What happens when you get His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, together with an Austrian Benedictine Monk, David Steindl-Rast to look at the same question of compassion and gratefulness from their different perspectives and paths they have walked in life?  We are able to see the whole picture, that has for so long been hidden to the wider public.  This holistic understanding of critical global issues of our time, brings about an awareness of our collective consciousness and enables more and more people to find solutions through the language of the heart.

            Waldzell has created a space in which the speakers have been able to tell the `real` story about themselves, instead of just their personal persona.  This persona that is extolled by publicity, tells a different story, that of success at all costs, whereas Waldzell provides a space for the speakers to tell their story that is behind the headlines.  This is not only through their profound achievements, but also their personal spiritual journey that has guided them to have revelations along their path of success, that supported them in living more closely to their values and their inner moral code.  This in turn has led the speakers and participants of Waldzell to feel encouraged to continue living their lives in a more ethically sound way.

            By bringing together many different disciplines in one place Waldzell connects everyone through the heart and we can explore concepts of nationality, politics, religion, culture on an emotive level. On the micro level, in small groups and intimate settings, through dialogue reconciliation and understanding can be reached.  The secret lies in breaking loose from the constraints that tie us, of talks choreographed entirely by boundary images, where negotiators are locked in as spokespersons and representatives of preset counterposed categories.

        Through the interdisciplinary Waldzell dialogue, we have been able to access broader parts of everyones humanity and activate a range of other images and identities especially by facilitating some individual bonding across that boundary. The consequence is a deep restructuring on an emotive level, one that previously has been dominated by boundary and fact.

Waldzell is a place, an experience and a journey that promises inspiration through renewal. We invite people who have been making possible what once seemed impossible in arts, sciences, economy and spirituality. 

                  Waldzell offers participants the rare opportunity to journey beyond their discipline through this experience.  To network across these four elements to find renewed light through insight.  The journey through Waldzell empowers us to collectively reveal truths that have been suppressed by daily demands to face the challenges of our time.  Meeting like-minded fellows, Waldzell offers an experience to reframe ideas, co-create and give them life.

                  Waldzell has been co-creating initiatives that renew hope in our modern world.  Our growing network of participants has been exchanging ideas that give us courage to reach beyond ourselves to co-create something greater. 

The education system that we all grew up within has been catering to an Industrial and Knowledge Age rather than what is currently awakening that is a Consciousness Age of creators and empathizers. Waldzell started as a dialogue and has turned into a space that has enabled a level of creativity that is actually healing by allowing us to re-connect with each other and with the different aspects within ourselves.

                  Waldzell`s prime objective is the alignment of inner and outer values that give rise to a renewed state of mind towards ourselves and the world around us.  Waldzell dialogue has enabled participants to gain wisdom from the inside leading to inner and outer truth.  Through this method, thinking has been radically changed.  Why?  What makes Waldzell so intensely powerful?  Waldzell has been able to find again our common language of the heart through an interdisciplinary dialogue in answer to the same important questions of our time.

Welchen Stellenwert haben Utopien für uns? kunstSTOFF hat Waldzell-Gründerin Gundula Schatz, Künstlerin Renate Pittroff, Architekten Josef Wiesingerund Historiker Peter Huemer im Beisein von Kulturvernetzer Josef Schick zum Gespräch gebeten. Moderiert hat Philosoph Leo Hemetsberger

Hemetsberger: Was bedeutet für Sie „Utopie"?

Schatz: Utopien haben viel mit Träumen zu tun. Das Wesentliche für Utopien in der Wirtschaft ist, dass wir sie auch leben und nicht nur darüber philosophieren. Interdisziplinäre Ansätze sind gerade jetzt besonders wichtig, denn: Wenn Utopien von einem Einzelmenschen kommen, sind sie vom Ego gefärbt und werden daher nie die Bedürfnisse aller berücksichtigen. Wir sollten alle zusammen eine gemeinsame Utopie kreieren und umsetzen.

Hemetsberger: Wie ist das in der Kunst, wo ja Vieles von Einzelpersönlichkeiten ausgeht?

Pittroff: Bei der Kunst stellt sich die Frage: Kann sich die Utopie mit der Avantgarde in Beziehung setzen? Die Avantgarde ist wie ein Ruderer, der nicht in die Richtung schaut, in die er rudert, sondern dorthin, wovon er wegrudert. Die Avantgarde definiert sich immer aus dem, gegen das sie sich absetzen will. Ob ein Kunstwerk utopisch ist, bezweifle ich daher sehr.

The calm after the initial storm has brought forth a pertinent conference organised by social entrepreneurs Emersense and the infamous, traditional Erste bank during Prague`s EU presidency, to find mutually enriching collaborations. Banking for Social Entrepreneurship from June 19th-20th at Česká Spořitelna couldn`t have come at a better time.  Waldzell took a long anticipated trip on a train filled with eager, young social entrepreneurs representing an array of philanthropic organisations such as Ashoka, Caritas or feisty researchers and panelists compiling their final notes on the journey.  Inevitably we started chatting on the way and we could tell just from the energy generated from our initial conversations, that this was going to be one dynamic event.