Great to hear this, Jonathan -- thank you.
It does feel -- as though the creative vitality of this project is simply growing. The reception over on iPeace has actually been rather amazing -- I have had maybe a hundred comments and emails from people -- and the introductory Portal blog post is still on every page of that site -- chosen by iPeace editors from more than 2,500 blog posts. iPeace is exciting because there are often more than 100 people online to that system at the same time. There is live chat, great audio and video stuff, floods of beautiful photos and graphics, and endless numbers of discussions and groups and blogs. So, I have been very gratified by all of that.
And I am so happy to feel the excitement and energy here as well -- as all our "GRN Global Partners" and co-resonators have contributed to the co-creative process that is expanding through us.
*
I wanted to pick up on a few themes that you mention, Jonathan. For one, yes, very good idea -- actually, I could just sit down in front of my laptop -- which has a pretty good camera and microphone and video-creation tools built right in, and just make a fast simple video. It might not be high quality -- but it would help get this project on the map. And yes, as time goes by, we'll get better at video production.
As to "making a mandala that shows how all the pieces fit together" -- hmm, I will think about that. It might be a little bit like Barbara Marx Hubbard's "Wheel of Cocreation" -- just showing how a whole bunch of simultaneous aspects of a larger whole fit together in one framework.
And this last thought -- about a kind of "academic curriculum" --yes, that might be another great theme.
Actually -- there is a huge educational element to what we are doing. This entire portal project -- could be seen as something like an "online university for the new age".
We just keep gathering up the critical elements and putting them in position -- and building relationships with people who are expert at something.
For example -- Ram, if he is interested -- could be "teaching people" though connections built through the portal. I've taken a little bit of material from Ram's website, and linked here, through his teachings on the portal:
http://lightpages.net/portal/portal.cfm?login=462827&opt=6&gid=100100
This option could be expanded in a variety of ways, so that teachers can present their ideas and perhaps offer a course of study, recommended readings, etc.
Michael's petition project is linked here:
http://lightpages.net/portal/portal.cfm?login=462827&opt=3&gid=100134
And I've got a start on some "Divine Feminine" material, here:
http://lightpages.net/portal/portal.cfm?login=462827&opt=2&gid=100050
This is just a beginning. We need graphics, videos, sound -- all that stuff that makes iPeace and NING so strong and exciting. I think we can get there, as we just take a deep breath and take another step...
This entire portal concept -- is really rather amazing -- because it is SO many things at the same time...
I guess this is part of this "new paradigm" way of thinking. The old paradigm is "point-to-point and linearly sequential" -- which makes everything fragmented. The new paradigm is "many-to-many and simultaneous", which makes everything whole. It takes a while to get your head around that. It's very powerful, but it's mind-blowing. It's a LOT of stuff at once -- essentially something like "absolutely everything that has anything to do with this emerging culture-shift"....
So, thanks again, Jonathan. As this stuff gets in better focus -- I would guess that teachers like you might find a rich vein in all of this...
- Bruce
--- On Tue, Dec 30, 2008, in msg266447, Jonathan Stemer wrote ---
Namaste Bruce and everyONE,
Firstly, thank you Bruce for all of your time and energy in continuing to refine and articulate the " Portal to Unity " vision...Thus far from what I can see, you have created a solid foundational structure and outline of the main ideas/practices.
As Ram has so beautifully expressed in his post a little while ago, we each have our gifts/talents to give in service...Bruce you clearly have the gift of seeing the whole and being able to use your computer knowledge and expertise to communicate with the rest of us how this vision can begin to manifest in the world.
As I've mentioned before, since we are living in an age when video/audio is being used so often to share messages, it seems like one of the next steps is to take what you've outlined here and sit down with a microphone in front of a blue screen to shoot a short video outlining this beautiful and timely vision. With all the people down in Santa Barbara who are part of the Conscious Evolution group, there are probably people who could help with this type of project.
What I am seeing is a simple 3-5 minute introduction to the Portal to Unity vision...it could be done sitting in front of a blue/green screen similar to how the movie, What the Bleep, Do We Know or The Secret shot their interviews...and in post-production the right background image(s) could be created to correspond with the script/narration...and beautiful music used to enhance the message...check out this movie and the trailer for it to get some possible ideas related to what I've described...http://www.spiritspacemovie.com/
Immediately, I envision taking these aspects that you've highlighted under " methods and things we're doing " and creating a working model or symbol, like a mandala, that shows these different areas and how they work together...the elements are all in place and it is just a matter of putting together ways to bring this off the page and out into the world in whatever capacity each of us is called to do so.
This entire process seems like it could be tied into some existing degree granting institution and offered as a curriculum for graduate study or at least for existing students to work on as part of their individualized degree. The California Institute of Integral Studies has a PhD program in Transformative Learning using a cohort model that seems like it would be able to incorporate this vision into their program...On the other hand, I also realize the restrictions that could happen under the umbrella of an institutional setting.
I'm really feeling connected to what is emerging here and would like to join with others in beginning to take steps to bring it out into the world.
Some of our methods . . .
- Resonance
- Dialogue
- Democracy
- Mutual respect
- Listening
- Circles
- Spiritual practice
- Co-creativity
- Holistic/integral thinking
- Community-building
- Healing
- Science
- Love
Things we are doing . . .
- Building coalitions
- Peace-making
- Teaching and instruction - offering training in selected areas
- Defining group purpose - defining shared purpose - entraining motivation - building a movement
- Developing connectivity and resonance around common values and interests
- Amplifying connectivity, solidarity, and community
- Sustainability - defending the Earth and the environment
- Constructively considering the most complex and controversial social issues
- Developing collaborative projects
- Bringing universal spirituality into the secular world
--- On Tue, Dec 30, 2008, in msg266443, Bruce Schuman wrote ---
"Let us contemplate the one simple nature of that peaceful unity which joins all things to itself and to each other, preserving them in their distinctiveness and yet linking them together in a universal and unconfused alliance."
Pseudo-Dionysius, The Complete Works - John Farina, Editor-in-Chief
Many Voices / One Truth / Spirit of the World
CONVERGENT MEDIATION
This portal is a convergent mediation space.
It builds gateways to individuals and groups in every direction, reaching out to them, speaking their language, receiving their input, and helping groups become coherent and resonant within their own boundaries.
Every individual and every group enters the portal under their own vision, through their own guidance, led by their own freedom.
This portal receives their input -- their declarations and affirmations and commitments -- and negotiates their unity as individual free-will choices converge.
As entirely separate and distinct groups, with very different agendas, enter the mediation space, their unity is compiled, and their linkage and commonality with all other independent groups in the process is also defined.
This process is consistent with and informed by many well-known principles and methods of mediation, group-process, and peace-making. It is consistent with and informed by the core teachings of every major world religion.
The entire space is an "open-door bottom-up convergence optimizer", converging every free-will choice and every connection towards universal oneness.
Through this process, we convene the world, in all its diversity, into a single framework of agreement.
VISION A vast conversation . . . We are envisioning a vast global conversation -- interconnecting everything, dealing with every issue, moving through millions of small local groups and discussions. Every subject of human concern is under consideration. Everything is interconnected . . . All these conversations can be and actually are interconnected. Through this Portal, we are exploring and unfolding ways that these millions of separate but interconnected conversations can converge towards a huge global agreement and shared understanding, of tremendous creative vitality and transformative power. We are diverse . . . It's not that we agree on the details and the particulars of issues. We are tremendously diverse, everyone is an individual, and we all see things very differently. It's that through this Portal process, we are working out something like the perfect way to relate to one another -- with respect, with listening, with co-creativity, with dialogue, with friendship -- with love. We are listening . . . As we enter these conversations, and begin to attune to the principles of dialogue and resonance, a common understanding emerges, on how we can best appreciate one another. As this understanding comes into form, the power of our collective unity accelerates. We are free . . . This Portal provides ways based on total personal freedom that individuals can enter into relationships, and make choices that gradually lead to the most powerful and deepest forms of connectivity. You can make any choice you wish, but as you make choices that open you to universal resonance and the infinite energy currents, you move closer to all those others who are also moving towards the infinite current.
In this way, rather than simply declaring our unity by fiat, and expecting all to honor it, our oneness is carefully built from the bottom up, from thousands or millions of small independent decisions and small private agreements, and our unity emerges from personal freedom and free-will choices. As we work towards the principles of resonance and dialogue, our conversations become more fruitful and more creative, and our universal human bond becomes more powerful. Everything accelerates...
OUR WORLD - ONE WORLD
We hear the call . . .
- There is something going on with the emergence of new spirit and new community . . .
- This mysterious something is very important . . .
- I want to be part of it, I want to learn from it, I want to help shape and influence it, I want to bond with it . . .
Some of our methods . . .
- Resonance
- Dialogue
- Democracy
- Mutual respect
- Listening
- Circles
- Spiritual practice
- Co-creativity
- Holistic/integral thinking
- Community-building
- Healing
- Science
- Love
Things we are doing . . .
- Building coalitions
- Peace-making
- Teaching and instruction - offering training in selected areas
- Defining group purpose - defining shared purpose - entraining motivation - building a movement
- Developing connectivity and resonance around common values and interests
- Amplifying connectivity, solidarity, and community
- Sustainability - defending the Earth and the environment
- Constructively considering the most complex and controversial social issues
- Developing collaborative projects
- Bringing universal spirituality into the secular world
Moving from . . .
- Tribalism
- Us against them
- Parochialism
- Local insularity
- Spirit of blame and accusation
- Small perspective, short time-frame, narrow range of inclusion
Local/Global . . .
- We are One: creating a spiritual bond of trust and understanding that extends across all categories and human differences
- Globalization - bonding through the universal in the context of the local
- Interconnectivity and interdependence of all things and all issues
- Universal Human - Universal Spirit
Possible applications . . .
- Support and inform and inspire the "Global Mind-Shift" process, that is calling to millions of people around the world
- Help global and local organizations coordinate their agendas, so they can work together in collaboration
- Support the emergence of cordial relationships between religious and spiritual groups
- Support and strengthen the Obama Administration's work at community development and transpartisan politics
- Support international peace-making efforts, helping groups and organizations and entire nations define themselves and their mutual common ground with others
We are educated and informed by . . .
- Emerging new spirituality
- Interfaith
- World mysticism and religious traditions from everywhere
- Wisdom
- Methods of dialogue
- Group process - an array of methods
- Theory of democracy - the self-governance of groups
- Cognitive science, epistemology, semantics, cybernetics/cyberspace
References
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