Awakened World 2001:
Vibration of the Most High
We Are the
Ones We Have Been Waiting For
By Ed Elkin
Last
month, Hawaii-based writer Ed Elkin attended the third annual meeting of the
Association for Global New Thought (AGNT), and reports on this most timely
event, presented by several notable speakers.
PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA -
October 8, 2001 - (OTVNewswire) - Seventeen days after the Sept. 11 attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, more than 600 people came together in
a context of human, social and spiritual evolution, to move toward an
"Awakened World," regarding the attacks as a painful wake-up call
which will ultimately have a positive effect.
The pain of the attack was,
at some level, needed to activate the immune system of the social body of
humanity, bringing about a healing and evolving of the planet.
Although presenters included such
notables as Rev. Matthew Fox, Dr. Jean Houston, Barbara Marx Hubbard and
Elisabet Sahtouris, the overall message was that each of us holds the key to
human evolution, and, as the elders of the Hopi Nation remind us:
"There is a river
flowing, now, very fast. It is so great and swift, that there are those who
will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. Know the river has its
destination. The Elders say, you must let go of the shore, push off into the
middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. And I
say, see who is in there with you, and celebrate."
Presentations of art, music
and dance from many cultures were featured including American Indian, Korean,
West African and Tibetan. Jennifer Jimenez coordinated a full spectrum of
healing movement workshops. Rob Schouten of Greatpath produced the Vibration of the Most High theme
banner, complemented by a series of canvases called "Hearts of the
World" which were hung around the conference halls and were based on the
flags of many of the world's countries (Potenza). Children's' art promoting
Season for Nonviolence was sent by the Napa Valley Peace Tables
Much of the music came from
the Agape International Center of Truth coordinated by Music Director, Dr.
Rickie Byars-Beckwith. The choir performed with powerful heart-opening songs
on Saturday night and during the Sunday morning service.
The initial invocation was
by Ven. Achok Rinpoche who, along with another Tibetan leaders,Ven. Sogyal Rinpoche, had a profound
presence throughout the conference. Allowing the plight of the Tibetan culture
to come alive in our hearts, thousands of dollars were raised and forwarded to
two grassroots projects: the Tibetan Children's' Villages, and the monks of
Gaden Shartse Monastery living in India. Arriving in very poor health after
months of difficult and dangerous mountain from China, the young monks have no
funds for the urgent health care they often require. His Holiness the Dalai
Lama, and the Office of Tibet are very grateful to friends and members of AGNT
for their generous contributions. Your gifts make a HUGE difference.
AGNT's trademark Dialogue
Circles replaced the traditional theater-style seating on the ballroom floor,
encouraging participants to freely share their own wisdom and experience in an
intimate, interactive forum.
The following highlights
from some of the speakers give more of the flavor of the conference, which was
designed prior to the September 11th attacks, yet which have renewed meaning
in the context of the attacks.
Jean Houston
* We need a community of service and
support instead of exploitation and dominance
* We must feed the people by bombing them with butter, and
blitzing them with hope.
*
Wild grace is racing in our midst.
* It is important to create a new form of politics in which
spontaneous generosity is re-kindled, where people are pulled into their
greatness, where art, music and theater are returned to the schools to
enhance creativity, and where we turn off the TV and turn on the
neighborhood.
Elisabet Sahtouris
* Evolution moves fastest in times
of crisis.
* Now is an
opportunity to clean up our karma since we built our great country based
partly on slavery and stolen lands.
* Current crisis must be seen as an opportunity for growth and
change from being a young species that is competitive to a mature species
that is cooperative. We need 'glocalization' instead of 'globalization,'
meaning that we must empower local economies wherever possible.
Matthew Fox
* It is important not to dwell on
the calamity, but rather to move on.
* When the heart breaks, the universe pours through.
* We must put creativity in the service
of love and compassion. To some extent our 'creativity' has gotten us into
an ecological mess, and now it must get us out.
* Compassion, in fact, is needed as the
most human quality, overcoming the gross divisions between the
"haves" and the "have-nots" in our world.
Huston Smith
Rev. Smith praised the work of
leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and
Nelson Mandela. He also contrasted a "traditional" (e.g.
indigenous) world with a scientific worldview, recommending the former as a
world in which spirit is fundamental, everything is meaningful, humans
belong to the society, and there is a happy ending.
Barbara Marx Hubbard
Ms Hubbard called for a "whole
system response to a whole system shift" and presented her view of the
process of evolution as moving through a series of stages:
*
The Whole Story
*
The Co-Creative Person
*
Co-Creative Relationships
*
Co-Creative Vocation
*
Synergistic Community
*
Co-Creative Society
*
Universal Humanity
A Declaration of Our
Awakened World 2001, the living source document presented at the conference,
ends with:
"Our hearts are open
to the continuous influx of human kindness and love. Our minds are alert to
the impulse of the Divine which guides and directs. We have come to know
ourselves as one human family. As a result of our individual and collective
choice to awaken to the eternal Truth of our Unity with our Source and will
all of life, and because we have chosen to live as universal citizens who are responsible
for our immediate experience and our continuum as an evolving species, and by
right of our consciousness... The Kingdom of Heaven is now manifesting on
Earth."
Clearly, our human family
is still highly dysfunctional, and in danger of committing the most disastrous
tribal warfare ever experienced by humankind with biological, chemical and
nuclear weapons of mass destruction on an unprecedented scale. The best way to
combat "evil" is to make energetic progress in the "good"
by highlighting and distributing through the nervous system of the planet's
media, all those steps that are positive and growthful. Perhaps with renewed
vigor, as a function of the recent attacks, progress is made.
Again, from A Declaration
of Our Awakened World 2001:
"Standing at the
threshold of an Evolutionary Leap, we open awakened eyes upon a world in which
many still suffer. As an unprecedented spiritual revolution gains momentum
worldwide, a deep reverence for life resonates with our hearts. It calls us to
awaken... and we are ready to respond."
Ed Elkin is a writer and
founding correspondent-at-large of Oasis TV and OTVNewswire. He can be reached
at EdElkin@aol.com.