Unleashing love

Today, I want to share with you a little something about two of my most unforgettable workshop participants – Naughty and Yoda. As a part of Blue Ribbon Movement, my social enterprise, we enable other NGOs to build leadership for a better world. One of these, Make a Difference (MAD), works with children in shelter homes in 23 cities in India. I have been working with the core team on their…

Managing an Organization like a Biodynamic Farm

A commercial industrial farm is a machine, but a biodynamic farm is a living organism. Guided by ecological, ethical and holistic principles, biodynamic farmers work to bring all the elements of their farms – crops, livestock, compost, soils – into right relationship, so that they balance and support each other, creating a self-sustaining whole. The Biodynamic Association is the oldest…

Transforming a Moral Obligation into a Moral Motivation

To address the major challenges facing the world today, from cleaning the environment to feeding the planet, to fomenting peace, we need all players at the table. Multinational corporations need to sit alongside public sector representatives, activists, non-profits, investors and consumers. Getting that cornucopia of potential to the table will only be achieved by invitation, not excoriation.…

Ghandi, Mother Teresa, and you.

Ghandi said “be the change.” Faced with modern global complexities such as climate change, rising class disparity, and social and political instability, what does that really mean? We are Open Field Awakening . We are a collective of deep friendships, spiritual and business partners, living and creating together in community. We have a practitioner’s home – where we practice explicitly…

Fall | Winter 2015

Toward a Regenerative Civilization Regenerative Economy, Regenerative Development, Restorative Narrative Integral Spirituality, Political Spirituality, Peacebuilding in Iraq Transformative Media, Business Values, Ethical Ecology Browse the Table of Contents Click on the Table of Contents below for a larger view.

Activists for the Evolution of Life

As I look out my window I see a vision of natural beauty that takes my breath away. There’s a special tree I have watched grow from a little twig to a mass of green foliage quivering in the wind with squirrels running up and down the trunk. A little chipmunk scurries into the woodpile outside my door every now and then and sometimes a little bunny, too. My beloved temple dogs, Sophia and Willy,…

Citizens Peace Movement of Iraq

KOSMOS: Let’s begin, Kai, with an overview. We want to give our Kosmos readers a sense of you, your work, and the field of peacebuilding. What is peacebuilding? KAI BRAND-JACOBSEN: Peacebuilding is one of the most important areas of human endeavor and engagement in the world today. At it simplest, it is about finding concrete, practical, and effective ways of dealing with conflicts. That…

Integral Spirituality

This article is a Kosmos-edited version of a talk given at the Interspiritual conference From Self Care to Earth Care, July 2015. Developmental Levels of Growing Up The specific stages or levels of growing up have been given many different names. I’ll start with a variation on them given by the pioneering developmental genius Jean Gebser. We’ll see there are many others. But this particular…

Engaged Ecology: Seven Practices to Restore Our Harmony with Nature

It has rained steadily through the night, a gentle hushing sound in the thick tree canopy. In the morning light, crickets thrill and every leaf trembles and gleams. Soft mist gently rises as the creek gushes along its deep habitual groove in Rose Valley, a place as beautiful as it sounds: my home. Amid such grace, one might forget the planet is in chaos. Wars rage… and the trees grow slowly.…