********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** I find TV newscasts about the impending war surreal. The reports remind me of the high school kids who wreaked havoc a few years ago. They had become sharpshooters on video games. Watching two reporters this week speaking about thier deployment I had the sense that they were off to report on a sports event. I do not hear enough talk about real bombs that will be exploded, real flesh that will be ripped and torn, real blood that will flow, real families will be torn apart, real infrastructure that will be destroyed, and the lives of people who will be changed forever. I am not sure what the answer is. I know that in the long run violence will only lead to more violence, no matter how swift or convincing the military outcome. There will be no winner, only a party on top for a while others are remembering how they were wronged, and how to strike back, no matter how long to the opportunity. Bad guy, yes! Untrustworthy? Yes! But on the other side it has been reported that last year Halliburton invested $73 Million in Iraqi Oil infrastructure and Senator Richard Lugar, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee said "We will take over and run the oil industry and we will make money." This will not resolve the conflict. This will make it worse. I am far from being an alarmist, but I feel very unsafe in DC. I flinch when I hear helicopter motors or sirens. And, I am as concerned about abuses of "The Patriot Act" as I am of Al Quida. We need another Gandhi, or a Martin Luther King. We need someone with a compelling vision of the future who can pull us out of this morass! If you feel frightened, confused, angry and enraged you are not alone! It's time to do something about it. So, manage your emotions, and get into action. What is the legacy you want to leave? What kind of world do you want to leave your children? Last Tuesday (three days after the shuttle was lost) I had the extraordinary privilege of being at NASA for the day. I had been invited to hear Meg Wheatley (Turning to Each Other, Leadership and The New Science) speak, but the day turned out to be much different than planned. We have all been moved by the tragedy. I was moved even more by the reverence at the Goddard facility in Maryland. To hear scientists speak about their relationships to the crew made me realize how vital these superstars were. The day after I was there I wrote a poem called "Reverence." Here's what I wrote the day after the loss TRAGEDY What is your thought process when tragedy falls What does your head say when your hearts broken Quiet and still is the place I have found The path that connects me back to my source Just as you observe yourself, your emotion Have faith the tragedy served a bigger end ********************************************************************** You should NEVER drive in the rain with your cruise control on. If you hydroplane, when your tires are off the road your car will accelerate to a high rate of speed. You don't have much, if any control when you hydroplane, but you are totally in the hands of God when the car accelerates. You will take off like an airplane. Please pass the word around about not using cruise control when the pavement is wet or icy. ********************************************************************** In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. Albert Camus "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." Unknown "Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." Carl Jung A billion stars go spinning through the night, blazing high above your head. But in you is the presence that will be, when the stars are dead. Kabir
One day after humanity has harnessed the winds, the waves and the sun, we will harness the power of love. Then, for the second time in history, humankind will have discovered fire. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ********************************************************************** Sometimes we wonder why it's important to resolve and prevent conflict. In the 1990's American heart surgeon Dr. Dean Ornish led a revolution in medical science by collating all the research into the effects of love, intimacy, and connectedness on human health. He proved beyond all doubt that people exhibiting these intimate characteristics of the human heart benefit from high recovery rates and immune response as much as seven times more than people in whom these characteristics are lacking. Ornish has also discovered that the greatest cause of disease in the US is stress and conflict in the workplace. ********************************************************************** Across the US, City Councils - representing millions of American citizens -- pass anti-war resolutions, with many more on the way. Washington, DC, USA, January 7 - At least 29 City Councils from Baltimore to Seattle, from Philadelphia to Kalamazoo, have passed resolutions opposing war in Iraq. Anti-war resolutions are pending in many more communities, from Chicago to Houston and all points in between. Faced with crushing budget deficits, safety concerns about urban terrorist attacks that might accompany a strike against Iraq, and the prospect of their constituents fighting a costly and bloody war, growing numbers of City Councils have passed public resolutions that express mainstream American concerns about a possible war in the Middle East and its domestic repercussions. The effort to give voice to millions of American citizens through these resolutions is being organized and facilitated by Cities for Peace, a coalition that includes the Institute for Policy Studies, the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, the National Priorities Project, chapters of the American Friends Service Committee and other grassroots organizations, student groups and faith-based organizations, which are facilitating the drafting and passing of the resolutions. Similar resolutions are being passed by student council bodies, faculty senates, major labor unions and church boards around the country. www.citiesforpeace.org. ...My main concern in light of the above is wondering if anyone is really listening to the sentiments of so many. I have a great deal of faith in ordinary folks, that's why their calls need to be acknowledged and heard. ********************************************************************** In December I had the extraordinary privilidge of teaching a conflict resolution class to Ms. Amadi's fourth grade class at the St. Peter's School in Philadelphia. I loved every moment! My friend Krista Bard (A strategic marketing consultant in Philadelphia, www.bardusa.com) invited me to speak to the Philadelphia Trade Association for small businesses. About two weeks before the event she called and asked if I would like to present to her son's class. I immediately said yes! I spoke to the teacher who had been doing "peace table" work with the kids. That really excited me. At Krista's suggestion I gave essentially the same presentation to the kids as the adults the night before. They were engaged, enthusiastic, and asked terrific questions. I left feeling very hopeful. Most people think that changing the mind set of a culture is a multi-generational project. I now believe a great deal can happen with one generation. If we admit what a sorry state the world is in and educate the kids about how they might be different we can make great strides. Krista and I will be writing a book for kids about collaboration and conflict resolution. I'm looking forward to the learning process! Some thoughts about collaboration... It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community; a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living. This may be the most important thing we can do for the survival of the Earth. Thich Nhat Hanh *********** People come together in response to a natural impulse to work together, to build together and to create together. They come to experience how necessary it is for them to collaborate with each other. And so it is that humankind begins to learn how to leverage the infinite power of collective wisdom. Centered On The Edge: Mapping a Field of Collective Intelligence& Spiritual Wisdom *********** What is trying to emerge? How can we contain diversity and difference, so that in a place of deadening consensus and destructive conflict, a higher form of intelligence is allowed to come into play. How is that deep spiritual wisdom that is available to each soul can be linked together to manifest itself through action in the world? What is required to build a more sustainable, sociable and soulful future for the human family and the larger ecology of life on earth? How can the evolution and the punctuated equilibrium of consciousness be facilitated and supported for both individuals and groups? ********************************************************************** Thanks to Gloria at Heaven Ministries (www.heavenletters.org) and The Enlightened Millionaire Program (www.milleagles.com)for sending this true story... I went to the local Farmer's Market last Saturday morning. I was spellbound by one amazing farmer. He had a blanket on the ground, filled with wonderful vegetables, some in baskets, some just in piles. I held up a giant zucchini, and I asked him how much. The man smiled and said, "It's by the hat. It's the hat method." I didn't know what he was talking about. He pointed to a big old farmer's type hat, filled with dollar bills, that was on the blanket. "You just put in what feels right to you," he said. "Give me an idea," I said. "Oh, no," he said, "then it wouldn't be by the hat." He truly offered his vegetables for what people had in their hearts to pay. He was not attached. He really wasn't. He didn't even stay around. And he was so generous with the sweep of his hand before he left that I had such a different feeling. I felt that I had been given a great gift, and, with all my heart, I wanted to pay him enough. It felt like joy to receive, and joy to give. He helped me to feel that these vegetables were the fruits of God and he was simply the deliverer. It was not that he did not have the intention of being paid. He was there to be rewarded for his labors. The vegetables weren't for free. Only he wasn't dictating the price. He truly let go. I yearn to have his heart. ********************************************************************** I have no doubt that we could change our culture of violence very quickly if we stopped making some of the trash that passes for entertainment, and started to make inspiring films and plays. Because of that I'm very pleased with the three full page interview in the February "Written By" Magazine (the trade publication of the Writer's Guild.) Thank you Marsha Scarborough, a concerned and committed writer who contacted me about doing the interview . It's called "You Say You Want a Resolution: Stewart Levine's Method for Mediating the Madness." It's meant to influence screen writer's so they will refrain from using violence to resolve the dramatic conflicts in their works. Next steps: start producing more and more messages of hope and a vision for the kind of world we all want to live in. ********************************************************************** NEWSLETTER of interest: "The MTI Monthly" published by the Mediation Training Institute International (MTI) for all who share an interest in conflict and its management. Sample issue at www.mediationworks.com/mti/friends.htm. The founder of MTI is Dan Dana, an old friend and colleague. I had the good fortune of being one of Dan's first certified Managerial Mediators in 1987. In fact he used my conference room in Philadelphia to do the training. That's a lot of mediations ago. Dan has built a great organization and written some great books since then. Check it out, it's always has some great content and latest developments in the world of conflict resolution. SOUND HEALING: In early January I attented a "sound" workshop with Christopher and Angel Tims (www.soundhealing.org) I was invited by my friend Olivia Parr-Rudd, author of "The Data Mining Cook Book" (www.oliviagroup.com) after a synchronistic meeting with Christopher and Angel in the Philadelphia suburbs. I'm now a believer, based on my direct experience of using a set of tuning forks to "tune" the energy centers of the body. Despite my skepticism something inside me screamed a big YES when I was speaking to Angel about doing the workshop. Call and I'll tell you more if you're interested. I might even give you a free "Tune-Up!" HILDY and STAN RICHELSON: For those of you, and I know there are many, who have been devastated by the stock market I have a suggestion. You've heard the advice of experts year after year to minimize risk by diversifying into bonds. But bonds can be a lucrative, as well as a safe, investment, particularly when the stock market takes a nose-dive. However, no single source of easily accessible information has been available that uniformly describes bonds, compares their relative strengths and drawbacks, and tells how to select and profit from buying them--until now. Registered investment advisers Hildy and Stan Richelson have written "The Money-Making Guide to Bonds" (Bloomberg 2002) to serve as the authoritative, yet user-friendly, resource on the subject. Hildy is part of a learning group I'm part of and Stan, like me, is searching for ways to humanize the practice of law. ********************************************************************** > New Story Telecourses: Six Part Course on Conflict Resolution > Glasser Legal Works CIO Forum, San Francisco > Center for Workforce Development, Washington, DC > Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA www.esalen.org > American Bar Association, Law Practice Management Section, Law > Lawyer's Cruise to Alaska www.elawinstitute.com ********************************************************************** "With less focus on the purely psychological aspects of reaching agreement than 'Getting to Yes' Levine's becomes a much more STEWART LEVINE, Esq., RESOLUTIONARY Copyright 2003 Stewart Levine. All rights reserved. We encourage sharing in whole or in part if copyright and attribution are included |
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