Continued conversation on Toward a Sea Change:
|
Suzanne writes to Joe Simonetta, Senior Editor of the World Business Academy: Hi Joe. Thanks for sending me your How to Eliminate Terrorism piece. Shades of Willis [Harman]. My connection to what he was involved with ended with his departure from this plane, followed by Tom Hurley leaving IONS, so it's a pleasure to think that perhaps through you I can reconnect to the vital domain of human endeavor that you speak for. [Willis and I did a roundtable discussion together in 1995 that is archived on my Website.] This last paragraph of your piece is a fine directive on which business would need to take the lead: "Terrorism can be eliminated. To do so means to eliminate the conditions that create people so desperate that they have cause to martyr themselves to achieve the blissful afterlife that they have been convinced is infinitely superior to their present existence. The fact of the matter is that we know what to do. The question is do we have the wisdom and the will to do it? Are we ready to evolve to the next step that is required of us to assure our survival? The obvious irony is that the very steps we resist taking are the ones that are in our enlightened self-interest."This seem so elemental to me, but it's in that funny way that I'm always way out there when I think I'm just hanging out in the center. Your comment about enlightened self-interest is the capper – it's not only altruism which is wanted and needed as we go from selfishness to mutuality, but damned if it isn't the way to have prosperity mean anything. What good is wealth in hell? How are you doing in your World Business Academy arena as far as energizing this perspective is concerned? Are the members willing to concentrate any effort along the lines you suggest? Is there any teeth to the Academy these days? I've hardly heard a peep since Willis's time, except for some personal reports about it being more of an idea than a reality. |
Joe replies: Hi Suzanne. It is very good to hear from you. Thank you. To answer your question, someone forwarded me a copy of Bill Moyer's remarkable keynote address. That led me to your site, which is a wonderful place. Thank you for putting it together. I have been with the Academy as their Senior Editor since the first of the year, 2001. Actually, the Academy has continued to be active as the preeminent publisher of leading edge business literature for over 15 years, with no interruption for Willis' illness or subsequent passing. We have a new website and Rinaldo Brutoco is now president. Susan Brown, a really competent and lovely woman, is Executive Director. The Academy has just launched a project, the brainchild of Rinaldo, the Global Reconstruction Fund. It's just in its embryo stages. We will have our annual Board of Directors' retreat soon where I will give a talk entitled, "Astonish the World, Tell the Simple Truth." Perhaps you will find my latest book interesting. It is called, Seven Words That Can Change the World and it is available at all bookstores, including online stores. Thank you for your good work and your good thoughts. |
|
Suzanne replies: Hey Joe, let's do it. How can we get past talk? The only thing I know is to come together. Somehow, in one place we can become something that separately we aren't. Can we just invite people who are on fire to meet somewhere? The question is, "What can we do?" You get some star power – Nobel Laureates, movie stars, whatever – and maybe you can create a force to get us to change course. Your book sounds sensational. I look forward to getting it. And I very much like your invitation to buy it. It strikes just the right tone on a tricky edge where what's off can sound obnoxious. And can I get a copy of what sounds like a great talk you'll be giving? I think you and I are very aligned in the breadth and the depth of what you're about and what you do. |
Joe responds: Hi Suzanne. Thanks for your response. It's good to be involved in this dialogue with you. I sense your fervor. And your desire to really do something. What to do? When to do it? Those are always the questions. One must attune oneself to that which wants to happen, the next step that wants to occur, the next place to which life wants to go. There is a strong desire among so many to evolve, to advance our civilization, to put our destructive nonsense behind us. Change is largely incremental. It is important to understand that going in. Yet there is an avalanche of change that wants to fall. People are disgusted with our childishness. At least some are. On the other hand, we have to remember that there is an extraordinary amount of ignorance and genetic predispositions to deal with. It is staggering and frightening, but very real. For me, I can only be who I am and contribute all of that. It has come out in this latest book. The book has potential to change belief systems, which I think is needed. I want to speak everywhere. There is a significant percentage of people who are so ready to hear this message articulated, or read it. That's the only reason it's powerful. I've written simply what (some) people already know. That "some" amounts to many millions. It (they) could be a catalyst. I'm happy to work with you, to assist you, in any way I am able. |
|
Suzanne replies: Someone else misses Willis. My instinct is that Allan Savory has something really important for the World Business Academy, and I connected him with your work because I thought he'd find an ally in you. I find Allan so interesting. For some more depth on what he has to say, read his Ramblings piece. Here is what Allan sent me in email regarding your work: I have just read fully Joe Simonetta's article How to Eliminate Terrorism. I was by the way mildly familiar with them as Willis Harmon and I had met when we were both speakers in Vermont. He became excited about Holistic Management and was wanting me to write an article when he passed away.I've got your book. Have just started it but I love it. You write very compellingly. And it is so beautiful. You take us from the furthest out, which is beyond the beyond, to the furthest in, which is where we can see obvious mandates for playing the game of life. It's so heretical that I hope you don't get in trouble with the Church. You could put them out of business – or put them in new business as a place where people turn to each other and not to the great beyond. You said this so well: "Sacredness is found in real life relationships, here and now – not out there somewhere. It's not about a supreme being; it's about a way of being. The focus of our beliefs must shift from some heavenly realm to what does exist and is sacred, here and now. It's time to find our comfort not in the worship of distant mythological deities, but in present real-life relationship with each other, with our extraordinary environment and with our own unique individuality. These commandments, if we were to call them commandments, are not issued by a god, but by the undeniable reality of our existence. Certainly the traditional gods of our historical religions would approve of this shift of emphasis. When we take care of ourselves and each other and our environment, we're living a sacred life." |
Joe replies: Thanks for your kind remarks. I'm glad you are liking the book. Besides liking the contents of the book, people seem to like the "feel" of it. Interesting. Actually, the first time I saw it, I got that sense too. I liked your synopsis, from far out to far in. You're right, the "church" will not be thrilled with parts of this book. They are parts that needed to be written. If they were untrue that would be another matter. The church needs to change its business dramatically. They are in a bind though. They built their house on no foundation, i.e., myth and fabrication. People will increasingly abandon the "church." It has begun, according to a reputable 2001 religious survey, and it will continue. It is inevitable. Besides the (small amount of) exposure of the church in the book, more importantly, my message is the new understanding of sacredness (which supplants the old). It's time. Seven Words That Can Change the World needs to reach a larger audience. I could use some help with that if you have any ideas. |
|
Suzanne replies: You would be a perfect addition to conference programs – that's a way you can get known. You would be a breath of fresh air. I'll keep my eyes open for when people I know are producing something, and whatever else occurs as I keep you in mind. One of my favorite hubs of intelligence is the international – mostly Europe – Scientific and Medical Network. I think your book would be well received there, and I can make the connection. David Lorimer is their man, and is one of the lights of the world. They review books in their three times a year "Review," which is my absolute favorite read, and they put on events of various kinds, mostly in England. What I'm attracted to is single people, like David, who has made that organization hum. And like Tom Hurley, who used to produce the IONS conferences, whom you would likely know, now at the Chaordic Commons. I'd get a book to both of them if I were you. Also to Russell Targ, who is co-producing a series of books with Hampton Roads – psi classics that are out of print. He'd love your book and again, I don't know what he could do, but he's influential in lots of places. Here's what I wrote him about you: "...maybe contact between dimensions is a topic for some kind of convening now. I've got the key note speaker. My latest find. Will send you a tape. Joe Simonetta will have Hampton Roads send you the book: 'Seven Words That Can Change the World.' This is radical enough to wake up the world."Tell me if you want to spray the book around that way, and I'll announce you. What I'd really love to do is put some outstanding people together to huddle. Read where I discuss the idea with another of my Featured Conversation participants, Copthorne MacDonald. I like that better than audience events. It feels so right to be doing something like that now, and I'm thinking on it – I'd need to be hooked up with more than me to make it important in the world. Where are the powers that be in terms of doing this? It seems so logical and needed. Templeton is doing some funding for dialogues on science and religion, called the Local Societies Initiative, and I'm going to write a proposal for some manner or means of bringing the right people together. Maybe you want to think about that, too. I sent the following to Brian Swimme, along with a tape of your talk (I've given or sold maybe 400 copies of Brian's book, "The Universe is a Green Dragon."): "Am sending you a tape of a speech by Joe Simonetta, which talks like his book, 'Seven Words That Can Change The World.' It's the book after yours that sends me. No time perhaps to do anything but change everything, and his work does that. You two are natural allies." |
Joe replies: I liked your thoughts about bringing outstanding people together to huddle. Keep "thinking on it." I'm here. I'll do what I can. I'm always working one angle or another. Today, I sent four different letters to Oprah. It's a long shot, I know. But as Wayne Gretzky said, "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take." I would really appreciate it if you would send me your reactions to Seven Words when you've finished reading it. I sent the following to my publisher today: Hi Kathy. Suzanne Taylor is forming a "wisdom council" in Los Angeles as well as spreading the word about Seven Words. Initially, the council will consist of Suzanne, the following four writers and scholars, and myself. All of these are impressive and accomplished people who have websites that describe their work and accomplishments. This council will be discussing Seven Words That Can Change the World, which Suzanne describes as a revolutionary book. I will make a presentation at this council. Please have a copy sent to each of them: |
|
Suzanne replies: God, Joe, I think you have the keys to the kingdom. Your book is a sense making body of thought for the next reality. Here's my "review": This is a revolutionary book, a sense making body of thought for the next reality at a time when we desperately need new insights and understandings to wrench us from the world that is so dangerously at the brink. It take us from the furthest out, which is beyond the beyond in the cosmos, to the furthest in, which is where we can see obvious mandates for playing the game of life. It's so heretical that I hope the author doesn't get in trouble with the Church – all the systems of worship, in fact. He could put them all out of business – or put them in a new business, as a place where people turn to each other and not to the great beyond.I am poking around with the idea of a wisdom council, and all the folks in conversation on my Website are people I'd put on it. Am thinking it could start with you all reading each other...??? At some point, I may just invite a pow wow at my house! |
Joe replies: Thank you. I repeat, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read, absorb and write such an extraordinary summary of Seven Words. What you wrote is the best and most concise synopsis. You got it and nailed it. What you wrote is what it's all about. I couldn't have written it better myself. Thank you for taking the time to think it through so thoroughly and put it into words. I am doing whatever I can think of to accelerate the book's exposure. I am anxious to get around and speak. When I speak, many books get purchased (and into circulation). I spoke to a small Unitarian Universalist group last Sunday in Venice, FL. They bought 21 books. A few days later, one woman who was at that talk bought six more copies to send to family members. Whatever ideas you have are appreciated. If you put something together in L.A., I will attend. Would you put your summary on Amazon.com? |
|
Suzanne replies: I think this book should be required reading. Right now is when it could matter so much. Do you think we could send books to two other people with whom I have Conversations going (Geov Parrish and Mario Martinez)? I'd like to be in a lively exchange about the book with them, too. Do you have any idea how Seven Words would go over with Science of Mind people? I'm glad you like what I wrote. I liked the book so much that I didn't know how to do it justice – I still think it's even better than what I said – so it's a relief that you were satisfied. I've posted my review on Amazon. |
Joe replies: Awesome. Thank you! The World Business Academy's weekly (every Monday) newsletter is online. You are mentioned in it relative to the piece on Seven Words. Thank you for all that you are doing. You are very clear to understand that Seven Words is a "revolutionary book." It is and that was my intent. There continues to be a very strong positive response to this little book. I think you alone, so far, are really aware of what it is ultimately about. I appreciate your clarity and value your involvement and friendship. Brian Swimme was a familiar name. When I looked up his website, I found that he co-authored with Thomas Berry. I organized and hosted a symposium at Harvard Law School in '93 as part of my involvement in the Harvard Environmental Network. The theme was not so much about what we are doing to ourselves but why we are doing it (which has always been my interest and concern). Thomas Berry was one of the three panel members. I got to know him a little at a party at my place that followed the symposium. I found Mario Martinez website, Institute of Biocognitive Psychology. Very interesting work that he does. Talented guy. I thought you might find the following from Margaret Wheatley, World Business Academy Fellow, interesting. It comes from her website. She is writing about why she wrote her latest book. What she wrote reminds me of what you have in mind with your wisdom council: "Many large-scale change efforts-some of which won the Nobel Peace Prize-began with the simple but courageous act of friends talking to one another about their fears and dreams. In reviewing a number of these efforts, I always found a phrase, 'Some friends and I started talking.'" (Read more on her website...) |
|
Suzanne replies: Put this in your pipe and smoke it...found on the Net: ...50 years ago, the Macy Conferences. Over ten years time, a unique group of thinkers from diverse fields birthed the field of cybernetics and system’s thinking. The Macy Conferences were central to the pioneering years of cybernetics and resulted in an impressive series of concrete achievements. The surprise is that the Macy Conferences were annual conversations among friends who recognized possible connections and implications beyond their individual specialties. They committed to be in a conversation that explored the connections and transcended the boundaries, searching for a shared theory that could support their individual work.Take a look at "Muslims and the West After September 11," by Pervez Hoodbhoy, a university professor from Islamabad (whom we already have posted on our Quotes Page), which I've just put up as one of my "Five Star Pieces." This very clear history of the rise and fall of the Islamic world proclaims the importance of understanding the complexities we are dealing with in order to avoid a "Century of Terror." Then read what I sent to the Nautilus Institute, which posted the piece and asked for responses. Here's some of what I wrote about you: "I am starting to use Simonetta's work as a focalizing ideation. His proposal – that the stories of all our religions are old vestiges that have come to be impossibly divisive – has given cause for pause to people who have read his slim book, 'Seven Words That Can Change the World'. Thanks to Simonetta, I now agree with Pervez Hoodbhoy: 'We have but one choice: the path of secular humanism, based upon the principles of logic and reason.'...Were everyone to subscribe to the need for secular humanism to supplant religion as our moral compass, we could have that vitally needed new story in which we would find ourselves as one humanity that no longer would provide the seedbed for the destructive groups and individuals who, in defending their faiths, threaten our survival as a species."Let me know what you think. |
Joe responds: Muslims and the West After September 11 is very interesting. I find that there are better words, more appropriate words, than "secular humanism." I think the belief system of the future will be along the lines of "humanistic environmentalism." This combines the sacredness of all of life, both human and all else that evolution has produced and now exists as a part of our "environment." The problem with atheism is that it just takes the position that there is no such thing as deities. The problem with agnosticism is that it just takes the position that all of this is unknowable. What I have tried to achieved in Seven Words That Can Change the World is take us to the next step. That is to understand that in the world in which we exist, the word "sacredness" indeed has validity. It is validated in all of the relationships that sustain and potentially enhance life. Indeed, we are surrounded by sacredness; it is not an esoteric phenomenon. I have claimed the word "sacredness" from antiquity and have applied it appropriately to humanistic environmentalism. This understanding not only supplants antiquated belief systems formed in the infancy of our intelligence but clearly gives us something to understand, grasp, and celebrate. That is the phenomenon of the sacredness of which we are a part which is found every day in everything we do. To honor it is to in every way prosper. To violate it is to suffer needlessly. It is right in front of us. It is time for us to see and honor it. It is like during the Italian Renaissance when painters began to paint in three dimensions. Always three dimensions existed. Suddenly painters saw and painted them. It is the same today. It is time for us to see and act on what is everywhere apparent. This is occurring to many many people all over this planet. That is why it is powerful; it is an idea whose time has come. This is the true marriage between religion (religion meaning a belief system that has to do with the cause, purpose and nature of the universe) and science. Science informs us that we exist as a tiny fragment of an immensely larger interlocking whole in which all the parts are interconnected and dependent upon each other for their survival. We exist not independently but in communion with all other living things. Everything is in relationship. This is a "sacred" construct that exists as an integral part of reality, not a human construct, and must be honored. This is the essence of science and "sacredness." From this understanding evolves a belief system that can reverse the destructive and unsustainable momentum that has resulted from not truly understanding the reality and the implications of the reality from which we evolved, in which we exist, and that enables us to live. I think the expression "secular humanism" has associated with it too much negative baggage. Moreover, it reeks of anthropocentricism. |
|
Suzanne replies: Excellent piggyback on me, I think. I wasn't even thinking about the felicity of the phrase, but was responding to the gist of how well his grok tied in with you. He is a widely circulated voice, in a unique position saying unique things, and that Nautilus Institute is an impressive entity looking for a sense making exchange. The fit and the potential got me going. How about you following up with them, piggybacking on me? Just send them what you wrote to me – perhaps a bit more about your essential "Seven Words" message? |
Joe writes: Here's another [Seven Words] testimonial. It came from a woman in her late 70's. It was sent to an elderly friend of mine who forwarded it to me. "Simonetta has been able to see through all the garbage of the centuries like a laser beam and then state the obvious – TRUTH – in such simple, straightforward words. Page sixty-nine ["This understanding of sacredness does not mandate worship but responsibility. Right living is about behavior, not worship. Salvation (saving ourselves from harm or loss) is not delivered by a Supreme Being, it is earned by ourselves. The forgiveness of our ‘sins’ lies not in the hands of some external god, it lies in our alignment with the uncompromising demands of the reality in which we exist. At this time in our evolution, this understanding of sacredness is easily within our perception and grasp."] says it all in such few words. If enough people could live out the words on that page what a beautiful world it would be." Mrs. Phyllis Leonard, Sherborn, MA |
|
Suzanne replies: It's encouraging that people "get it." Actually somewhat surprising to find a fair amount of others who think like us. Do you have all your supporters on an email list? Seems like it would be a good idea to involve all of them in an exchange as we get one going. Next book recipient is Wade Frazier, a whistle blower par excellence and quite a person. You can see his website to get who he is and what he's up to. My idea is that the book is fodder for exploring the nature of reality and what it is to be human – and when you get some number of highly evolved people to be in alignment around a new idea, you can change the world. What we have in these times of separation is a lot of individuals with smarts. They talk to students, readers, and audiences, but not to each other. To go from separation to oneness, we need a new organizing idea, and this conversation could be a place to arrive at such a thing. Let's think that those you've sent books to are the folks – plus some of my people here, who've read my copy. No need for more – although it's too male (some more females at my end). C'est la vie. If someone else comes along who seems right, I'll check with you before I invite them. I'm open to bringing people to my place if it gets juicy enough – perhaps as part of the Templeton project. What I'd do here is videotape – I'm working with the Oscar nominated documentary filmmaker, William Gazecki, on our crop circle film. I'd see us doing programs for PBS. |
Joe replies: I've spoken to quite a mix of people. They seem to get this message because they already know it. They just needed someone to organize and say it. I've looked at Wade's website. He sounds remarkable. Let's get him on the team. I'll have a book sent to him. It would be good to get together as you suggest. Interesting observation about the group being too male. Made me smile. My life is "too male" right now (i.e., just me). I'm sure you've seen the following Margaret Mead quote a zillion times. You probably have it on your website: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has." |
|
Suzanne responds: Yes, that quote is a favorite – of many people's. I reference it all the time. That it shows up so many places indicates that it strikes some true cord. One of my very accomplished buddies, Beverly Russell, who has been editor in chief of Interiors Magazine and editorial director of Architecture Magazine, to whom I gave your tape, has recommended you as a commencement speaker at Kendall College of Art and Design, a major art and design institution in Grand Rapids, where she has influence and connections. We met when she was at my first crop circle presentation, last spring, and has booked me to do my show at a couple of special events she's producing for an architecture-design group. Perhaps she can get a book – she is a mover and shaker producer (and author of five books) of wide ranging things beyond architecture and design, and she likes you a lot. |
Joe replies: Thank you. I will see that she receives a copy of the book. I would enjoy speaking there if that should happen. I do not recall if I told you the following. I must have. I heard from my publisher on Monday that a Chinese publisher has purchased the rights to publish Seven Words That Can Change the World in China – in Chinese. China has almost 1.3 billion people. We (U.S.) are approaching .3 billion. The total, 1.6 billion (plus Canada), puts the book in just over 25% of world markets right now. There is a lot of potential out there. And we are just starting. |
|
Suzanne replies: Move over Confucius; it's "Simonetta say" from now on... This is from the Ghandi Institute (you are very Ghandian, it seems to me): "Religion has been reduced to meaningless rituals practiced mindlessly. Temples, churches, synagogues, mosques, and those entrusted with the duty of interpreting religion to lay people seek to control through fear of hell, damnation, and purgatory. In the name of God they have spawned more hate and violence than any government. True religion is based on spirituality, love, compassion, understanding, and appreciation of each other whatever our beliefs may be – Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists, Agnostics or whatever, Gandhi believed whatever labels we put on our faith ultimately all of us worship Truth because Truth is God. Superficially we may be very devout believers and make a tremendous public show of our worship, but if that belief, understanding, compassion, love and appreciation is not translated into our lives, prayers will have no meaning."I picked this quote up in a manual from the Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence. I wrote to Peggy DoBreer, a friend of mine who's with the Center, to try to enroll her in hooking you up with speaking engagements. with the Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence, enrolling her in hooking you up with speaking engagements. [Click here to read the email to Peggy DoBreer.] |
Joe replies: Very interesting. Is there any way for us to get in touch with the Ghandi Institute? Do you know what they do? Are they only interesting in Ghandi's work? They might be interested in Seven Words, or maybe even in me speaking. You're doing great work. Thanks for all you wrote in the email to Peggy. You can refer anyone you want to my website. I have some thoughts that may have some value for the Templeton "Local Societies Initiatives." In what I am trying to accomplish with Seven Words, I am reminded of physicist Einstein’s often quoted line, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." In other words, we have to think "out of the box." Some, certainly not you, might conclude that Seven Words is just another form of humanism. Not so. There is an important – a crucial – distinction. Humanism does not go near the word sacred. It’s too "religious" for humanists. That’s an error. The word "sacred" must be expropriated from antiquated religious thought and applied to the contemporary understanding of reality. It is an important concept, sacredness. Seven Words does that. That is why the subtitle is A New Understanding of Sacredness. The new understanding of sacredness is based in reality – natural law – as opposed to myth. This new understanding draws on the best of science and salvages the essence of early religious thought and instinct. Historically, however, religions created myths, typically theistic, to explain the origin and nature of life. We no longer require these myths for explanations. We have enough facts to understand these issues clearly. Science has provided and continues to provide and refine these answers. To these answers, which define the essence of reality, i.e., an interrelated and interdependent existence, we assign the quality of "sacredness" to the relationships by which it, reality, is sustained. It becomes evident that the precise behavior required by us to sustain these relationships is not arbitrary, but imperative. The belief system that evolves from this understanding is self-evident and void of theatrics. What remains for individuals is to decide (decision) individually whether to honor that which sustains life’s relationships (and thereby life itself) and prosper, or to ignore in one form or another that which sustains life’s relationships and suffer needlessly. This is the emerging consciousness of our species. It is the product of our collective survival instinct’s efforts to understand our reality and that by which it is sustained. This is a dynamic and evolving process that mirrors life itself. |
|
Suzanne replies: This seems to me to be another articulation of what's in the book. They all are valuable. And that Einstein quote, like Margaret Mead's, seems like a guidepost for the transformational imperative of our time. What you've written here brought something to mind to compare notes about. From an objective perspective, when we are functioning at optimal it seems reasonable to think of that as operating in our holy design – what you are describing. But what of the subjective experience, which we traditionally would label "sacred," where it's not about understandings and appropriate behavior, but we have been transported in our consciousness to a nirvana-like domain, attuned to something eternal and boundless that we know ourselves to be part of? How does this state, which is not dependent on even the most noble ideals, relate to the sacralizing of every moment, if that's an OK way to describe what you talk about? Is there some bridge to be made, from integrity to ecstasy, to make a bigger picture? What do you think? |
Joe replies: Interesting question that you pose. I have heard variations of it before. We have to be careful here. There is a fine line between delusion and reality. Our brain is largely unknown and capable of infinite fabrications. Evidence of that abounds. Let us say that one does have the kind of "nirvana-like" experience you describe. First, we must understand how it was induced. Second, what was the experience precisely? We are moving out of the objective and into the subjective arena where anything goes and any claim can be made. This is where caution is essential. Unless one knows precisely what is going on, can define it, and repeat the experience. To claim that one is attuned to the eternal and boundless is to transition into a realm that is beyond our capacity. There is a difference between having such an experience, and many people have many varieties of them, and attaching some kind of "spiritual" or "sacred" significance or dimension to it. This is where we have gone astray through the centuries. We have fabricated stories to explain the inexplicable. It is a classic human failing repeated over and over. All of that aside, I think there is a larger and more important, even crucial, issue. It's similar to what you describe but it's objective, verifiable, and repeatable (at will). It is the transcendence that is achievable here and now. It is the nirvana that is ours for the taking. How do we do that? It's easy really. We grow up. We stop doing stupid things. That which is "boundless" abounds. Here and now. It's everywhere. We just don't see it because we're looking out "there," up "there," for it. Nor do we have to go into an altered state to experience it. We just need to take responsibility for our individual lives and our relationships with one another and the extraordinary array of life on this mother planet. It's all quite amazing, but we don't get "it." We're getting closer though. This is much more difficult because it is real and requires our conscious attention every moment, i.e., we must become conscious of who and what we are and what we are doing. This is not about a momentary escape into the "eternal." It's about being present. It's about alignment with the only reality that enables us to exist, i.e., this biosphere. Transcendence here means to take the next step. To transcend what we've been and to become what we can be. It means health. Vibrant transcendent health. It means compatibility among diverse peoples. It means honoring the extraordinary life systems that enable us to exist. There are countless opportunities for transcendence here and now. But it takes work. Not a lot. But some. We have the most extraordinary opportunity but we muck it up at every turn. I believe to think "out of the box" is to understand that "transcendence" is not an esoteric concept. It's for the masses to understand, achieve, and experience. Nirvana is not "out there" in the eternal and boundless. That's not where we live. If we spent a fraction of the time and energy that traditional yogis and "holy men/women" devote to years of meditation to achieve "nirvana" (whatever that is and whatever value it has), there is no end to what we could achieve. The irony is that people want it. People want it here and now, not out there. People understand kindness. And want it. People want to be healthy. People don't want to destroy our ecological systems. So why do we do all these destructive things to ourselves, to others, to our environment? The reason is that for as much as we understand, we really don't understand much. We are trying to find our way. We are trying to transcend our youthful (as a species) and destructive ways. And in many ways, we are succeeding slowly, painfully, incrementally. We're getting there. We are beginning to understand our reality and our potential. Some are in the vanguard of this effort. Most are just learning. That's normal. I suppose I've gotten off track. My point is simple. I'm more interested in that which is extraordinary all around us than what might be "out there" somewhere. Confucius said, "Man doesn't trip over mountains. Man trips over molehills." When we just do the little things right, we will be in awe of what we will experience. |
|
Suzanne replies: Hmmmm. Methinks I have opened a can of worms. How would this be, as something you might say? "Although there is a substantive body of literature about what you could call 'the mystical experience,' which is recognizable to me and to a myriad of other people who have had experiences of their own, this aspect of the sacred is not the only thing worth talking about and understanding and looking to evoke in what I am defining as the sacred life. For all that meditation, or a near death experience, or the ingesting of a psychedelic, or any of the other accesses to this realm might produce in the way of transcendent experiences, we are narrow in scope if, in pursuit of the sacred, all we do is look for that blissful aha as marking what is holy. My work is to flesh out the sacred to include the holiness of everyday life – not only moments or experiences or periods of bliss, which essentially are a function of grace, but a rich feeling of satisfaction that we consciously earn by our behavior, which can become the every breath experience of our lives." You don't want to turn your back on transcendent experiences, I don't think, because whether anyone can prove empirically that they exist, nonetheless they do, and you would get a well deserved argument, I think, if you poo pooed them as not being experiences of the sacred. In fact, the limitation of empirical science as the excusive arbiter of what is so has led to all sorts of negative consequences. I don't think it is fruitful to posture that you have the real sacred and the other is a fabrication. What you're doing, I think, is not correcting a misperception of the sacred, but extending its definition. What's your personal experience in this category? My main access to a great beyond, where the beauty and the oneness of the universe is unmistakable (ain't that the sacred?) was through psychedelics. Then, I had a very interesting experience of being guided to where it was I came from, and landing in this boundless territory that got imprinted in me, via the technique that was used, to where it's sort of Pavlovian. I can ring the bell at any time and know where I am – which isn't an overwhelming aha, but more like a map where I just know the territory. I've got a page posted about Yukio Ramana and his "radical awakening" work on my Mighty Companions Website. Could you also have a book sent to Jim Dreaver? He is the author of THE WAY OF HARMONY: A Simple Approach to Spiritual, Emotional, Physical, and Material Prosperity. He's a great friend of mine, who, broadly speaking, is in the Yukio/Ramana Maharshi tradition. We always talk about some kind of wisdom council being needed. I have an extensive conversation between him and me on the Conversations About Being Awake part of my Website. Also, some recent comments from him are posted on my Making War Unthinkable page. |
Joe replies: Let me respond to your question, "How would this be, as something you might say?" I have to start with what motivates me, i.e., to help reduce ignorance and suffering and to expand knowledge and justice. And to help reverse the destructive and unsustainable momentum we have established as a species. All that I write in this piece from here on rests on that foundation. There are a whole family of experiences, included in which are phenomena like transcendence, mysticism, holiness, sacredness, bliss, spirituality, nirvana, self-realization, ad infinitum. They are all part of the jargon associated with other-worldly experiences, perhaps also described as metaphysical ones. This area is HUGE. On top of or included within this area is a plethora of faith-based claims and experiences. All of this is pretty much not of the rational world (that is not meant to be critical). One soon learns not to mix faith-based and metaphysical experiences and beliefs with rational discourse. Each of these areas are worlds unto themselves. The metaphysical and faith areas are very tricky to traverse. The words are very imprecise. Moreover, they are full of historical baggage. Ask a number of people the definition of the word "spiritual" and see how many answers you come up with. Try "sacred." Try "religion." Try "holy." You will have the same experience with the mix of answers. Also, when we explore these areas, we find that much of it originated in the infancy of our intelligence and has been carried forward. As far as I’m concerned, all of that is fine. People are entitled to believe whatever they want – except when those beliefs cause suffering which they have done and continue to do on a grand scale. "Transcendent" experiences of any variety are something else again. They can be caused by many things, some of which you noted. You asked what kind I have had. I’ve never done drugs so I haven’t had any drug-related experiences. Outside of an enormous amount synchronicity and serendipity in my life, I can’t say that I have had many "transcendent" or "mystical" experiences although I have been exposed to all kinds of metaphysical phenomena and "readings" of one kind or another. It certainly leaves me with a sense that "something else" is going on beyond our perception. What I can relate to you is that about thirty years ago, about 1971, I used to have a recurring dream. Always in this dream there would be a huge sphere. Always there would be a tiny thing nudging that sphere. I had the dream over and over. At that same time in my life, there was a voice that I heard from inside my head that said, "You are responsible, you are responsible." This dream and voice went on for a couple of months. I could be doing anything and I would hear this voice, "You are responsible." It was annoying. One early evening, 1971, I was driving down a back road in Sarasota in my 1950 MG-TD sports car with the top down. Again, I heard the voice. I slowed my car, pulled over to the side of the road, and stopped. I said, "Okay, I’ll do it." Then, I drove on. After that, I never heard the voice again or had the dream. I think the sphere was Earth and the little thing nudging the planet was me. I went on to live a very unusual life always driven inexplicably to move from one rich experience to another to, in my words, figure out life, i.e., to understand the architecture of life. I wrote a little about this in the Introduction to Seven Words. I first got to Los Angeles in 1975. I remember my visits to the Bodhi Tree book store. I recall very vividly when I looked at all those books (in the area of religion, metaphysics, et al) saying to myself, "Do I have to read ALL these books? It can’t be this complicated." Many, many experiences followed. I’ll touch on one experience but there’s too much to relate to write it all. Through an unusual series of coincidences in Los Angeles, I ended up living with a woman named Esther. She was 76 years old when we met; I was 31. She had been a very powerful metaphysical teacher in Los Angeles (Shrine Auditorium). She taught the Ascended Masters teachings. She was clairvoyant and clairaudiant. She essentially adopted me as a surrogate grandson. She and I lived alone in a large home near Larchmont Village. I studied architecture at USC that year. We would talk all the time, often about metaphysical matters. She was very intelligent and had a great sense of humor. She took me to psychic readings. She had women friends come to her house that she would work with to connect with Masters. Of course, she could name them all. St. Germain, who a lot of metaphysical students are aware of, was a main one. He pops up a lot in my life. Anyway, I could go on and on. Incidentally, after a year at USC, I transferred to graduate school at the University of Colorado. I went back to L.A. to visit Esther a couple times a year. She had two strokes. The story goes on and gets detailed, but I moved her (at her wish) to Colorado to live with me while I completed graduate school in ‘79. She lived with me a little longer, then had to go into a nursing home. She died in 1988, always doing "inner work" for this planet. I have seen a lot in many areas, many disciplines. While I am always learning more, I learned what I set out to learn. It always disturbed me to see people who were in to one or another brand of "spirituality" or "metaphysics" unable to get along with each other in whatever group they were in. I saw this repeatedly. I continue to see it. That is part of the reason my emphasis is on the here and now. We are in such dire straits in the here and now (as you well know). Most of us humans don't have a clue of that of which we are a part, i.e., our reality. It is urgent that we understand what holds this thing that we call "life" together. We are only beginning to understand it. It is a HUGE and complicated task. So, I think we need to focus. And that's what I do personally with my work. There are many people, like yourself, working at this. I do my little part. Once, after I spoke in Sarasota about three years ago, an elderly fellow, Wally (since passed on), said to me, "I have read 50-60 books on the kinds of things you are talking about. But I never heard anyone put it together like you have." He was in awe of what I said. He was a strong supporter. Yet, he wanted me to teach reincarnation because he really believed in that. I said I respected his thoughts about reincarnation but I know what it is that I have to teach. And that is something very simple. Something undeniable. Something with the potential for universal acceptance. Something the masses can understand. Before I use the word "sacred," you will notice that I am very careful to define it, i.e., sacred is associated with religion; religion is a belief system that has to do with the nature of life; the nature of life is relational, etc. etc. I’ve expropriated that word from the past because I see it useful as a bridge. It is a word we know, one people can relate to, and one with which people feel comfort. But it’s only a word. Something we’ve created. More important than the word is the sense that it conveys about the relationships that hold life together, that determine sustainability, that determine whether our species is going to survive. As I write in the book, "Sacredness is not a complex and difficult issue to understand. It is found in real life relationships here and now, not out there somewhere. Sacredness is not about a Supreme Being, it’s about a way of being. The focus of our beliefs must shift from what was imagined to exist and be sacred in some heavenly realm to what does exist and is sacred here and now. It is time to find our comfort not in the worship of distant mythological gods, but in present real-life relationships with each other, with our extraordinary environment, and with our own unique individuality. "These ‘commandments’ are not issued by a god, but by the undeniable reality of our existence. Certainly the traditional ‘Gods’ of some of our historical religions would approve of this shift of emphasis. When we take care of ourselves and each other, and leave our environment as we found it or improve it, we are living a sacred life. One would think that if there exists anything benevolent in dimensions beyond our perception - call it a god, creator, supreme being, the force, or universal intelligence - that it, she, him or them would cheer us wildly when the focus of our lives is on health for ourselves, kindness toward each other, and respect for our environment. For what more could any god of any belief system anywhere ask of us?" I use the language of the past with which people are familiar but always in the context of refocusing on here and now. My work is not really about transcendence (which I have no problem with). I leave that to others. My work is about the quality of our presence here and now. It’s about healthy evolution. It’s about sustainability. It’s about survival. Here and now. It's for a general audience, not only for the choir. I hope this answers your questions a little. |
|
Suzanne responds: Thanks for so much info about your interesting life. "When we take care of ourselves and each other, and leave our environment as we found it or improve it, we are living a sacred life." This feels to me to be the crux of your communication. This is what would change the world – different from our divisiveness in support of one story or another in which the transcendent experience is cloaked. I love how you develop this in the book, getting us to see the immaturity of the need for setting up camps to defend what was a story in the first place. If there is any danger in your propositions I only can see it coming from any denial of those authentic knowings or experiences or awarenesses – it's important not to throw them out with the bathwater of the mythological contexts in which they have become encased. Rather, you can point to the common implications of all the stories as what those seven words are describing – and use the argument that you don't have to be dependent on your inner connection, or wait for it, or have your life be meaningful only in so far as you have been touched or transported to that ineffable place. The mandate of life is to live by the inherent basics that you have so beautifully articulated and argued for. Another value of your argument relates to the yearning and disappointment so common to seekers who have had some sort of aha. That experience then becomes defined by them as what they are supposed to be having all the time; it is potent enough that this desire is understandable. I would see you freeing people in a new collective understanding, where people would appreciate themselves for lives well lived. It's sort of like you are laying out a new map, and, if people don't have such a thing, even when they are leading admirable lives, perhaps they think they are in the wrong place. One of the values of Yukio's work was that when he skillfully guided people into the experience of that eternality, he got them to look around – from inside the experience – and define it for themselves. Did it have a beginning or end? No. Was there any outside versus inside? No. You "knew" that this was home base and that you never left it. After that, you no longer said what was typical to say before: "Sometimes I'm in and sometimes I'm out." Or, "I just keep trying to get back to that place." Your new knowing, experientially, was that you could never leave that place – that that's who you are. It imprinted in you, and you change your story thereafter. I just got an email today from an especially lovely woman who's part of the crop circle community. We just sent gift packages to the people who helped with our filming this summer, and we included a booklet of mine, Inside the Intelligence, where I did something like channeling. This commentary from her is an example of what I was just talking about ("I try so hard for it to happen now but to no avail"): "What a world eh! I have always felt like I am from somewhere else and spend a lot of my time quite sad as I want to go home. I, too, had two occasions where God spoke to me. I also was told about 'Resonance,' and they called me 'Little One,' which I found so wonderful. I will always carry those times close to my heart. I was in a totally different space when the voices came and I try so hard for it to happen now but to no avail. Maybe it will happen again in the future. I was told that I was on a mission and the following years did prove that I was involved with bringing people together on a huge scale who had experienced strange things in life."Hey, I think this is the conversation for our little council to be having! |
Joe replies: Suzanne. Thanks for all you wrote. I enjoyed it. Yes, "this is the conversation for our little council to be having!" You wrote, ".....you don't have to.....have your life be meaningful only in so far as you have been touched or transported to that ineffable place." And you wrote, "Another value of your argument relates to the yearning and disappointment so common to seekers who have had some sort of aha. That experience then becomes defined by them as what they are supposed to be having all the time; it is potent enough that this desire is understandable." At least two issues come to mind from what you wrote. One is that these "potent" experiences we have, these "ineffable places" we arrive at (however derived) easily can become intoxicating (like many other intoxicants). Naturally, we want more of that stuff. We want it because it is so unlike our normal reality. Our answer lies not in endeavoring to leave our reality (however tempting and understandable) but in improving our reality. We have to earn our ecstasy, and we can. There may be an occasional free sandwich, but there are no free lunches in life. That's simply the way it works. We are responsible. We have to earn our way. The other issue is an ancient one. It has to do with the origins of the concepts of "heaven" and "afterlives." It has to do with the "religious" faith-based answer to the question, "Why do good things happen to bad people?" The answer was, don't worry about it, your rewards are in heaven, in the afterlife (as long as your a member of our club). The reality is that life is a chore. Every day every member of every form of life, plant and animal, struggles to survive. It's nothing new. It's been going on for 3.8 billion years. If we want life to be less of a struggle, we need to "... take care of ourselves and each other, and leave our environment as we found it or improve it,..." To do that takes both unlearning and learning. |
|
Suzanne replies: All well said – texturing Joe's world. I would add to your last point. There is no answer to why accidental misery. Shit happens. I very much like what Brian Swimme says about this in "The Universe is a Green Dragon," which I highly recommend that you read, which makes the case that the universe is an unfolding event, accounting for a creative passion that's primal in us. It offers a common origin story, the same for all, enabling us to think as one. He says things like,"This desire to pour out goodness is just the way things are," where, "The creation of life forms is not determined but is the outcome of life's intrinsic freedom." What humans do is "provide the space in which the universe feels its stupendous beauty." In terms of the bad luck of life, Brian calls that, in a section heading, "Evil from Cosmic Risk." Humans were the first species with self-determination, not instinct. It was a chance on the part of the creative force – that what gave the universe the depth of the capacity to appreciate and feel what is good and beautiful also gave it the capacity for evil. I just read a review of a new, life-affirming book of essays, "LEARNING TO FALL: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life," by Philip Simmons, who is withering away from Lou Gehrig's disease, which gave me another glimpse of the formula for life. Simmons talks about how we must learn to fall to learn to walk, and so on through life, where we earn our successes with some cost of failures. "This is not a story of triumph over adversity," he says – "The man chased by tigers does not win in the end." The reviewer says, "Simmons' story focuses on the victory found in falling itself, of rushing headlong into the failings of life, and of realizing that our own vulnerability is," as the author says, "the cost of walking upright on the earth." More of Simmons: "Mine is the mysticism of everyday life, of the heaped laundry and the bruised toe, of overcooked broccoli and leaves spangled with dew, of sunrise and sorrow, laughter and linguine, music and mold," which, as the reviewer reports, "requires no special powers beyond imagination, attention to the ordinary," and, as Simmons says, "a willingness to be surprised by grace." Does this read for you, Joe, as compellingly as it does for me? It's not so much that life is "less of a struggle" by following your guidance – just that life is...and then what? It's even more primal than getting a reward to do as life mandates. Life is, and appreciation is the name of the game, just because it is. |
Joe responds: Thanks for all your thoughts. I enjoy them. Hopefully, we are moving towards Brian Swimme's "common origin story." To get to that point requires a lot of deprogramming and getting beyond the resistance of extraordinary vested (religious) interests and faith-based dogma. I like the Philip Simmons' thoughts. As you noted, "life is." Today, we know a lot more about what "life is" than we did when the majority of our current major belief systems formed. There is a purity and liberation about understanding what "life is." In that understanding lies also our "salvation," to borrow a word from religion's lexicon. Life is complex but it is not that complicated. Each day, we grow closer to enough of us understanding that, that we will begin to reverse our destructive and unsustainable momentum. That is the "life is" that the seven words can improve. As you note, there is another "life is." "Life is, and appreciation is the name of the game, just because it is," you wrote. That's true. What you wrote reminded me of a quote by Marcel DuChamp, "There are no solutions, because there are no problems." There just "is." Yet, there is enormous room to improve the quality of life, improve the "is." There are extraordinary opportunities to expand into our unlimited potential. The concept of "life is" is both fixed and dynamic. Life can always be described as "life is." However, the "is" evolves (or devolves). |
|
Suzanne replies: Joe – I happened to get into an exchange with Harry Browne. Do you know who he is? "'How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World' (1973, Macmillan) presented new perspectives on morality, government, selfishness and many other topics offering readers suggestions for gaining greater control over their own lives. The book reached #8 on the Publisher's Weekly and Times bestsellers lists and is still in demand." and "A self-help book that shows individuals how to take responsibility for their own lives. Many people consider the book to be a modern classic and it remains in demand almost three decades after its first publication." He is the spokesperson for the Libertarian Party. He preaches self responsibility. I have had only minimal exchange with him, but he's a national figure and could make things juicier. He says, "If you ask the government to impose morality, you are asking that moral questions be decided by those with the most political power. This means that people like Teddy Kennedy and Newt Gingrich will dictate personal morality to you. When you choose a political solution as your means for restoring virtue to society, you must then wait until the majority becomes virtuous enough to vote for the right policies. But granting everyone personal freedom would get the job done much faster – by giving people an incentive to be upright. A free market rewards virtue and punishes irresponsibility, while government does just the opposite." Newest book: "Fail-Safe Investing: Lifelong Financial Security in 30 Minutes" – January 2001 I asked if he'd be interested in a dialogue. I described it this way: Harry – I'll have a new update posted on my homepage by this afternoon that says this: "I'm inviting a wisdom council to consider the work of Joe Simonetta. The conversation with him continues to be lively as we circulate his book, 'Seven Words That Can Change the World,' as fodder for exploring the nature of reality and what it is to be human. My thinking is that when you get some number of highly evolved people to be in alignment around a new idea, you can change the world – we need a new organizing idea, and this conversation could be a place to arrive at such a thing." Perhaps you would like to be part of this? Say the word, give me a mailing address, and I'll have a book sent to you.He wrote: Good luck on your promotional efforts for Joe Simonetta. If you like, you can send the book to me.Joe – Do we "like" to include him? |
Joe responds: Absolutely, we "like" and will include him. I'll request a book. Thank you for taking this up with him. |
|
Suzanne replies: Hi Joe – Here's what I'm sending today to everyone who got the book: I've posted a new "Update" to keep you abreast of what has been added to the site recently. This 9/11 site is further fodder for the conversation I'm looking forward to when you read "Seven Words That Can Change the World," and we have some exchange about the nature of reality and what it is to be human. My belief is that if highly evolved people come into alignment around a new idea, we stand a chance to change the world. We need a new organizing idea, and our conversation could be a place to arrive at such a thing. |
Joe responds: I think what you have put together here is remarkable. You have done a tremendous job of piecing it together. I think it's powerful. Quite remarkably, when you email arrived, I was in the middle of a letter to Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy. Until I finished that letter (which follows), I was not aware of how you tied him into our conversation. Hmmmmm. Also, what Lex Hixon wrote is extraordinary. Following is the letter I was writing to Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy when your email arrived: Dear Professor Hoodbhoy,Suzanne, did you tack that on the end for your email (be healthy, be kind, respect the environment) or was that Tom? I've thought about having a t-shirt done with that, and a bumper sticker. |
|
Suzanne responds: That was Tom's doing. I asked him how he came across your book. He said, "I saw it on your site, then became curious enough to get a copy." Check out my recent conversation with David Lorimer, who has requested a copy of "Seven Words" from the publisher. For my money, he's among a handful of the best thinkers – and doers – in the world, and "Network," the three times a year journal of the Scientific and Medical Network, a several thousand member organization comprised of other forward thinkers (mostly in Europe, but many members here), publishes the best reviews of the most ground-breaking books. Maybe you want him to send you a copy? What an interesting thing this Global Vision Network he mentions is!!! |
Joe replies: "I went to the Global Vision Network Website. Very interesting. Do you know what the name is that I used to self-publish The Simple Truth (and three of my other books), which is now Seven Words That Can Change the World? Global Visions Publications." Thank you for passing along my address to Copthorne Macdonald. Here's his response to my email: Thanks for the prompt response, Joe. In line with Suzanne's idea that we should get familiar with each other's work before any get-together, I thought I should send you a copy of Matters of Consequence. It won't be published till later this year, so what you will be getting is a bound copy of the edited manuscript. I sent it ExpressPost this morning, and if neither of our postal services screw up, it should be in your hands by the end of the coming week.Here's my reply to Cop: Very nice to hear from you. Thanks for sending your manuscript which I look foward to reading. Let's all move ahead with what we are doing. Special thanks to Suzanne for being the catalyst and for all her work. Thanks, Cop, for taking time out from your busy schedule.It feels like the work we have been doing, and continue to do, is beginning to generate a positive momentum. It is very good to be working with you. |
|
Suzanne responds: Just to stay in the loop, you should go to the Website for Wade Frazier. He is astonishing. It would take a long time to read everything he has written and I tend to get overwhelmed when I delve in, but it all is fascinating and feels important to understand. The savings and loan stuff is such an insight into the fundamental corruption that gave rise to Enron, so is radically timely. Most people are just seeing the surface play of what has deep roots, and makes you wonder if our system ever can get fixed. |
Joe replies: Thank you, Suzanne and Wade, for keeping me "in the loop." You're right, Suzanne, the roots run very deep. No, the system will not be "fixed." There is another way to look at it that is more hopeful. To begin with "the system" is us, we homo sapiens. Every system, every organization, is a manifestation of its human components. No system or organization exists in a vacuum. Just like to win an election, we need only a majority of the votes, in this way we can"fix" the system, i.e., we capture the momentum. That is possible. We just need to influence the "swing votes." That's doable. There is a saying to the effect that we must pick the fights that we can win. We need to define winnable goals. We can do that. And we can achieve the goals. I am confident of that. I sent a link to Wade's introduction on his site to my good friend, Jeff Hutner. Here's what he had to say back: This is sobering stuff; much of it I am aware of. We live in a country that has been taken over by greed and if we could throw out the bums, it would be great. Perhaps something dramatic might happen, but I do agree it's a long, hard road when the people who are supposed to have your interests at heart use their power for their own benefit and the benefit of their friends. Major changes are needed. We can't move pieces around a chessboard – we need a new table. Anyway, we'll see the good, the bad and the ugly as our lives play out. I hope intelligent, creative and compassionate people join together to co-create a compelling set of laws that can control and replace the biased government, military and multinationals. Of course these institutions are really people and we get back to the idea that people in power must chage. What will cause that? Or will they resist until they die? It does seem overwhelming at times. The best we can do is our calling and linking with other like minded friends and associates. Clearly, its time for quantum leaps, discontinuous actions and a lot of love.I also wrote this to him about you: There is a woman in Los Angeles, Suzanne Taylor, who is organizing a "wisdom council." She describes Seven Words as a revolutionary book. You may want to hook up with her. I think you would enjoy the interaction. |
|
Suzanne replies: Jeff is an old acquaintance of mine. Here's what he just wrote to me after I sent him an announcement re the new Update on my site: Glad to see you are still at it and doing a great job. Joe Simonetta is an old friend of mine and I'm glad you have connected and have championed his book. I just spent a few hours at Wade's site and feel like I've gotten a lifetimes worth of education. I am completing two quote books on living in the moment and evolutionary wisdom for business. I hope to have them completed in the next few weeks....and what I wrote back to him: Sounds like you've got your teeth into good things. As you've seen, I love Joe's book. I was with a friend of mine last night, Beverly Russell, who called Joe "a messiah for our time." Let's hope we can move the world, as you and are always are inclined towards. |
Joe responds: I'm glad you and Jeff got reacquainted. That's a pretty powerful quote from Beverly. Please thank her. We, all of us doing this work, are kind of "messiahs" for this time. And it is time. It's time for a new world belief system. Sometimes when people ask me what my book is about, I say, quite seriously, "It's a new belief system for the world." 6,000 years ago - Hinduism 4,000 years ago - Judaism 2,600 years ago - Buddhism 2,000 years ago - Christianity 1,400 years ago - Islam The year 2,000 - Environmental Humanism (sometimes I say humanistic environmentalism, but the other is better I think) |
|
Suzanne responds: I sent a link to our conversation here to William Gazecki, the filmmaker for our upcoming crop circle film – I keep him posted, although he's too intent on getting our film done to be a participant in our conversation. He has your tape. This is the mission statement of his production company: "OpenEdge Media creates provocative, controversial, and socially responsible products. We tackle complex issues with an enlightened investigative approach. We present penetrating insights into the world in which we live, providing practical options for change. We embrace conflict, question assumptions, and shift paradigms."Here's what he had to say: Excellent material, Suzanne. I really feel you must do a lot more to get this material out to a much greater audience, in some fashion. It is very worthwhile. Yes, the audience should be selectively solicited, but I think this is certainly of a caliber appropriate for "Utne Reader," "Salon Magazine" and also networked via other organizations such as Greenpeace or similar. Don't be shy. |
Joe replies: Thank you, Suzanne. He sounds like the right guy. His mission statement is perfect. |
|
Suzanne responds: Another mutual acquaintance discovered after the mailing of my current "Update." Here's what Sharon Joy Kleitsch, the IONS Coordinator from your neck of the woods, in Sarasota, said back: Love the trails and crossovers.Here's my response to her: Somebody in my camp here the other day said she thought Joe was the new messiah! Have you read "Seven Words That Can Change the World?" I think of his work as a great dovetail with Brian – that the new story is to be found in their mesh. Maybe that can be an IONS discussion topic! I was disappointed in those videos – I don't think they do Brian justice – but at least they give a flavor. Wish I could be there.An associate of Sharon's, Pat Palmer, had this to say after Sharon forwarded the link to her: I think Joe's book, and his manner of presenting are both warm, practical and very engaging. I believe he would be a very effective catalyst for upping the level of involvement and integrity in discussions. |
Joe writes: You may find this of some interest. It was mailed to me by a World Business Academy member, Lane Baldwin, for me to insert in Connections, the Academy's weekly newsletter. He's got me in some pretty elevated company. ;-) Following two very well received talks last year, Lane Baldwin will speak again at the Unitarian Society of New Brunswick, NJ on Sunday, February 10, 2001. His previous two sermons focused on finding fulfillment through service, and tapping into universal energy to help others. In his Feb 10 talk entitled, "Staying Positive in a Negative Environment, Lane looks at how the negativity of others can rub off on an individual if they aren't careful. The traps and pitfalls will be exposed, and suggestions will be offered to help maintain a positive attitude in a negative environment. Drawing on a vast array of writings including those of the Dalai Lama, Lao-tzu, the Buddha, Jesus and the Academy's own Joe Simonetta, Lane paints a picture that may be admired by all, regardless of individual beliefs. His personal mission in life is to spread a message of living in harmony with others and the rest of creation, regardless of origin or beliefs. For more information, call 732-246-3113. |
|
Suzanne responds: Love it! |
Joe responds: It makes me laugh. But when I think about those other four people, I ask myself what comes to mind about the teachings associated with them: Dalai Lama - kindnessFundamentally, it's all simple stuff like the seven words. Much of the power comes from the way it's put together, the place, the timeliness of the material, and how it is promoted. This is probably the first time in human history that a message with universal appeal like the seven words can be broadcast globally and virtually instantly. You're probably aware of this. I went to a film last night. One of the coming attractions was for a movie named "Signs" about crop circles. |
|
Suzanne responds: Millions of dollars worth of free promotion for our movie. A very lucky break. http://www.empiremovies.com/movies/2002/signs.shtml http://www.signs.movies.com/ |
[The conversation moves to another page as more participants are added...]
Have something to add? Chime in via email or post comments on our feedback page. More posts will be added as the conversation continues...
|
Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour, Rains from the sky a meteoric shower Of facts...they lie unquestioned, uncombined. Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill Is daily spun, but there exists no loom To weave it into fabric... -Edna St. Vincent Millay- |
HOME Mighty Companions | TheConversation.org | Suzanne Taylor WebRadio Show | Human Being Society | Lex Hixon | Crop Circles Contact Us | Site Map |