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by Pam Steager, Guest Blogger
Below are Pam's notes from the
Saturday sessions of the National Conference for a US Department of
Peace. They include notes from Marianne Williamson's and Deepak
Chopra's presentations.
Marianne Williamson's Presentation:
- Lack of knowledge of US government
- Founding fathers vision embedded in the Constitution
- Protecting the power of the people
- 3 co-equal branches of government – checks and balances system
- President as Commander in Chief – so military can’t overthrow administration
- Congress (Legislative branch) has two co-equal branches
- 435 Congressional districts.
- HoR reps elections every two years, the “People’s house”
- Senate elected every six years, more deliberative body
- 75 HoR co-sponsors last year, 5 no longer in office
- 2 Senate co-sponsors
- 49 have already agreed to co-sponsor
- Magic number is 218.
- Even if rep is on board, we need them to get REALLY on board – talk to their colleagues
- Need Republican co-sponsorship, need Senate sponsorship
- Bring message to reps with authority, dignity, and class
Talking Points for Cong. Visits – see handout
Judy Kimmel – Fundraising
- What comes to mind & gut when you hear fundraising?
- Negative & positive feelings
- Importance of building relationship
- A Great ASK involves:
- Permission (have you got five minutes for me to tell you about this exciting campaign I’m involved with?)
- Possibility (I’m wondering if you’d be interested in investing in peace – in RI, the US and the world?)
- Discussion (Do you have any questions?)
- Commitment (I can count on you to...)
- Completion
Engage in areas where you are comfortable and that you think will interest them.
Use good news (re how money might be used) as well as bad (stats on violence, etc.)
Ask in terms of “investment” rather than a donation.
Additional ideas:
- Jazz concert
- Silent auction
- Raffle
- Necklaces
- Sell green or peaceful products.
DEEPAK CHOPRA talk
- Story about himself as a young ER doctor and his addiction to adrenaline.
- Addiction to adrenaline a major contributor to the violence of the world.
- The ‘war on’ mentality (war on drugs, war on poverty, etc.), materialistic world view
- Practice of medicine is not healing
Healing from same root as holy…healing requires understanding of and work with soul
Ways of seeing the world: Through the Senses, the Mind, and the Soul/Spirit
60% of people of the world live on < $2/day, 20% on < $1
Needing to be aware of the world’s realities, needing to see with the eyes of the soul
Interconnectedness – global physical disasters
- MW’s citing Garden of Gethesmane story. Jesus said “Can’t you stay awake with me?”
- Going to the level of the deepest part of ourselves
- Old world view: Brain secretes consciousness. A dance of molecules in the brain.
- Actually the other way around..
If the tree doesn’t breathe, neither do you. Can you feel that connection?
Can you look at raindrops and understand at the deepest level that this is my circulation?
Emotional sobriety – don’t ever romanticize human history. There has never been a period of history when there has not been war and violence. We are a violent species.Fight/flight response... when ancient habits combine with modern technologies – danger
- Jason Salk: coined Metabiological evolution – beyond biology & Survival of the wisest.
- What is consciousness and where will it lead us?
- Deep anguish and deep sorrow for all the people in the world today.
- From compassion love is born, and when love is born, there is the possibility for healing.
- Love without action. Action without love. Neither effective.
Our senses are not fast enough to see reality as it really is, the on/off of the universe.
We perceive world as continuity, even though we now know that it is actually discontinuous.
What’s in the off part of the signal? All we know is – a world of infinite possibility, and that everything is instantly correlated with everything else.
- Every event is a conspiracy of the entire universe.
- Each cell does 100,000 things in every second and coordinates all with all other parts of organism.
- The discontinuity is omniscience.
I don’t believe God plays dice with the universe. – Albert Einstein
God not only plays dice with the universe, but he throws the dice where no one can find them. – Stephen Hawking
Quantum leaps of creativity.
- We might be poised for the next leap right now.
- Observer effect (John Wheeler)
- We are the magical beings through the which the universe understands itself.
- Your soul is a field of infinite possibility. Your soul embraces uncertainty. Live with chaos.
When you have chaos within you, you have the possibility of a leaping star – Nietsche
Discontinuity is the nature of consciousness itself.
Metamorphosis – beyond radical change.
Caterpillar turns into a butterfly.
Imaginal cells, which vibrate at a different frequency than the other cells. They start gathering in clusters, reach a critical threshold, wakes up a gene with the creation code for a new creature – a radical, quantum leap of creativity.
We are a cluster of imaginal cells. There are many others all over the world. Once we connect, the dream will be born.
Old control dramas have become irrelevant. In our hearts is all the longing and yearning.
Your longing, your yearning. This is the way.
Find the ecstatic impulse within you.
Leaves us with 3 Sanskrit words:
- Simran – remember who you are
- Sabar –?
- Satsang – Hang out with other people like yourselves.
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