BeautyDialogues

My Country

photo by Marxchivist, from Flickr

As some of you may know, I spent 13 years in England fairly recently. I loved England. I love her still, that green and pleasant land will always be home in my heart, but at some point I knew I had to return to the land of my birth. Not only because I wanted to see my niece and nephews grow up and spend time with my mother as she lives into and through her 8th decade, but because my country was in such trouble (ok, I admit it. I also had a wicked craving for blueberry pancakes and maple syrup, but that was secondary; honest!).

In Europe, news of America comes mostly through the distortions of popular media and let me tell you, we look pretty bad. There is absolutely no coverage of citizen dissent or alternative views and after a while I began to question my own memories of the country I had grown up in as a somewhat low key rabble rousing radical. Even though I'd held the same views when I lived in the US, I felt like a coward criticizing her from far away, distance and shadow projection giving me the illusion I had no responsibility for what all with eyes could clearly see was wrong.

I came home in 1999 because I wanted to make a difference and address some of those wrongs. Because I wanted to be one of the voices here speaking out and sharing the positive change movements that have always been part of the idealism and drive of this country; my country.

I was in Europe during the last election returns, and I was a little surprised to see how my own abject loss and disappointment over Gore's defeat was felt just as keenly by all around me. The world clearly has a stake in the US elections, and this one more than most as the world's threatened fortunes are linked ever more closely together.

On this day, the day of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, I am filled with the anticipation of a change for my country and for my world. I'm voting for the change Barak Obama is standing up for - a change from war and corporate interest and the trickle-down theory of economics, to a healthy international and national relationship of respect and equality and the belief in the goodness and integrity of regular human beings. For green energy and a primary relationship with the earth that sustains all life. For education and health coverage (God, I miss the National Health Service!) and a way of living that respects natural limits on spending and protects our long-term interests without dismissing others'. That's the kind of change we can live with, wherever we are.

So on this day, in tribute to Obama and the creativity and optimism he inspires, I wanted to post one of my favorite videos from his campaign because it makes me tear up for gratitude and pride in the human spirit.

May our common humanity and the spirit that inhabits it carry us through this day and guide us in all the days to come.

Cultivating Happiness

My favorite of the post-election emails circulating now is the amazing Alice Walker's letter to Obama, and this is my favorite part of it:

"... you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play ... We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. ... One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want."

Walker ends with a reference to the Dalai Lama, who truly embodies the spirit of leadership in today's world, and Obama's incredible smile, to which she pays tribute:

"A good model of how to “work with the enemy” internally is presented by the Dalai Lama, in his endless caretaking of his soul as he confronts the Chinese government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies. And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world."

Thoughtful Citizens

Pretending I was still in my 20s, I stayed up until 4am the other night putting together an e-Book called Thoughtful Citizenship: A Guidebook for Decision-Making and Participation (Download ThoughtfulCitizenship-eBook.pdf - 670k) and a website to house it & other great resources.

The guidebook is a non-partisan call to action and was written by a number of Berrett Koehler authors (including Juanita Brown and the World Café community) who contributed their thinking on ways to become more consciously involved in posing and engaging the great questions of our times.

 Marilee Adams from the Inquiry Institute, who sponsored this project, wanted to get something out before the US election but the work she's commisioned will remain a valuable resource far beyond that important event. It behoves us all to learn to become more thoughtful citizens, no matter where we are or who sits in the oval office.

Youth Give

My friend Matt Robertson went on a Journey to Africa this summer. He and several other high school seniors were part of a YouthGive trip to look at how microfinancing has been working in villages in South Africa and Zambia. They were all given Flip Videos as part of a Digital Storytelling "kit", and this is what he made with his:

End Times

The other day, in the midst of this period of major change and disruption in the world, I happened to be listening to a audio tape by Michael Meade. He was talking about the “end of times”, which he says we as a species have felt as imminent for two hundred years at least.

That’s not to say, he hastens to clarify, that we don’t need to do absolutely everything that we can to address the challenges of our time - both cultural and environmental - but that we also need to access “eternal time” or that still small place inside us that stays constant through upsets large and small.

Meade's long-term perspective served to jolt me out of my overwhelm for a minute - and his call to center ourselves in what's permanent and unchanging is certainly an apt reminder in these times that threaten to drown us in the sheer chaos of change and uncertainty. The poet William Yeats described this moment, which has obviously come before, in the lines of his famous The Second Coming:

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."

In the wake of massive challenges in our economic, political and environmental spheres, there are many life-style choices that need to be made right now - crucial choices about consumption and political representation and the fundamental will to care for ourselves and others - that will determine the ways we impact each other, create our futures and decide the fate of our species (among others).

Many of those choices, however, are not only important responses to the pressing issues of our time but choices that define what it means for each of us to be human and live a conscious life - a life of sanity and humanity. These are crucial decisions to make no matter what condition the external world is in.

Finding that “timeless” center of “right relationship” for myself, & making the daily choices that align me with it is what helps me avoid the panic & despair that the daily news would otherwise trigger in my fearful psyche.

One last thing - as Maturana and others have said so well, language - what we speak into the world with our words, our images, our voices and our movement - is of seminal importance. When we are awake and consciously languaging the lives and futures we want to bring forward into the world, for ourselves and for all beings, that is what manifests between us.

So I write this to bring an awareness of that unchanging moment and suggest that we collectively use this knowledge as our True North, our guiding star as we go forward in these days of light and shadow. That we look to what is possible and to what is being born; that we keep our eyes on "that rough beast" (or to use today's metaphor, the imaginal cells that are at this very moment forming into a butterfly) as it emerges in our midst, rather than lose ourselves in the eddies of despair and lament over what is sick and dying.

We choose our future; we speak it and imagine it in each moment of our everyday lives. Together we can make it whole and beautiful. May it be so.

Vote for Hope

I got turned on to this great Flash video in David Sibbet's blog this morning... It's another great example of new media and creativity in the service of something that matters. And this is something that matters a lot right now, even if the recent debates have been less than electric.

Barack Obama's passionate speech in this video reminds me why I want him to be our next president.

Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

Don't Vote, Unless...

Here's a great video that's going around in my circles lately, in case you haven't seen it. It shows the kind of positive impact media figures can have when they lend their voice and creativity to things that really matter.

Big Sky

I've just returned from Santa Fe, where the big sky filled me with inspiration. New Mexico is one of those places where land magic is most palpable, and in this occasion it was accompanied by some powerful people magic as well.

I was at a retreat for Berrett Koehler authors (you've heard me rant about their newsletter), put on by the BK Author's Co-op. Their theme for this year's (their 8th) retreat was "creating community".  I find this theme/meme particularly compelling right now.

In all the uncertainty of our current economic and political climate, one thing that remains crystal clear is the need for community. It's never been more important to come together, collectively and collaboratively, to face the challenges and opportunities of our time.

The BK community is a particular species of human being. Each one is an author of a book that is collaboratively chosen by a team consisting of BK's exemplary President Steve Piersanti, Senior Editor Johanna Vondeling and many other members of the BK staff and community. The authors each have something really valuable to share about a subject in alignment with BK's mission: "a community dedicated to creating a world that works for all".  That means the BK community is made of intelligent, thinking people who care deeply about the world and have demonstrated the willingness to share the wisdom they've gleaned.

I'm blessed to work with many of these luminaries and call them friends; David Isaacs and Juanita Brown of the World Café, the extraordinary Alan Briskin, and new friend and colleague Marilee Adams of the Inquiry Institute. At least two more of my dearest friends, Craig Neal of Heartland Circle and David Sibbet, are soon to be BK authors and I too will be a contributing author to an upcoming 2nd edition of the World Café book, writing a chapter on how the internet and online communications have helped us to develop the World Café community and support conversations that matter all over the world.

The BK community of authors is not only writing books about what matters most in today's world, essential and important as that role is; they are also taking collective action in a number of ways.

One of the independent projects that came out of this year's retreat was an initiative that draws authors together - whether or not they are published through BK - to support Barack Obama in the upcoming election. If you're interested in adding your name or passing it on to others who might be interested in doing so, please have a look at authors4obama.com.

It's a big sky out there, and BK luminaries are helping to light it up.

Social Networks

E-Learning guru Jay Cross has written a fascinating post about an Aboriginal painting (note: not the one above) that he saw during a recent trip to Australia, and his reading of the imagery - comparing it with social networks and the politics of change.

But the fun doesn't stop there! Jay's readers continued to analyze the image in their comments and some valuable insights emerged. The whole post was an excellent example of both the power of art to convey meaning and the way we evolve meaning through the power of networks.

My Friend Fletcher

My friend Fletcher (has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?) started blogging again after several months of hiatus (or neglect, take your pick); check out the new Fletcher's Blog. Fletcher's a digital artist with a keen eye for the bizarre and the wonderful and I think you'll enjoy his work, especially if you're partial to street photography and astute political commentary.

Here's one of my favorites from his Carnaval photo shoot: