As those of you know who have followed our work with Interfaith Partners of South Carolina, we have for a number of years partnered with the governor's office in proclaiming January as South Carolina's Interfaith Harmony Month. This year due to the Covid virus we were unable to have the in person meetings and events which have grown ever more popular and diverse over the years and instead developed a number of wonderful virtual meetings and presentations which were very successful. In some ways it was a great blessing and that many events which were local for some and would require a fair amount of travel for others became equally available to all.
 
As a part of my contribution to the events I was able to conduct a couple of video interviews with real powerhouses in the interfaith movement. Dr. Barbara Fields serves as the Executive Director of the Association of Global New Thought which also engages in a lot of interfaith work. Perhaps the most famous aspect of their work is the annual Gandhi/King Season of Peace which takes place each year beginning January 30th and runs 64 days until April 4th.  She was program director for the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions. For more information please visit WWW.AGNT.ORG We had a lovely time, and to watch this nearly one hour interview click on Dr. Fields image
 
The secondary interview was with Dr. Larry Greenfield, Pres. Emeritus of the Parliament of World Religions. Dr. Greenfield has been involved in many interfaith initiatives over the years as well as an ongoing commitment to the Baptist movement with which she has been affiliated for many many years. Our interview also ran nearly to one hour in length and I believe we covered some exciting topics which I'm anxious to share with you. To watch this interview click on Dr. Greenfield's image

    This Program was offered by the Parliament’s Indigenous Working Group and First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) and was designed so that it could be completed in one day. It was the one thing I wanted to do for myself at the 2018 Parliament of the World's Religions in Toronto which took place November 2 - 6, 2018. I was attending  as an ambassador for the Parliament and as a  journalist, and thus had responsibilities which limited the time available to me personally.  It took a number of days to fit enough of these presentations and activities into my schedule to complete the requirements. All in all I attended eleven workshops and film presentations as well as a number of ceremonies both inside and outside at the the sacred fire.

    I am  grateful to our hosts the Anishinaabe and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations. Deep gratitude to the firekeepers who tended the sacred fire 24 hours a day even though it was often bitterly cold  and made it possibly for me and many others to offer tobacco and pray at any hour.  I was excited by and very much enjoyed the presence of indigenous elders from the United States as well, including Hopi, Dinè (often called Navajo), Paiute, Zuni, Havasupai, Tongva and Lakota/Dakota, especially Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations, and keeper the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and its teachings. I had heard him address the Spotlight on Indigenous Peoples plenary at the 2015 Parliament in Salt Lake City, Utah. My 40 years of interfaith work has been inspired by intertwined with Native American spirituality and culture, both in Utah (particularly among the nations of our hosts at the 2015 Parliament, the Ute, Paiute, and Shoshone) and for the last few years in South Carolina among the Edisto, Catawba and Cherokee peoples. Although I was blessed with bits and pieces of a number of events and interactions I attended the following sessions in their entirety:

    The Opening Ceremony at the sacred fire, the Native American Church, Tradition bearers for Bio-cultural diversity, Sacred Water, Earth changes & Prophecy, Original Instruction  (I just loved Elder Tom Porter or Sakokwenionkwas “The One Who Wins”, of the Mohawk’s (Kanien'kehá:ka.) birthing prayer! Everyone should start their lives this way. In this prayer the newborn is told who they are, where they are, in whose hands they have been entrusted, the sacred vow of the parents to protect, guide and nurture them and all else that comes into the heart of the father. This prayer can often last forty-five minutes to an hour. Porter was a co-founder the ‘White Roots of Peace’, a group of Iroquois Elders who tour the country sharing traditional teachings and encouraging Indians to embrace their respective Native traditions.), Sacred Pipe Ceremony, Climate Crisis, Evolving Spirituality, Declaration of a new Initiative to Protect Sacred Lands (I was graced to listen to Elder Besha Blondin of the Dené first nation of the Northern Athabaskan peoples in Canada again whom I had met in 2015), Four Directions Ceremony, National Monument, "Indians" of Old Europe (I was grateful for this Pagan perspective given by Andras Corban Arthen, a POWR Trustee and President of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions), and Indigenous Eden.

    I bathed in the loving humility of Manulani Aluli Meyer who spoke from the perspective of the indigenous people of Hawai’I and shared Ulu a'e ke welina a ke aloha (Loving is the practice of an awake mind) and gifted me with a bag of sea salt that she had gathered.  Also very inspired to hear L. Frank Manriquez, a Tongva culture bearer whose passion is to reclaim and revitalize traditional knowledge for not only her people, but for the vast network of California tribal peoples. The story of the decimation of the indigenous peoples of California is as heart breaking as any I know. I would also like to mention Lyla June Johnston a descendent of Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) lineages. I first meant this powerful young activist/poet at a presentation she gave at the Parliament in 2015 in Salt Lake City. I spent some time in her presence at the 2018 Parliament in Toronto as I videoed Trebbe Johnson's Panel discussion 'The Sacred Arts: Creative Expressions of Faith to Heal a Troubled Earth' to which Lyla June eloquently contributed. We'll hear much more from this wise woman as time unfolds. You can find a number of presentations by her on YouTube.

    Much of the offerings took place in the Lodge of Nations which was a re-creation of a traditional long house,  which sheltered the spiritual dimension of those things that were shared in such a sacred manner.  Deep bows of gratitude to Anishinaabe leader Bob Goulais of the Nipissing First Nation and Diane Longboat of the Kanien'kehá:ka. (Mohawk) Nation at Six Nations Grand River Territory, who organized and facilitated the events held in the Lodge of Nations and at the Sacred Fire. To them I say ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ Miigwech, and Nia:wen!

    Behind and thoroughly mixed in with all of this was the Truth and Reconciliation process underway in Canada. I met many folks whose lives were personally touched by the cultural genocide of the 'Residential Schools'. There is a video on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada website, of Commissioner Justice Murray Sinclair, an Ojibwa judge from the court of the Queen’s Bench, Manitoba, which clearly tells the back story, the purpose, and processes of the commission. I heard him address a plenary at the Parliament and was very moved by his eloquence. I’ve taken the following from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada webpage:

“For over 100 years, Aboriginal children were removed from their families and sent to institutions called residential schools. The government-funded, church-run schools were located across Canada and established with the purpose to eliminate parental involvement in the spiritual, cultural and intellectual development of Aboriginal children. The last residential schools closed in the mid-1990s. During this chapter in Canadian history, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were forced to attend these schools some of which were hundreds of miles from their home. The cumulative impact of residential schools is a legacy of unresolved trauma passed from generation to generation and has had a profound effect on the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and other Canadians. Collective efforts from all peoples are necessary to revitalize the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and Canadian society – reconciliation is the goal. It is a goal that will take the commitment of multiple generations but when it is achieved, when we have reconciliation - it will make for a better, stronger Canada.”

    I am hoping that this Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada will someday become a model for a similar and much needed process here in the United States. In Utah, where I grew up, there was the infamous Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City which ultimately had students from nearly 100 tribes by the time that it was closed in 1984. And then there was The Indian Placement Program, or Indian Student Placement Program (ISPP), also called the Lamanite Placement Program, which was operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) officially operating from 1954 and virtually closed by 1996. Native American students who were baptized members of the LDS Church were placed in foster homes of LDS members during the school year. They attended majority-white public schools, rather than the Indian boarding schools or local schools on the reservations. The program was developed according to LDS theology, whereby conversion and assimilation to Mormonism could help Native Americans, who had been classified as Lamanites in terms of theology in the Book of Mormon. An estimated 50,000 Native American children went through this program. These were just local to me in a small part of the west, hundreds of thousands of native folk throughout the country suffered similar fates.

    That was what I wanted to share about my personal experience in pursuing the Certificate in Indigenous Cultural Awareness, I welcome comments from others who enrolled or have something to add, you'll find a button down below.

Although this material is still available elsewhere I’d like to share some more details, mostly taken from the ICA page on the Parliament’s website:

The 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto may be your starting point to discovering a renewed appreciation of Indigenous worldview and taking an important step to Reconciliation action.
The Indigenous Peoples’ Program of the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions is offering a Certificate in Indigenous Cultural Awareness. This full-day offering (minimum 8 hours) will provide a wide-ranging and informative primer into Indigenous peoples of the world, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in Canada.

Developed by the Toronto-based Indigenous Steering Committee, their mission is to develop an inclusive and diverse program that creates awareness of Indigenous spiritual and faith traditions to all those attending the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions. The Steering Committee consists of knowledgeable Indigenous people and cultural-practitioners from nations across Turtle Island, and led by representatives of Indigenous traditional societies.

About FNTI
The Certificate in Indigenous Cultural Awareness is issued by First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) one of the foremost Indigenous post-secondary institutes in Ontario. First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) is a First Nation owned and governed educational institute specializing in applying Indigenous knowledge to both formal and informal learning experiences. Many of our programs and services are delivered at locations across Ontario.

FNTI is accredited by the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC), and is a member of the Ontario Aboriginal Institutes Consortium and Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan).

About ICA Certificate Program
The Certificate in Indigenous Cultural Awareness (ICA) is issued by the Indigenous Working Group and FNTI. It will require registered ICA participants to attend and complete a minimum of eight (8) hours in the Indigenous Peoples’ Program of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. The ICA participant will register for a full-day of programming that could include elements of the following:
 
   Daybreak Ceremony
   Over 60 Indigenous developed, led and delivered workshops, panels, film screenings and other content-specific sessions to choose from
    Blanket Exercise
    Water Walk and Water Ceremonies
    The Lodge of Nations: A beautiful and important Indigenous sacred space that will be the centerpiece to the Indigenous Peoples’ program.
     Ceremonies, teachings, prophecies, story-telling and sharing of Indigenous traditional knowledge

What is Indigenous Cultural Awareness?
Indigenous Cultural Awareness (ICA) refers to the development of knowledge, skills and improving the understanding of Indigenous people, culture, history and worldview. It goes beyond a typical academic approach to Indigenous awareness. It implies knowledge transfer from Indigenous peoples themselves through a cultural experience, Indigenous traditional knowledge learning within accepted contexts and protocols, including participation in knowledge sharing, teachings and in ceremony. In most cases, building Indigenous Cultural Awareness involves reaching the participant holistically, through immersion of the body, through the senses, the mind as well as reaching the spirit. It is a step towards Cultural Competency.

Cultural Wisdom from many Nations:
The program featured teachers, traditional Indigenous knowledge holders and Faith Keepers from many nations, including:
Anishinaabe (Mississauga, Ojibway, Chippewa, Odawa, Pottawatomi, Algonquin), Haudenosaunee (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Caguga, Tuscarora), Métis, Cree (Mushkegowuk and Plains Cree), Hawaiian, Maori, European Indigenous traditions, Hopi, Lena Lenape (Delaware), Dene (Blackfoot), Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Apache, Choctaw, African Indigenous traditions, Karamojong (Uganda), Cheyenne,     Aleut, Maya …and many more.

Workshop Topics and Titles
ICA participants were able to choose from over 60 workshops, feature panels, presentations, film screenings and other content-specific sessions, including:
    Impact of Colonization on the Health of Indigenous People in Canada
    Lana Gets Her Talk: Documentary Film Presentation & Conversation
    Ininew Pamatisiwin (Cree World View)
    Indigenous Eden: New Perspectives on an Ancient Foundational Beliefs
    The Twisted Roots of the Doctrines of Discovery
    Sacred Fire Ceremony of the Tzs'utujil Maya
    Iwi Kupuna: Caring for Our Ancestors
    Your Place is an Indigenous Place: Using Digital Humanities to Illuminate and Assert
    Spirit Game: Pride of a Nation
    Anishinabe 101
    Reclaiming the Indigenous Ethnic Religions of Europe
    Why Spirit Matters: Expanding Our Sense of the Sacred
    Reconciliation, Dialogue & Hope - An ongoing relationship with Canada's Indigenous Peoples
    Reclaiming Our Indigenous Spirituality and Sacred Sites
    Envisioning the Future through Indigenous Ceremony and Wisdom
    Lifting the Spirit: Healing through our Connection to Sound Vibrations of the Human Voice
    Sweat Lodge Teachings
    Creation of Love
    Tradition Bearers for Bio-cultural Diversity
    Colorado Plateau: Sanctuary - A Message of Hope
    Protection of Land and Sacred Sites
    Climate Change
    Traditional Medicine & Gardening
    Spirit of the Environment and Stewardship of Mother Earth
    Emerging Spirit: Transcending Colonization
    Indigenous Eden: New Perspectives on an Ancient Foundational Beliefs
    Reconciliation
    Indigenous Women Leading Change Panel of Prominent Women
    Water Rights for Indigenous Peoples
    Native American Grave Protection
    Sacred Feminine
    Ancient Skills Workshop
    Learning together through the Blanket Ceremony
    Doctorate of Cultural Genocide, Intergenerational Trauma: The Way Forward
    Intercultural Understanding & Awareness
    Prophecies: Global Change & Emerging Civilizations
    African Spirituality

In closing I have to say that in pursuing this certificate my experience at the Parliament was much enriched. I hope that a similar program will be part of the next Parliament of the World’s Religions!
 
 
 
 
 

I had a number of video assignments while at the Parliament of the World's Religions this past November in Toronto. I did record some videos that were just for sharing through these pages and among them was this address by Dr. Karen Armstrong at the Plenary on Understanding at the 2018 Parliament of the World's Religions. To see this 15 minute video click here. She is the founder of Charter for Compassion. I have found her writing to be clear, succinct and full of insights.

 I had a number of video assignments while at the Parliament of the World's Religions this past November in Toronto. I did record some videos that were just for sharing through these pages and among them was this address by Rabbi David Rosen at the plenary on Understanding. To view the video click here. Rabbi  Rosen is AJC’s (the leading global Jewish advocacy organization) International Director of Interreligious Affairs, and has been advancing understanding and good relations between religious communities for more than forty years –  from the time he served as rabbi of the largest Orthodox Jewish congregation in South Africa, during his tenure as Chief Rabbi of Ireland; and throughout the last more than thirty years based in Jerusalem. This talk is inspiring and often funny and is a marvelous story of one person's interfaith journey.

Thanks to my friend the Reverend Ed Kosak for hosting this at Unity of Charleston!

“Imagine an ocean moment: two waves converging in the same time and space. One is powerful but subsiding, the other just gathering momentum and presence but not yet cresting. At the moment of their meeting they are nearly equal in amplitude and influence. As they cross, who can say which is rising, which descending? In that moment only the chaos of wave interference exists. Now imagine modernity as a powerful wave of cultural values that crested half a century ago and is slowly beginning to subside. At the same time, a second wave of countervailing values rises equally slowly, building until its crest begins to rival the declining energy of the older wave”. This central image from James Kenney’s book offers a very clear and hopeful metaphor for the chaotic times in which we find ourselves.

I became aware of this important and timely book through the Association for Global New Thought’s online salon “New Thought on the News”, as the book’s central concept forms the basis of the dialogue as well as the lens through which each monthly topic is viewed. I have been involved in the Unity movement for a number of years now and Unity is one denomination of New Thought, along with Christian Science, Centers for Spiritual Living, Agape and others.  All New Thought affiliates place the importance of consciousness foremost in producing the changes we wish to manifest in our lives and in the world. At the extreme end of this understanding there are those who believe that it is best to just turn off the news, turn inward with prayer and meditation, forwarding the claim that ours is not to make the world right but to see it rightly. At the other end of the spectrum are those who are wanting to abandon this passive approach and get involved in direct action, perceiving evil in the world and picking up the gauntlet. There is a middle ground, where one remains engaged with the world, keeping up on current affairs and responding to a duty to “Stand Up, Speak Up, Show Up” in the words of Unity Minister Rev. Darlene Strickland. In this middle ground we do not pick arguments, promote confrontation nor assign blame, rather we look to find positive interpretations of the phenomena around us and to hold up a vision for self and others of the world towards which we are actively moving. AGNT’s New Thought on the News provides us with many tools holding this middle ground. We must stand in our truth and do so together.

In order to understand both Mr. Kenney’s passion and unique qualifications for writing about these topics it is useful to note some of the ways in which he has served. In 1988, he became a founding trustee of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions and served as global director through the 1999 Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa. He is the Founder and Executive Director, Interreligious Engagement Project, and Co-founder, Executive Director, Common Ground, and Founding Trustee, International Committee for the Peace Council  and currently Project Coordinator; bringing together some of the world’s most revered and influential religious and spiritual leaders in service to world peace. He also serves as Co-Editor, Interreligious Insight: a Journal of Dialogue and Engagement.

Providing greater detail on these waves Mr. Kenney writes “In Western culture the modern wave has long been dominant. Deeply rooted in classical antiquity and European history, the modern wave has profoundly shaped every culture in the world. In our own time, however, we have begun to sense the weakening of its influence and to recognize the growing strength of a challenging newer value wave. This younger wave represents positive change. It is the wave of future possibility in the present, the advent of a cultural evolutionary transformation.”

Here I’ll quote him at length:
“As the long-dominant older wave loses amplitude and the newer one surges, we cross the threshold into an interesting time. The cultural critique—of patriarchy, the legitimacy of war, ecological exploitation and pollution, racism, injustice, religious exclusivism, and imperialism—has arguably never been more pronounced. At the same time, we’ve begun to explore and even embrace emerging values including non-violent conflict resolution, universal human rights, social and economic justice, ecological sustainability, and interreligious harmony. But the passage is anything but straightforward. The interference of two culture waves unleashes both apparent chaos and emerging order. This dynamic creates the signature turbulence of a sea-change : a profound alteration of cultural values toward a better fit with current realities. Sea-changes are rare—in this book, I identify only four since human prehistory. They are daunting but richly creative periods, with at least three recognizable benchmarks:
•          a dramatic increase in cultural complexity;
•          a growing awareness of the interdependence of all with all; and
•          a variety of new multiperspectival approaches to knowledge and action.
Never easy transitions, such evolutionary shifts in values produce profound inspiration and originality and, at the same time, cultural confusion and identity crisis. And, of course, the widespread emergence of new values and new ways of thinking always threatens established structures of power, thus adding a dangerous intensity to an already-volatile cultural mix.

These values form the nucleus of an emerging consensus that opposes globalization from the top down—the creeping Westernization and Americanization of the planet. The younger wave clearly represents a very different global order, a sort of globalization from the bottom up. Around the world, there is a noticeable shift from ethnocentric to world-centric values.

Each failing cultural dynamic of the older wave—sexism, racism, intolerance, fundamentalism, injustice, eco-abuse, imperialism, or materialism—manifests the essential blindness of ethnocentrism. That pathology is nurtured by the conviction that one’s own group, gender, race, class, nation, species, or way of living is somehow inherently superior to every other.”

For me one of the most useful understandings that come out of this model and his development of it is what he refers to as eddies, very fitting for the water metaphor of waves and for the trauma and danger that eddies present. We are living in a time of great cultural upheaval and social disorientation, we are witnessing a great deal of retrograde motion, with many pining for the way things were in a desire “to make X great again”. Driven by fear and identity politics there is a great deal of backlash, overturning of settled law and all kinds of violence precipitated by fear and outrage. These are some of the eddies of which he speaks. When one can take a drone’s view of the river and its inevitable downstream motion, these eddies are seen for what they are, temporary retrograde motion against the current that is ultimately futile. When actually in such a river one does all that one can to avoid being drawn into these eddies for the danger of such maelstroms include broken limbs and drowning. They certainly need to be regarded with caution and respect, but in the grand scheme of things the river moves on.

Mr. Kenney writes “as the influence of the older wave declines in the rise of the next sea-change becomes more evident, eddies form... As older certainties face new evolutionary energies, eddies appear — the vortices of resistance to change. Some of the most disturbing cultural patterns of our age belong neither to the older or the newer wave. Fundamentalism, fascism, greed, and hegemony, for example, are eddies — manifestations of the turbulent interaction of the two value waves.”

Seeing this larger, much larger view we can let go of some of the fear rising in us as we witness abhorrent behaviors and trends as well as the highly polarized and strident voices competing for attention. Indeed it does appear often enough that the hard won gains of the last sixty years in racial equality, environmental protection and economic justice are eroded. Divisive language and tactics result in a nasty identity politics and while the last presidential election was as partisan as any since the days of the Vietnam War, almost as many people did not vote as did.

Mr. Kenney proposes that “… this is one of those rare times in world history where old values and beliefs give way to new values and beliefs; that we are in the midst of what I call a sea-change . To understand this premise, let’s examine its four foundations: interdependence, paradigm shift, cultural evolution, and the emerging global consensus of values.” Further illuminating this idea he entertains the question “Just Changing . . . or Evolving?” and provides this answer “The sea-change lens offers us a panoramic view of the schizophrenic character of rapidly changing modern life. It reveals that cultures do indeed evolve and generates powerful new insights into the whys and hows of that evolution. Cultural evolution refers to a progressive movement of key human values toward a better fit with observed reality. Human observation of reality becomes more accurate and insightful. As a result, our conscious experience of the world grows clearer and our values tend to change accordingly. Cultural evolution is usually slow and fairly steady, but not always. Exceedingly rare periods—separated by intervals of several thousand to several hundred years—are marked by explosive growth in human understanding. Such world-shaking spans witness astonishing transformations of the value complexes that shape civilization.”

Mr. Kenney goes into great detail about what he has designated as “cultural sea-changes” and emphasizes that these major turning points are indeed rare, and as he sees it there are only four up to and including the one we are witnessing now. First there was the rise of agriculture with its establishment of permanent settlements, higher levels of complexity both in terms of social cooperation and the technical tasks involved in supporting these developments. Then there is what is termed the “axial age”, a period of around 100 years centering on the sixth century BC. In this relatively short period of time most of the world’s major religions were born or significantly altered through the agency of major spiritual teachers. Richard Tarnas author of Cosmos and Psyche makes this observation about the Axial Age: "This was the age of Buddha, bringing the birth of Buddhism in India; of Mahavira and the birth of Jainism in India; of Lao-Tzu and the birth of Taoism in China, which was followed a decade later by the birth of Confucius, Lao-Tzu’s younger contemporary. This same epoch coincided with that sudden wave of major prophets in ancient Israel—Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Second Isaiah...n this same era the Hebrew Scriptures were first compiled and redacted. The traditional dating for the immensely influential Zoroaster and the birth of Zoroastrianism in Persia. In Greece, the period... coincided with the birth of Greek philosophy itself, as the first Greek philosophers, Thales and Anaximander, flourished during these decades of the 580s through the 560s, and Pythagoras, towering figure in the history of both Western philosophy and science, was born. In Greek religion, Orphism was emerging and the oracle of Delphi was at the height of its influence."

Mr. Kenney refers to the third sea-change  as “Copernicus’s Planetquake” and points out that “the three most familiar manifestations of the last sea-change  prior to our own were the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution. But we often associate the entire crossing with the vision of a single man. In 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus published his masterwork, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, and the world was about to change. The emergence of a sun centered model of the cosmos was profound, literally revolutionary and indeed a dangerous position to advocate.”

In discussing this third sea-change  Mr. Kenney makes extensive references to T. S. Kuhn’s seminal work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and in particular to Kuhn’s understanding of the role of anomalies in generating alternative explanations to the models that no longer fit reality as we understand it. This is one of those areas where I was tempted to give you much more detail than is appropriate in a book review because this Kuhn’s book, which I was introduced to in my college days in the 1970s, continues to reverberate through my understanding of how the world works.

I’ve been working on this review off and on for over a month now, in each fresh attempt I’ve had to carve off major chunks of what I found truly important and had a desire to share, but the truth is that the first couple of drafts were essentially a Reader’s Digest Condensed version of the original book. I certainly do not want to give you enough information that you no longer feel the need to read the book, and so I’ll just cursorily list some of the other elements that Mr. Kenney drew upon to make and extend his argument.

Among the tantalizing concepts he explores in supporting his central themes are: “complexity: the evolution of consciousness; chaos to order: how open systems advance; creativity: bottom-up, self-organizing, emergent forms; and cooperation: interdependence as evolutionary touchstone.”  In discussing complexity Mr. Kenney aptly notes that "Complexity does not mean complication. A jumbled pile of orchestral instruments is complicated. The performance of a symphony is an example of organized complexity.” In discussing chaos to order he relies upon the writings of such luminaries as Stuart Kauffman and James Gleick. Having studied chaos theory in some depth I feel compelled to note that the everyday use of the word “chaos” is rather different from the technical, mathematical understandings of this science, often associated with the phrase “dynamical systems”. It is a sophisticated understanding of how just a few elements in simple relationships can evolve into very complex structures and systems. Here is a bit of amplification on Mr. Kenney’s understanding of cooperation: "Non-Zero-Sum Games. This theme is emblematic of the sea-change concept, demonstrating that our evolution tends toward cooperation and interdependence rather than endless competitions involving winners and losers. Cultural evolution favors non-zero-sum behaviors (cooperative win-win or lose-lose interactions) over zero-sum (win-lose) social patterns. "

Another important chapter looks at the thought of American philosopher Ken Wilber and his widely studied conceptual framework: the Four Quadrants, an Integral Approach to Knowing. This model describes four essential realms of human knowledge and endeavor, the four are divided into two hemispheres, where two are concerned with the individual, in both their interior and exterior dimensions, and two address the collective, in its interior and exterior dimensions. This seemingly simple model can be elaborated into a rather detailed diagram of almost any human phenomenon one can imagine. Just enter “four quadrants” into your search engine and specify that you want to see images to verify this. Wilber is among the most revered and prolific thinkers of our times.

All in all taking on this book review has been a daunting task, but entirely worthwhile if it inspires you to pick it up and share its insights with those around you. Mr. Kenney ends this book with a discussion of Joseph Campbell’s notion of the great stories. Campbell maintained that the great stories “have at least four basic functions. 1) They orient us within our cosmos and disclose the mysteries of nature and of the times and spaces within which life unfolds. 2) They ground us in our social nexus, reminding us of the protocols, the limits, and the values that make our place and our time unique. 3) They aid us in the passages from one life stage to the next, recalling those first humans who walked the same path from birth into this world to birth into the next. 4) They arouse in us a sense of wonder, an awareness of the divinely mysterious character of all existence.”

Mr. Kenney concludes “That’s why I find cultural evolution so empowering. It’s a story that needs telling, and it’s beginning to be told in a variety of powerful ways by committed and persuasive teachers around the world. The new story is especially urgent in a time of sea-change, one of the very rare periods of a potential evolutionary quantum leap. If the story of the evolution of human values over time is worth telling to the children around every campfire, how much more important is the story of an extraordinary time of crossing? And who needs to hear it more than those who are trying to thrive in a crosscurrent they may not understand?” Who indeed?
 
Kenney, James. Thriving in the Crosscurrent: Clarity and Hope in a Time of Cultural Sea-change. Quest Books. Also available in a Kindle Edition.

On April 29, 2018 Rev. Ed Kosak and Unity of Charleston hosted a very successful interfaith event, with 15 faith paths represented. The event included a call to Jeffrey Mannaseh in Malawi Africa have a Skype call to the originator of this global event Greg Davis in Columbus Ohio. This event was held simultaneously in Madison, Wisconsin, Concorde, New Hampshire, Rockton, Illinois, Ventura County, California, Boise, Idaho, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Houston, Texas, Ames, Iowa, Grass Valley, California, Columbus, Ohio, Kasese, Uganda, Gulu Town, Uganda, Kashmir, India, Faisalabad, Pakistan as well as in Malawi in Africa. Among the partners in Africa was URI, United Religions Initiative which I believe is the organization that Jeffrey Mannaseh serves in. Click on image to view the video.

The opening speaker was to be Russell Binder, sharing his perspective on Judaism. He was unable to attend and his part was covered by Rev. Ed’s long time interfaith colleague Toreah “Cookie” Washington. Next came Victoria Smalls speaking from her Baha’i faith, she was followed by Dr. Amarjit Singh on Sikhism. Then came an artistic interlude with Dr. Peter Kfoury playing the Oud. Next to speak was Rev. Christian King on Christianity, she was followed by Shaila Shroff speaking on Hinduism, Native American spirituality was addressed by Rev. Catherine Nelson who also played beautifully on her double wooden flute. We were then presented with interpretive dance by Trudy’s School of Dance and coordinated by Erica Capdevila. Dr. Reshma Kahn spoke about Islam, and next was to be sensei Cindy Beach who was unable to attend due to logistical problems. Her time was taken to connect by Skype with the events originator Greg Davis in Ohio. The Quakers, the Religious Society of Friends were represented by Trish Bender and she was followed by another artistic interlude, native flute performed by Cerantha. Speaking for the Mormon faith was Dr. David Goltra and he was followed by Bernadette Victor from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Charleston, and she was followed by a Will Moredock who presented his secular humanist perspective. This was followed by another artistic interlude featuring Greg Guay performing an original piece on classical guitar. Perspectives on paganism were presented by IPSC’s Holli Emore and Clarissa Mickle who were followed by Simran Singh who spoke for the Oneness movement. This was followed by another artistic interlude featuring unity of Charleston’s own Brad Henty and Chris Crosby. Cookie Washington provided closing remarks.

Throughout the event people were informed of interfaith opportunities, locally this included The Coastal Interfaith Community, the Christian Jewish Council, Charleston Area Justice Ministry and the statewide organization IPSC, Interfaith Partners of South Carolina. Rev. Ed also took some time to talk about The Parliament of World Religions and encouraging people to become involved and to attend the upcoming Parliament this November in Toronto. Ed also shared that he and Greg will have a table at the Parliament promoting Religious Freedom: Malice Toward None.
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The Association for Global New Thought (AGNT) has initiated a series of online salons based on various topics. The New Thought on the News salon began in January 2018 and occurs monthly at 5:30 PM Pacific daylight Time. I have found this timely and powerfully engaging.  I have been involved in the New Thought movement for about eight years now and was initially drawn to it by articles written in the local paper by Rev. Justin Epstein, who was the minister at Unity of Hilton Head at that time. Rev. Epstein had deep connections to Hinduism and particularly to the work Paramahansa Yogananda. I had had a long-standing interest in Hinduism. I also had a decades long involvement with interfaith work. After attending his services for a little while it seemed to me that Unity was an ideal faithpath to promote interfaith understanding.

Since my early teens I’ve considered myself an activist, particularly with respect to environmental issues and indigenous rights, and have found it important to keep abreast of the news and issues that most concern me. For much of the time that I have been involved in the New Thought Movement I have encountered resistance to my activist proclivities and my interest in worldly events. A central concept of New Thought is the importance of consciousness in manifesting the world we wish to see. Many long time practitioners of new thought hold that the answer to the problems in the world is through prayer and meditation and that ultimately our task is not to change the world so much as it is to see it rightly. I do agree about the centrality of consciousness in manifested reality, but I also believe that one should stand in their belief and be present as a harbinger of positive alternatives to unsatisfactory circumstances. Only in the last several years have I witnessed stirrings of a different point of view among New Thought adherents. There are now a number of ministries that I am aware of that hold that it is important to remain conscious of what is going on in the world and that when we find ourselves in circumstances where it is appropriate we must stand up and speak out. In fact, last year I attended a marvelous event sponsored by Rev. Darlene Strickland’s Unity of the Blue Ridge with the theme of Our Love Is Power, Standup, Speak Up, Show Up. The choice of Marianne Williamson as a keynote speaker signaled the sincerity of the organizers as change agents.

This New Thought on the News salon is based on the premise that we must attend to the news, to the issues in the world, but that we must interpret them from a New Thought perspective, and not accept the slant that is presented to us by the media, which has a vested interest in exploiting fear and uncertainty in order to sell their products. The moderator of this program is Dr. Barbara Fields who serves as the executive director of AGNT, and who served as program director for the first modern Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1993.

​The inspiration and central reference for this series is a book by Jim Kenney entitled Thriving in the Crosscurrent: Clarity and Hope in a Time of Cultural Sea Change. Mr. Kenney is a longtime friend of Dr. Fields and was global director of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions up to and including the parliament which was held in Barcelona in 2004. There are some preparatory tutorials for this salon based on Mr. Kenney’s book and there are some very useful diagrams provided which clarifies the concepts, click here for links to those materials.

Mr. Kenney presents the central concept of the sea change as having four foundations: interdependence, paradigm shift, cultural evolution, and the emerging global consensus of values. His book is rich with visual intuitions and potent metaphors. Among these, in keeping with the idea of sea change, is the notion of cultural values presenting as waves, and that there are periods of transition, where the wave of old values are descending and the wave of new values are arising, and that, necessarily, this period of transition generates turbulence. One of the key understandings of what we are seeing in the news these days in the strident voices calling for a return to older ways, to fundamentalist values, and the demonization of those involved in the ascendancy of these new values, are the manifestation of this turbulence. A choice metaphor of his is that of the “eddy”, which anyone who has ever spent time in a river is familiar with and uses this apt metaphor for the counter motions observable in the general flow of change. Perhaps the overarching theme of Mr. Kenney’s work is that cultural values are inevitably moving ever upwards and outwards, evolving, as they approach the realities that human culture must face. Although he arrived at this viewpoint independently, he frequently references Steven Pinker’s book The Better Angels of Our Nature which presents a great deal of data supporting this view.

A prime example of this evolution of cultural values is the institution of chattel slavery, which was universally accepted and defended well into the 19th century, it is now generally recognized that slavery is everywhere and always wrong. Another example is patriarchy, which since the 1960s has rapidly diminished in its scope and power. All of which is not to say that these problems have ended, but that they are rapidly moving out of the realm of issues of central concern. Another key point that Mr. Kenney presents is that although this cultural evolution continually trends upward in the history of our shared world, there are times when this evolution is greatly accelerated. He posits, and I agree, that we are living in just such a time.

Regarding the salons themselves, the general format includes an introduction by Dr. Fields of this month’s topic, introductions to guest speakers by cohost Stephen Pope, a recap of the foundational perspectives by Mr. Kenney, followed by presentations and responses by guest speakers and the hosts. The salons are presented via Zoom and those watching the live presentation have the opportunity to chime in and express themselves on the various points presented. Guest speakers have included such luminaries in the New Thought Movement as Dr. David Alexander, Rev. Temple Hayes, Rev. Kevin Ross, Dr. Kenn Gordon thus far; and scheduled for upcoming salons are Dr. David Goldberg, Dr. Roger Teal, and Dr. Michael Beckwith. Click for bios of these and other leaders in AGNT.
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I am deeply grateful for this initiative by the AGNT which is both timely, deeply engaging and very energizing. I wholeheartedly recommend this salon to readers of this post and suggest that they check out the other salons made available by the AGNT. Click to view previous sessions of the New Thought on the News solons.
 

Thank you to Rev. Lori Hlaban and her warm and engaged congregation for this wonderful opportunity to speak about the Parliament of the World's Religions. Thank you Rabbi TZiPi for the sweet and personal introduction!

In response to the announcement by the host of the radio quiz show "Truth or Consequences" that he would air a program from the first town that renamed itself after the show, Hot Springs, NM won the honor officially changing its name on March 31, 1950. And, to my mind ironically, the program was broadcast from there on April 1st or April Fool’s Day.

On the show, contestants received roughly two seconds to answer a trivia question correctly, generally an off-the-wall question that no one would be able to answer correctly before the buzzer went off. If the contestant could not complete the "Truth" portion, there would be "Consequences," usually a zany and embarrassing stunt. From the start, most contestants preferred to answer the question wrong in order to perform the stunt.
At this juncture of history, political theater has become a twist on this improbable theme. The President of the United States has chosen to “answer the question wrong” (even the most straightforward and earnest questions posed by respected journalists and concerned citizens) with shockingly wrong and inane answers, and following the game show format, seemingly in order to perform “zany and embarrassing” stunts in front of the widest audience imaginable. The notable twist is that we the people are the ones who are and should be embarrassed. And as for POTUS, it is well known that those with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are unable to see themselves as others do and he seems completely immune to shame.

I have been heartened to see that even among those most politically aligned Senators and members of Congress there is backlash about this violence being done to truth. Perhaps nowhere more eloquently and stridently than in Senator Jeff Flake’s scathing message to the Senate from the podium on Jan. 17, 2018. He opened his remarks saying “Mr. President, near the beginning of the document that made us free, our Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident...” So, from our very beginnings, our freedom has been predicated on truth. The founders were visionary in this regard, understanding well that good faith and shared facts between the governed and the government would be the very basis of this ongoing idea of America.”  The speech was lengthy and full of salient details and I will only quote a few of his particularly pungent remarks:

   “It is for that reason that I rise today, to talk about the truth, and its relationship to democracy. For without       truth, and a principled fidelity to truth and to shared facts, Mr. President, our democracy will not last.”

    “2017 was a year which saw the truth – objective, empirical, evidence-based truth -- more battered and             abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our                   government. It was a year which saw the White House enshrine “alternative facts” into the American lexicon,     as justification for what used to be known simply as good old-fashioned falsehoods.”

     “It was the year in which an unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally-protected free press was                launched by that same White House, an assault that is as unprecedented as it is unwarranted. “The enemy        of the people,” was what the president of the United States called the free press in 2017. Mr. President, it is      a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by          Josef Stalin to describe his enemies. It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase “enemy of          the people,” that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase      had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of “annihilating such individuals” who disagreed with the            supreme leader. And, of course, the president has it precisely backward – despotism is the enemy of the            people. The free press is the despot’s enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When      a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him “fake news,” it is that person who should          be the figure of suspicion, not the press.”

     “No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence. No longer can we turn a blind        eye or a deaf ear to these assaults on our institutions. And Mr. President, an American president who                cannot take criticism – who must constantly deflect and distort and distract – who must find someone else        to blame -- is charting a very dangerous path. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president          adds to the danger.”

      “We are a mature democracy – it is well past time that we stop excusing or ignoring – or worse, endorsing -      these attacks on the truth. For if we compromise the truth for the sake of our politics, we are lost.”

When in college I majored in Philosophy and was drawn to the field by a class I took in Ethics. A close study of ethical traditions throughout human histories and cultures inseparably links ethics to truth telling. As some of you are aware I serve as an Ambassador for the Parliament of the World’s Religions and in preparation for a talk I recently gave to a Quaker Meeting on the Parliament’s Mission, Vision and Approach I re-read the Parliament’s initial declaration at the first modern Parliament in 1993, Towards a Global Ethic. I had forgotten the great emphasis that was placed on the importance of truthfulness. This document was drafted by Hans Küng, President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic (Stiftung Weltethos), in cooperation with the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religion’s staff and Trustees and experts. Küng is a noted German Catholic Theologian who has long been willing to speak truth to power and was stripped of his authority to teach Catholic Theology in part for his stance against the dogma of Papal Infallibility, a notion that is close to the understanding that many have of the authority of the President of the United States.

Towards a Global Ethic details four major principles or directives. This document draws on many of the world's religious, spiritual, and cultural traditions, identifying the Golden Rule: “What you wish done to yourself, do to others!” as an "unconditional norm for all areas of life".  It asserts that these four principles "can be affirmed by all persons with ethical convictions, whether religiously grounded or not". The third principle is Commitment to a Culture of Tolerance and a Life of Truthfulness, which upon careful consideration are inseparable precepts. Although I encourage everyone to read this beautifully crafted, well-reasoned document in its entirety (click this link) I am quoting the entirety of this third principle as central to the issues I’m addressing in this article:

3.   Commitment to a Culture of Tolerance and a Life of Truthfulness

Numberless women and men of all regions and religions strive to lead lives of honesty and truthfulness.  Nevertheless, all over the world we find endless lies and deceit, swindling and hypocrisy, ideology and demagoguery:

• Politicians and business people who use lies as a means to success;
• Mass media which spreads ideological propaganda instead of accurate reporting, misinformation instead of information, cynical commercial interest instead of loyalty to the truth;
• Scientists and researchers who give themselves over to morally questionable ideological or political programs or to economic interest groups, or who justify research which violates fundamental ethical values;
• Representatives of religions who dismiss other religions as of little value and who preach fanaticism and intolerance instead of respect and understanding.

a) In the great ancient religious and ethical traditions of humankind we find the directive:  You shall not lie!  Or in positive terms:  Speak and act truthfully!  Let us reflect anew on the consequences of this ancient directive:  No woman or man, no institution, no state or church or religious community has the right to speak lies to other humans. 

b) This is especially true

• for those who work in the mass media, to whom we entrust the freedom to report for the sake of truth and to whom we thus grant the office of guardian.  They do not stand above morality but have the obligation to respect human dignity, human rights, and fundamental values.  They are duty-bound to objectivity, fairness, and the preservation of human dignity.  They have no right to intrude into individuals’ private spheres, to manipulate public opinion, or to distort reality;
• for artists, writers, and scientists, to whom we entrust artistic and academic freedom.  They are not exempt from general ethical standards and must serve the truth;
• for the leaders of countries, politicians, and political parties, to whom we entrust our own freedoms.  When they lie in the faces of their people, when they manipulate the truth, or when they are guilty of venality or ruthlessness in domestic or foreign affairs, they forsake their credibility and deserve to lose their offices and their voters.  Conversely, public opinion should support those politicians who dare to speak the truth to the people at all times;
• finally, for representatives of religion.  When they stir up prejudice, hatred, and enmity towards those of different belief, or even incite or legitimize religious wars, they deserve the condemnation of humankind and the loss of their adherents.
• Let no one be deceived: There is no global justice without truthfulness and humaneness!

c) Young people must learn at home and in school to think, speak, and act truthfully.  They have a right to information and education to be able to make the decisions that will form their lives.  Without an ethical formation they will hardly be able to distinguish the important from the unimportant. In the daily flood of information, ethical standards will help them discern when opinions are portrayed as facts, interests veiled, tendencies exaggerated, and facts twisted.
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d) To be authentically human in the spirit of our great religious and ethical traditions means the following:

• We must not confuse freedom with arbitrariness or pluralism with indifference to truth.
• We must cultivate truthfulness in all our relationships instead of dishonesty, dissembling, and opportunism.
• We must constantly seek truth and incorruptible sincerity instead of spreading ideological or partisan half-truths.
• We must courageously serve the truth and we must remain constant and trustworthy, instead of yielding to opportunistic accommodation to life.

 
To reiterate these points made by Küng and adopted by the Parliament of the World’s Religions, “Speak and act truthfully!  Let us reflect anew on the consequences of this ancient directive:  No woman or man, no institution, no state or church or religious community has the right to speak lies to other humans.” This imperative is noted as “especially true” for four named groups: journalists and those charged with the public trust of media; artists, writers and other creatives; political leaders and parties of all stripes; and representatives of religion. The declaration repeatedly uses strong, emotive language with words like “courage”, “sincerity”, “humaneness”; it forcefully points to consequences. And so Truth or Consequences is not just the namesake town of a defunct gameshow, rather it is the pivot point about which the ancient Greek, dual-faced mask of tragedy and comedy spins so precipitously.