New Paradigm Digest » compassion in action

Wisdom Lessons from a 108 Year Young Pianist and Concentration Camp Survivor

Jeff — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:35:14 +0000

In this extraordinary and touching interview, Tony Robbins interviews 108 year young pianist Alice Sommers Herz who tells us to be grateful and optimistic even through life’s most challenging times and so much more. I hope this soulful and empowering interview will be viewed and appreciated by many more people searching for answers on how to live a life with meaning and no regrets.

A Friend and Self Inquiry Teacher in Need

Jeff — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:07:57 +0000

Robert Rabbin Needs Our Support

My friend, author, and awareness teacher, Robert Rabbin was just told he has stage four lung cancer that has spread to his bones and is seeking treatment alternatives, a place to live and conduct meetings in the San Francisco area and financial support since he has no insurance. As a result, Robert is offering his eighth book, The 5 Principles of Authentic Living and all his other digital books and products free to the world. To access his e-books, please click here. In 5 Principles, Robert shares the distilled essence of what he has experienced about life — after almost 50 years of deep spiritual work, meditation, and self-inquiry.

Please join me in reviewing his offerings and if it feels appropriate, making a donation in any amount. Here is a video Robert just made.

A Spiritual Conspiracy

Jeff — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:15:27 +0000

by Author Unknown

[Listen to Audio!]

On the surface of the Earth exactly now there is war and violence and everything looks horrible. But, simultaneously, something quiet, calm and hidden is happening and certain people are being called by a higher light. A quiet revolution is settling from the inside out. From bottom to top. It is a global operation. A spiritual conspiracy. There are cells from this operation in every nation on the planet.

You will not watch us on TV. Or read about us in newspapers. Or hear our words on radios. We do not seek glory. We do not use uniforms. We arrive in several different shapes and sizes. We have costumes and different colors. Most work anonymously. Silently we work out of the scene. In every culture in the world. In large and small cities, in the mountains and valleys. In the farms, villages, tribes and remote islands.

We might cross paths on the streets. And not realize … We follow in disguise. We are behind the scenes. And we do not care about who wins the gold of the result, and Yes, that the work gets performed. And once in a while we will cross paths on the streets. We exchange looks of recognition and continue following our path. During the day many are disguised in their normal jobs. But at night behind the scenes, the real work begins.

Some call us army of consciousness. Slowly we are building a new world. With the power of our hearts and minds. We follow with joy and passion. Our orders reach us from the Central Spiritual Intelligence. We’re throwing soft bombs of love without anyone noticing; poems, Hugs, songs, photos, movies, fond words, meditations and prayers, dances, social activism, websites, blogs, acts of kindness …

We express ourselves in a unique and personal way. With our talents and gifts. Being the change we want to see in the world. This is the force that moves our hearts. We know that this is the only way to accomplish the transformation. We know that with the silence and humbleness we have the power of all oceans together. Our work is slow and meticulous. As in the formation of mountains.

Love will be the religion of the 21 century. Without educational prerequisites. Without ordering an exceptional knowledge for your understanding. Because it is born of the intelligence of the heart. Hidden for eternity in the evolutionary pulse of every human being.<

Be the change you want to see happen in the world. Nobody else can make this work for you.

We’re recruiting. Perhaps you will join us. Or maybe you have already joined. All are welcome. The door is open.

The Co-op Business Model: Share Whatever You’ve Got

Jeff — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:15:20 +0000

Derek Sivers is a highly successful entrepreneur, coach and music industry pro whose inspirational blog posts are excelent reminders about the art of humanistic business and actionable advice for musicians. I particularly like his most recent post.

I feel like I know almost nothing about business, because the only business I’ve ever done is the co-op / sharing model.

It goes like this:

1. You already have something that people want.

It might be something you own, something you’ve learned how to do, or access to valuable resources, space, or people.

2. Find a way to share it with everyone who needs it.

Share because it’s what you do for friends, because it’s the right thing to do, because it makes the world a better place, and because it’ll make you deeply happy.

Share as your contribution in return for all the things and ideas that people have shared with you.

(If you’re having a bad day, or someone has recently wronged you, you may not feel the world has shared much with you, but here’s a reminder.)

3. If it takes some effort for you to share it, you can charge a little something for your effort, to ensure that this giving can continue.

My examples:
In 1994, the U.S. Copyright office still didn’t have their copyright forms online. You still had to mail a letter to Washington DC to ask them to mail you some blank forms, if you wanted to copyright your songs. I scanned all the forms, and put them on my website for free as printable downloads, for any musician who needed them. For the next year or two, until the government started putting the forms online, my site was the only place to get them. This was my first effort to contribute back to this great invention of the internet.

In 1995, I learned how to trademark my band name. It took many hours of work to figure out the legalese, but I did it.
I wrote out the step-by-step instructions and put them on my band’s website for free. For years it was the go-to resource for musicians who wanted to trademark their name.

In 1996, I had a little record label, so I got a UPC barcode account, so I could put unique UPC barcodes on my CDs. I had to pay $750 to the Universal Code Council to get a company account, but that meant I was allowed to create 100,000 products under my account. Musician friends asked how, so I showed them how, but also said they could use one of my product IDs. At first, I did this for free, as a favor, until friends started sending strangers my way. Because it took a little work to generate the number, create their EPS/TIFF graphic barcode, and keep track of their unique IDs forever, I charged $20. Over the next 12 years, this made me almost $2 million.

In 1997, I got a credit card merchant account to sell my own CD at live shows. It cost $1000 in set-up fees and took three months of red-tape paperwork. Then I built a little online shopping cart, which also took months of work, just to sell my own CD. Musician friends asked if they could use mine instead of having to go through all of that work, so I said OK. At first, I did this for free, as a favor, until it was taking up all of my time. Because it took me 45 minutes of work to digitize, stock, set up a new album in my system, I charged $35 per new album. Because it took 10 minutes of work to pick, pack, and ship a purchased CD, I charged $4 per CD sold. Over the next 12 years, this made me about $20 million.

In 1999, I had learned a lot about hosting websites. Linux, Apache, PHP, SQL, FTP, DNS, Qmail, SpamAssassin, etc. I had done it for myself for my band’s website, then for CD Baby, and bought my own servers. So when friends would complain about their existing web-hosting company, I’d host them on my servers instead. At first, I did this for free, as a favor, until it was filling up my server. Because each server cost me $300/month, and I had to hire a full-time person to manage this, I charged $20 per month. (In 1999, this was way cheap.)
Over the next 9 years, this made me about $5 million.

Since 2000, I’ve been sharing everything I’ve learned for free. I’m not the smartest guy, probably below average, but it costs nothing to share, and it’s the right thing to do, so I do. Over the last 11 years, this made me incredibly happy and lucky, because of all the interesting people I’ve met by doing it.

Point being:

None of these things looked like a business venture.

All of them were just sharing something I already had.

People often ask me if I have any suggestions for what kind of business they should get into.

I tell them the only thing I know how to recommend: “Start by sharing whatever you’ve got.”

Derek Sivers
Entrepreneur, programmer, avid student of life. I make useful things, and share what I learn.

Me in 10 seconds

I’m an entrepreneur. I treat work as play.
I live by “whatever scares you, go do it”.
I’m a minimalist. The less I own, the happier I am.
I’m a learning addict.
I’m very comfortable being the leader and being on stage.
This is my favorite fable.

Official Bragging Bio

Originally a professional musician and circus clown, Derek Sivers created CD Baby in 1998. It became the largest seller of independent music online, with $100M in sales for 150,000 musicians. In 2008, Derek sold CD Baby for $22M, giving the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education.

He is a frequent speaker at the TED Conference, with over 5 million views of his talks.

In 2011, he published a book which shot to #1 on all of its Amazon categories.

Derek Sivers lives in Singapore, where he is creating his next company.

Paul Zac: Trust, Morality & Oxytocin

Jeff — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:23:07 +0000

Another great TED talk for you.

What drives our desire to behave morally? Neuroeconomist Paul Zak shows why he believes oxytocin (he calls it “the moral molecule”) is responsible for trust, empathy and other feelings that help build a stable society.

Time to Thrive

Jeff — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:44:48 +0000

Thrive: to grow vigorously : flourish, to progress toward or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances.

Thanks to Foster Gamble, the socially responsible scion of the Proctor and Gamble family, a powerful and exciting film will be arriving 11-11-11. Foster is a shining example of consciousness, creativity and intelligence in the service of life and has been passionately producing this catalytic film for years. Thrive connects the dots of the old and new paradigms and presents actions humanity can and is taking to save itself from itself. As biologist Francisco Varela suggested, if a system is sick connect more of itself to itself. Thrive appears to offer useful information about our world condition, the players and solutions that may help us put the brakes on the ecocide we find ourselves in the midst of. Each of us holds a piece of the puzzle that is self-assembling to co-create a world that works for everyone.

I am delighted to present the trailer here and urge you to be an evolutionary catalyst, herald the good news, and consider hosting a Thrive screening in your home town if you like what you see. Until we actually view the complete film and enter its field, we will not know for certain if the film wil live up to it’s promise but its certainly worth a viewing.

Visit the website and sign on to the movement for updates. http://thrivemovement.com

Calling All Robin Hoods and Maid Marions

Jeff — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:47:20 +0000

This call to action from Confessions of an Economic Hit Man author and activist, John Perkins speaks of the actions we must take to regain a sense of balance and justice.

Like Robin Hood, we live in a time of turmoil. The feudal lords once again are exploiting We the People, and chaos has ensued. It is time for change. There is no other choice. There is no more option to transform gradually over time. We MUST instigate rapid change now or go down in the chaos.

The budget debacle in Washington DC is just another symptom of the chaos that, like the chaos of cancer, has invaded our body of social/political/economic institutions. The rioting in England and all the turmoil in Europe and the Middle East are other symptoms. As are the facts that 1) elected officials in the “the world’s great democracy” (the U.S.) no longer write the laws, but instead cede that responsibility over to lobbyists who work for the corporations that finance political campaigns, 2) the “mainstream” media fails to report the real news or stand up for the rights of We the People because it is owned by those corporations; 3) we will never have a balanced budget as long as we spend trillions of dollars to defend corporate exploitation in countries across the planet while denying basic services to our own people; and 4) we will not live up to the moral and philosophical principles we claim to endorse as long as we purchase products made by sweatshop slaves, blame other cultures and religions for our problems, accept as normal the outrageous corruption exemplified by a revolving door where politicians, heads of watch-dog agencies, and corporate executives are one and the same, and incarcerate people like Bradley Manning for exposing our dark underbelly.

Let’s admit that our rulers – like the feudal lords in Robin Hood’s England – have created a terrible situation. Our system of government and our form of predatory capitalism do not work, unless you happen to be a billionaire. Unfortunately, there are far too many billionaires in the world today who hold the power. They are the modern version of Prince John – and the politicians who protect them are the Sheriffs of Nottingham.

So where is Robin Hood? Where is Maid Marion? Where are all those Merry Men and Women who defied feudal lords in those glorious days we like to relive in our fantasies?

They are right here. In front of you. Look in the mirror. You are Robin Hood. You are Maid Marion. You are a leader!

It is time to gather the Merry Men and Women – your networks and communities – and spread the word. Today we do not need real bows and arrows, we do not need swords or weapons of destruction. Modern feudal lords control us with advertisements, propaganda, and materialistic seductions. They send in their hack TV commentators and newspaper pundits, rather than sheriffs armed with cross-bows.

We must defeat them on this new field of battle. It is a field of consciousness, not blood. The bow I personally choose is the computer keyboard and the lecture podium. My arrows are words – both written and spoken.

The budget debacle is the match that the Sheriff of Nottingham touched to the thatching on our roofs. My house is burning; so I’m grabbing keyboard and words and heading for Nottingham.

Please join me. Gather your own Merry Men and Women. Write your own letters and emails. Organize consumer protests. Wave placards. Give speeches. Run for election. Take action in whatever way your deepest passions direct you. Just don’t sit still.

We MUST act! But not violently. Doing it with love, compassion, and cooperation is the way out of this chaos. Today Robin Hood looks more like Martin Luther King Jr. than Errol Flynn!

Time to stop reading Robin Hood as a fantasy and instead to live that dream. The dream of waking up, taking responsibility and actions that will create a new story. And make no mistake about it: this is a true and honest story, one of integrity, and one our grandchildren will want to tell to their grandchildren.

Please see my website – http://www.johnperkins.org – we’ve added several new shapeshifting events to the calendar.

John

John Perkins

New York Times bestselling author

www.johnperkins.org

www.dreamchange.org

Hoodwinked

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

The Secret History of the American Empire

Shapeshifting

The World Is As You Dream It

Psychonavigation

The Stress-Free Habit

Spirit of the Shuar

Follow me on Twitter – @economic_hitman

The Susan Lange Story

Jeff — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 18:45:32 +0000

Sometimes in life you hear about injustices of various kinds and think, “that’s really bad, sad, or worse, criminally fraudulent, but you go on with your life.” For those that go through these injustices, life is never the same.

I had an up close and personal experience recently in which my two delightful landlords and amazing healers, Julian and Susan Lange (http://meridianholistic.com), who have become dear friends, their loving feline family, were evicted from their home at 276 Running Ridge Trail in Ojai, CA thanks to an illegal foreclosure. Also forced find a new home was a second renter, Darina, an artist and world traveler. And to add insult to injury, the new illegal owners sued me as a renter, which is ridiculous, and caused me great upset and stress, all in an effort to try and drive a wedge between us which they were unsuccessful in doing and, in fact, simply multiplied our bond.

Today, Julian and Susan are living in a one room rental and the new owners will no doubt put the house on the market and make a quarter of a million dollars or more on the deal built on the emotional and financial suffering of two extraordinary and compassionate human beings in service to their patients, clients, workshop participants and the world.

And this is hardly an exceptional situation. The same “investor criminals” who stole the Lange’s beautiful home which I had the privilege of living in for three plus years, have done exactly the same thing to many other people locally and other criminals have done the same to hundreds of thousands of individuals in what has to be the greatest criminal fraud in U.S. real estate history.

When you view the extraordinary eye opening video below on youtube.com/ForeclosureFree and the rest of the series shot by filmmakers Andrew Cameron Bailey and Connie Baxter Marlow, you will begin to understand how the banks, investors with inside information, and the courts have colluded to develop a sophisticated process for separating people from their homes and make obscene profits at the same time.

You may also want to visit chasechase.org to get the latest on what’s being done as more and more people join the battle for justice for the people. And, if you know anyone who is in the process of losing their home, please let them know about Susan’s videos and the chasechase.org site. It is critical that those most deeply affected have a support community around them that can make the journey bearable and know they are not alone.

Perhaps you will be as outraged as Julian, Susan, I and countless others have become as they have lost their homes representing their principal financial asset. And let’s be clear here. We are not talking about those who could not afford the mortgages they took out hoping to flip them in the game of musical chairs that ended so abruptly. We are talking about those individuals who were defrauded by their mortgage brokers, made their payments on time and were again defrauded by the banks and finally the courts who are not interested in hearing the truth and in 99% of cases rule in favor of investors and the banks.

It is a very sad and bitter state of affairs and is simply an extension of the greed and deception that represents this time in history on so many levels including Washington where more and more is given to the wealthiest at the expense of the rest of us. We pay when criminals rig the mortgage game and get rewarded with bonuses for doing so. The inmates are truly running the asylum.

May the new paradigm of compassion and connection replace an economy of greed. May love rule the planet rather than fear and may each of us play our parts in bringing this about. You will soon read a review of Sacred Economics and a wonderful interview with David Korten which both point the way to a new paradigm economics. It would seem the worst in us is catalyzing the best in us and building new communities of awake and aware consciousness. Stay tuned, join and act.

Finally here is Andrew and Connie’s latest video shot on the last night in Julian and Susan’s home. What is striking is that the anger and rage that one might feel and express when your personal assets are being destroyed is transcended by the grace, intelligence and articulation of the deepest truth of who we are beyond the courts and rulings that go against everything this country was founded on and a sense of fair play which has become a relic.

p.s. Here is a note from Susan received a few moments ago:

To our very dear friends and family,

We were evicted on Friday morning by the Sheriff and 3 heavies….Got it all on video – and they couldn’t look us directly in the eyes. I know they say they’re just doing their job but there are other sheriffs who won’t “just do their job” any more. I hope they got to see us as human beings – even if only briefly – and that somewhere in their hearts we might have touched a chord or planted a seed that later may start to
sprout. (If not, then perhaps our two little panicked cats left in the back yard might have got through to them.)

All last week black crows were circling our property. And the morning the sheriff came huge vultures were actually flying in circles over our driveway.

Then I went to work in LA. Exhausted … we had worked til 3 am moving stuff out before they came to take our home. What a system. We’re exhausted and we’re proud. Proud to have done our best in standing up along with many other wonderful people against injustice and fraud….

As I drove across the bridge out of Ojai I noticed two white birds flying across my path. As I got closer to them I saw that they were white egrets, symbolizing the resurrection of the Christ Consciousness. And when I arrived at my office in Santa Monica a white dove flew in front of me….

Right now we seem to be in a kind of free fall. And we have to TRUST that we will land on firm ground – much firmer than
ever before.

“They may try to steal our homes but they can’t steal our souls” is my latest quote.

Here’s to Justice,Truth and Freedom!!!

Thank you Connie for reminding us of the Trust Frequency!.
Thank you Karol for reminding us to be grateful!
Thank you to our wonderful attorneys, Roger Senders and Douglas Gillies who have gone to bat for us and hung in with us through thick and thin.

And a HUGE thank you to all of you for your constant support, hard physical labor, check ins, emails and love that have kept us going all the way through on this journey.

Our love to you,

Susan and Julian

PS We’re taking time out for a few days to re-group, re-orient and re-invent!

Compassion to Heroic Action

Jeff — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:45:45 +0000

I believe this exciting presentation is the start of a major positive movement.
JH

Can modern science help us to create heroes? That’s the lofty question behind Philip Zimbardo’s Heroic Imagination Project (http://heroicimagination.org), started by a Stanford professor who has spent 50 years teaching and studying psychology. The goal of the project is simple: to put decades of experimental research to use in training the next generation of exemplary Americans, churning out good guys with the same efficiency that gangs and terrorist groups produce bad guys. In this video, he inaugurates the project.

Visit newparadigmdigest.com to watch the video.

Video from KarmaTube

Transformational Film at it’s Finest

Jeff — Mon, 30 May 2011 07:14:37 +0000

It’s rare that a documentary touches me as deeply as Waste Land, an Academy Award nominated film that is nothing less than miraculous in its penetrating exploration of the hearts, souls and minds of the garbage pickers of Rio and a successful New York artist who changes their lives forever. His attempt to help a group of people he does not know nor have any way of determining the outcome of his attempt is an extraordinary example of compassion in action. I encourage you to see this film or purchase the DVD. You will not be disappointed and perhaps it may encourage you to find a way to support one or more of the less fortunate in our world who are often forgotten.

WASTE LAND Official Trailer from Almega Projects on Vimeo.

Click here to see the video at NPD.