The Edge - Fall 2011

Welcome... to the first edition of

This newsletter will report on many ways Evolutionary Leaders around the world are joining together in synergy at the edge of conscious evolution – leveraging the potential of the collective to support the emergence of an evolutionary leap in consciousness for the benefit of the whole.

See the Evolutionary Leaders introductory video at

www.evolutionaryleaders.net

Special Event

On 11.1.11 (November 1, 2011) Evolutionary Leaders meeting in northern California for their annual retreat will gather in meditation to set an intention. Please repeat the intention below and join with us in this silent connection at 11:11 AM PST to hold this intention:

Our intention is to transcend the superficial differences that divide us – race, religion, politics, beliefs, culture – to acknowledge, experience and honor the essential bond that unites us all as one vast interdependent superorganism.

We also announce our intention as evolutionary leaders to evolve together in consciousness and action, to move beyond the competitive and individualistic mindset that forms the undercurrent of our lives in the developed world.  We intend to embrace our true nature, our deep-seated impulses toward wholeness, cooperation, fairness, generosity, mutual support and community for a peaceful, holistic, sustainable world.

You may want to enhance your meditation experience by logging onto Institute of Heartmath/Global Coherence Initiative Global Care Room HERE which will allow you to see where other participants in the meditation are located through a beautiful representation of our Earth. An audio recording of the meditation will be available HERE, as well as at www.evolutionaryleaders.net/11-1-11.

FEATURED ACTION: Japan Post 3/11

By Yuka Saionji
Dear Evolutionary Leaders,

Hello from Japan. Today I wanted to share just a little bit of what has been going on after 3.11 in Japan. At first, I didn’t know what or where to start after this huge devastation. But we knew we had to take this as an opportunity and not just a tragedy. And let it be a birth to a new light. The Evolutionary Leaders have been such a great source of wisdom, power, energy and hope for me – all the emails and messages we have received from EL members gave us so much energy and power to move forward.

There are many projects and movements that have happened after 3/11 for me and the Goi Peace Foundation (www.goipeace.or.jp) but today I wanted to share what is most important to me right now. Like Bruce Lipton’s example of our body as future model or Elisabet Sahtouris’s example of the butterfly stem cells, I truly feel the importance of community rising together, and us evolving our consciousness. To take one step out of fear… and to collaborate for a new arising. And for me, the power of dialogue, collective wisdom and collaboration was the key and a new way of creation and leadership.

Therefore I am now working with Bob Stilger and Yuya Nishimura of Resilient Japan (www.resilientjapan.org), who are creating spaces for young community leaders to come together for a 3-day dialogue (retreat). We invite youth mainly in their 20s and 30s who work in the devastated area as a volunteer or staff member or with an organization, youth who are the victims of the earthquake and tsunami who were evacuated, and youth who want to create a new change. We bring 60 of them all together at a time in a safe place without worries about the nuclear issue… to share feelings, to see what is happening, and bring forward what is arising. We have already done this three times and plan for two more this year, engaging a total of 300 youth.

What is so important about this program is that people can get so caught in trying to fix things or focus so much on what we have to do, that many who are working directly at the disaster area don’t get a chance to see the change within, to connect with themselves, to see the bigger picture, to connect with source, and to have time for collaboration and networking for a greater cause. Through this program, you can see the change in their consciousness and how they grab onto hope, light and possibility, rather than to work just from fear or rush. And how important the consciousness level is in order to create something new! How easy it is to get back into old patterns and get caught up in them. We realized that giving this kind of space and time makes a huge impact and difference – inside and out. The change on the inside becomes the source they can go back to at troubled times in the future. The changes on the outside are the many collaboration and projects rising out of this program. We have seen many connections happening through youth coming together and sharing.

An example of collaboration was a summer camp that was created to host children from Fukushima (the site of the nuclear disaster) out at a safe place in Tokyo so that they could freely play outside without worrying about the nuclear effects. We have a program in Fukushima to empower youth through music. We are planning to host a retreat in Miyagi (which took a huge tsunami hit) for high school and college students soon and to train those who are interested further in facilitation and hosting so that they themselves can start a dialogue in their community. There is also a project to support youth who are trying to start social entrepreneurship in Miyagi. And experimentation with gift economy is happening amongst youth who want to see a new change in the world, etc., etc.!

This project may be small at first, but we believe it has a huge impact on each individual. And it is so important to empower the youth and those who have been evicted to take their power and their ownership. And, one step at a time, we are seeing these changes. We want to keep continuing this work and for this, we would really like to ask for your support!! In order to keep hosting these spaces as well as support projects rising out of this… we would really like your support. If you would like to help us financially, please CLICK HERE.

Or if you are in Japan, you can connect with these youth to empower and invite them to conscious evolution. Thank you so much!!

Infinite gratitude to all Evolutionary Leaders members for your existence and all the inspiration you have given me. Special gratitude to Jean Houston, Mark Gerzon, Fred Matser, Duane Elgin and Lynnaea Lumbard, who have directly helped and guided me move forward in Japan.

Yuka Saionji
The Goi Peace Foundation
www.goipeace.or.jp

Leadership Dialogue

  
Deepak Chopra and Diane Williams

“Evolutionary Leadership: Being in Service to Conscious Evolution”

A Dialogue Between Deepak Chopra and Diane Williams

What does Evolutionary Leadership mean? What tools do people need to become evolutionary in their thinking and actions?

Deepak: In my opinion, the most important skill that we can develop is to be listening to the collective conversation that is facilitating evolution at the moment, and that has to be a very deep listening – a listening that involves getting all the facts, a listening that involves emotions, a listening that involves incubating at the level of the soul. I think we have to observe, we have to feel, we have to think creatively, and we have to incubate in our own stillness to hear and see what’s happening. And based on that, we have to create a vision that is consistent with this deep listening, because the vision is also evolving. I think the most important thing that we have to be careful about is not letting this idea of “us” being evolutionary leaders take over as another mask for self-importance. As long as we’re careful about that, then I think that deep listening and envisioning together is the tool we need.

Diane: Evolutionary Leadership is all about making a commitment with others to facilitate the emergence of another great evolutionary leap in consciousness for the benefit of whole. There are evolutionary leaders in every form everywhere on the planet.

And the tools needed…I think to become evolutionary in one’s thinking you have to believe that more is possible. It’s about moving forward and not only activating one’s highest potential but taking it a step beyond that to a zone where true evolution takes place.

There are many tools including: A Conscious Community so you begin to think and act from a “we” space instead of an “I” space;

• A spiritual practice like meditation that allows us to tap into a place beyond space and time. And like Deepak was mentioning, where we can really listen to the soul and be directed in that way;
   
• And the ability to surrender on some levels:

1. To universal laws
2. To your intuition
3. To signs that guide us everyday. We see signs and sometimes think, “well that’s interesting,” but we do really think what it means?
4. To synchronicity
5. To your authentic self, because you do have to get beyond the ego self in order to have evolution happen.

Because Conscious Evolution can only happen when we are in a field where anything is possible – one where you feel a lightness of being because you moved out of a 3rd dimensional reality into something beyond that.

Deepak: The three words reminded me of three words: seva, simran, satsang. Seva is selfless service. Satsang is the community. Simran is remembrance or what the Sufi’s call “zikr,” which is spiritual practice. So it’s all there.

This group is called Evolutionary Leaders: In Service to Conscious Evolution. What does it mean to be “In Service to Conscious Evolution”?

Deepak: It means to surrender to the evolutionary impulse that’s already there, and to do what needs to be done. And at the same time, at least in my opinion, leave the results to the unknown, which is already taking us there.

Diane: “In Service to Conscious Evolution” means individually and collectively taking responsibility for our future destiny by transcending the limitations of our past human existence….Barbara Marx Hubbard often says “to go from unconscious to conscious choice.” So we do that and we know we are doing that because we are taking an evolutionary leap into our next stage of existence. So if we can say “yes” to that, we are “in service to conscious evolution.” This group of Evolutionary Leaders has initiated A Call to Conscious Evolution: Our Moment of Choice. What is this Call all about and what can an individual do to answer the Call?

Deepak: I think the Call is really, giving voice to what is already a calling for a lot of people. And what people can do is to say, “How can I get involved? How can I join? Tell me how can I contribute?”

Diane: The Call recognizes that we are affecting our own evolution by everything we do. And there’s a line in the call that says: "this knowledge not only awakens in us the aspiration to become more conscious but also reveals incredible new potential for humanity."

So once our evolution accelerates we soon find ourselves in a field of unity consciousness and we begin to align with others in a collective vision. So the Call to Conscious Evolution says that the changes required of us are really broad and far-reaching but if we act quickly and creatively we can birth a new story…a really new age.

* * * *

The Call to Conscious Evolution is meant to stimulate a global conversation and action, offering some concrete suggestions and possibilities. So far about 41,000 people around the world have signed on to the call and joined this effort.

To sign up for the Call and also answer the question, go to:
www.evolutionaryleaders.net/acalltoconsciousevolution 

Spotlight Question: Craig Hamilton

The Online Path to the Global "We"

Craig Hamilton began the online Academy for Evolutionaries as an experiment to see whether it was possible to catalyze a collective awakening in evolutionary spirituality through the Internet.

The result has been resoundingly positive, with people participating in over 40 countries.

LISTEN HERE

New from Evolutionary Leaders

War of the Worldviews: Science Vs. Spirituality
by Deepak Chopra, Leonard Mlodinow

Two bestselling authors first met in a televised Caltech debate on “the future of God,” one an articulate advocate for spirituality, the other a prominent physicist.  This remarkable book is the product of that serendipitous encounter and the contentious—but respectful—clash of worldviews that grew along with their friendship. 

In War of the Worldviews these two great thinkers battle over the cosmos, evolution and life, the human brain, and God, probing the fundamental questions that define the human experience.

How did the universe emerge?
What is the nature of time?
What is life? Did Darwin go wrong?
What makes us human?
What is the connection between mind and brain?
Is God an illusion?

This extraordinary book will fascinate millions of readers of science and spirituality alike, as well as anyone who has ever asked themselves, What does it mean that I am alive?

Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening
by Andrew Cohen , Deepak Chopra (Foreword by)

THE NEW SPIRITUALITY IS ALL ABOUT EVOLUTION
In Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening, Cohen redefines spirituality for our contemporary world--a world characterized by exponential change and an ever-expanding appreciation for the processes of evolution. Based on 25 years of groundbreaking work as a spiritual teacher and the editor-in-chief of the award-winning EnlightenNext magazine, Cohen has synthesized an original path, practice, and philosophy focused entirely on aligning yourself with what he calls "the evolutionary impulse."

His message is simple, yet profound: Life is evolution, and enlightenment is about waking up to this fundamentally creative impulse as your own deepest, most authentic self--so that you can play an active role in creating the future.

EMBRACING CHANGE AS YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
Change is a constant in today's world. Technology is accelerating, globalization is making the world more and more complex, and the pace of life seems to be speeding up every day.

While many popular forms of contemporary spirituality offer ways to feel better in the face of overwhelming change--to discover greater equanimity, detachment, or compassion--Andrew Cohen says that change is not something to be avoided, or merely tolerated, but an essential aspect of reality that needs to be consciously embraced. Through his five fundamental tenets for living an enlightened life, Cohen empowers you to wholeheartedly participate in the process of change as your own spiritual practice. In doing so, he not only makes deep sense of life today; he shows you how to play an active role in shaping the world of tomorrow.  

Deep Truth: Igniting the Memory of Our Origin, History, Destiny and Fate
by Gregg Braden

The Crisis:
Best-selling author and visionary scientist Gregg Braden suggests that the hottest topics that divide us as families, cultures, and nations—seemingly disparate issues such as war, terrorism, abortion, genocide, poverty, economic collapse, climate change, and nuclear threats—are actually related. They all stem from a worldview based upon the false assumptions of an incomplete science.

The History:
The obsolete beliefs of our modern worldview have brought us to the brink of disaster and the loss of all that we cherish as a civilization. Our reluctance to accept new discoveries about our relationship to the earth, one another, and our ancient past keeps us locked into the thinking that has led to the crises threatening our lives today.

The Facts:
The scientific method allows for, and expects, new information to be revealed and assimilated into our existing beliefs. It’s the updating of scientific knowledge with the new facts from new discoveries that is the key to keeping science honest, current, and meaningful.
To continue teaching science that is not supported by the new discoveries—ones based upon accepted scientific methods—is not, in fact, scientific. But this is precisely what we see happening in traditional textbooks, classrooms, and mainstream media today.
 
The Opportunity:
Explore for yourself the discoveries that change 150 years of scientific beliefs, yet are still not reflected in mainstream thinking, including:

• Evidence of advanced, near–ice age civilizations
• The origin of, and reasons for, war in our ancient past, and why it may become obsolete in our time
• The false assumptions of human evolution and of the Darwinian theory “Let the strongest live and the weakest die” and how this plays out in corporations, societies, warfare, and civilization today

Deep Truth reveals new discoveries that change the way we think about everything from our personal relationships to civilization itself. When the facts become clear, our choices become obvious. 

The Bond: Connecting Through the Space Between Us
by Lynne McTaggart

For centuries, Western science and many Western cultures have taught us to think of ourselves as individuals. But today, a revolutionary new understanding is emerging from the laboratories of the most cutting-edge physicists, biologists, and psychologists:
What matters is not the isolated entity, but the space between things, the relationship of things. The Bond.
By international bestselling author Lynne McTaggart, The Bond is the culmination of her groundbreaking work. It offers a completely new, scientific story of life and the human experience, one that challenges the very way we conceive of ourselves and our world. The Bond shows that the essential impulse of all life is a will to connect rather than a drive to compete.

In fact, we are inescapably connected, hardwired to each other at our most elemental level—from cells to whole societies. The desire to help others is so necessary that we experience it as one of our chief pleasures, as essential as eating and having sex, and we succeed and prosper only when we see ourselves as part of a greater whole. Every conflict that occurs—whether between husband and wife, social or racial groups, or nations—is resolved only when we can fully see and embrace the space—the bond—between us.

McTaggart offers detailed recommendations to help foster more holistic thinking, more cooperative relationships, and more unified social groups. Blending interviews and human stories into an absorbing narrative, she shows how:

• A simple daily practice conditions the brain to enable you to become more empathetic toward others
• A new way of speaking and listening can overcome polarization, helping the staunchest of enemies to become close friends
• People who fire together wire together: Whenever a group works together for a common goal, the brains of all parties begin to get on the same wavelength, strengthening the bond within the group
• Fairness is more powerful than unfairness: A small group of individuals committed to strong reciprocity can “invade” a population of self-interested individuals and create a fairer society

The Bond offers a breathtaking, visionary plan for a new way to live, in harmony with our true nature and with each other, and a new way to heal our relationships, our neighborhoods, and our world.

Video Bites

Featured Quote

Andrew Cohen on his new book, Evolutionary Enlightenment

"I believe that those of us in the twenty-first century at the leading edge of consciousness and culture urgently need a mystical spirituality and a source of soul liberation that points us not beyond time but toward the future that we need to create."

Link to inspiring quotes from Evolutionary Leaders HERE. 

EL Article

By Gordon Dveirin

Our Moment to Act:
Conscious Evolution and the Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities

“Conscious evolution means that humans commit our life energy to making this planet a better place to live for all sentient beings.” Allen M. Schoen, Kindred Spirits

Implicit in the concept of conscious evolution is an ethical orientation, a guide to wise and compassionate action that naturally flows from our felt kinship with, and reverence for, the richly diverse and interdependent life that springs from the one great source with its infinitely creative potential. When we have widened the circle of our concern to this degree, embracing all that lives and the sacred life force itself, we awaken from what Einstein called “the optical delusion of separateness” and the selfishness it begets. In its place, the higher, creative intelligence from which life’s fullness springs begins to inform us and we are empowered to act not only freely and spontaneously, but also responsibly, sensitively, in synergy with others for the good of the whole. Imagine what our world can be like if we all, individually and collectively, rise to this level, with global conscience serving as our guide. Imagine what our future can be when we’ve agreed to act according to the Golden Rule that underlies all the world’s religions, doing toward all others, human and non-human alike, only as we ourselves would be done to.

This is not being fanciful. Beginning this autumn of 2011, as conscious evolutionaries, we will all have an opportunity to take an active step toward such a future by supporting a revived initiative to have the Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities officially adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. This effort began 14 years ago in an attempt to balance the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was adopted in 1948 in time for its 50th anniversary. The initial effort failed because mostly Western countries felt that responsibilities interfered with unrestricted freedom.

Individualism and laissez faire competition at any cost have been our Western way of defining freedom since the Industrial Age began. But the cost is becoming unbearable, leading to a “tragedy of the commons” on a global scale. For example, twenty per cent of our beloved fellow species will be extinct in less than thirty years if we don’t change our destructive patterns of behavior. As former president Bill Clinton said at a recent meeting in Quebec City, the days of win/lose in our deeply interdependent world are over. Win/win or lose/lose are now the only remaining options. Without shared responsibility to respect and protect one another’s rights and dignity, those rights and that dignity will not be protected and preserved.

The Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities is important, and we can all lobby our government representatives and each other to support its passage by the UN General Assembly. As fellow evolutionary leaders who recognize the flourishing future that wants to be born through us as our deepest impulse, we invite you to join us in this effort.

Join the Evolution

EVOLUTIONARY LEADERS SUPPORT THE CALL - UCLA 2010

See photos and articles from the live Evolutionary Leaders event

Evolutionary Leaders: In Service to Conscious Evolution

Don Beck, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Joan Borysenko, Gregg Braden, Patrick Brauckmann, Rinaldo Brutoco, Jack Canfield, Scott Carlin, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Cohen, Oran Cohen, Dale Colton, Wendy Craig-Purcell, Stephen Dinan, Michael Dowd, Gordon Dveirin, Duane Elgin, Barbara Fields, Ashok Gangadean, Kathleen Gardarian, Tom Gegax, David Gershon, Mark Gerzon, Charles Gibbs, Joshua Gorman, Craig Hamilton, Kathy Hearn, Jean Houston, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Ervin Laszlo, Bruce Lipton, Lynnaea Lumbard, Elza Maalouf, Howard Martin, Fred Matser, Rod McGrew, Steve McIntosh, Lynne McTaggart, Nipun Mehta, Nina Meyerhof, Deborah Moldow, James O'Dea, Terry Patten, Carter Phipps, Carolyn Rangel, Ocean Robbins, Peter Russell, Elisabet Sahtouris, Yuka Saionji, Gerard Senehi, Christian Sorensen, Emily Squires, Daniel Stone, Lynne Twist, Diane Williams, Katherine Woodward Thomas, Claire Zammit, Tom Zender

Join the Community