I Am Changing, We (New Horizons) Are Changing. Are You Changing Too?

Jack and I presented a wonderful radio show episode, “The Times They Are A-Changing” on Thursday, May 15. Be sure to check it out if you have not already.

I, admittedly, was almost shaken by our exchange on-air, even more so by our discussion forum after, on the conference call. So much that I felt prompted to contact several loyal supporters, requesting that they give me feedback on the show. I was that much in need of checking out my perceptions.  I never did quite get what I was after.

Oh, well. The perceptual gap might be reconciled by checking out various theories about it. But who has time these days to bother over such minutiae?

Oh, dear!

Like the White Rabbit of Alice In Wonderland, most of us are feeling perpetually as if we are “late, late” for the next thing, whatever that is. No doubt about it, we must run off, quickly, trying to catch up with something.

I drew attention to the idea of slowing down in my “Overcoming The Polarization of Politics Address” presented at Hood College, not long after Obama’s second presidential victory.

Emphasizing a quote from  Mary Pipher in her book, Writing To Change The World

“The two most radical things you can do in America are to slow down and talk to one another.”

I made the assumption that this suggestion meant, also, listening to one another. And, I might add, listening, carefully.

Each time Jack and I do one of our Possible Society In Motion programs, we embark upon this “radical” endeavor; slowing down and talking and listening to one another. The effort has seemed to bear fruit, especially, since my “Lean In Legacy Template” was introduced, becoming the center piece of the show. The intentionality of this formula as an antidote by which one can offset polarization, socially, culturally or politically, comes clearer to me, program by program.

As a “teaching series,” we now have a a specific framework for an emerging curriculum for the program. And, in the “doing” we are slowing down and listening and talking to one another, along with whoever joins us. By taking time to be with one another in this way, we are establishing a venue for a purposeful, yet informal discussion, heightening our consciousness, individually and collectively. Then we carry the intention forth into the conference call portion of our program that follows. 

We are doing the same, digging even deeper within ourselves and one another, in our new Sohbet/study group. As a result, our discussion forums are, even now, hinting at the potential for our offering to reach the peak of the Mountain of Awe, that magical place where each and every one present can feel the beautifully, compelling sense of synergy that becomes the foundation for collective unity.

The intimation is there, perhaps most noticeably to me, having had decades of experience in creating the conditions for transformation within sustainable communities.

I am delightfully amazed that the group of guests and participants New Horizons has drawn together, most of whom have never even met one another, face-to-face, with only a telephone call connecting us, has been able to achieve this.

Our Possible Society In Motion Radio Show is now growing a group of strangers into a unique and wonderful, community discussion forum. We are becoming that “radical” venture – and will do so more and more as we gain experience with our project.

Apparently, it was the doing of this on-air and on a conference call that frightened me. I think it was the expansiveness, especially in a public forum of my “doing” that scared me so. I’d been so long, only imagining the experience of creating a forum for heightened and shared consciousness that when it came right up close, I wondered if something might not be wrong. As if I might get in trouble, somehow, for talking about, doing and “being” in an authentically personal and collective transformation mode, in public.

Nonetheless, in spite of my fear, I see that I am changing and New Horizons is changing too in the ways for which we’ve been striving.

Are you changing too?

If you are, how about sharing your adventure with us by updating your Possible Human, Possible Society Study interview. Or, perhaps, you might like to be a guest on our radio show. 

Please feel free to contact me, Anastasia, by email (zonesofpeacenh@aol.com) or cell: 240.409.5347,

However, we can find pathways to "lean in" towards one another can only up the abundance we are experiencing. 

Take a moment to consider how you might join us, as we become increasingly interactive with real people in real time.

We will even be making mistakes, publicly, as we learn and grow. You can join us in that too!

Note: In case you missed this past week’s The Possible Society In Motion Radio Show, we actually were not on-air as scheduled for May 29 due to a scheduling snag. But we will be back, again, in two weeks on Thursday, June 12 at our regularly scheduled bi-weekly time.

“Life Is With People”

A Memorial Day Reflection

“Life Is With People” is the title of a book on the dying culture of the shtetl; its way of life, its practices and characteristic philosophies. The book was introduced in 1952, with a commentary by Margaret Mead, the renowned anthropologist. A shtetl is, or at least was, traditionally, an Eastern European, Jewish village.

My mother was an assimilating, Americanized shtetl Jew. She grew up in the midst of folks who shared a common heritage; shtetl life was central to their ways.  Of course, it was not completely like the “old country.” Still life among the Jews of Toledo, Ohio did revolve, as in Eastern Europe, around the shul, an Orthodox house of worship. 

Life in this community of like-minded, shared culture, individuals and families, had a long-cherished resonance to times past. Most notable, however, was that these people were safe from the pogroms of the Czar and what was to come of Germany and the Third Reich.

I have long treasured the rather beaten up copy I have of the book. It brings me to wonder if I have kept the words of the title close to my heart, only after finding it on a used book shelf, or had they always been as though cellular to me. I doubt I will ever know.

Well, no matter, now. The title means the world to me. It strikes the deepest cords within me, reminding me who I am and what matters most; a life shared with the people around me in love and laughter, joy and sorrow.

From the earliest days of my life, the experience of a closely-connected life with people was as familiar as my skin; the people of my family and those of my community.

My people are shtetl people. This is my history and my heritage. When I was not paying attention and honoring this, I was cutting myself off from myself, as we all do when we do not tend to our roots. This is simply a fact of human nature.

We are of something. We become something more. But whatever it is that we are at our roots cannot and will not ever be separate from who we are, now, and who and what we will become.

Part of the heritage of being Jewish is that you are, for better or for worse, a member of a tribe.

I remember, attending a high school that must have been eighty-five percent Jewish, if not more. At the time, an “in thing” was to refer to one another as “members of the tribe.” I didn’t think much about the expression then. It was just simply what one said, thought and, somehow, did. In short we were “MOTs” and proud of it. Later, though, and up until the recent past half-dozen years, I didn’t like being a member of that tribe. I wanted out.

So I proclaimed that I’d quit being Jewish. People laughed at me for my idiocy. “You can’t quit being Jewish,” they said. But I was certain I’d bought my freedom. From what I was not quite certain.

Nonetheless, tribal life and its implications came home to me the other day while I was picking something up at a neighbor’s. Walking onto a nearby friend’s yard, I chanced upon another neighbor, a Native American, as it happens. Seeing him standing there in the sunshine I was struck by the beauty of the rich color of his skin.  Then, jokingly I asked, “Do you think I look as Jewish as you do Native American?”

He chuckled and soon, as friends and neighbors do, we went on to the next lighthearted chatter. Tribal differences had not divided us.

Then, I heard, in the distance, another friend of his, unknown to me, calling out. This was a slightly accented voice of a male who turned out to be African American, from Ghana.

Growing up as the daughter of a die-hard shtetl Jew, as was my mother, I was not allowed to interact with anyone who was not Jewish. Anyone not of my “tribe” could not even be acknowledged as existing as a human, truth be told. Native Americans were, seen only, as performing exhibitions at the annual Sportsman’s  Show. An African American would be our cleaning lady.

How very much this breaks my heart when I reflect upon it.

But the times they are a-changing. I am changing too. For one thing I have now answered my query, “Am I an American Jew or a Jewish American?” Having resolved that “Yes, I am of Jewish heritage, I accept that in me. And, that I am equally an American. I hope I am never asked to choose between the two.

I have come to full voice of where lies my heart and soul; all the peoples of the world are members of my tribe. As it turns out, it was the separating from the rest of humanity that had made being Jewish feel so wrong for me.

But that was long ago. Today is the now. Still, if I allow my mind to travel, I am rather certain my “othering” mother would have difficulty accepting this way of mine.

What she might say about the joy and wholeness I find now in the varied array of people in my life I will not even entertain. In attendance, presently, at our Possible Society In Motion conversations forums and our bi-weekly Sohbet/study groups, I think we have, at least, one or more, people of Irish descent, a South American, several folks of German heritage and one person of mixed Bulgarian/Macedonian heritage; none are Jewish, other than me.

So what?

On a day like today, Memorial Day, I am so aware of the freedom I have to simply be me and an MOT of any tribe I choose. I choose the global village as my tribe and the land of this free nation.

The Times They Are A-Changing

The Possible Society In Motion Radio Show!

The Times They Are A-Changing!

Thursday, May 15, 2014 6:30 p.m.

Hear The Podcast!

On this episode Anastasia and Jack explore the positive changes in our society that they are witnessing around them and within themselves. A focus of the program is on how the contemporary "marriage of science and mysticism" is affecting our everyday mental mechanics. And how, as these shifts in perception unfold, they are making their ways into our general culture, enhancing and expanding our potentiality for a more positive cultural perspective.

A conference call forum follows and extends the on-air discussion. Callers can join the conference call at: 712.432.0600, access code 640883 (also recorded).

(If you miss the original broadcast, please contact New Horizons, the show's sponsoring organization, for access code for the conference call recording. Contact details available on blog site.)

With co-hosts, Anastasia Rosen-Jones and Jack Slattery

At its highest level, the vision behind the “Lean In Legacy Template,” the centerpiece of the Possible Society In Motion Radio Show, is that it offers a map to realizing a vast human potential for the transmuting of hostility, even minor separations, into cooperation and unity.

This principle exemplifies the notion that an act, as simple as “leaning in,” even in the most, seemingly, commonplace of ways is a viable pathway to the building of a non-violent culture.

By learning to utilize Anastasia’s recently introduced “Lean In Legacy Template” the new centerfold of the Possible Society In Motion Radio Show, each and every one of us can exercise our innate human capacities to be the change we are seeking, individually and collectively.

Co-hosts, Anastasia and Jack, expand this basic principle in their bi-weekly, Possible Society In Motion Radio Show.

An Open Letter To Our Study Participants

Dear Possible Human, Possible Society Study participant,

You deserve a personal note

We want you to know the changes going on that are – and – will be impacting on our Possible Human, Possible Society Study and your participation in it. To do this, the following is a letter that will tell you: 1. How we got from there to here; and 2. Where we are now in terms of the study and its unfolding developments.

Snail's Pace?
No! No! Not So!

OMG! This is turning out to be a bit of a newsletter.

If you wish to bypass the story and find out more, now, about our developing plans, simply scroll down to #2 below.

1.            From there, July, 2013, to here, May, 2014

Major changes are underway in the tone and activities of our Possible Human, Possible Society Study, operating under the sponsorship of New Horizons Support Network, Inc. and its two main initiatives, the Small “Zones of Peace” Project and the Possible Society In Motion Project. 

We are well aware of when these transformations became apparent to us. However, we cannot even begin to imagine where they will end. 

Noting the shift

The world, as we know it, is presently turning itself upside down. We feel certain you feel it as much as we do. We can trace the recent shift to the day Sue and I received copies of Ahmsta Kebzeh: The Science ofUniversal Awe, Volume II, the most recent book of our Beloved community development mentor, Murat Yagan.

It was early August and we had just passed our annual, July board meeting. Our plans for the coming year seemed to be set. Our main tasks would be to develop a teaching manual to support our Possible Society In Motion Radio Show and to begin raising the funds that would enable us to do this and our many other related projects and programs.

We were excited to see our own contribution to the book in print. But even more so was the wisdom and guidance Murat had so comprehensively put forth in this book. And, the many other contributions from students of his, like us, from around the world.

Upon reading the contribution of Lisa Talesnick, “No Good Can Come To Me Unless It Comes First To My Brothers and Sisters,” we both actually cried, spontaneously. Lisa, a long time student of Murat and Kebzeh heads a news company, based in the Middle East. Her article tells of the application of Murat’s teachings to the forming of the All Nations Café, “transforming checkpoints into meeting points” in Israel and Palestine. When you read it, you, too, might cry with joy and releasing sorrow.

Only days after receiving our books, Sue and I took off for a Canadian retreat at her family’s summer cabin. By the time we returned, the central message of Murat’s tome, his methodology for turning the lead of consciousness into the gold of transformation, had already taken hold in each of us.

For me, personally, I, also, returned with the almost completed draft of a new book, HotPants, Motorcycles and K Street: In TheEra Before Watergate. It had virtually popped out of me while I sat on the edge of a boat dock, enjoying the sun. I hope to have it completed and ready for publication by 2016. It is a memoir that is grounded in how my days as a celebrity entrepreneur in Washington, D.C. thrust me into the fire pit of my own transformation. And, how this experience, then, became the theoretical and strategic foundations that are, today, embodied in every aspect of New Horizons.

The challenges of Fall, 2013 through Winter, 2014

We might have, readily, carried this burgeoning force forth into our Possible Human, Possible Society Study – and – the various programs and projects emerging from it, under the auspices of our Possible Society In Motion Project.  But, life as it happens, soon showed up with an obstacle. A visit to Washington to begin research for my book, unfortunately, resulted in my attracting an eye infection that seriously threatened my sight in both eyes!

By early December when the most serious potentials of that infection had been averted, we were headlong into the cruelest, bitterest winter we can remember. The rest is history, not only for us, but for all of you, as well. Suffice it to say that almost until May Day, we were managing an on-going, uphill battle to simply stay warm. This is an especially challenging endeavor if one does, as we do, heat on wood that had long been exhausted in terms of our original winter stockpile.

The upside of Fall, 2013 into Spring, 2014

Paralleling the trials of this time, our Possible Society In Motion Radio Show, co-hosted by Jack Slattery and myself, was, by this time, advancing beautifully and evolving into a teaching series. Integrating our developments on-air with all that was going on behind the scenes, another creation of mine, also, "popped" out of me; the “Lean In Legacy Template” which has, now, become the centerpiece of our radio show.

In the midst of this building momentum, however, a winter storm, power outage re-routed one of our scheduled radio shows. To save the day, our program for that evening became a conference call forum, only. (With no electricity I was finding script preparation and the various other intricacies of radio show production a bit much for that night.) Thus another new creation emerged, the “Turning Lead Into Gold Sohbet/study group.

The gifts of this serendipitous happening were and are immeasurable; the greatest one that our Beloved Murat had passed beyond this earthly plane only a month or so before. And, our Sohbet/study group would allow us to share what we had gained from him, along with being able to continue to celebrate his well-lived life and the teachings given so generously. In a world so much in want for role models, sharing, even stories of this noble man is a gift.

(Do I sound as if I am a bit pregnant these days. Actually, I do believe I am! I am pregnant with creations born of turning the lead (i.e. clutter) of oneself into the gold of personal and collective transformation.

It is all happening so fast in my life, these days, I frequently feel quite upside down!)

You, finding out more

Well, I could go on and on with New Horizons and personal tales ad infinitum. I do hope I can share some of them after a while with you, face-t0-face; the most precious way, as time such as this is so hard to come by these days.

However, you can keep abreast of some of these tales and transitions by listening to my/our radio show, The Possible Society In Motion Radio Show at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/smallzonesofpeace. 

And, reading my blog posts at - http://zonesofpeacenh.blogspot.com/

2.      From here, May, 2014 into the future (listed, only, by item). If you wish details, please do not hesitate to contact me at: Cell: 240.409.5347 or email: zonesofpeacenh@aol.com.

·         We are seeking to recruit an administrative/research assistant (or volunteer) to help manage the study data, now, being collected – and – our growing correspondence and communication demands;

·         We will soon, also, begin recruiting student interns (or volunteers) to assist with data collection for the study as well as enhanced communication efforts for increasing the visibility of the study and its findings;

·         The Possible Society In Motion Radio Show, the “Turning Lead Into Gold Sohbet/study group and the Possible Human, Possible Society Study personal interviews will, most likely, move into high gear, now, taking precedence, at times, over the blogs, in terms of keeping you abreast about our current (and very inspiring) interactive efforts;

·         We will, soon, begin re-contacting study participants to, again, update our data on your attitudes and activities to better our society – and -- yourself;

·         We will, also, again, be organizing -- or attempting to organize -- community building gatherings in the coming, warm weather season, at our Harpers Ferry Retreat Center (we will keep you informed as details emerge);

·         We will continue to post blogs on our study activities and findings, as time allows;

·         By year’s end, we are hoping to have prepared and sent personal report cards to present participants of how we have observed your attitudes and activities to be measuring up alongside those of our whole body of study data collection. (Should you wish a personal report and not have received one, please do contact our office to request your respective evaluation.);

·         We will, also, soon, be letting you know how you can best support these exciting efforts of ours.

New Horizons' Possible Society In Motion Project, underwritten by the Possible Human, Possible Society Study is a winner!

Stay informed! Stay in touch!

 

Snags to Synergy: it’s All About Attitude

Tonight on the Possible Society In Motion Radio Show!

Snags to Synergy: It’s All About Attitude

Thursday, May 1,   6:30 p.m.

With co-hosts, Anastasia Rosen-Jones and Jack Slattery

At its highest level, the vision behind the “Lean In Legacy Template,” the centerpiece of the Possible Society In Motion Radio Show, is that it offers a map to realizing a vast human potential for the transmuting of hostility, even minor separations, into cooperation and unity. This principle exemplifies the notion that an act, as simple as “leaning in,” even in the most, seemingly, commonplace of ways is a viable pathway to the building of a non-violent culture.

Co-hosts, Anastasia and Jack, expand this basic tenet of the “Lean In Legacy Template” on tonight’s show with a discussion on how this model regards our innate capacity to shift out of our snags in human relations onto a pathway of healing and growth. Thereby we can turn all potential problems of an interactional nature into possibilities.

Co-hosts, Anastasia and Jack, focus on “snags to synergy – it’s all about attitude” on tonight’s inspiring episode, tonight at 6:30 p.m

By learning to utilize Anastasia’s recently introduced “Lean In Legacy Template” the new centerfold of the Possible Society In Motion Radio Show, each and every one of us can exercise our innate human capacities to be the change we are seeking, individually and collectively.

Lost and Found

Days pass, moving forward into weeks. I am unable to write, the action that comes closest to elation for me.

I feel lost, inert.

I am stunned, horror stricken, unable to gain momentum.

I check out CNN online for news; headlines reminiscent of Ripley’s “Believe It Or Not” my mother insisted I not visit as a kid. Still there is enough that is worthy of return, at times.

Once more, for the thirtieth time in one day, I check the weather report on my smartphone.

I feel upside down and think myself like Humpty Dumpty, yet am unable to make any sense of the “why.”

Again to CNN before my work day officially begins.

Then it comes to me; the items that seize my somewhat jaded attention.

Hundreds of high school students meet a terrifying, heart-rending death aboard a sinking holiday-intended ferry boat in South Korea; the missing plane, Malaysia 370, close to twenty deaths so far in the Midwest, resulting from tornados.

I think back on the datelines, especially the ferry boat sinking.

Where was I? Where were you? Where are they, the victims, and the thousands of friends and relatives of the victims of these catastrophes?

I look outside my bedroom window. The sun shines and I contemplate taking a midday break to do my mountain road walk. It seems the temperature will be warm enough.

I am grateful to be alive and have sunshine this day!

Reflecting on recent days past, I remember that my car was hit by a deer, not long before that ferry boat began to sink.

Also, I had, then, just located several long lost relatives but had not, yet, been able to see them; losses and gains.

I have been unable to write, have had nothing to say.

I picture an equivalent number of deer on my front lawn as have died in that ferry boat sinking.

I feel sick, horrified. How has humankind come to this with all its many advantages? In particular, if the captain, crew and others are culpable?

Then an email arrives from a journalist friend. A soon-to-be-published editorial comment, enclosed, affirms my own values of people for one another, not divided. The piece reminds me that in a world in which we “swim in a culture rife with polarization and fragmentation,” it doesn’t need to be this way.

I realize I am among the fortunate to have friends like this who are, every day doing their best to be the “possible human in the possible society.” All is not lost.

The words of “Amazing Grace” come to my mind, prompting me to think of New Horizons’s new Sohbet/study group and the synergy budding there among participants.

The Sohbet/study group is a new endeavor, but already it is a place where I can find myself, albeit briefly and intermittently. Even now it is becoming important to me; a port where, for a time, though by conference call connection, lost me becomes found me as we work, together, intending to turn lead into gold, traveling with others.

I wish I could take the whole group home with me.

I pray those who have or are lost through these tragedies, too, are, not only lost but  found.

If you’d like to travel with us --

Things have a way of unfolding, superficially, these days on a grand scale, yet without much substance. They are here today and gone tomorrow; a fate I, personally, do not cherish.

The Small “Zones Of Peace” Project, sponsored by New Horizons Support Network, Inc. does not subscribe to this fast-paced way of traveling through life. We are always after turning the lead into the gold. The latter takes time, patience and more patience.

We want to travel
with you!

On the other hand, we must be realistic. The world of Future Shock is upon us, now. And we are called to manage new ways of doing and being, even if we do not like them (maybe we will later). We wonder, not infrequently, how to develop substance given the limits of present conditions.

But life being what it is these days, we have decided to make a few huge adjustments. This means we will, now, seek ways to expand our interactive-dependent Bus Ride Story Adventure, Coffee House Conversations community-unity building model, our Cultural Mediation Paradigm and our various other programs and projects on the internet. Somehow this will, also, include the wonderful treats of our Abkhazian Dinner program. (You will, however, need to supply your own food.)

We will still continue to do our best to bring real live humans, together, face-to-face, with other real live humans. However, we will now, also, stretch ourselves and our skills online too.

But don’t be fooled by our efforts for an expanded presence, here; substance and surface are not necessarily easy partners. 

We will still need to take time to grow, develop, nurture and mature our intention – to bring about a flourishing result; the “awe” of turning lead into gold that is our standard. 

We are not even certain we can achieve this. So don’t expect too much from this new initiative.  Nothing substitutes for living, breathing human beings.

Nonetheless, having determined this direction, you can, now, look forward to garnering more and more tips and tools on --

“How to become the best possible human in the best possible society” 

-- the New Horizons’ Small “Zones of Peace” Project way from here forth, beginning today. 

You can be a part of our unfolding – and develop more of your own -- by following our blog postings and radio shows, imperfect as they and we are.

In fact, on last night’s Possible Society In Motion Radio Show, we discussed “Being the change” we are seeking by taking risks to expand our comfort zones. Today, we are doing just that, here.

So let the good times and the Easter eggs roll!

And, have a very happy holiday weekend.

Best wishes,

Anastasia and Sue

Small "Zones Of Peace" Co-Creators