty-first century: global warming, migration, new energy, communication and information, Globalization and changes in the social contract (state, democracy, human rights), education and training in the Internet age, health systems. Members of the academy will meet in the Bulgarian village in groups of five to eight for seven consecutive days, three times a year, and once again in a group of ten members. In addition, members will meet for online meetings on the various topics of discussion. The members of the academy will support each other in the development of ideas within their area of expertise, initiate topics for the development of common ideas and advise organizations whose activities do not contradict the ethics of the Academy of Thinking. 2. Emotional Thinking seminars for teams of leading organizations. The seminars will provide participants with practical tools for developing ideas individually and integrated with teamwork. 3. Seven-day meetings for teams engaged in development and thinking, in a supportive atmosphere that incorporates close guidance. The sessions will allow the development teams to move away from the familiar thought patterns, focus on a particular topic and look at it in a new way using the 'Emotional Thinking' method. 4. Think tanks: Seven-day meetings for joint thinking about change processes in different areas. Each of these meeting, of five participants, will focus on a defined area and the possibility of adapting it to the radical changes taking place in the world: new communities, medicine, education and studies, alternative therapy, creativity (for writers, painters, musicians, filmmakers, curators, actors, dancers, photographers) , Caregivers, coping with old age and death, relationships, raising children, nutrition, loneliness. The ethics of the Academy of Though The code of ethics of the Academy of Thought derive from the goals and values for which the Academy was established, and from an optimistic definition of human nature and the appropriate conditions for productive and fruitful thinking, and from the definition of the new community.
Applications of the Academy of Thought Members of the academy will be able to document their personal or joint work in books published by the academy, and in the academy's journal.
The Academy of Thought, as a laboratory for developing ideas in a special environment that combines individuality and sharing, will also serve as a working model for much broader activity, by developing a unique application that will connect expert thinkers with other thinkers around the world.
Dr. Dror Green
Dr. Dror Green I was born in Jerusalem, 1954. I have two sons and two daughters, and we live in a beautiful village in Bulgaria. I hold a Ma and Ph.D. in psychotherapy (Regent's College, City University, London). I graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music (composition) and the Hebrew University (philosophy and musicology). I am a psychotherapist, musician, illustrator and art curator. I am the author of more than 50 books including children's books, novels, short stories, poetry and professional psychotherapy texts (most of them in Hebrew). My books can be read in my website, free of charge. I served as the director of the Cogito School of Psychotherapy in Israel and developed my own methods: Emotional Training and Emotional Thinking. As one of the pioneers in online psychotherapy, I have developed the first online clinic. I am the owner of Books, Publishers (an Israeli publishing house). I served as the managing director of the Israeli Music Publication in Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Design Workshop. I invented the TRIXXY puzzle, a mind game that has been sold worldwide. I also served as an art curator for some museums in Israel. |
