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"I became enchanted with
the stories and images revealed in the dozens of interviews we gathered
- the details of an interaction, the honesty and depth of a speaker's
voice, the courage to speak about ideas not yet fully formed. In these
collective stories I saw patterns, often involving an unexpected turn
of events, a transformation, a healing, a clarity that spirit can
be made manifest in action. Was it possible to reflect the whole by
linking together excerpts from a subgroup of the interviews we gathered?
I began with a story that I thought was immensely engaging, wise,
and grounded in social reality. Then I began to search my mind for
a second tale that could follow this first one and also take us in
new directions. I would sit imagining the effect each story might
have on a reader and what new riches might be found in the next tale.
My role became that of weaver and guide into material that together
demonstrated the range and depth of the field of collective intelligence.
I found myself hoping that the readers might experience an emotional
resonance with the material, even a heightened sense of themselves
as part of a larger community of seekers and mystics." - Alan
Briskin
NOTE:
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Reader.
Juanita
Brown: "The year is 1966. The
grape fields of California are ablaze with conflict and tension.
Cesar Chavez and his fledgling United Farm Workers are seeking
negotiations through collective bargaining elections with the
DiGiorgio Corporation - the largest grower of table grapes in
the nation. Many new workers are frightened, already indentured
by the company who paid their way from Mexico and now living in
DiGiorgio’s labor camps. They support their brothers and
sisters in the United Farm Workers who are seeking a better life
but they have children to feed and have no passage home...."[read Juanita
Brown's story or hear the
narration by Alan Briskin]
Lauren
Artress: "An example of the large
group spiritual work Veriditas does at Grace Cathedral is a pilgrimage
we call A Moment In Time. How do we open ourselves to a transformational
moment in time? And, of course the invisible part of this is my
hope everybody is going to have a transformational moment sometime
during the weekend. We work very much on an interfaith model,
so we use interfaith or universal spiritual language. So, referring
to the Light works well, especially when we hand them a candle
at the entry way of the cathedral and the labyrinth is surrounded
in candlelight...."[read
Lauren Artress'
conversation with Alan Briskin]
Angeles
Arrien: "I think we’ve been trying
to define transpersonal for years (all of us who are deeply interested).
It’s the spiritual or the mysterious or that which is greater
than any part. Use the word “magic.” What creates
magic in us? And it’s a mystery. But I think there are choice
points along the way. I think that the transpersonal is a unifying
force.... Wherever there’s magic there’s delight and
love. Humor. The human spirit is being moved. Moved and uplifted.
I think the transpersonal is very mysterious wherever there’s
breakdown. I guess it’s a call to creativity. All conflict
is a call to creativity and problem solving. I also see the transpersonal
as something that wants to move something forward.... "[read Angeles
Arrien's conversation with Alan Briskin]
Finn
Voldtofte: "I use the metaphor of
the relationship between the ant and the anthill and the neuron
and the brain. As individuals we are like ants or like neurons-both
an ant and a neuron are intelligent entities, but we are more
interested in the thinking of the anthill or in the thinking of
the brain. So if you are willing to participate as ants or neurons,
then should we engage in the process of getting to know what the
anthill thinks?...."[read
Finn Voldtofte's conversation
with Sheryl Erickson]
Tom
Callanan: "During college I was a member
of Middlebury College’s lacrosse team. During my senior
year, we were playing Williams College for the New England championship.
I’d read about sports teams entering 'the zone,” but
I’d never really experienced it until that game. From the
opening whistle we entered this space that seemed like everything
was happening in slow motion. Roy would win the face-off, and
I knew where he was going to run and where he would pass to me.
And I’d move in that direction, and he’d make the
pass just as I’d seen it...."[read
Tom Callanan's
conversation with John
Ott]
Tom
Hurley: "At the Institute of Noetic Sciences,
I had many opportunities to explore the kinds of questions we’re
concerned with here in diverse group settings and with a variety
of really wonderful and talented people. I learned an enormous
amount in that context, for which I’m very grateful. But
one of the issues that always arose was: 'What do you do with
any of it?' In a way, that’s the challenge that defines
my work right now.. "[read
Tom Hurley's
conversation with Alan Briskin]
Arthur
Colman: "I think this interview comes
from, or comes at, a time of a very deep pessimism, which I hope
isn’t cynicism. I think a lot of it has to do with being
in the very disturbed world of South Africa and seeing how processes
of individual escape and denial and group genocide and horror
can continue. Erik Erikson has this term, 'pseudospeciation,'
- really making the blacks and the coloreds and the Indians a
different species, a lower species - which is what apartheid did,
legally...."[read
Arthur Colman's
conversation with Alan Briskin]
Elena
Diez Pinto: "From 1954 until 1996 Guatemala
lived in conflict. In that period, 40,000 people disappeared;
200,000 were killed; and 2 million were internally displaced.
We suffered a terrible war. Since 1996 we have been trying to
come together as a society and rebuild. Vision Guatemala started
in 1997. The idea of the project was to bring together a group
of 44 prominent people from all sectors of society-the media,
the church, the military; indigenous and political leaders-to
think about a future for our country. "[read
Elena's story]
Finn
Voldtofte
