Episode Description:“For human evolution to continue, the conversation must deepen.” – Margaret Mead This is the second in a seven-part series of “Pilgrimage Dialogues” forming part of and leading up to a Conference Gathering in Fort Collins, Colorado on May 29-30, 2009, entitled “2012 NOW – Empowering the Transformation”, for which I am serving as the Master of Ceremonies and opening presenter. Future Living Dialogues in this series will include other Conference presenters Sobonfu Some’, Stansilav Grof, Richard Tarnas, and Christine Page.Details and registration information available at www.unveiling2012.org.
Duncan Campbell: 2012 Now: Empowering The Transformation, a uniquely innovative, interactive and affordable gathering in this time of global uncertainty, will take place Friday night and all day Saturday May 29 and 30 at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in Fort Collins, Colorado. Beyond just information, to practical tools for change and direct experience of participating in the ongoing transformation of our times. Now is the time and the opportunity to synchronize consciousness with the evolutionary pulse of the cosmos. Join world-renowned speakers in as we explore, co-create, and experience together the tranformative dynamics necessary for a successful transit from now through the year 2012 and beyond. More information available on the website, www.unveiling2012.org. See you there.The meaning of the Greek word “Apocalypse” is “lifting the veil” or “revelation”. Here are excerpts from this set of revelatory “shared stories” – contemporary 21st century versions of the medieval Canterbury Tales -- on this pilgrimage Road to 2012 NOW:John Major Jenkins: Well in a word I guess I’d say it’s been transformational, which I suppose is to be expected when you’re engaged with this kind of material. Transformation is not an easy thing necessarily, there’s been lots of challenges. But I think that if you’re not constantly challenging yourself, then you’re going to all back into the muck, as you said. So one thing that I want to point out that I, I think my continuing role as a 2012-ologist is to offer clarity and discernment. One thing that constantly is getting my attention is the, the amount of disinformation and misconception that is thrown at this 2012 topic, and I think that it’s important for people to understand that anything that’s coming out has to be treated with a skeptical eye, you might say, and one has to have an eye towards sensing whether it’s reinforcing ego or it’s reinforcing a large perspective, a selfless perspective. And since you’ve brought up the Barack Obama election, I thought that it’d be appropriate to mention that, without wanting to sound trite, that the, the election process between Obama and McCain was archetypal, absolutely. I mean it was in a sense the fulfillment of the Maya prophecy because these two people represented perfectly ego consciousness, self-interest, the old Vanguard that must pass and be transformed, moved into the next year, and then Obama who represented the more selfless, taking the large unity position. So this is actually what the Maya creation mythology in its own archetypal content was, illustrates for what is to happen, you might say, at the end of the cycle. So it’s really fascinating then to consider how we’re living in an era in which these things are taking place, and I’m just grateful to be here.Duncan Campbell: I think that’s a beautiful way to put it. When one can say that with real heartfelt sincerity and authenticity, “I’m just grateful to be here”, that’s a tremendous statement, and it’s a statement that indigenous peoples have made from time in memorial, that I wake up and I see beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty all around me. Today is a good day to die, and that really means today is a good day to live, because the death and rebirth process is happening at every moment, and so today is a good day for me to let go of preconceptions, today is a good day for me to be grateful for that which is before me, today is a good day for me to be grateful for how I can serve others. And you’ve said it beautifully John, that the litmus test for any coming together, any gathering, whether we do it one on one as we’re doing here or around the dinner table or in a meeting or in an election or in a conference like the gathering coming up in Fort Collins, Colorado May 29 and 30, is does the energy exchange that happens there promote a deeper heartfelt appreciation than gratitude, or does it constrict us into some kind of fear-based or maybe even arrogant separation from others or from the rest of the planet? And that I think really is the free-will aspect that you’re talking about, that we can choose a perspective, choose our higher perspective at every moment in our own lives and to come together with that perspective is what we intend to create as a fertile womb so that all the seeds that can be brought together in this conference can bloom. So for all of your lifelong work John, and it’s been such a great pleasure to do these dialogues over the years and watch the evolution of your work, of my work, of our fellows over the last decade, its been a real deep pleasure.John Major Jenkins: Well thank you Duncan. Thank you for everything that you’re doing. I’ve found our conversations over the years to be scintillating and stimulating, and you’re a person who I immediately thought of to bring on board as our speaker and master of ceremonies, because you have a special way of contextualizing and framing and facilitating a process, it’s a process oriented thing. And our Conference is really about an invitation for people to participate in a transformation. So, there are no guarantees of course. This is something that everybody brings their own energy to it. And it’s our hope that we can model and illustrate, what you might call an “awakening into”. I think, you know, evolutionary terminology I think works well enough for, you know, certain things, but I really like the term ‘awakening’. ‘Awakening’…Duncan Campbell: I do too.John Major Jenkins: The awakening of this larger perspective that’s already there. It’s kind of like the unveiling thing. I don’t know how much we’re really trying to create or generate or build something new, I think we’re trying to unveil or awaken something that’s always been there, but that we’ve forgot. And that’s kind of a key thing, and so coming together and discovering that together with other people can just be a glimpse of a higher potential that we all have.Duncan Campbell: Beautifully put, and I think that’s exactly the etymology of the word ‘enthusiasm’, it means literally to be engodded, but not God as some separate entity, but that sense of the divinity that’s innate within each of us, and when we tap into that we do feel a clarity, we feel a generosity of spirit and we feel an energy that we can bring to our own daily activities, to our families, to our communities, to our participation in the national and international task ahead of us now, to actually take seriously the fact that certain old economic and political forms, and forms of transportation and uses of energy from the fossil fuel economy, they need to end, they have to end because they are not sustainable, and each one of us will be encountering that falling apart in whatever way we do. It could mean loss of income, it could mean loss of many things in our lives, but if we keep our eyes on this particular perspective we’ll have the inner trust and energy and enthusiasm to carry this larger vision forward, so in no way is this 2012 conference meant to be an escapism from everything that’s happening. Quite the contrary. It’s meant to be perhaps one of the most practical things we can do to contribute to and serve our larger communal and planetary societies. John Major Jenkins: I think Colorado is really ahead of the curve when it comes to innovative community-based experiments in alternate fuel and energy and community-based farming. I’m so glad this is happening here in Colorado, my home state, and bringing people together along the Front Range in springtime, it’s going to be a beautiful time. And, you know, I think that there’s a real chance for lasting connections being built between participants, as we all try to take responsibility for transforming the world into a sustainable place.Duncan Campbell: Well the time has come where we must close this particular dialogue, and I’ll have to say in once again honoring you and your stories John, that in doing so we’re honoring the stories of all those that are listening to this, and this great invitation is going out here to participate in this pilgrimage, this moving toward a particular gathering. So that next week we’ll be talking with Sobonfu Some’. And as we’re sharing these stories with all the presenters in advance, it’s acknowledging that whatever’s being called forth, once again is being called forth from the people who will be participating in the gathering, and all those that are listening to these dialogues. And so I see it in a sense as a contribution also from the energy field of Colorado. It’s a way that we can share what we experience with people who will be coming -- we know from the ticket sales --literally from all over the world…John Major Jenkins: Yes.Duncan Campbell: They will each be coming with their stories to contribute – and time scheduled at the Conference Gathering to share them -- and so I’m very much looking forward, and at the same time staying right here in the present moment., So that’s our invitation to each of you. I’m Duncan Campbell, your host. I’ve been really delighted to have John Major Jenkins with me in this dialogue, and we both extend to you a very warm invitation to join us and all of the other participants at “2012 Now - Empowering The Transformation”, May 29 and 30 in Fort Collins, Colorado. For more information, to register you can go to www.unveiling2012.org. Be with us again next time as we continue on Living Dialogues. We invite you and look forward to seeing you at the conference on May 29 and 30, 2009 in the natural beauty of Fort Collins, Colorado, entitled “2012 NOW - Empowering the Transformation”. For further information and registration you can go to www.unveiling2012.org.“We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth…. and we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself....For the world has changed, and we must change with it…why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration…" -- Barack Obama Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009 And as we say on Living Dialogues: “Dialogue is the Language of Evolutionary Transformation”™.Contact me if you like at www.livingdialogues.com. Visit my blog at Duncan.personallifemedia.com. ”. (For more, including information on the Engaged Elder Wisdom Dialogue Series on my website www.livingdialogues.com, click on Episode Detail to the left above and go to Transcript section.)
Among other heartful visionary conversations you will find of particular interest on these themes are my Dialogues on this site with Robert Sitler, Richard Tarnas, John O’Donohue, Michael Meade, Eckhart Tolle, Ted Sorensen, Frances Moore Lappe, Stanislav Grof, Angeles Arrien, Sobonfu Some, Matthew Fox, David Mendell, Deborah Tannen, Gangaji, Michael Dowd, Duane Elgin, and Joseph Ellis, among others [click on their name(s) in green on right hand column of the Living Dialogues Home Page on this site].
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