DIGITALIZATION OF CITIES – SMART CITY INTERVENTIONS IN THE CASE OF SARAJEVO

Many countries in the world are becoming more aware of climatic changes, rising pollution, and running out of resources, predicting their impact on the future of humanity thus giving solutions for slowing down this process. Due to the mass urbanization of our planet, it became highly popular to talk about resilient and smart cities. And while some countries are still on a theoretical level, others, more advanced in their thinking and technical possibilities and with the higher consciousness of the importance of this issue are already putting things into action. European Union gives guidelines on how cities across Europe can improve in the future. There are several good examples of different actions across European countries that make their cities more resilient, more sustainable, and pleasant for living. Contrarily, in the cities of the developing European countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, the idea of resilient and Smart cities is still in its infancy. This paper aims to introduce different parameters that make cities more resilient and to show several of the best practices from Europe which use Smart city technologies while questioning the current situation in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Authors are introducing potentials of Sarajevo and smaller projects that can be starting points in the process of improvement of habitat climate in this city and its transformation to a smart and sustainable city.

Higher Consciousness Management: Transcendence for Spontaneous Right Action

Business organizations, managers, and all of us need to adapt to a rapidly evolving socio-technical environment and to the climate change and other environmental crises we are all facing. Managers, and all of us, need to engage with the opportunities and threats posed by exponential development of technologies of production, distribution, and consumption and with innovative, and sometimes, risky approaches to dealing with climate change and other aspects of global unsustainability. Managers, and all of us, would do well to unlearn self-limiting beliefs and utilize the highest potential of themselves and their teams to generate visionary designs that will guide pro-social and environmental behaviors toward a flourishing world. We call Higher Consciousness Management (HCM) a way of being and operating that enables managers and others to tap into the source of unbounded potential within themselves. In essence, managers could benefit from transcending surface-level reality and developing problem-solving capabilities with adaptability, creativity, empathy, and vision. The V-theory of transcendence models a wide range of contemplation and meditation techniques to transcend surface reality and connect with pure consciousness, which is the unified field of all the laws of nature. This paper presents three key principles for HCM, and some ways of developing those capabilities in organizations. We model HCM using two case studies, and outline a vision of what HCM might portend for the future.

Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī and the Place of Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt in Jazūlite Sufism

This article discusses the career of Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī (d. 869/1465), his compilation of Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt, and the place of this work in Jazūlite Sufism. The teachings of the Jazūliyya Sufi order emphasized intense spiritual devotion to the Prophet Muḥammad as a means of access to the Divine. As a manual of prayers and invocations on behalf of the Prophet, Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt became one of the most popular works of Islamic devotional literature. This widespread popularity was partly due to the Jazūliyya’s doctrinal connections with the Qādiriyya and Shādhiliyya Sufi orders. In Jazūliyya Sufi practice, the recitation of Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt and the prayers and litanies of the order were used to instill a “Muḥammadan” consciousness in the mind of the disciple. This higher consciousness was meant to serve as a compass of spiritual guidance for the “true seeker of God” (al-murīd al-ṣādiq), who aspired to the highest levels of Sufi knowledge.

The quest of finding the self in the Bedhaya: Unravelling the psychological significance of the Javanese sacred dance

The Bedhaya is the avant-garde of Yogyakarta and Surakarta (Java, Indonesia) court dance. This classical dance replete with Javanese symbols, spirituality and cultural values embedded in its aesthetic elements. Furthermore, the Bedhaya was created not for entertainment but rather as a meditative medium that would allow individuals to gain wisdom and higher consciousness. These noble characteristics of the dance suggest that the Bedhaya has psychological purposes for the performers and the spectators. We may gain insight into the process of attaining mental growth through studying the embodied wisdom and aesthetic ideal of the Bedhaya, which reflects the development of the human’s psyche. Therefore, the author proposes an interpretation of Bedhaya’s underlying symbolism, aesthetic experience, and potential as means of psychological growth. The paper’s primary argument is delivered by studying a set of theoretical ideas that present Bedhaya as a distinguished aesthetic with psychological capacities. Further, art as an embodiment of cultural wisdom and ethics is also discussed by connecting Bedhaya and other artistic forms drawn from varied cultures.

Contribution of Cases of Extraordinary Healings to Consciousness Studies

Faith healings, as reported in the faith traditions, take us into a different territory of consciousness. Placebo effects are thought to be a quantum reality and may be responsible for some of the anomalous healings. If spiritual dimensions are brought into the equation, some of the healing miracles may also have spiritual and spiritistic components. Advanced external spiritual agencies may be involved in true instances of faith healing. Such higher order healings offer indirect evidence for the existence of a higher consciousness grounding the quantum consciousness. NeuroQuantology is one of the meeting points of science and spirituality and it becomes a bridge between brain and higher consciousness; coordinating both together is a challenging task. True cases of faith healing prompt us to search for higher realities beyond the brain and quantum dimensions. Extrasomatic energy system implies the existence of extra-physiological immunity and balancing the two forms of immunity is vital for maintaining health. There are many gateways to consciousness studies; research into anomalous phenomenon is one among them. This paper is an evaluation of some of the reported cases of extraordinary healing and how they can influence the formulation of an expanded model of brain-mind-consciousness complex.

The Nature of Fundamental Consciousness

In humanity’s quest to understand consciousness, much work has been done at the biological and neural levels [1], some also in understanding cognitive higher consciousness [2], and a bit on the contribution and importance of value [3]. But as we have seen, all of this has not led to an understanding of fundamental consciousness. We know a good deal about how the networks of neurons in our heads calculate and process information, shedding light on how we think. This does not tell us how we feel. A mind is thinking plus, especially, feeling. In this article we consider basic mechanisms, the missing explanatory glue from the physical world to value and consciousness. We thus lay out the Sentonic Theory of Fundamental Consciousness (STFC), and end with the topic of sites in the brain where these phenomena may take place.

Prithvi Mata: Hindu Perspectives on Nature

Indian scriptures describe the unity of each individual with nature by stating I am the Son of Mother Earth (mother earth). I found two major takeaways from my interviews in India. Firstly, I was fascinated to see so much agreement on the concept of species dharma. This concept is, in my opinion, the strongest evidence of embedded Hindu ecological understanding. The concept is very applicable and accessible to average Hindus, making it a framework that, if promoted, can help modern India develop a stronger environmental ethic. Through my own observations I have commonly witnessed what I can only define as spiritual apathy. Walking across a bridge I watched a family dump bags of candy, wrapper and all, into the river. Hundreds of aluminum and plastic bowls from makeshift Ganga puja litter the shore of the river, with untold thousands lying at the bottom. The main cause behind the so-called ‘ignorant practice’ in Hinduism seems to be the failure of the priests. Indeed, there is a need of class of Brahmin who has attained a state of higher consciousness and can teach masses with their ancient wisdom. Literacy on the legacy of ancient wisdom is on the rise in India, allowing the less-educated to access religious texts in a way that they never have been able to. A woman, who was interviewed said, “if we take our own inner change seriously, than this will lead to outer change. If we change our vision and lifestyle, everything will shift. We must perceive nature, culture, and land as divine”.