********************************************************************** Apologies for being so out of touch. It's been a very hectic time both personally and professionally. I'm very pleased to report the completion of the "Book of Agreement," including some glowing pre-publication endorsements. By complete I mean that most of the writing is finished. That means that the book is about 5% done given that sharing the message and marketing are the real work. I will soon be asking for people intersted in hosting events in community gathering places or in their homes. My mission is to share tools that will help people build Communities of Agreement and Resolution at home and at work. I want to extend a special welcome to the Chamberline Community. A few months ago Bob Roberts, the creator of www.Chamberline.com contacted me saying that he had been following The Resolutionary for a few years and wanted to make it available to his membership organization. I told Bob I was honored, and wanted to know more about Chamberline. Bob told me that Chamberline was his creation. He told me that it's a website designed for local Chambers of Commerce with about 8,000 international subscribers. Bob has created a link to www.ResolutionWorks.org and will be sharing all future and archived editions with his members. What I'm really excited about is reaching local chambers in hopes of engaging them in the potential to make their municipality a "Community of Agreement and Resolution." Not long ago I heard of a program being run by a number of city libraries. The library selects a book that people read and discuss. I want Chambers sponsoring the reading of "Getting to Resolution" and "The Book of Agreement" for the purpose of creating "Communities of Agreement and Resolution." I will be designing both real-time and on-line educational programs so that people can learn together, share common language and use the communication tools to create shared vision for the future and resolve conflicts from the past. As I finalize this edition I'm left with the lingerings of the Sunday public policy shows in the wake of the corporate governance scandals. In some profound sense all the talk of reform and enforcement misses the mark, but I'm not surprised. The debacle of the past few months, and who knows what will come, is an example of folks moving deck cairs on the Titanic. I think that what we are seeing may be evidence that our current economic system is fatally flawed. It makes me wonder if our current global corporate structures exploit people in a way that is only different in kind, not character, from a feudal system that enslaves. If you are really interested in expanding your thinking please read "The Divine Right of Capital" by Marjorie Kelly; "Affluenza" by John De Graaf, et al; and "When Corporations Rule the World" and "Life After Capitalism" by David Korten. These books, I believe are the new economics that can lead to sustainability. Continuing on our current trajectory is likely to lead to more exploitation. Stewart Stewart Levine, Esq., Resolutionary ********************************************************************** The following quotes reflect some of our current challenges. I hope you are moved to action by their messages. I sometimes call the 20th century a century of bloodshed, a century of war. Over this century there have been more conflicts, more bloodshed, and more weapons than ever before. Now, on the basis of the experience we have all had in this century, and what we have learned from it, I think we should look to the next century to be one of dialogue. The principle of non-violence should be practiced everywhere. This cannot be achieved simply by sitting here and praying. It means work and effort, and yet more effort. The Dalai Lama's Boook of Love & Compassion ***************** Terror is in the human heart. We must remove this from the heart. Destroying the human heart, both physically and psychologically, is what we should avoid. The root of terrorism is misunderstanding, hatred and violence. This root cannot be located by the military. Bombs and missiles cannot reach it, let alone destroy it. Only with *************************** A native American boy was talking with his grandfather. "What do you think about the world situation?" he asked. The grandfather replied,"I feel like two wolves are fighting in my heart. One is full of anger and hatred. The other is full of love, forgiveness and peace." "Which one will win?" asked the boy. To which the grandfather replied, "The one I feed." From the Millionaire Eagles, www.milleagles.com, Origin Unknown ************************** "Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into."
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Dottie Walters I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him. Booker T. Washington
Chinese Proverb
The Resolutionary ********************************************************************** 2. SADNESS This poem reflects my thoughts as I move through a difficlt personal transition. Perspective is the difference between our tears and the value we can take from even the most difficult situations. Thinking you have it all together is easy when times are good. The true test of our character is how we respond to challenging situations that have real consequence for us and those we love. For me the lesson
A deep knawing numbness, not quite fully present What brings to the surface, what's there, beyond anger The vision that could be is what you are missing So how do you cure it, fix it, and heal it Let it instruct, and teach its deep lessons Embrace the perspective, it's not about you In time you'll embrace what I'm talking about ********************************************************************** Simple affirmations can provide a great deal. How we condition ourselves to think about our lives and actions determines our perspective. Our subconscious will draw toward us what our dominant thoughts express. In some sense affirmations are no different than prayers. Please take a few moments and quietly ask yourself what affirmations will serve you right now. "One comes to believe whatever one repeats to oneself sufficiently The incredible power of affirmation... You are using it right now ~ If you were to change what you affirm to yourself, what would
Inspired by www.Kevin-Lawrence.com ******************************************************************* The more aware we are of our basic paradigms, maps, or assumptions, and the extent to which we have been influenced by our experience, the more we can take responsibility for those paradigms, examine them, test them against reality, listen to others and be open to their perceptions, thereby getting a larger picture and a far more objective view.... If you really seek to understand, without hypocrisy and without guile, there will be times when you will be literally stunned with pure knowledge and understanding that will flow to you from another human being. It isn't even always necessary to talk in order to empathize. In fact, sometimes words may just get in your way. That's one very important reason why technique alone will not work. That kind of understanding transcends technique. A powerful variation on the same theme I use a bedrock for resolving conflict: If you knew the secret history of those you would like to punish Longfellow ***************************************************************** 5. SHALLOW ROOTS "Redwood trees are the tallest trees in the world. Some are over 2500 years old. One would think that they have tremendous root systems reaching down hundreds of feet into the earth. The redwoods actually have a very shallow system of roots, but they all intertwine. They are locked to each other. When the storms come or the winds blow, the redwoods stand. They are locked to each other, and they don't stand alone, for all the trees support and protect each other." -- Robert J. Morgan Where in your life are your roots are locked with others? What do you gain by being entwined ? *********************************************************** "Accidental Genius" by , Mark Levy - A great way to tap into what you don't know you know. "I thought We'd Never Speak Again" by Laura Davis." Stories of how even the most irreconcileable are brought together. It is a book of great failth, and an inspiration for anyone helping others resolve conflict. "Change Your Question, Change Your Life" by Dr. Marilee Adams. This book won't be out until 2003, but I can't wait. Many of our thoughts are generated bya series of internal and external questions. The question frames our response. Ask the right question, especially from the perspective of wondering "what is there to be learned by what happened?" and the opportunity for learning prevails. "Leadership and Self-Deception" by The Arbinger Institute. A simple and powerful message in parable form. When we objectify others and forget their humanity we rob ourselves of the rich connections and real synergy that comes from heart based human relationships. Even when we think we are engaged really engaged we may not be. More important, when we betray our ingrained human impulse to take care of the other we often then justify why we chose not to by focusing on what's wrong with them. That costly self-deception can ruin your life. The following legislation has been introduced. Sounds like a great idea that needs to be supported. A key in the war on terrorism is to export what's great about democracy and "The Rule of Law." HIGHLIGHTS: THE PEACE CORPS CHARTER FOR THE 21ST CENTURY ACT 1. Provides a fund of $ 10 million per year to be used by RPCVs "to develop programs and projects to promote the objectives of the Peace Corps." (Now we would have significant, renewable funding for important programs and projects both in this country and in the countries in which we served) 2. Calls on the Peace Corps Director to more fully utilize RPCVs in opening and reopening Peace Corps countries. 3. Keeps the PC independent from the USA Freedom Corps. 4. Calls for a very carefully thought out and safe expansion of PCV numbers. 5. Calls for an expanded Crisis Corps "to utilize to the maximum extent the pool of talent from the returned Peace Corps Volunteer community." 6. Calls for the creation of an Office of Strategic Planning, "to evaluate existing programs and undertake long term planning in order to facilitate the orderly expansion of the Peace Corps....." 7. Calls for a " streamlined bipartisan National Peace Corps Advisory 8. Includes a global infectious disease initiative. 9. Readjustment allowances would be increased from $125 to $200 per month. ****************************************************************** 8. TRUE DEMOCRACY The following words were written in support of women's sufferage. They have much broader applicability. As you read them please think about the state of our democracy, and democracy in general. I will say again that the only way to conquer terrorism is by including others in what we have by exporting The Rule of Law and true democracy. I think we have a gret deal to learn. What do you think? Excerpts from THE NEW STATE (1918) By Mary Parker Follett Chapter XIX The True Democracy Democracy is the rule of an interacting, interpermeating whole.... The enthusiasts of democracy today are those who have caught sight of a great spiritual unity which is supported by the most vital trend in philosophical thought and by the latest biologists and social psychologists.... Democracy is not a spreading out: it is not the extension of the suffrage -- its merely external aspect -- it is a drawing together; it is the imperative call for the lacking parts of self.... We want woman to vote not that the suffrage may be extended to women but that women may be included in the suffrage: we want what they may have to add to the whole. Democracy is an infinitely including spirit. We have an instinct for This is the primitive urge of all life. This is the true nature of man. Democracy must find a form of government that is suited to the nature of man and which will express that nature in its manifold relations. Or rather democracy is the self-creating process of life appearing as the true nature of man, and through the activity of man projecting itself into the visible world in fitting form so that its essential oneness will declare itself. Democracy then is not an end, we must be weaving all the time the web of democracy. We believe in the influence of the good and the wise, but they must exert their influence within the social process; it must be by action and reaction, it must be by a subtle permeation... The wise can never help us by standing on one side and trying to get their wisdom across to the unwise. The unwise can never help us (what has often been considered the most they could do for the world) by a passive willingness for the wise to impose their wisdom upon them. We need the intermingling of all in the social process. We need our imperfections as well as our perfections. So we offer what we have -- our unwisdom, our imperfections -- on the alter of the social process, and it is only by this social process that the wonderful transmutation can take place which makes of them the very stuff There is only one way to get democratic control -- by people learning how to evolve collective ideas. The essence of democracy is not in Democracy is a method, a scientific technique of evolving the will of the people.... Neither party bosses nor unscrupulous capitalists are our undoing, but our own lack of knowing how to do things together. Unity is neither a sentiment nor an intellectual conception, it is a How shall we gain a practical understanding of this essential unity of man? By practicing it with the first person we meet; by approaching every man with the consciousness of the complexity of his needs, of the vastness of his powers.... Democracy is the actual commingling of men in order that each shall have continuous access to the needs and the wants of others. Democracy then is a great spiritual force evolving itself from men, And, from other chapters: Our present idea of an omnipresent, ever-active, articulate citizenship building up its own life within the frame of politics is the most fruitful idea of modern times. [An] actual increase of democracy [requires] the development of those We have outgrown our political system. We must face this frankly. We had, first, government by law, second, government by parties and big business, and all the time some sort of fiction of the "consent of the governed" which we said meant democracy. But we have never had government by the people. The third step is to be the development of machinery by which the fundamental ideas of the people can be got at and embodied; further, by which we can grow fundamental ideas; further still, by which we can prepare the soil in which fundamental ideas can grow. Social policies are not policies invented for the good of the people, but policies created by the people. The regulation theory was based on the same fallacy as the let-alone theory, namely, that government is something external to the structural life of the people. Government cannot leave us alone, it cannot regulate us, it can only express us. The scope of politics should be our whole social life. Our present idea of an omnipresent, ever-active, articulate citizenship building up its own life within the frame of politics is the most fruitful idea of modern times. ******************************************************************** Stewart Levine, Esq., Resolutionary |
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