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Historical background to the South Pacific Centre for Human Inquiry
The new
Centre in New Zealand,
completed October 2000. This photo taken in March, 2007.
This Centre was previously named the International Centre for Co-operative
Inquiry (ICCI) which was for ten years from January 1990 to January 2000 located
in a restored farmhouse, near Volterra, in central Tuscany, Italy. Over each
of these ten years ICCI hosted one or two residential co-operative inquiries on
transpersonal themes, with participants from Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland,
Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. Also for each of these ten
years I commuted for several months to New Zealand running a variety of courses
and workshops, and launching more transpersonal co-operative inquiries. So from
the beginning ICCI had a strong connection with New Zealand, and there have
been many visits to and fro by friends, colleagues and co-inquirers.
During
the ten years in Italy, I wrote five books relevant to the interests of
ICCI: Feeling and Personhood: Psychology in Another Key, London, Sage, 1992; Group Facilitation: Theories and Models for Practice, London, Kogan Page, 1993; Co-operative Inquiry: Research into the Human Condition, London, Sage, 1996; Sacred Science: Person-centred Inquiry into the Spiritual and the Subtle, Ross-on-Wye, PCCS Books, 1998; The Complete Facilitator's Handbook, London, Kogan Page, 1999. Sacred Science includes full reports of the transpersonal co-operative inquiries which took place
in Italy and New Zealand, from 1990 to 1997 inclusive, and of two earlier ones
in the UK.
ICCI was closed down and the property sold on 31 January
2000. The work in Italy has been relocated to the new
building in New Zealand (picture above), to launch an expanded phase of activity.
The new name - South Pacific Centre for Human Inquiry - affirms the significance both of its new location and of its
commitment to individual and cultural as well as co-operative forms of human
inquiry.
Barbara Langton and I purchased two hectares
of land in the countryside north of Auckland in January 1999. A new building,
pictured above, was completed in October 2000. The existing cottage on the
property was renovated in 2001 and has become an important workshop space. An
inaugural international inquiry was held here in February 2002, followed later
in the same year by workshops in the USA and UK. For current and forthcoming
activities, see Courses and workshops.
The original ICCI website at www.sirt.pisa.it/icci
has now been closed down.
John
Heron
January
2003
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