Creating Circles of Sanity
Dear Reader,
This morning (Labor Day), I attended a Unity Rally in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Several hundred people of all colors, shapes, ages and abilities gathered to celebrate our differences and reject intolerance.
Image | Amy Quinn
As we joined hearts and hands, it seemed to me we were a 'circle of sanity' in a sea of confusion. There are many such circles - pools of light in the…
Is There Still a Place for Zoos?
By Dave Neale, via AnimalsAsia.org
To answer the question as to whether or not zoos serve a purpose is very difficult. Every zoo is different. For instance, in many cases visiting a zoo in countries such as China and Vietnam can be a very negative educational experience, where the conditions in which the animals are being kept are unacceptable. I know that the majority of the visitors do not…
Kosmic Citizenship Part 1 | Drawing on Wider Truths in an Age of Post-Truth
By Kavita Byrd, for Kosmos Online
When the new post-Trump altered reality hit in November, it left me, like many others, reeling in shock and confusion. I had been involved for years in an attempt to forge an alliance between spiritual and progressive forces, but suddenly this seemed far too naïve and hopeful in the face of the dark realpolitik before us. Yet as time passed, in that strange…
Kids and Screen Time
By Mark Bertin, via The Garrison Institute
Kids and screen time cause considerable parental angst these days—and for good reason. Research shows children spend on average seven hours a day glued to computer, tablet, smart phone, or television screens. This reality has created such a stir that last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated its decade-old recommendation on…
How to Awaken Joy in Kids
By James Baraz and Michele Lilyanna, via Greater Good
These research-based practices can help kids (and adults) foster authentic happiness.
Can joy be cultivated? And, if so, can we teach our kids how to be more joyful in their lives? In our experience, the answer to both of these questions is yes. But it takes knowing what kinds of practices bring true happiness—and not just…
Paradigms Shifting
I think that the greatest paradigm shift in our time is our growing understanding of what paradigms are, how we get them, how they affect our perceptions, our worldviews, how we co-create them, and how we can use them in creating a world that works for all.
They are the hidden persuaders, invisible contexts that convey meaning and filter our interpretive perceptions of all the going-on-ness we…
An Atmosphere of Geoengineering
The fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stated with 95% confidence that humans are the cause of the global warming that has been observed over the past 60 years [1]. This seems to settle the question definitively that climate change is anthropogenic, something we have suspected since the early 20th century [2]. The cause of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions from…
Keep Calm & Wake Up
By Richard Hames, CEO, Centre for the Future
Humans shape and construct systems deliberately – but then those same systems shape us - sometimes in ways that are least expected. All systems are designed to deliver what we need. Where the outputs are not what we want (or had intended) then we really only have two options.
1. If it is at all feasible we can redesign the system so that it…
Book | The One Life We’re Given
By Mark Nepo, from his new book:
THE ONE LIFE WE'RE GIVEN
FINDING THE WISDOM THAT WAITS IN YOUR HEART
Atria Books, 2016
A Kosmos featured book for the Sacred Season
During the summer, I was staying in a lodge near the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Every morning I’d stroll along the path behind the lodge, watching the tufts of grass stretch to meet the dew. The sun hitting the wet grass seemed…
Listings | 11 Days of Global Unity
Via WE.net
From empowering students and teachers in Zambia to interfaith dialogues in San Francisco, thousands of organizations around the world have taken part in the annual 11 Days of Global Unity September 11-21.
Launched by We, The World and global partners in 2004, 11 Days is a worldwide convergence of festivals, concerts, forums, rallies and other programs promoting peace, justice,…