We are all meant to shine, as children do. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-- Marianne Williamson

Gamble EVERYTHING for LOVE
If you are a true Human Being
If Not,
leave this GATHERING
~Rumi

This project is a platform that I have used with others to collaborate in bringing new experiences into our networks of friends. Of many outcomes, one of the richest for me is that my sense of closeness with my friends has changed dramatically.

The Healing on Mother Earth (HOME) Project:

Dedication:
A special thanks to each of you whom has participated in this work with us, your continued support has launched these practices into the mainstream.

Vision:
We envision a planet that thrives; a planet-civilization that fostors and supports the collective movement towards a society that honors all of life, that is built upon the foundation of our common values.

Mission:
Our Mission is to provide the tools and forms for individuals and organizations to improve thier capacity to be influential as leaders, as teachers, and as facilitators. We provide empowerment and awakening opportunities through the medium of transformational learning that heighten awareness, tighten the web of community, and result in an increased flow of conscious, empowered action.

Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;

Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within;

Opening to my loss,
I gain the embrace of the universe;

Surrendering into emptiness,
I find fullness without end.

Each condition I flee from pursues me,

Each condition I welcome transforms me

And becomes itself transformed
Into its radiant jewel-like essence.

I bow to the one who has made it so,

Who has crafted this Master Game.

To play it is purest delight;

To honor its form--true devotion.
- Jennifer Welwood

"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware."
~ Henry Miller

" Love just is. It is neither given nor taken; rather it is simply discovered and allowed."
~Ariel Spilsbury

"There is no remedy for love but to love more"
~ Henry David Thoreau

"I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength,
who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness,
who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman. "
~ Anaïs Nin

"Your task is not to seek for Love,
But merely to seek and find
all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it."
~ Rumi


"Love is everything it's cracked up to be. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more."
~ Erica Jong

"The moment you have in your heart this
extraordinary thing called Love and feel the
depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will
discover that the world is transformed.
~ J. Krishnamurti

"I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people:
that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other."
~Rainer Marie Rilke

"Perhaps love is the process of my leading you gently back to yourself."
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, "you owe me." Look what happens with a love like that, it lights the whole world...
~ Hafiz

"It's time that we saw sex as the truly sacred art that it is. A deep meditation, a holy communion and a dance with the force of creation."
~ Marcus Allen

"Real compassion kicks butt and takes names, and it is not pleasant on certain days. If you are not ready for this fire, then find a new-age, sweetness-and-light, soft-speaking, perpetually smiling teacher, and learn to re-label your ego with spiritual sounding terms. But stay away from those that practice real compassion, because they will fry your ass, my friend."
~ Ken Wilbur

"Healing is not something you *do*, it is something you *are*.
~Anonymous fey

"You are incredibly young. You have time.
Start aiming your desires and making your choices
big and small based on what sort of energy, people, beauty,
art, orgasms you want to drench your life.
The world will respond,
the divine will always answer, not all at once,
and almost never in the way you expected.
Read your ass off. Fuck like you mean it.
Plot your soul's exit strategy from cube-farm hell.
You will pump that raw magic into the world's
bloodstream eventually, fear not. It might take ten years
to get moving, big deal. Time is a trickster, lay the foundation now,
log your dreams, pray yourself wide open,
surround yourself with the heat of the possible.
Patience, dear one.
Go easy on yourself.

~ Mark Morford

FULLY ALIVE
I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
~ Dawna Markova


"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people."
~ George Bernhard Shaw

"The important thing is this: To be ready at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you could become.”
~ Charles Dubois

'Life makes no promises for what lies ahead, but rather presents you with choices and opportunities to progress. Improvement is fueled by change. Face new challenges. Expand your boundaries. But, never forget that change is rarely without obstacles. Disappointment is inevitable. Learn to laugh at your mistakes, trust your instincts and savor each moment along the way. Be fearless and never look back. Your future awaits...'

"It is not enough to have a vision. In order to have its power, you must enact your vision on earth for all to see. Only then do you have the power."
~ Black Elk

"You see, the heart is the seat of the soul. When you speak from the heart you can kindle the fire in the hearts of others. Through recognition you actually begin to awaken the soul which is asleep, and the fire spreads - there is nothing more catching than love."
~ Reshad Feild

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
~ Unknown

"a friend is someone who sees through you and still enjoys the view."

If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete."

I take to myself

my broken self:

my guilt, my peace,
my folly and joy,

my sickness, my health;

in laughter and agony,

hating and loving,

my fear and my birthing--

and I am made whole.



I take to myself
you,
my neighbor,

cupping your life
within my hands:

your broken self
pure gift to me;

not burden, gift,
as mine to you--

and I am made whole.



I take to myself
you, broken Earth;

stripped and abused,

paved over and poisoned,

you mother so freely,

abundant in grace:

clasp in your mercy,

surprise into tears--

and I am made whole.



I take to myself
your broken self,
my dear, near spirit;

broken for broken,
for lost and for spent.

As fragmented love
and nectar of life,

you come, gentle spirit--
and I am made whole.
- Bill Johnston

“Don’t worry about what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive and do that.
Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
~ Howard Thurman


"Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request, and everything your heart desires must come to you."
~ Ghandi


"So without any intentional, fancy way of adjusting yourself, to express yourself freely as you are is the most important thing to make yourself happy and make others happy."


"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind!"
~Dr. Seuss

Surrounding myself with people whom I respect, teaching and learning,

By people whom I respect i mean people whom I feel connected to, people whom walk their talk, people whom are living some way of being that I would like to bring into my life, my walk.

implementation; especially of transformative learning experiences.
By transformative I mean experiences that leave me wondering who I am again
By again I mean like the level of uncertainty and curiosity that I see in the eyes of children

Implementation; especially of transformative learning experiences that benefit others..
by benefit, I mean leave others feeling more alive, more empowered and more awake...

Practicing and receiving bodywork
By bodywork I mean thai massage, shiatsu, energywork, emotional release work and trauma resolution work

Playing guitar.
By playing I mean sitting in states of openness, wonder, curiosity, and ecstasy and channeling it through my voice and instrument

By channeling I mean opening myself, getting out of the way, allowing myself to express the archetypal domains of life...

By archetypal I mean any focused expression of energy that carries the resonance of one of the basic elements, ancient "god" figures, planetary alignements, or role

Experiencing rapid learning, opening to wisdom, playing with fire; including the intensity of my shadow, exaggerating roles, laughing at myself, running through the forest, being free to honor my impulses...

I value all forms of intelligence. By "all forms" I am referring to instinctual, emotional, cognitive, intuitive, social, and channeled intelligences, as well as any unnamed.

I seek to become aware of my conditioning and to make decisions based on what I really want, to play bigger games then the ones that are comfortable and to live each day as if it were my last.

"Those who have awakened live in a constant state of amazement." .

"If you let go a little you have a little peace.
If you let go of a lot you have a lot of peace.
If you let go completely you have complete peace."
~ Ajahn Chah


"You live in illusion
and in the appearance of things.
There is a reality,
You are that reality,
And when you realize this
You will realize that you are nothing,
and being nothing, You are everything.
That is all."
~ Kalu Rinpoche

"He who know others is wise, but he who knows himself is enlightened."
~ tao te ching

Take off the veil of forgetfulness.
Become the beacon of awakened awareness.
As you open to self-remembrance, you will freely receive divine guidance.
Be with others who support your fullest expression.

“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
Albert Einstein quote

How do the states of consciousness that we bring to “help” others affect our ability to actually be in service?
What are the states of being that are most conducive to fostering the birth of a sustainable civilization?
Is there a relationship between facilitating shifts in consciousness and the emergence of deeply held values regarding our common relationship with the earth?
How can the learning environment serve the facilitation of shifts in consciousness?
What are our resources in this area?


"There are two ways to live your life: one is as though nothing is a miracle;
the other is as though everything is a miracle."
Albert Einstein

What benefit does the possibility of living as if everything is a miracle offer individuals?
If this possibility offers fresh perspective or other benefits, then how can seeing through this lens be illicited in a group context?
How can this experience be illicited?

What if we are inherently connected with the earth?
How would we experience this connection?
What affect would it have on how we relate to the natural world?
To each other?

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world”
Mahatma Gandhi

“This we know... the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to earth.

All things are connected, like the blood which connects one family.
Whatever 
befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth.
Man did not weave the web of life -
he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
”
Chief Seattle, 1854

“It was not that the jagged precipices were lofty, that the encircling woods were
the dimmest shade, or that the waters were profoundly deep; but that over all, rocks,
wood, and water, brooded the spirit of repose, and the silent energy of nature 
stirred the soul to its inmost depths.”
- Thomas Cole

“Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn't have it in the beginning.”
o Mahatma Gandhi

If this is true, then how can we evoke a sense of possibility from within a group?
What context is necessary for an individual to step into the realm of possibility?

Allowing our vision to be heard

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes

Why are good people remaining silent in the face of injustice? Is it a matter of awareness? Of courage? Of the belief that one person can make a difference? Of insight into the benefits of service? Of possibility?

“I dwell in possibility” Emily Dickinson

“Accentuating the positive”
from problem solving to envisioning a new world

What is the state of mind that is most conducive to fostering the birth of a sustainable civilization?
Why do some activists thrive whereas others tend to burn out?

Culture as a vehicle for constructive social change

How can we utilize culture and the expressive arts as a vehicle for social change?
Whom has been effective at this?
What are the opportunities?
What is working/successful at this?

“The only source of knowledge is experience”
Albert Einstein

If the earth has a voice and we are capable of hearing it, what significance does this have? What are our doorways to this experience now?

When someone asked the Vietnamese Zen poet Thich Nhat Hanh, "What do we need to do to save our world?" his questioner expected him to identify strategies for social and environmental action. But he answered: "What we most need to do is to hear within us the sound of the Earth crying."
(Thich Nhat Hanh, quoted in Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life)

If this is what is called for at present, then what will it take to facilitate experiences that allow this? What do we need?

What if an individual found themselves wanting to take action on behalf of others, or of the collective. Do resources exist to support them? What types of support are most effective?

Education as a catalyst for personal and global transformation
“what if the only meaning that education has to us is that which we give it?” Haber

What is the purpose of education?
Is it to treat the student as a cup needing to be filled with memorized facts and information?

Or is the purpose of education to draw forth from within the individual… Their passions. Their unique gifts in the world. Thier insight and wisdom in regards to all of the difficult areas of life…

How can the learning environment be a catalyst for individuals to recognize all of the learning that they have cultivated through life’s apparent betrayals; to recognize the value that they received in picking themselves up when they have fallen?