Notes on Our First Fundraising Event

First Parish in Bedford is a Unitarian Universalist church that looks as quintessentially new England as you can get. This was the site of the Emergence Project’s first benefit event involving a storytelling event with global visionary leader James O’Dea. When Annette and I first pulled up to the church and noticed a quote posted outside the church from Leslie Marmon Silko that said “You haven’t got anything if you haven’t got the stories”, it seemed to be a nicely served up validation that we were at the right place in the right time.

That evening James took attendees through an evening of myth-weaving and soul journeying following the theme of the “collective story of our time”. His approach was to keep expanding the narrative frame of reference in both space and time and then to find one’s own place in the meta-framework that evolved, in essence, to reconnect archetypal identity as a culture with that of the individual in the larger context of upheaval and evolution now underway.

The high point of the evening was James taking the group through an amazing process of engagement by exploring one of the deep mythologies of the Kalahari, an indigenous tribe from South Africa, whose territory includes, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The Kalahari were also featured in the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy”. The process was one of participatory mythic recreation involving the story of a prescient mantis who mission was to warn other living intelligences of the coming of the “all devourer”. All in all, a great night of experential storytelling. We also had a silent auction including a copy of Mysteries of 2012 which James contributed to; my own book Digital Mythologies; and two of Annette’s excellent paintings.

Some old friends and supporters showed up for the event including Kathleen Byrnes, who was an very instrumental in making our June conference a success, a student of Mayan wisdomkeeper Barbara Hand Clow. There were some interesting new faces as well. Jeff Ferrannini, producer and host for Planetary Spirit radio also showed up. After the event, a number of folks hung out during the rest of the evening to discuss anything and everything and have a few glasses of wine. All in all, a great night.

Thanks to Our Sponsors and Friends

Riding a tailwind of indeterminate origin, The Emergence Project conceived, planned, developed, promoted, and orchestrated the Boston event “Understanding the 2012 Phenomenon” in record time (about 6 months). Annette and I only managed to do this because of the stellar efforts of a large number of supporters including sponsors, volunteers, and partners. We are extremely grateful to all those who helped make the conference possible through their invaluable assistance

As we step into the next phase, we’ve been fortunate to recently receive several gifts which have really helped to boost our efforts. James O’Dea, one of our conference speakers, has offered to do a fund raising event for us on Sept 17 and we’re extremely jazzed about it. The event is Living in the Fire of Change: An Evening with James O’Dea and the venue is First Parish in Bedford, Unitarian Universalist church from 7-9 pm. Many thanks to both James and John Gibbons, senior minister at the church, for making this event possible.

Here’s the description from our flyer. If you happen to live in the Boston area, we’d love to have you attend:

Please join us for an exciting and magical evening of myth-weaving and storytelling with global visionary leader James O’Dea. Following the theme of the “collective story of our time” in an age of changing consciousness, James will explore the frontiers of our contemporary awareness using the power of myth and techniques well known to indigenous wisdom keepers. In this experiential journey, James will weave together the elements from contemporary science, psychology and spirituality that can reconnect us with our archetypal identity as a culture and as individuals in a unique time in history. He will explore how this journey can lead us to the paths and possibilities of a new visionary activism to reenchant the world and renew our culture. Don’t miss this extraordinary event which includes a reception and silent auction.

James O’Dea is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and was until recently its President. The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a non-profit membership organization founded in 1973 by astronaut Edgar Mitchell which explores the frontiers of consciousness and global paradigm change. He is also currently working with a group of 40 evolutionary leaders convened by Deepak Chopra to unify efforts in support of evolutionary changes in political, economic, ecological and health and healing arenas. He spent ten years as the Director of the Washington Office of Amnesty International, where he testified before Congress, met with two U.S. presidents and numerous foreign heads of state and government leaders, and represented Amnesty International to the State Department, the White House, and the World Conference on Human Rights.

More info on our web site http://www.theemergenceproject.net/ where you can see other upcoming events as well.

The Internet and the Evolution of Mind

Here's more from my book Digital Mythologies. I know this is tough sledding so apologies in advance:

"Merely by reflecting the chaos of postmodern reality the mediasphere resequences expectations and keeps us off balance by moving the goalposts and changing the rules of the game. Media theorist Avital Ronell refers to this process as "scrambling the master codes."
I interpret this phrase to mean a kind of resequencing of information that forces us to recontextalize old theories and assumptions about the nature of reality. These media feedback loops shape consensus reality and define the borders of alternative realities. In the last analysis they also play a strong but underappreciated role in the evolution of mind…

French philosopher Michael Foucault may be right that human nature is as malleable as clay and that we build our own ontologies in the progression of culture through history. If he is, then the mediasphere presents a massive inventory of human experience upon which the process of selection and aggregation is based. The media and the Net may then act in the fashion of a linear particle accelerator, propelling us ever faster through a range of choices that will eventually cluster around a new definition of what is human -- in short, a quantum leap in the evolution of mind. "