AWAKENING TO THE NEW CONSCIOUSNESS - Finding your authentic voice

Ongoing collaborative workshops

focussing on the current processes of change in ourselves and the world

towards a more generous and creative future.

While many of us are aware that the systems we are living with are not serving the interests of the majority of humanity and are actually damaging the foundations of life on this planet, we can feel overwhelmed by helplessness to change direction. Our dependency on these systems in providing our everyday needs, traps us into supporting them. Lulled into a stupor by media, drugs and shopping, we are complicit in our own destruction.

With increasing world-wide communication our concern for the human family and the whole biosphere is emerging. This understanding sees in the breakdowns the possibility of a new consciousness breaking through old habits of thought and patterns of behaviour, to an awareness of ourselves as integral to the web of life. Since we are part of the problem, can we be part of the solution? Can we become agents instead of victims?

There are already signs of awakening, and in these workshops we will look at some which have contributed to my journey:

- Transition Towns (Rob Hopkins)

- The Work that Reconnects (Joanna Macy)

- A Course in Miracles (Marrianne Williamson)

- Agents of Conscious Evolution (Barbara Marx Hubbard)

- The Empathic Civilisation (Jeremy Rifkin)

- The Great Turning (David Korten)

- Integral Enlightenment (Ken Wilbur)

- Occupy (Charles Eisenstein)

Participants may also want to present other sources to share which have resonated with them.

Workshops are free and will take place on Tuesdays from 3-5 starting May 8th 2012

at Swarthmore Education Centre, Woodhouse Square, Leeds, LS31AD

Contact Anna on 07954345550 email: anna@shsh.co.uk

http://cms.yesmagazine.org/people-power/a-may-day-like-no-other

Reader Comments

Reply Posted by anna at Apr 23, 2012 01:51 PM

However 'sucessful' Mayday may be it does not seem to be leading anywhere constructive. It may end in riots and clashes with police, which it seems is what Occupy is planning for, which may incur really brutal repression. To what end?

The persistence in protesting to the government and begging it to change its values feels uninspiring and a dead end. It galvanises anger and resentment, and places us as impotent victims. All of these feelings are undeniably real, but they do not serve us in any fruitful way. They also leave us completely in the hands of the big corporations, on whom we depend for our daily needs. If and when the crash comes and it could be any time, we will be totally unprepared for managing from our own resources.

I think instead we should be making alliances with Permaculture, Transition Towns, and any land based projects, and seriously considering how to build the alternative structures we will need to survive the coming difficult times.

What would Hebden Bridge Look like in 2027?

Hebden Bridge 2027 - The Love Economy

When talking of Hebden you should understand that we are implying that the rest of the world has also changed - universal basic income, debt cancellation, social and environmental investment, etc. The sorts of transformations that have taken place in Hebden could not have happened alone, as though it was an isolated unit without relationship to surrounding areas and ultimately to the whole world.

The main change is that we no longer use money to value our goods and services. We have what is called 'the Love Economy'. That is care for people and planet is now the motivation for sharing the abundant products which have replaced the scarcity that was engendered by and essential to the money economy, and the industrial growth system. Most of our food is sourced locally, which does mean that some of the more exotic items we used to enjoy have become very rare or disappeared entirely. But no-one goes hungry or feels pressured to buy things they can't afford. More than that is the knowledge that what we enjoy consuming does not rely on the exploitation of unknown people or children in far-away lands.

Meals are more often communal affairs, so that every day becomes a celebration. Our relationships express the appreciation, and respect we feel with each unique encounter. There is excitement about being in charge of our lives. People no longer work in soul destroying, repetitive jobs, so are able to be more creative and fulfilled in their daily lives. Communication happens everywhere, on street corners, distribution centres, assemblies in the park. Healing occurs naturally as people emerge from being trapped in the competition and insecurity of an economy based on scarcity and want. Love flows unconditionally, as the gratitude for life and human community merges with the laughter of children freed from repressive education and connects with the beauty of the natural world.

Further Reading:

CHARLES EISENSTEIN - Sacred Economics, MONEY, GIFT & SOCIETY IN THE AGE OF TRANSITION.

RIANE EISLER - The Real Wealth of Nations, CREATING A CARING ECONOMICS.

LOUIS BOHTLINGK - Dare to Care, A LOVE-BASED FOUNDATION FOR MONEY & FINANCE.

Sign up below if you are interested in a study/discussion group on this topic.

Name Contact

Anna Harris anna@shsh.co.uk

Occupy Transition

On December 20th people from Occupy Hebden and HebdenTransition  met at the Trades Club to explore whether and how we can work together to achieve our common aims. Having been part of both movements I can see many similarities, but there are also differences which need to be respected. Both groups are aware that the path we are on globally is endangering our very existence as a human society, but whereas Transitioners are not given to delving into the reasons, for they want to concentrate on the solutions, Occupiers often criticise the system as a whole and tend to feel that nothing less than total refurbishment will do. Transitioners are in the main happy to work with what we have, and see that much can be done by empowering local communities to develop alternative systems side by side with what is already existing. They have done much to open people's eyes to the loss of community and what can be achieved by re- investing in it. Occupiers challenge the status quo with protest marches, camping out in city centres, supporting workers' strikes, even challenging the law in the courts, and focus attention particularly on financial institutions which bend the law to suit themselves. The vast division between those who benefit from the influence that corporations have on government policy, and those who suffer from it, is expressed in the slogan of 'we are the 99%'. The advantage of the Occupy movement is in combining this array of different interests under one umbrella. Both movements see the possibility of a society where joy in working together and sharing resources replaces the competitive system of industrial growth which is destroying the planet. While Occupy is envisaging the possibility of at some point changing the system, Transition is building an alternative system run by local people for the people. Together we can work to make this happen.

Anna Harris