| Contents
/ July - Issue #13 |
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Conference
Spotlight |
Early registration discount ends July 15th!
Consciousness
in Action:
The Science and Practice of Transformation
12th
International IONS Conference
August 9-12, 2007
With Pre- and Post-Conference Institutes on August 8,
9 & 12
La Quinta Resort and Club, Palm Springs, California
Featuring:
Robert Thurman, Dean Radin, Andrew Harvey, Lynne McTaggart,
Charles Tart, Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, Hazel Henderson,
Swamiji Chidananda Saraswati, James O'Dea, Riane
Eisler, Van Jones, Lynne Twist, Edgar Mitchell, Kali's
Angels, James Twyman and many more.
More
information
Download
conference brochure PDF
Register
now!
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Partner
Spotlight |
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Zaadz
Let's
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Event
Spotlight |
Fire
the Grid
July 17th, 2007
at 11:11 pm GMT
One hour of your time for a global meditation designed
to heal our planet.
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On-Campus
Events |
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Monroe
Institute Lifeline
July 21-27, 2007
Petaluma, California
Lifeline is a multi-faceted six-day graduate program
that provides access to states of consciousness
beyond those experienced in the Gateway Voyage
and Guidelines programs. Its primary emphasis
is one of service—service to those here in physical
matter reality and service to those There who
have made the transitions from the physical and
who may benefit from assistance.
Theosophy
and New Frontiers of Science
August 10, 2007
Petaluma, California
2007 Annual Theosophical International Conference
with Christopher Holmes, Ph.D, Stephen Levy, M.D.,
David Roef, Ph.D, Helena E. Kerekhazi, M.S.,ED.,
N.R.N.P, Judy Saltzman, Ph.D, Reed Carson, Donna
Byczkiewocz, B.A., Eva Moberg, M.S., Peter Bernin,
B.A.
Monroe
Institute Gateway Voyage
October 6-12, 2007
Petaluma, California
Spend an intensive week of exploration into progressively
higher states of consciousness. Now in its 33rd
year, this legendary program as helped thousands
realize they are more than their physical body.
11th
Annual Expressive Arts Therapy Harvest Symposium
2007
November 1, 2007
Petaluma, California
A Fragile Bridge: Imagination and the Arts in
Therapy, Education, Consulting and Social Change
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| From the Editor |
|   Stephen
Dinan /
In
the United States, July marks the celebration of Independence
Day. Many in consciousness circles these days are calling
for a higher evolution beyond independence into a full
recognition of our interdependence. Independence keeps
us thinking of ourselves as separate and isolated rather
than deeply intertwined, as ecological and scientific
work is increasingly revealing.
Based
on a spirit of interdependence, we
explore the subject of "partnership" in this issue of
iShift, asking how we can truly align benefits
and goals with each other, with other organizations
and as a holistic, evolutionary change movement. We
have been consciously making this shift as an organization,
creating our Shift in Action
program to empower your journey equally while you help
ours. We are convening an emerging PartnerShift Alliance
this month with other non-profits on campus. And we
are also welcoming a spirit of collaboration as our
August conference nears. On
all levels, the call is to create synergy and thus a
state of shared success in making the world a more conscious
place to be.
Our
top announcements this month:
- The
Intention Campaign: a unique opportunity
to take the "power of intention" movement to the next
level of scientific rigor and spiritual depth, moving
beyond self-interested manifestation into collective
synergy. We've combined bestselling author Lynne McTaggart's
Intention Experiment with 20 luminary interviews
on the further reaches of intention to create a unique
library of wisdom. And it's all available for a $1
in a trial month of Shift in Action
(more)
- Consciousness
in Action, August 9-12, Palm Springs.
Our headline speakers are showing up everywhere these
days, from the "world's greatest yogis" in Vanity
Fair (Shiva Rea and Swamiji Chidananda) to testifying
before Congressional subcommittees (Van Jones). The
buzz is building for what is promising to be one of
our best conferences ever with great practical tools
for your own transformation. Early registration available
only until JULY 15th, so make sure you register
now! (more)
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| At
the Frontiers / The Edge |
Stephen
Dinan /
The
principle of partnership is foundational for new paradigm
thinking. Partnership grows from a realization of our
interconnection, a recognition of the sacred equality
at the root of our being, and a compassionate honoring
of other's needs. Instead of pitting our interests against
others, partnership aligns our goals and seeks common
ground. A partnering stance leads to different ways
of doing everything from marriage to practicing law
to forging business deals.
An
integral understanding of partnership does not deny
the need for functional hierarchies in the world. But
when we engage leadership and organizational structures
from a stance of mutual honoring, it minimizing the
abuses of power for which hierarchies have gotten a
bad name. The ability to create partnerships that balance
deep equality with empowered leadership is at the heart
of the consciousness movement's attempts to influence
worldly events. Without empowered leadership, processes
can bog down to a crawl. Without deep honoring, people
will not fully blossom. The beautiful and fruitful balance
that partnership requires is applicable at every level
of society.
At
IONS, we want to invite you into deeper partnership
with us - how can we collaborate with you more effectively
on creating a more conscious world? How can you share
more of what you are doing through our networks and
thus fulfill your own dreams and mission? I'd love to
hear your thoughts or post them on Shift in Action:
editor@shiftinaction.com
Finally,
thanks to our volunteers, we share two new Essential
Shifts transcripts this month:
Swami
Beyondananda - "[T]he only way that things
are going to change, I believe, is not because the Democrats
can squeak by a victory and muddle about for another
bunch of years, but if people let go of left and right
and come from the center to face the real situation:
which is that our country has essentially been turned
into a corporatocracy, and that the major issues of
our time - such as global warming and peak oil, etc.,
etc. - are being ignored, and we cannot afford to ignore
those any more."
Thom Hartmann - "You know, we've been doing
trial and error on how to make a civilization work for
roughly 7,000 years (an agricultural based civilization
that first emerged in Sumeria, what's ironically now
Northern Iraq), and the history of it is not particularly
good. On the other hand there are other people around,
even today, who have been by trial and error figuring
out how to live for tens of thousands of years and I'm
convinced that they know things, they understand things,
and many of them are living out things that we have
not yet discovered. And when we discover them we'll
probably pat ourselves on the back and say, 'Ah we've
made a great evolutionary leap,' but the fact of the
matter is that it's nothing new. Humans have figured
this stuff out before."
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At
the Frontiers / Media |
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Noteworthy
Releases
 1.
How to Know God Trailer - by Deepak
Chopra (view)
  1.
Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual
for Spiritual Revolutionaries,
by Noah Levine - Dharma Punx innovator's
latest release, bridging Eastern wisdom and Western
rebellion (website)
 2.
The World as Light, by Adi Da
Samraj - Controversial "crazy wisdom"
guru enters art world with acclaim through his
groundbreaking fusion of modalities (buy)
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At
the Frontiers / WebWatch |
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1. Gaia's
Dreams - A new online "game"
from IONS Research Department, based on Carl Jung's
concept of the collective unconscious.
2.
Psi
Wheel Fakery - Last month's YouTube
PK videos turn out to be elaborate fakes, with
an illuminating confession that gets at the heart
of skepticism and true science.
3. Shift
Happens - popular video overview
of the state of our world.
4.
BuildingGreen
TV - trailer for a new PBS show with
a great can-do spirit of sustainability.
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Shift
in Action / Live Teleseminars |
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This
month's Wednesday night teleseminar series features
Shiva Rea, who is increasingly seen as one of
the world's leading yoga teachers and who offers
unique perspectives on embodiment and activism,
such as with the fall Global Mala project that
she is helping to spearhead.
We
also now offer our new Intention Downloads
series, beginning July 10th. Shift in Action Partners
recently received their annual book The Intention
Experiment and CD The Frontiers of Intention;
now get ready to hear interviews every Tuesday
at 11:30 am Pacific time:
- Tuesday,
July 3rd - No teleseminars this week. Happy
holiday!
- Tuesday,
July 10th - James O'Dea (details)
- Tuesday,
July 17th - Edgar Mitchell
(details)
- Tuesday,
July 24th - Shiva Rea (details)
- Tuesday,
July 31st - Rupert Sheldrake
(details)
Sign
up today for a trial month to be able to access
all 20 interviews!
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Shift
in Action / Recent Releases |
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  Free
Audio Samples
- Stanislav
Grof teleseminar on "Birthing
a New World" - Details
- Elliott
Dacher teleseminar on "Birthing
a New World" - Details
Other
new releases available to Partners this month
include the entire Intention Downloads
series:
- The
Science of Intention - Astronaut Edgar
Mitchell, John Hagelin, Ervin Laszlo, Rupert
Sheldrake, Charles Tart, Rollin McCraty, Dean
Radin, Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, Roger Nelson
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The Practice of Intention -
Marianne Williamson, Michael Murphy, Angeles
Arrien, Larry Dossey, Bernie Siegel, Shiva Rea,
Barbara Marx Hubbard, James O'Dea, Sequoyah
Trueblood, Brian Johnson, Steven Sadleir
Join
Shift in Action today! |
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Shift
Magazine |
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 The
current issue of Shift
magazine is entitled "The Mystique of Intention,"
which you will receive if you sign up for membership
in the next week. It explores many levels of the
debate on intention that go far beyond popular
idealogies. (Join
now to receive a copy.)
Shift
No. 15
The Mystique of Intention
June-August 2007
Unraveling
The Secret
by David Rippe
The DVD and book that have ignited the
imagination of millions only scratches the surface
of the history and complexity behind the law of
attraction. It's neither as simple nor as
foolproof as one is led to believe.
The
Power of the Collective
by John Hagelin
A remarkable series of scientifically
credible studies has shown a link between group
meditation and lowered incidents of violence and
crime. And why not? argues Hagelin: If meditation
is good for the individual, it should also be
good for the collective.
Intention
and Reality: The Ghost in the Machine Returns
by Dean Radin
However uncomfortable it makes them,
scientists must reckon with the mysterious role
of intention in seeking to understand the nature
of consciousness. Substantial evidence in favor
of intentional mind-matter interactions should
make this transition a bit easier.
The
Eco-Trauma and Eco-Recovery of Being
by Tina Amorok
Our loss of deep intimacy with the natural
world has had a devastating impact on human flourishing,
perpetuating a vicious cycle of personal violence
and ecological destruction. Restoring a felt sense
of interconnectedness will heal the pain and return
us to our intrinsic state of wholeness.
Participating
with the Universe: An Interview with Brian Swimme
Susan Meeker-Lowry
With passion and playfulness, the renowned
cosmologist acknowledges the precipice that humanity
is teetering on while celebrating the awe of existence
and the ever-present potential for profound transformation.
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Shift
in Action / Featured Channel |
Hosted
by Shift Editor-in-Chief
Matthew Gilbert, the Workplace Revolution
channel interviews a wide range of business
leaders, change agents, and visionaries who
believe in the potential of business to be a
force for good in the world, but who also are
aware of the challenges. This series addresses
transformational strategies on both a personal
and organizational level in lively discussions
that explore the institution of business and
our personal experiences at work from many perspectives.
Our recent teleseminar guests have included
Hazel Henderson, David Korten, Patricia
Aburdene, Danah Zohar, Catherine Austin Fitts,
Herman Maynard, Margaret Wheatley, Kiril Sokoloff,
Bernard Lieatar, Jan Phillips, and
Juana Bordas. Partners can
download all of these teleseminars from our
Workplace Revolution home page.
Coming
next: John Renesch, August
15th, "Choosing Conscious Leadership."
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Personal
Connections / Tales of Transformation |
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"On
Being Alone"
by Scott McClure
"'What
if there's no other?' A simple question with implications
that shake my current worldview.
'What if there's no other?" It resounds in my
mind, and the echo replies, 'All one.' It hits
me and the questioning continues.
Submit your own tales of transformation.
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Personal
Connections / Comedy Corner |
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DEAR
SWAMI
by Swami Beyondananda
"Where
Swami Answers Your Questions - and You Will Question
His Answers" 
Dear
Swami:
I'm a bit confused. For millennia, the Buddhists have been telling us that the key to enlightenment is achieving emptiness. But physicists now say that empty space isn't empty at all, but instead filled with enormous amounts of energy. So Swami, what is it -- fullness or emptiness? And -- whatever it is -- how does one go about achieving it?
Lou Minocitti,
Grass Valley, CA
Dear
Lou:
Let me first say you came to the right Swami
with this question. Not to brag, but many
times I have been told, "Swami, you are so
full of emptiness!" You can only imagine how
tempting it is to take on an emptier-than-thou
attitude -- you know, like those vacuums putting
on airs about how empty they are. Talk about
having nothing to talk about. No wonder nature
abhors a vacuum. This also might explain those
"Vacuums suck!" bumper stickers I've been
seeing lately.
But
I digress. As you have suspected, true emptiness
is nothing more or less than infinite fullness.
The void is so full of everythingness you
cannot distinguish anythingness so it might
as well be nothingness. The scientist, looking
for something, sees fullness. The Buddha,
looking for nothing, sees emptiness. Same
difference.
But
whether you call it the All-That-Is or the
All-That-Isn't, this is a very peaceful state
because once you are one with everything,
there's nowhere to go and nothing to do. Now,
that's relaxing. So, how does one achieve
this state of full emptiness? By ceasing to
identify with the separate identity, or ego.
In
this regard too, you've come to the right
Swami. As one who takes great pride in my
humility -- twice a finalist on America's
Most Humble -- I will share my secret, a mantra
guaranteed to banish the ego in three easy
steps: Ego ... egoing ... egone.
©
Copyright 2006 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights
reserved. Give the gift of laughter with Swami's
Fool Enchilada Special. To find out more about
that and Swami's schedule, call (800) SWAMI-BE
or visit the Swami online at http://www.wakeuplaughing.com
Ask
Swami your own question. Send it here.
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Personal
Connections / Monthly Intention |
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July
Intention:
The first of every month at noon (US Pacific), we encourage you to take a quiet moment to link your intention with people around the world. This month, our intention is to find new and creative ways to partner with others in ways that align personal and collective benefits
July
Action:
This month, we encourage you to open a discussion of partnership that might complement work you are doing. In exploring this, look especially for areas in which you amplify benefits for each other and enhance your positive impact in the world.
July
Question for Reflection:
How might you engage people if you saw every conversation as an opportunity to partner with them in some small way to make the world a better place?
This month's member intention was emailed to us from Al Diaz:
"I am consciously, deliberately, and optimally evolving, shifting, expanding, changing, progressing, and growing for my best and highest good, to have the accelerating capacity and capability to ease elegantly through my Life, to share my gifts and add value to the world, to have fulfilled my Heart's desires, my destiny, my Purpose, and BE the fullest and grandest expression of who I am."
If
you would like to offer an intention for next
month, please send it here.
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