Friends, I am very pleased to share with you this response from a reader of Escaping the Matrix. In my heart of hearts I have been hoping that the book might inspire some readers in this way, but I find myself a bit amazed that it can really happen. I hope this posting will begin a transformation in our list dialog, toward a focus on actually moving forward with harmonization and community empowerment. Newslog will continue to report on world events, with summaries posted here. My apologies for the previous posting, confusing Feb 2005 with Feb 2006. It seems Fitzgerald's hearings are even more tortoise-like than I thought, though there is still some light in that tunnel best regards to all, rkm http://cyberjournal.org -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 20:50:34 +1100 To: Richard Moore <•••@••.•••> X-IMBH: Yes From: Bradley Hughes Subject: from personal transformation to global transformation for humanity Dear Richard, Greetings to you there in possibly :-) sunny Wexford! To everyone I have BCC'd in this email, you are my dear and trusted friends in the journey, and it is my profound honour and privilege to be walking it with you. I invite you all to visit Richard's web site http://cyberjournal.org/ (some of you have already) and order his books "Escaping The Matrix" and "The Zen of Global Transformation" so that we can all be on the same page in the dialogue. :-) I believe this is the most important communication I have written to date. That is because I conclude with a definite declaration of who I am being in the world, in fulfilling my part in being cause of the matter of the transformation of humanity. I invite each of you to contribute your precious and much appreciated time to read it and reply with your guidance and wisdom. I request of you all that you never allow me to believe that I have all the answers, and never be afraid to share with me when you have something to contribute, or to tell me when you believe I have got the wrong end of the stick. At 07:53 31/01/2006, you wrote: Dear Bradley, I'm sending out both books tomorrow. Thanks for your patience. The books arrived four days ago. Thank you. They were so worth the wait. Indeed the timing of their arrival is completely synchronous with my preparedness to read them and respond to your message. It's uncanny that you should have written that to me on my 35th birthday. I have had in mind for some years that I would finally see my life's purpose clearly at this age, and so it has come to pass. I have just completed reading your book "Escaping The Matrix". I was jumping with excitement when I saw this book and its title. I was only expecting "The Zen of Global Transformation". Never have the words of Morpheus from the film "The Matrix" (my favourite film) held such great import for me. "I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?" Your book "Escaping The Matrix" has completed a process of enquiry and synthesis of information that began when I was three years old (something happened and I realised that there was something wrong in the world) and with certain catalysts along the way, such as reading Frank Herbert's Dune at the age of 12, has had me immersed in a seemingly unquenchable thirst for more knowledge, input, a desire to understand secrets, investigating "The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail", Freemasons, the Illuminati, Skull and Bones, glimpsing the edifices, facades, and masks of control, etc. etc. etc. etc. Now that I see the threads all woven together into a splendid tapestry of hope and promise of what is possible for the future of humanity, I am now in a place of peace from which I can find and step into my centre, my power, hara, dan tien, the source, whatever label works, from which infinite openings for action are now available. I was an alcoholic for 13 years from age 18 to 31. Upon getting sober I medicated with various anti-depressants, as I was suffering anxiety and panic attacks. I remember in one early meeting of AA (a form of dynamic facilitation for spiritual healing of alcohol addiction) a man in my AA group concluded his talk by saying "All is well and as it should be." When I looked at the world, the evidence from TV news, my own experience, I thought he was a deluded fool. Now I am exactly in that place where he was when he said those words. To paraphrase something else I learned from AA, I have reached that level of peace that surpasses all understanding. It is that space of certainty that everything is unfolding exactly as it ought to be. I believe that there exists a phenomena whereby if we are being open to what is possible really is possible, we receive what we require at precisely the moment in time when it will make the greatest contribution. So it is with your writings. Your vision for the transformation of humanity has reached me at the point in my life where I am ready to receive and comprehend its potential sufficiently to know that I am willing to be at cause in the matter of the transformation of humanity starting with my own community. The hole in my soul has been in the past being unable to envision how this personal transformation can be transformed into global transformation of humanity to create a world that works for everyone. That was my itch that I could not scratch. Your work has disappeared that itch, filled the hole and illuminated the path before me. I no longer need to know more and more, no longer need to search endlessly for the mythical answer, the Holy Grail, the final key that will unlock the cosmic mystery of what it means to be human. There is no mystery except the mystery of why I continually feel compelled to discover what the mystery is. All there is to do is simply Be. To Be a practitioner of the Zen of Transformation is the answer I have been seeking all these years. Kensho. A brief flash of enlightenment. Illumination. I am presently a local government councillor in a corrupted state with corrupted political structures. I am a member of the NSW Greens, which in my view is the least corrupted of the national political parties in Australia. Your body of work and vision offers people the window to see inside the new realm of possibility and you also hold out to us one of the keys that will unlock the door. Harmonization, collaborative consensus with dynamic facilitation, communities becoming self-aware and self-empowered. These are elements of the solution you advocate and I see clearly the amazing, unpredictable, positive impact that utilizing these elements will yield. As you say, it may not look like what we speculate it might look like, but knowing that there is a path and knowing how to walk it is the Zen, the essence and if the means are honourable, just, right, in service of humanity and true then the end will be what the end will be and we shall know that we are walking in the light. Everything you have articulated brings together all of the different threads of research and discovery, thinking and envisioning that I myself have been slowly grinding away at assimilating in the odd quiet moments between the demands of being a local government councillor, working on my Internet business (surviving in the Matrix) and coaching people in Landmark Education's Introduction Leaders Programme. When I got to the Afterword and read your references to Erhardt and EST, my growing suspicion throughout reading your book that you are familiar with the personal transformation technology of Landmark Education, or at least its predecessor EST was confirmed. I found myself marvelling at the parallels between your suggested approach for communities and the work that Landmark Education does to have individuals get personal transformation and then see themselves as part of a community rather than self as separate, then going on to provide leadership in community projects of their own design, resulting in their (hopefully) being at cause in the matter of their own lives and their experience of their lives. Have you completed the Landmark Education Curriculum for Living? I am trained as an Introduction Leader with Landmark Education, which is in my estimation one of the leading edge organisations operating in the field of education for personal transformation today. I'm already a stand for personal transformation as defined by Landmark Education. I am presently the most effective Introduction Leader coach in Landmark Education Sydney Centre's current Introduction Leader's Programme in terms of coaching people to be candidated as new Introduction Leaders. 3 from 6 in my group are now candidated as Introduction Leaders, halfway through the programme. My group also has the highest ratio of registrations per participant. Therefore I know myself as a competent apprentice on the road to mastering personal transformation, at least as it is defined by Landmark Education. Having said that, I am conscious that there are as many valid paths to personal transformation as there are personally transformative experiences. One of my dearest friends keeps speaking to me that it is my future to become a Landmark Forum Leader. That is a possible pathway for me and would be worthy of my life, as it is being at cause of people getting personal transformation. But that role has not sung fully to my spirit. Why not? Because as you correctly point out, personal transformation without social transformation cannot ultimately deliver a world that works for everyone. If it could everyone would already be enlightened Buddha's and Christ's, as you also point out. Humanity has had this wisdom accessible for millennia, but it has not transmitted, because the social element of transformation has been absent. I stand fully empowered where I am presently, to be willing to declare myself your full partner, and the full partner of all who walk our shared path, all those others who I know are our partners, Rianne Eisler, Thom Hartmann, thousands of others around the globe whom I am sure you are in communication with. Nothing less than global transformation of humanity is what is wanted and needed if we are to have a world that worlds for everyone. As I wrote to a new friend a few days ago after commencing reading your book in reply to her words: > "A very basic example: The choice to purchase battery hen eggs. What does this small choice say about our bigger approach to the treatment of animals? Do they deserve to have fresh air, natural light, the opportunity to move about, to grow in accordance with their own natural rhythm? What does the existence of this egg say about our culture?" The existence of this egg in our culture says to me that just as we are prepared to have battery hens, we are also prepared to have battery humans. Again, The Matrix. What are large CBD office towers full of cubicles with people surrounded by toxic off-gassing furniture, under artificial light all day, other than battery humans? Pay people enough so they can afford their drugs of choice... alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, prescription pharmaceuticals, gambling, competitive (combatitive?) sports on their flat screen TV in their Life's Good air conditioned apartment, with soap operas, dramas, etc. all the soma to keep the battery humans passive... Not to mention the pacifying / stultifying effects on the mind of an assortment of soft metals fed to us in our food and water and implanted in our bodies, such as fluoride in our water, aluminium oxides in our deodorants, mercury in our amalgam fillings... it just goes on and on... The great news is that there are solutions to all of these dire situations. Beginning with personal sharing to create awareness, such as I have had the privilege of sharing with you tonight, because from our initial meeting and conversation, I trust you and see you as someone who can grapple with these issues and see a positive path forward... Collaborative consensus achieved through dynamic facilitation at the local community level is where it begins. My friend replied: yep, you see it! Yes I do, and so do many of us, in fact I believe everyone I am sending this email to sees at least glimpses of it. Certainly you have all at the very least seen various glitches in the Matrix. Collaborative consensus achieved through dynamic facilitation at the local community level is a centrepiece of the solution you offer and I know with every fibre of my being that it is what will work. Your mentioning of wholistic economics is another area where a profound elevation (transformation) in human consciousness is required. Until people can see outside the Matrix, to see the causative impacts of the current economic paradigm with its failure to account for 'externalities', such as lack of producer end responsibility, without all of the systemic inputs that require inclusion in an economic model in order to truly reflect the real costs and benefits of our productive and consumptive behaviours, we will remain in a delusional state while consuming far more resources than necessary or sensible just to satisfy the elite's economic imperative of growth at all costs. Economic growth at all costs is actually a cancer or a tumour and not only is cancer now the number one killer of humans in western society, this form of economic cancer is what is going to kill a sustainable future for humanity if we do not address its root causes. Just as nutritional deficiencies and chemical pollutants are the cause of cancers and tumours in humans, conceptual deficiencies and memetic pollutants in the Matrix model of global economics are the cause of the global cancer of unsustainable economic growth. I have also been impressed by the works of G. Edward Griffin (who's taking a bold and courageous approach with Freedom Force International). http://www.freedomforceinternational.org/ Some friends (hi guys!) have established the first Chapter of FFI in Australia and until about a week ago, I was fairly certain I would join them as a member. After reading a book called "EOS - The Journey of An ExtraOrdinary Spirit" by Debra Wylde (web site coming soon) I realised that transformation of humanity is about people in communities caring for each other, extrapolated to a global scale where there is no distance between me and any other human on the planet. And I now see that Mr Griffin's credo of individualism against collectivism without compromise is not sufficient to deliver the holistic sustainable democratic future that I wish to create, to bring about a world that works for everyone. There are as I see it some flaws in Mr Griffin's analyses of the benefits of individualism and negatives of collectivism. For example, he appears to be adamant that collectives should never run public utilities. Perhaps I do not fully follow his argument to a conclusion that presents a clear solution that will work for everyone, but given what I have read to date, his position is inconsistent with what I believe is both desirable and necessary in the development and operation of infrastructure and social systems to support everyone's individual freedoms. I believe that placing power generation and water supply into the hands of some individuals but not others, or in the control of a corporation rather than as a utility operated by a democratically directed agency is a recipe for inequity. After reading your book I am now 100% clear that I will not join FFI. I'm BCCing this email to two of those friends, so that they can evaluate my thoughts and provide me with a formal response on this matter from their Chapter of FFI. I will also correspond with Mr Griffin to clear up my lack of understanding on this and other points so that I can properly represent what he is advocating. I already know from Rianne Eisler's book "The Chalice and The Blade" that humanity has a different history than what most people believe and this led me to understand that we could have a different future than what most people are predicting. "The Chalice and The Blade" was the most deeply moving book I ever read before reading your "Escaping The Matrix", which has moved me in a different way, to the point of realization of my life's purpose, at least as I perceive it at this time. Thom Hartmann's http://www.thomhartmann.com/ book "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" was also a pivotal book in determining my understanding of our collective post-carbon energy future. I have also been a fan of Buckminster Fuller http://www.bfi.org/ and his work, particularly the books "Critical Path" and "Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth" http://www.futurehi.net/docs/OperatingManual.html for over ten years. In particular his concept for The World Game for a world that works for everyone and his proposition of a globally inter-connected energy grid fed with every community's smaller scale power generation facilities feeding back to the grid enables the equitable distribution of energy resulting in reward for productive efforts are concepts worthy of much additional conversation and coherent attention. George Monbiot http://www.mobiot.com/ is also a beacon of light for democracy. Here's a most welcome personal transformation I read about today... Chris Cuffe, who earned $32M in profit bonuses alone, as the CEO of an Australian investment fund called Colonial First State that was eventually bought out by one of our major banks the Commonwealth Bank, has announced that he is walking away from a multi-million dollar contract with a Packer backed investment company and is joining Opportunity International Australia! He said he wants to "swap success to seek relevance". He intends to manage not-for-profit deals, $100 micro-loan schemes and strategies aiming to aid those of the world's power who are most in need and desiring to achieve personal self-sufficiency and sustainability. [To the Micro-Loan Empress who is also reading this, you could contact Opportunity International Australia to find out how you too can play a role in this noble cause!] The Zen of Global Transformation is presently on the coffee table awaiting the perusal of a good friend and fellow Greens councillor colleague. She like everyone else I have BCC'd on this email also understands personal transformation well enough to visualize the benefits of social transformation on a global scale. My role as a Greens Councillor at Randwick City Council http://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au/ is of benefit in giving me the initial position of credibility to begin to convene the necessary community gatherings, "Wisdom Councils", collaborative consensus forums, or whatever form and label they will have. If you have never yet done so, I invite you to read the 2001 Charter of the Global Greens. http://www.global.greens.org.au/charter.htm While there are elements of Green politics and policies that won't suit every community or circumstance and I am not committed to global imposition of one "correct" way of seeing things, to my mind it represents one of the most powerfully egalitarian and optimistic charters for the future of humanity of which I am aware. At this point I request your guidance in determining the most easily accessible means of learning and leading dynamic facilitation events. I also request your support in connecting me with other people in Sydney whom you are aware are already active in pursuing this type of community based collaborative consensus building. I have found http://www.co-intelligence.org/index.html which offers several different approaches to forum facilitation. I am going to complete this communication by declaring that I am a masterful servant, which is my label for dynamic facilitator, and I dedicate my life to being a masterful servant to humanity. I make the declaration: Who I am is a masterful servant. I now know that I will ultimately dedicate a balanced portion of the productive efforts of my life to the provision of dynamic facilitation in the service of whatever communities and causes invite me to contribute my services as a masterful servant providing whatever facilitation is wanted and needed in the search for collaborative consensus and community based democracy. I will in good time, as I cause it and as the universe allows me and calls me to it, continue to undertake appropriate training to become a masterful servant, using whatever methodology I discover to be most suitable. Richard, a specific recommendation of a methodology for dynamic facilitation from you will carry great weight with me. This applies indeed to everyone to whom I am writing; whatever input you can each offer as to paths towards mastery of service in effective community forum facilitation is gratefully appreciated. Commencing in my own community, I will begin to introduce the requisite processes of harmonization to a shared vision of the future and commit myself to developing and training other leaders who I believe can take up this process in other communities also. Lastly, I have been inspired from your book to add the Cree Prophecy to my signature below. I'm a stand for personal enterprise and each of us harvesting the fruits of personal productivity, but not at the cost of the beautiful world we can all create and share as our Eden. I'll see you there some sunny day! Namaste, Bradley Entregreeneur : "One who achieves abundance through practising ethical, ecologically friendly, sustainable enterprise with integrity and goodwill toward all." Only after the last tree has been cut down Only after the last river has been poisoned Only after the last fish has been caught Then you will find that money cannot be eaten. -- Cree prophecy -- -- -------------------------------------------------------- http://cyberjournal.org "Escaping the Matrix: how We the People can change the world" now available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0977098303 on Amazon.UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0977098303 Posting archives (now up-to-date): http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?date=01Jan2007&lists=newslog Subscribe to low-traffic list: •••@••.••• ___________________________________________
