PeaceAmbassadorTraining7-20140702-PillarFiveSessionOne

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Peace Ambassador Training The 21st Century Peace Ambassador as Evolutionary Leader

and the Summer of Peace July 2, 2014

[0:00:00] Philip: All right, folks! Welcome back to the Peace Ambassador Training Program. This is

Philip Hellmich, the Director of Peace with The Shift Network. Tonight, I am so, so, so psyched, excited. We have an amazing wave. We're going to start the fifth pillar, "Activating and Organizing with Peace". This is like a family reunion because we have with us tonight several close friends, long-time peacebuilders who are going to be sharing about their initiatives, the initiatives they're working with, and how anyone from the Peace Ambassador Training can get involved. There is just so much joy and beauty here.

To start off the meditation, we're going to have Myra Jackson, a Wisdom Council

Member of the Gaiafield Project, who is a very close friend and partner with The Shift Network Summer of Peace.

Myra is described as a Mystic, Embodied Envisioner and Evocateur of the Sacred

who is well-rooted in various ancient spiritual, indigenous and tantric lineages. Myra devotes her time in service to organizations focused on creating the spaces for an awakened humanity and a public policy that supports human values of caring, sharing, love and compassion.

This is interesting. Educated as an engineer, Myra found that her early training in

electrical theory and design informed her spiritual life, and there's much, much more here we could say about Myra, a lot more. I encourage you to go to Summer of Peace so you could see her bio there. Myra has been hosting calls with mystics from around the world and is part of the Spirituality and Peace here at Summer of Peace.

On a personal note, I just love and adore Myra. She has definitely a deep soul

deeply committed to global transformation and she embodies it, so Myra, thank you so much for volunteering to lead this meditation.

Myra: Thank you, Philip, and all of you gathered. It is my joy to join all of you, and your

numbers are growing under James O'Dea in this program that's supported by Shift, so let us just move into a guided process of meditation that we will end and wrap up in silence. We'll take a moment of silence at the end and when Philip calls us back in, we'll begin our evening's work.

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Let us just start, my friends, by taking a couple of deep breaths. Just be aware of

yourself, any feelings that might be arising in the deep field and just allow them to be present. As you breathe, be aware of the earth beneath you. Feel your connection to the earth through your body, through your energy field. Feel how the energy of the earth grounds you and supports you. Just let yourself rest in that deep level of love and support that the earth provides.

Wherever you are, the sun may be setting, it may be rising, the stars may be

coming into the sky, take that opportunity to feel that cosmic light and allow it to come in, nourish and cleanse you, feel you, feel that sense of a boundary of protection around you, a field of higher vibrational energy. As you rest in that personal space, invite in all that supports you in the living universe.

[0:05:06] Let that be a signal that you can show up fully from that place of your personal

field. Let your attention allow yourself to connect with all those on the call. Let us together form a group field creating a network of light and a common space between us, resilient boundary that allows all of the allies, all the beings of the earth associated with the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms. Feel your connection to them and their support of this process. Let us invite the allies from the subtle field to join us in our work of building toward peace.

Now, let's be aware that this group field is a part of a larger planetary field, the

Gaiafield. Let us feel our connection to that which connects us to our life in a sense of unity and coherence. From that sense of the planetary field, let's connect to the universal field, that source and presence that is alive in each of us in our hearts.

As we rest in this multilayered field, your field of silence, let us strengthen this

field for the global attunement of peace. May it continue to grow and magnetize to itself all those whose hearts connect with the awakening of peace, and may it guide and support us in creating truth and lasting peace on our planet. Let's be in this vibrant field together for a moment of silence until Philip calls us back to continue our time.

Philip: Myra, thank you, thank you, thank you. I just cannot say enough about Myra and

The Gaiafield Project and all the people who are associated with that work of really consciously working with subtle activism. I've had the joy of being in circle with Myra for over the last year for weekly calls of meditation and there's such a serious science behind subtle activism, and Myra will share more about that in a little bit.

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Before I bring James on, I just want to share just a few announcements. Again, we're coming up to one of the last classes. We're only three away and I have a volunteer for the next class and there may be one more. So if you're interested, please send me an email at [email protected]. Just a reminder also, we have a live bonus call with Matthew Albracht from The Peace Alliance and [Audio Glitch] organizing for peace. So people, that's Saturday, July 19th at 10:00 a.m. Pacific.

[0:10:02] For people who are really interested in how to work with your local

governments, community, state and national, that is a must, must call. The lesson there, which is happening in the United States, can apply anywhere in the world.

As always, if you have any technical difficulties while on the call, please hit 5 on

your keypad. With that, my friend, James, I'll pass it over to you. James: Thank you, Philip. I'm really looking forward to our guests, Avon, Myra, Jon, and

Fred. I think our peace ambassadors are really in for a great treat and a depth ride with really great peacemakers.

We had a wonderful session with Riane Eisler last week. What a force she is for

changing the paradigm in terms of how we look at partnerships, but I don't want to talk about that stuff tonight. I want to talk about soccer. World Cup soccer, that's really much more interesting than system theory and peacebuilding, right?

Of course, the reason I want to talk about soccer is US just lost to Belgium in its

bid for the World Cup. And while US played a great game, they lost 2-1 to Belgium. But Belgium, you see, plays a great game both on and off the soccer field. Belgium is one of the top countries of the most peaceful countries in the world.

And so, you know that really what I want to talk about for a moment is the

Global Peace Index. Belgium, I think, is running eighth in terms of being one of the most peaceful countries in the world, so it's good to have your game on the field and of course essentially off the field where it counts.

We're living in a relatively peaceful century in human history, but according to

the Global Peace Index, the 2014 one which came out recently, it shows that the last seven years have shown a really notable deterioration in levels of peace worldwide. It measures peace in about -- I think it's 162 countries. According to them, 22 indicators are on the absence of violence, fear of violence, and the nature of violence.

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This is the eighth year that the Global Peace Index has come out. Since 2008, 111

countries have deteriorated in levels of peace; only 51 have improved. That's something we have to know. What is going on? We started this millennium and this century really feeling that we're going to see something radically shifting. Europe does retain its position as the most peaceful region with 14 of the top 20 most peaceful countries in the world.

The world has become less peaceful because of internal conflicts, terrorism,

refugee flights, displaced people. There are about 500 million people in countries at risk of instability and conflict. What the Global Peace Index points out is about half of those living places live below the poverty line. Of course, what the Global Peace Index does is show the economic impact of violence, which raised $10 trillion last year, which is twice the total gross domestic product of the entire continent of Africa, so there's a huge impact of violence and war.

The most peaceful countries in the world, of course, are places like Iceland,

Denmark, and New Zealand. I think that it's really just worth noting that since 2008, only four of the Global Peace Index's 22 indicators showed improvement while 18 deteriorated.

[0:15:09] They're predicting that situations in Zambia, Haiti, even Argentina, Chad, Bosnia,

Nepal, Burundi, Georgia, Liberia and Qatar are all indicating deterioration and they'll watch these countries very closely over the next two years. I have noted from friends in Burundi that things are beginning to unravel there. Places like South Sudan spiraled into a terrible mess.

So while there are many, many, many positive things, I think there's a shifting in

consciousness that's happening around the world that we see where there is a polarization around extreme positions. The split in Islam between Sunnis and Shiite will remind them that as they start Ramadan in the holy month of Ramadan that in Christianity, too, we had hundreds of years of inquisition, of bloody wars between Catholics and Protestants, and we hope in the case of the split within Islam that it's healed a lot more quickly.

Despite the bad news, I think there is a shift in consciousness. The average

person is becoming more peaceful and more conscious. I think, Philip and our special guests tonight, it's a very sobering reminder that we have a lot of work to do in our peace work. So if there are any comments from our quick community sharing, I think we should do a quick sharing tonight and then move on to our guests.

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Philip: Okay. Yes, James. I'm just resonating with everything you just said. There is a lot to do. If there's anyone on the call who would like to share, please press 1 on your touchtone phone. If you have a comment on the webcast, please go ahead and type those in. Let's give people a moment here. We do have a lot of wonderful guests tonight.

We have an update here from [Participant] in Melbourne. He says a little bit

about compassion and cultivating peace. It's a little long for right now, [Participant]. I invite you to share this on the Facebook group. I just want to thank you for writing this in, saying that it may be a labor of love for years to come and we're all worthy of a task. Great! Okay, [Participant], thank you so much for the check-in from Melbourne.

Any other comments here? One more refresh on the webcast. Here's one more

from [Participant]. "The words used in last week's meditation were 'Community in common unity, not immunity', although I might suggest that if we were to exemplify the behaviors of those described in chapter ten of Cultivating Peace, that might be still some form of immunity on this remarkable planet." Interesting. We do need immunity right now.

James: Yes, always insightful comments from [Participant]. Philip: Yes, I love him. All right, James, shall we go ahead and get started here? James: Yeah. Philip: Just so folks know what's ahead of us, I'm going to open with just a little bit

about the Summer of Peace -- you've heard some already -- and then we're going to bring on Avon Mattison. Avon is just a beautiful, beautiful presence in peacebuilding for many, many years.

Avon will be talking about International Day of Peace and the broader Peace

Wave. Myra Jackson will come back on and talk about Gaiafield Project, Spirituality and Peace series, Be the Peace, and more. And then we'll hear from Fred Arment about the International Cities of Peace, and then Jon Ramer will share with us about the Compassion Games.

[0:20:08] Each of these people was invited because of their deep, deep, deep commitment

to peace, embodying it, taken into interpersonal relationships, and also the projects that they're working on. Many peace ambassadors have been involved in these programs, so as we start this Activating and Organizing for Peace pillar,

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these are opportunities where you can join in and bring your gifts and be part of larger communities.

With that, I'm just going to take a few minutes just to describe the Summer of

Peace. The Summer of Peace was envisioned several years ago by Stephen Dinan in working closely with Avon Mattison and Matthew Albracht and several others, and it finally came to fruition in 2012, so this is the third year of having the Summer of Peace.

The intention is as Rick Ulfik from the "11 Days of Global Unity" says, it's to

inspire, inform, and involve. The idea is to bring a light and really shine on some of the positive ways that peacebuilding is emerging around the world as people become inspired and then they have information, and then people can choose to become involved in ways that are meaningful for them. The Summer of Peace has been a co-production of many, many partner organizations.

Pathways to Peace was one of the early founders, Culture of Peace Initiative,

Gaiafield Project, Compassion Games, International Cities of Peace, The Peace Alliance, The Alliance for Peacebuilding, the list goes on and on. What we've done is we've co-created this initiative to really allow people to again become inspired largely through a telesummit, and then for people to take their own action to join the Compassion Games, to join the International Day of Peace, to join the "Be The Peace" initiatives, to have events in their communities and to see that they're part of this larger wave.

One of the quotes that I love is from Steve Killelea who created the Global Peace

Index that James was talking about. Steve Killelea in one of the interviews said -- and we paraphrased it just a little bit. We've added onto it a little bit -- that in Sanskrit, there are 108 words for love, Islam has 99 names for God, Japanese has 14 words for beauty, but we've got one word for peace, at least in English. He said we're really only at the beginning of understanding peace. Socrates has said you can't really fully understand something until you have a language to discuss it.

Avon Mattison has been aware that there are many different pathways to peace,

as she said. What the Summer of Peace has done the last three years and it's doing right now is to interview people across the spectrum from inner to international, or as Dot Maver -- who will be with us next week -- says from personal to planetary. We've done this very intentionally because there is so much that's happening and also to start bridging this gap between inner peace and international. It can seem like such a far distance. "Okay, I have inner peace, but what does that mean about what's happening in Burundi or in Sierra Leone?" and so forth.

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And so, we're interviewing all these different people and by the end of the summer, it will be well over 350 people that will be interviewed. What we're doing is we're contributing to what Ambassador Chaudhry from the United Nations who's on the Wisdom Council for the Summer of Peace said. We're helping bring a strategic framework, and that strategic framework is really to create -- even though it's existing forever -- is to bring attention to a new narrative of peace from inner peace to international peace.

We wrote an article about this, which you've probably seen at Contemplative

Journal which was republished by the United Nations in China. This is really the gift that we can bring in this partnership with all these groups with the Summer of Peace, is a reflection back to what is emerging. This is not airy fairy stuff at all. We've got people who are working frontlines.

We've got a woman from Nigeria, Princess Ukaga. She's there in Nigeria where

stuff is happening and she is talking about the importance of the deep spiritual aspects. She and other young people across Africa and the world work with a group called "Children of the Earth" so they can step forward and they could start working to address the religious divide in Nigeria, so the Summer of Peace is really talking with people. I have been just incredibly thrilled to be able to have interviewed so many of these people.

[0:25:03] We've had Pete Carroll who won the Super Bowl last year with the Seattle

Seahawks. We've had scientists. We've had military people. We've had people on nonviolence, economics, and business. It's just such a wide range, all these different sectors.

What we can see is that there are a lot of common themes and common

universal principles that are going to arise, and when you look at it from that perspective, you can really see. As Louise Diamond has said in one of the past Peace Ambassador Training Programs, there really is a Spirit of Peace. She went as far as to say it is an entity. And so, that Spirit of Peace emerges out of the human soul, the human heart.

When people go through a crisis and they learn how to go through that crisis --

and Velcrow Ripper will talk about it in one of the final classes here -- when you go through that in a really conscious way like we've been doing in the Peace Ambassador Training, what happens is the part of the person's ego is burned away and then the soul is able to start expressing.

When you listen to these recordings, you can see the fingerprints of that

universal spirit that's starting to emerge and it's taking shape in different ways,

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in different cultures, in different contexts. And when you look at this larger whole, this larger Peace Wave, which Avon will talk about, it's just so inspiring. And so, even though there's a lot of breakdown that's happening in the world, which James talked about in the report, there's a lot of breakdown that's happening.

There's also a lot of emerging that's coming, that's giving birth to the new.

Velcrow Ripper will be talking more about that. Velcrow Ripper would say it's like the largest love story and too many histories that this collective suffering will give birth to a level of love that has never been experienced on the planet or it hasn't reached at least as far as we know in this cycle.

And so, the Summer of Peace, all of this is building up. We're going to launch a

World Peacebuilding Library later on the year. I want to acknowledge Carol Anne, a peace ambassador graduate, who's been working really closely with me on this, has done a lot of work to start setting into a framework these interviews, looking at the inner, looking at interpersonal and family, looking at community and so forth, and across multiple sectors of society where there are multiple pathways.

And so, we're going to be making this World Peacebuilding Library available so

people could start to see this larger narrative and to be able to listen to these stories, and then to be pointed to resources like The Culture of Peace Initiative and others to say, "Hey, I was really inspired by listening to Dr. Sharifa talking about parenting, how to be a peaceful parent. This is where I can go and learn more." That's really the essence of the Summer of Peace.

Now, the people we're bringing on here are folks that have been directly

involved, who have been either interviewed or hosting calls, or they've been providing ways for people coming across the Summer of Peace to be connected, and then really also just to acknowledge -- the next person we're going to hear, Avon Mattison, to say the Summer of Peace is just one wave of many waves that's been going on for decades, if not longer, probably since humanity.

And so, what we're all doing is through all these different efforts and through

this synergy -- this is the other thing Ambassador Chowdhury said -- is this synergy between different organizations really accelerate this Peace Wave. We can no longer just be thinking about me and my organization and this and that. No, no, no. What is the gift of the individual? What is the gift of the organization? And then how can we work together using skills, the communication skills we cover in the Peace Ambassador Training?

Communication skills are top but nonviolent communication in the connect

practice and so forth, and then how do we do the deep inner work because

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there's always friction that comes up in organization relationships and so forth. How do we stay with that to burn through and then to give expression to this larger Spirit of Peace?

With that, James, I would love to bring on Avon Mattison now for Avon to share

a little bit about her deep, deep wisdom. Let me just say a little bit about Avon -- and there's a lot to be said about Avon, but just briefly, Avon is a peacebuilding and interorganizational consultant, advisor and mentor with over three decades experience.

She works with innovative leaders, groups and organizations on the "frontline"

building Cultures of Peace inter-generationally and inter-culturally for future generations. She is Founder and President of "Pathways to Peace", an international peacebuilding, educational and consulting organization.

[0:30:04] "Pathways to Peace" has consultative status with the United Nations Economic

and Social Council and is an official Peace Messenger of the United Nations. "Pathways to Peace" is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit, non-partisan organization.

Avon is also a partner in the consulting proprietorship of Pathways Consulting.

She's originator of Creative, Inter-Generative Decision Making in 1961, a process applied to the purpose, principles, and organizational strategies. She used to work as a diplomat for three years serving the European Union. She has served advisor to United Nations Conferences and it goes on and on.

Avon has also been an important part of the Untied Nation's work around The

Culture of Peace and The Culture of Peace Initiative and with the International Day of Peace.

With that, it is just a joy to introduce you to one of the wisest women, wisest

people in peacebuilding. Avon, welcome! Avon: Oh my goodness! Oh, Philip, I could just listen to you for hours about the

Summer of Peace and may I live up to at least a little bit of what you've spoken of, and just honor you for the way you've been stewarding the peace ambassadors in this training all these years. And to the master teacher, James O'Dea, my dear, I always send you a bow and a hug, as well as to Philip. Thank you for continuing to offer this exemplary master class in peacebuilding.

Well, I don't even know where to begin, but you just had me go and stand on my

head, Philip, to dig out something about the Spirit of Peace. I'll just begin with that by just saying the Spirit of Peace -- this was written in the 1930s. It's from

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ancient wisdom teachings. "The Spirit of Peace is not an abstract concept but a potent being, wielding forces hitherto unfamiliar to our planet."

This is partly what has been guiding me all these long years as well, so I can play

with that with us all more, but in this brief time we're together, Philip asked me to speak about the following -- the Peace Wave, Peace Day, Culture of Peace Initiative, field of peacebuilding and how to engage in a practical way, and all of the above. I will begin with just saying that this goes back to the Global Peace Index that James was referring to.

Before there ever was a Global Peace Index, the web or any of that, and during

the midst of the Cold War, a most historic event occurred amongst extreme warring nations following World War II and in the midst of the heat of the Cold War. This was the creation by all member existing nations at that time who were also members of the United Nations of a Universal Day of Peace in which all the nations agreed to establish a day that would "serve as a reminder of our permanent commitment to peace above all interests and differences of any kind."

The first Peace Day occurred 32 years ago and no one knew about it. So

"Pathways to Peace" became quite a bit involved with the establishment of the International Day of Peace with this idea of how do you give people a simple way of engaging in Peace Day where they may only be able to do something for one minute that is actually an action of peace, but they never thought it was, and help to build a sense that personal and planetary peace are inseparable. This began what is called the Peace Wave in 1983.

[0:35:04] The Peace Wave is basically at noon in every time zone a minute of silence,

which is the moment of peace, so it's called "The Peace Wave: A Minute of Silence, A Moment of Peace". The idea of having a simple act such as that, a peace action on the subtle level -- this is subtle action -- could make a difference, number one, and number two, help to build a sense of unit of consciousness and also the understanding that personal and planetary peace are inseparable, and knowing that you're not alone and that you're joining with people in this Peace Wave throughout the planet not only on this particular day.

Everyone was invited to continue this at noon in every time zone and that has

been growing to the point where there are literally over a billion people that participate in the Peace Wave and call it by many different names in many different organizations in peacebuilding. It has just been a self-organizing, omni-local, global force that has been phenomenal.

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Secondly, this allowed people to connect with each other in a very subtle action way, and then in 1984, established what is known as The Culture of Peace Initiative as a way that -- again, this was before the web time -- different individuals, organizations, networks, groups could learn from one another, cooperate with one another, discover one another, and build on this concept of personal and planetary peace are inseparable, that only through cooperation and through synergy can we make a quantitative and qualitative difference.

The focus point is discovering what peace is in our own selves, in our

communities and all our relationships, and simultaneously to build something that would become a movement toward building a Culture of Peace along all of these diverse pathways, amidst all of these conflicts in generations and cultures and whatever label you want to put on differences, and realize that above all differences of any kind, our commitment is to peace and the building of Culture of Peace for not only future generations, but for now, here and now to make peace a practical reality in the 21st Century. Those were the premises with which The Culture of Peace Initiative started in 1984.

Bringing it a bit forward now is basically a field of peacebuilding or a field of

peace that we all co-create and participate in, and it doesn't belong to anyone, but to humanity and to this exquisite planet, so that was the precepts at the beginning. It's still that and it has been an honor to be connected with the Summer of Peace these past three years in that process. Many, many peace ambassadors in the organizations and projects and events are participants in The Culture of Peace Initiative including fearless Fred with the International Cities of Peace, Gaiafield Project and so many others. And so, it's a co-creative field.

What was interesting about Peace Day or "Pathways to Peace" is it seems to be

asked to give a report on what was happening on Peace Day to the Office of the Secretary General and also to the Department of Public Information at the United Nations. We did this and offered it because we wanted to show what was happening in civil society, that when civil society, we as human beings engage whether it'd be as individuals or within nations or whatever that organizational framework or non-organizational framework happens to be that there is within humanity peacebuilders that are emerging and revealing that a Culture of Peace is already becoming evident, which was not even thought possible back in the Cold War.

What happened on the International Day of Peace simply gave evidence to that.

It became a focus point for the proposal that the UN create and announce that there is a field of peacebuilding because there was no such word as "peacebuilding" or "the field of peace". They don't exist.

[0:40:02]

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There were only two fields that were understood, which was peacemaking and

peacekeeping, which have to do with war as an organizing response or factor to that. Peacebuilding is what we, as human beings, individually and collectively engage in on a daily basis and don't even know it by the kindness we show to one another, by living through compassion, by beginning a recycling program, just filling a list of everything that you do in your own lives as peace ambassadors. You realize that you are not only a peacebuilder, but you are creating a Culture of Peace through every thought, word, and action.

What inspired me in terms of peacebuilding was when I was in my 20s -- but it

really became a thriving force for me during the Cold War when I was in the diplomatic service -- is a quote from Nicholas Roerich, who was an extraordinary statesman, artist, and peacebuilder, and who decided that it was really important to create a Culture of Peace cross-culture that all nations could agree to and sign up about, and this was before a Peace Day was ever created.

I want to quote you from this because it has to do with the title of this fifth pillar,

Peacebuilders as an Evolutionary Leader. This fits even though this was written -- gosh, I don't remember, back in the '40s or '30s, I guess. "Positive creativeness is the fundamental quality of the human spirit. Let us welcome all those who, surmounting incredible difficulties. Propel their spirits to the task of peacebuilding, thus ensuring a radiant future and the Culture of Peace."

The field of peacebuilding was established by the United Nations. This is one of

the quotes used to engage as an example. The UN established that finely in the early 1990s. And now, we have today you as peace ambassadors in this extraordinary master class, realizing that you are peacebuilders and making peace a practical reality in the 21st Century because you are part of that evolutionary spiral that is manifesting and expressing in your daily lives a Culture of Peace.

The Compassion Games are an example of that and you're going to be hearing

more from Jon about that, and Fred Arment about the International Cities of Peace, and of the subtle activism works from Myra. This extraordinary work, it's just exemplary in its own way with the Summer of Peace that concludes on Peace Day.

So I would just suggest in a practical way -- this is something Philip

recommended -- one of the things that you can do is go to pathwaystopeace.org. Sign up for The Culture of Peace Initiative newsletter on the newsletter. You will automatically be sent the last newsletter that talks about -- I believe, International Cities of Peace was in a prior piece, a CPI newsletter. I think the

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Compassion Games were in one even prior to that, but many of you peace ambassadors have been featured in what you are doing in the CPI newsletter.

Secondly, if you click on the Facebook icon, it will take you to the International

Day of Peace information that will give you a lot of ideas and suggestions about what is already going on. You can also put in what you are doing not only for Peace Day, but since Peace Day is every day, just to spread that throughout the world. There are about between 4000 and 5000 organizations that are participating organizations and numerous groups and networks and now movements. And so, this is your field to keep co-creating and demonstrating that peace is a practical reality in the 21st Century.

[0:45:07] Personal and planetary peace is inseparable and you are peacebuilders who are

evolutionary leaders. Thank you. Philip: All right. Wonderful! Thank you, Avon. James, any comments here before we

move on to Myra? James? He stepped away here for a second. All right. Well, we've introduced Myra already.

James: I was on mute there. Philip: Okay. Yes, go ahead, James. James: I was speaking to myself on mute. I just want to say that when you mentioned

the Spirit of Peace and then Avon mentioned it and gave that quote, I think Avon, without hype, is really an embodiment of that Spirit of Peace and is the mother of this contemporary movement. We cannot speak too highly of her incredible subtle organizing for peacebuilding. And so, I just really also bow back to Avon for all the visible and invisible work that you've done in peacebuilding over these years.

Philip: I second everything you just said, James. This is a beautiful segue now to Myra

because Avon and Myra worked quite closely together and particularly in the International Day of Peace.

So Myra, my friend, we pass it back over to you. Myra: Thank you so much. It's been repeated and I have to say, bows all around. I,

today, got another big dose from you, Philip and you, Avon, of the friendships that have been developed over the years we've been working and how those extensions of kindness and caring have been fundamental to the building of my own inner sense that collaborative work is indeed necessary for moving towards

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the sustainable peace that we wish for the world. I do not want to underestimate the contributions that each of you have made. All of you who are participating in this course with James, it's our daily effort that builds the field.

The Gaiafield Project of which I'm going to speak to you today is about linking for

collective healing and social change, and that is definitely a byline that has a lot of energy for us that we care about. Every voice you've heard on the call so far, we call them subtle activists. Subtle activism is not passive. We are very active, but here's where you might find the term of interest to you.

One is that these are practices that have been with humanity throughout all of

time. The practices that we have been developing as a group over time -- and really, we've been very focused on all of this for the last six years and I'll tell you more about the "we" as I get through the sharing with you -- is really looks at the power of what happens when we come together with an intention in a group.

So what the Gaiafield Project has done is it has gathered that information

together. Those practices, the theories and all the programs that have been used over time and aimed toward an intention are a part of a body of knowledge and data that we have collected. Actually, the collectors of that data are two of the founders, Leslie Meehan and David Nicol. They did this as a part of a program that started out at CIIS, the California Institute of Integral Studies. They started in their PhD work, the Center for Subtle Activism.

What's really nice about the work that's happening at the Gaiafield Project is

that we're involved in practical, applied practices of subtle activism which really are common to all of us -- meditation, prayer, chanting, all the ways that we evoke the profound experiences of that subtle field that we're all a part of.

[0:50:20] And so, this is our focus. This is our focus of coming together. Weekly, we have

an inner practice as a group of going into the field and dropping into the silence to commune with our allies just as you had a chance to experience in the opening meditation.

What is always important to the work that we do is that we're harnessing that

power of consciousness that is based on practices like meditation and prayer to support collective transformation. So in the last six years, what we've done with these practices is that we have been able to really define at advance the field of subtle activism through bringing together large groups of people to practice subtle activism together.

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We have focused those practices on the highest outcome for the US election in 2008, a program we called the WiseUSA. Then in 2009, we focused on the WiseClimate where we supported the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. We focused our efforts on Occupy Movement and we called that Occupy Gaia. That program went from early 2011 to 2012.

Now, what excites us and you've heard a little bit about was The Summer of

Peace Program: Spirituality and Peace. This is our third year at the Gaiafield Project, is participating in shaping and defining that program with The Shift Network and in particular, Philip. This is a 13-week teleseries. In fact, the most recent one for this year is done and it's not too late for each of you to join us. This program happens every Sunday. It's 30 minutes of focus on the essence of what each spiritual leader offers from their tradition. And so, we're featuring mystics and elders from a wide variety of traditions that guide us into their practices in support of world peace.

We find that all of these kinds of practices support us on the inner and help

direct us in our outer activity. So if you're looking to really activate and organize around peace, one of the things you should know is that it's helpful to have a group practice that allows us to drop into the silence, that allows us to commune deeply in that subtle place so that we can build inner strength and take that with us into our outer work.

This Spirituality and Peace Program, we have enjoyed working with The Shift

Network to bring this about and we think that having done it now for our third year, we are experiencing our own wave of peace, a small wave of peace to join that master wave that Avon talked about.

This piece is the culminating event for us that happens on September 21st. It's a

[Audio Glitch] numerous events. This year, we're aiming for [Audio Glitch] of last year hitting that goal over 500 international cities and hub sites that joined us in the International Peace Day celebration along with The Shift Network on September 21st. So this year, you have an opportunity to join us very early on and help us to build that field towards International Peace Day and join that Peace Wave.

Another aspect of what Gaiafield has done has been able to establish healthy,

working relationship with leaders in the field, and Avon Mattison's "Pathways to Peace" has been an early supporter, collaborator and partner in all of this, as has been The Shift Network, the Institute of HeartMath, the World Peace Prayer Society, the Earth Treasure Vase Project, Association for Global New Thought, MedMob, Unify. The list goes on.

[0:55:21]

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So when you talk about collaboration within the Summer of Peace, collaboration

has been the name and the signature of the game we have been playing. We know it's the right effort because each year we're growing exponentially and we do feel the coherence building in the field. That said, if you can go back to Philip's begetting comments, I don't know who could not have tapped into the Spirit of Peace listening to Philip. He really is the champion.

The other aspect of Gaiafield Project's work is developing the intellectual

foundations for subtle activism. David Nicol, one of the co-founders, has just finished his academic book that came out of his dissertation, "Subtle Activism: The Inner Dimension of Social and Planetary Transformation", and we are excited with the completion of this book. It goes into the academic world and beyond as a primer on subtle activism.

That's a lot to share with all of you. Our basis really is around respect and care

for the community of life, ecological integrity, social and economic justice and democracy, nonviolence and peace. This work that we do as subtle activists includes you. We are here to support you in growing into that shared wisdom and invite you to participate with us as we focus in on the Summer of Peace activities and we build toward September 21st International Peace Day.

I am available for any questions and I thank you again, Philip and James, for

allowing me to share a little bit with you today. James: Thank you, Myra. In a world of crude power plays and growth energy, you and

your work and the work of the Gaiafield really take us into the reality that it is the subtle, spiritual evolutionary process that is going to lift up humanity. If anybody has any stereotype in their mind that subtle is somehow less than manifest, spend time with the Gaiafield Project, tap into Myra's and David's work and you will see it's really very, very powerful because the receptive aspect of this work is what is needed.

There's much more receptivity that is needed on planet Earth in order for us to

receive what we need to move the game forward. Myra is a master collaborator herself and we think that the large piece of work that she just described is a little piece of her own very, very full and rich, I suppose, the inner and outer planes of service, so thank you, Myra.

Myra: Thank you. Philip: Yeah. I want to echo everything there and invite people to join the Spirituality

and Peace series during the Summer of Peace every Sunday, 9:00 a.m. Pacific. Just last week, Myra interviewed Rabbi Pam Frydman, who's called in from

July 2, 2014 | p. 17

Israel. This week, we'll have Sister Jenna calling from Washington DC. The series just weave together the energies from all these different traditions, and as Myra mentioned, culminating on the International Day of Peace with Be the Peace.

James: I love David Nicol's description of bringing the book to this point where you can

finally unload it with these publishers. It's like carrying a refrigerator on your back for the last five years.

Philip: Oh my goodness! We definitely all are going to celebrate the launch of that book

and celebrate David and his commitment to it. Well, my friends, we're going to move now to the International Cities of Peace.

We can take some questions after hearing from Fred and Jon if our speakers are able to stay on. Some of them will be able to and some need to drop off.

[1:00:11] Let me tell you a little bit just briefly about Fred. It's so fun to have people on the

call who I just love dearly. Fred Arment is the founder and executive director of the International Cities of Peace. He's the author of two novels in the academic work "The Elements of Peace: How Nonviolence Works". This fall, McFarland Academic Publishers will release his new book, "The Economics of Peace: Freedom, the Golden Rule, and Broadening Prosperity".

Fred also is the founder and the head of his own marketing company and there

are lots more I could say about Fred. On a personal note, I just want to say it's been a real delight to partner with Fred, as with all of our speakers, the last few years because with the International Cities of Peace, Fred has created a framework where people around the world can say, "Hey, I'm interested in this." We're talking about across United States, Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia.

Fred and his team works with people where they are to help them create an

International City of Peace whether it's a small village or a large city. Fred has worked a lot with peace ambassadors and just really good. Together, Fred announced a goal of 1000 Cities of Peace by the year 2020. Fred will tell you a little bit more about this and how that fits in with creating infrastructures of peace.

So Fred, my friend, thank you for being with us. Fred: Thank you, Philip. Hello, everyone all over the world! Thanks to James, Avon,

Myra, Jon, everyone here, but it's really the peace ambassadors that we're speaking to tonight.

July 2, 2014 | p. 18

I'm a sailor. I'm very appreciative to have a sailboat and I was sailing this weekend. I just get such peace out of that sailboat. You go out, you have the motor running, you shut that motor down, the wind fills the sails and you sail to an island and you anchor out. It just gives me and fills me with such peace. I know that everyone on this call has a similar experience whether it's gardening, meditation, yoga, reading, prayer. All of these things give us that peace.

As I was anchored out by that island, it occurred to me that no person is an

island. What James was talking about was that peace is a problem in many, many different countries in the world and we're surrounded by that. We see it on the news and it's really hard to keep our optimism, but the idea that we're not islands is what we need to understand in order to engage.

There are many, many people around the world, peace ambassadors in

particular, who have engaged, who have created organizations and communities. We have nearly 100 Cities of Peace around the world and these cities are not just intentions. These are people in groups who have created vision statements and mission statements and goals. They're digging wells in Bamenda, Cameroon and they're working to heal a divided nation in Cyprus. They're building a school right now.

Mabwe Lucien is building a school in Fizi, Democratic Republic of Congo. The

Sedona group has really flourished. It started with one person, Judy Maloney. She was a peace ambassador, I believe, and she created the intention that created "Sedona, City of Peace". She talked to her husband and then she talked to a friend. And then their friends talked to some other friends.

Now, we have a huge organization there that's putting on workshops and

building gardens. It just exponentially, organically starts with one person and that person doesn't have to be an extraordinary person. Everyone is unique and everyone is extraordinary, but it only takes the intention and then actually engaging the community.

What Philip was talking about is our 2020 goal of 1000 Cities of Peace around the

world. [1:05:02] Can you imagine if we have 1000 Cities of Peace organizations around the world,

what impact that could have on world events and local events when there is a possibility of war, possibility of famine? These Cities of Peace can engage with the community and that's what we're shooting for and that's what's happening all over the world.

July 2, 2014 | p. 19

Right now, it's happening. People have a hard time relating to what's happening in city governments, grassroots organizations merging with city governments, but there are human rights councils and arts councils. In Ashland, Oregon, they're creating a commission for a Culture of Peace. In Dayton, where I live, we have a Welcome Dayton Organization that was brought to Washington. It's done such a great job of welcoming immigrants to our city because they are such wonderful citizens and they create prosperity and cultural diversity.

It's a wide open possibility that International Cities of Peace creates for people.

We don't tell people how to create peace. You know how to create peace. In your heart you know it, in your mind you know it, and in your spirit you know it. What are you doing right now? Are you working at a workshop or are you doing yoga? Are you working in the community as a teacher? All of these things are creating the peace that we need in the world. And now that we're organizing and now that we're creating what Stephen Dinan calls the Infrastructure of Peace, we have the real capacity to really make a difference in the world.

International Cities of Peace is something that is very accessible. We have a

letter of intent that a person can go to the website and print this out and get signatures from their families and friends in a group to start the initiative, and that starts the process. We help you, we work with you, engage with you to create a vision, mission and goals. It really comes out of your work, of your way to create peace. I think that everyone on this call could start an International City of Peace and I think it would benefit the world.

We have lots of initiatives with International Cities of Peace. One, with Avon on

the line -- I might have mentioned this -- one of the aspects of International Day of Peace is that almost all of the International Cities of Peace are doing a Global Feast for Peace this year during Peace Week, September 15th through 21st, and that's basically breaking bread together. The whole world broke bread together last year. We had 30 cities in the Global Feast for Peace, but it's just one aspect. Joining the association, you get a community of sorts where you can not only act locally, but you can connect globally.

You can check out that Global Feast for Peace and add your city to the map. It

can be just you and your spouse, you and your family, you and your friends, or it can be a large community potluck, but what the world needs more than anything else is to sit down and break bread together, a thanksgiving for peace, and that's the kind of thing that International City of Peace can sponsor that can make a difference in the world.

I just want to be quick because we're low on time, but we also have a Global

Family Program. I work with a group in Bujumbura, Burundi, a group of women who were raped and were ostracized from their families during the war. There

July 2, 2014 | p. 20

are about 50 of them with their families and what we've done is we've created a way to give them a little bit of funds in order to send their children to school and to lease some land in order to have a garden for food.

We asked them at the time to think about starting a business so that they could

at least have sustainability and a way to support themselves. Now, they've come up with an amazing project called "Nine Goats to Alleviate Poverty". Isn't that a cool name? "Nine Goats to Alleviate Poverty" and what they want to do is they want to buy nine goats in order to give their kids milk and they can raise the goats and they can sell goats. It creates an entrepreneurial aspect to International Cities of Peace. That's another program that you can check out.

I think I'll end it there, but it's an invitation for all of you to think about whether

you're in Sydney or whether you're in any other country or city in the world. [1:10:09] We're not islands. If we were all islands, that would be very easy. We could find

our meditative practice. We could go out in our garden and we could find peace, but the world is upon us and we need to be upon the world. ICP makes it easy. The Shift partnership is well-respected and appreciated. And so, I just want to let you know that you can go to internationalcitiesofpeace.org and we'd be happy to work with you. Thank you, Philip.

James: Thank you, Fred. Your reference to the island reminds me of the metaphysical

poet, John Donne, and he says, "No man is an island entire of himself, but is a part of the continent, the whole." That's what you're expressing, too.

I think Fred, in your work, you really defined for me the long-distance runner, the

committed activist with practical expertise in organizing and deep commitment. I'm sure you're a wonderful sailor, too, in the sense that you keep the direction and so much good comes from your organizing skills. I'm really delighted that over the years, some of our peace ambassadors have linked in with the program and I think it's a great invitation to those of you who are here in the US and abroad to really link into this program, so thank you, Fred.

Fred: Thank you, James. Philip: Yes, Fred. Yay, yay, yay! I love it, a thousand Cities of Peace by 2020. Fred, you've

had a number of ambassadors involved, is that right? Do you know the number at this point?

Fred: Yes. I don't know the exact number. It may be about a quarter of our Cities of

Peace have been former peace ambassadors. Sometimes people contact us

July 2, 2014 | p. 21

without referencing the Peace Ambassador Program because they're fully engaged at that point and they're working, so sometimes we don't even know, but the Peace Ambassador Program has been a real boon to the peacebuilding effort worldwide including International Cities of Peace.

Philip: Okay. Wonderful! Thank you, Fred. Next, we have our dear friend who I just --

again, I love and adore all of our speakers here. Jon Ramer is an American entrepreneur, civic leader, inventor, and musician, and

he's also a father. He is the co-founder of several technology companies including Ramer and Associates, ELF Technologies, and so forth. He's a designer and co-founder of several Deep Social Networks. He is the designer and co-founder of Compassionate Action Network International, a nonprofit based in Seattle that led the effort to make the city the first in the world to affirm Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion.

Jon also conceived and produces the "Compassion Games: Survival of the

Kindest", and we're going to hear a lot more about this, in response to a challenge from the Mayor of Louisville. We'll save that story for Jon.

This is really sweet, too. Jon also serves as Director and Chief Technology Officer

at Four Worlds International Institute with a focus on the Campaign to Protect the Sacred. The campaign birthed the International Treaty to Protect the Sacred from Tar Sands Projects signed by over 50 different tribes throughout North America. Jon is also the songwriter and lead guitarist in the band "Once and for All".

This work with the Four Worlds International Institute, Jon partners with another

friend of ours, Chief Phil Lane Jr., hereditary chief from Lakota nation. I had the pleasure of meeting him in person and we've talked on the phone a lot the last year and in person at a gathering here locally. So with us, Jon, please tell us about compassion and the Protect the Sacred.

Jon: Thank you, Philip, and thank you, James, to all the peace ambassadors and to my

colleagues here with Stephen, Myra, and Fred. This is a beautiful example of building community by peacemaking.

[1:15:04] It's humbling, it's inspiring. The opportunity that we're given is just all inspiring. It

really is. This is our moment and this is for me an empathic coalition. I think that's what we're designing here and I'm very interested in how tonight's session fits in with the work that all the ambassadors are doing on activating and organizing peace.

July 2, 2014 | p. 22

Let me share a little bit about my story, the story of us here, in the story of now.

Hopefully, it'll be an inspiration for how we can really go deeper as a community to weave our strategies together, which is for me turning what we have into what we need, which is the essence of strategy and the trust that's necessary to do that.

For myself, I'm originally from New York. I've lived out in Seattle for almost 30

years, grew up in Brooklyn, the old Brooklyn. It was 9/11 and even though I was living in Seattle, that's the time when I said, "Wait a minute. I just cannot stay idle." That got me involved in organizing a number of projects in the Pacific Northwest. And then when 2008 came along, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, visited for an event called The Seeds of Compassion. That's where I met Hereditary Chief Phil Lane.

Being a musician, when Phil shared with me these 16 guiding principles that

were developed over 40 years of consultation amongst indigenous people, I just said, "Wait a minute. That's just poetry. That is timeless." I won't mention all the principles, but I'll share the summary statement, which has guided all the work we've been doing with compassion, and it's summarized this way. It says, "Starting from within, working in a circle in a sacred manner, we heal and develop ourselves, our relationships, and the world."

That became the core of the work we did with the Compassionate Action

Network that did lead to proposing to our city mayor and city council that we be the first city to affirm the Charter for Compassion and we just made that up not knowing really what that means. In fact, we were humbled by, "Now what? Once it actually happens, what does that really mean?" One of the things we come to see is that a compassionate city like The City of Peace is an uncomfortable city. The challenges we're facing were daunting and we need to come together.

What happened to us is kind of funny in some ways, but it changed my life. We

kicked off this campaign. James was out here for it with Karen in 2010 and other cities started to respond and said that they were either Cities of Peace, Cities of Compassion. It's really all the same thing and there are hundreds of cities now that embarked on this campaign, but one city in particular really we were astounded by is the work that's being done in Louisville, Kentucky. For those who know how to say it, I've been learning.

The mayor of Louisville, Greg Fischer, is a remarkable leader. He ran on a

platform of compassion, of lifelong learning and health. He won and he's beloved, but the mayor, after we gave them an award for their great work, they wrote us a letter saying that Louisville was the most compassionate city in the

July 2, 2014 | p. 23

world and would be so until proven otherwise. I think my Brooklyn instinct just said, "What? What do you mean you're the most compassionate city?"

Knowing that Jennifer Lawrence is from Louisville and that was the year that the

Hunger Games first came out, kind of almost the half of the joke we said, "Well, why don't we do what we call the coopetition?" Guys, I'm telling you, everyone who's on this call who's been trying to get people engaged -- just like cigarette smoking, all the facts did not convince people to change their behavior. There's something about the civic pride, the way we feel towards our sense of belonging that when I would tell people that Louisville says they're the most compassionate city, they go, "Well, how can I get involved? What can we do?"

So following the guides of collective impact which says you need some shared

agenda, but you need shared measurements, it looked like the games could offer a creative way to strengthen what's already working and to meet some of those conditions, so we do measure four things -- the number of volunteers, the hours of service, the dollars you raise from local causes, as well as the number of people that are served.

Our whole focus has been let's strengthen what's already working. There are so

many great things happening. That's why we jumped on Karen Armstrong TED Prize. That's when Rick Ulfik's "11 Days of Global Unity" it became clear. "Let's use that same frame. All the work with the International Day of Peace, let's use that as a way to strengthen what's already working and tie that into the games."

[1:20:08] So for me, this is part of the challenge we faced, is how do we appreciate what's

already out there and strengthen it in the process, strengthen what's already working, how do we connect and co-direct the indigenous races in a co-creative, situational leadership model because here we have connections that can further all of our common interests.

The games are intended to build momentum, inspire people on an annual basis

with this year's added leagues because there are so many communities participating. Last year, they played the games for 11 days in the California Women's Correctional Facility and had 11 days without a single incidence of violence. They'll be playing there again this year.

Lush Cosmetics has been one of our presenting partners that do incredible work

around the world in supporting ethical campaigns using the games as a way to strengthen their relationship amongst their employees. This idea of competitive altruism is an idea that we don't compete against, but we can compete with each other to challenge ourselves to do better and better in the process.

July 2, 2014 | p. 24

For me, it's really about authenticity, this idea of starting within, that

authenticity gives us the authority for real change that comes from the inside out. So like Fred was saying before, there's this notion of building these platform and then people are doing creative things with these things that we're doing and it's humbling.

So what happens with the games is there are different games people can play,

service projects. We do the Secret Agents of Compassion. Everyone gets a mission each day, but you play and then there's a compassion map that we're all sharing. It's an open source platform for reporting on those activities, those discoveries you make, compassion in terms of our relationships with others, relationship with the earth, relationships with ourselves, and then use that to elevate that so that other people can discover those things and build that power within to have the power with, to eliminate the power over us, and in the process, reframe what we mean by love, peace, compassion, and abundance.

This is walking in the peaceful, loving way and I am really humbled by the chance

to work with everybody on this call, to encourage us to go deeper this year, to discover how the International Day of Peace can be something like it's never been before and to make those discoveries together about what we're capable of. They're playing the games in the United Arab Emirates. Zayed University is playing the games during Ramadan as a trial to build up their capacity to participate in the games in September.

I'm hungry to play this whole vision of playing with compassion, that love wind,

and that all of us here on this call, we know that we need to do better at reaching out, how we connect through the similarity that we share, but innovates more diversity together. So I'm grateful, as you can tell, and inspired by this community. I see us, like I said, building community by peacemaking together and building an empathic coalition.

James, a deep bow to you for your leadership here and know that I am ready and

eager to help in any way I can, you and Philip and all my colleagues and anybody on this call.

James: Thank you, Jon. You really, for me, define creativity in the world through dance

and technology, music, community organizing and on and on. I think it is so deep what you're doing because it's really taking that Darwinian notion of competition, the survival of the fittest, and the fittest are the most altruistic and the most compassionate. It's truly that revolutionary work. It's the new spiritual, evolutionary, revolutionary work that you're doing, so thank you so much.

July 2, 2014 | p. 25

I think we're getting to the top of the hour here, Philip, but we should also, as several of our colleagues have done, acknowledge you. When Jon was talking about the empathic coalition, I think he really defined that spirit of empathy, collaboration, and inspiration in what you do, so thank you, too, Philip.

Maybe we have time for just a few, quick questions. Philip: Okay, sure thing. Thank you for that, James, Fred, Avon, Jon, and Myra. [1:25:06] People who are on the phone and would like to share or have a question for our

senior guests -- Myra did have another call, so she's not here -- please hit 1 on your phone or type in your question on the webcast. If you have something that you would like to share, please go ahead. Just a nice note from [Participant] in Citrus Heights saying she's enjoyed all this. Thank you for that, [Participant].

All right. Do we have any 1's on here? A little quiet so far, okay, no 1's yet. [Participant], have you got anything there in Melbourne you want to share? I'd

love, [Participant], that you're there in Melbourne, Australia participating. Oh here, we've got someone. [Participant], please [Participant], go ahead.

Participant: Mine is kind of weird because in the efforts I've made years ago, I met Phil Lane,

Sr. Now, I'm wondering if Jon Ramer in Seattle is related to Aggie, Agnes, who's the sister-in-law.

Philip: Jon? Jon: Was she asking if I'm related to Peggy Agnes? Philip: [Participant]? Participant: Agnes Ramer who lives south of Seattle. Jon: Okay. No, but if you would be so kind, introduce me, my long lost relative. Participant: I will get in touch with some of the cousins locally and see because I'm excited

about Seattle being a compassionate city. I just went to our mayor's office today to see if -- well, kind of a backhanded way of not having to go through -- I tried him with the Peace City process in Boise. I'm in Boise, Idaho. It was 150 years old just last year and he was just overwhelmed with that, so I'm hoping that he will --

July 2, 2014 | p. 26

Jon: You know, [Participant], I just had a visit from Jerry, the person who ran for mayor in your town in Boise. There are people who want to do -- Jerry Brady -- the Compassionate City campaign there, so just so you know based on the charter as well, it's just another expression of the City of Peace idea.

Participant: Oh, I think I know who that is, too. I think one of his kids is married to one of

Barbara Marx Hubbard's kids. Jon: Oh! Participant: Thanks. James: The family is growing. Philip: The family is growing. Hey Jon, how can [Participant] be in touch with you? Jon: [Participant], you can reach me at [email protected] and anyone can

reach me with that email, or I don't mind you calling me. My number in the states is 206-972-7356.

Participant: Say that again please. Jon: 972-7356 area code 206. Participant: And jon@? Jon: [email protected]. We're a nonprofit. James: We are past our time. I just want to thank everybody. I began this evening with

those warnings that we have to heed on the Global Peace Index and these are really serious and threatening signs, but all of the energy we've heard this evening, the deep undercurrent of cultural change and transformation are coming. I think they're going to have a huge impact on our future.

And so, it's been really uplifting and vitalizing to be in touch with so many

creative and profound spiritual leaders here tonight. With that, Philip, we'll thank our guests and open up the small group work. I would say in terms of homework, the homework assignment, go do it.

[1:30:12] Philip: Go do it. Just so everyone knows, Michelle in Pachuca, Mexico, is going to start a

coopetition in the university and Jon will connect to you.

July 2, 2014 | p. 27

Jon: Perfect! I love that. Yeah. The Dalai Lama Fellows are playing in universities where the Fellows are based, so that's great.

Philip: Excellent! All right. Well, James, I don't know about you, but I am seriously

excited. Thank you, my friend. Again, thanks Fred, Jon, Avon, and Myra for being with us. It's that time for breakout groups. James, have a wonderful, peaceful rest of your evening there in Crestone.

If you're on the phone and would like to be in breakout groups, please just go

ahead and stay on the line. If you're not going to be staying on for the small groups, just go ahead and hang up. If you're on the webcast, go ahead and call the number that was emailed to you or you could call this general number 1-310-409-2027. That's 1-310-409-2027 and the PIN number is 563009.

I think for this one here, this breakout group, let's talk about what you thought

of the class and what is inspiring you in terms of taking action. Where will you be looking to take action?

So with that, my friends, we will go ahead and start with the breakout groups.

Wherever you are in the world, whether it's morning, evening, or night, have a peaceful rest of your time. Thank you.

[1:31:53] End of Audio 2014 The Shift Network. All rights reserved.