BRISTOL — The Indonesian island of Bali will be featured at this month’s program of the One World Library Project. “Bali: Consciousness, Culture and Community” will be presented by Drs. Carla and David Osgood on Thursday, Nov. 21, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Memorial Library in Bristol.
At this free slide show and talk, the Osgoods, who are practicing clinical psychologists and teachers, will discuss their 20 years of traveling and teaching in Bali where they introduce Western students to Balinese culture and help them develop sensitive intercultural communication skills. The Osgoods and their students live with Balinese families, travel to sacred sights, meet traditional healers and participate in the ceremonies of healing and spiritual celebration that are a daily occurrence on the island. Their work in bridging consciousness, culture and community has been described by the individuals and groups they lead as profoundly healing and transformative.
In the program, the Osgoods will compare Western education and thinking, which tends to be rational, analytical and categorizing, with the Balinese tradition, which emphasizes feeling, intuition, relationship, complexity and balance. According to the Osgoods, this has “profound implications for the maintenance of individual and collection well-being.” The Osgoods have found that this contrasting perspective is more than just an interesting cultural backdrop, but also serves as a profound difference through which they can probe deeper dimensions of well being and inter-being.
The One World Library Project is a local community nonprofit that has created a “world library within a library” with adult and children’s collections of books, films, and other media about world cultures. OWLP also presents regular programs at the library on the fascinating cultures that fill our planet. More information about the One World Library can be found at the website oneworldlibraryproject.org and on the One World Library Facebook page.
OWLP items are available for community members to check out at the Lawrence Memorial Library in Bristol. The Lawrence Memorial Library, which hosts the adult and the kids’ kiosks of the One World Library, is located at 40 North St. in Bristol. LML’s online catalog has a full listing of OWLP items that can be found at www.lawrencelibrary.net.