p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica} Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology enabling digital transactions without the need for central governance. Once transactions are added to the blockchain, they cannot be altered. One of the main challenges of blockchain implementation is how to create a scalable network meaning verifying many transactions per second. The goal of this thesis is to survey different approaches for scaling blockchain technologies. Scalability is one of the main drivers in blockchain development, and an important factor when understanding the future progress of blockchain. The energy sector is in need of further digitalisation and blockchain is therefore of interest to enhance the digital development of smart grids and Internet of Things. The focus of this work is put on a case study in the energy sector regarding a payment system for electrified roads. To research those questions a qualitative method based on interviews with blockchain experts and actors in electrified roads projects was applied. The interviews were processed and summarised, and thereafter related to map current developments and needs in the blockchain technology. This thesis points to the importance of considering the trilemma, stating that blockchain can be two of three things; scalable, decentralised, secure. Further, Greenspan’s criteria are applied in order to recognise the value of blockchain. These criteria together with the trilemma and understanding blockchain’s placement in the hype cycle, are of value when implementing blockchain. The study shows that blockchain technology is at an early stage and questions remain regarding future business use. Scalability solutions are both technical and case specific and it is found that future solutions for scaling blockchain are emerging.
The Internet can be considered as the most disruptive technology of the 21st century. The Internet may start as a technology, but today it has become as part of our modern
culture. Today the Internet serves many purposes, from social interaction to information search and conducting business activities to smart connectivity. The Internet has created new business opportunity and models that are not even considered in the pre-internet era. E-commerce and m-commerce are the method of choice by the business and consumer to perform the buying and selling activities.
The interconnectivity of the Internet has resulted in increasing self-disclosure over the internet, where people share their personal detail, their thoughts, preferences, giving comments and reviews about anything and everything from politics to products or services. As the Internet is expanding, the volume of data is expanding exponentially.
With the expanding volume of data, Big Data Management becomes an important aspect of managing the data made available on the web. Big Data Management includes storing, retrieving and analyzing the data to provide meaningful and relevant information.
For business organizations, information provided by users including personal detail, preferences, comments and reviews about products or services, can be exploited for marketing advantages. Marketing is the art of getting the right product to the right people at the right time. Businesses have adopted certain algorithms that can help them to extract information from the Internet to discover potentially significant patterns inherent in the database, which can help the online marketing strategy. However, the key question is that, which data best describe the user’s intention to purchase. Many of the algorithms examine user’s past activities and traits to predict the buying intention.
With the expansion of the Internet (web 2.0) towards the Internet of Thing (IoT), where anything and everything can be connected to the internet, extracting useful information from a complex sensing environment at different spatial and temporal resolutions is challenging. In IoT, the data are not only furnished by users during the interaction with computers but also from the various devices that connected to the Internet.
As the data complexity increases, users, as well as business organizations, need to have a new form of data analysis tool beyond what is available today. The current analysis tools and algorithms employed by the business organization were not designed to analyze the ever dynamic changes in taste and preferences of users when predicting the buying intent ion. On top of that, the existing analysis tools and algorithms did not consider the data generated by sensory devices connected to the Internet.
A possible solution is to employ an intelligent middleware that can analyze both the human-generated data and sensory generated data. Software-agent based middleware can be an effective form of e-assistance for the business organization in managing and analyzing the IoT big data. In the agent-based approach to middleware, the agent’s property such as autonomous, mobile and intelligent are suitable as e-assistance tool for big data management. Software agent-based middleware in IoT can facilitate injection and distribution through the network using mobile agents, allowing the tool to manage very large data. Agents can migrate from one node to another, and at the same time maintain their execution state, allowing the design of decentralized systems capable of tolerating partial failures of IoT.
In the context of the IoT middleware requirements, software agent can perform the following: managing resources such as network load reduction and network latency reduction, code management such as asynchronous and autonomous execution and protocol encapsulation, availability and reliability as well as adaptiveness and heterogeneity. On top of that software agent-based approach to big data management in IoT consider resource-constrained devices, allowing better resource management.
The use of software-agent based middleware that is intelligent, enables the system to adapt to the ever changing in taste and preferences of users when predicting the buying intention, thus making the online marketing to be highly effective. The agent can learn and adapt its analysis of the data so as to improve the prediction of the buying intention among the users.
The autonomous property of software agent enables it to continuously search for the suitable data that can meet the need and the expectation of the organization in maximizing the marketing effectiveness. It also enables the middleware to be self-dependent and automatically response to new data or pattern that emerges from the IoT.
With IoT is about to be realized in the near future, business organizations must take immediate actions to exploit the benefit it can offer in term of maximizing the marketing effectiveness. However, IoT possesses new challenges in data management as the volume of data become extremely complex. Software agent-based middleware can be an effective solution due to the nature of agents as being both intelligent and autonomous.
This book is about why and how central and local governments clash over important national policy decisions. Its empirical focus is on the local politics of Japan which has significantly shaped, and been shaped by, larger developments in national politics. The book argues that since the 1990s, changes in the national political arena, fiscal and administrative decentralization, as well as broader socio-economic developments have led to a decoupling of once closely integrated national and local party systems in Japan. Such decoupling has led to a breakdown of symbiotic relations between the centre and regions. In its place are increasing strains between national and local governments leading to greater intra-party conflict, inter-governmental conflicts, and more chief executives with agendas and resources increasingly autonomous of the national ruling party. Although being a book primarily focused on the Japanese case, the study seeks to contribute to a broader understanding of how local partisans shape national policy-making. The book theorizes and investigates how the degree of state centralization, vertical integration for party organizations, and partisan congruence in different levels of government affect inter-governmental relations. Japan’s experience is compared with Germany, Canada, and the UK to explore sources of multi-level policy conflict.
The purpose of this research is to evaluate the elements that influence the promotion of the Popular and Solidary Economy within of San Lucas Parish, Loja Caton, with the objective of determining the economic and social situation of its habitants and knowing the reality they live in the parish, in addition to identifyig the aspects that involve the popular and solidary economic sector, as well as to recognize the influence level of different organizations, establishing the benefits they have within each family, as well as seeks to know if the people have realized some type of entrepreneurship and to know how they are being developed, using different types of mechanisms of production processes, technological tools, control mechanisms; And to know the administrative capacity both in human resources and material resources. It is of great importance to determine the fulfillment of the Autonomous Decentralized Government parochial San Lucas because of this way it will be verified how it is fomenting the investment and management, in front of which establishes the Organic Law of Popular and Solidary Economy.
By conducting an analysis of the data, we obtain as a result that, through the interview, survey, direct observation and obtained information, it is verified that the main difficulties it has to produce and manage at the microeconomic level, is due to lack of momentum to the popular and solidarity economy in the different sectors of production that exist within the parish.
This research work, is based on the proposal of improvement of attention to users by institutions or departments linked to the Government autonomous decentralized municipal Machala canton. Therefore conducts interviews to several users noticing their dissatisfaction in the quality of care they receive at the time of his efforts which are benefit both for citizens and for the municipality. Was also conducted documentary research on the subject development and organizational culture, to implement measures and strategies that can improve the administrative system to foster new principles and values for all employees who are part of this structure. However so there is good care not just about employees, a lot of times the lack of concern of the commanders by providing proper training before work may prove to be a mistake, because all business area has its different shape of their processes, but always guided by the same address is this proposal because any public or private entity should focus on customer satisfaction or in the case of the municipality not only giving you access to the service but also providing a dignified and quality treatment at the time of users request information, completion of paperwork, tax payment and other services that are inside of the jurisprudence of the GAD responsible for the city.
Several Multi-Prover Interactive Proofs (MIPs) found in the literature contain proofs of soundness that are lacking. This was first observed [1] in which a notion of Prover isolation is defined to partly address the issue. Furthermore, some existing Zero-Knowledge MIPs suffer from a catastrophic flaw: they outright allow the Provers to communicate via the Verifier. Consequently, their soundness claims are now seriously in doubt, if not plain wrong. This paper outlines the lack of isolation and numerous other issues found in the (ZK)MIP literature. A follow-up paper will resolve most of these issues in detail.
Introduction. Nowadays there are no active governmental instruments to finance the activities associated with social and professional adaptation of former military servicemen. The implementation of such programs is mainly carried out at the expense of limited foreign assistance. Insufficient elaboration of theoretical fundamentals and practical aspects of financial supply to sustain the mentioned adaptation in Ukraine predominantly explain it. Objectives. One has to identify the semantic differences in scientific approaches to determination of essence of social and professional adaptation of transferred to reserve servicemen, suggest authentic definition of this notion from the viewpoint of its financial supply, systemize, generalize and deepen the theoretical & conceptual fundamentals of financing the mentionedabove events and programs of adaptation. Results. The author critically analyzed the number of definitions of social and professional adaptation of transferred to reserve servicemen and specified the structure of mentioned adaptation due to its main components. The updated definition of social and professional adaptation of transferred to reserve servicemen as an object of financing was determined. On the basis of generalized global and national experience there was developed a typology of financial sources for social and professional adaptation of former servicemen according to three criteria: level of formation, location and financing model. The author conditionally grouped four types of models of its financing due to available financial sources: centralized (budget), decentralizedendogenous, decentralized-exogenous and integrative (mixed). The author has also substantiated the fact that decentralized-exogenous model of financing of social and professional adaptation of former servicemen prevailed lately in Ukraine and identified its peculiarities and disadvantages. Conclusion. The suggested typology of financial sources for social and professional adaptation of transferred to reserve servicemen facilitates selection of optimal financial sources and models taking into account the national specificity. Under modern domestic conditions of social and economic development it is recommended to apply the integrative (mixed) model of financing that is based on the principle of social partnership and assumes the participation of all economic sectors in financing of program events of social and professional adaptation of transferred to reserve servicemen: municipal, business and non-governmental (public) ones
Taneli Hukkinen, Juri Mattila, Juuso Ilomäki, Timo Seppälä
Abstract This report documents a blockchain application developed for the energy sector that enables distributed market coordination for decentralized energy systems. As its core element, it utilizes Ethereum-based smart contracts to facilitate market matching between individual producers and consumers of electricity. The motive for this application was to understand the process of developing blockchain applications with industrial partners. Moreover, the purpose of this exercise was to examine whether Ethereum-based smart contracts could be effectively utilized for similar applications in industry and society at large. The application and the discussions during its development indicate that similar horizontal market structures may spring up in value chains in which the dynamicity of the market is growing and in which the roles of the market actors are shifting from fixed roles towards switch-role markets.
The Blockchain can definitely be applied in the field of personal data protection, since there are many people and companies that must preserve and ensure information integrity. From this point of view, using a storage system with Blockchain technology would even be more effective than a traditional management model.
Jan 1, 2017·Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Gianluca Miscione, Rafael Ziolkowski, Liudmila Zavolokina, Gerhard Schwabe
The blockchain technology offers a novel mode of distributed authentication, which does not depend on a central authority. We consider this novelty against established governance modes. We illustrate our argument by paying special attention to blockchain-based authentication functions in the empirical domain of land registries across the world. Based on interviews with representatives from organizations deploying blockchain, and con-tent analysis of related grey literature, we discuss established governance idealtypes against what the rivalry that cryptocurrencies and blockchains bring to digital settings. After referring to market, hierarchy, network, and bazaar, we conclude outlining the prospects of a different, blockchain-related governance mode called -˜tribal’ that better captures the -˜togetherness’ which rivalry originates.
The following research aims to provide a comparative analysis on the status of articulation between the National Government and the Decentralized Autonomous Governments of the Metropolitan District of Quito and the city of Guayaquil in the implementation of public policies on informal human settlements in urban areas. The research focuses; it reveals the role of articulation as a possible cause for the existence of gaps in the implementation of public policy, using the methodology proposed by the World Bank Group. This methodology involves an in-depth review of both national and local laws and its comparison with official documents and interviews that reflect the reality after the implementation of the regulations. The period of time analyzed starts in 2013, the year in which the framework for the formulation of all public policies in the country was reformed; the Plan Nacional del Buen Vivir (the National Plan for Good Living). The study implements a latent content analysis of all available written documentation regarding the process of regularization of informal human settlements which includes primary texts such as the Constitution of Ecuador, the Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy and Decentralization and others at the municipal level. The results of the present study show that, while the Municipality of Guayaquil articulates its competencies with the national government regarding the use of the soil and the regulation of human informal settlements in urban areas; the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito has exclusive and privative competencies that are not shared with those of the national government overall urban agenda as stablished in the Plan Nacional del Buen Vivir. This demonstrates that the implentation gaps for these particular cases start at the policy formulation stage and, as such, results in a lack of articulation between both national and municipal efforts.
The following research aims to provide a comparative analysis on the status of articulation between the National Government and the Decentralized Autonomous Governments of the Metropolitan District of Quito and the city of Guayaquil in the implementation of public policies on informal human settlements in urban areas. The research focuses; it reveals the role of articulation as a possible cause for the existence of gaps in the implementation of public policy, using the methodology proposed by the World Bank Group. This methodology involves an in-depth review of both national and local laws and its comparison with official documents and interviews that reflect the reality after the implementation of the regulations. The period of time analyzed starts in 2013, the year in which the framework for the formulation of all public policies in the country was reformed; the Plan Nacional del Buen Vivir (the National Plan for Good Living). The study implements a latent content analysis of all available written documentation regarding the process of regularization of informal human settlements which includes primary texts such as the Constitution of Ecuador, the Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy and Decentralization and others at the municipal level. The results of the present study show that, while the Municipality of Guayaquil articulates its competencies with the national government regarding the use of the soil and the regulation of human informal settlements in urban areas; the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito has exclusive and privative competencies that are not shared with those of the national government overall urban agenda as stablished in the Plan Nacional del Buen Vivir. This demonstrates that the implentation gaps for these particular cases start at the policy formulation stage and, as such, results in a lack of articulation between both national and municipal efforts.
The research and development project on the evaluation of human talent performance of the Municipal Board of Social Inclusion of the Decentralized Autonomous Government of the canton Santo Domingo. In this institution there are complaints and inadequate comments on the management of officials, which raises the question How to improve the performance of human talent of the Board of Trustees? For this problem it is proposed as a general objective: Evaluate the performance of human talent through tools and techniques that allow the projection of work efficiency. In its development it is formulated as hypothesis; A program for work efficiency improves the performance of human talent. The research is developed with theoretical foundations based on the organization of companies, culture and organizational behavior, administration and management of human talent, performance and labor assessment through self-evaluation. The methodology applied in the project is oriented in the mixed approach, feasible project modality, through theoretical methods, techniques and instruments supported by statistical procedures. The results are alarming the dimensions and indicators show the performance level is in the range of 2.2 which corresponds to good. The dimensions command ability and analytical judgment or judgment with good qualitative value. Knowledge of the job, quality of work and relevance of the task corresponds to good. Loyalty with the institution, cooperation, training and promotion has an unsatisfactory value. Responsibility and desire for improvement is unsatisfactory. This background motivates to seek immediate and short-term solutions through a program for work efficiency.
The present titling work was carried out to determine if the strategies of governmental communication influence or not in the management of the Autonomous Government Decentralized Municipal of Chunchi.
This new edge of specialization reinforced communication from the public without being a recent fact. The view of the new professionals towards a more efficient style of communication that links organization-people forced to make decisions oriented to that the actions of government arrive at the diverse sectors like mechanism of accountability or participation in the management. In the Chunchi GADM they are not far from this aspect turned into a foundation for institutional development.
It is undeniable that the management activities have in the communication their support and no step that is given apart from it. This forces a specialization of the communicators towards a sector that has as its starting point the planning, goes through the execution, finds support in the accompaniment and is strengthened at the moment of the evaluation.
As a methodology, a descriptive field study was carried out: a survey of the administrative staff of the GADM, the mayor and the councilors. The results indicated that, although there is a strengthening of the activity, it is necessary a specialization of the communicators for the efficient construction of strategies that aim at the strengthening of the management of the public.
The present investigation focuses on the diagnosis and proposal of a functional manual for the Social Action Unit of the Autonomous Municipal Government of the Municipality of Saraguro, Saraguro, province of Loja, for the year 2016.
Therefore, it is necessary to contribute to the development of the Social Action Unit, which is why the present work includes a diagnosis and proposal of a functional organic manual, based on the resources available to it and based on the framework Legal system that governs the Social Action Unit, allows better management for the benefit of society, while benefiting the human resource.
In the present research, it was proposed as a general objective; To propose an organic functional manual for the Social Action Unit of the Municipal Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Intercultural of the city of Saraguro, Saraguro, province of Loja, accompanied by the following specific objectives
1.- Make a diagnosis to know the situational state of the institution.
2.- Identify the administrative positions in the structure of the organization.
3.- To elaborate the organic structure of the Social Action Unit of the GAD
Municipal Intercultural Saraguro.
4.- Elaborate the manual of functions according to the positions identified.
In order to achieve the proposed goal, a methodology was applied, which consists of collecting the information based on surveys applied to 30 employees currently working in the institution and an interview with the Mayor of the same, A series of investigative methods such as the historical one, which allowed to compile the institutional evolution, giving informative guidelines to the predicted diagnosis; The inductive method helped to
establish generalizations that corroborated the need to develop an organic functional manual for staff working in the institution under investigation; The analytical method led to the deep knowledge of the investigated problem based on current reality; The descriptive method contributed to the knowledge of reality in its total context, that is, recruitment processes, hierarchical levels, current functions, responsibilities of workers and their role in their respective job positions.
With the results obtained it was demonstrated that it is of the utmost importance to increase a functional organic manual for the Social Action Unit of the Municipal Government Decentralized Municipal Sarcuro Intercultural, and based on these results the following conclusions were made, a diagnosis of the situational state Of the institution knowing its organizational structure, where it was possible to determine its strengths and weaknesses, being able to identify the shortcomings that caused difficulties to define the true hierarchy of work, with the delimitation of its functions, duties and responsibilities for each one of the Areas of work, the guidance of the manual was delimited, in which the mission, vision, objectives and justification of the manual were delimited in order to reach the structural organization of the Social Action Unit of the Municipal Decentralized Municipal Decentralized Intercultural of the city of Saraguro , And run On their respective recommendations as they are; To put into consideration the Board and the President the restructuring of the structural organization of the Social Action Unit of the Autonomous Municipal Government Decentralized Municipal Intercultural of the city of Saraguro, so that they can be approved and socialize their modifications and when the Social Action Unit of the Decentralized Autonomous Government Municipal Intercultural of the city of Saraguro hire the services of an employee or worker is recommended to expose clearly and accurately their functions, tasks, obligations, among others.
7
c. Introduccion
El escenario en el cual se desarrolla la investigacion es la Unidad de Accion Social del Gobierno Autonomo Descentralizado Municipal Intercultural de la ciudad de Saraguro, institucion que en todos estos anos se ha desarrollado con una serie de acciones de tipo empirico en lo que respecta a su organizacion y funcionalidad; ademas no cuenta con una adecuada infraestructura que permita desarrollar sus funciones adecuadamente, falta de una estructura organico funcional, asi como de las elementales herramientas para dar correcto cumplimiento a las labores en sus puestos de trabajo, por lo que el recurso humano desconoce su rol a desempenar en sus puestos de trabajo, por lo que aunque tiene definido sus procesos, no los tiene estructurados ni documentados, de ahi la necesidad de contar con un manual organico funcional.
Con la finalidad de fortalecer su accionar y responder de esta manera a las exigencias de los usuarios, y estandarizar las actividades diarias que realizan los colaboradores, desde el cual se establecieron funciones, responsabilidades, dependencias y requerimientos para cada puesto de trabajo y realizar mejor sus actividades laborales.
El trabajo investigativo se encuentra estructurado de: Titulo, Diagnostico y propuesta de un Manual Organico Funcional para la Unidad de Accion Social del Gobierno Autonomo Descentralizado Municipal Intercultural de Saraguro, canton Saraguro, provincia de Loja, para el ano 2016; el Resumen, contiene una descripcion completa del tema a tratarse. Seguidamente esta la Introduccion donde se destaca la importancia del tema y su contenido; la Revision literaria, con conceptos y definiciones con respecto al tema de estudio que es el diagnostico y propuesta de un manual organico funcional; los Materiales y metodos empleados durante todo el trabajo investigativo; los presentan la resena historica de la
entidad en estudio, la entrevista y Resultados encuesta aplicada; la Discusion donde se presenta la estructura organica, el manual; finalmente se establecen las Conclusiones del estudio y se plantean las respectivas Recomendaciones a las que se llego una vez concluido el trabajo de investigacion, la Bibliografia contiene todos los textos y fuentes de consulta que se utilizaron para llevar a cabo el trabajo de campo y los Anexos que presentan los instrumentos utilizados para recopilar la informacion.
HOW DO WE creatively participate in the mystery of spirituality? The participatory approach holds that human spirituality emerges from human co-creative participation in an undetermined mystery, generative power of life, the cosmos, or reality. My understanding of the mystery is aligned with Rabbi Michael Lerner’s account (in his book Spirit Matters) of Spirit as the “energizing Force” behind the Big Bang and the ongoing evolutionary process.Spiritual participatory events can engage the entire range of human epistemic faculties (e.g., rational, imaginal, somatic, vital, aesthetic) with both the creative unfolding of the mystery and the subtle entities or energies in the enactment — or “bringing forth” — of ontologically rich religious worlds. In other words, the participatory approach presents an enactive understanding of the sacred that conceives spiritual phenomena, experiences, and insights as co-created events. The emergence of spiritual knowing can be located amidst the connections of human multidimensional cognition, cultural context, subtle worlds, and the deep generativity of life or the cosmos. Importantly, this account avoids both the secular postmodernist reduction of religion to cultural-linguistic artifact and, as discussed below, the dogmatic privileging of a single religious tradition as superior or paradigmatic.The rest of this essay introduces nine distinctive features of the participatory approach: spiritual cocreation, creative spirituality, spiritual individuation, participatory pluralism, relaxed spiritual universalism, participatory epistemology, the integral bodhisattva vow, participatory spiritual practice, and social engagement.Spiritual co-creation has three interrelated dimensions — intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal. These dimensions respectively establish participatory spirituality as embodied (spirit within), relational (spirit in-between), and enactive (spirit beyond).Intrapersonal co-creation consists of the collaborative participation of all human attributes — body, vital energy, heart, mind, and consciousness — in the enactment of spiritual phenomena. This dimension is grounded in the equi-primacy principle, according to which no human attribute is intrinsically superior or more evolved than any other. To be sure, the mind-centered character of Western culture hinders the maturation of non-mental attributes, normally making it necessary to engage in intentional practices to bring these attributes up to the same developmental level the mind achieves through mainstream education. In principle, however, all human attributes can participate as equal partners in the creative unfolding of the spiritual path, are equally capable of sharing freely in the life of the mystery here on Earth, and can also be equally alienated from it. The main challenges to intrapersonal co-creation are cognicentrism, lopsided development, mental pride, and disembodied attitudes to spiritual growth. Possible antidotes to those challenges are the integral bodhisattva vow (discussed below), integral practices, the cultivation of mental humility, and embodied approaches to spiritual growth. Intrapersonal co-creation affirms the importance of being rooted in spirit within (i.e., the immanent dimension of the mystery) and renders participatory spirituality essentially embodied and integrative.Interpersonal co-creation emerges from cooperative relationships among human beings growing as peers in the spirit of solidarity, mutual respect, and constructive confrontation. It is grounded in the equipotentiality principle, according to which “we are all teachers and students” insofar as we are superior and inferior to others in different regards. This principle does not entail that there is no value in working with spiritual teachers or mentors; it simply means that human beings cannot be ranked in their totality or according to a single developmental criterion, such as brainpower, emotional intelligence, or contemplative realization. Although peer-to-peer human relationships are vital for spiritual growth, interpersonal co-creation can include contact with perceived nonhuman intelligences, such as subtle entities, natural powers, or archetypal forces that might be embedded in psyche, nature, or the cosmos. The main challenges to interpersonal co-creation are spiritual pride, psychospiritual inflation, circumstantial or self-imposed isolation, and adherence to rigidly hierarchical spiritualities. Remedies to those challenges include collaborative spiritual practice and inquiry, intellectual and spiritual humility, deep dialogue, and relational and pluralistic approaches to spiritual growth. Interpersonal co-creation affirms the importance of communion with spirit in-between (i.e., the situational dimension of the mystery) and makes participatory spirituality intrinsically relational and eco-socio-politically engaged.Transpersonal co-creation refers to dynamic interaction between embodied human beings and the mystery in the bringing forth of spiritual insights, practices, states, and worlds. This dimension is grounded in the equiplurality principle, according to which there can potentially be multiple spiritual enactions that are nonetheless equally holistic and emancipatory. For example, a fully embodied liberation could be equally achieved through Christian incarnation or Yogic integration of purusa (consciousness) and prakriti (nature); likewise, freedom from self-centeredness at the service of others can be attained through the cultivation of Mahayana Buddhist karuna (compassion) or Christian agape (selfless love) in the context of radically different ontologies. This principle frees participatory spirituality from allegiance to any single spiritual system and paves the way for a genuine, ontologically and pragmatically grounded, spiritual pluralism. The main challenges to transpersonal co-creation are spiritual disempowerment, indoctrination, spiritual narcissism, and adherence to naive objectivist or universalist spiritualities. Antidotes include: the development of one’s inner spiritual authority and the affirmation of the right to inquire, heretical courage, and enactive and creative spiritualities. Transpersonal co-creation affirms the importance of being open to spirit beyond (i.e., the subtle dimensions of the mystery) and makes participatory spirituality fundamentally inquiry-driven and enactive.Although all three dimensions interact in multifaceted ways in the enactment of spiritual events, the creative link between intrapersonal and transpersonal co-creation deserves special mention. Whereas the mind and consciousness arguably serve as a natural bridge to subtle spiritual forms already enacted in history that display more fixed forms and dynamics such as cosmological motifs, archetypal configurations, and mystical visions and states, greater access to the more generative power of life or the mystery can be found through attention to the body and its vital energies. From this approach, it follows, the greater the participation of embodied dimensions in religious inquiry, the more creative one’s spiritual life may become and a larger number of creative spiritual developments may emerge.In the infancy of participatory spirituality in the 1990s, spiritual inquiry operated within certain constraints arguably inherited from traditional religion. As the historian of religion, Mircea Eliade famously argued, many established religious practices and rituals are “re-enactive” in their attempt to replicate cosmogonic actions and events. Expanding this account, I have suggested that most religious traditions can be seen as “reproductive” insofar as their practices aim to not only ritually reenact mythical motives, but also replicate the enlightenment of their founder or attain the state of salvation or freedom described in allegedly revealed scriptures. Although disagreements about the exact nature of such states and the most effective methods to attain them abound in the historical development of religious ideas and practices — naturally leading to rich creative developments within the traditions — spiritual inquiry was regulated (and arguably constrained) by such pre-given unequivocal goals.Participatory enaction entails a model of spiritual engagement that does not simply reproduce certain tropes according to a given historical a priori, but rather embarks upon the adventure of openness to the novelty and creativity of life or the mystery. Grounded on current moral intuitions and cognitive competences, for instance, participatory spiritual inquiry can not only undertake the critical revision and actualization of prior religious forms, but also the co-creation of novel spiritual understandings, practices, and even expanded states of freedom.This emphasis in creativity is central to spiritual individuation, that is, the process through which a person gradually develops and embodies her or his unique spiritual identity and wholeness. Religious traditions tend to promote the homogenization of central features of the inner and outer lives of their practitioners, for example, encouraging them to seek the same spiritual states and liberation, to become like Christ or the Buddha, or to wear the same clothes (in the case of monks). These aspirations may have been historically legitimate, but after the emergence of the modern self, our current predicament (at least in the West) arguably calls for an integration of spiritual maturation and psychological individuation that will likely lead to a richer diversity of spiritual expressions. In other words, the participatory approach aims at the emergence of a human community formed by spiritually differentiated individuals.It is important to sharply distinguish between the modern hyper-individualistic mental ego and the participatory selfhood forged in the sacred fire of spiritual individuation. Whereas the disembodied modern self is plagued by alienation, dissociation, and narcissism, a spiritually individuated person has an embodied, integrated, connected, and permeable identity whose high degree of differentiation, far from being isolating, actually allows him or her to enter into a deeply conscious communion with others, nature, and the multidimensional cosmos. A key difference between modern individualism and spiritual individuation is thus the integration of radical relatedness in the latter.The participatory approach embraces a pluralistic vision of spirituality that accepts the formative role of cultural and linguistic factors in religious phenomena. This simultaneously recognizes the importance of nonlinguistic variables (e.g., somatic, imaginal, energetic, subtle, archetypal) in shaping religious experiences and meanings while also affirming the ontological value and creative impact of spiritual worlds.Participatory pluralism allows the conception of a multiplicity of not only spiritual paths, but also spiritual liberations, worlds, and even ultimates. On the one hand, besides affirming the historical existence of multiple spiritual goals, the increased embodied openness to immanent spiritual life and the spirit-in-between fostered by the participatory approach may naturally engender a number of novel holistic spiritual realizations that cannot be reduced to traditional states of enlightenment or liberation. If human beings were regarded as unique embodiments of the mystery or the cosmos, would it not be plausible to consider that as they spiritually individuate, their spiritual realizations might also be distinct even if potentially overlapping and aligned with each other?On the other hand, participatory pluralism proposes that different spiritual ultimates can be enacted through intentional or spontaneous participation in an undetermined mystery, spiritual power, or generative force of life or reality. Whereas I take these enactions to be ultimate in their respective spiritual universes, this consideration in no way relativizes the various traditions’ ultimates — nor does it posit a supra-ultimate spiritual referent beyond them. In contrast, I hold that participatory enaction allows one to not only move away from representational and objectivist accounts of spiritual cognition, but also avoid the problematic dualism of the mystery and its enactions. Building on both the enactive paradigm’s account of cognition as embodied action, I maintain that in the same way an individual is her actions (whether perceptual, cognitive, emotional, or subtle), the mystery is its enactions. In this understanding, emptiness (sunyata), the Tao, and God (in their many inflexions) can be seen as creative gestures of the mystery enacted through participating human (and perhaps nonhuman) individuals and collectives.Hence, the participatory perspective does not contend that there are two, three, or any limited quantity of pre-given spiritual ultimates, but rather that the radical openness, interrelatedness, and creativity of the mystery or the cosmos allows for the participatory co-creation of an indefinite number of ultimate self-disclosures of reality and corresponding religious worlds. Participatory approaches seek to enact with body, mind, heart, and consciousness a creative spirituality that lets a thousand spiritual flowers bloom. Although this may at first sound like a rather “anything goes” approach to religious claims, I hold to the contrary: namely, that recognizing a diversity of co-created religious worlds in fact asks both scholars and practitioners to be more perspicuous in discerning their differences and merits. Because such worlds are not simply given but involve human beings as agents and co-creators, individuals are not off the ethical hook where religion is concerned but instead inevitably make cosmo-political and moral choices in all their religious actions. As discussed below, ethical considerations are crucial, especially in light of the demonstrably pernicious ecological, political, and social impact many religions historically had — and continue to have today.The pluralistic spirit of the participatory approach should not eclipse its “more relaxed” spiritual universalism — although eschewing dubious equations among spiritual ultimates (e.g., the Tao is God or Buddhist emptiness is structurally equivalent to the Hindu Brahman), the participatory approach affirms an underlying undetermined mystery or creative spiritual power as the generative source of all spiritual enactions. This shared spiritual dynamism should be distinguished from any Kantian-like noumenon or “thing-in-itself” endowed with inscrutable qualities and from which all spiritual ultimates are always derived as incomplete, culturally conditioned, or cognitively constrained phenomenal manifestations. In contrast, the enactive epistemology of the participatory approach does away with the Kantian two-worlds dualism by refusing to conceive of the mystery as having objectifiable pre-given attributes (such as personal, impersonal, dual, or nondual) and by affirming the radical identity of the manifold spiritual ultimates and the mystery, even if the former do not exhaust the ontological possibilities of the latter. Put simply, the mystery co-creatively unfolds in multiple ontological directions.Moreover, the relationship between pluralism and universalism cannot be consistently characterized in a hierarchical fashion. Whereas there surely are “lower” and “higher” forms of both universalism and pluralism (e.g., more or the between universalism and pluralism, between the and the it may be the dynamics of the of the mystery. The affirmation of a between the and the in spiritual unfolding renders any or hierarchical between universalism and pluralism cannot be that participatory pluralism does not entail the or of or religious or forms of Put the participatory of an objectifiable pre-given spiritual ultimate referent does not in spiritual To be sure, like of traditions cannot be ranked according to their in or this account does not cannot be more or the participatory renders the of among traditions according to a or a of spiritual insights, these can be in a of (e.g., cognitive, emotional, I have suggested the which the to which spiritual and practices practitioners from and subtle forms of and and the which the to which the same the of all dimensions of the the many and in the of religion, it may be to an which the to which spiritual social and religious and and and other human light of these differences among traditions can be and this is important — from both and In a for example, traditions may have contemplative more than the same could be about emotional intelligence, social or and practices a relationship with In a traditions may be more than others to dissociation, and religious and or among The fact that different traditions have different human is of makes and arguably for the development of more integral spiritual and important be spiritual and may be more for different psychological and cultural as for the same individual at distinct developmental but this does not make them superior or The of action, and to mind in this as do other spiritual that can be found in other the participatory emphasis on and although arguably central to most spiritual may not be shared by more most religious traditions would likely not in of the or the For example, or subtle forms of or of the human body and its energies are the in most and contemplative one could and participation of the body in spiritual many religions have had a demonstrably and about of human even they have also vital to them. the and of the participatory is for the development of a participatory critical of these the of a which the of a fully is open to can as a principle The of is thus capable of for critical in spiritual that is, in spiritual might be From this principle, or to spiritual choices and practices can be In to self and one might consider the of such as the In the of other may the degree of integration of spiritual states, for of with of body and in this it will no be a practitioners a or account of the mystery, or their of spiritual cultivation is social conscious or communion with The spiritual in contrast, will be the degree to which each spiritual both an of self-centeredness and a fully embodied integration to make individuals not only more to the of others, nature, and the but also more effective agents of cultural and in their unique the conscious mind is the of most of an liberation of consciousness can be insofar as one can that one is fully in dimensions of the self are or in — as the of modern spiritual teachers Participatory spirituality to the engagement of all human attributes in the spiritual or his the spiritual of and the vital the was that the liberation of consciousness cannot be to an integral the spiritual of all human this in mind, I have an integral bodhisattva vow in which the conscious mind its liberation the body, the heart, and the can be as from that them from sharing freely in the unfolding life of the mystery here on to to an integral bodhisattva vow is not a to the spiritual aspirations of it entails a to the integral liberation of all rather than only of their conscious or of as the of the bodhisattva does not a to Buddhist accounts of liberation as of and and from the of vow is arguably to the of many religious such as Michael and for or and These and many others spiritual and of their traditions that seek not only to and but also to human dimensions that had been or even such as the of and body and or relationships and to many spiritual and of or participatory spiritual practice the embodied, and enactive (i.e., and dimensions of spiritual growth. This emphasis can be found in traditional practices, many of traditional practices, and a number of spiritual Whereas traditional practices (e.g., are participatory in many The Participatory in their modern one can more and of participatory I for example, Michael Lerner’s and and embodied of Buddhist and account of modern and Western approaches to and Christian of the body and in Christian among many the have the emergence of a of novel participatory spiritual practices, such as and embodied cooperative spiritual inquiry, and of embodied spiritual of practice with important participatory include and spirituality modern forms of integral relational approaches to spirituality, and modern of as spiritual path, among a are our relationships with both the human and nonhuman This is inevitably with a to social To be sure, this can take many different forms, from more social or in the (e.g., social spiritually grounded to more subtle of social or discussed by in his there is to about the of subtle embodied spirituality cannot be from a to political, and — this may arguably calls for the of a This however, cannot of moral religious and even mystical but to be in the of religious on human and cooperative spiritual In other words, it is likely that any will be grounded not only in human spiritual but also in the critical on such a history in the context of moral intuitions (e.g., about the of religious narcissism, and its for and the of — for with — to of the most of the such as the of and the of rich and the to cultural and and in although participatory spirituality arguably for critical in spiritual it is to consider the participatory or any participatory approach, a spiritual tradition that could be all In contrast, participatory spirituality might be as a spiritual (i.e., and creative that can be found in various within many that is in the ongoing of and that may also to spiritual and the emergence of novel religious or spiritual I that the participatory should be seen more as a of sharing a about the nature of spiritual the of and multidimensional cognition, or the of religious pluralism than as a of or through traditional The pluralistic character of a can greater diversity than a of which achieves its identity through to or a is not only with the pluralistic of the participatory but also in the of not a constraints to or the to into a the nature of a is with the of hierarchical and in and religion by many participatory as as with for peer-to-peer of and and of is an important of such might seek to not only sharing of but also to promote a of for and the and of a participatory approach the spiritual of not in any spiritual or but in the shared of communion with the generative dimension of the mystery. In other words, the spiritual of may not be found in the (i.e., in or even mystical but deep into the (i.e., in the embodied with our creative As the to and are among the for only in the The of such creative may to by in creative a of deep communion a may also engender a of to a spiritual to the spiritual individuation of its and the eco-socio-politically of the an to both scholars and practitioners to their and to the and to participatory in and into I with the that the participatory approach and to a more individuals in the embodied co-creation of their spiritual perhaps most participate more fully in the mystery of which