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Is it time for a worldwide strategy for the building of peace?
Niwano Article - The Heart of Nuclear Weapons
Woman, Wisdom
and the World in 2010
Programme
Proposal
Joan Bakewell or Michael Portillo to present
At the recent,
sold-out Peace Summit in Vancouver, His Holiness the Dalai Lama made a
proclamation that stunned the crowd: "The world will be saved by the
western woman."
No
other time in human history has brought together
the tremendous confluence of crises we presently face: the terrifyingly
rapid
onset of a Hot Age, a massive energy crisis, a crashing financial
world,
overpopulation, ecosystem destruction, unprecedented natural disasters,
terrorist and nuclear threats, severe water shortages, rapidly
increasing elder
populations and epidemics modern medicine cannot control.
Desperate
efforts are being made to solve these crises facing the world. Most of
these
efforts follow a traditional way of thinking - thinking developed over
the five
thousand years that decision-making has been in the hands of men.
So, what would it
be like if women’s
wisdom were tried now?
What
would change if our approach to the world were shifted, to use the
power of the
deep feminine? This is a far cry from feminism; it cannot come from
women who
are in competition with men. Nor can it come from women who have had to
adapt
to a male-oriented world.
Why not? Because it involves a deep shift in our values, from head to heart, the outlines of which include the following:
·
All aspects of
life are interconnected and interdependent; our
actions affect the whole, as well as the future of life on earth
·
Rather than trying
to control and exploit nature, humans have a
responsibility to act in defence of it
·
As human beings we
need values; these now need to be grounded in
responsibility towards planetary life
·
This
responsibility requires a global strategy for radical
change, which is coming from ‘below’ – from people
demanding change
·
We need to use the
power of the heart as well as the head, so
that compassion – which is the engine of service – can grow
and spread.
If
this sounds like the spiritual
end of feminine wisdom, there is also a robust
practical side, a no nonsense aspect to feminine wisdom; think Angela
Merkel
and some of the women described below.
Current
discoveries in brain science and neuroscience show that women are more
relationship orientated than men - they are IN the system they are
trying to
change, while men are more concerned with designing and building the
system
outside of themselves. That is why women are better mediators,
community makers
and more conscious, integrated and aware leaders.
Americans believe women have the right stuff to be
political leaders.
When it comes to honesty, intelligence, compassion, creativity and
other
character traits they value highly in leaders, the public rates women
superior
to men, according to a new nationwide Pew Research Center Social and
Demographic Trends survey.
We
have all witnessed recently the effects of disconnection
in global leadership, when a decision is made without reference to the
knock-on
effects it may have; the invasion of Afghanistan is a case in point. This highlights the importance of
connectivity in the thinking of leaders; women are known to have up to
33% more
neuronal fibres in the forward part of their corpus callosum than do
men. The
higher the number of connecting neurons, the greater is the integration
between
the two sides of the brain. The extra connecting neurons seem to
enhance the
communication of emotions and increase global awareness, field
perception, and
understanding moods.
So, who could this
shift in thinking
come from?
Here are some older women who could be engaged, around three themes
1) SHIFT in
VALUES: All
aspects of life are interconnected and interdependent; our actions
affect the
whole, as well as the future of life on earth.
Barbara
Marx Hubbard: an
American author, public
speaker, social innovator, and president of the Foundation for
Conscious
Evolution. She has initiated a guided educational program supported by
Internet
systems called Gateway to Conscious Evolution, offering a new
developmental path toward the next stage of human evolution. She has
been
instrumental in the founding of organizations including the World
Future
Society, New Dimensions Radio, Global Family, Women of Vision and
Action, The
Foundation for the Future, and the Association for Global New Thought.
She was
awarded the first Doctorate in Conscious Evolution by Emerson Institute.
Anne Baring: is a Jungian
Analyst (retired), author and co-author of seven books including The
Myth of
the Goddess: Evolution of an Image and (forthcoming) The Dream
of the
Cosmos: a Quest for the Soul. Her
most recent book – Soul Power – written with Dr. Scilla Elworthy, offers an agenda
for a conscious
humanity. The ground of all her work is a deep interest in the
spiritual
traditions of different cultures as well as the psychological causes of
human
suffering. Her website www.annebaring.com
is devoted to the affirmation of a new vision of reality and the issues
facing
us at this crucial time of choice. The current mind-set of our
culture rests
on the premise of our separation from and mastery of nature, where
nature is
treated as object with ourselves as controlling subject. This is what
is wrong
with our culture and this is why, despite our scientific and
technological
brilliance, we are under the spell of an addiction to power and have
lost touch
with the ground of the soul.
Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris is an internationally known evolution biologist, futurist, author and professor, teaching sustainable business and globalisation as a natural evolutionary process and organizing international symposia on the foundations of science. With a post-doc at the American Museum of Natural History, she taught at MIT and the University of Massachusetts, contributed to the NOVA-Horizon TV series, is a fellow of the World Business Academy and a member of the World Wisdom Council. Her venues include The World Bank, Boeing, Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, Tokyo Dome Stadium, Australian National Govt, Sao Paulo's leading business schools, State of the World Forums (NY & San Francisco) and the World Parliament of Religion. Her books include EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution; Her websites are www.sahtouris.com and www.ratical.org/lifeweb.
"Never before has there been such a great need or such a great opportunity for a complete overhaul of how we humans live on Planet Earth…We feel justifiably overwhelmed, fearful and helpless, yet solutions to all these crises can be found in the nearly five billion years of Nature’s experience in evolving amazingly successful complex living systems despite or perhaps even because of countless crises that drove evolutionary creativity. We can explore this past planetary history to gain confidence in our own roles as consciously co-creative agents evolving our own future to its next level of Earth-harmonious and spiritually aware complexity.”
2) RELATIONSHIP to
NATURE: Rather than trying to control and exploit nature,
humans have a
responsibility to act in defence of it
Dame Jane Goodall, DBE:
an English
UN
Messenger of Peace, primatologist,
ethologist,
and anthropologist.
She is
well known for her 45-year study of chimpanzee
social and
family interactions in Gombe Stream
National Park, Tanzania, and for founding the Jane Goodall
Institute. Jane has a special connection to young people.
They
respond not only to her passion for and curiosity about animals, but to
her
courage and hope for a better world. Reaching out to these young people
is a
high priority for her, and conservation education, as well as general
education, is a critical part of her work today. Jane hears firsthand
the
voices of young people -- from Tanzania to China, North America to the
United
Kingdom – speaking of the need for change, their hopes, and their
determination
to make a better world. She carries their message to audiences all over
the
world.
Lynne
McTaggart:
Journalist and author Lynne McTaggart
is one of the preeminent spokespersons on consciousness, the new
physics, and
the practices of conventional and alternative medicine. The author of The
Intention Experiment, she lectures worldwide and is co-executive
director
of Conatus, which publishes well-respected health and spiritual
newsletters.
She lives with her family in London.
Mary Midgley is a professional philosopher whose special interests are in the relations of humans to the rest of nature (particularly in the status of animals) in the sources of morality, and in the relation between science and religion (particularly in cases where science becomes a religion). Recently she has concentrated on the concept of Gaia, which brings all these concerns together. She was formerly Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Newcastle on Tyne, UK, and has written many books, of which the most recent are Science and Poetry, The Myths We Live By and a memoir, The Owl of Minerva, all published by Routledge. She still lives in Newcastle and has three sons.
“We cannot think realistically about ourselves as human beings without understanding how we fit into the world around us. Since the Enlightenment, much of Western thought has stressed the dignified separateness of our species from everything around it (‘humanism’). Thinkers have tended to treat the rest of the natural world as a mere lifeless heap of resources, material for human purposes. The central trouble here is Fragmentation – first the splitting of ourselves from the rest of nature, then the splitting of nature itself into a set of discrete subjects handled by different disciplines. The concept of Gaia offers some necessary techniques for reunifying both these important assets.
3) STRATEGY for
CHANGE: This
responsibility requires a global strategy for radical change, which is
coming
from ‘below’ – from people demanding change
Joan
Bakewell:
first became well known as one of the presenters of
an early BBC Two
programme, Late Night
Line-Up (1965-72 and 2008). Bakewell co-presented Reports
Action, a Sunday teatime programme that encouraged the public to
donate
their services to various good causes, for Granada
Television during
1976-78. Subsequently, she briefly worked on the BBC Radio 4
PM
programme, and was Newsnight's
arts correspondent (1986-88). Later Bakewell came to the fore as the
main
presenter of the documentary and discussion series Heart of the
Matter,[3]
which ran from 1988 to 2000. In 2001 Bakewell wrote and
presented a four part series for the BBC
called Taboo, a personal exploration of the concepts of taste,
decency
and censorship.
The programme
dealt frankly with sex and nudity and in some cases, pushed the
boundaries of
what is permissible on mainstream television. She was appointed CBE
in 1999 and Dame
Commander of
the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2008
Birthday
Honours. She was Chairman of the British Film
Institute from 2000 to 2002. In November 2008 she was
appointed a
voice for older people by the UK Government, and is Chair of the
renowned
theatre company Shared Experience.
Scilla Elworthy Ph D: founded Peace Direct in 2002 to fund, promote and learn from peace-builders in conflict areas; awarded ‘Best New Charity’ at the Charity Awards 2005. Previously she founded the Oxford Research Group in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics. It is for this work that she was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003 and nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. She helped found the Market Theatre in South Africa in 1976, long before it was legal for multi-racial performances to take place, and has since worked with playwrights and directors, including David Edgar and Max Stafford Clark, to engage the public in political theatre. She is author, among many other books, of ‘Power & Sex’– an exploration of feminine power, translated into 7 languages. From 2005 she was adviser to Sir Richard Branson, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in setting up The Elders initiative. In 2007 she was appointed a member of the World Future Council and the International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy. She has designed the Leadership Course in Conflict Transformation for the Said Business School at the University of Oxford, and is co-founder of ‘The Pilgrimage’ – a 24-hour intensive course that enables participants to make major shifts in consciousness and perception.
What
could a series of programmes look
like?
In each of the three programmes, the older women could find, assess and educate younger women to take on this role and translate it to the next generation:
1) SHIFT in VALUES: All aspects of life are interconnected and interdependent; our actions affect the whole, as well as the future of life on earth.
2) RELATIONSHIP to
NATURE: Rather than trying to control and exploit nature,
humans have a
responsibility to act in defence of it
3) STRATEGY for CHANGE: This
responsibility requires a global strategy for radical
change, which is coming
from ‘below’ – from people demanding change
Re-balancing Head
and Heart, Masculine
and Feminine
Progressively,
over the past three thousand years, women and the Feminine have been
silenced
and marginalized. At this time of global crisis, the world needs the
power and
wisdom of the Feminine, and for this to be brought into balance with
the
Masculine.
Without
the Feminine nothing new can be born, nothing can come into existence
– we will
remain caught in the materialistic view of life that is polluting our
planet
and desecrating our souls. This will
happen through the spiritual work of women – and only women
can do this
work; “a man can’t and he’s also not allowed to
because he has done so much damage”. If
women’s wisdom is now listened to, the
work of healing the planet can be done in a few decades, work which
otherwise
could take a thousand years.
“The role of men is to protect women in this work and to protect this work - to value it and consciously protect it. This is the role of the masculine as the protector – that men honour this work that is being done by women and don’t allow it to be interfered with. There are so many negative forces in the world that don’t want this work to be done, that oppose having women regain their power because women’s power is decentralised, it is organic, it cannot be manipulated, it cannot be controlled – it is life.”
Head
and Heart
Joseph
Chilton Pearce: “The
medical and scientific world is just now producing
evidence to verify the intelligence of the heart. Close to a century
ago, Rudolph
Steiner said the greatest
discovery of 20th century science would be that the heart is not a pump
but
vastly more, and that the great challenge of the coming ages of
humanity would
be, in effect, to allow the heart to teach us to think in a new way.
Now, that
sounds extremely occult, but we find it's directly, biologically the
case.
Discoveries in the
field of neurocardiology are, believe
me, far more awesome than the discovery of non-locality in quantum
mechanics.
It is the biggest issue of the whole century, but it's so far out and
so beyond
the ordinary, conceptual grasp, that a lot of the people doing the
actual
research are yet to be fully aware of the implications.
I can't in a brief
time share with you the full
implications of these discoveries except to say three things. First,
about
sixty to sixty-five percent of all the cells in the heart are neural
cells
which are precisely the same as in the brain, functioning in precisely
the same
way. Secondly, the heart is the major endocrine glandular structure of
the
body, which Roget found to be producing the hormones that profoundly
affect the
operations of body, brain, and mind. Thirdly, the heart produces two
and a half
watts of electrical energy at each pulsation, creating an
electromagnetic field
identical to the electromagnetic field around the earth. The
electromagnetic
field of the heart surrounds the body from a distance of twelve to
twenty-five
feet outward and encompasses power waves such as radio and light waves
which
comprise the principle source of information upon which the body and
brain
build our neural conception and perception of the world itself. This
verifies all
sorts of research over a thirty year period, and opens up the greatest
mystery
we'll ever face.
Roger Penrose, for instance, in England, has just recently come out with a new mathematics to prove that where dendrites meet at the synapse -- of which you've got trillions in your body and brain -- is an electromagnetic aura. And, we find that the electromagnetic field of the heart produces, holographically, the same field as the one produced by the earth and solar system. Now, physicists are beginning to look at the electro-magnetic auras as, simply, the organization of energy in the universe. All these are operating holographically -- that is, at the smallest, unbelievably tiny level between the dendrites at the synapse, the body, the earth, and on outward. All are operating holographically and selectively.”
A different momentum
These
scientific discoveries are mirrored in a new manifestation of
connection
between women, now gaining momentum worldwide through different
organisations.
For example:
Maria
Shriver's Women's Conference in
the US sold an astounding 14,000 tickets in the
first 20 minutes after registration opened. The theme: "Women,
the Architects of Change". The
Women’s Conference is the nation’s premier forum
for women and is hosted by California First Lady Maria Shriver and
Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Conference has grown from a California
initiative
for working professionals into an international network of women from
all walks
of life, backgrounds and perspectives, and a life-changing experience
for the
thousands of women who have attended.
http://www.californiawomen.org/the-womens-conference
New
United Nations ‘Super-Agency for Women’ The
UN General
Assembly voted unanimously in September 2009 to create a new, more
powerful
agency for women after three years of negotiations. The resolution
calls for
the four existing UN offices that address women's issues to be merged
into a
new "super agency" headed by an under-secretary-general – the
third
highest ranking position in the UN system, after secretary-general and
deputy
secretary-general. The
new
"composite entity" is expected to have an annual program budget of
approximately $1 billion, including an estimated $300 million in
salaries for a
projected 1000 staffers.
Women’s
International Networking
annual leadership forum attracts women from all over
the world, with attendance of more than 5000 women from 70 countries.
The forum
receives sponsorship from world-class companies, is endorsed by leading
business schools and in partnerships with several influential
women’s networks
worldwide. The 2009 meeting heard from visionaries, top executives and
all
participants making small and big transformations on a daily basis. The
outcome
of this year’s event was shown in the solid commitment to a
sustainable,
inclusive and feminine future. http://www.winconference.net/overview.asp
“We
have a vision and a desire to create
a new world, a paradigm that is more balanced, compassionate and
passionate,
and improves results. We are no longer alone: there is unity and
consensus in
our vision. We are redefining leadership. We know that it is time for
us to go
global, to lead with our feminine values and wisdom as we create
successful
projects fantastic results whilst giving back.”
THE
SHIFT
movement has created a free on-line teaching
teleseries by Claire
Zammit and Katherine
Woodward Thomas, called Women on the
Edge of Evolution:
Awakening to the Power to Co-create our Lives and Shape our Collective
Future.
This series engages with the biggest questions facing women wanting to
unleash
their co-creative power and participate in creating a brighter future
for us
all. It features Barbara Marx Hubbard, Jean Houston, Lynne McTaggart,
Mary
Manin Morrissey, Elizabeth Debold, Diane Musho Hamilton, Rickie Byers
Beckwith
and others, along with a global community of women, for this
unprecedented
conversation.
The Downing Street Project is a British initiative to promote and enable balanced leadership between men and women at every level of society, up to and including 10 Downing Street. Despite constituting 51% of the UK population, women still hold only 11% of directorships in business boardrooms, 36.9% of top jobs in the health service and 19.3% of seats in the Houses of Parliament.Research has shown that women are excellent mediators, networkers and problem solvers. They are skilled at keeping cool in a crisis and willing to develop themselves in the face of difficulty. The Downing Street Project founders believe that these qualities are called for to address the challenges we currently face; that women have a responsibility to step up to take leadership roles.
This
is not a call for simple numerical equality, but
a plea for deep cultural change. How can we move on from our
‘hard powered’
ethos – with its excessive risk, competition and reliance on
force – to a
‘softer powered’ public space? One more reliant on
co-operation, co-creation
and what President Obama describes as “the power of our moral
example” – being
the change we wish to see? http://www.thedowningstreetproject.com/
WorldShift 2012 is a global movement dedicated to co-creating the foundations of a peaceful, just and sustainable world by the end of 2012. It draws attention to the global state of social, economic and environmental emergencies we now face, and proposes a series of actions and solutions to help humanity deal with the problems we may encounter. WorldShift 2012 seeks to unite and engage everyone in this process by signing the WorldShift 2012 Declaration and to collectively and consciously commit to the process of transformational change required. WorldShift 2012 was initiated by The Club of Budapest with the support of Campaign Promotions, Positive TV and Events4Change and cooperating partners including The Alliance for a New Humanity, The Goi Peace Foundation, The Institute of Noetic Sciences, The State of the World Forum, First Noosphere World Congress, HUB (Humanity Unites Brilliance), Architects of a New Dawn, The Art of Living Foundation, The Jane Goodall Institute, Renaissance2, The Lifeline, The World Wisdom Council, The WorldWide Fund for Nature and 999 It's Time with other organisations joining daily...http://worldshift2012.org/content/about
Post script:
At the 1995 UN
Women’s Conference in Beijing, Nobel Laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi said:
“Women in their role as mothers have traditionally assumed the responsibility of teaching children values that will guide them throughout their lives. It is time we were given the full opportunity to use our natural teaching skills to contribute towards building a modern world that can withstand the tremendous challenges of the technological revolution which has in turn brought revolutionary changes in social values.”