Conscious Systemic Leadership

The ontology of CSL is that consciousness is fundamental to our existence. I  draw from Shiva consciousness to argue that reality arises due to the pulsating  dance between archetypical contrarian imperatives—prakasha and vimarsha,  linga and yoni, Shiva and Parvati, Shiva and Shakti, purusha and prakriti—that  inform the fundamental philosophy of existence. I take “contrarian” to mean  opposing and “imperative” to mean something that has a commanding  importance. Hence, I use the term “contrarian imperative” to refer to selected  dichotomies, inherent in Shiva consciousness as the building blocks of existence.  The term Dvandva is fundamental in Sanskrit grammar and refers to compound  pairs of opposite words that bring our embodied experience to life through  language and expression, thus giving a linguistic turn to this argument. 

The epistemology of CSL is realized in the reality of our expansive  dimensional domains. Let me explain what I mean by “dimensional domain”. SL  is about appreciating our embodied nature, starting with the self, as emergent  consciousness. Several other works talk about emergent reality as a hierarchical,  progressive notion. However, my notion of the dimensional  domains is different: to practice SL, one must undertake the journey of  transcending the self through a continual conscious engagement with the  boundaries of the emergent system. Boundaries are not pre-decided, but we take  an active part in deciding systemic boundaries based on our value judgments. Therefore, boundaries can be contracting or  expanding based on our values. We draw them for the convenience of  determining our intentional actions to achieve results. Dimensional domains do  not indicate a hierarchy or progression. Rather, they indicate the various  dimensions of our states of embodied experiences. SL is an engagement within  the dimensional domains of intended boundaries within which increasing  complexities emerge between the decision maker (who draws the boundaries),  resources (that are required to deliver on intended actions), and responsibility  (that and those affected by our actions).