No more
"them," just us, reuniting:
Earth's
New Story
Sunday, 02 February 2014
The two most
important days in your life are
the day you are
born and the day you find out why.
~ Mark Twain
"The soul's
oldest memory is of union.
The soul's deepest
longing is for reunion."
~ from DIALOGUE IN
NIGERIA: Muslims & Christian Creating Their Future (2010)
"What happens
when the old story,
the Story of
Separation, is no longer sustainable?
We must build a
new one, based on
the interbeing of the universe, all matter, and all
people."
~
from THE NEW STORY, by Charles Eisenstein
in The Intelligent Optimist, Nov/Dec, 2013
No more
Separating Ourselves
from Them
We must move beyond "THEMification,"
recommends Dick Simon, American entrepreneur and traveler -- http://knowthem.org
"It's time to eliminate the use and mindset of
'them.'"
The best way is with sustained effort and courage by
experiencing one another's individual story..
"There is NO them, once you KNOW them,"
he experiences from his travels into regions of conflict.
The
Most Dangerous Four-Letter Word -- THEM
Dick Simon at TEDxBeaconStreet
31 Dec 2013 -- 15-min video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evi357e1spA
The New Story
of Reunion
One-by-one
around Earth, people are surrendering our inherited Story of Separation that told us "everyone
is a potential enemy."
An alliance is growing among widely diverse citizens.
We are experiencing that everyone is a potential partner.
Humankind's emerging mythology of a new kind of civilization is described
by Charles Eisenstein in his new 2013 book -- The More Beautiful World
Our Hearts Know Is Possible -- http://charleseisenstein.net/project/the-more-beautiful-world-our-hearts-know-is-possible/
Humanity is meant to join fully the tribe of all life on Earth, offering
our uniquely human gifts toward the well-being and development of the
whole. Eisenstein calls it variously the Story of Interbeing,
the Age of Reunion, the ecological age, the world of the gift.
The Old Story -- the story of the separate self in a universe of others,
the story of humanity rising above nature, the story of perfecting life and the
world through control -- is reaching the end of its telling.
The systems and institutions built on it are crumbling. It is no
coincidence that medicine, education, politics and money are in dilemmas at the
same time we face parallel crises in climate, water, soil and energy. These
emergencies come from the same root -- the Story of Separation that dominates
our civilization. This convergence of crises pushes us toward a more
beautiful world; the pull comes from glimpses of what is possible.
The human responses take the form of generosity; forgiveness; selfless
collaboration; magical synchronicities; moments of transcendent intimacy or
oneness; deep healing of a person, community or ecosystem; and many more. They
confirm our inborn knowledge that the world is supposed to be more beautiful,
and life more intimate, joyful and authentic, than what we know as normal.
Interbeing seeks learning,
understanding, and healing. Reunion pursues engagement, humanizing,
empathy, dignifying, and cooperating, instead of disengagement, blaming,
dehumanizing, and punishment,
Old Story life is based on a judgment; the perpetrator is a bad person
who makes a choice that I wouldn't have made in his circumstances. I am
different from him, better than he. We need punishment to deter people
from doing the things that good people naturally do not do.
New Story living affirms the humanity of the perpetrator and the
possibility of forgiveness and redemption. Interbeing
says, If I were in the totality of your circumstances, I might have done as you
do. It seeks understanding and healing, not punishment. When one
sees other people and reflections of oneself, forgiveness becomes second
nature, as one realizes, But for the grace of God, so go I.
Letting go of the old Story of Separation, of the story of the discrete
and separate self, amazing intuitive, perceptual, and creative capabilities
emerge from lifelong latency.
Inventing the new Story of Reunion, one appreciates the order, beauty,
mystery and connectedness of the universe and each other. A deep joy and
cheerfulness arises that nothing can shake. These and many other miracles are
the landmarks of the territory of interbeing
Today everyone is a potential partner, altogether creating humankind's
New Story of Reunion, of Interbeing.
Israeli, Palestinian Youth
Building Bridges
Each summer in the Colorado mountains, Building Bridges -- http://www.buildingbridgesshift.org
-- brings together diverse young women from the Middle East and U.S.
Participants are equipped with communication and leadership
skills necessary to address the root cause of hate, discrimination, and violent
conflict.
In safe spaces, the young people meet face to face
with others who have been taught to fear.
Together, they develop personal connections based on
empathy, respect, and new confidence to transform divisive attitudes in their
communities back home.
Coming from Stories of Separation, they embark on a
life of becoming artisans of communication and creating Stories of Reunion.
SEE their video:
Building
Bridges
5-1/2 min video
Take heart in many more examples -- other summer and ongoing North American
programs for the Middle East, citizen-driven public peace process:
Creativity for Peace -- http://www.creativityforpeace.com
Face to Face - Faith to Faith -- http://www.auburnseminary.org/facetoface
Hands of Peace -- http://www.handsofpeace.org
Jacobs International Teen
Leadership Institute (JITLI) -- http://jitli.org
Kids 4 Peace - Canada -- http://kids4peace.ca
Kids 4 Peace - Atlanta -- http://www.k4p.org/atlanta
Kids 4 Peace - Texas -- http://arc.episcopalchurch.org/episcopal-life/Kids4Pax.html
Peace It Together -- http://peaceittogether.com
Seeds of Peace -- http://www.seedsofpeace.org
The Peace Camp Initiative -- http://peacecampinitiative.org/
More about past and present programs and historical roots is at http://traubman.igc.org/camps.htm
Living the New Myth
With Earth and Each Other
VIEW seven Inspiring films for contemporary education, for children and
adults living together in health, growing food sustainably, and thriving on our
precious water-planet, Earth, home.
The Living Land
Water - Sacred and Profaned
Children and Nature:
Awakening a Sense of Wonder
Images for Reflection
Art of the Wild
A Sense of Place
The Unfolding Story
Baylands Productions
http://baylandsproductions.blogspot.com/
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These and hundreds of other success stories are preserved at http://traubman.igc.org/messages.htm