The Evolution of Revolution * Plenary Presenters 2008 (in alphabetical order)



Michael Bernard Beckwith, D.D.



Michael Bernard Beckwith is the Founder and Spiritual Director of the Agape International Spiritual Center, an 8000 member transdenominational spiritual community.  Known worldwide for his role in The Secret, Michael has appeared on Oprah’s show several times in recent months. A Co-founder and President of Association for Global New Thought, Dr. Beckwith is the originator of the Life Visioning Process, an author and composer.  He shares with Dr. Arun Gandhi and Mary Manin Morrissey the national Co-directorship of A Season for Nonviolence, and is an assembly member of the Parliament of the World’s Religions.  Dr. Beckwith is a keynote speaker throughout the nation.  His commitment to world peace has drawn public recognition including awards such as The Gandhi-King-Ikeda Award from Morehouse College, the Humanitarian Award of the National Council for Community and Justice, The Howard Thurman Stained Glass Window Award and many others.


Thomas Barnett



Thomas Barnett * Author of "The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century" and "Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating."

Tom Barnett has been described by  U.S. News & World Report's Michael Barone as "one of the most important strategic thinkers of our time." A  New York Times-bestselling author and a nationally-known public speaker who's been profiled on the front-page of the  Wall Street Journal, Dr. Barnett is in high demand within government circles as a forecaster of global conflict and an expert of military transformation, as well as within corporate circles as a management consultant and conference presenter on issues relating to international security and economic globalization.  An award-winning teacher, Prof. Barnett has written for    Esquire,   Wired,   and the  Washington Post, and has been interviewed in   Rolling Stone,  Epoca (Brazil), and   Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Japan's Nikkei News).


Dr. Barnett is best known as the author of The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2004).  Described by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius as "a combination of Tom Friedman on globalization and Karl von Clausewitz on war," the wide-ranging volume has generated an enormous amount of reaction from around the world, leading to foreign rights already being sold in Japan, Turkey and China, as well as profiles in London's Daily Telegraph, Denmark's Borsen, and Switzerland's WeltWoche.  Mr. Barnett's book was likewise the subject of a Book Notes show on C-SPAN (with Brian Lamb), an On Point show on National Public Radio, and many other national TV and radio segments.

Christine Chavez



My grandfather Cesar Chavez always said, "We don't need perfect political systems, we need perfect participation." I took that to heart. I believe that any act, large or small, can change the world as long as it is part of a unified effort.

Christine Chavez has a made a lifetime commitment to public service, civil rights and the labor movement. Christine was born in Delano, California where she was surrounded by the farm worker movement.

Today, Christine serves as the District Director for State Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero. Prior to her work with Senator Romero, she worked with the United Farm Workers Union, the organization her grandfather Cesar Chavez helped to co-found 40 years ago. For eight years, she served as the UFW's Political Director.

Latina Magazine recently named her as one of their top Latinas for her longtime involvement with civil rights issues - in particular her recent work to give same sex couples to right to marry under the law.

Christine displayed a commitment to the labor movement at an early age.  At the age of four in Detroit, during the grape boycott, she was arrested with her family for refusing to leave the front of a store that continued to sell grapes.

Chavez's commitment has extended to other unions.  She was engaged in SEIU, Local 1877's battle against LAX.  She fought in UNITE HERE Local 11's battle against the hotel industry.  And she organized rallies in support of UFCW's protracted Southern California strike.

Christine has also worked with several animal rights groups in the fight to Ban Foi Gras in California and Chicago.

Recently Christine joined Rev. Al Sharpton to announce the formation of the Latino and African American Leadership Alliance. Troubled by the escalating violence between Latinos and African Americans, Chavez worked with the Reverend to organize a march to correspond with the Watts riots of 40 years ago. The Alliance will also sponsor community forums, outreach to schools and enlist the help of policymakers to further this important cause.

Christine resides in East Los Angeles with her husband Oscar Gonzales. Her work is based on the values passed down to her from her grandfather... the fight for civil rights, social justice and labor equality.


John Hagelin



Quantum physicist, educator and author. Presidential candidate for the Natural Law Party in 1992 and 1996. Author of Manual for a Perfect Government (1999), exploring a scientific investigation into the foundations of human consciousness.

Former director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy.Dr. Hagelin is a world authority in the area of unified quantum field theories. His scientific contributions in the fields of particle physics and cosmology include some of the most cited references in the physical sciences. He is co-developer of what is now considered the leading contender for a grand unified field theory, known as Supersymmetric Flipped SU(5). Dr. Hagelin is unique among particle theorists in his dedicated efforts to apply the latest scientific understanding of natural law for the benefit of the individual and society.

In 1992, Dr. Hagelin was appointed Director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, a science and public policy think tank. As Institute director, he successfully headed a nationwide effort to identify, scientifically evaluate, and promote through public policy, innovative solutions to critical social problems in the areas of crime, health care, education, economy, and the environment.

According to Dr. Hagelin, "Solutions to national problems exist right now -- programs that could save billions of dollars, promote health and prosperity, and alleviate human suffering -- but they are being ignored by government due to ignorance or for purely political reasons."

Dr. Hagelin has worked on Capitol Hill for over 20 years promoting progressive health care, crime prevention, education and environmental reforms. This year, Dr. Hagelin inspired and helped organize the first-ever bipartisan, bicameral Congressional caucus, known as the Congressional Prevention Coalition. This widely attended ongoing Congressional caucus provides an unprecedented forum for high-level consideration of innovative, prevention-oriented solutions in health care, crime, food safety (including genetic engineering), and the environment.


Thom Hartmann



Popular host of "Air America," a daily nationally syndicated radio program; award-winning, best-selling author of over a dozen books, including What Would Jefferson Do: A Return to Democracy and We the People: A Call to Take Back America.

Thom Hartmann, who started in radio in 1968, is also is an internationally known speaker on culture and communications, an author, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, ecology, and economics. The co-founder (with his wife, Louise) of The New England Salem Children's Village (1978) and The Hunter School (1997), he has led national innovations in the areas of residential treatment for abused children and private/public education for learning-disabled children.

Hartmann is the four-time Project Censored Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of nineteen books currently in print in over a dozen languages on five continents. He is the former executive director of a residential treatment program for emotionally disturbed and abused children, and has helped set up hospitals, famine relief programs, schools, and refugee centers in India, Uganda, Australia, Colombia, Russia, and the United States through the German-based Salem International program. Formerly rostered with the State of Vermont as a psychotherapist, founder of The Michigan Healing Arts Center, and licensed as an NLP Trainer by Richard Bandler (who wrote the foreword to one of Thom's books), he was the originator of the revolutionary "Hunter/Farmer Hypothesis" to understand the psychiatric condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). A guest faculty member at Goddard College in Vermont, he also synthesized the "Younger/Older Culture model" for describing the underpinnings - and possible solutions - to the world's ecological and socio-political crises, suggesting that many of our problems are grounded in cultural "stories" which go back thousands of years. His most recent books are "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class," "The Edison Gene," "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight," "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights," "We The People: A Call to Take Back America," and "What Would Jefferson Do?"


Barbara Marx Hubbard



Barbara Marx Hubbard is a communicator of humanity's potential to evolve. As an author of five books, a speaker, social innovator and spiritual pioneer, she has established the new field of conscious evolution. Her evolutionary perspective suggests a way through our global crises toward an immeasurable future. In 1984 her name was placed in nomination for the Vice Presidency of the United States on the Democratic ticket suggesting a Peace Room in the White House to scan for, map, connect, and communicate what is working in the world. As President of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, she has developed an online evolutionary educational process on her EVOLVE Website called Gateway to Conscious Evolution, now reaching over 1000 people worldwide. Her new DVD Video Series entitled, Humanity Ascending: A Feminine Voice of Conscious Evolution is designed to place the “meme” of conscious evolution into the global mind. It offers a comprehensive understanding of conscious evolution self and social. She has been a co-founder of many organizations such as the World Future Society, Women of Vision and Action, Global Family and The Association for Global New Thought. Her books include , Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential, Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence, The Evolutionary Journey, The Hunger of Eve and Revelation.



Audrey Kitagawa



Former Advisor to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict at the United Nations. She currently heads the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, is an advisor to the World Federation of United Nations Associations, is Chairperson of the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns.

Member of the World Wisdom Council, the World Wisdom Academy, the International advisory council of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, the Executive Council of the World Commission for Global Consciousness and Spirituality, the National Council of Global Action To Prevent War, the Spiritual Caucus at the United Nations, and is the Co-Facilitator of the United Religions Initiative Cooperation Circle at the United Nations. She is a Board member of the Council for a Parliament of World Religions.

Audrey Kitagawa was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Kitagawa is a cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California and a graduate of Boston College Law School. Kitagawa practiced law in Honolulu for over twenty years and at the time of her retirement in 1996, she had a Martindale-Hubbel AV rating, the highest rating for professional and ethical excellence in the legal profession.

Audrey Kitagawa is listed in Who's Who Of American Law, Who's Who Of American Women, Who's Who In America, Who's Who In The World, and Prominent People of Hawaii.
 

Lynne McTaggart



Lynne McTaggart is an internationally recognized spokesperson on the science of spirituality and the award-winning author of five books, including The Field, which has been published in fourteen languages. She is also co-executive director of Conatus, which publishes some of the world's most respected health and spiritual newsletters, including What Doctors Don't Tell You.

Lynne is an investigative journalist, and began work on "Living the Field" four years ago as a personal quest. Her research took her to many areas around the globe, meeting with top frontier scientists in Russia, Germany, France, England, South American, Central America and the USA. During these meetings, she saw what these scientists were working on and it seemed to overthrow the current laws of biology, chemistry and physics. Their theories and experiments also compounded into a new science, a new view of the world.

For several years she immersed herself in quantum physics and pored through hundreds of scientific papers to decoding what was often impenetrable work. In many cases she had to pester the scientists to explain aspects of physics in order to check facts and interpretations. Lynne concludes that her work paints a picture of an interconnected universe and a new scientific theory which makes sense of parapsychological and 'supernatural 'phenomena. She lives in London.

 
Nipun Mehta



Nipun Mehta is the founder of CharityFocus.org, a fully volunteer-run organization that has delivered millions of dollars of web-related services to the nonprofit world for free. The recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service and the President's Volunteer Service Award, his work creatively leverages web technologies for collaborative and transformational giving, lending him insight into service, leadership, organizational design, and spirituality. He serves on the advisory boards of the Seva Foundation, Dalai Lama Foundation, and Airline Ambassadors.

Dissatisfied by Silicon Valley's dot-com greed, Nipun Mehta went to a homeless shelter with three friends to "give with absolutely no agendas."  In April 1999, they ended up creating a website, and also an organization named CharityFocus.org -- a fully volunteer-run organization that leverages technology to inspire greater volunteerism and shift our cultural ethos towards generosity. Today, CharityFocus has grown into an incubator of "gift-economy" projects ranging from web services to a film production company to a print magazine to a restaurant; with a growing membership base of 200K, they serve millions of global viewers to their websites and send more than 50 million solicited newsletters every year.  In 2005, Nipun and his wife embarked on an unscripted  walking pilgrimage in India that dramatically deepened their understanding of gift-economy values.  While Nipun's childhood dream was to either become a tennis-pro or a Himalayan Yogi, the current mission statement of his life simply reads: "Bring smiles in the world and stillness in my heart." More at: http://nipun.charityfocus.org/about



B. Alan Wallace



B. Alan Wallace began his studies of Tibetan Buddhism, language, and culture in 1970 at the University of Göttingen in Germany and then continued his studies over the next fourteen years in India, Switzerland, and the United States. Ordained as a Buddhist monk by H. H. the Dalai Lama in 1975, he has taught Buddhist meditation and philosophy worldwide since 1976 and has served as interpreter for numerous Tibetan scholars and contemplatives, including the Dalai Lama. After graduating summa cum laude from Amherst College, where he studied physics and the philosophy of science, he returned his monastic vows and went on to earn his Ph.D. in religious studies at Stanford University. He then taught for four years in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and is now the founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies (http://sbinstitute.com). He has edited, translated, authored, and contributed to more than thirty books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture, and the interface between science and religion.
 
His published works include The Taboo of Subjectivity: Toward a New Science of Consciousness (Oxford, 2000), Genuine Happiness: Meditation as the Path to Fulfillment (John Wiley & Sons, 2005), The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind (Wisdom 2006), Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge (Columbia University Press, 2007), Hidden Dimensions: The Unification of Physics and Consciousness (Columbia University Press, 2007), and Embracing Mind: The Common Ground of Science and Spirituality (Shambhala Publications, 2008). He has participated in numerous scientific studies of meditation, including Cultivating Emotional Balance (UCSF), the Shamatha Project (UC Davis), Mindful Awareness Project (UCLA), Meditation for Epilepsy Project (UCLA and University of Vienna), and the Compassion and Attention Longitudinal Meditation Study (Emory).



Panelists

Sandeep Sood

Sandeep Sood sits on the board of eLearning Forum, researching and implementing collaborative software for new social design models in cyberspace that are transforming the worldview of the next generation. His company in, California and India, works with Fortune 100 clients such as Wells Fargo, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Cisco.