Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Beyond Beyonce, Beyond Ego, Beyond Self-Interest


Possible Society In Motion Show Announcement for Thursday, February 21
Shipwrecks and other travel challenges offer real life depictions of what it can mean for fellow journeyers to choose to be for one another (i.e. altruism) or invested in their own self-interest. Beyond emergency airplane landings, cruise ship fires and other such unexpected crises what might it mean for strangers in our strange land of twenty-first century America to choose, on purpose, to be for one another, across the board?

What does it mean to be
a possible society in motion?
Building, once again, on previous episodes to date, also drawing upon the principle of altruism (one for all and all for one) that President Obama appeared to be promoting, to set the tone of his forthcoming second term, the question is pondered: Are Americans genuinely ready to truly invest in the value of being one for all and all for one (i.e. altruism) as a high priority?  
Or, are other crises such as “9/11” and other mass murders still needed to bring home the point that “survival of the fittest” may, ultimately, demand that we develop a commitment to practicing this value.
Ben Franklin urged that “We must all hang together, lest we each hang alone.” However, we seem unable and unwilling to heed this notion, unless and except in times of crisis. Is this a state of affairs we should simply accept or are we overlooking a key challenge that must be addressed as a part of a national solution to gun violence and other social ills?

7:00 p.m.-- 7:30 p.m., following the on-air broadcast, we again, takes our discussion topic to a deeper, more personal level with a call-in audience at:
Conference call dial-in: 712.432.0600, access code 640883 (also recorded).

Monday, February 18, 2013

Would you travel this line, if you knew?

Anastasia commenting on "Why you don't want to travel with me."

Without doubt a Carnival cruise ship would not get your reservation right now, after its tragic fire of last week. But what about a New Horizons’ Bus Ride Story Adventure?
Sail away. Sail away.

If you knew ahead of time that a week long-distance bus ride  would call forth an invitation to fill your days on the trip with an interactive social game to pass the time, constructively, with fellow travelers, would you agree to it?

(You can hear a podcast (February 7) of our story here. Or read the story for yourself online here.)

I think the latter might serve you better as reports tell me that the February show was somewhat boring though the content important.
Two weeks ago on our Possible Society In Motion Show I introduced our New Horizons’ Bus Ride Story Adventure, knowing full well that for any group of people, contained or not, for a time, the sacrifices asked of committing to in-depth, meaningful conversation for any period of time, short or extended, would rapidly invite resistance of all sorts, especially with strangers.

Thus I knew, ahead of time, that I also would need to invite out the voices of resistance to such an idea as an immediate follow-up. I did this on "Why don't you want to travel with me? Part II" on February 14. 
This is a an important show that I do suggest you listen to on podcast.

In Writing To Change The World, Mary Pipher writes that “The two most radical things you can do in America are to slow down and talk to one another.”  In President Obama’s State of the Union address he took the position that Americans need to look out for one another.  Both Pipher and Obama are suggesting extreme social and cultural change, I believe.
In assessing the impact of Obama’s address in “How the State of the Union Worked,” (Huffington Post) George Lakoff, Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley suggested that Obama effectively shifted the public discourse with this address in such a way as to inspire us.

Well, maybe we will continue to become more and more vocal in our complaints about our government and politics. But to be more for one another? Personally, I think not, but time will tell.
Our Possible Human, Possible Society Study and related events, to date, have shown us, most tellingly so far, that the majority of citizens of this country resist efforts to willingly expend any significant amount of time or energy interacting with those who are different than them. In other words, their willingness is -- almost nil.

So what about travelers on our imaginary bus ride adventure? Or, you, personally, if you imagine yourself to be one of them. Or even more pointedly were, seriously, afforded the opportunity to purposefully, participate in an adventure of this sort; a seven day-long trip to a destination of your choice that would include intentionally building a sense of community with strangers, as a part of the package.
Would you sign on for the trip?

Here are a few of the points I offered to our Possible Society In Motion Show listeners, addressing some of the issues of resistance, having to do with “why”, in practice, most people are unwilling to actively build bridges with dissimilar others (who most of the time, albeit unconsciously, remain the “other).”

I am sure you can think of many more.
Read our Bus Ride Story Adventure online. Or, listen to it on the podcast of our Possible Society In Motion Show and draw your own conclusions.

I invite you to consider the issues that would be of concern for you.  My offerings are --
·         Could any group of strangers on a long distance journey truly become a community by merely agreeing to be nice to one another for the duration?
·         What if you, yourself, are pledged to the game but someone else isn’t so dedicated?
·         Or, decides, after all, that the plan isn’t such a good idea? In fact it’s a bad idea game and wants out, midway? 
Join us this week and in the weeks to come as our Bus Ride Story Adventure (and other happenings) unfold on our Possible Society In Motion Show. Thursday evenings, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

The Bus Ride Story Adventure Is Now In Motion

Now we’ve got it!  Endurance* pays off.
 
It is going on almost one year since Sue and I first introduced our Bus Ride Story Adventure at last year’s Abkhazian Dinner event. We knew we were on the right road with this program to being able to offer with it a, more or less, tangible product for those interested in our brand of community development/peace action training.

We want to travel with you!
The Bus Ride Story Adventure
However, the adventure needed polish in order to be able to achieve its objectives.

During the spring and summer we invited supporters to participate in our rehearsals for taking this show on the road.

Still we knew we were not yet quite ready and able to spark the inspiration this personal and collective transformative journey can achieve.  So back to the drawing board we/it went.

Then, lo and behold, along came our new Possible Society In Motion Radio Show. Our proper vehicle for this adventure had been discovered.
Now we’ve got it. 

Get on board with us, as our progress unfolds: destination “Awe.”
Join us as our adventure progresses and develops.

The “official” journey has only just begun, but it is already ripe for adventure.

Endurance* pays off.  We’ve got it and you can have it too -- with endurance.
*Endurance as defined by Murat Yagan, New Horizons’ community development mentor: the ability to hold out, to undergo a difficulty without giving way, to withstand prolonged strain.
Here is how you can participate --

New Horizons’ Bus Ride Story Adventure is now in motion on our weekly radio show, the Possible Society In Motion Show.

Thursday evenings: 6:30 p.m. (Audience dial in number (allows you to listen to our show from your phone):  347.237.5351

Conference call-in discussion (follows immediately after radio show broadcast): 7 to 7:30 p.m.
Conference call-in number: 712.432.0600. Access code: 640883

Get on board!
We want to travel with you!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The Bus Ride Story Adventure: Now on-air!


Radio show commentary
Check it out!

New Horizons’ Bus Ride Story Adventure is now in motion on  our weekly radio show, the Possible Society InMotion Show.
We want to travel with you!
Bus Ride Story Adventure.
Thursday evenings: 6:30 p.m.

(Audience dial in number (allows you to listen to our show from your phone):  347.237.5351
Conference call-in discussion (follows immediately after radio show broadcast: 7 to 7:30 p.m.
Conference call-in number: 712.432.0600
Access code: 640883

Get on board! We want to travel with you!

Join us for this new possible society in motion journey; building exceptional community on-air.
New Horizon’s Bus Ride Story Adventure
Coming Soon!
Possible Human, Possible Society Study participants as guests and panelists on --
Thursday evenings: 6:30 p.m. – 347.237.5351

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Tribute to the children of Newtown


Come travel with me on our next Possible Society In Motion Show, dedicated to the children of Newtown.
Thursday February 7, 6:30 p.m.

When I want or feel the need to get to “AWE” in a heartbeat, I have two reliable access points these days; a YouTube of the children’s chorus of Newtown, singing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” (View it, if you haven’t already at: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kXXqCD4hKI) and a magic lamp.
To the children of Newtown,
Connectict.
I will save my stories of my magic lamp and the genie with which it comes equipped for another time. However, tonight’s Possible Society In Motion Show is dedicated to the children of Newtown. The magic of community healing power that these brave children are now modeling is our blessing. It is to the well-being of these children that we offer this next show titled “Why don’t you want to travel with me?”

Please join us for this important show and the following conference call discussion.
Both program portions will be recorded.

Details below:
Possible Society In Motion Show, access options –.

·         See blue and white Blog Talk Radio Show icon on this page, click on link to show, or

·         Dial in by phone at: 347.237.5351.
Conference call discussion, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Follow instructions below.

·         Dial in: 712.432.0600

·         Prompt will instruct you to enter access code. 640883#

       ·         Your in.
C’mon. Let’s build a possible society in motion community with this show.

Let’s do it, now!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Our landscape has changed


Possible Human, Possible Society Study Report: data usage and storytelling
(Possible Human,Possible Society Study participants, please read carefully.)

Our playing fields have been altered; from the inside to the contradictions of the outer and back inside again. Don’t you see/feel it?
Future shock is here along with the unpredictable challenges of climate change, and goodness knows what other kinds of upheaval we are yet to see. We are, indeed, living in an unstable world environment.

And, where are you today? Have you gotten it clear with yourself how to keep yourself both grounded and elevated to the higher realms of consciousness? And, carry your best possible self out into the world?

More power to you, if you can readily answer the four basic existential questions that are fundamental to training and practice as a Transactional Analyst, the path I followed most devotedly as a psychotherapist.
·         Who am I?
·         Who are you?
·         What’s everybody doing here?
·         And, what am I supposed to do in a place like this with people like you?
Then there are the notable words of Rabbi Kushner, ”Tough times never last, tough people do.”

Well, along about now, I would like to be a lot less toughened up by circumstances while still staying around for the run of the show, at least for a good while. What more can I say about my personal quandary of these days?
For now these, possibly, wearisome musings of mine are, certainly, underscored, as New Horizons, now, begins, our second full year with our Possible Human, Possible Society Study. To us it has become clear that our best  immediate pathway to beginning to share the data we are gathering from our study – and – also placing some of the jewels we have found - into immediate service for the good of all, turns out to be –

Our Possible Society In Motion Show on Blog Talk Radio -- with you on air with me, if you are a study interviewee, as a guest or panelists on future shows.
Here are a few of the reasons why –

1.       Your personal stories, along with the rationale each person holds as relevant and important to these stories have turned out to be, singularly, the richest treasures brought forth from our interviews;

2.      Study finding details, overall, will need to be held in reserve for publicizing until the study is complete so as not to taint the interview process with too much revealed, too soon. That will not be until sometime after December 31, 2015.
But your stories and the teachable messages related to them, in your own words, are most apropos for sharing now. And, New Horizons believes they can make a difference, now,  in helping to elevate our “Possible Society In Motion.”

So please accept this first invitation, if you are a Possible Human, Possible Society Study interviewee, to participate at this next level. I want to draw you out, on air, so that you can share your well-thought out wisdom, as in our private interviews, with others.
We, at New Horizons, believe your words can make a difference.

Look for details in the coming weeks on how you, if you are a Possible Human, Possible Society Study participant, can join me as an on-air guest or panelists on our Possible Society In Motion Show.

Information on how to get involved may follow slowly, at first, but it is in motion to include you soon.  

Friday, February 1, 2013

Confluence


Radio Show commentary &
Possible Human, Possible Society Study Commentary

“Confluence” is the gentle word, used often to describe the flowing together of the two rivers, the Potomac and the Shenandoah, just off the road from our retreat center. Confluence is also an apt word to describe the gentle coming together of the various threads, representing New Horizons, now, slowly but surely beginning to emerge as a pattern of renewal at our Harpers Ferry Retreat Center.
Confluence of the two rivers
at Harpers Ferry
Our long-overdue (but maybe timely just as it should be) remodeling project, the profound findings, surfacing almost daily out of our Possible Human, Possible Society Study, our new radio show (The Possible Society In Motion Show) and our various Small “Zones of Peace” Projects and programs, all but ready for presentation, are co-mingling so vibrantly these day that it is hard to keep up with all that is blossoming, here, while snow still covers the ground and bitter winds whip around corners.

Not far from our door, however, you can experience the magic of the mountains at the joining of the streams; the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, coming together in Harpers Ferry. A sight “Worth a journey across the seas.” offered Thomas Jefferson, beholding the majesty of it all. And, here, nestled snug away in these mountains, the old magic, with a new twist, of New Horizons’ Harpers Ferry Retreat Center, is reaching for its own brand of magic; the renewal of this prized piece of land and its dwellings,  lifting open arms to the awakening of a new day dawning.
This “habitat for healing” that has struggled to come through a “dark night” of its soul brought about by my loss of eyesight (but never my vision) seems to be, now, beginning to see light at the end of a very long tunnel; a cavernous passageway that seemed without end. But like the seemingly bottomless Blue Hole of my father-guided childhood explorations, the lake does have a bottom and the tunnel a light at its end.

What has changed for us? It seems hard to pinpoint. Yet it appears that we are simply one single facet of that brave new world, now, also emerging out of its own dark night.
Do we know for sure what the future may hold? Not a chance.

But it appears that, with the  light that seems to now be beaming on the various strands that make up who and what New Horizons was, is and is becoming -- and -- the hints of magic before our very eyes, almost daily up here on our portion of this mountain,  just keep looking our way. My bet is that before long, you will be able to discover the many interlocking pieces of our gift becoming easier and easier for you to fit together and be able to use.  
Also, if you haven’t tried it yet, tune into our Possible Human, Possible Society Show where, flesh is now being added to the bare bones that have, heretofore, been shared on this site. And, where, if all goes as anticipated, you, too, may soon be sharing your hopes, dreams and visions on the air with us.