“Fish smells from the head” – Vietnamese proverb.

Therefore, if our society stinks, chances are today’s leaders have gaps in integrity and honesty.

Most people cannot imagine Spirituality and Leadership mentioned in the same breath. To many this is combining two entirely unrelated concepts. Yet, the level of our intelligence and our ability to think and analyze and the fact that the human mind’s base is compassion and goodness, this combination of unlikely bedfellows may create the new story we need for the future.

Father Thomas Berry, the late eminent ecologist said in his book Evening Thoughts; “The old story has ended and we are not quite sure what this new story is all about”.

Indeed the old story has ended. Who would have imagined General Motors, a pillar of the United States of America – ‘what was good for GM was good for the US’ – would go down without much of a whimper. The economic and environmental devastation we have seen in the last eighteen months alone is sufficient for us to realize that we certainly need a new story.

The old story is over five hundred years of male dominated leadership based on left brained, linear thinking. This has certainly given a certain part of the world material prosperity, but at what cost ?

The others live in poverty, without access to justice in a world teetering on a climate catastrophe which is a sad reflection on the way the world has been led over that period.

In the old story only a few dominate like the oil, arms and pharmaceutical industries. Domination requires subjugation and these industries thrive on it. All these three have been useful in the old story, but in the new story they will have to transform.

The new story is described as High Touch and High Concept.

High Touch is about finding purpose and meaning to life, eliciting joy in others and being content.

High Concept is about detecting new patterns and opportunities and creating artistic and emotional beauty. Unrelated ideas are brought together to form something new.

This is spirituality. In the new story spirituality is the foundation for Authentic Leadership.

So, how can we marry spirituality with leadership ?. The only way is to focus on self through a life of inquiry and mindfulness.

What is Spirituality?

Let us explore this further. What does spirituality mean ?. To me, spirituality is about integrity. It helps us to find meaning in life, provides a foundation of our values to guide us in the way we behave with self, others and the world around us.

Spirituality is a way of facilitating a dialogue between reason and emotion, between mind and body. This provides a base for growth and transformation from our ego centered material self to an active, unifying, meaning-giving centre.

Spirituality is about a transpersonal vision of goodness, beauty, perfection, generosity, graciousness, and sacrifice. It hinges on dignity for self and others and the foundation is true integrity. Love and compassion is its cornerstone.

In contrast, our education system has shaped us to be more left brained, analytical, rational and target oriented. Religion which is supposed to teach us about spirituality has externalized it and handed over responsibility to an outside entity. We could do anything and ask for forgiveness, but the damage has been done to humanity. There is no focus on the individual responsibility and based on moral values. Religion focuses more on ritual and not personal inquiry and meaning to life. So we misconstrue it to worshiping external deities and statues rather than focusing on self, where our spirituality resides.

If we are to make a lasting transformation in individual behavior, we have to begin with education.

To redesign our education system we have to get away from the traditional Cartesian mind – matter divide which has been the focus of our global education system for the last 500 years. This system promotes IQ based rational, target based learning. It has done well to develop science and technologies to make some of our lives comfortable. Yet, this is the system that has the entire planet on the edge now, with the social challenges of a divided world of ‘haves and have nots’, steeped in insecurity, fear and violence for the ‘have nots’ and the environmental challenges we all face – both the rich and poor. Only a few fortunate of the 6 billion people on this earth live life of dignity for now. The disparity is outrageous, when one thinks that 80% of the world’s wealth is held by a mere 5%. Something has to give and we may lose it all.

Spirituality and education

It is now universally accepted that the focus on the breath and meditation is a way to rid of the ego. Ego clouds our perceptions as it gives us deceptive messages about our sensory encounters. It inflates our self worth and is driven by fear. Meditation focuses our mind to see things clearer as they are and not clouded by the ego centered self importance.

Now there is scientific research done at the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin, USA using electroencephalogram (EEG) technology proving that meditators have an higher gamma activity (25 – 40Hz frequency in neural oscillations) and increased synchronization across the entire brain (all the neurons in the body).

Our entire body makes up the mind, but there are neuron concentrations in the brain, heart and stomach areas. When these neurons are not synchronized our thinking (brain), emotions (heart) and intuition (stomach) are not aligned and in balance. This creates stress as we are not able to see and comprehend the world and people around clearly. This skillful center will only come to us with neural synchronicity. When there is alignment integrating the mind there is confidence from clearer perception of the realities.

Neural synchronicity leads to better understanding of self and the surrounding world which takes away fear. When fear is taken away, we become more skillful and centered to deal with the suffering that life is. We do not need the ego to protect us. This will help us to become inquiring and mindful and to follow a path of moderation.

Teach them young

As such, meditation, yoga and martial arts as a practice should be introduced to children from a young age in schools. It will center them and provide balance that will empower them, see other beings and nature around as collaborators rather than adversaries. Unconditional loving-kindness and compassion, the natural way of our being will be highlighted and they will become fearless about suffering and change. They will be more creative to complement the logical left brain and emotionally better balanced through a foundation of spirituality.

There will be a less need for specialization. Inquiry and learning will be more holistic and broad based. High Touch and High Concept will become a way of life. Art, poetry, free flow writing and music along with the sciences can become mainstream in education. Educators will also find a way to simplify and teach quantum physics to show the uncertainties of the world and the results of any experiment is shaped by the experimenter’s own experiences, energy and perception.

Seeing the world clearly will enable the realization of the folly of a world dominated by the oil industry, protected by a weapons industry making puppets out of politicians and controlled by a handful of people. Emotional and spiritual intelligence will enable them to see that and IQ based world founded on reductionist science is not sustainable. Fearlessness coupled with benevolence will give them the courage to get together to act against these corrupt, power hungry, ego centered forces not with violence but with skillful compassion. Together it will be easier to convince those few Narcissists to see the folly of their ways through skillful dialogue and crucial conversations. It will set them free from fear, the high walls and the guards that are needed to protect them and their wealth.

We have failed our children

All I know is our generation and the many previous ones have failed our children. The least we could do is to equip them to clean up this mess, to help them see clearly who the real adversaries are and that they are not out there but within us first, our selfish ego centered natures have to be tamed first. This focus on self will help us to live and love in this world differently.

I have faith and confidence in humanity as benevolence and compassion pervades the mind as a way of our being. So, the onus is on us now to put a mirror on ourselves to change our own thinking and behavior from the IQ base to integrate emotional intelligence and to acknowledge our spirituality so we really find some meaning to our life. This meaning just may give the leadership capability to our children for a better chance at survival.

Fish does smell from the head, so let us illuminate this head to emanate a scent of loving kindness and compassion to all beings and nature around us.

Countries around the world are beginning to apply the science of well-being to the decisions they make. News from the 5th International Conference on Gross National Happiness.

The study of happiness is experiencing a boom. Its practitioners include economists who believe that gross domestic product (GDP) is too limited a tool to measure the success of societies, psychologists and sociologists who feel that their disciplines have focused too much on neuroses and social problems and not enough on determining what kind of activities and policies actually contribute to happier societies, and political leaders who want to know how to make use of their findings.

During the 5th International Gross National Happiness Conference, held last week in Brazil, happiness proponents from around the world were able to come together and compare notes about the practical application of “happiness science.”

The Science of Happiness

Not surprisingly, that science has found that beyond a certain minimum level of income, greater happiness comes from strong and plentiful human connections, a sense of control over one’s life and employment, meaningful work, good health, basic economic security, trust in others and in government, and other factors less directly connected with monetary remuneration.

I was invited to the conference to speak about the connection between work (or overwork), health, and happiness. I made the case that shorter working hours are crucial to happiness, health, and long-term sustainability. The United States, with among the longest working hours in the industrial world, scores far below northern European nations in calculations of leisure time, longevity, and overall health, while having an ecological footprint nearly twice as large—facts which are clearly related.

Studies of life satisfaction can now compare regular polling data from many countries, making it easier to understand how economic and policy decisions impact national happiness. In recent years, such polls have consistently found that the highest levels of satisfaction are found in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden—countries with a strong sense of social solidarity and attention to work-life balance, small income gaps, high taxation rates, and strong social safety nets.

These studies also find that many relatively income-poor nations, such as Costa Rica and Colombia, also have high rates of life satisfaction, leading one group of British researchers to establish a “Happy Planet Index,” which compares life satisfaction scores, life expectancies, and ecological footprints to produce a net rating for happiness. Many so-called developing countries actually rank at the top of their index.

Gross National Happiness

One country that takes happiness very seriously is Bhutan, the small Himalayan kingdom that hosted the first Gross National Happiness Conference. In 1972, Bhutan’s king proclaimed in 1972 that “Gross National Happiness is more important then Gross National Product.”

Land of the Thunder Dragon
JenFu Cheng’s photo essay of Bhutan

Since then, Bhutan has enshrined the concept in its constitution and looked for ways to apply it and measure it. Karma Ura, the Bhutanese director of the Center for Bhutan Studies and a speaker at the conference, explained that, over time, the Bhutanese have identified nine aspects that factor into analyses of happiness. They include:  psychological well-being; good health; time use (work-life balance); community vitality; education; cultural preservation; environmental protection; good governance; and financial security.

They have developed questionnaires, used in regular polls of the Bhutanese people, by which they assess life satisfaction in each of these areas. Included are such questions as: How safe do you feel from human harm? Rarely? Usually? Always?

Bhutan then uses the results of its questionnaires to guide public policy. Each governmental decision is based on assurance that it will not lower—and should in fact raise—overall life satisfaction. One such analysis led Bhutan’s government to decide not to join the World Trade Organization.

Bhutan’s research, frameworks, and results can be found at its excellent website. While the country is among the world’s poorest materially, the Bhutanese have quite a high level of Gross National Happiness, especially in the countryside, and especially when compared to the resources they consume.

Redefining Progress

Bhutan is far from the only country where happiness has become a serious topic of conversation. This fall, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, only two years ago the champion of economic growth and American-style economics, made headlines by singing a very different tune: he organized a commission led by Nobel Prize economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen to re-examine how France measures progress. The commission called for a focus on indicators such as health, family cohesion, and leisure time instead of the current emphasis on GDP. Sarkozy embraced their recommendations and suggested they be adopted by the European community.

In August, a European Union commission released a report called “GDP and Beyond: Measuring Progress in a Changing World.” It recommends more accurate reporting on economic inequality as well as the development of social and environmental indicators—including a comprehensive measurement of environmental stewardship that would consider water and air pollution, climate change and energy use, biodiversity, waste, and resource use.

John Hall, leader of the Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies—a project of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), ratified by 30 countries—reported that the OECD is developing a whole new set of indicators on which to judge the progress of member countries. Its new “Global Project” aims at collecting so-called “best practices”—social and economic policies that are clearly shown to increase life satisfaction.

In October, the 3rd OECD World Forum in Busan, South Korea brought together 2,000 researchers and activists from more than 100 countries to consider policies that focus on happiness instead of economic growth.

“It really is a movement now,” Hall declared.

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John de Graaf wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. John is the Executive Director of Take Back Your Time and a documentary filmmaker.

From Karma Tube

Over 20 years ago, Dr. Paul Farmer graduated from Harvard Medical School, and promptly moved into a local church with his wife and daughter. The reason? He wanted to reduce his expenses so he could treat the homeless in Boston for free.

Watch how this man systematically has changed the medical profession through his Partners in Health, by focusing on one place, Haiti, for over 20 years – and in the process has rekindled what it means to be a doctor for thousands.

Jim Channon is a retired Army Colonel, visionary strategic thinker and consultant who dreamed The First Earth Battalion as a way for the Army, Air Force and Navy to restore the planet.  Believe it or not, his dream is moving toward reality.

Actor George Clooney is the latest to find inspiration in The First Earth Battalion. The Men Who Stare at Goats takes a playful shot at psychic soldiers and high performance technologies in the military, with Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey and Ewan McGregor joining Clooney. Bridges humorously portrays Channon in his role as Bill Django, founder of the New Earth Army. “It’s impossible to keep a great legend down,” says Channon.

To read the inspiring Ode Magazine story on Jim, click here

John Gatto taught for 30 years in New York City public schools before resigning from school teaching on the oped pages of the Wall Street Journal the same year he was named “Teacher of the Year”. Since then, he has been a tireless advocate for school reform traveling over 3 million miles to lecture on the subject. He has been an advisor and speaker to homescholing associations around the world.  His previous book, Dumbing Us Down has sold over 150,000 copies to date.

John’s knowledge and writing about compulsory schooling is an eye opener and if you want the shocking and unvarnished truth about who, how and why education was structured in this country, you will find no better source.

Here is one instructive quote:

It is natural businessmen should seek to influence the enactment and administration of laws, national and international, and that they should try and control education. ~ Max Otto

Gatto goes on to show how and why students were and still are taught to memorize the dots rather than connecting them and how education was designed to separate the classes. It all began believe it or not in 1852 with the adoption of the Prussian model of education. Then just after the civil war, the country shifted from an entrepreneurial economy to a mass market economy and from freedom to industrial capitalism. Once in place, this new educational system took students and “confined them with hired mercenaries” which is what we have today, according to a very informed Gatto.

To contrast the two systems, he points to Ben Franklin whose biography he suggests is must reading. Frankin was the product of a brilliant and daring curriculum–his own. “He was an open source learner for the ages and he will generously show you how the trick is done”.

One of his personal experiences illustrates just one of the many trials by fire he went though during his career. He went to purchase copies of Moby Dick and Shakespeare’s Plays when he discovered he could get a 40% discount by shopping himself at  a book wholesaler.  He went and put 100 copies of each title in his shopping cart and went to heck out. The employee asked if he was a teacher and he answered yes. The clerk then told him he was only entitled to a 25% discount. John told him he was mistaken, that he was entitled to a 40% discount. The clerk replied, “If you don’t like it, take it up with your school board. They negotiated a 25% discount for teachers,  Why would a school negotiate a price that was less than anyone else could get?  You can probably figure out that a deal had been struck between the school and either the distributor or the publisher. Whatever the reason, you can be certain it involved some shadowy dealings. There are many more stories and historical facts that will make your head spin

I hope this short look into the mind of this exceptional educator will compel you to buy a copy of John’s book. It’s an invaluable well written story offering insights on the Alice in Wonderland education system you will find nowhere else. My two word review: Bravo John!

To learn more about this amazing and  highly principled man and his books, visit his site.

Editor’s Note: For the past few years, John and a director have been seeking funds to produce a documentary series, The Forth Purpose, to bring his visionary ideas to a mass audience. I spoke with John Gatto for an hour this morning and am going to be working with him to realize his vision for the film. I’ll keep you posted.