I’m not a good conference blogger, preferring to show up at conferences and be as present as I can in conversation with the people who are in the room. But in this case I might get some time to use the blog to capture some learnings from the conference ‘m at this week. I’m on Whidbey Island, near Seattle at the Evolutionary Salon. The theme of our gathering here is “Catalyzing Collective Intelligence and Social Creativity” and the conveners are inviting us to engage in this inquiry: “How do we understand, interpret, apply, and communicate the evolutionary worldview offered by …
A friend sent me a piece called “There has to be a Big Crises” by Michael Kane about what it will take for Americans (and I would say Canadians too) to wake up to Peak Oil. The article paints a disparaging picture about the ability of North American leadership to wake up to the creeping decline – James Kunstler’s “The Long Emergency” – before it’s too late. Having spent the past two weeks in the States, and the better part of next week there too, I agree that the signs are not good. In Maui the radio is filled with …
It’s been an age since I posted, mostly because I was on Maui over New Years, unplugged for the most part and not at all inclined to blog. So I’ll ease back into it, with some music to start of your new year. While on Maui I bought a bunch of slack key guitar records by the likes of Sonny Lim and George Kahumoku Jr. Slack key guitar is a Hawai’ian style that originated with the Mexican paniolo cowboys that helped establish ranching in the early 20th century across the Hawai’ian islands. These dudes brought their Mexican cowboy guitar styles, …
Getting near Christmas, and I love the sacred music that gets sung at this time of year. Although this track isn’t Christmas music, it is from the Ukranian Orthodox Christian tradition, and is a haunting and meditative chant. This is from a fine site of russian orthodox music and information. This is an Antiphon, chanted text that is sung in a servics, often in a planisong setting. mp3: Brethern of the Valaam Monestary – First Antiphon of the THE Valaam Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
I just had lunch with Jessie Sutherland from Worldview Strategies. It was one of those encounters that was a long time in coming: we both seem to run in circles that intersect and I’ve known about her work for about a year but until today we had never met. I first became aware of Jessie’s work through an email inviting me to join a conference call on residential school reconciliation. Following the links, I found her website and her company, Worldview Strategies. Jessie’s life and work is about reconciliation and peacemaking and it intersects with my work on a number …