The Two of Disks The Lord of Change is a card that indicates the necessity of constant change in life if we are not to stagnate. It often marks a turning point – a new job, a shift of fortune, a move of home.Disks are an earthy suit, covering matters of material life, and the manifest Universe. If you look at the planet we live on, though in itself it seems solid and predictable (less so in recent years, mind you) it is in a constant state of change and movement. It turns in space, and if it did not, we’d all be very unhappy with the consequences. The cycle of seasons swings past us each and every year. The tides ebb and rise. Constant change is natural, normal and positive.We do, though, often fear change in our lives. We will struggle against anything that appears to alter the pre-planned pattern we have applied to our future. But that’s exactly what this card does – instigates change. Sometimes we think that the change is bad – and on the face of it, it may appear to be – yet whenever the 2 of Disks appears, it’s warning us that change has become imperative. Something is stagnating, demanding to be broken down and made over.It’s worth remembering that if you resist the change advocated by the Lord of Change, you might find that life imposes it upon you anyway – and then you’ll feel the effects either of the Death card, or the Tower. When this card appears, it demands a thorough re-assessment of your overall position and willingness to go with the chances that come your way.The card is especially strengthened by cards like Fortune, and positive Disks and Wands. You can usually track down which area of life it applies to by looking at the cards that surround it – Cups would suggest you need to look at your emotional life. Disks would imply that it’s either your working or financial area that needs attention. Swords would probably indicate conflict around whatever changes you need to make, and may point to a need for clear communication. Wands would be more connected with your own application of Will, and the way you are trying to build your life. Major Arcana cards would suggest an inner, more spiritual area needs to be looked at.

July 3, 2024 (NYTimes.com)

By Adam Grant

Dr. Grant, a contributing Opinion writer, is an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

After his shockingly poor performance in last week’s debate, President Biden is facing mounting pressure to drop out of the 2024 election. Influential voices in his own party have called for him to step aside. Polls indicate that many voters hope he will. Yet so far he is staying the course.

There’s a formal name for this trap: escalation of commitment to a losing course of action. In the face of impending failure, extensive evidence shows that instead of rethinking our plans, we often double down on our decisions. It feels better to be a fighter than a quitter.

One of the tragedies of the human condition is that we use our big brains not to make rational decisions, but rather to rationalize the decisions we’ve already made. We stick around too long in dead-end jobs. We stay in unhappy marriages even after friends have counseled us to leave. We stand by candidates even after they violate our principles.

Some of the worst leadership decisions of our time can be traced to escalation of commitment. Many people lost their lives because American presidents pursued a futile war in Vietnam — and continued searching for weapons of mass destruction that weren’t in Iraq. As George Ball warned in a 1965 letter to President Lyndon Johnson: “Once we suffer large casualties, we will have started a well-nigh irreversible process. Our involvement will be so great that we cannot — without national humiliation — stop short of achieving our complete objectives. Of the two possibilities I think humiliation will be more likely.”

It happens in business, too: Blockbuster went bust because instead of buying Netflix, leaders escalated their commitment to renting physical videos. Kodak made the same mistake by doubling down on selling film instead of pivoting to digital cameras.

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Escalation of commitment helps to explain why leaders are often so reluctant to loosen their grip on power. Losing a high-status position can make them feel as if they’re losing their place in the world. It leaves them with bruised egos and wounded pride.

Of course, we can’t know for sure which decisions will turn out to be good. But decades of research led by the organizational psychologist Barry Staw have identified a few conditions that make people especially likely to persist on ill-fated paths. Escalation is likely when people are directly responsible for and publicly attached to a decision, when it has been a long journey and the end is in sight, and when they have reasons to be confident that they can succeed.

It’s striking that President Biden’s current situation checks all those boxes. He announced his re-election bid to the world back in April 2023. He’s poured 14 months of energy into his campaign and has only four more to go. And he’s beaten the odds before: Many voters told pollsters he was too old before the 2020 election, and in hindsight it’s unlikely that any other Democratic candidate would have won.

So what should the president be doing to navigate this enormously consequential decision? So far, we know that he gathered his family and top aides. (According to reports, they all encouraged him to stay in the race.) That’s a natural enough impulse, but it doesn’t necessarily help, since the people closest to a leader are precisely the ones who are most susceptible to confirmation bias. They’re too personally invested in his success and too likely to dismiss warning signs.

What Mr. Biden needs is not a support network but a challenge network — people who have the will to put the country’s interests ahead of his and the skill to coldly assess his chances. That’s a task for someone who is not affiliated with the campaign in any way, someone whose judgment has proved to be impeccable and most of all, impartial, and someone who is not worried about the possible cost to their own career. (An ideal candidate for this role might be professional forecaster, since forecasters — unlike pollsters, who tell us what voters think today — excel at anticipating how views are likely to change tomorrow.)

According to news reports, insiders worry that pressuring Mr. Biden to back out will backfire. That’s a valid concern. Pressure can make people defensive. A more promising approach might start with praising his flexibility, which research shows can make people more willing to rethink bad decisions. Second, ask what he sees as the pros and cons of staying in the race. The best way to open a stubborn mind isn’t to argue; it’s to listen. When people feel heard, they become less defensive and more reflective. Third, ask him what would shift his thinking.

“President Biden, I admire your ability to build bridges across the aisle. That shows a willingness to have tough conversations, and you certainly have a tough choice in front of you. What advice would you give to others facing this dilemma? You obviously have a long list of reasons to stay in the race — what would be your top three reasons to walk away? What information would convince you that it would be best not to run?”

When I’ve had discussions like this with leaders in government and business, my biggest struggle has been getting them to acknowledge that failure is a real possibility. They’ve asked me: What if I let go and wish I hadn’t? Along with the regret of dropping out, we also need to weigh the regret of staying in.

For Mr. Biden, that might mean asking him to imagine that it’s January 2025 and he lost the election in a landslide. President Trump is announcing mass deportations, expanding executive power and working to repeal the 22nd Amendment so he can serve a third term.

This exercise could help Mr. Biden see for himself how losing could rewrite his legacy. He would go down in history as a man who couldn’t see his own decline until it was too late.

I hope some dedicated group — people who deserve Mr. Biden’s trust but aren’t members of his team or his family — can help him think these questions through. And I hope he has the humility and integrity to take them seriously, no matter how uncomfortable it might be. In a rally last week, he told the crowd, “I know how to tell the truth!” The more vital question is whether he knows how to hear the truth.

Refusing to quit is not always a heroic act of resilience. It’s often stubborn rigidity. President Biden, service is not only about stepping up to lead. It’s also about having the courage to step aside.

Adam Grant, a contributing Opinion writer, is an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of “Think Again” and the host of the TED podcast “Re: Thinking.”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/opinion/joe-biden-president-election.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4U0.UU6x.uBvIb-rS7xrY&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

(Contributed by Michael Kelly, H.W.)

The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America’s Story

Kermit Roosevelt III

Our idea of the Founders’ America and its values is not true. We are not the heirs of the Founders, but we can be the heirs of Reconstruction and its vision for equality.

There’s a common story we tell about that our fundamental values as a country were stated in the Declaration of Independence, fought for in the Revolution, and made law in the Constitution. But, with the country increasingly divided, this story isn’t working for us anymore—what’s more, it’s not even true. As Kermit Roosevelt argues in this eye-opening reinterpretation of the American story, our fundamental values, particularly equality, are not part of the vision of the Founders. Instead, they were stated in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and were the hope of Reconstruction, when it was possible to envision the emergence of the nation committed to liberty and equality.
 
We face a dilemma these days. We want to be honest about our history and the racism and oppression that Americans have both inflicted and endured. But we want to be proud of our country, too. In The Nation That Never Was , Roosevelt shows how we can do both those things by realizing we’re not the country we thought we were. Reconstruction, Roosevelt argues, was not a fulfillment of the ideals of the Founding but rather a we modern Americans are not the heirs of the Founders but of the people who overthrew and destroyed that political order. This alternate understanding of American identity opens the door to a new understanding of ourselves and our story, and ultimately to a better America.
 
America today is not the Founders’ America, but it can be Lincoln’s America. Roosevelt offers a powerful and inspirational rethinking of our country’s history and uncovers a shared past that we can be proud to claim and use as a foundation to work toward a country that fully embodies equality for all.

About the author

Kermit Roosevelt III

Kermit Roosevelt is an award-winning author whose latest book Allegiance has been called “an instant classic” by Nelson DeMille. His previous novel In the Shadow of the Law was the Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year, the winner of the Philadelphia Athenaeum Literary Award, the New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection, and a national campus bestseller.

Roosevelt is a professor of constitutional law at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published in the Virginia, Michigan and Columbia law reviews, among others, and his articles have been cited twice by the Supreme Court and numerous times by state and lower federal courts.

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58975511-the-nation-that-never-was

The Tempest Video and Discussion

Friday 26 July 2024

4:00 PM  – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

A Zoom workshop

 Frankenstein And the Vampyre Video and Discussion

Friday 25 October 2024

4:00 PM  – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

A Zoom workshop

Calvin Harris, H.W., M, is offering  Two Fall Video and Discussion workshops, to engage you in fun-filled participatory experiences.

In July – The Tempest.

A British Broadcasting Corporation Backstage Look into the many stage and movie versions of the Tempest story acted out over the centuries, and how the players varied in interpretations.

Where Shakespeare may have gotten some of the fundamental themes from this play; how some themes have gotten lost, How others have taken on new meanings, And how Thane Walker used them to create the name of his School The Prosperos.   

This workshop and our subsequent discussion are ways we can take a fun, deeper dive into the material – to have you come away with a personal connection to the material and perhaps the writer himself; to introduce ideas about the themes that you may not have thought about before. We’ll discuss the archetypal understanding of the play’s characters, represented as three areas of Mind.

Shakespeare seems to present us with much to discuss – self-deception; magic; dysfunctional family dynamics; betrayal; sex; revenge; forced colonization; as well as, redemption, love, and clues to the give-for technique. . . and oh – some weather.

COME PREPARED:

•        You will need to come with pen and paper.

•        You will get to participate in the discussion portion of the workshop.                                                                                                   

Additional information: Email me at calvin@theprosperos.org

And for those who have attended any of Calvin’s events you already know 

you are going to have a rollicking good time, and maybe even learn something new!!

See You soon

Calvin

D.H. Lawrence’s “unlovely” paintings are seized byScotland Yard.

On June 14th, 1929, the Dorothy Warren Gallery in London opened an exhibition of paintings by a new artist, one not known to the public—except, of course, as the author of the recently published (and recently banned) Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and other literary works (or horrifying smut, depending on one’s point of view). The response was immense—“some 12,000” people came to the show, according to the Encyclopedia of Censorship (yes, this exists, and is delightful)—and “aroused substantial comment, both favorable and adverse.” “Most of the paintings showed nude men and women embracing or otherwise communing with themselves and one another in Arcadian landscapes of an abstract character,” art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon explains in The Telegraph. Some were inspired by the Bible, or by ancient mythology. Others were drawn from modern life. Some were comical and burlesque in mood, others melancholic, others ecstatic. The style was energetic, if not terribly assured. Taken together, the assembled works amounted to a dream of exuberant but also quaintly innocent carnality, set in a naturist idyll where men and women are free to wander naked in groves of shameless bliss. Lawrence had been writing Lady Chatterley’s Lover, his last novel, at the same time that he painted many of these vigorously naive paintings, and the paradise which many of them body forth strongly recalls the sexual Eden into which the heroine of that novel yearns—futilely, as it turns out—to escape. The art critics hated it almost unanimously, but it was a member of the public who tipped off Scotland Yard, who showed up to investigate on July 5th, confiscating 13 of the 25 paintings on display. But why? Well, again according to the Encyclopedia of Censorship, “in Lawrence’s own opinion it was the fragments of pubic hair visible in the seized pictures that brought them to court. What might be acceptable in a full-time artist was not so in a novelist and poet known for his erotic work.” Here’s what happened next: The octogenarian magistrate Frederick Mead who heard the case at Marlborough Police Court on August 9, apostrophized the works as “gross, coarse, hideous, unlovely and obscene.” He refused to hear such expert witnesses as Augustus John and Arnold Bennett, declaring that it was “utterly immaterial whether they are works of art or not. The most splendidly painted picture in the universe might be obscene . . .” and should be “put an end to, like any wild animal which is dangerous.” Despite his desire to take the case further, Lawrence was advised by his counsel to pay the five guineas costs levied against him and retire from the contest. The paintings were then returned to the gallery owners, Mr. and Mrs. Philip Trotter, on the proviso that they would never be shown publicly again. The four volumes of reproductions were destroyed. In 1951 the U.S. Customs refused to permit the import of the privately printed Paintings of D. H. Lawrence, ordered by one of his biographers, on the ground that it was obscene. However, in Filthy Material: Modernism and the Media of Obscenity Chris Forster argues that “the paintings had value as originals, but reproductions offered only a sort of brute materiality. . . . Even under current law, what makes the obscene worthy of destruction is that it is only material, lacking anything of value.” So there must have been someone who considered Lawrence’s paintings to be art. Regardless, the paintings themselves were exiled. “Many were lost after Lawrence’s death,” wrote Graham-Dixon. “A couple found their way to the University of Texas at Austin; while most of those that remained passed, via the third husband of Lawrence’s widow, to an eccentric expatriate Greek hotelier, Saki Karavas, who made periodic approaches to the British government offering to trade the pictures in exchange for the return of the Elgin marbles to Greece but ultimately contented himself with displaying them in the office of his hotel in New Mexico where they could be seen for the price of one dollar.” The originals are being stored in safety, but you can still see the reproductions that landed in New Mexico behind a curtain in said hotel’s conference room, and more, of course, on the internet here.

(LitHub.com)

“When a writer is born into a family, the family is finished.”

–CZELSŁAW MIŁOSZ

Czesław Miłosz (June 30, 1911 – August 14, 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. Wikipedia

By Maria Popova (themarginalian.org)

Born into a World War to live through another, Albert Camus (November 7, 1913–January 4, 1960) died in a car crash with an unused train ticket to the same destination in his pocket. Just three years earlier, he had become the second-youngest laureate of the Nobel Prize, awarded him for literature that “with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience” — problems like art as resistance, happiness as our moral obligation, and the measure of strength through difficult times.

During WWII, Camus stood passionately on the side of justice; during the Cold War, he sliced through the Iron Curtain with all the humanistic force of simple kindness. But as he watched the world burn its own future in the fiery pit of politics, he understood that time, which has no right side and no wring side, is only ever won or lost on the smallest and most personal scale: absolute presence with one’s own life, rooted in the belief that “real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”

Camus addresses this with poetic poignancy in an essay titled “The Wrong Side and the Right Side,” found in his altogether superb posthumous collection Lyrical and Critical Essays (public library).

Albert Camus

In a prescient admonition against our modern cult of productivity, which plunders our capacity for presence, Camus writes:

Life is short, and it is sinful to waste one’s time. They say I’m active. But being active is still wasting one’s time, if in doing one loses oneself. Today is a resting time, and my heart goes off in search of itself. If an anguish still clutches me, it’s when I feel this impalpable moment slip through my fingers like quicksilver… At the moment, my whole kingdom is of this world. This sun and these shadows, this warmth and this cold rising from the depths of the air: why wonder if something is dying or if men suffer, since everything is written on this window where the sun sheds its plenty as a greeting to my pity?

Echoing the young Dostoyevsky’s exultant reckoning with the meaning of life shortly after his death sentence was repealed (“To be a human being among people and to remain one forever, no matter in what circumstances, not to grow despondent and not to lose heart,” Dostoyevsky wrote to his brother, “that’s what life is all about, that’s its task.”), Camus adds:

What counts is to be human and simple. No, what counts is to be true, and then everything fits in, humanity and simplicity. When am I truer than when I am the world?… What I wish for now is no longer happiness but simply awareness… I hold onto the world with every gesture, to men with all my gratitude and pity. I do not want to choose between the right and wrong sides of the world, and I do not like a choice… The great courage is still to gaze as squarely at the light as at death. Besides, how can I define the link that leads from this all-consuming love of life to this secret despair?… In spite of much searching, this is all I know.

These reflections led Camus to conclude that “there is no love of life without despair of life”; out of them he drew his three antidotes to the absurdity of life and the crucial question at its center.

Couple with George Saunders — who may be the closest we have to Camus in our time — on how to love the world more, then revisit Wendell Berry’s poetic antidote to despair.

Heterosexual practices are universal, but the culture of heterosexuality is not.

By: Louis-Georges Tin (thereader.mitpress.mit.edu)

Heterosexuality is celebrated in film and television, in pop songs and opera, in literature and on greeting cards. Simultaneously, it is taken for granted, so deeply embedded in our culture that it often goes unquestioned. And yet, as Louis-Georges Tin shows in his book “The Invention of Heterosexual Culture” (excerpted below), heterosexuality as a dominant cultural force is a relatively recent development. In premodern Europe, Tin explains, heterosexuality was perceived as an alternative culture, and although the practice was standard, the symbolic primacy of the heterosexual couple was not. He maps the emergence of heterosexual culture in Western Europe and highlights the significant resistance it faced from feudal lords, church fathers, and even the medical profession. While heterosexual procreation is a biological necessity, Tin argues that heterosexual culture is merely one of many social constructs and should not be regarded as a universal model. As such, there is “a need to explore as never before when, how, and why our society began to celebrate the heterosexual couple.”
–The Editors

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Paradoxically, the blossoming of gay and lesbian cultures suggests that it is now possible to review heterosexuality in a fresh light. Over the centuries, thousands of studies have explored issues of heterosexual love, sex, marriage, and the family, whereas heterosexuality itself rarely rates a mention. It is usually taken for granted as a self-evident point of departure — a viewpoint that is also a blind spot. Heterosexuality is assumed to be ever-present as a matter of course and has escaped analysis, as if it is transparent to itself. This absence of analysis is itself a striking if seldom acknowledged fact.

That said, the world at large appears obsessed by the imagery of the heterosexual couple. Fairy tales, novels, cinema and television, newspapers and magazines, advertising and pop music: All celebrate the pairing of man and woman. For most heterosexuals, at least, it is an invisible kingdom where heterosexuality reigns supreme and where everything in nature is in its place and hence natural. On this topic, the most basic — as well as the most radical — questions have not been resolved or even asked. Notably, in the first instance, is the question of causes. Why are certain individuals drawn primarily to members of the opposite sex? The question may seem absurd or even unnecessarily provocative, but it raises a point that is far from obvious to the extent that the root cause of this phenomenon remains largely unexplored.

Although, in general, heterosexuality may seem to be the most natural thing in the world, it is far from easy to justify it on purely biological terms. Few people ever ask themselves whether attraction to the opposite sex is triggered by a physiological mechanism. The question commonly asked by biologists and doctors — and, for that matter, by society as a whole — is what causes people to be drawn to persons of the same sex. Current research has been largely directed toward otherness and the heuristically abnormal. Homosexuality rather than heterosexuality has been explored and explained.

The facile justification for heterosexuality is that it is essential for the reproduction of the species. This explanation puts the end before the means in that no specific cause is identified (hormonal, neuronal, psychological?). Accordingly, heterosexuality has its origins in genetic necessity, or if that statement seems unduly laconic, it can be reformulated in more Darwinian terms: Heterosexual behavior, irrespective of the factors underpinning it, represents the sole means of ensuring human reproduction and therefore is conducive to natural selection and the evolution of the species.

It is apparent that Greek society and others like it were heterosexual only with respect to biological procreation.

But this explanation is far from satisfactory. Above all, it fails to pinpoint the principle that underlies heterosexual behavior. Can it be sourced to the brain, the genes, the hormones, or somewhere else? Even supposing that one acknowledges the heterosexual imperative that is implicit in biological reproduction, it is more difficult to account for the essentially heterosexual structure of human society. After copulation, there is no apparent need for a couple to continue together, and most mammals part company rapidly thereafter. Even in the case of primates that often coexist in social groups, there is scant justification for concluding that some form of heterosexuality is fundamental to their social structure.

Certainly, biological reproduction is heterosexual, but social structures are much more complex, based as they are on strictly observed patterns of dominance, rivalry, cooperation, and interaction. The heterosexual couple is seldom the basic component cell of the group and, in many instances, is not even necessary for the education of the young. It is clear that heterosexuality is not a dominant feature of animal societies. Some form of instinct is doubtlessly at work between the opposite sexes during ovulation, and this behavior is heterosexual. But in reality, to be precise, only humans have built societies on the basis of heterosexuality.

All human societies are not heterosexual. One need look no further than archaic or classical Greece as a famous but by no means isolated example among Indo-Europeans in general. It is apparent that Greek society and others like it were heterosexual only with respect to biological procreation. This should not be taken to imply that Greek society was homosexual, inasmuch as pederastic initiation was a practice quite distinct from what we now mean by homosexuality. As recent studies have demonstrated, however, the question of homosexual versus heterosexual orientation is scarcely relevant. Although the Greek male typically sought a female to ensure continuation of the family line, it is evident that heterosexuality itself was not the basis on which ancient Greek society was constructed.

To substantiate this argument, a comparison can be established with food. In all human societies, there are food-related practices, and they are indispensable to the survival of individuals. But all societies do not necessarily construct a culture of gastronomy as, for example, in France. The art of the table, of wine, and of cheeses, the rituals, the service, the conviviality, the cookbooks, the restaurant guides, the systems of classification and stars, the televised cooking shows are some of the elements that define French gastronomy. Other societies have developed food practices that are less diverse and less ritualized, and they are based primarily on the material necessities for survival. Granted, those attitudes are reflected in principles and codes, and they sometimes specify celebrations when food occupies a particular place. But they do not add up to what can truly be called a culture of gastronomy. In these numerous contexts and not only in ancient or far-flung societies like those of the Amazon or New Guinea, food is at the same time both necessary and secondary, and, nevertheless, it is not elevated to the rank of sacred and collective ritual. In short, eating is universal, whereas gastronomy is not.

At the same time, heterosexual practices are universal, whereas the culture of heterosexuality is not. Although human nature is manifestly heterosexual, which allows the reproduction of the species, human cultures are not necessarily heterosexual — that is, they do not always give symbolic primacy to the man-woman couple and to love in its cultural, literary, or artistic representations, as close study of ancient and archaic civilizations reveals.

Going further, we could ask whether heterosexual cultures — that is, those where attraction to the opposite sex predominates and is cultivated, and celebrated — are no more than a specific case that historical reasons related to economic expansion and colonization have apparently rendered general. Indeed, in many cultures where heterosexual practices are the norm, they are seldom associated with love and even less with passion. They derive from a sense of social obligation that regulates sexual relations (more often than not with the male as the dominant partner) so that male desire for a female is simultaneously regarded as necessary yet secondary. This goes some way toward explaining why such cultures have little place for love. The importance assigned to love — or more exactly, to heterosexual love — seems to be a peculiarity of Western societies, as American historian John Boswell has pointed out:

Industrial society has made a veritable obsession of this subject. To an observer of the modern West’s cultural monuments, it would probably seem that romantic love was the primary interest of industrial society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. An overwhelming proportion of popular literature, popular art, and popular music have as their central focus the seeking out, celebration of, or lament over romantic love, which is surprising and noteworthy considering that the vast majority of the population to which these cultural messages are directed is either already married or too young or old to be involved in such pursuits. Those immersed in this “sea of love” tend to take it for granted; even many scholars of the subject fail to notice how remarkable is the degree of its prominence in the cultures in which they grew up. Very few premodern or nonindustrialized contemporary cultures would agree with the contention — uncontroversial in the West — that “the purpose of a man is to love a woman, and the purpose of a woman is to love a man.” Most human beings in most times and places would find this a very meager measure of human value.

In other cultures and in premodern Western societies, other subjects have formed the primary material of public culture: celebration of heroic figures or events; reflections on the seasons; observations on the success, failure, or precariousness of agricultural cycles; histories of families (in which romantic love plays a small role, if any); explorations or elaborations of religious or political traditions.

Although heterosexual procreation is the biological basis for human society, heterosexual culture is only one construct among many, and in this sense, it should not be presented as a unique or universal model. What this implies is a need to explore as never before when, how, and why our society began to celebrate the heterosexual couple. What is needed is an exploration of the origins of the sociosexual context in which we live today, a subject that has never been studied in these terms. But to accomplish this requires nothing less than an epistemological revolution, which means taking heterosexuality out of the “order of nature” and putting it within the “order of time” — that is, history.

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Louis-Georges Tin, born in Martinique and now living in Paris, lectures in the arts faculty at the University of Orléans. He is the editor of The Dictionary of Homophobia, the founder of the Paris-based IDAHO Committee, which coordinates International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, and the author of “The Invention of Heterosexual Culture,” from which this article is excerpted.

Source: https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-invention-of-heterosexual-culture/

The Edge June 2024 A Newsletter for Evolutionary Leaders View in your browser

Calling All Evolutionary Leaders in Service to Conscious Evolution! This Is Our Moment of Choice!Together, we can accelerate the evolution of human consciousness and co-create the future.  Are we ready to step into our power and take an Evolutionary Leap? In This IssueUpcoming Events Founding Mothers Movement Launches July 5 – Laura M. George (video)2024 Nautilus Award Winners! Thomas Legrand, Ervin Laszlo, David LorimerA New Era Begins — Suzanne Giesemann (video)Prepare for the Great Shift – Alberto Villoldo (video)Happy Summer Solstice – Joan BorysenkoEARTHwise Conversations – Anneloes Smitsman and John Perkins (video)The Truth About Diet – Food is Fun – Bruce Lipton (video)The New Atheism and the Delusions of Science – Deepak ChopraProSocial Action Lab – David Sloan Wilson (vide0)Tell Us Your Awakening Story – Steve FarrellHow to Create a More Beautiful World with Charles Einstein — Yasmeen Turayhi (audio)World UNITY Week 2024: Dancing the Dream – Ben BowlerJoin a Movement of Conscious Change-makers – Gregg Braden and Bruce Lipton (event)High Energy ETs — Alan Steinfeld, JJ & Desiree Hurtak (video)2024 Native American Elders and Youth Gathering — Brian RussoThe Grand Convergence of Science and Spirituality – Bruce Lipton, Mitchell J. Rabin, Alan Steinfeld, and Kristin Hoffmann (event + video)Touching the Stillness Silent Retreat – Paulette Pipe (event)I AM Energy Free Masterclass – Nate ZeleznickFrom Friction to Fusion — David KarchereEmbracing the Divine Feminine – Jennifer K. Hill and Anodea Judith (video)10th Anniversary of the International Day of Yoga at the United Nations – Denise Scotto, Kristin Hoffmann and Sr. JennaInternational Children’s Month: Let’s Celebrate Children’s Books – Kurt JohnsonChoosing Love in a Fear-Based World – Anita MoorjaniThe Big Breath of the Universe – Interview with Jude CurrivanJourney Through the Amazon — Anita SanchezMoloch & Our System of Bad Incentives – Extended — Joe MartinoWhoever Creates Narratives Has the Capacity to Change the World — Sandra de Castro BuffingtonBrothers Koren in New York City – Isaac and Thorald Koren (event)“Our Moment of Choice”We Answered THE CALL Visit the Evolutionary Leaders YouTube ChannelInvest in Synergy to Power a Transformed World JULY 13 Brothers Koren and the Kin – Isaac and Thorald Koren Free concert at 7pm at PAC NYC (Perelman Performing Arts Center) New York, NY JULY 26-28 40th Annual Native American Elders and Youth Gathering  This Year’s Theme: Earth Awareness: How Our Hearts Resonate with the Voice of Myriad Galaxies Sun Ray Peace Village, Bristol, VT JULY 28-AUGUST 3 Summer-Intensive-Workshop – with Thomas Hübl Inner Growth Creates a Creative Impact in the World Hof Oberlethe/Germany in person and online (hybrid) JULY 28-AUGUST 4 Manifest Nirvana: 7-Day Evolutionary Enlightenment Retreat – with Andrew Cohen Near Gresgen, Germany AUGUST 3 The Grand Convergence of Science and Spirituality – with Dr. Bruce Lipton, Mitchell J. Rabin, Alan Steinfeld, and Kristin Hoffmann New York, NY AUGUST 24-25 TCCHE’s Conscious Evolution: The Secret of Our Past, The Promise of Future – Gregg Braden and Bruce Lipton Denver, CO  AUGUST 31 All entries due for the Peace Pals Art Exhibition for children 5-16 SEPTEMBER 5-8 Touching the Stillness Silent Retreat – Paulette Pipe Unity Village, MO SEPTEMBER 13-15 The Conference for Consciousness and Human Evolution (TCCHE) – with Gregg Braden, J.J. and Desiree Hurtak, Bruce Lipton, Anita Moorjani, and Lynne McTaggart Toronto, Canada SEPTEMBER 15-22 Land of the Rising Sun Peace Week Journey to Japan – Unity Earth Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, Hiroshima SEPTEMBER 27-29 The Healing Keys: Biofield Science and the Future of Health – with Shamini Jain Esalen, CA OCTOBER 9-11 Inspiring Global Harmony – with Kristin Engvig Rome, ItalyFounding Mothers Movement Launches July 5thBy Laura M. George Founding Mothers Movement (FMM) is a global women-led movement to achieve Gender Equity and lasting Peace. Recognizing that the world still suffers under models based on hierarchy, domination and militarism, our mission is to catalyze humanity’s transition from a paradigm of Patriarchy to one of holistic Partnership and Peace.   True peace will be attained only if women are empowered to participate fully in all sectors of society. Across the globe, women face gender apartheid – discrimination and family violence due to systemic cycles of oppression, instability, and war. Democracy and Women’s Rights are under assault by right-wing think-tanks. White Nationalist movements like Project 2025 and New Apostolic Reformation are two dystopian timelines in play.   In response, the Evolutionary Leaders Feminine Force Collaboratory helped craft a two-year strategic plan to unify four Partner groups: (i) Women’s + Children’s groups; (ii) Peace + Democracy organizations; (iii) Spiritual + Religious communities; (iv) Environmental + Indigenous groups. We’re building the MOTHER of all Movements and we invite all evolutionary leaders to join us on this unprecedented journey of Unity in Diversity. FMM will launch July 5, 2024. Our website has separate Partner and People portal to join the movement. Lastly, in honor of the Mother’s Day Proclamation, we’ve reimagined the global Women’s Congress, which will convene on July 20, 2024. The congress will draft the Founding Mothers Manifesto with two demands: (i) universal rights for all Women, including reproductive freedom; and (ii) an end to War. If the Manifesto is ignored, we will commence tactical campaigns on New Year’s Day 2025. For more details, see the Founding Mothers Slide Deck. www.FoundingMothers.world  +  www.WomensCongress.world  www.Facebook.com/FoundingMothersMovement  www.Instagram.com/FoundingMothersMovementThe Founding Mothers Movement is a women-led movement determined to transition humanity from Patriarchy to Partnership by 2030. We pledge to shift the paradigm by empowering Women, protecting Children, and ending War. And we’re building a global coalition that is powerful enough to demand revolutionary change. Join us and help transform the world! Visit our website at: https://foundingmothers.world2024 Nautilus Award Winners!Thomas Legrand is the Grand Prize Winner for The Politics of Being Born in 1979 in Paris, France, Thomas Legrand is a wisdom seeker, a social scientist, and a sustainability practitioner. He holds a PhD in economics and has studied international development, political science, and management. Thomas works in the field of sustainability for UN agencies, private companies, and NGOs. His focus is on forest conservation, climate change, sustainable finance, organizational transformation, and leadership.  Thomas’s spiritual search, his thoughts as a social scientist, and his professional experience have gradually converged on the importance of spiritual wisdom in humanity’s ongoing transition. Searching for a way to mainstream this understanding in the political and sustainability conversation, he has dedicated much of the last ten years to researching and reflecting how we can radically rethink our model of development. The result is this book.SPECIAL HONORS: BEST IN SMALL PRESS The Great UpshiftBy Ervin Laszlo and David Lorimer Light on Light PressThis vital book leads us beyond today’s crisis-and conflict-prone world to a higher stage of our evolution. We have reached a historic turning point-a “point of bifurcation”-at which we must find new ways to upshift our individual and collective consciousness to ensure the desired resolution of these crises. ​ Ervin Laszlo and David Lorimer have assembled a stellar cast of contributors who decode the big picture to offer exactly what we need now. The world-renowned scientists and visionaries who contribute to this book focus on the most burning question of all: how can we upshift ourselves—our ways of healing, of thinking and feeling, and even of intuiting—to respond to the pressing requirements of our time? Their visions empower us to “be the change” we want to see in the world-to help others be a positive and critical part of the great upshift that has already started. This will be our salvation. GOLD WINNER: RISING TO THE MOMENT The Survival Imperative: Upshifting to Conscious EvolutionBy Ervin Laszlo Light on Light PressWith humanity facing its greatest series of simultaneous crises, Ervin Laszlo offers a scientifically based perspective on what is called for at this critical juncture of our existence: a phase of upshift to higher levels of order and coherence to keep us on our evolutionary path.This book lays out why this upshift is needed, what resources we possess to draw upon, and what the action steps are that will move us all toward this achievable vision of wellbeing and wholeness. With an inclusive list of conscious organizations already contributing to this vision, Laszlo’s book is essential reading for completing the process of global transformation already underway.A New Era BeginsInterview with Suzanne GiesemannNext Level Soul Podcast with Alex Ferrari In the boundless journey of the human soul, we often encounter guiding lights who help us navigate the complexities of existence. On today’s episode, we welcome the luminous Suzanne Giesemann back to our podcast. With a heart full of wisdom and a spirit deeply attuned to the divine, Suzanne offers profound insights that resonate with our collective quest for understanding. Suzanne begins by reminding us that our spirit guides have mapped out our lives before we arrived here, much like a paper map guiding us along a planned highway with various exits. She eloquently compares this spiritual map to the choices we make, which sometimes divert us from our path but ultimately lead us back to our intended journey. This analogy is a gentle reminder that our passions and repeated interests are clues to our true paths. “What’s your passion? What do you find yourself coming back to over and over in your life?” Suzanne asks, inviting us to reflect on our deepest callings. In our conversation, Suzanne and I delve into the energetic differences we feel when interacting in person versus through virtual means. The energy in the room with Suzanne was palpable, a testament to the presence of her spirit team. This exchange leads us to discuss her latest book, The Awakened Way, which aims to help readers shift to a divinely guided life. Suzanne shares that readers have been moved to tears within the first few pages, feeling the book’s energy resonate deeply within them. Suzanne offers a nuanced perspective on the so-called spiritual battle humanity faces, emphasizing the importance of words. She reframes the concept of negative energy, suggesting instead the term “not positive energy.” This shift in language helps us see societal divisions not as a battle, but as a dynamic flow of differing vibrations. Suzanne encourages us to move beyond the story of conflict and see these energies as opportunities for growth and understanding. One of the most profound takeaways from our discussion is Suzanne’s practice of shifting beyond the story. She teaches that by stepping into meditation and moments of presence, we can connect with our true selves beyond the roles and stories we play. This connection allows us to observe life’s conflicts with compassion and patience, ultimately guiding us towards a more harmonious existence. Suzanne’s advice to “shift beyond the story” serves as a powerful tool for navigating life’s challenges.Prepare for the Great ShiftInterview with Alberto VilloldoJust Tap In with Emilio Ortiz Jun 4, 2024 • Shaman & Medical Anthropologist, Dr. Alberto Villoldo joins the podcast to reveal the great Inka Prophecy: Pachakuti, the emergence of new humans, and the global transformation taking place this year. The Indigenous seers foretold a potential mass extinction for humanity unless we make radical changes. In this interview, Dr. Villoldo also explores the shamanic perspective on time and the ability to access past and future realities. He shares insights on interdimensional beings, their connection to the stars, and the healing power of ice. The conversation delves into the understanding of death and its purpose, and the process of upgrading to Homo Luminous.Happy Summer SolsticeBy Joan Borysenko  June 20, 2024 I’m looking forward to taking the summer off, but before I go, I want to wish you a very happy summer!    Like me, I bet you are thrilled to welcome the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer…  with backyard BBQs, relaxing at outdoor cafés, trips to the beach and just hanging in the warm sunshine with friends and family.  Today, at 4:50 PM ET, marks the astrological beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere –the Summer Solstice, which marks the longest day and shortest night of the year. The sun has reached its highest point in the sky, and it radiating blessings of joy and goodness. The energies of summer are hot, hot, hot!  What a perfect time for a cooling breath meditation  to balance the irritable moods that often accompany the summer heat. Click HERE to listen to my “Cooling Breath meditation”  to help you relax and sooth emotions all summer long. Especially in the summer,  Mother Nature invites us to appreciate, enjoy and become one with the extraordinary beauty of creation.  Take some precious moments to immerse yourself in the sights and scents of summer.  The Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence is one of the inner strengths (within the virtue of Transcendence) that lead to a live of fulfillment and goodness… what is called Authentic Happiness in the field of Positive Psychology.  SEE BELOW for 3 simple tips for cultivating appreciation of beauty. The sun, as the ultimate source of prana, is said to be the giver of light, and the giver of life. With that in mind,  I’d like to offer you this Summer blessing… May the longtime sun shine upon you All love surround you. And the pure light that’s within you. Guide your way on.   Much Love, Joan  EARTHwise ConversationsBy Anneloes SmitsmanEARTHwise is growing and morphing into new directions, shapes, and activities. It’s almost time for our 10th anniversary (more about that soon)! Have a look at our updated homepage for an overview of our current focus.  As is often the case with birth, it can also come with considerable challenges and pain. The last months have been very challenging on many fronts. Thankfully I know that the deeper structural shifts make new futures possible, yet we don’t always know how…. We’re starting to emerge from the cocoon and I am happy to let you know that during this phase of inner and outer rebirth, a new team has been building. You can meet them here, and through our new initiative: EARTHwise Conversations (see below). In the near future, this newsletter will transform to include their voices and contributions!    Join our monthly FREE Community Calls EARTHwise Conversations are FREE 1-hour Community Calls that take place every second Tuesday of the month at 9:00am Pacific Time. You’ll have the chance to meet with me and our team and spend time in community. Our Zoom room has limited capacity, so please register via this link to join: www.earthwise.global/community-calls Subscribe to Our New YouTube Channel We’ve just started a new YouTube Channel where we’ll feature updates from the game and key conversations with our allies for “Taking on Moloch” in real life. The channel will also feature inspiring videos about the New Time (Singularity), ancient and future legends, indigenous prophecies, and science-tech explorations related to benevolent AI/AGI, tech for good and gamification.The videos below feature conversations with our partners and Evolutionary Leaders, NYT bestselling author and activist John Perkins, award-winning author and EARTHwise Steward, Dr. Anita Sanchez, award-winning author and founder of the Oracle Institute Rev. Laura George, and a from me video about a Dutch legend involving the curse of a merman that led to a great flood.Here’s a July 4th celebratory gift from JOHN PERKINS: It’s a 4 1/2-minute video introduction to a feature-length film and video game that complement each other and are based on indigenous prophecies that speak of a New Time, a new opportunity for the evolution of humanity. They tell an exciting adventure story that interweaves Amazonian and Mayan prophecies and the transition from the Death Economy to a Life Economy, with the ancient legend of the Moloch, an evil power that demands horrible sacrifices (described in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, the Bible, and many other works). I’m honored to be involved in the making of this film and game and excited to share with you this video, produced by EARTHwise founder and creator of the game Elowyn: Quest of Time, Anneloes Smitsman. You’ll love the graphics!The Truth About Diet: Food is FunBy Bruce LiptonThe Time: Winter, 3 million years ago. The scene: You and your family are sheltering in a cave.    In a cave, the family is asleep in the equivalent of a human “puppy pile,” sleeping together and sharing body heat to survive. The sun arises and you leave the cave to find food.    Prior to the evolution of agriculture, there are no supermarkets or McDonalds. Like modern-day gorillas and chimpanzees, your meals consist of leaves and fruits from trees, shrubs, and herbs. Diets of food gatherers were especially rich in tubers, seeds, nuts, and wild-grown barley. Whenever possible, the family ate small mammals such as rats and rabbits, and if by the sea, their diet also included shellfish and small fish. A half a million years later, in addition being “gatherers,” early humans became “hunters” and added meat and marrow from large animals to their diet.   If it existed at all during prehistoric times, obesity would have been exceedingly rare. Humans evolved to be able to go without food for many hours, or even several days or longer. Prehistoric humans evolved to survive, and even thrive, for long periods without eating. If by chance hunter-gatherers came across an abundant food source, such as a fruit tree loaded with ripe fruit, they would eat as much as they could because they would never know when they would find food again.   If people in today’s world were restricted to the caveman’s diet, they would feel as if they were facing starvation. The reason is that we have adapted to the development of agriculture about 12,000 years ago. The availability of a surplus of food changed the way humans lived. Civilization switched from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to permanent settlements. Unfortunately, we are still endowed with caveman’s unconscious caveman mentality in conjunction with modern agriculture has led to healthcare crisis today, obesity and diabetes.   Why do we eat food? The digestion of food offers both a source of energy and metabolic building blocks for cellular life. In a sense, digestion is the equivalent of “burning fuel,” and the heat derived from the process keeps the body temperature at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius). Burning fuel also leads to the creation of dangerous byproducts. For example, consider the toxic exhaust emitted from the car’s tailpipe when burning petroleum fuel. When animals digest food, the “exhaust” produces “free radicals,” an unstable molecule derived from cell metabolism. Free radicals damage parts of the cells including cell membranes, proteins and DNA.   Science recognizes that a human’s life span should be 150 years of age. Why do we have trouble living to a hundred? A primary problem contributing to our short lifespan is that we eat too much food, and the free radical waste products kill our cells. In laboratory studies, researchers can essentially double the life span of rodents, dogs and even monkeys by feeding them a subsistence diet. A similar result is also suggested in influencing a human’s lifespan. […]   We are killing ourselves prematurely by over-eating and supersizing our meals. An important consequence of eating too much food has also led civilization to destroy the natural environment by monocropping, as well as cutting down the rainforest to make more hamburgers. We can save ourselves and the planet by simply minimalizing our dietary intake.   I hope you enjoy this month’s video by Alex and me (see below) that expands on this topic and concludes that food is more for “fun” than for our survival.The New Atheism and the Delusions of ScienceBy Deepak ChopraChurch attendance has been steadily falling in the U.S. and other developed countries for decades, causing a rise in people who tell pollsters that they are unaffiliated with any organized faith. According to the Pew Research Center, about one in three adults identify as unaffiliated. This should be good news for confirmed atheists, and Pew has found that the number of atheists doubled in the U.S. between 2011 and 2021. However, this represents an increase from 2% to 4% of the adult population, still a statistical sliver. So with church attendance falling and the unaffiliated swelling in numbers, why has this benefitted atheism so little? The so-called New Atheism boasts some leading figures like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Daniel Dennett who are not only intellectuals but loud proselytizers. Their failure to convince people of their cause says a great deal about our current unease regarding God, religion, and spirituality. The drawbacks of the New Atheism come down to several propositions that the average adult, or even the highly educated, don’t respond to. · New Atheists denigrate anyone who believes in God, painting them as superstitious, ignorant, irrational, or outright deluded. Unsurprisingly, it is hard to convert people through insults. · By extension, to the New Atheists, any spiritual pursuit is considered to be folly. Most people believe that spirituality is well-intended and might lead to something valuable. · New Atheism puts emphasis on science as the only rational system of thought. Religion by contrast is condemned as irrational and a primitive throwback to an age of unreason. Yet obviously it is possible to be rational without being a scientist. Moreover, plenty of rational people believe in God or some higher power. · Atheism is proudly individual and self-reliant, dispensing with the emotional support provided by religion. This stance strikes most people as sterile. Psychologically, it is very healthy to identify with a cause greater than yourself. The psychological benefit of organized religion is one of its most positive aspects, whatever you might think of religion’s role in the modern world. With these strikes against it, New Atheism is likely to remain in the wilderness, making tiny inroads but never a major contribution. Even a bright school child accepts that you can’t prove a negative, and proving that God doesn’t exist is just as hard as proving that God does exist. Both sides of the debate are dealing with an invisible, impalpable entity. In the modern secular world, a holy ghost is still a ghost. It’s a shame that the New Atheism doesn’t incite more people to think more deeply about spirituality. It hasn’t defined a narrative that offers help or hope. Across the board, New Atheists declare that science is the only viable way to understand reality, and this is simply deluded. In our current situation, science and religion have both lost the campaign to explain reality. The supernatural is easy to attack as superstition, but science is just as vulnerable to the opposite charge, the failure of pure rationalism. […]  Read the full article here. Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on UnsplashProSocial Action LabBy David Sloan Wilson Thanks to the commitment and support of our community, this year’s inaugural ProSocial Action Lab was a resounding success. As we reflect on its achievements, we invite you to join us in sustaining this momentum and help us continue empowering global change-makers. The ProSocial Action Lab paired groups from around the world with dedicated ProSocial coaches to learn and explore value-directed and prosocial approaches to achieve their goals. Through a blend of interactive learning, fieldwork, and action-oriented strategies, participating groups gained valuable insights and methods to catalyze real change within their teams and communities. Key achievements from the ProSocial Action Lab include:Global Diversity: Engaging participants from 15 countries across three languages, fostering a culturally rich and globally inclusive environment.Mission Diversity: Supporting a wide range of missions such as climate activism, mental health advocacy for indigenous communities, and local peace and justice initiatives.The first ProSocial Action Lab was successful, in part because the generosity of our community and coaches who donated their time, efforts, and funds, making it possible for 75% of the groups to be on scholarships.REGISTER HERE Hear directly from some of the ProSocial Action Lab participants below!Groups from around the world will come together to learn, research, play and practice their collaborative skills. ProSocial Action Lab is an opportunity for your team to join others that are dedicated to deepening relationships, finding shared purpose, and enhancing group effectiveness.Tell Us Your Awakening StoryBy Steve Farrell When was the moment you awakened?  A moment when the interconnection of the world around you and you within it came into crystal clear focus. For Jennifer Paweensuda Drouin, 2019’s Miss Universe Thailand (who made it to the top 5 in the 2019 Miss Universe International Pagent), it was when she realized that she had the power to inspire people to never give up and continue chasing their dreams alongside her. She realized that her time was a gift.  But, you should really hear it from Jennifer herself here. Here is why I am writing to you today. We need your story to tell the human story, the story where 800 million people open their eyes to our intrinsic Unity, our Divinity, and Oneness with the Universe. I want to invite you to follow Jennifer’s lead and tell us your awakening story.  Record a short 2-5 minute video or write it out on your favorite social media platform, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, etc., and mention us @HumanitysTeam with the hashtag #AwakeningStoriesHT. You are the best press that Conscious Living could ask for! All of humanity needs to recognize that awakening isn’t just for the few; it is an incredible part of the human experience that we all have access to. When you share your story, you encourage others to reflect and share theirs—your family, friends, coworkers, and perhaps even total strangers, because we are so much more similar to one another than we think. So, I hope I can count on you to lend your voice to the moment, to the movement, as we create a splash that shows the world that we are All One. As you know, our mission is to make Conscious Living pervasive worldwide by 2040. To create a tipping point we will involve 800 million people on the Earth. Awakening happens one person at a time and you are critical to this success. So share your story and let’s go! In Service, Steve Farrell Co-Founder & Worldwide Executive Director Humanity’s Team P.S. Don’t forget to mention us @HumanitysTeam and use the hashtag #AwakeningStoriesHT so we can find and share your amazing stories. How to Create a More Beautiful World with Charles EisensteinBy Yasmeen Turayhi On today’s episode, I speak with Charles Eisenstein, a speaker, essayist, and author of several books including The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible – and many others. Known as a countercultural philosopher, his work spans economics, science, health, ecology, technology, spirituality, and the mythological structure of civilization. We talk about the following and so much more:His thoughts on a new economic system based on gift economies and community-based currenciesHow he first became interested in the intersection of economics, spirituality, and ecologyThe gift economy in action and what has been most memorable to himThe power of storytelling and myth in the shaping of our cultureThe concept of interbeing and interconnectednessSocial movements, including Occupy and the New Economy movement and what they meant to himIf you’d like to join the waitlist for my next coaching program, sign up at www.InnerKnowingSchool.comLISTEN HEREWorld UNITY Week 2024: Dancing the DreamBy Ben BowlerWorld UNITY Week 2024: Dancing the Dream was a beautiful, global, cocreative symphony. Uniting production teams across three continents and with content from every corner of the world, the 5th annual World UNITY Week provided opportunities for us to learn new dances together, as we enter a most critical phase of our collective world mission.  A chorus of voices from the Kogi Mamos to the United Nations, are telling us clearly that this year 2024 into next year 2025 are absolutely crucial for us to turn the planet around and avoid worldwide climate catastrophes and other massive system breakdowns. As such we, the global grassroots groups representing peace/unity/regeneration/wholeness together with larger civil society NGOs must now unite to exert “pressure from below,” with sincere hope that enlightened leaders of global institutions will meet us by exerting “pressure from above.” To this extent we all need to become something larger, to emerge as a global connected body of real influence, we need to learn new dance steps, in record time for a bright new global dance. It is a dance of deep healing, of remembrance and ultimately, it’s the dance of a new creation. We are now in the flow of the 99 Days of Peace through Unity leading us to Peace Day 2024 – and the UNITE 4 PEACE Global Broadcast & Activation. World UNITY Week 2024 had so many highlights featuring global youth leaders, Co-Creation Circles, women leaders rising up together, the incredible work of the Goi Peace FoundationYou can catch all the broadcasts here: https://unity.earth/world-unity-week-2024/  Join in Japan in September: Video https://fb.watch/sX1GB11LJ-/   Itinerary https://worldweavers.com/japan-2024/Stay connected by joining us in ONE WorldJoin a Movement of Conscious Change-makersBy Gregg Braden Did you know that you have the power to reclaim creative control over your life and contribute to the higher evolutionary trajectory of the planet?Join me and my spiritual brother, Dr. Bruce Lipton, for TCCHE’s Conscious Evolution: The Secret of Our Past, The Promise of Future August 24-25, 2024 in Denver, CO where together we will shed light on the latest research on mechanisms through which your thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs shape the fabric of your life and your role in the world. Discover the power within yourself to shape your destiny and positively impact the world around you. By awakening to your inherent potential, you will learn practical tools and strategies to navigate life’s challenges with confidence and resilience.  >>Here’s the link where you can learn more and register! For all questions about this event or technical issues please email info@tcche.orgHigh Energy ETsBy Alan Steinfeld, JJ & Desiree Hurtak, and More Alan Steinfeld, author of Making Contact: The New Realities of Extraterrestial Existence, interviews Grant Cameron, Adam Apollo, Drs. J.J. & Desiree Hurtak, and Kathleen Marden about new developments in disclosure, consciousness and the technologyies of the future.Lori Leyden Receives Humanitarian Award I was humbled and deeply honored to receive the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology 2024 Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Energy Psychology on Saturday, June 1st, for my humanitarian work in traumatized communities from Rwanda to Sandy Hook, Parkland and Indigenous and Refugee communities in Australia. This accolade has been given to only 5 people in 25 years.   Here’s a link to the award ceremony: https://youtu.be/1g8Y01vHLaM    Tears of gratitude, love, joy and wonder are welling as I share this with you. So bust your soul myths and FOLLOW YOUR HEART! Miracles beyond your imagination await you!And here ‘s a link to my new program – Mastering Therapeutic Presence for healing arts professionals and spiritual adventurers: www.drlorileyden.com/therapeutic-presence 2024 Native American Elders and Youth GatheringBrian Russo  If there is one event this summer you want to attend, what would it be!? For me it’s the Elders and Youth Gathering in Bristol, Vermont! This is the 40th year of the gathering and many people will be gathering here from all over the Americas to sing, dance, pray, commune, and live the vision of the future that serves the good of the whole. Please share this event.   If you want to take a deep dive watch this video I helped to make: www.youtube.com/live/lMePbQh75iw?si=YYW0KNaBli7POjIt Register for the gathering today: https://sunray.org/eldersgathering/registerImage by Brian RussoEmbracing the Divine Feminine: A Journey into ConsciousnessJennifer K. Hill and Anodea JudithRegarding Consciousness: Conversations at the Intersection of Cutting-Edge Science and Spirituality Hosted by Jennifer K. Hill Welcome to “Regarding Consciousness,” where we delve into the depths of the mind, spirit, and everything in between. Today, we embark on a profound exploration of the divine feminine with our esteemed guest, Anodea Judith, author of Goddess: Blessed Reunions with the Feminine Face of the Divine. In this interview with Anodea, you’ll discover:The reemergence of the divine feminine concept, and what inspired Anodea to write her book Goddess.How we can embrace the goddess aspect in our own lives.How can we be the leaders and the way showers for the new up and coming generations of men and women.We all have the Oracle in us, but how to choose actively in any moment, which one we want to nurture.Seeking opportunities for honest dialogue vs. confronting and challenging one another.There is a divine order in Mother Earth. When we come back home to that, we start to set things right.As we conclude our enlightening conversation, remember that within each of us lies the potential to embrace the divine feminine and restore balance to our world. ANODEA JUDITH, PH.D. is a globally recognized teacher and the author of several bestselling books on chakras, psychology, yoga, social change, and women’s leadership, which have been translated into 28 languages. She is the founder and director of the teaching organization, Sacred Centers, a member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle and has been called a “prophet for our time.”The Grand Convergence of Science and SpiritualityWith Bruce Lipton, Mitchell J. Rabin, Alan Steinfeld, and Kristin Hoffmann A Better World and New Realities, with hosts Mitchell J. Rabin and Alan Steinfeld, have joined forces yet again to bring a wonderful day of learning, inspiration, education and elevation to New York City.We will be presenting the brilliant work of world-renowned, cellular biologist Dr. Bruce H. Lipton, author of The Biology of Belief (and other groundbreaking books).    Opening the event will be the incomparable, beloved, conscious musician-composer, Kristin Hoffmann.Early Bird special discount until July 15 at: www.abetterworld.net/events-2.  This will be Bruce’s first time teaching in NYC in almost 10 years. Forward to friends in the NY area. Don’t miss this! See a short introductory video below.Mitchell J. Rabin welcomes Dr. Bruce Lipton to New York!Touching the Stillness Silent RetreatWith Rev. Paulette PipeSeptember 5-8, Unity Village, MOOur beloved Silent Retreat is backDrum roll, please…After a five-year hiatus, our signature Silent Retreat with Rev. Paulette Pipe is back for one more year. And the best part? You can take advantage of our Early-Bird registration rate, today.Before being abruptly brought to a halt when the pandemic hit, for 12 consecutive years this annual sold-out event provided silent reverie for beginner and advanced meditators alike. So we’re thrilled to be able to revive it for one more year. And, because it’s being hosted in partnership with Unity Village, this year’s silent retreat will return to its usual spot on the campus, where it was held in the past.What’s in Store If you’re someone who believes they can’t stay quiet for an extended amount of time, Retreat Facilitator Rev. Paulette Pipe would be happy to debunk that idea. That’s because she has a way of intuitively designing the well-balanced program content to gently usher participants through an immersive, transformative, yet engaging experience, intended to mindfully move us beyond our thoughts and deeper into their hearts.But that’s not all!The retreat also features soul-warming music by one of our retreat’s favourite past guest musicians, Kelley Hunt. Then there’s also the unexpected bonus that comes from like-minded individuals gathering in silence: connections are made at the heart level and invariably lead to long-lasting friendships.Available Spots are Premium So if you’re yearning for the kind of soul-satisfying silent reverie this remarkable retreat promises, don’t wait! Space is limited and tends to sell out before the Early Bird rate expires. So book now to secure your spot and join us for this unforgettable quest for deeper inner peace and serenity.If your curiosity has been piqued you can learn more about the event and how to register at Eventbrite by clicking here.I AM Energy Free MasterclassBy Nate ZeleznickHow to shield yourself from negative energies using YOUR energy!  PLUS, How to use your breath to move into a place of Power and Peace immediately.Since rebranding my business from White Dove Mehod to Integrated Ascension Method (I AM) I’ve added SO many new things from the 21st century that amplify the breathwork a d meditation I’ve been teaching for decades. It’s really amazing. Check it out here! https://iampure.energy/masterclassFrom Friction to FusionBy David Karchere At Sunrise Ranch, we just held a one-day course, Primal Spirituality 1: Blessing, led by Gary Goodhue. The course assists people to open up to an experience that is the foundation of a joyful, fulfilling life—a heart opening to the ultimate power of the universe, which is love. Most people—at least at some point—aspire to achieve things in their life. And perhaps they aspire to become something more than who they have been in an outer sense—to learn more, or to become more physically fit perhaps. But where do those aspirations lead if a person hasn’t learned to open their heart to the fire of Creation, which is love? Without that fire, where is the fuel to accomplish what the person wants to accomplish? And even if something is accomplished, what kind of enjoyment is there if a person is living with a cold heart? Blessing is opening up to the fire of love, the most elemental aspect of human experience. Blessing is the first lesson we learn as a human being. We are learning that lesson when we are hugged by our mother or father. And all other lessons in our life are built on that first lesson—in relationships with other people, the natural world, and God. Yes, we should accomplish all kinds of creative things. We are here to manifest wonders in the world. But that is only fulfilled when it is built on a foundation that is so primal to a human life that people often overlook it. They don’t realize they’re walking around with something closed off inside. And then they are trying to do great things and trying to live a happy life. But there’s something cold and vacuous inside because they’re not letting love in. And I’m talking about universal love, the One Love that manifests as all the kinds of Love we know in our life. This is love beyond infatuation. This is the purepower of Creation. It is the essence of the creative urge within us all. In the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John sent a message to the church in Ephesus. Here is a contemporary translation from Revelation, Chapter 2:       I know what you have done—how hard you have worked and how you have endured….      However, I have this against you: The love you had at first is gone.       Remember how far you have fallen. Return to me and change the way you think and act, and do what you did at first. The word primal is from the Latin word for “first”: primus. The love you had at first—or your first love—is primal love. Is it possible to know our first love without opening our hearts? I can’t imagine how. When the human heart opens to primal love so that love is at work in human experience, its power has gravity, and it attracts. This opening heart occurs simply because our emotional attention turns to the source of primal love at our core—when our heart returns to our first love. That turning, or returning, generates the power of attraction that is an essential part of our ability to manifest creativity in our lives. […]Read the entire article here.10th Anniversary of the International Day of Yoga at the United NationsWith Denise Scotto, Kristin Hoffmann and Sr. JennaDenise Scotto served as MC for the UN’s 10th Anniversary of the International Day of Yoga which was held outdoors on the UN North Lawn. The theme was Yoga for Self & Society and included a cultural component, collective yoga practice and sound healing meditation.  She stressed the many positive impacts of yoga for the body and mind while also explaining how yoga communities in their collective action have advanced the Mission and Goals of the UN touching the lives of people in a very real way as well as cultivating a culture of peace and non violence. In another event which the Brahma Kumaris, the International Day of Yoga Committee and the Peace Studio organized to commemorate this milestone, Denise set the context and provided the opening remarks which were followed by a heartwarming dialogue on the topic of Knowing the Soul between BK Sister Jayanti and Dr. Thomas Moore. The event concluded with EL Kristin Hoffman serenading everyone with her breathtaking, Om Shanti. EL BK Sr Jenna also lent her positive vibrations and beautiful smile to this evening.      Kristin Hoffmann, Sr. Jenna, Denise ScottoInternational Children’s Month: Let’s Celebrate Children’s BooksBy Kurt JohnsonLet’s Celebrate Children’s Books From a special 2024 International Children’s Month (June) broadcast by UNITY EARTH TV Synergy Circles of the Evolutionary Leaders and International Children’s Month, we present this Special Video, “International Children’s Month: Let’s Celebrate Children’s Books.” It features children’s book author Victoria Friedman and renowned cosmologist Dr. Jude Currivan (re: the book ONE BRIGHTNESS and iconic author and system’s scientist Dr. Riane Eisler (re: the book FOG BUSTERS. Dr. Kurt Johnson of the Light on Light Press hosts. These are unique children’s books that emphasize our awe and wonder at the universe in which we live, and the eyes of love and care toward all our fellow beings and all things. Colorful, informative, and inspiring!Choosing Love in a Fear-Based WorldBy Anita MoorjaniI hope this message finds you well and open to receiving a bit of inspiration today. As we navigate through our lives, we often find ourselves standing at the crossroads of fear and love, trying to choose which path to follow. In a world that often seems dominated by fear, it can be a challenge to consciously choose love. Yet, it is in making this choice that we find our true strength and our highest selves.In our daily lives, fear can manifest in countless ways—through the news we watch, the challenges we face, and the uncertainties of the future. It’s easy to get caught up in the shadowy whispers of doubt and insecurity. But what if we viewed fear not as an enemy, but as a guidepost, illuminating the areas in our lives where we need to grow and heal?   Choosing the path of love doesn’t mean ignoring the existence of fear. Instead, it means acknowledging it, understanding it, and then making a conscious decision to not let it dictate our actions. Love is about embracing the light, the hope, and the infinite possibilities that life offers us.   Here are a few gentle reminders to help you choose love in a fear-based world:   Practice Mindfulness: Take a few moments each day to center yourself. Breathe deeply, and connect with the present moment. This simple practice can help you shift your focus from fear to love.   Surround Yourself with Positivity: Engage with people, media, and activities that uplift you. Fill your environment with positive affirmations, loving relationships, and inspiring content.   Cultivate Compassion: Extend kindness and understanding to yourself and others. Compassion is a powerful antidote to fear and can transform your perspective and your interactions.   Embrace Vulnerability: Allow yourself to be open and authentic. Vulnerability is not a weakness but a testament to your strength and willingness to experience life fully.   Seek Community: Connect with like-minded individuals who support your journey towards love. Whether through spiritual groups, supportive friendships, or community events, finding your tribe can reinforce your commitment to love.   Gratitude Practice: Regularly take time to acknowledge and appreciate the blessings in your life. Gratitude shifts your focus from what is lacking to what is abundant and beautiful.   Self-Care: Prioritize your well-being. Nourish your body, mind, and spirit with activities that bring you joy and peace.   Remember, choosing love is a daily practice, a conscious effort to rise above the noise of fear and to listen to the gentle whispers of your heart. It is through this choice that we transform not only our own lives but also the world around us.   I invite you to reflect on where you can infuse more love into your life today. How can you respond with love, even in the face of fear? How can you be a beacon of light in a world that needs it so desperately? DOWNLOAD MY FREE PDF ON EMBODYING LOVE!The Big Breath of the UniverseInterview with Jude CurrivanThrough centuries of reductionist science, we’ve come to believe that we live in a random universe. But that old paradigm is beginning to change. Since the advent of quantum physics, we’re realizing what the ancient wisdom traditions have always known: we are each an inseparable aspect of the cosmos, with the potential to cocreate a future based in love and awareness. “Take your protein pills and put your helmet on,” fellow spiritual explorers, for this revelatory, provocative, and adventurous podcast with Tami Simon and visionary author Dr. Jude Currivan. You’ll learn about supernormal phenomena and “walking between worlds”; the big breath (instead of the big bang); reframing our universe from a great object to a great thought; the exquisite, finely tuned relationships of information we call the laws of physics; the initial simplicity and evolutionary directionality of our universe; the “disease of separation” at the root of human dysfunction; finding purpose as finite beings in a finite universe; the holographic nature of the cosmos; black holes and the event horizon; breakthroughs after breakdowns; the sixth mass extinction and the choice to consciously evolve; the law of love; and more.LISTEN HERENote: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com. Dr Jude Currivan is a cosmologist, futurist, planetary healer, author and previously a senior UK-based international business woman. In 2017 she co-founded WholeWorld-View to serve the understanding, experiencing and embodying of unitive awareness, conscious evolution and transformational change and underpinned and framed by a unitive narrative.  www.wholeworld-view.orgJourney Through the AmazonBy Anita Sanchez Hello My Relations, I’ve just returned from an incredible journey to the Sacred Headwaters of the Amazon, leading a transformative trip with @Maverick1000 to the heart of the rainforest. There, we connected with the Sapara and Achuar Nations, experiencing firsthand their deep community ties, peace, and freedom. One profound tradition we observed: every morning, before dawn, the Achuar gather to drink guayusa tea and share their dreams, setting the tone of intention, care, and unity for the day. This daily ritual reminded us of the inseparable bond between community well-being and the earth’s health. Reflecting on this trip, I’m reminded of the joy and responsibility we share in nurturing our communities. If you’re curious about joining or learning more about this life-changing experience, please reach out. Practice Thriving Community: Reflect on areas of your daily life where you experience thriving community at home, work, spiritually, in nonprofit groups, or larger society. What makes this experience(s) thriving? Allow yourself to remember the details? What is happening, where, who is there? What role did others play? What role do you play? What is valued? Think of a time when you experienced peace, freedom, joy or happiness? What happened? Who was there? What role did you play? What role did others play? We each have a choice in creating and being a member of a thriving community(ies). We have profound responsibilities to ourselves and coming generations, and time is of the essence for each of us to live the values that support thriving community.   Let’s cherish and strengthen our communities, wherever we are.Photo: Anita Sanchez on FacebookMoloch & Our System of Bad Incentives – ExtendedBy Joe Martino Earlier this week I wrote a piece called Moloch & Our System of Bad Incentives. It’s about how the idea of Moloch, a god or demon of bad incentives, is causing people to forgo their values to ‘win’ at the game of life. This concept is at the core of our societal design. Be sure to read it if you haven’t yet as these added thoughts will make things make sense. What I wanted to add to this piece were some thoughts on peace as it relates to our current game. If we look back at history we see many peaceful villages, tribes and peoples who kept to themselves and valued being at peace more than conquering and expanding.  These people were conquered. The game incentive for those who conquered them was simple: if we kill others and expand we win the resource game, the land game, the ideology game, and can grow faster than others. These actions were often justified by: if we don’t do it them, someone will do it to us. This same justification is used today in false flag attacks, propaganda, the killing of millions of innocent people, bringing crappy untested products to market and giving them to millions etc. Does anyone recall that lead was once in gasoline and lowered the IQ of tens of millions of people as a result? This was because no one bothered to test it as they were incentivized to rush to market to beat competing companies. Simply put, our economic systems are built on bad incentives, and it produces conspiracy as one can win by engaging in conspiracy. So what does this mean about how we move forward in creating a better world based around peace if peace can so easily be destroyed by game incentives? It’s a good question, but certainly not one that should leave us with no hope. In fact, now is a time where I feel very hopeful that something incredible is emerging. I will have more on this soon in an upcoming essay, but if you haven’t yet caught up with my piece on Moloch & Our Systems of Bad Incentives, be sure to check it out.Whoever Creates Narratives Has the Capacity to Change the WorldArticle in Marie-Claire on Sandra de Castro BuffingtonSandra de Castro Buffington divulga na Rio 2C seu método de imersão — Foto: Divulgação Sandra de Castro Buffington: ‘Quem cria narrativas tem capacidade de mudar o mundo’ Especialista em roteiros de alto impacto social, Sandra de Castro Buffington divulga na Rio 2C seu método de imersão Por Lúcia Monteiro Sandra de Castro Buffington é dessas raras pessoas que sabem trafegar entre mundos, sem, no entanto, manter vidas paralelas. É cineasta, palestrante e empreendedora, tudo ao mesmo tempo agora. Nascida nos Estados Unidos, é filha de uma brasileira que cantava em 13 idiomas. Não preciso dizer que ela passa de um idioma a outro com a mesma tranquilidade com que transita entre a área da saúde pública (sua formação original) e o audiovisual (onde atua hoje em dia). Convidada para participar esta edição da Rio2C, ela apresenta no Brasil o trabalho que vem desenvolvendo nos últimos anos junto a roteiristas de cinema e televisão dos Estados Unidos, de facilitação de narrativas de impacto social. Translation from the Portuguese: Sandra de Castro Buffington: ‘Whoever creates narratives has the capacity to change the world’ Specialist in itineraries with high social impact, Sandra de Castro Buffington shares her immersion method at Rio 2C Sandra de Castro Buffington is one of those rare people who know how to travel between worlds, without, however, maintaining parallel lives. She’s a filmmaker, speaker and entrepreneur all at the same time now. Born in the United States, she is the daughter of a Brazilian mother who sang in 13 languages. I don’t need to say that she moves from one language to another with the same ease with which she moves between the area of ​​public health (her original training) and audiovisual (where she works today). Invited to participate in this edition of Rio2C, she presents in Brazil the work she has been developing in recent years with film and television screenwriters from the United States, facilitating narratives with social impact.  See the full article at https://revistamarieclaire.globo.com/blogs/lucia-monteiro/coluna/2024/06/sandra-de-castro-buffington-quem-cria-narrativas-tem-capacidade-de-mudar-o-mundo.ghtmlBrothers Koren in New York CityIsaac and Thorald Koren 2024 People’s Choice Webby Award Winners, Brothers Koren and The Kin, host an evening of songs and stories from their forthcoming live album, Long Way Home. Hailing from Australia, the Brothers Koren embarked on a journey that took them around the globe, sharing stages with the likes of Coldplay, P!NK and Rod Stewart.They are launching their new album in service of their Your Big Voice Foundation, creating opportunities for people of all ages and economic means to unlock their human potential through voice positive self-expression.  www.reclaimyourbigvoice.comOur Moment of Choice  Readers on Amazon have said: “This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to shape a better future” and “Wow… what a fabulous game changing book.” Our Moment of Choice is a perfect gift for friends, family – or yourself! And its wide variety of brief chapters by diverse visionaries makes it a great choice for book clubs and study groups. Enjoy!  Learn more about Our Moment of Choice at www.OurMomentofChoice.com “Our Moment of Choice: Visions and Hope for the Future,” with chapters by 43 members of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle is a winner of four awards including a gold Nautilus.We Answered the Call to Conscious Evolution (Help Us to Reach 50,000 – we’re getting close!) Meet some of those who have joined Deepak Chopra, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Gregg Braden, Bruce Lipton and other Evolutionary Leaders in making a Call to Conscious Evolution to collectively help accelerate the shift in global consciousness and create a world that works for everyone.ANSWER THE CALL!www.evolutionaryleaders.net/acalltoconsciousevolution Note the powerful commitments below posted by recent signatories!     This newsletter reaches thousands on the leading edge of the evolution across the globe. Won’t you click here to share it on your social media?Visit the Evolutionary Leaders YouTube ChannelAn Initiative of the Source of Synergy Foundation The Evolutionary Leaders YouTube Channel features numerous short presentations from our private archives where members of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle share the leading edge of their expertise with our community of evolutionary leaders. Explore our playlists and subscribe now to get inspired with the Evolutionary Leaders on YouTube!Invest in Synergy to Power a Transformed World Offer Your Appreciation Here – Thank You!

The Edge is a publication of the Evolutionary Leaders of the Source of Synergy Foundation Editor: Deborah Moldow, Associate Editor: Sandra Simon www.evolutionaryleaders.net www.sourceofsynergyfoundation.orgCopyright © 2024 Source of Synergy Foundation, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: The Source of Synergy Foundation, Inc. 697 3rd Avenue, #117 New York, NY 10017 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

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T_Mizuguchi

I place all problems in the hands of God

No matter what my problem, the perfect solution exists within the Mind of God. My job is not to be burdened by the question, but rather to make myself available to the answer. My worrying only delays an answer, reflecting my lack of faith that there is one. Today I will be still, knowing every answer, every healing, and every solution is on its way.

The universe is self-correcting, and I am a child of the universe. Miracles occur in response to every problem, yet it is my faith and compassion that bring them forth. May my mind be a conduit of love and faith, that my problems may be solved.

Dear God,
In You lies the answer to every question
And the solution to every problem.
I place my anxious mind
In Your care,
And pray for the calm through which
To receive Your answers.
And so it is.
Amen.

I place all problems in the hands of God