Young people are amazing - Choose Change Become

Choose Change Become

Today we again realise the incredible competence of our young people. This happened whilst working with a group of inspirational young people who volunteered themselves for a two day programme of sharing, reflection and self understanding.

Given the title 'Choose Change Become', the programme was organised by themselves, with a very little help from Campaign for Adventure, the World Spiritual University, The Wrekin Trust and MobexNE. It was run in Oxford at the Global Retreat Centre which had donated its quite astounding - in beauty and concept – facilities.

Now these 'young people' varied in age from 18 up to 35 and were 'young professionals' in their terms. For myself they were the usual creative, the confident and the enlightened young of our age, seeking more that our generation has been willing/capable of offering our youth. Indeed It is easily arguable we have given them a broken world which is theirs to fix, although there is still a little time for later-year adults to do something to help.

For instance, we could accept a 'whether proven or not' attitude to saving this planet. We could rescue the monetary system, and for that matter the banking, government (local and national), farming, justice, political and health (hospital, doctor, pharmaceutical and lifestyle) systems. We could do this by demonstrating some basic life values - which these young people exhibited in truckloads – such as integrity, trust, fore-thought, conscience and a demonstrable concern for all regardless of nationality, religion, appearance or difference.

Perhaps the main realisation was that our young people live in a culture of fear. A fear for their planet and their future - trusting adults, work, health, communities, adult common-sense, big business, nations, government, education systems – you name it and our young people are in fear of its capacity to realise their potential.

One 'exercise' they chose was to walk this world in supreme confidence. This allowed them the opportunity to shed their fears and show some indication of the true potential the world has for our young people. Another exercise was to spend time reflecting, from this place of confidence and not fear, who they are, where they want to go and how to get there. Using internal mirrors, accessing the reflective self (some might call this a form of 'meditation', although others would simply see it as sensibly taking stock of one's life) and looking at one's choices, possibilities and future actions for life.

Without any real detail - in this short piece - we have described some young people and their own actions to help themselves over their easily argued picture of a world and a humanity not doing what it could for itself. It also describes a process of Choose, Change, Become, created by themselves as they seek better and a way to make better happen for their (a?) future.

Our young people are amazing – 'Our hope for the future depends on them'.

A little cosmic exercise

My little cosmic exercise...taking yourself into the Allness of Being....



Sun at back ( the science =facing North and East is to your right and we are spinning that way), surf to right.

Sun at front (the science =facing South and East is on your left and we are spinning that way), surf to left.



Now you are dragon riding....you are your own dragon...and your flying speed is....

850kph = approximately your speed round the Earth in kilo-meters per hour at the 54th parallel; 98,000kph Earth speed round the Sun; 800,000kph = Sun speed round the Milky Way galaxy; 1,600,000kph = speed of the circulation around Sirius/Andromeda/Milky Way Galaxy 'Near Group' celestial cluster. Max speed = 2,4996,00kph… of course at times we are in relational-retro, so we can lose a few thousand kph or so occasionally.



Now 40 million sub-atomic particles travel through each one of us every second of our lives, each travelling at up to the speed of light, without touching anything, and we get some idea of how energy-centric we, and everything, actually is.



From this place, we can look at this world, our place upon it and how we should treat it, ourselves and each other.



Please feel free to offer corrections....

Consciousness Evolved - Part Two

Consciousness Evolved - Part Two - Coming shortly - sign up now!

Rio Summit 2012 - Leadership Thoughts In Adventure - What Matters?

Wake-Up World: A Non-Destructive Economy - Ian Lewis

So instead of creating more, greater and faster, we use less power, less raw-material, less transport and thus sustain our one world.

Michael Gove is right. More intellectual, more artistic, more philosophical education which leads to greater scientific, greater discrimination, higher artistic enjoyment and with this lower environmental costs.


We do not have to be shallow, values-free, over-the-top, media-hyped, fashion followers. We can be deeply committed beings of great self-worth who self-lead.

The artistic, the intellectual, the healthy, the creative, the highly rewarding are just a few examples of what makes up a sustainable economy within worthwhile lives.

For instance, nuclear and oil-based power are sad reflections of collective creativity, for whilst we can send oil across continents, cannot manage nuclear-waste economically yet know 0.3% of Saharan sun can power Europe. This takes awhile for energy companies to see the opportunities, yet a mindful attitude to lower power usage as a values-base in education and learning could have immediate effect. Who actually enjoys driving anyway? Hours/days of lives wasted?

For food issues read sensible carbon- and conservation-conscious farming, eating healthy (low-fat, -sugar & -meat diets), and using land well.

For manufacturing common-sense consider items being used for extended times – pictures & picture-frames last centuries, as does, for example, some furniture, buildings, art, parks/forests/gardens and musical instruments. All have a remarkably high value-to- raw-material ratio - and they accrue value whilst supplying great enjoyment.

Yet even these are left standing by the mental and physical (let alone the spiritual) attributes of being fully human and the low-carbon economic value available here. The intellectual arts, performing arts (reading, writing, dance, comedy, drama), visual arts, sporting excellence, hobbies and crafts and all the fun areas of being which celebrate the human capacity are virtually ignored in favour of high-carbon un-stainable living. Time for a gentle change?

Come on world, wake up. Teachers, listen to Gove - part of what he says is right even if for the wrong reasons: Rio 2012 Environmental Summit matters, but it must be creative and we should be active in self-leading change.

Superpositioning in Allness

Superpositioning oneself is a great way into allness – that state where one attunes to the 11 million or so simultaneous connectors in one's brain and thus is not disturbed by the constraints and inhibitions of single or few-framed consciousness imposed during early childhood and social conditioning.

Of course one remains conscious in a superpositioned state, but it takes a form of journeying around the possibilities in allness, not of being stuck in time, particularly the now – useful but now outmoded/transcended. Better even than this is superpositional consciousness where one is in all places and all times and all universes at once. Holding this place through a process of letting go, of daring to be all, not merely seeing all, is at the heart of our true being in the manifold worlds we inhabit. Some of the lifecollege.org experiences focus on the attainment of superpositional consciousness through personalised journeying. Connect with Pippa Lee and her Energetic Coaching at lifecollege.org

It will take time to let go, to travel into allness and realise that we are all and always have been. It is a great place and will reward those who break-through however they self-realise themselves – through meditation, dance, music, performance, stillness, physical exertion, great achievements, and all extreme adventures of mind, body and spirit...for by definition access to allness is achieved through extremes since this is where one finds oneself.

My next input will examine the influence of being allness on the multiverse and how one may contribute and take from time, space, being and all other energies. If interested, please acknowledge this blog!

Visionary or Visionery?

Visionary or Visionery?

Both spellings are correct, although visionary seems to be least offensive to spellcheckers.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about being visionary, or being a visionery, is that we are taken as a negative, even a frustration to anything useful.

Some definitions:
“given to or characterized by fanciful, not presently workable, or un-practical ideas, views, or schemes: a visionary enthusiast”; “unreal; imaginary; visionary evils”; “Affected by phantoms; disposed to receive impressions on the imagination; given to reverie; apt to receive, and act upon, fancies as if they were realities.”; “Existing in imagination only; not real; fanciful; imaginary; having no solid foundation; as, visionary prospect; a visionary scheme or project.”; “One whose imagination overpowers his reason and controls his judgment; an unpractical schemer; one who builds castles in the air; a daydreamer.”

My favourite is somewhat more positive: “a person of unusually keen foresight.” It is also rather more succinct.

So why the negativity?
Looking at the effect of a 'visionary' on a more mechanistic person, i.e., someone more driven by habit, stayed-culture (e.g., proven or logical), the more cautious or non-adventurer, we see the origins of a particular form of leadership - the visionary leader. Such leaders naturally (and perhaps thankfully) cause issues for the more mechanistic. Although there is no evidence to show mutual exclusivity, it is frequently assumed to great cost.

Visionary leadership theories (which can be termed 'transformational' and may be NLP, Lifecollege, Landmark or otherwise based on future/not past), are all charismatic in some form. Tutors are high to very-high in self-esteem, occasionally bordering on the evangelistic. Learning often involves confidence-building and personal trials – to break past or inhibiting habits.

The learning is at 'events', where a stage is often present and at which it is the the facilitator's ability to tie a follower's self-concept and later self-esteem to the actualization of the leader's goals that comprises the essence of leadership evidenced at events. Transformational learning theories (e.g., Lewis, 2011, Values & Leadership; Lewis, 2012, Further Reaches of Human Nature) support these traditional models of motivation – including Pink's Three (Mastery, Autonomy, Contribution).

It is expected that both students and facilitators enjoy the mutual 'leader – follower' power effects these events generate. Indeed it is frequently the case that it is this effect that is being invested in and which, all being well will create the more confident and successful followers.

It is certainly true that both the tutor and the student can benefit in a transformational way from the experience.

Mind the Gap – the Big Society Gap

Mind the Gap – the Big Society Gap

The Big Society is out there. It seems the only criticism is that some cannot make enough money from it. Shame on you. It is of course, in its non-monetary way, rough at the edges, variously present in a big way or small, solidly present in 'happy' communities and often seen as 'a little working class, council estate, and to do with times past' by those who see little of the help it gives them. Yet these descriptors confound our less happy communities. It is far wider and far more influential in its present form, than given credit for. And the Big Society - and its potential - are both huge.

So let us move towards the Big Society potential. It is all! It can change lives. It can move us towards and even be the cause of our being the happiest nation on Earth. Oh, now this is telling. The happiest nation on Earth is not the richest or even nearly so. What is the per-capita GDP of Bhutan? What is the average income? Hmmm, now where does this get us?

Did this start with a concern about money? So let us drop this, since there is evidence that money does not make you happy. Where is the gap, exactly? Is it the need for depressive negativity (blaming the 'they'/someone else) in an otherwise every-reason-to-be-quite-positive society? A society where those who have will keep and those who have not will not get because of the keepers? Now, here we have some useful dividers...are there keepers out there?

This society – yes, the Big One, has many positive contributors. It is the neighbours and those along the street, of course. As it is our friends in the village, our work-colleagues and our networks, teams, industry, commerce, sport and the arts. We just need to up the game, realise the potential....start liking people, including ourselves, and learn to trust, to give a little more towards a nicer world – One Big Society. And a smile.