March 2009 Newsletter - ENGLISH

The Shift - Going One Step Further
Embracing Spiritual Experiences
Triple Whammy for Humanity's Team
Start your own New Spirituality Study Group
President Obama's Address to the National Prayer Breakfast
Humanity's Team is Looking for Experienced Grant Writers
Make the Difference Network

The Shift - Going One Step Further

SteveI was watching Barack Obama on television a couple of weeks ago. He talked about moving the political discussion from "divisive politics" to a more "civil politics". He shared that partisan politics is getting in the way of real progress. I profoundly agree with him.

This got me thinking . . . Imagine what our world looks like, deeply consider how it feels, when we go one step further and remove all division and separation from politics and worldly living, when collective consciousness has shifted and we know ourselves to be One with God, humanity and all of life, when we see this is a precise description of reality. Imagine how it feels when we see God's presence, the sacred and divine, in everyone and in everything and we treat people this way.

As I imagine walking down the street, this is how it feels to me -- we will experience a deep love and empathy for each person we encounter and the world around us. We will share and we will appreciate. We'll realize we are always looking at parts of God when we look out in the world. God is love, truth, joy, equality, acceptance, gratitude, innocence, and blessing so our hearts will merge with all we see and meet. We'll see there is no separation between our mental, emotional and spiritual selves [with a little practice we can feel each other's mental and emotional energy]. Of course, we'll see our individual physical bodies but we will not confuse this with real separation. We'll see this for what it is: diversity in Oneness expressing and opportunity for physical connection from something as simple as a hug or kiss to something as elegant as making love. Cynical attitudes and judgments will be discarded. Prejudice based on race, culture, gender, faith tradition and sexual orientation will be impossible because no part of God can "have it wrong." Outdated attitudes and orientations will be left behind like a chrysalis as we move into butterfly states.

We'll see our daily life and living as an invitation to be in relationship with each other we encounter. Our primary concern will be how we nurture, love, and support the other. Of course, we'll notice how others treat us and we'll put energy into creating functional and loving relationships when they are dysfunctional but our primary concern will be with our own thoughts, words and actions. Are we coming from integrity? Are we being loving? Are we helping in ways we can?

Partnership relationships will have special place. Creatively loving the partner will be something delicious. Checking in with the other, offering assistance, sharing a complement, and planning the unusual will be staples in our daily relationship. Creating deep relationships with fantastic intimacy and real freedom will be the norm. We will become conscious of Self rather than Self conscious. Sexual expression will be unbounded. Deep love, imagination and creativity will create sparks...melting bodies together. Gone will be the stale, tired, worn-out sexual patterns that are commonplace today.

Everything will change. Our cultural story will come alive with new power and purpose. We will understand the invitation in life is to love and nurture each person in our life and all the life we come in contact with. We will enjoy creative new possibilities...manifesting health, loving relationships and abundance in all its various forms. Passion will come back into education, deep connection will accompany our interaction with the outdoors and environment, integrity and collective well-being will come back into politics, and so much more! We will see new possibilities and dream new dreams!

We in Humanity’s Team are creating this world today. Many of us will live to see it and feel it because we have collectively called forth this shift. The world is changing little by little, day by day. We will reach a “tipping point” within a generation. If this feels unrealistic and outrageous, please carefully consider the reality we know to be true. We are all part of God today. We have inherited God’s deep love, God’s creativity, God’s imagination and God’s eternal nature. The question is not, “how can we create this new world in a generation?”   We are all One today.  We are not creating a new reality -- new world, yes but new reality, no.  We are simply awakening to the reality that is here now.  The question is, “why are we living as though we are merely physical bodies limited in most ways when we know this is not true?” How long can the game go on? It must end and it will end — in our lifetime!

THANKS for being part of this fantastic journey - awakening humanity to Who We Really Are!!

All my love,
Steve

Embracing Spiritual Experiences
by Claudia Christine Pieper, Country Coordinator, Germany

Imagine a business meeting that starts with people looking into each other's eyes for a while and bowing before each other. Or imagine each Monday morning the entire staff of a company practicing laughter yoga for half an hour before everybody starts working? Can you imagine people who do not know each other meeting on the street and being kind to each other, smiling and showing respect to each other by some kind gesture? How about a morning ritual of all the teachers of a school: they hold each others' hands before they start the lessons every day? A researcher who begins his day by honoring all of creation by having some silent time for him- or herself? This list could go on and on and on... why don't you join me in envisioning a world where spiritual experiences have become such an integral part of our lives that we cannot imagine a world without them. This is my own personal vision of a society, even of humanity as a whole: a world where spiritual values are on an equal footing with ordinary things in the game of life.

How things started ~

I remember quite vividly our first Humanity's Team Country Coordinator Meeting in Prague, in the autumn of 2003, shortly after worldwide HT had just started. We sat barricaded behind our tables - our ambition and the multitude of plans that we had come up with made our heads spinning. We, as activists of a spiritual movement, were sitting there and allowed us only so little space for experiencing the spirit of spirituality. This is not how things were supposed to go on. And that is why I lobbied to lighten up future meetings by means of meditative elements and non-verbal experiences. The notion of "spiritual experiences" was conceived back then. As the Country Coordinator Meetings continued over the years, we allowed ourselves more and more space for this level; and so we were experiencing our meetings becoming much smoother through the use of laughter, dancing, breathing, toning, meditating or personal encounters. In the meantime, spiritual experiences have become an important part of Humanity's Team meetings (and, thank God, also elsewhere).

In summer of 2006, the German team and European HT activists hosted a friendship gathering at Berlin. A video is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3GRpKIYIyU

Thus a vision came true for Sonja Geiger who kicked off the German team with me back in 2003. The Unconditional Love Tour in Europe in 2007, and the Love Tour through the US and Canada in 2008 including worldwide Free Hugs allowed Humanity's Team to bring spiritual experiences into the public.

Have courage ~

You don't have to start with an Angel Shower - but I would like to encourage you to consider spiritual experiences as a valuable asset for your lives. The easy way so start this is to smile. This is not a big deal, but you reap a huge benefit. Everybody who sees you smiling receives a gift, without any side-effects to the one giving it! Nobody is so rich that he or she could spare it, and nobody is so poor that it would not be of help to him or her. It cannot be bought, nor stolen, nor forced, for the value is received at that moment that it is given.

In closing, I would like to give an example - you might use it in your study group or when you invite friends over to your place. You might even have the courage to bring this spirit to your next business meeting: invite the people around you to have some silent time to themselves for a couple of moments. If you like, you might guide them to breathe consciously and deeply. Encourage them to focus on their heart chakra and experience the feeling of love and acceptance. In a very mind-oriented group you might ask the group to recall a referential experience. That is, have them think of a situation where they had a real experience of love or unconditional acceptance. Allow a couple of minutes and ask your participants to look around in the group and see the highest possible qualities in everybody, thereby giving them unconditional attention and acceptance of his or her being. In closing, tell people to breathe deeply a couple of times.

Enjoy applying this in practice - rest assured that your example will make a difference in this world.

Namasté
Claudia Christine Pieper

Claudia Christine is a healer, counselor and spiritual teacher. She regularly facilitates retreats and workshops on New Spirituality. For more information please visit http://www.lebens-quell.de/neue_perspektiven_entfalten.htm (German language)

Triple Whammy for Humanity's Team!
March 2009 contribution: HT Global Newsletter

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (1984) Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu accepts our global Spiritual Leadership Award, Signs our Oneness Petition to the United Nations, and accepts Humanity's Team Oneness Declaration!

Humanity's Team's wildest dreams have come true with all of this happening recently!

Archbishop Tutu has become known, loved, admired, and respected all over the world for countless reasons: His un-relentless activism against the apartheid system in SA earned him the Nobel Peace Prize of 1984 with the Nobel Committee citing his role as: "as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa." Archbishop Tutu also realised that peace was never possible without reconciliation and forgiveness; leading to the formation of the now world acclaimed Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he was appointed head of. Faced with many dilemmas, the commission was established to uncover many horrific crimes committed during the apartheid era; giving the perpetrators the opportunity to testify and to request amnesty from prosecution. This very difficult and painful process gave all the parties involved the opportunity to face one another and to find a way towards forgiveness, reconciliation and healing.

Archbishop Tutu continues to speak out against the many atrocities that humanity still faces every day; using every opportunity to call for justice, equality, human rights, compassion and love.

"It is especially his role as the chair of The Elders http://www.theelders.org/ that inspires me tremendously" says Anna-Mari Pieterse, Country Coordinator for Humanity's Team South-Africa and the World-Wide Oneness Initiatives Coordinator. "Through his everyday life and work it is evident that Archbishop Tutu, like The Elders,

• is a catalyst for change. As Humanity's Team operates from the premise of the Gandhian slogan, Be the change you wish to see in the world, this is a very important aspect of Spiritual Leadership as it indicates that change is possible through each and every citizen of the world. We want to remind the world about the powerful notion that everything begins and ends with ONE.

• seeks new approaches to seemingly intractable global issues. This aspect is also very important for Humanity's Team as we believe that the time has come for a New Spirituality to be awakened. It is time for this very big, ancient (elder) idea to be made new! A new approach to old ideas.

• seeks Wisdom. Archbishop Tutu has become known and respected not only for his own wisdom, but for his recognition of the value of wisdom. Like Humanity's Team he encourages humanity to revisit their ancient, loving, unifying spiritual wisdom traditions as a means to come to unifying answers to the questions and problems we face, and as a means to realise that there has always only been one truth - Oneness. We are all inter-connected, inter-related and inter-dependent; children of the same God and human family. This truth is reflected in all of our spiritual teachings, including the African philosophy of uBuntu", Anna-Mari says.

During April 2009 Humanity's Team South-Africa is hosting the 2009 Global Council Meeting at the beautiful Protea Hotel Kruger Gate. The Global Council Meeting is preceded by Humanity's Team Oneness Summit 2009... Awakening the Spirit of uBuntu event, where Archbishop Tutu will be receiving his award in person on Saturday the 18th April at the award-winning icon of reconciliation;
Freedom Park http://www.freedompark.co.za/. Humanity's Team thanks Freedom Park once again for their tremendous support of this very exciting and very important event.

uBuntu is the Nguni word for humanness; with ubu meaning ‘becoming', and ntu meaning ‘human.' Becoming human, is a process, a possibility and pure potential. As such, uBuntu calls for openness and inclusion as we continue our human path of becoming... forever the next expression of the grandest vision we may hold of ourselves.

"Amongst many beautiful explanations of uBuntu, I am because we are is the most well known. It is a beautiful expression of Humanity's Team core principle; We Are All One. This is why Humanity's Team South-Africa never hesitates to promote this idea as our cultural expression of Oneness. Humanity's Team South-Africa is especially passionate about the Spirit of uBuntu as a premise of the values that it promotes.

The acceptance of Archbishop Tutu of this award has extra significance as he is also regarded as one of the fathers of uBuntu and as such has written and said much about it."

Through the granting of our Spiritual Leadership Award, Humanity's Team wishes to acknowledge and highlight the individual/organisation that makes a life-changing spiritual impact on the world; on how we view ourselves, God, life and one another. And in doing so reminds humanity of who we really are: We Are All One. Archbishop Tutu continues to do so in exceptional ways!

We acknowledge and celebrate Archbishop Tutu's life and gifts and we are grateful that he has accepted our award. For us this also serves as recognition of our efforts to bring about a world where love and peace prevails.

To sign the Oneness Day Petition like Father Tutu did:
Download your copy of the powerful Oneness Declaration now: http://humanitysteam.org/sai/oneness-petition/document.

Start your own New Spirituality Study Group
by Dimitra Boura, Country Coordinator, Greece &
Education and Inner Work Operations Coordinator

Is, becoming a facilitator of a CwG or New Spirituality study group something that deep down you know you would like to do, but you are nervous to attempt, or even to dream of?

It is true that facilitation might sound difficult, challenging or even scary for many people. "How can I play this role? Will I know all the answers? Will I be convincing enough? Where will I find the people to attend?" Don't allow these thoughts to keep you away from "playing" this wonderful role. These thoughts went through my mind when I started 5 yeas ago.

It is true that there are many ways to help spread the message of the New Spirituality beyond group facilitation. I want to encourage you to include yourself in the fulfilling and self rewarding facilitator's role.

Starting a group is really simple and easy. In Humanity's Team we offer a menu of options from which you can choose. Click here to see all options: http://humanitysteam.org/celebration-of-life.

The simplest form is the New Spirituality Study groups. This is a "safe" place from which to start your journey into facilitation. All you need is 2-3 friends who can meet in your own living room and a good book.

In New Spirituality Study Groups participants study and discuss the ideas presented in the CWG books or other books of the New Spirituality. Everyone shares their understanding and their unanswered questions. They share their own life experience in practicing the new ideas. Inspiration naturally follows from sharing these experiences. Hearing everyone's stories motivates the group to keep practicing and thereby finding their own truths. You will be amazed at what you learn from others.

All you need in order to start a group is your heart's desire and trust in the process.

Maria Ribeiro Ferreira and I will provide you with all the information and assistance on how to get started. The instructions are simple. For more information on beginning a group, please contact maria.rf [at] humanitysteam [dot] org (Education and Inner Work Programs Coordinator) and/or dimitra.boura [at] humanitysteam [dot] org (Education and Inner Work Programs Coordinator).

President Obama's Address to the National Prayer Breakfast
Hilton Hotel, Washington, D.C.
February 5, 2009

From Nannette: Thank you to everyone who gave their thoughts and opinions about including this speech in the newsletter. You all made many wonderful comments regarding the Oneness of this speech and that the message is relevant beyond the borders of the United States.

Good morning. I want to thank the Co-Chairs of this breakfast, Representatives Heath Shuler and Vernon Ehlers. I'd also like to thank Tony Blair for coming today, as well as our Vice President, Joe Biden, members of my Cabinet, members of Congress, clergy, friends, and dignitaries from across the world.

Michelle and I are honored to join you in prayer this morning. I know this breakfast has a long history in Washington, and faith has always been a guiding force in our family's life, so we feel very much at home and look forward to keeping this tradition alive during our time here.

It's a tradition that I'm told actually began many years ago in the city of Seattle. It was the height of the Great Depression, and most people found themselves out of work. Many fell into poverty. Some lost everything.

The leaders of the community did all that they could for those who were suffering in their midst. And then they decided to do something more: they prayed. It didn't matter what party or religious affiliation to which they belonged. They simply gathered one morning as brothers and sisters to share a meal and talk with God.

These breakfasts soon sprouted up throughout Seattle, and quickly spread to cities and towns across America, eventually making their way to Washington. A short time after President Eisenhower asked a group of Senators if he could join their prayer breakfast, it became a national event. And today, as I see presidents and dignitaries here from every corner of the globe, it strikes me that this is one of the rare occasions that still brings much of the world together in a moment of peace and goodwill.

I raise this history because far too often, we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another - as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance. Wars have been waged. Innocents have been slaughtered. For centuries, entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of perceived righteousness.

There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we're going next - and some subscribe to no faith at all.

But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.

We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to "love thy neighbor as thyself." The Torah commands, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." In Islam, there is a hadith that reads "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule - the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

It is an ancient rule; a simple rule; but also one of the most challenging. For it asks each of us to take some measure of responsibility for the well-being of people we may not know or worship with or agree with on every issue. Sometimes, it asks us to reconcile with bitter enemies or resolve ancient hatreds. And that requires a living, breathing, active faith. It requires us not only to believe, but to do - to give something of ourselves for the benefit of others and the betterment of our world.

In this way, the particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a greater good for all of us. Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America, and it will be the purpose of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that I'm announcing later today.

The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another - or even religious groups over secular groups. It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state. This work is important, because whether it's a secular group advising families facing foreclosure or faith-based groups providing job-training to those who need work, few are closer to what's happening on our streets and in our neighborhoods than these organizations. People trust them. Communities rely on them. And we will help them.

We will also reach out to leaders and scholars around the world to foster a more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith. I don't expect divisions to disappear overnight, nor do I believe that long-held views and conflicts will suddenly vanish. But I do believe that if we can talk to one another openly and honestly, then perhaps old rifts will start to mend and new partnerships will begin to emerge. In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding.

This is my hope. This is my prayer.

I believe this good is possible because my faith teaches me that all is possible, but I also believe because of what I have seen and what I have lived.

I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I've ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.

I didn't become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck - no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God's spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose - His purpose.

In different ways and different forms, it is that spirit and sense of purpose that drew friends and neighbors to that first prayer breakfast in Seattle all those years ago, during another trying time for our nation. It is what led friends and neighbors from so many faiths and nations here today. We come to break bread and give thanks and seek guidance, but also to rededicate ourselves to the mission of love and service that lies at the heart of all humanity. As St. Augustine once said, "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you."

So let us pray together on this February morning, but let us also work together in all the days and months ahead. For it is only through common struggle and common effort, as brothers and sisters, that we fulfill our highest purpose as beloved children of God. I ask you to join me in that effort, and I also ask that you pray for me, for my family, and for the continued perfection of our union. Thank you.

Humanity's Team is Looking for Experienced Grant Writers

If you would like to volunteer your expertise in grant writing for Humanity's Team, please contact lynn [at] lynnlauner [dot] com with a letter of introduction and resume or short biography. Everyone will benefit from such a dedication and task. This is a critical part of our future funding. Contact Lynn with any questions you may have about these positions.

Make the Difference Network
by Nannette Kennedy

The Oscars are over and the stars have received their awards. But, the same night of the Oscars, celebrities Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake sponsored the opening of a donation site dedicated to non-profit organizations.

Last week Lynn Launer, Chip Cooper, Danette Steele (very active HT teammate in Colorado) and I worked very hard establishing our page on Make the Difference Network site so that it would be "live" the night of the Oscars. I'm still collecting and loading pictures from Humanity's Team events from around the globe. If you have one you'd like me to include on the site, please send it to me.

Go to http://www.mtdn.com/ and search for Humanity's Team. Join the network for free and look for other Humanity's Teammates and become friends. Neale also has a page on the site. Look for him, too.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with this project!
blessings,
Nannette
nannette.kennedy [at] humanitysteam [dot] org

Special thanks to Ann Cook, Chip Cooper, Thomas Dachsel, Kirill Filonenko, Gerry Harrington, Monika Jamborova, Nannette Kennedy, Miriam Klajnberg, Lynn Launer, Ruth Luna, Chansomaly Ouk, Colline Gori, Danielle Dauphinais, Lénah Chonville, Mireille Cantin, Philippe Pasqualini, Anna-Mari Pieterse, Nancy Seymour, Nikolay Sluzhinin,Dannie Stahlecker, Catalina Sursilov and Danielle Versé for helping with the creation, translation and publication of this newsletter.

Humanity's Team is a nonprofit, global grassroots spiritual movement whose purpose is to communicate and implement the belief that we are all one, one with God and one with life, in a shared global state of being, so that the behavior of humanity may shift to reflect this understanding.

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Humanity's Team is a 501(c)(3) organization and all contributions are tax deductible as permitted by law in your country. We feel it is vitally important that you know how your gift helps Awaken the World to Oneness. Click here to review our action plan and see how your donations support our global outreach and spiritual activism.