We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For
By Ed Elkin

Once called the "religion of healthy-mindedness" by the philosopher William James, the New Thought movement was born almost 150 years ago as a revolt against the negative dogmas so prevalent in the churches of that day. Last month, Hawaii-based writer Ed Elkin attended the third annual meeting of the Association for Global New Thought (AGNT) and reports on this most timely event, presented by several notable speakers.

PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA - October 8, 2001 - (OTVNewswire) - Seventeen days after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, more than 600 people came together in a context of human, social and spiritual evolution, to move toward an "Awakened World," regarding the attacks as a painful wake-up call which will ultimately have a positive effect.

The pain of the attack was, at some level, needed to activate the immune system of the social body of humanity, bringing about a healing and evolving of the planet.

Although presenters included such notables as Rev. Matthew Fox, Dr. Jean Houston, Barbara Marx Hubbard and Elisabet Sahtouris, the overall message was that each of us holds the key to human evolution, and, as the elders of the Hopi Nation remind us:

"There is a river flowing, now, very fast. It is so great and swift, that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. Know the river has its destination. The Elders say, you must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. And I say, see who is in there with you, and celebrate."

Presentations of art, music and dance from many cultures were featured including American Indian, Korean, West African and Tibetan. One artist, Potenza Marie Monet, produced a series of banners called "Hearts of the World" which were hung around the conference halls and were based on the flags of many of the world's countries.

Much of the music came from the Agape International Center of Truth coordinated by Music Director, Dr. Rickie Byars-Beckwith. The choir performed with powerful heart-opening songs on Saturday night and during the Sunday morning service.

Dr. Michael Beckwith was one of the primary organizers and speakers. Other organizers were:

Rev. Howard Ceaser (Unity Church of Christianity, Houston, TX), Rev. Carol Carnes (First Church of Religious Science, Santa Cruz, CA), Rev. Argentina Glasgow (Detroit Unity Temple, Detroit, MI), Barbara Marx Hubbard ( Foundation for Conscious Evolution, Santa Barbara, CA), Rev. Mary Manin Morissey (Living Enrichment Center, Wilsonville, OR), Rev. Mary Omwake (Unity of Maui, Wailuku, HI), Rev. Wendy Craig Purcell (Church of Today, San Diego), Rev. Richard Rogers (Univ. of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ), Dr. Roger Teel , (MileHi Church of Religious Science, Lakewood, CO), and Barbara Fields Bernstein (Executive Director, AGNT, Chicago, IL).

The initial invocaton was by Achok Rinpoche who, along with other Tibetan leaders, had a profound presence throughout the conference.

The following highlights from some of the speakers give more of the flavor of the conference, which was designed prior to the September 11^th attacks, yet which have renewed meaning in the context of the attacks.

Jean Houston

• We need a community of service and support instead of exploitation and dominance
• We must feed the people by bombing them with butter, and blitzing them with hope.
• Wild grace is racing in our midst.
• It is important to create a new form of politics in which spontaneous generosity is re-kindled, where people are pulled into their greatness, where art, music and theater are returned to the schools to enhance creativity, and where we turn off the TV and turn on the neighborhood.

Elisabet Sahtouris

• Evolution moves fastest in times of crisis.
• Now is an opportunity to clean up our karma since we built our great country based partly on slavery and stolen lands.
• Current crisis must be seen as an opportunity for growth and change from being a young species which is competitive to a mature species that is cooperative. We need 'glocalization' instead of 'globalization,' meaning that we must empower local economies wherever possible.

Matthew Fox

• It is important not to dwell on the calamity, but rather to move on.

• When the heart breaks, the universe pours through.
• We must put creativity in the service of love and compassion. To some extent our 'creativity' has gotten us into an ecological mess, and now it must get us out.
• Compassion, in fact, is needed as the most human quality, overcoming the gross divisions between the "haves" and the "have-nots" in our world.

Rev. Smith praised the work of leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. He also contrasted a "traditional" (e.g. indigenous) world with a scientific worldview, recommending the former as a world in which spirit is fundamental, everything is meaningful, humans belong to the society, and there is a happy ending.

Ms Hubbard called for a "whole system response to a whole system shift" and presented her view of the process of evolution as moving through a series of stages:

• The Whole Story
• The Co-Creative Person
• Co-Creative Relationships
• Co-Creative Vocation
• Synergistic Community
• Co-Creative Society
• Universal Humanity

A Declaration of Our Awakened World 2001, the living source document presented at the conference, ends with:

"Our hearts are open to the continuous influx of human kindness and love. Our minds are alert to the impulse of the Divine which guides and directs. We have come to know ourselves as one human family. As a result of our individual and collective choice to awaken to the eternal Truth of our Unity with our Source and will all of life, and because we have chosen to live as

universal citizens who are responsible for our immediate experience and our continuum as an evolving species, and by right of our consciousness... The Kingdom of Heaven is now manifesting on Earth."

Clearly, our human family is still highly dysfunctional, and in danger of committing the most disastrous tribal warfare ever experienced by humankind with biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction on an unprecedented scale. The best way to combat "evil" is to make energetic progress in the "good" by highlighting and distributing through the nervous system of the planet's media, all those steps that are positive and growthful. Perhaps with renewed vigor, as a function of the recent attacks, progress is made.

Again, from A Declaration of Our Awakened World 2001:

"Standing at the threshold of an Evolutionary Leap, we open awakened eyes upon a world in which many still suffer. As an unprecedented spiritual revolution gains momentum worldwide, a deep reverence for life resonates with our hearts. It calls us to awaken... and we are ready to respond."