Featured Articles

July 2010 Letter to the Community

Submitted by WeStrive on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 17:52

Dear WeStrive Community,

This morning, at 12:00A exactly, a community-wide research opportunity came to a close: it was an effort in co-creating the materials for this weekend’s Meet-up around the theme of social media’s effects in and on our lives. We invited our network to share their answers to three questions in any way that they wanted—email, text, Tweet, a message, a videoblog—and we received some wonderful answers! Tomorrow we will release the co-created video that Meet-ups around the world will be able work with during their gatherings. The three questions we posed were meant to inspire us all to begin to really understand just how effective social media is:

 

  • What is social media?
  • How does social media impact my life?
  • How can I use it to benefit and do good in the world?

  Read more »

Dialogue by Tom Atlee

Submitted by WeStrive on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 17:17
 
Conversation is thinking in its natural state.
Thinking is the conversation within us....
Words began in human beings in the process
of transforming gregariousness into co-operation.
 
 
Not all communication is dialogue. Dialogue is shared exploration towards greater understanding, connection, or possibility. Any communication that fits this definition, the Co-Intelligence Institute considers dialogue. Communication that doesn't fit this definition, we don't call dialogue.
 
(Note: Some of our colleagues believe that what we call dialogue should be called conversation. See for example, Is "debate" or "conversation" the most useful form of public discourse? by Alan Stewart.)
 
Read more »

Maitreya by Michael Hedley Burton

Submitted by WeStrive on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 16:57

There are many shades
in the voice of a poet.
In our time
the poems that work best
are simply silent.

There comes one, however,
who shall speak
as rippling water
and as surging sea.
The power to raise the storm
and quell the serpent
shall be his.

Today we wait
for him to wake. Read more »

Consciousness of Freedom through Listening and Speaking by Luigi Morelli

Submitted by WeStrive on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 15:46

“And from a cliff-top is proclaimed

The gathering of souls for birth,

The trial by existence named,

The obscuration upon earth

And the slant spirits trooping by

In streams and cross and counter-streams

Can but give ear to that sweet cry

For its suggestion of what dreams!”

 

(Robert Frost, “The Trial by Existence”)

 

With these words, Robert Frost offers us an idea of what it is to be a “spiritual being having an earthly experience.” Read more »

WeStrive’s Summer 2010 Social Media Meet-up: Co-creating a Meet-up video in twenty-four hours

Submitted by WeStrive on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 21:31

The idea: a Meet-up is not just about participants being provided with materials, but about everyone sharing their Image from Dir. Journalknowledge, experience and ideas on a topic. Meet-ups are opportunities for us to share our collective explorations of life through lessons, exercises, activities, conversation and engagement.

The Summer 2010 Meet-up is all about experiencing the idea of the Meet-up’s theme through our participation in its creation.

 

idea + social media = change the world?

  Read more »

June 2010 Letter to the Community

Submitted by WeStrive on Wed, 06/16/2010 - 15:41

Dear WeStrive Community,

Strife is a word that generally comes to mind when thinking about war, violence and unrest in nation-states. It is best exemplified in the mainstream by devastating geo-political realities that a people must endure, engulfing whole societies and driven by a relentless hunger: a hunger that divides and conquers.

Rarely do we use the word strife to describe an internal condition, an individual’s emotional turmoil or the lack of communication between two people. Similarly, the word peace is often used in the mainstream to describe a collective phenomenon, not generally a personal one.

Ample mention of peace as a personal experience exists mostly in sacred texts but one is quickly confronted with current and historical contradictions.

What the diverse doctrines of peace require of us are often in stark contrast to the actual actions that are, or have been, taken in the name of various religions existing in the world. Read more »

WeStrive Chronicle

Introduction: Beyond War and Peace by Adam Kahane

Submitted by WeStrive on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 23:13

Our two most common ways of trying to address our toughest social challenges are the extreme ones: aggressive war and  submissive peace. Neither of these ways works. We can try, using our guns or money or votes, to push through what we want, regardless of what others want—but inevitably the others push back. Or we can try not to push anything on anyone—but that leaves our situation just as it is. These extreme ways are extremely common, on all scales. One
on one, we can be pushy or confl ict averse. At work, we can be bossy or “go along to get along.” In our communities, we can set things up so that they are the way we want them to be, or we can abdicate. In national aff airs, we can make deals to get our way, or we can let others have their way. In international relations—whether the challenge is climate change or trade rules or peace in the Middle East—we can try to impose our solutions on everyone else, or we can negotiate endlessly. Read more »

Fencing Israel: Terrorism, wilderness, and the Israeli security wall by Haim Watzman

Submitted by WeStrive on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 09:44

Published in the March/April 2008 issue of Orion magazine.

Map: Mike Reagan

Photographs: Daniel Blatt


TRAFFIC IS SNARLED throughout Jerusalem. Today is Israel’s Memorial Day, a time of mourning that, at nightfall, will segue into the celebrations of Independence Day. What is a cause for celebration for Israelis, however, is a black day for Palestinians. They call Israel’s birth the Nakba, or Catastrophe, an event marking the loss of their land to the Jews and the transformation of many Palestinians into indigent refugees. Nearly sixty years later, the two people are still at war, with the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea caught in the middle. The land at stake is not large, but it is varied—from the rolling green hills of the Galilee in the north to the majestic, barren wadis of the Negev in the south. Read more »

Camphill School "an amazing blessing"

Submitted by WeStrive on Mon, 06/07/2010 - 11:33
BRinquirer.jpg

Karen Heller: Camphill School 'an amazing blessing'
 
Oh, the glory! This weekend marks the music recital at Camphill School in Chester County, a remarkable holistic school for children with pronounced cognitive and developmental disabilities.
 
The recital, under the supervision of cotton-haired Elsbeth Sunstein, is so popular and vast that it lasts two days, involving almost half the students. There's "Chopsticks," and also Kathleen Rahling's accomplished take on Mozart's "Rondo."
 
Located on 80 verdant acres with custom-built cottages, Camphill resembles a retreat or utopian community more than a boarding school for special-needs children. One hundred students are taught by an international staff of 150, many of whom live in group houses with their charges.
  Read more »

Meet The King of Tibet By Kendall Hunter

Submitted by WeStrive on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 12:55
Read more »

Showing the Benefits of ‘Green’ Retrofits

Submitted by WeStrive on Wed, 06/02/2010 - 14:27
02Deutsche2-articleLarge.jpg

From http://nytimes.com.
 
The practice of retrofitting buildings with simple, environmentally friendly technology like more-efficient boilers and better-quality windows has been around for years, but there is little research on how much energy these changes actually save — and by extension, how much money they can save landlords and lenders.
 
In an effort to supply that information, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the German bank, is financing the creation of a public database of several hundred retrofitted buildings in New York City and a companion report to determine the savings from such moves.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/realestate/commercial/02deutsche.html?... Read more »

The Sacred and the Social: Journey to a New Philippines.

Submitted by WeStrive on Tue, 06/01/2010 - 21:26
Lakbay Maharlika-Journey to a New Philippines

WeStrive.org presents a brief interview, recorded on the day of the Philippine elections (May 10 2010), with presidential candidate Nicanor Perlas. It is available as a podcast under WeStrive.org's media offerings. This article is meant to accompany the podcast interview.
 
Written by Vassag Hovsep and Ica Fernandez
 
A significant phenomenon around societal transformation recently took place in the Philippines.
 
In a country deemed as one of the most corrupt in Asia, activist Nicanor Perlas spearheaded the drive towards New Politics by attempting to catalyze a cultural-spiritual revolution. This revolution found form in the recent Lakbay Maharlika, a lakaran or "sacred journey" which began at the statue of Hermano Puli situated in the provincial town of Lucban, Quezon and ended at the Rizal monument in Metro Manila. Read more »

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On Wings of Water by Eric Bednarowicz
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Featured Blogs

tinairobin's picture

when I was younger, I didn't know where to put my energy and now there is just so much to do !

Submitted by tinairobin on Thu, 05/27/2010 - 08:24

Now first of all, I don't really have the time to write this blog, right?
I have to rewrite the Articles of Association at our school, organise an information night, write a business plan, get my teacher registration, get my work permit, and I still haven't made it to the Ministry of education to get approval to import our container duty free. Read more »

Matt P's picture

Striving Towards Collaborative Community

Submitted by Matt P on Mon, 05/24/2010 - 09:26

What I see in the young people around me, is a desire for belonging and a desire to connect, but no direction of where to find a physical space that meets such needs. Read more »

mikeb's picture

Youth and Elders

Submitted by mikeb on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 15:06

A few years ago, I applied for some public funding for a program based on rite of passage principles.  The funder told me that they were looking for more "youth development" programs that would have young people leading young people in various ways.  They didn't understand our emphasis on "guiding," or creating challenges and opportunities for youth within a ceremonial format, led by initiated adults.  This kind of elder mentoring, common in traditional societies, seems rare in our own.
In our work at Rites of Passage, we hold a meeting called an "Elders' Council" after everyone returns from the Vision Quest solo. The purpose of this meeting, in which the guides take on the role of elders, is to listen to the stories, reflect their power and meaning,  and confirm the changes that have taken place.   
 
  Read more »

LesQuestes's picture

Dream Journal: God and Tornadoes

Submitted by LesQuestes on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 06:32

Last night I had a dream. I was driving in a car on a highway into a big city, when all of a sudden, I noticed beyond the city two giant tornadoes. Their trajectory was to plow straight through the city, and particularly towards the area where I was, where there were many highrises and business buildings. Ahead of me, I began to notice as car after car was pulling underneath the overpasses, but no one seemed to actually be trying to put their cars there, nor themselves under any kind of protection; they only seemed to be staying within the vicinity of the overpasses.

 

I pulled over, parking my car closer to under the overpass and tucking myself further away from its big, concrete columns and closer to its ramp. I waited, watching as one tornado in particular seemed to actually be heading directly for us.

  Read more »

Rachel K. Berk's picture

Focus Forum, Day One

Submitted by Rachel K. Berk on Mon, 04/05/2010 - 17:25

Rachel K. Berk            Camphill~Think OutWord~WeStrive

  • What is my red thread through these experiences of anthroposophically-oriented work in the world?
  • How will that red thread find expression in my new day job?
  • How can my focus simultaneously sharpen and broaden?

Conversation with a young woman named Olivia over dinner.  Brazilian, but lives now in Germany.  Olivia works with an organization that raises money for Waldorf initiatives in third world countries.  She travels to schools in Germany and around Europe, talks about the conditions in these impoverished countries to students, teachers, parents, and inspires them to organize fundraisers for the schools, all on the same day—Waldorf One Day.  WOW Day. Read more »

Matt P's picture

What is YIP?

Submitted by Matt P on Thu, 03/18/2010 - 14:44
Never a Memory..Its always a Moment

Dear Strivers,
It was YIP and Mary Hanna that brought me to what looks like a fantastic and inspiring social platform and community and as I look forward to exploring its possibilities, I feel a need to honour the connection that brought me here and wish to shine some light on what my closest network (YIP) really is for me..
 
I came across YIP at a crossroads in my life, maybe more of a dead end, or shear drop. I was desperate to find something and somewhere that could support my dreams, ideas and visions for mine and societies future on this earth… Read more »

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