Tag: Webinars

Uncategorized

Staying Sane in the Next 5 Years

Joanna Tomkins

Transcript of a Q&A by Charles Eisenstein, before he and Patsy Eisenstein launched the Sanity project last year.

“I transcribed this talk to text for you readers because for me each of these words are gold and are very helpful to come back to. His talk is longer and the link is below if you wish to access it (or many of his other masterful downloads) Love Joanna”

by Charles Eisenstein:

In these turbulent times, we live amidst a breakdown of sense and meaning that leaves us susceptible to going crazy.

There were times during Covid actually where I felt like I was going crazy. I was holding a story that so contradicted what the culture overall was saying, thinking and appearing to believe that there were times where I thought “Well, maybe I’m the crazy one”. I had thoughts such as “maybe every single thing I’ve done in my entire career is simply coming from my reflexive opposition to my father and my discontent, and I just couldn’t hack it in the real world, so I became a dissident.”

When your truth is so different from what prevails that you are toppled from the seat of the Soul, the robbers get into the castle, the bandits get in and they run amok. And you become a fugitive in your own castle with your hidden truth, skulking around not daring even to say it to yourself, but on some level still knowing this can’t be right. And so, during those times, I always came back again and again to “what do I know for real from my direct experience?”. Then I found I had even started doubting my direct experience! I’d started gas lighting myself.

Every one of us has had direct experiences that contradict what we are being told. The economy tells us what is valuable. The economy says what society values and does not value. Yet so much of what we know in our bodies is valuable is not economically rewarded.

How do you stay sane if you don’t have other people to affirm what you know as the right choice? That is the key to maintaining sanity in coming times. Sanity is a group project. We cannot hold a story alone. We need a community to hold a reality because as I said reality is not an objective thing outside of ourselves. It’s not a given, neither present nor future, it is a relationship.

Our choice is whether to say yes or no to the future and the present that is offered to us and through our yes and no we create ourselves. “Who am I to be? I am also not a given.” That is the essence of what sovereignty is: who am I to be? Therefore, through that choice, through that acceptance of the offering, is who you can be. Through that acceptance, through that choice, we also create a world that is an intimate mirror of ourselves.

Part of why I am here and doing this work is to be part of that collective holding of sanity and to invoke realities and states of being that many of us are ready and willing to step into. We all need a little help from each other to do that. Many challenges lie ahead as the old structures break down and we are left alone in the gale. When we start gas lighting ourselves and when the truth that has touched us in the past blows away in the gusts, leaving us susceptible to predatory substitutes for the structures of sense, meaning and identity that have fallen away.

Because the story that that I grew up in anyway was a totalising story. It explained everything from the origin and purpose of humanity to why the birds sing. And when that breaks down, there comes a sense of vertigo and therefore an intense discomfort and a desperation to find some substitute, a new story of everything in which we can rest, and that’s what I call going insane. So, one way to hold it all together is to become even more entrenched and more orthodox in the story that is breaking down even though it’s not working. “I’m gonna double down and believe in it more” is actually a classic response to a challenge to a world view. In certain studies, they present people with evidence that contradicts their worldview and then they interview them about the result of that challenge. Most people become more convinced of their world view when it is challenged. Because it’s an assault on your identity. Opinions aren’t just opinions, they’re woven into everything and tear your self-worth. And so that’s one response: you get even more entrenched, which requires that you ignore more and more of what’s real in order to believe for example right now that civilisation is basically on the right track and that science and technology are ushering in a better and better world every year. In this mythos, you have to ignore more and more things to actually think that’s true, calling in more insanity…

Once you accept one lie you start to accept all the other lies that are required to maintain it and the result is that we live in a matrix of lies right now, where we take for granted being lied to. We’re not shocked when politicians lie to us, it’s normal advertising. It’s one lie after another. We automatically discount all speech, which is part of the reason for speech inflation, [with the use of superlatives], where everything’s “awesome” for example.

So, that’s one path to madness. Another path to madness is to jump to another totalizing discourse that explains everything. It could be religious fundamentalism; it could be a cult; it could be conspiracy theories… When I say conspiracy theories, I do not mean that in a derogatory sense because I do think that actual conspiracies happen and have a bigger influence on current affairs than most people think. Conspiracy theory can be used to dismiss any dissent or unorthodox opinion, or any protest. But when the conspiracy theory offers you an explanation for everything, be careful.

And then another form of madness is nihilism. It’s to become attached to the space between stories which is really supposed to be a transition. It’s a deprogramming time, it’s a letting go and it does take some time for a gentle falling away of what you thought was real and who you thought you were. That’s the empty space that allows something new to be born. It’s also why I like to take pauses in my speaking, so that I don’t go on autopilot, so something new can be born.

So yes, we are at a crossroads, indeed, a choice point, multiple timelines converge on the present moment and you can feel them sometimes. You maybe feel yourself moving from one to another to another which kind of explains how we can feel so much despondency at one moment and feel so much hope at another moment. It’s because you’re actually occupying a different timeline toward a different future. So, the task in front of us in the next five years is to: first recognize the choice that we are making and learn how to solidify the timeline that we actually want to experience for ourselves and the future generations. How do you actually make this choice? It’s not just to check a box, it’s to recognize the moments that we are choosing it. One way to do that is when facing a choice ask “What declaration am I making about human nature?”, ”What am I saying about the human being making this choice?”.

To watch the full Q&A you can access https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE7DXxE_q6o

You can also follow Charles on his networks and enroll in his new programme Turning of the Age here: https://charleseisenstein.org/

The Turning of the Age centers on monthly livestreams with Charles Eisenstein, who will report on Earth’s evolution toward “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.” Each monthly livestream will have a live Q&A session held in the week that follows. These reports each bring together some or all of the following elements:

Mystic River by Ági Novák
  • Meta-political commentary
  • Off-the-radar events of global significance
  • “Sign of the times” stories
  • Developments in conventional and alternative science & technology
  • Earth changes, ecological illness and healing
  • Newly emerging and dying myths
  • Insights from astrologers, channels, and mystics
  • Short guided meditations and/or prayers
Articles, Resources & Networks

Paradigm as Choice in the Great Turning

Joanna Tomkins

with Woman Stands Shining (Pat McCabe)

One of the most invigorating experiences for me in the last two years, since I became a WTR facilitator – and recently also as volunteer for the International WTR Network, is to listen to the conversations that take place on the WTR webinars. I feel such relief when I hear my thoughts reflected in the words of others in such a away.

I highly recommend to browse through the recording that are on the page below and listen to some of them. Even in the aftermath, the buzz of the Community that gather around these thoughts is tangible, and I’m sure you will gain a lot of insight and inspiration.

A lot of links are shared, so you will find the experience grows your branches out towards other authors and thinkers too.

WEBINAR AND CONVERSATION CAFÉ SERIES – click here

And if you prefer to be present in live, please don’t miss the one coming this month, on Saturday, 25th March at 9 am PST or 20 pm SAST (in South Africa). Here’s the link to join and a bit more info. I’ll be there.

Join the international network mailing list on their website if you want to received future notifications.

Hereunder is the information published on the WTR international site.

Much love and gratitude, Joanna


Register for this webinar here

The suggested requested donation for this webinar is between $25-$35USD. However, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please donate generously within your means but feel free to join us even if you can’t contribute financially. 

The Great Turning requires profound shifts in consciousness and in our perceptions of reality. In a society that’s so heavily influenced by the Power Over Paradigm that defines reality in static, concrete terms, we often don’t realize that it’s within our ability to choose to see and experience reality through different paradigmatic lenses.

As a holy earth surface walker of the Dine’ people, Woman Stands Shining (Pat McCabe) understands that the Power Over Paradigm is not the only way to understand and move through reality. She knows that the Earth operates within the Thriving Life Paradigm and that it is well within our ability to choose alignment with that paradigm.

Join us in a rich conversation as we explore our capacity, as humans, to participate with Earth in service to Thriving Life and muse on questions like:

  • What structures (hidden, overt, internal, external) exist to keep the Power Over Paradigm firmly in place?
  • How can we, here and now, wherever we are, cultivate a Thriving Life Paradigm within our own consciousness and in the world around us?
  • What are some radical, joyful, meaningful ways to step into that lifegiving empowerment?

We highly recommend listening to this episode of the Science and Nonduality (SAND) podcast with Woman Stands Shining (Pat McCabe) before our live webinar, if you’re able. It’s not required at all, but is a perfect lead-in for the conversation we’ll be having on March 25th. 

Woman Stands Shining (Pat McCabe), is of the Diné Nation (often known incorrectly as “Navajo”), and was also adopted into the Lakota Spiritual way of Life. She is a mother, grandmother, activist, artist, and international speaker. She identifies as a “radical bridger” of worlds and paradigms, with a focus on sharing from her own deep inquiry into Thriving Life Paradigm: “How do I become that being, that human, whose presence and way of being supports and causes all other life to Thrive?” She calls upon her lived experience from her indigenous cultures to make hypotheses and proposals to “Modern World Paradigm” as all of humanity is faced with its current crisis of relationship, with ourselves, with each other, and with the Earth.

Articles, Resources & Networks

The Work that Reconnects International Network, Going Forth

Joanna Tomkins

The Weavers and Volunteers working for The Work that Reconnects International Network are currently preparing a new website and an important online conference, both due later this year, in a huge collective effort to share wider and louder the valuable support resources that the network offers.

The Gaian Gathering has been in the collective dreams of the network for several years and 2023 is the year it comes into fruition! This global summit will combine online events and guided gatherings of local communities around the world. Watch out for further updates!

In the past years, the organisation has both strengthened and widened its web, by inviting in much novelty in all areas of thinking, being and doing. This represents a vast attempt to move away from the old paradigm, opening up to the astounding potential of transformation that is awakening in us at these times of the Great Turning. Some of the themes for reflection that have been highlighted over the last few years have been included on the website under the umbrella “Evolving Edge”.

This new breadth encourages more resilience within the network by shifting our patterns of thought, encouraging discussions and resources around topics such as white privilege, trauma informed practices, undoing oppression, collective and ancestral trauma, etc…

Secondly, the ongoing evolution of the network also intelligently considers the emergence of more multidisciplinary formats and specific applications for the original Work that Reconnects methodology. Indeed, whilst all the workshops and events by registered facilitators are always inspired by the Foundations of the Work that Reconnects and its Spiral, they now often are themed in areas like the Arts, Permaculture, Nature Quests, Parenting, etc. This allows the Work to expand as a tool in wider, younger and more active circles. And of course since 2020, many new formats have emerged online, following broad acceptance on distance workshopping by audiences worldwide.

And thirdly, I would add that some of the the other aspects that make the Work that Reconnects so stable in these wobbly times are its inherent diversity and inclusivity. Indeed, Joanna Macy already included different fields of knowledge in the philosophy at the roots of the Work, from indigenous wisdom to buddhist principles, or from deep ecology to systems thinking. She thereby made sure to utilise the principles at the base of the most resilient strains of knowledge available on Earth and inspired by Earth. Additionally, the co-founders guaranteed that the training remained open source, so as to make it available to a wide variety of facilitators worldwide, independently of their area of activism, location or income.

Increasingly, the resources and practices of the Work that Reconnects are incorporating contributions by activists from a variety of influential organisations worldwide, helped by the ease of online conversations and events. These activists often in turn have been inspired by the Work that Reconnects or Joanna Macy over the years and this reciprocity is at the base of the strength of this web.

Most of the recordings of the webinars organised over the last few years are available here:

Above is the last one I watched. As always, I found it revitalising and brimming with active hope and insight.

We invite you to join the Community as a Friend of the network if you have not already on https://workthatreconnects.org/register/

You will also receive the Deep Times Newsletter termly. Watch out for the next edition which talks about the vocabulary of these shifting times. The more we consolidate the “Gaianist” vocabulary, the more emergence and resilience can be birthed… Think “Great Turning”, “Business as Usual”, “Post-colonialism”, “Whiteness”, “Ecological Civilisation”, etc… We need a solid ground of expression to move forward as one humanity.