[Dialogue] [Oe List ...] The Spirit of the 10s
Evelyn Philbrook
joyful52 at gmail.com
Thu Jan 6 21:48:37 CST 2011
Dear all,
Larry and I need to do a family letter on all the things that happened
last year and this coming... very fast year and lots of traveling...and
new roles for both of us.
This is a very abbreviated report on what Janet Sanders and Evelyn
Philbrook did with the PJD in Nepal, but since I sent this to Nelson
Stover in response to his thinking and John Cock's course on the Great
Work, I am including it to all of you at this time. It is by no means
the complete report and I will also send you what Tatwa Timsina thought
of how the program was received later. However, be aware that Janet has
had done extensive Social Artistry work via the grant from the Jean
Houston foundation to be in Nepal, and of course ICA Taiwan sending me
too, and we had also done the Imaginal Education with a twist with
Social Artistry prep and added the the song, story and symbol
workshop...so these folks in Nepal had lots of time with Janet and me
before getting PJD lab for three hours as a research introduction...
On the PJD
Janet and I did a three hour presentation as part of the research lab on
the PJD. I did the TWLI and witnessed my own Illusion and event with the
Accepted, Received, Approved, Possible X legacy new word in history, and
asked for examples of transformation in their life. First it was very
quiet, and people just wrote in their own books, then when invited to
share, one facilitator in training talked about how she had imaged
herself as a black crow by her grandmother who did not know how she
would get her married off because she was so short. So she always though
of herself as too dark and unattractive to be married until one day, a
lighter colored handsome man talked to her directly about getting
married. This was such a shock to her, she said, we don't match, but she
realized her self story about being an ugly black crow and unattractive
was not true. So she dressed differently and thought differently about
herself and decided that she wanted to be an independent woman who did
not need to depend on caste marriage to survive in the world and went to
college and is studying facilitation with ICA. There were other great
stories too.
Then with synchronicity on our side, Janet Sanders did her master's
thesis on Thomas Berry and did a great job of simplifying the Great Work
to thinking about how the new Nepal will be responsible for the
biosphere and the rights of the melting Himalayas, the air, the water,
the soil, the plants, and the animals as well as humans...So Janet's
talk was on Observe Judge Weight up Decide and Act and render the
results to God....and who is our neighbor...which was the discussion of
the Great Work...She also followed up on the wedge blade, the no longer,
the not yet and how do we be self sustaining in this new edge of history
as pioneers.
I am thinking now about...as Those Who Care, as ICA as a community and
as an organization...
What is our new pioneering mission for the not yet and how do we sustain
ourselves on this journey and be the sensitive and responsible ones...
What do we now turn our back on?, What must we abolish within, and lead
in the new, repenting on behalf of all now? Is it still imperialism,
racism, and nationalism?
Off hand, I am thinking it may be it is still racism, but now more
materialism, and individualism, and only caring for people and me,
myself, my family and my cat... who actually died three months ago. I
went to animal shelter last week and will get others soon...
Nepal, like India is a calling...I understand why people are haunted by
them both...the poverty and the sheer creativity of the mass and promise
of depth spirituality...but with Nepal, is the delightful openness of
the people, (it felt like a unique quality of acceptance)
...Historically this is their time of creating history and ( with the
constitution writing they know it is currently at a stand still). But
then there is the awesome mountains and the beautiful hills as well as
the plains...
How do we talk about our new mission which still includes people, but
goes beyond human development...
I am beginning to think more and more about organic farming, and fruit
trees as an answer to reforestation because people do not cut down olive
or pomegranate trees because they produce a product that people want...
I mention these two because they do not require as much water as other
trees.
Water and air, water and air, and space...
Currently we are talking about Theory U...Peter Senge and Otto Sharmer -
Open Mind, Open Heart, Open Will and Leading from the Future...www
presencing
there is something about Blind Spots,
How do we let go of the past to allow ourselves to be inspired and
informed and planning on behalf of the future...there is griefwork that
needs to take place
Yes, meditation, or prayer, or some practice to listen to God or the
Source is the key...
Be your Greatness,
Evelyn Kurihara Philbrook
On 12/22/2010 5:49 AM, Wayne Nelson wrote:
> I have a paper on this in the works too.
>
> External situation - I think there are several points of "no turning
> back" that we have encountered. "Hell-ooo, welcome to the 21st century."
>
> *9/11/2001* -- Can't go back to the way things were. Can't see the
> world the same way
>
> *Climate Change* - Al Gore's powerpoint presentation. Lights on.
> We see. We can no longer view the natural world the way we have
> since to rise of agriculture and more dramatically since the
> industrial revolution. Down-scaling our lifestyle is an indicative.
>
> *2008 Financial Crash* - Our assumptions about what a healthy
> economy looks like and how to establish the conditions for
> healthy, sustainable development are all up for grabs.
>
> *Web 2.0* -- We're wired. We're connected. Small pieces -- loosley
> joined. We can participate. We can engage. We can enliven our
> dialogue.
>
> *WikiLeaks* - The cultures of secrecy have been dealt a severe
> blow. We are really tired of the opacity of those in leadership
> roles. The story will be told. We will know what we have only
> suspected. We will be sharing more and more.
>
>
> There are probably a very few more and I have the feeling that the
> thread running though then is that they indicate the shattering of a
> "paradigm." Maybe it's not quite up to paradigm -- maybe it is -- not
> sure. These things represent a death knell to the ways we have have
> been thinking about things, doing things and how we approach our
> relationships. The house is burning down. And we can describe the fire
> on each piece of burning ember in detail.
>
> I think the internal crisis is related to seeing the end of things and
> not being able to see what will emerge or even what would really help
> a new modality to emerge. We're standing in the dark, looking out at
> a blank. We know there is unbelievable potential, but it is really
> hard to see the way to a different track. This is beyond being
> overwhelmed by possibility. It is being overwhelmed by not knowing how
> to make an evolutionary leap and the complexity involved. We're kind
> of stunned at the moment.
>
> I kind of think I might state the existential question and, How the
> hell to I see a way forward in the midst of all this collapse,
> complexity and haze?
>
> I think the escape is scrambling to put together something that we
> recognize. We yearn for the familiar. I think the escape is also our
> inner state of anger -- an escape, because it is a great way to make
> sure we will do nothing to make things different. We want someone to
> blame. We're using our anger to fuel inadequate, off target solutions
> that sound good to us. We are stuck in ideologies.
>
>
>
> This is all ruminating and I haven't got the article written. This
> is, I believe, a critical conversation. I remember Slicker saying
> something like, take a few things from the past that you're sure of,
> forget all the rest and start learning about the emerging world. It's
> a different critter, for sure.
>
> \\/
>
>
> "George Holcombe" wrote:
>
> This is great stuff. I can't find anything I would disagree with.
> Too bad we can't go down to Room A, but maybe this is our Room A.
>
> I would add a tag, or sub-title, to name our present age as the
> Age of Bewilderment. We have come so far, so fast that we have
> had little time to digest our present situation in order to make a
> clear choice or decide the next step that would take us in a
> direction of our choosing. And that time doesn't appear to exist.
> It's like the time you got caught in a wave, the water is all
> around you; up down and sideways, and you think you have a general
> idea where the beach is, but the undertow is pulling one way and
> the wave is pushing you another, and you're not clear which is
> which, so you just swim for all you're worth. One of our
> colleagues told me the other day he wanted to pay off his house
> loan, but because his loan was part of a derivative or
> credit-default swap, the bank couldn't find it. Or the folks who
> found radiation behind the Big Bang, which could mean it was just
> one of the Bangs. Or the doctor in Boston a couple of weeks ago
> who had inserted genetic material into a man paralyzed from his
> shoulders down and declared we had entered into a new era of
> medicine, which would eclipse the chemical treatments up 'til now.
> Then last week they cured a man of AIDs by using material from
> another person's immune system. Even the spiritual and religious
> types are shaking like they're standing in front of a Tsunami of
> some sort. Hardly a day goes by without some earth shattering
> announcement, and it's not confined to any one field. In a visit
> with Slicker a couple of weeks ago, after he had returned from
> India, he said "presently we are headed in a hell of a direction,
> not an Armageddon, but an explosion to newness." We know or can
> know that wealth is getting more concentrated than ever and the
> elements used to produce wealth are limited and the processes that
> the developed world is addicted to are problematic, and we're
> hemorrhaging poverty and the climate is warming just like the
> climatologist said it would. We just had an announcement today
> that a company is splitting off one of it's land development units
> to be it's own company in town, which for whatever reasons has
> changed the landscape for realtors, banks and government taxes. I
> have no idea how to make much sense of all this, but would like to
> hear more.
>
> George Holcombe
> 14900 Yellowleaf Tr.
> Austin, TX 78728
> Mobile 512/252-2756
> geowanda at earthlink.net
>
> "...we have the choice: we can gratefully cultivate the
> relationships that make us part of a vast network, or we can take
> them for granted and allow them to wither and die." Brother David
> Steindl-Rast, Deeper than Words
>
>
>
> On Dec 20, 2010, at 6:19 PM, Jack Gilles wrote:
>
> John,
>
> I love the work you've done. I think your examination of the
> last several decades is on target. I see the external
> situation for the 10s a bit differently. Although technology
> certainly has come on strong and is affecting everything we
> are engaged in, I think this decade is going to be addressing
> people's lives in a different way. I would call it *Hitting
> the Wall of Sustainability. *This will be the decade when we
> are forced to face our limitations in so many areas. I love
> Jeremy Rifkin's articles on the role of energy and the impact
> of having hit peak oil and the Empathic Society. I think this
> will come crashing home in this decade. We have, of course,
> climate change and I think that although there is debate right
> now and lots of "inaction", this decade will force us to face
> that reality and its consequences unlike we've ever seen
> before. Add to this the questions of sustaining a growing gap
> between the wealthy 1-2% and the rest of society. It cannot
> continue and I think that this decade we will be forced to
> deal with it. Add collective and individual debt (credit
> card), trade imbalance, spending on armaments, and several
> other areas and in all of them I see us hitting the wall,
> where consequences will have to be faced and hard choices
> having to be made.
>
> Now I'm not sure of the escapes, but I did live through the
> period of "this is my bomb shelter" and I think we could see
> the same response. *My surviva*l is at stake and I'll do what
> it takes for me and my family to make it. Collectively we
> could experience *paralysis of complexity and the unknown. *
> There will be choices that require major sacrifices and moves
> into the unknown, and the question, as David Whyte talks about
> in his DVD, we are not sure we have the interior capacity to
> deal with the world that is coming.
>
> There are signs of creative response every where and I think
> replicating and sharing approaches that work will really come
> into its own this decade. Here technology will be a critical
> tool and we are on the cusp of fantastic creative sharing
> methods and technologies. I just upgraded my Skype so that
> several can share video capacity and there are now numerous
> ways for inexpensive on-line conferencing and collegium type
> events. And data storage, retrieval and "mining" are also
> coming of age. But for me, the underlying critical response
> will be providing the spirit capacity, the collective and
> individual dimensions of that. That is why I feel so strongly
> that now is the time for us to get our wisdom in these domains
> into forms and forums for the sensitive and responsive part of
> society that will have to lead the way.
>
> That's my 3 cents worth (inflation you know).
>
> Thanks again for getting this on to our "table"
>
> Grace & Peace,
>
> Jack
> On Dec 20, 2010, at 5:23 PM, jlepps at pc.jaring.my wrote:
>
> Colleagues:
>
> One contemporary task of this group of people is to keep
> track of the "signs of the times." I've tried it for the
> past 5 decades, and below are my current thoughts about
> the teens. Please comment with your perceptions. This task
> takes us all. Anyway, have a very Merry Christmas, and
> here are some thoughts:
>
> */The Spirit of the 10s
> /*John Epps, December 2010 /(draft) /
>
>
> We have made a practice of looking at the various
> decades and seeking their underlying spirit quest. We have
> used the categories of *External Situation* which creates
> an *Internal Crisis* that leads to an *Existential
> Question* from which we tend to *Escape*. Those categories
> have provided a way to look beneath the surface and
> discern some underlying issues and struggles that provide
> a way of making sense of what's happening and addressing
> it creatively. With a new decade well under way, it seems
> time to have another go at that task. But first a quick
> review.
> In the 70s we experienced *expanded horizons*. The
> oil crisis and the Vietnam War brought globality home to
> us personally. Our internal experience was *unity*: we
> sensed a common humanity with people everywhere. Our
> existential question was *"How can I participate?"* and we
> often escaped the demand of that question through
> *withdrawal*, either into ourselves with a self-sufficient
> style or into the cheap euphoria of drugs. One authentic
> response to this existential question was the development
> and promulgation of the Technology of Participation (ToP).
> * The 80s* were a time when we experienced the
> *collapse of separating boundaries* and encountered the
> *inescapable diversity* of planet Earth. The existential
> question it raised was one of *integrity:* "*Where do I
> stand?"* With all the options so visible (and none of them
> universal) what standpoint can be the basis of my
> integrity? We tended to escape through*mindless relativism
> *("When in Rome, do as the Romans do"). The authentic
> response in this decade came in the formation of
> collaborative efforts and alliances among dramatically
> different groups.
> In *the 90s* we encountered a time of the
> *intangibles*: in science, nano-physics disclosed that
> nothing is substantial in the materialistic sense.
> Everything is energy in motion. Technology focused on
> information management, business on vision and values,
> medicine on preventive practices, cultures on foundational
> traditions. Our internal crisis was *meaning*. The
> question raised was: *"What's worthwhile?" *Where is it
> possible to find the significance that will add fizz and
> mischief into life?*Spiritualism *was our escape in which
> we pursued mysticism and various Eastern religions as a
> New Age search for human authenticity. Authentic responses
> came in the disclosure of depth in the midst of ordinary
> experiences, a transparency sometimes disclosed in
> photography and art.
> In *the 00s*, the turn of the century was a decade in
> which we experienced the *collapse of sustaining
> structures*. It was not simply 9-11 that occasioned our
> perception of collapse. Economic, political and cultural
> institutions which had provided a sense of stability and
> predictability seemed no longer to work effectively. Even
> the environment showed its fragility. In this situation we
> encountered a terrifying crisis of *security*. Our
> underlying question was "*What can I trust*?" We attempted
> to escape the turmoil of that question through a
> *belligerence* that seemed prepared to do battle with
> anyone and anything that called into question dependence
> on our favorite institutions. Another attempt to escape
> the question was through establishing security systems,
> notably at airports in an attempt to thwart the aims of
> "terrorists." We also developed regulatory systems for
> economic institutions. Authentic responses to this
> situation came in the formulation of new myths. This was
> the time of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings in which
> authors were developing stories that showed heroism in the
> face of unavoidable insecurity and terrifying danger.
> We've just turned into a new decade, and hopefully
> one that can diminish some of the hostility of the past
> ten years. Certainly Obama's election seemed to herald a
> new time, though subsequent events have shown belligerence
> to have a residual persistence that remains disruptive.
> Still, there is a new scent in the air that may herald a
> distinctive decade ahead. I'd like to explore that a bit now.
> * The 10s *seem to be a time of*intensifying
> technology*. Our dependence on gizmos and gimmicks has
> never been stronger. While watching young children lined
> up with their parents to see Santa Clause at a shopping
> mall, I noticed a couple with two children in the queue
> both intently fiddling with their smart phones, probably
> surfing the Web or social networks. Even their two
> children were playing with toy cell phones. Later driving
> home I met numerous cars whose drivers were talking into
> their cell phones. A colleague spoke recently about
> college students who were unable to take a 4-hour
> examination because they couldn't be away from their smart
> phones that long -- they were addicted. Of course it's not
> only the cell phones and their remarkable inclusion of
> apps for unimaginable activities that capture addicts.
> Computers, automobiles, TV's, and other technologies that
> have defined modern life have developed their own
> dependents. A recent NY Times article describes a local
> coffee shop as "laptopistan," complete with its own
> economics, polity, culture, and ethics. Looking at
> research into energy generation, biotechnology, robotics,
> and artificial intelligence, technology seems only to be
> in its infancy (but in a phase of rapid growth). It's
> little surprise that Time magazine selected the founder of
> Facebook as their "Person of the Year" for 2010.
> The function of technology is to expand human
> potential. Current research and inventions seem to offer
> undreamed of possibilities. Virtual meetings, satellite
> radio, microwave meals, robotic surgery, online shopping
> with digital assistants, self-driving automobiles,
> self-diagnosing body parts, space travel -- even avatar
> immortality -- are all either currently available or in
> pilot stages. The interior crisis occasioned by all this
> possibility is *pure potential*. Clearly the old
> structures are past their usefulness as we saw in the past
> decade. Now we have pure potential for creating a new
> functioning civilization. Technology is no longer a
> constraint: we can do even more than we can imagine. Our
> imaginations, however, seem constrained by established
> images of systems and structures that are no longer
> effective. We don't know how to think in new categories,
> or even what those categories might be. People often speak
> of this as a digital generation gap, and to be sure there
> is one. But I suspect even the brightest young geeks
> haven't set themselves to thinking of new ways to operate
> as a global society. Pure potential is an abyss -- a gap
> with no place to stand, no security, and no certainty.
> That's the situation in which we find ourselves.
> Our existential question is *"How shall we operate?"*
> and even the "we" is not clear. At one time it could refer
> to the family or our network of friends or colleagues or
> the community or the state or party or nation or race or
> even in our more generous moments, humanity as an
> inclusive whole. Now even that seems inadequate. The
> environmentalists have expanded our horizons. All animate
> beings now seem to have a claim on us, and that includes
> flora and fauna. Even the mineral resources which we've
> extracted and manipulated with abandon seem to be crying
> for attention. Neither our economic, political nor
> cultural systems are equipped to address those cries.
> We seem to have developed *two means of escape* from
> this question. *One is the more political* in which we
> latch onto any person or group that pretends, not so much
> to have a solution as to point the blame at someone else.
> In the USA, the Tea Party is rich in its objections to
> "the system" but sparse in its alternatives. More radical
> groups and movements seek to destroy existing systems in
> favor of a greatly reduced grouping that is pure in its
> ideals but exclusive of diversity.
> The *other approach is more cultural* and can be
> found in the *media*. Programs like "The Biggest Loser,"
> "Lost," "The Survivor," "Amazing Race," "Apprentice,"
> "Undercover Boss," "Slapdown," and other so-called
> "reality shows" have captured a huge market in the US and
> abroad. Their common feature is the depiction of people in
> terribly difficult circumstances, and their appeal is in
> presenting the mental, physical, and emotional struggles
> of protagonists in agonizing detail. We seem to take some
> comfort in seeing others going through internal uproars
> similar to our own. The reason these are escapes is that
> on television there is always a way out, a winner, or a
> rescue. At that point their analogy to our experience of
> reality breaks down.
> Authentically facing up to the existential question
> requires us to*build new models*, models that are
> inclusive in their scope and in their development. We need
> models for a global economy, for a polity that is
> inclusive, for a culture that respects diversity. There
> are pilots in all these arenas, but none has the
> recognition that might lead to widespread adoption. And
> the old systems will not go quietly away. There is
> opposition to be faced. Much is at stake. The trap here
> (perhaps another escape) is to become enthralled with the
> newest technological gimmicks. It is important to be aware
> of developments, but continually to raise the question of
> applying them to development of new systems for civilization.
> In the 60s and 70s, the EI/ICA set out to develop a
> "New Social Vehicle" based on a "New Religious Mode." We
> succeeded admirably in formulating the rational and
> spiritual frameworks for those realities. And we put into
> place numerous pilot projects demonstrating what the
> future called for. We even experimented with replication
> in which those pilots could set in motion a rapid
> expansion. Those are valuable resources for the task at hand.
> After four or five decades, the environment has
> altered dramatically. Globality is no longer an edge
> concept; it's an operating reality, thanks in part to
> technology. Instead of expanding people's horizons, we now
> need to enhance the recognition and appreciation of
> diversity. Learning from the past, we will need
> collaboration with dissimilar groups, appreciation of
> depth in the ordinary, stories and myths that support
> creativity, and, of course, the technology that is newly
> at hand
> The alterations that have come to "us" as a group
> have been numerous and substantial going far beyond the
> inevitable process of aging. But, in the words of Tennyson
> (thanks to Gordon Harper),
> Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
> We are not now that strength which in old days
> Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
> One equal temper of heroic hearts,
> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
> To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
> There are far more of "us" ready and willing to work
> on the project than were available in the 60s and 70s.
> There is much more potential for communications. "We" now
> represent a wide diversity of viewpoint and experience.
> Maybe these are the times and we are the people.
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