Awakening to My Second Life

“The Gauntlet” was a stretch of sidewalk at my college campus lined with booths preaching the world’s religions. Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Jews advertised. Interspersed between them, if eternal salvation wasn’t enough, one could get good deals on gym memberships and credit cards too! I spent most of my time at the Mormon booth because they had free brownies. Growing up,…

Transrevolution: The Twelve Phases of Structural and Cultural Metamorphosis

This model draws on a deep study of religious and political history, Systems/Complexity Theory, depth psychology, archetypal mythology, eradigmatics, and several other disciplines. The core insight for transrevolutionaries--those who encourage the evolution of mature, resilient, and self-reflective social systems--comes down to this: If you can’t beat ‘em, transform ‘em by receiving, tending,…

Free at Last: Being What We Are

Nature has apparently designed us to evolve into a more unified, awake state of consciousness. Many religious teachings for millennia have pointed to the realization of this unity as the highest attainment of a human life. Mutual devotion to this level of realization on the part of countless individuals has led, over thousands of years, to our current process of awakening together. There is a…

Hare-brained or essentially sane?

Hare-brained - or essentially sane? Is it the same hare, or are there several? As we drive round our new section we are continually lapped by the cute critters as if in some crazy relay race. We are here to discuss Project New Build, Matthew - my husband - and I. Three years ago, on New Year's Day we visited a neighbouring hill-top suburb, Horokiwi, near Wellington in New Zealand,…

The Exception For Trust – when lies and mistrust are more reliable than truth

Integrity. Like many over used words, most people have never really considered what it means. How easy it is to brandish around words that express some great and noble purpose, like arms flailing on a rag doll, no substance behind them. Talk is cheap. And in our time, talk has become so cheap that we actually do not trust anyone…we must have an army of lawyers because we have more faith…

How to be Fearless (and even Happy) in Frightening Times

For decades I’ve worked to shift the world toward peace and environmental harmony. It’s uphill work, and this past year I’ve seen the biggest setbacks yet. So, I created what I needed: a list of strategies for overcoming compassion-resistance fatigue. 1. Be thankful. That you are here on the planet at this time, that this challenge has been given you. My mother used to say that God won’t give…

EcoActivism

If scientists are correct about climate change, industrial civilization as we’ve known it for several generations will have to morph into something more sustainable, but if history is any indication, such transformations come with hellish transition periods, where the old guard clings to the familiar while battling the avant-garde for supremacy. Thus, evolution staggers forward, convulsed by…

SAMARU: Living the spirit of the Amazon

On my first night in the forest, I couldn’t sleep. I lay flat on my back, tired yet wide awake, charged with energy. It was the early hour after midnight, pitch black except for the small gleaming lights caused by phosphorescent beetles flying and crawling in the roof of the hut. Earlier there had been a chorus of ‘wooop - wooop’ from tree frogs calling for mates; now only a solitary frog sounded…

The New Story in Higher Education

Higher education is my playing field. And it is a field in which the rules of play are rigid, but unwritten, coherent, yet concealed, understood by all but unacknowledged. The unspoken rules are those that perpetuate a story. And the story goes something like this: Follow this prescription and you will succeed - get an education, get good grades, get a degree, get a good job, get married, buy a…