... for they have their own thoughts - Multiworld India

562005 Goa, IndiaMANIFESTOTenzin Rigzin drafted a spiritual manifesto of the meeting.From the meeting of educators at Rustic Plantation, Goa, 10 to 12 February, 2005.We command ourselves to commit our energies to an active search for alternatives to the prevailingsystem of learning.We desire to create alternatives that help us to escape the hegemony of the West andto move towards revitalisation of indigenous traditions of learning.We are willing to transcend existing systems of thought and think afresh fromthe fundamentals.We desire to overcome fragmented structures and to seek the whole.We seek a form of education that enriches the inner life of people.We desire and are willing to share our experiences and understanding with others.We have an affinity for the local rather than the global.We desire to create good humans who can fulfill effectively and harmoniously their relationshipwith the rest of creation, rather than produce products for the market.What moves us is not an alternative vision of education but an alternative vision of life. At thesame time we acknowledge that this vision of life can be achieved by means other than those‘educational’.We believe that if the spirit and understanding of an endeavour is right, the working out of finermodalities and mechanics is rendered both easier and more meaningful.We shall continue to also work actively within the spaces and interstices that the existing systemoffers.We do not desire to participate in the politics of expediency that prevails.We understand that our resistance amounts to a kind of political activity because we seek toenvision alternative forms of polity and society.