Humanity's Team invites you to join our next 12 Spheres - Justice and Restoration with a focus on Conscious Business. Anna-Mari Pieterse will interview Steve Farrell and John Thomas.
We invite you to join our next 12 Spheres - Justice and Restoration with a focus on Conscious Business. Anna-Mari Pieterse will interview Steve Farrell and John... Thomas.
There is a global movement of leaders and change agents dedicated to transforming Business. Humanity's Team, The Club of Budapest, The Goi Peace Foundation and the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent for World Benefit, invite you to join us!
For over a year we've been collaborating with our partners on a Conscious Business Declaration. We have launched a great new Curriculum to train and certify practitioners of Conscious Business. There is a fantastic new income opportunity for Conscious Business leaders! Steve Farrell, our Worldwide Executive Director and John Thomas, our Conscious Business Initiative Director, are coming to a global conference call to share the big picture and details. The call is Thursday, August 18th at 8:30 am Los Angeles, CA time PST.
To find the time in your area: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
Reserve your spot now - http://livinginone.com/living-in-oneness-summit-calls-sig…/…
The Conscious Business Declaration articulates essential principles that we believe will dramatically increase economic prosperity while healing the environment and improving human well-being. The Declaration aims to define a new standard for Business in the 21st century, one that will enable Business to become the most powerful engine on Earth for creating abundance and flourishing for humanity and all life on Earth.
Sign me up for this call - http://livinginone.com/living-in-oneness-summit-calls-sig…/…
Join us and then join the movement!
See you Thursday the 18th!
In Oneness,
Nannette Kennedy
Worldwide Communications Director
Humanity's Team
Image Credit: Economic Justice | BlackPride.in
Replies
Please join us on Thursday, August 13th, from 10 – 11am Los Angeles CA time. Our theme for this 12 Spheres call is Oneness in Justice.
Humanity’s Team partners with The Foundation for Conscious Evolution to bring you these monthly conference calls focusing on Oneness in the 12 Spheres of Life. Barbara Marx Hubbard will join us as co-host during this call.
Our special guest is Prof Dr Theo Gavrielides. Dr Gavrielides is a powerful leader in the field of Law and Justice and Restorative Justice in particular. Among the countless activities, programs and projects with which this dynamic young person is involved, Theo is also the Founder and Director of The IARS International Institute and the Founder and Co-Director of Restorative Justice for All Institute (RJ4All) - a UK-based international institute that generates and disseminates knowledge on restorative justice, while providing capacity building, research evaluation and advice to governments, organizations and individuals on restorative justice.
Register now for the live call (or live webcast or playback) on Thursday, August 13th, from 10 – 11am Los Angeles CA time: http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/SVRKOQH2...
To find the time in your area: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
Theo regards and promotes individual empowerment and responsibility as the glue for Restorative Justice and Dialogue and makes sure to adopt and apply the restorative justice values of dialogue, equality, empowerment, negotiation, forgiveness, empathy and respect that he championed throughout his academic career in his own organizations, projects and programs. The IARS International Institute publish their own peer reviewed Youth Voice Journal – an international, multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal that publishes theoretical contributions and empirical studies on international issues affecting young people and maintains a small publishing arm.
Register for the call: http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/SVRKOQH2...
Our call in September is on Thursday, September 10th at 10-11am Los Angeles CA time. The focus is Oneness and the Media and our special guest is Barnet Bain. Barnet is a producer and writer, known for What Dreams May Come (1998), The Celestine Prophecy (2006) and Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
We are looking forward to a great gathering and lots of fun with all of you!
With Love,
Anna-Mari Pieterse and Steve Farrell
Humanity’s Team
P.S. To see all of our upcoming programs, including Steve Farrell, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Patricia Ellsberg, Dr. Theo Gavrielides & Jean Houston go to: http://livinginone.com/
P.P.S. Looking for volunteer work? We are searching for a Finance Coordinator – Oversees all financial matters including financial statements prepared by CPA firm, Colorado sales tax cash flow analysis and payables. 10 hours per week. Contact Penny Heiple at penny.heiple@humanitysteam.org
P.P.P.S. If you enjoy the many calls Humanity's Team hosts, please consider making a donation to help cover the costs of our programs.
It's August and this month's Oneness in the 12 Spheres of Life Series call is on the topic of Oneness and Justice. These thought-provoking calls gain more and more interest with each one. Our next call is with guest, Jim Kenney.
Humanity’s Team partners with The Association for Global New Thought and The Foundation for Conscious Evolution to bring you these monthly conference calls focusing on Oneness in the 12 Spheres of Life. Steve Farrell, Anna-Mari Pieterse, Barbara Marx Hubbard and Barbara Fields will join Mr. Kenney in this timely conversation.
Register now for the live call (or live webcast or playback) on Thursday, August 14th from 10-11am Los Angeles, CA, US time here: http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/LK1YS3W7... (click here for the worldwide time converter)
Jim Kenney is the Executive Director of the Interreligious Engagement Project (IEP21), working with global religious communities to address the world’s critical problems through cooperative partnerships with government, business, education, media, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society. He is also the Executive Director of Common Ground, an adult study center focusing on the world's great religious, philosophical and spiritual traditions and their implications for every dimension of human endeavor and experience. He lectures widely on a variety of subjects relating to politics, religion, history, and culture. He serves as Co-Editor of Interreligious Insight: a Journal of Dialogue and Engagement, published internationally four times each year in the US and the UK by the World Congress of Faiths, the Interreligious Engagement Project, and Common Ground. Jim is former Global Director of the Parliament of the World’s Religions (one of the world’s major interfaith organizations) and Project Coordinator for the International Interreligious Peace Council.
We’ll be taking your questions so be sure to come to the call prepared to engage with us!
See you on Thursday, August 14th!
In Oneness and with so much Love,
Steve Farrell & Anna-Mari Pieterse
Humanity’s Team
If you missed the live 12 Spheres call last Thursday, you may listen now: http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=53604084 Password: justice
We had a fabulous discussion with Jim Kenney, our guest for the Oneness in 12 Spheres of Life call focusing on Justice. Jim talked about Walter Wink material referencing two myths, the first myth based on redemptive violence (how things mostly work today) and the second myth based on a new mythic understanding: restorative justice. The conversation between Barbara Fields, the Executive Director of AGNT, and Jim Kenney, the Executive Director of the Interreligious Engagement Project, was absolutely fascinating! You can listen-in here: http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=53604084 Password: justice
Barbara Marx Hubbard shared a little of the history behind the Oneness in 12 Spheres of Life project.
Anna-Mari Pieterse shared about restorative justice in contemporary South Africa and about the Truth & Reconciliation Commission that was based in South Africa.
From today’s conversation we can feel comfortable Justice is moving in the right direction!
Here are a few comments from listeners:
Pam - Ilfracombe, England, UK
~Blessings ~ It is so wonderful that these discussions are taking place ~ sharing these comments with the world is a true gift.
Michaela – Munich, Germany
~Thanks for such a lot of food for thoughts!!!
Barbara - Tacoma, WA
~Mostly the impact has been to renew HOPE that change IS happening!
Eileen - Little Ferry, NJ
~I'm an interfaith minister, a Green Party member, and an environmental activist of 37 years. I have enjoyed listening to these conferences and learning about all the organizations working toward PJS.
Our next Oneness in 12 Spheres of Life call is Thursday, September 11th at 10:00am Los Angeles, CA, U.S. time. Cate Montana will be our special guest. Our focus is “Media." Cate worked with ABC, NBC, CNN & BBC early in her career and was involved with the “What the Bleep” project. You can register here: http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/LK1YS3W7... Besides dial in information, you will also receive a webcast link if you wish to listen via the Internet or so that you can listen after the live event. To find the time in your area go to: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
Please be sure to check out the new Global Oneness Day site: http://www.globaloneness2014.org/ You can learn about the speakers, programs and you can register now.
Also, please be sure to go to: www.TheOnenessCommunity.org to learn about Oneness in 12 Spheres of Life programs and to become involved.
In Oneness,
Steve Farrell
Worldwide Coordinating Director
Humanity’s Team
· Walter Wink and the Two Myths: Redemptive Violence v. Restorative Justice
The late theologian Walter Wink (1935-2012) offers an evocative “new story” flourish to the peace-culture paradigm. Human societies since prehistory, he argues, have most often lived by the myth of redemptive violence, the story, told in countless variants, of good overcoming evil. That victory, however, is always accomplished through violence. It’s a story that dominates the literature and imagery of our own modern society, the tale of the villain who just needs killing. Now, however, Wink and many others see a new myth taking shape, already emergent in some ways, still horizonal in others. It’s the myth of restorative justice, the powerful new story that recognizes the interrelated values of peace, justice, and sustainability and teaches the lesson that peace can often be secured by restoring the missing leg of the tripod.
Wink celebrates the fading of the older myth that violence is often the only recourse for the redemption of what has been lost (rights, land, dignity, etc.). He argues that we are entering the province of a new mythic understanding, in which (nonviolent) justice is the only recourse for restoration. (Jim Kenney, Thriving in the Crosscurrent)
For a great summary of this “culture shift” and of Walter Wink’s contribution, see Ted Grimsrud's "in memory" article: http://peacetheology.net/2012/05/12/a-tribute-to-walter-wink/. (Attached here.)
• This essay by Ron Claasen (Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies, Fresno Pacific University) is a classic. Though dated, it’s perfect for this teleseminar. I believe he’s still at Fresno. A great resource.This essay by Ron Claasen (Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies, Fresno Pacific University) is a classic. Though dated,
“Restorative Justice Challenges the ‘Myth of Redemptive Violence’”by Ron Claassen, 1996
Is there an alternative to vengeance and retribution as a way of responding to a wrong, an injustice? Walter Wink (in Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination) says that our society’s preferred response is one of vengeance, and Wink has labeled it the “myth of redemptive violence.
The redemptive violence myth, he says, is the belief that violence is a necessary and appropriate response and even healing for the victim especially when administered by the state on a victim’s behalf. Wink points out that Jesus clearly rejected violence as a constructive way of responding to a wrong or injustice and helps us to understand that there are some alternatives to violence.
One passage of scripture Wink uses to help us understand that there are alternatives to violence is found in the fifth chapter of Matthew, in which Jesus says: "You have heard that it was said, ‘an eye for an eye.’ But I say to you." This is followed by a series of statements that sound awfully weak and seem to call for the offended party to become a "doormat."
Jesus says things like: "If one strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;" and, "If you are forced to carry a pack one mile, carry it two miles;" and, "If one takes your coat, give him your cloak as well." And then, if that is not enough apparent passivity, Jesus adds this: "You have heard it said, ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I say to you, ‘love your enemy." Here we really tune out because we know that we don’t have warm and gushy feelings for someone who has just committed a serious offense against us.
So how, when we have been offended, are we to understand and take seriously what Jesus is saying? I have found Wink’s work describing the context in which Jesus was speaking to be very helpful in understanding how Jesus might want us to respond. The easiest to explain of the three "doormat" suggestions is the one about carrying the pack. The context was this: soldiers in the Roman occupation force often had to carry heavy packs and had a practice of forcing the locals to carry their packs for them. It was a practice that was degrading and very inconvenient, and it was experienced as an abusive injustice by the locals. The soldiers, on the other hand, thought it was their "right" since, after all, they were the ones with the "power." The army authorities supported the soldiers’ right to the practice but also realized that this should be limited to guard against becoming "too abusive." Therefore, they imposed a limit of one mile on the distance a soldier could force a local to carry his pack.
Now, it is in this context that Jesus makes the statement, "If you are forced to carry a pack one mile, carry it two miles." It no longer seems like a "doormat" type of response. In fact, it seems rather aggressive. It is a nonviolent and assertive response - not a passive one. Try to imagine the situation. I think it would be something like this: at the beginning the soldier forces the local to carry the pack. Then, at the end of the first mile, the soldier asks the local to give the pack back. But according to Jesus’ suggestion, the local, the one who had been forced to carry the pack, would just continue walking, refusing the order to give it back and knowing that this would put the soldier in jeopardy of possible punishment. The initiative had been seized by the local, the one who earlier appeared to be powerless. Not only is this not a passive response, it is very possible that it could become an abusive response in return. It appears that this is why Jesus immediately follows these suggested responses with the statement: "Love (agape meaning most literally ‘to be constructive with’) your enemy."
Restorative Justice must not be confused with approving, ignoring, or saying that wrongdoing is OK. Restorative Justice needs to develop assertive and constructive responses that bring appropriate attention to the problem in ways that encourage the offender to recognize and accept responsibility for the offense. Once this is done, victims are amazingly willing to consider how equity might be restored and how agreements might be made for the future so the injustice will not be repeated. If the offender accepts responsibility and keeps the agreements, trust grows and reconciliation (movement along a continuum from ‘increasing hate’ toward "increasing care") happens. There is a viable, redemptive alternative to "an eye for an eye."