I spent a wonderful hour browsing the beautiful pavilions, pottery, fountains, sculptures, jewelry, plants, accessories and much more. I purchased what has become my favorite jacket, an elegant Chinese piece that will accompany me on my upcoming NZ and AU trip.

The feeling I have each time I introduce a new friend to The Sacred Space in Summerland, CA is one of immersion in a gallery of transformational artifacts. I am alwasy transported and embraced by the serene environment that Jack and Rose have created.

If you are not in the area, you can still check out their collection and order anything that you feel connected to at their site.

Among their treasures are Tibetan prayer, meditation and yoga rugs from Kathleen Adams and her Messenger Rug Company that support local Tibetan artisans. Visit Messenger Rugs site to see her beautiful Serenity Collection that offer one of a kind hand crafted rugs with designs based on the world’s contemplative traditions. These are authentic one of a kind rugs that are hard to find anywhere. They should be considered art and are priced as such.

MESSENGER RUGS is a licensee of GoodWeave®, a global nonprofit organization working to end child labor and offer educational opportunities for children in South Asia. Each rug is marked with a GoodWeave® certification number ensuring the “No Child Labor” standard, allowing the rug to be traced through the supply chain back to the loom.

Review by Associate Editor, Jamie Jackson

Spiritual Growth is Not What You Think
By Doyle Barnett

Maybe everything that happens to you isn’t always for the best; maybe it is possible to make grave spiritual mistakes that could impede your evolution for a very long time….

Could it be, that to grow spiritually you have to transcend all spiritual beliefs?

For those seekers among us who are stuck, entranced or disillusioned by our quest for the spiritual grail, Doyle Barnett arrives lance in hand, to prod us toward ultimate clarity. This is a book whose time has arrived. It is a course in spiritual philosophy. In the name of tough love, Doyle challenges us to pull up our spiritual socks via a series of radical questions, the answers to which determine the reader’s progression beyond dysfunctional spiritual beliefs through to each of several stages of personal awareness.

Yet at the very moment you feel your courage might desert you, Doyle’s irreverent and self-deprecating humor repeatedly softens up the entire exercise.

Doyle writes from his profound spiritual and life experiences. In his quest for truth he invested his “heart and soul into many different religions.” A search made even more powerful following a traumatic childhood, debilitating chronic illness and a near death experience.

After thirteen years as a practicing Christian, followed by a year at a Zen monastery, Doyle joined the Brotherhood of the Sun. Isolated from the outside world, he practiced his monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He meditated twice daily for nine years, sometimes for periods of sixteen hours a day, non-stop.

For several years he worked and studied with American Indians. He slept in tee-pees, tracked and hunted animals, studied wild herbs, did vision quests and fasted for days in search of the Great Spirit.

For three years he lived with the followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a master from India.

Finally, he delved into the modern metaphysical movement: “For four years I consulted more than forty psychics, sought spirit guides and did soul retrievals. Eventually, I outgrew the relentless cycle of belief upgrading. I quit searching for hand-me-down spiritual beliefs to use as replacements for my old beliefs. For the past twenty-three years, I tried to purge myself of all borrowed spiritual beliefs in order to live life more authentically. I sought a more objective truth rather than confirmation of what I wanted or needed to believe.”

Doyle poses the now almost perennial question: “Six billion people make up the top twenty-two religions in the world. Considering the condition that the earth is in, how much is all this religion helping?”

Neither are New Agers let off the hook. He observes that most of today’s seekers don’t really know what they are doing and think that attaining new beliefs will somehow make them wiser and more spiritual. Eventually, however, they trade in these beliefs for new ones and assume they are becoming even more spiritual, whereby “the spiritual path of seekers has become the Tao of belief upgrading, or in essence, the modern metaphysical movement.”

For many, this process of belief upgrading can continue until death. For others, “the stimulation of their spiritual egos finally grows old and they realize they ‘know’ nothing for sure – it’s all just beliefs.” He exposes some of the fallacies, superstitions and hypocrisies of the modern metaphysical movement and encourages seekers to replace their spiritual fantasies with a genuine reality check.

Doyle does not eschew belief or faith and is by no means anti spiritual. Nor does he seek to replace his readers’ beliefs with a brand new set of his own. He merely points the way toward the only intelligent, sensible –and indeed spiritual – direction available and allows readers to make their own choices. His conclusion is a most satisfying, inspiring and enjoyable read.
This intelligent, authentic, heart-felt and funny book is a must have companion for any truly genuine seekers.

Doyle Barnett has lectured throughout the US and has been a frequent guest speaker on national radio and television. He has been published in national magazines and newspapers and is the author of two books on communication tips for couples. He lives with his wife in Santa Barbara, California. They swing dance, rock climb and regularly spend time in God – the Great Out Doors.
Website: DoyleB.com

Acclaim for “Spiritual Growth is Not What You Think.”

I enjoyed this book very much. I found it stimulating, provocative, challenging, and disturbing! The topic is timely and relevant – baby-boomers en masse are coming out for spirituality, needing direction and guidance.
Nancy Marriott
Co-author with Candice Pert of
“Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d.”

This book is an important reminder that all beliefs place limits and boundaries upon the ineffable spirit. This is a valuable guide to the pathless path: The genius of one’s own genuine spiritual experience. This work will help us lighten our beliefs and dance more with one another.”

Harold H. Bloomfield, MD
Author of “Making Peace with Yourself,” “How to Heal
Depression,” “Life Mates” and “ Love Secrets for a Lasting
Relationship.”

Satan’s henchmen are trying to remove God from our schools, our government, and even our private lives, goes the frequent Christian conservative complaint. Well, author A.C. Grayling has gone a step further and taken God out of the Bible.

The Good Book: A Humanist Bible is Grayling’s attempt to create an inspirational book without a supernatural being at the center, writes Matthew Adams in New Humanist’s May-June issue.

“The way I made it,” Grayling tells Adams, “was to plunder from the great traditions texts on which I had performed redaction, weaving them together, editing them, interpolating other texts and sometimes my own, just as the Bible makers worked on their texts. It was tremendous fun.”

Writes Adams in “The Man Who Would Be God”:

The inclusion of a scientifically coherent creation story is probably the most markedly irreligious aspect of The Good Book, and might well end up, when the creationists get to hear about it, being the most controversial. But the work as a whole has none of the combativeness that one might expect. [Grayling says:] “This book is not against religion, it just ignores religion, and by ignoring it shows that there is as much if not more of a resource already in our hands.”

Like the Bible, The Good Book is organized by book, chapter, and verse and laid out in double columns. But the Bible never sang the praises of nonprocreative sexual love, described Newton’s discovery of gravity, or incorporated the ideas of great thinkers from Thucydides to Kant to Darwin.

Here are some verses:

• “Let us help one another, therefore; let us build the city together. Where the best future might inhabit, and the true promise of humanity be realized at last. —The Good, Chapter 9, Verses 10-11

• “Do I love you for the fine soft waves of hair That fall about your neck when you undress? Or that ivory pillar of your neck, or your breasts Soft and fair with rosy nipples crowned?” —Songs, 108

• “This is the final consolation: that we will sleep at evening, and be free for ever.” —Consolations, Chapter 26, Verse 31

Read more

Rob had a spiritual awakening at Findhorn in Scotland. He then trained as a trauma therapist, Sivananda yoga instructor and is a Chi Kung practitioner. He worked For many years, with associates from around the world, and conducted extensive consciousness research, met Thessa and together they co-founded Alchemy Techniques.

Thessa is an experienced therapist in many modalities including trauma healing, nutrition, allergy therapy and herbalism. She says about her work, ‘I see my role as teacher in Structural Self Inquiry as one of guide, and fellow traveler along the path.

Alchemy Techniques provides a set of effective tools to move from experiencing the clouds of past traumatic experiences to the ‘sunshine’ of core expression. Some of their students have described this process as being like ‘falling in love with life’.

The more advanced levels their work becomes explores the nature of experience, identity, perception and consciousness. This process can lead to an understanding and experience of who we are at our deepest levels, which is then integrated into daily life.  The experience at this level can be described as a path of self realization eventually resulting in the fusion of pure being and pure awareness at all levels of consciousness.

For a first hand experience of Alchemy Techniques training, you can sign up for free access to three hours of free online videos and a workbook on their site.

Here is a 30 minute interview I conducted with Rob and Thessa about a year ago that will provide further insights to the background and a description of their work.

Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.

Sutta Nipata

Last evening, I was privileged to view A Walk of Wisdom, a powerful film about a remarkable nun who has positively impacted the lives of thousands around the world and is the leader of Thailand’s spiritual community with her own 30 minute morning television show. At the end of the film, I was both inspired and moved to consider my life and how I have chosen to serve. And I wondered, how  might I be of more service…

Please consider purchasing a copy of this deeply moving visual poem if you want to be amazed at what one person can accomplish in the world with determination and compassion guided by the Buddhist philosophy of love. If you screen it in your home and invite your best friends, you will all be touched in one way or another, as was the case with the audience last night, at the depth and power of unwavering love in action. Here is her unlikely story…

From Asiaone News

She was a supermodel in Thailand’s fashion industry 30 years ago. She has also represented her country to take part in a variety of beauty pageants and the public was amazed by her beauty and elegant style. She was a young and gorgeous celebrity who always put on designer clothes but that did not help her find real happiness and peace deep inside her heart.

She later decided to give up her flourishing career at a young age of 27 to get her hair shaved and become a nun.

Community learning centre

For the next seven years she meditated intensely and with her earnings, bought an unimproved piece of land in the center of busy Bangkok and built the Sathira-Dhammasthan Buddhist monastery to fulfill her wish of world peace.

Now, a well-known messenger of peace, Mae Chee Sansanee’s monastery has become a community learning centre where members of the public can relax in a calm and peaceful environment while serving as an ideal place for pregnant mothers to instill a sense of peace in their unborn babies. Most of these women were abused or raped and without her guidance, learning forgiveness and to let go of their past, they could easily transfer the hatred of their abusers to their unborn babies.

Today, Mae Chee Sansanee is not only a tutor dedicated to deliver the message of peace and Buddhism, she is also the dean of Savika Sikhalaya Buddhist College and the co-chairman of the Global Peace Initiative for Women.

A movie on her legend

The movie, A Walk of Wisdom, produced in 2004, is a portrait of her life that depicts her legendary transition from being a top model to a Buddhist nun.

When she was invited to hold a seminar in Malaysia recently, she told Sin Chew Daily whatever decision a person had made, a truly successful life must come with a peaceful mind. According to her, when a person loses his direction, the best solution is not to escape from reality but stop his pace so as to figure out the solutions to his problems. The wisdom of life suggests slowing down our pace at appropriate times so that we can get a clearer picture of the rapidly moving world and our place in it.

Mae Chee has taken her philosophy into prisons working with men and women as well as children around the world.

To learn more about this dedicated servant of love and order, please click here.

Thank you so much for helping Colette receive the treatment that may finally free her from her chronic illness through your generosity. I think you may agree when you have finished watching her beautiful video I had the honor of filming, that she deserves to have her embodied wisdom and healing feminine energy back in the world. You may find a deeper connection with the video and Colette and her message if you watch it full screen.

I sent my friend Leigh McClosky, an extraordinary visionary artist himself, a copy of Colette’s masterpiece.

Here is what Leigh shared with me:

What a beautiful and thoughtful gift. I wanted to spend some time with her vision and story before writing. I received the book yesterday much to my surprise and delight. I put the large and exquisite volume on my book stand and found myself captivated as if reading with sumptuous slowness a great haiku. Every well considered voice bringing profound insight in simple lines or short poems.

The book asks for our willingness to be elegant which reveals a deeper truth that our greatest knowing and our creative quests are also beautiful and soul nourishing as well as devastating and redemptive. Gateways reminds me of the John Keats expression that “a thing of beauty is joy forever.”  Colette has created a joy forever and for me and my renaissance ideals this is also a gift of renaissance knowing that reminds with beauty and elegance that the written word and image are still the most powerful source to open and explore the creative imagination.

Her book makes me feel that in the future all who care to attend to these dreams will create their own works of lasting beauty, building the Akashic outward as it once was within. Gateways is a bridge that tethers so many wonders and stories, struggles and dreams together. I congratulate her immensely and do wish her a steady improvement and healing

Leigh

The Vision and Healing Artistry of Colette from Colette de Gagnier on Vimeo.

To order your copy of Gateways of the Divine and receive a second volume free, click here.

From The Dominant Paradigm:

In theory, science does not have a worldview, a set of beliefs, because it is supposed to be based on evidence only. In practice, it is fair to say that the core beliefs of science today are:

Watching events unfold in Egypt, I can’t help but remember that I lived through an Arab revolution myself when I was ten years old. I was living in Morocco at the time. Both my parents were working for the U.S. military, my father as an intelligence agent and my mother as a registered nurse. We lived on the U.S. Air Force base of Nouasseur, about twenty miles from Casablanca.

At the time Morocco was a French protectorate. The king, Mohammed V, had been exiled, and the French ran essentially an apartheid state in which the native Moroccans had virtually no rights whatsoever. In October of 1955, an Arab liberation army, the Jaish al-tahrir, began a revolt. At first we were unaffected. Life on the airbase went on as usual. Then the principal of our grade school was killed by French troops. They had mistaken him for a rebel while he was driving back to Nouasseur with his wife from a party in Casablanca. At that point the base went into lockdown. For several weeks, we were not allowed outside the fenced compound. Eventually, though, the French conceded control of the country to the Moroccans, and the king was reinstated.

These events touched my family directly. One of my father’s jobs was to act as a liaison for the U.S. government with the King, the royal family, and his advisers. This sent him into the countryside on a number of clandestine missions on behalf of both the King and the United States. Some of these involved counter-espionage against the Soviets who were also working behind the scenes during this revolution to prevent the Monarchy from being reinstated and promoting a communist take-over instead.

When Morocco gained its independence the following year, the King gave my father a proclamation making him an honorary Moroccan citizen. The world had Lawrence of Arabia but in our family, we had Marshall of Morocco!

My father died a number of years ago, but I can’t help thinking of how he would respond to the events happening in the Middle East. He loved the Arabs, and in all the universities in which he worked as a teacher, he was always the faculty adviser for Arab and other Middle Eastern students. But he knew from his own travels how prevalent corruption, oppression, poverty, and the lack of human rights were throughout North Africa and the Middle East. He often commented to me that the situation in these countries was a powder keg that would one day explode. And now it looks like that explosion may have come.

On the surface the driving force behind the protests is largely economic. Chronic poverty and unemployment in many Arab countries coupled with lack of opportunity for advancement has been met in previous years with corruption, indifference or oppression on the part of their governments. No more. The youth of these countries, better educated, desiring a freer and more fulfilling life, and united by social media with the rest of the world won’t stand for business as usual any more.

But apart from economic and political concerns, are there other forces at work “under the hood,” so to speak? What subtle forces are active here?

As the protesters took over Tahrir Square in Cairo, I felt I wanted to tune in to see what information might be available from inner colleagues. I was thinking I might communicate with a spiritual being attuned to the Egyptian people but instead I found myself in contact with a Presence that seemed like an “Angel of Humanity.” This Presence said in effect, “What is happening here is part of a process that goes beyond Egypt and its concerns. It is a human occurrence. It is one expression, conditioned by the circumstances of the Middle East, of an unfoldment that all humanity is experiencing, not just Egyptians or Arabs. This is the most important thing to know.”

I found it interesting that I was asked not to focus only on what was happening in Egypt, as important as it is, but to see it in a larger context. It was a request to appreciate the extent to which all humanity is participating in change and that none of us is exempt from the need to confront old ways of thinking and acting in order to gain the freedom and insights necessary to construct a future that will better serve us and all of life.

It is easy to forget this participatory side of things. I look out my window at a peaceful neighborhood, and the protests in Egypt and elsewhere seem far away, visible only on my computer or television screen. The challenges the Egyptians are facing are not my problems; I am not out marching in the streets to overthrow an oppressive regime that has lasted for thirty years and seemed prepared to extend its rule for more years into the future. One elderly man in Cairo said in an interview that for the first time in his life, he felt he could think for himself, without fear and without others telling him what to think. That brought me to tears, but I don’t personally have that issue in my life. I do not have to rebel against a secret police state that dictates what I can believe and not believe.

Because of this, I can feel distant from what the people in Cairo and Alexandria and Port Said are experiencing. I can sympathize, I can empathize, I can wish to support their efforts, but at the end of the day, their issues are not mine. All that turmoil I see on the television is happening in Egypt, not in the little town where I live. I can feel united with the protesters by our shared human aspirations for freedom, peace and a better life and also by a shared understanding of suffering, but we are separated by the differences in the specific issues that confront us and in the circumstances those issues create.

What the Angel of Humanity (if that is what it was) was saying, though, is that underneath these surface differences is an activity that goes beyond the commonality of shared aspirations or empathy. Rather than letting the differences in our specific needs and circumstances separate us, we can see more deeply and broadly into what is happening in our time. We can realize that we are all facing and struggling with a need to change and go beyond our current ways of treating each other and our world if we are all going have a livable future, much less realize the fullness of our human potential.

In December of 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a talk at Western Michigan University on the theme of social justice and the emerging new age. In it he said:

“All I’m saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we’re caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”

This thought by Dr. King catches the sense of what this Angel was implying, but there was more to it even than this. It was, I think, an invitation to see ourselves as revolutionaries in the context of seeking to overthrow oppressive and limiting thought forms and ways of thinking.

We, of course, are focused on the physical realm; it is the environment most apparent and immediate to all of us. But our colleagues and helpers in the spiritual realms deal with the invisible environment of subtle energies, thoughts and feelings. This environment can be every bit as oppressive as a tyrant; it can be every bit as harmful as a department of secret police. Certainly it can’t cause us physical pain and suffering, at least not directly, but it’s this environment that in its polluted and negative states gives rise to and energizes such physical phenomena such as tyrants and secret police, torture and terrorism, murder and mayhem. It’s this environment that can hold beliefs and thought forms that limit our conceptions of ourselves, that blind us to the wholeness of the earth, that make us doubt the goodness of the earth and the presence of the Sacred.

It is the oppression of this inner tyranny of ancient and outworn thoughts, emotions, habits, and beliefs that all of us, all of humanity, is now struggling against, like a butterfly trying to break out of a cocoon. We are all being called to make our way to the Tahrir Square of our minds and hearts, there to stand together and demand the old ways step down so a new humanity may emerge.

The world and we revolve around this pivot point of history in search of a new and better tomorrow, demanding creative and holistic change. The Revolution is upon us! What inner tyrannies will you overthrow today?

If you wish to share this letter with others, please feel free to do so; however the material is ©2011 by David Spangler.

“Humanity is being taken to the place where it will have to choose between suicide and adoration.”
~ Teihard de Chardin

NPD features thought leaders and evolutionary activists and philosophers who are helping accelerate the evolutionary shift that is underway. Jan Phillips is clearly an evolutionary catalyst whose integrative and empowering work in the world is touching increasing numbers of individuals on the path of conscious evolution.

In her latest empowering book, No Ordinary Time, award winning visionary author Jan Phillips “calls us to mindfulness and reminds us that “evolutionary action is rooted in silence and stillness, as visionary ideas arise from spiritual practice.”

“This is “a book for people conscious of their power and ready to co-create new sacraments and ceremonies that celebrate the Divine that dwells within us. It is a handbook for people committed to justice, peacemaking and spiritual integrity who are eager to evolve themselves spiritually and creatively.”

“It is a guide to reclaiming your spiritual authority, rethinking your inherited beliefs so you can create a life that is prophetic, ecstatic, and true to your soul. It bridges the One and the many, East and West, masculine and feminine, darkness and light through an array of stories, poems, prayers and songs.”

No Ordinary Time is written in the form of a medieval Book of Hours that helps readers remain spiritually mindful throughout the day. And, it reflects an inclusive paradigm that honors the Divine in its myriad forms.

If you live from a belief that the Divine and mortal are one or wish to, No Ordinary Time will act to support that understanding and the actions that derive from it. As Jan says, “We are not here to debate what God means but to live out the meaning of God, to BE the God we want to see in the world.”

Jan, who started her spiritual journey as a nun and left to live her larger calling in the world, offers us the gift of sharing her intimacy with the Beloved so that we might become familiar with this mystical state.

No Ordinary Time is not so much a book to be read as a sacred moment by moment practice to be engaged in. The result will depend completely on the readers readiness to dive deep into the words and allow them to penetrate to the core of their being and thus embody the ideas presented so beautifully. This is in stark contrast to most books whose ideas we read and forget the next day.

Readers might discover anything from inspiration to a new empowered path. But few will be left unaffected by the experience.

If you are committed to exploring and living your destiny in service to life, No Ordinary Time is an extraordinarily practical wisdom teaching and gift you can give yourself that can help you embody the Divine in your own unique way. You can order the book here.

A few quotes from No Ordinary Time will provide a sense of the luminous teachings in store for you. It was one of the most challenging tasks I have ever had as NPD editor to pick a few quotes from Jan’s powerful book. I ended up copying hundreds and every one was an empowering wake up call from the Divine. So here are some that reflect Jan’s diamond sky mind:

“Our religions and culture have conditioned us toward a deadly passivity that has kept us from bringing forth what is within us, from accessing and expressing that vital spirit within. We have created a life system that has not only outgrown its usefulness, but is actually keeping us from evolving into our next phase of consciousness—the recognition of our own divinity. The violence that is erupting all over this planet is arising out of our failure to create, to shape our lives and our culture with the tools of illumined imagination.”

“This is our chance to BE the ones we’ve been waiting for—to be prophetic, poetic myth makers conspiring in the evolution of a conscious culture, a compassionate culture. As my mystic friend David says, “WE is just an acronym for Who Else?”

“The threshold we’re at right now is a precious one. The whole world is in our hands, and every one of us has the power to act consciously or not. If we do, what will change is us, what we’ll save is ourselves—and what will happen in turn is a heightening of our joy and a deepening of our relationship to whatever we cherish.”

“The requirement of this hour is an awareness of our oneness. It is openness to a new story that will surface in our lives, our families, and our communities when we come together and speak from our hearts. It is a willingness to see ourselves as co-creators of the world we are immersed in, and to shape the world that we want to leave our children and grandchildren.”

“To bring about a world of unity, a planetary community, we must begin to image it, speak it, and believe it into existence. To end war, we must begin to say war is obsolete, and it is time to ban it, just as we banned slavery, child labor, witch burning.”

“To protect the planet or the poor, we must begin to say—convincingly and collectively—that corporations can profit as they wish, but not at the expense of the environment, of human rights, and of the communities in which they do business. This is not a revolution against something, it is an evolution toward something… toward a better quality of life for the whole human family.”

“The old ways are disintegrating before our eyes, as well they might, rooted as they are in the soil of separateness. Profit before people is a concept that should soon be history, for it fails to stand up to the tests of this day. Is it good for the whole? Does it harm the system??

“It is our relationships that sustain us personally—heartening us, empowering us, comforting us. It is our relationships that ground us, support us, inspire us—even in the darkest times. And collectively, as we search for solutions to our global undoing—the poverty that eats at us, the health crises that are decimating populations, the grave imbalances between those who have and those who have not—it will be in relationships that our answers will unfold and our fears subside.”

“Transformation originates in people who see a better way or a fairer world, people who reveal themselves, disclose their dreams, and unfold their hopes in the presence of others. And this very unfolding, this revelation of raw, unharnessed desire, this deep longing to be a force for good in the world is what inspires others to feel their own longings, to remember their own purpose, and to act, perhaps for the first time, in accordance with their inner spirit.”

“We will not find our answers in books or facts or science or religion or anything than has been constructed by minds from another age. The problems we face can only be solved when we stop looking behind us for answers and begin looking within and around us. Our insights will come from communion and convergence, and this must happen both within ourselves and in our relationships with others.”

“While it once seemed there was a “you” and a “me,” we now understand there is only one of us. And while it once appeared that one was giving as the other received, we know now that giving is receiving.”

“The sustainability of any entity depends on its coming into harmony with whatever surrounds it in a mutual give and take that makes it more or less indispensable to the whole in which it is embedded.”

“As we grow in this awareness, becoming more intimate with ourselves, with the earth, with each other, our capacity to see and feel and heal expands. We intuit what is needed and respond. We see what is missing and offer that. We feel where there is pain, and place our hands upon it. We listen each other into being, offering ourselves in relationship, in service and joy. And our interactions then become more meaningful, heartening, wholesome.”

“I can imagine that people looking back on our world from a hundred years in the future will be horrified that we allowed 40,000 children a day to die from hunger when there was plenty of food to go around. That we poisoned our rivers, destroyed our forests, considered war a viable option. I can imagine them with saddened faces, poring over documents of our devastating history, trying to understand the suicide of children, the stoning of women, the obesity of one nation and the starvation of another. Why we spent more on smart bombs than smart children. Why we killed people to show people that killing people is wrong. Why so many billions of dollars were spent on drugs, plastic surgeries, prisons, and weapons, when just a few of those billions could have met the basic needs of every person on the planet. We are all involved in one of the greatest mysteries on earth: why don‘t we care for each other?”