Dear Karen --

Good morning...  Just got back from LA, after taking Jeanie down to the airport.  There's snow in the mountains along the coast, after the storms of last night...

All of these things -- are continuing to evolve, of course -- and I was just bumping around a few UniVisions things, on the Ning site you created...

And then I linked to this.. which I guess is on myspace...

So much good stuff out there.

All these "Unity Groups" you are listing...

You have such good instincts for doing this....

I am just wondering -- maybe we have already talked about this -- but I am wondering whether this a way -- to somehow "call all these groups into a common framework".

Now, I do realize -- that this is something lots of people want to do.  I guess the idea is something like "join my group!"

We've been looking at these kinds of issues for a long time.   We do need some kind of a convening center for all these network processes, I think -- but it's not so simple to make it (help it) happen.  Everybody does not want to flock to somebody else's center point...

At least, that is what we think we have learned, after exploring these issues for years...

At the moment, as I guess is obvious -- I am excited about this "Portal" concept.  There's a lot we can put in there -- tons of stuff -- and I think we can also make it simple -- meeting people on their own grounds...

It's going to take a little while -- before this thing is solid enough to be simple.  Right now, it's very creative, everything flowing in, looking for a place to fit in -- I think that will just take a while before it is all clear.  We are considering some ways that this entire framework might also be a kind of "teaching" framework -- bring in various kinds of expertise on various aspects -- and then people could take some kind of simple "on-line class" on something ... maybe for some small fee...

I am thinking particularly about the "Co-Creator's Handbook" -- since I know the author Carolyn Anderson -- I am going to ask Carolyn about this, since she suggested something like this to me six months or so ago, and is now coming out with a new version of the Co-Creator's Handbook.  You probably know her site -- http://globalfamily.net -- you have it listed in your database (I think I saw that, though it's not in this above list)...

I have the idea -- that one way to approach this "convening of unity" -- is through this "congress" idea.

We can't really hope to get everybody in every organization -- to all join one big project, at least not directly.  But -- what do you think?  Would it maybe be possible to do a kind of outreach to all these orgs you have listed -- and everything else you can find -- and invite some kind of contact or input or participation?

I have built several "congress-type" web systems -- the idea is, each organization has a "representative", who can "speak for the organization" -- at least in some ways. 

So, we build some kind of network that lists their organization, lists somebody at the organization as the contact or liaison or "representative" -- and that person gets a brief email from us once in while -- maybe taking the form of a quick questionnaire, asking them how they feel about some issue, or what they want to do, or see happening.

People don't all want to join one huge mailing list.  But they might be interested in joining a "congress" type network, where they can interact with hundreds of other organizations very quickly.

All of this kind of thing -- can be organized and coordinated through a database.    I do have a couple of systems out there today that were built this way -- BioNet for ecology -- and Interfaith Voices for Peace and Justice -- http://interfaithvoices.org -- and the World Interfaith Congress -- http://interfaithcongress.org

Those projects have been dormant for a while, since I just can't handle that stuff without support and help.  But we do know how to do these things, and the Interspirit system is all set to support this kind of project.

So -- I just wanted to float this idea out your way, and see what you think.

Congress of Light -- a way for many orgs to talk to each other, without getting all tangled up in tons of email.

Just keep exploring -- what do they have in common, how do they feel about issue x, what do they want to do, what is their intention, etc...

*

Ok, just a thought, continuing to coalesce.  I think these things want to happen, but we just have to flow into them to explore in exactly what way...    Thanks for all your vision and efforts, Karen...

- Bruce