You haven't heard from me lately because I've been immersed in producing an April 14th event for TEDx West Hollywood. If TED is unfamiliar to you, do some Googling to tune into a phenomenon of our day. With our list having started before I discovered crop circles, many people don't know my history of producing events and projects that have to do with personal growth, spirituality and our worldview. I was looking for how we could think differently long before the circles came to my attention, and taking on TEDx is my return to that broader focus. See www.TEDxWestHollywood.com to read up on what's going on, to join the low-volume mailing list, and to buy tickets to our event when they go on public sale Monday at 9:00 am. Also, love to have your comments in our Forum and in How Would You Change the World?
When disasters hit, our collective heart is wrenched. Can we come into that compassionate state without a disaster bringing it about? When crop circles started to make news, in the late 80s, they were just another subject for programs I produced. But, with evidence indicating the circles are not of human origin, I saw they stood a chance to open our collective mind to a bigger reality and they became my major preoccupation. If it's established that there's other intelligence at least equal to ours, we will be a humbled species in relation to "the other." The playing field will have changed and we'll be in one conversation about who we are and what we are doing here.
How else could we go from being violent with one another and destructive to the earth to becoming the compassionate species we fleetingly are when massive suffering is in play? A quantum leap is in order, from seeing ourselves in a mechanistic universe based on Newtonian physics to having a worldview based on Gaia being a developing organism. Science has validated we are in a quantum reality, where, beyond space and time, we are interconnected and interdependent, but our worldview is mired in a cause-and-effect Newtonian perspective that supports a dualistic paradigm where opposition holds sway.
We're cheerleading for a new worldview at Brother, Can You Spare a Paradigm?, or, Making the Quantum Leap, our TEDx event. The day will be Live Streamed -- free. Please watch, and spread the word to help get it to a worldwide audience. How about hosting a viewing party? We're looking for our live event to spark a community of activists in West Hollywood, and you could do likewise, or, you can have a rich experience with the community you already have. Get on www.TEDxWestHollywood.com to tune into the Live Stream, from 9:30 to 6:00 on April 14th, or to get the embed code if you're savvy and can use it in social media.
Fyi, if you don't know it -- or think I don't know it and would be emailing me about it --TED is in a big flap after having yanked talks by Rupert Sheldrake and Graham Hancock from their YouTube channel. It is the most articulate argument I've seen online, with no flaming or descents into obscenities. In fact, it's encouraging to discover how much keen intellect is out there. Here are two of the main threads of conversation:
http://blog.ted.com/2013/03/14/open-for-discussion-graham-hancock-and-rupert-sheldrake/
http://weilerpsiblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/the-psi-wars-come-to-ted
With crop circles being fodder for the same sort of skeptics' ridicule as these talks have gotten, I like the intro here.
I wanted to show Graham Hancock's TEDx talk at my event. I don't think I will be allowed to do that, but you can see it here: https://vimeo.com/61808955.
PS: TEDx West Hollywood can use tax-deductible financial sponsorship. Controversy aside, TED has delivered value to our culture and there are sponsors who want their names associated with it. If that's you or you have any suggestions, please let me know. This particular TEDx event should be especially attractive since world class speakers are doing talks (with more still being posted), and, in addition to TED talks online getting more than a million hits a day, we will be streaming to a large audience.
