"Consciously Tapping Our Local Resources‏" A CFC Message from the Midwest, USA

"Consciously Tapping Our Local Resources‏" A CFC Message from the Midwest, USA

www.campaignforconsciousness.org

The library. One of the simple pleasures in my life. It's peaceful. It's warm in the bitter Wisconsin winter, cool in the suffocating summers. A sort of shelter from the storm. I am a mother of two. One of the many women in the United States of America who tries so fiercely to have it all - - - to achieve the delicate balance between family and career. And on the days when I am at home with my kids, I consciously and endlessly try to provide my kids with fun, stimulating, economical activities. I am a master of economical activities. So when we need a change of scenery, somewhere welcoming, somewhere soothing, we go to the library.

I am blessed to live in a community where libraries are plentiful. We know the Brookfield branch, the Elm Grove branch, Oconomowoc, Wauwatosa, and Milwaukee, to name a few. But our most favorite is the one just 2 miles away. We play with the puzzles, lounge in their kid sized chairs, read books on their cozy benches, play hide and seek in the rows and rows of books, pick out new music, rent Baby Einstein DVDs, movies on My First Ballet . . . I could go on and on. It is such a gift to have all of these resources FREE at our fingertips! Was the library a place where the idea of recycling first began? Please don't get me wrong, my kids have shelves upon shelves buried in books we own, but there is just something so wonderful about borrowing a book, and then returning it. Pass it on. You pass on the pleasure. How many little boys and girls have shared this same Olivia. Goodnight Moon. Corduroy. Harold and the Purple Crayon. Many, as I can see from the well loved pages.

We live in a disposable age. Or at least we have been living in a disposable age. While some of us have always leaned more towards the "frugal" side and managed to reuse every scrap of paper twice, I see many others who take delight in buying every book they ever had even the slightest interest in. I look at the financial situation this country is facing. I look at many of my friends who buy buy buy, charge charge charge. Where has it gotten us? Nowhere. This life isn't about who can own the most. It's about being the best person you can be, and as a parent, guiding your children to being the best they can be. Not achieving. Not owning. But living consciously. Caring. Caring about our earth, caring about our neighbors, caring about those who are NOT our neighbors, caring about the creatures who share this space with us.

So next time that shiny new hardcover is calling your name. Stop. Think. Every time you buy it, you remove one more tree from this earth. You displace one more creature. You use natural resources. Try the library. I promise you'll lose hours there. :)

Amanda Clark Krause
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Hello Campaigners!

Let's keep the lights shining!

Welcome to our annual exercise of spiritual democracy! One of my favorite quotes is from the Dalai Lama who said, "The world is a spiritual democracy. You vote with your life." So here we go! This year's campaign is dedicated to raising the consciousness of stewardship.

Whether the human race is aware or not, we are stewarding our earth and its creatures. The question is at what level and from what foundation of consciousness. It is all too easy to be silent, discouraged or complacent in the face of energies that appear to dominate the scene.

When I tune into the plight of the polar bears who die swimming trying to reach a melting ice mass, I am faced with a pivotal decision. I can drown in my sadness, refuse to bare witness-or I can pull up my spiritual bootstraps and declare, "Not on My Watch!"

The power is in our hands because power resides within! In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Great men are they who see that the spirit is stronger than any other material force." Let us never forget that our vision is stronger than any current appearance.

I am continuously inspired by the power of conscious individuals like you. Commitment to use your power to create through visioning, demonstrates that a new paradigm is here now manifesting itself as a new earth-a world that works for all.

There is absolutely more than enough divine intelligence popping up all around us~
Airports like Denver International going solar
Homes popping off the grid through innovations producing excess energy for others
Pioneering families turning their rooftops into grocery stores
Individuals neutralizing their carbon footprint

What initiative!
If change doesn't come to the people; the change comes through the people.

Soular power, baby!
Erin from the Garden State

Join me on Campaign for Consciousness 2008~Sept. 10-Oct.19

Welcome to Campaign for Consciousness 2008!

for more details visit www.campaignforconsciousness.org and post your name

Spiritual Social Action Focus: To actualize the stewardship and well-being of our sacred Earth and its diverse inhabitants through our collective vision of a new consciousness.

Together let's affirm throughout the world--September 10-October 19, 2008!

2008 Affirmation

We believe in the power of Life. It expresses itself in myriad ways and is sacred in all forms. Our unity and interdependence evidences itself as the diversity of life, intelligence, and substance. We seek to understand divine design. Immersed in the growing consciousness of our true nature, we align our desires, actions, systems, and vision with the principles of universal law.

Ideas of entitlement, domination, profiteering, exploitation, and hierarchy are now erased from human consciousness. We atone for the senseless neglect, misuse, and abuse of our mother earth and her majestic inhabitants. Ideas and ideals of collaboration, innovation, sacred awareness, and discernment replace old ways of being as we collectively establish dominion over obsolete, limited, and myopic perspectives.

As ambassadors of wisdom, we steward our earth and all of its living inhabitants. With spiritual integrity, we embody compassion acknowledging that animals are worthy of each dignity we seek for ourselves. From the core of the earth to the expanse of our atmosphere, polar regions to national parks, waterways to farmlands, marketplace to dining table, we consciously create a world that works for all. Harmony is our intention, wisdom our currency, discernment our path, integrity our foundation, and unity our inheritance.

We immerse our word in gratitude as we release it unto law.

Join me on Campaign for Consciousness 2008~Sept. 10-Oct.19

Welcome to Campaign for Consciousness 2008!

for more details visit www.campaignforconsciousness.org and post your name

Spiritual Social Action Focus: To actualize the stewardship and well-being of our sacred Earth and its diverse inhabitants through our collective vision of a new consciousness.

Together let's affirm throughout the world--September 10-October 19, 2008!

2008 Affirmation

We believe in the power of Life. It expresses itself in myriad ways and is sacred in all forms. Our unity and interdependence evidences itself as the diversity of life, intelligence, and substance. We seek to understand divine design. Immersed in the growing consciousness of our true nature, we align our desires, actions, systems, and vision with the principles of universal law.

Ideas of entitlement, domination, profiteering, exploitation, and hierarchy are now erased from human consciousness. We atone for the senseless neglect, misuse, and abuse of our mother earth and her majestic inhabitants. Ideas and ideals of collaboration, innovation, sacred awareness, and discernment replace old ways of being as we collectively establish dominion over obsolete, limited, and myopic perspectives.

As ambassadors of wisdom, we steward our earth and all of its living inhabitants. With spiritual integrity, we embody compassion acknowledging that animals are worthy of each dignity we seek for ourselves. From the core of the earth to the expanse of our atmosphere, polar regions to national parks, waterways to farmlands, marketplace to dining table, we consciously create a world that works for all. Harmony is our intention, wisdom our currency, discernment our path, integrity our foundation, and unity our inheritance.

We immerse our word in gratitude as we release it unto law.

Your Consciousness Matters!

Breakthrough Experiment: Compassion to Action Program May 15th through the 29th, 2007 CommonPassion.org, in cooperation with the Association for Global New Thought and many local and global groups, is orchestrating the world's largest interfaith global meditation and prayer event ever performed. This will be a series of meditation and prayers for community and global peace in which it is anticipated that over a half million people will participate. Our goal for the NEW THOUGHT community is to increase that projection by 100,000! www.CommonPassion.org

"If you are able to participate, the process is very simple. This Sunday, May 27th, in spiritual services throughout the world, communties will focus in prayer and meditation on any or all of the following: Global Peace, Iraq, Jerusalem, Darfur, Sudan, New Orleans.
"Concurrent with the prayer-meditation practices we will monitor crime statistics, emergency call data and other social indicators to ascertain change as a result of this peace-creating program. Results of this two week long experience will become available to you after the event so you can see for yourself, and share with your community, the power of this collective enterprise.
This universally relevant experiment is tied to a breakthrough technology. For the first time, we will enter the domain where it becomes possible to measure and direct our collective energetic field. As these new methods become more and more precise, we will begin to have the capacity to make conscious choices about using prayer and meditation to concretely affect world problems. Visit http://www.commonpassion.org/events/ events.htm"

ALSO THIS SUNDAY IN NEW JERSEY

Securing A Legacy of Peace
New Jersey State Campaign for a Department of Peace In Honor of Memorial Day, Support the Department of Peace Campaign!Join Us for An Inspirational, Informational, and Musical Fundraiser this Sunday, May 27, 3:00 - 5:00 PM Where: Unitarian Church of Montclair-67 Church Street, Montclair, NJ FREE ADMISSION - DONATIONS ACCEPTEDFeatured speaker: Dot Maver, Executive Director of the Peace AllianceMusic by Carly Goodwin, Folk singer

Social Action Message from Executive Director of Asylum Access

********

Imagine that your government has become so repressive that it is imprisoning, torturing and even killing its citizens in order to maintain its hold on power. Imagine you were in danger simply because of your beliefs or your job, and you escape – only to arrive in a foreign country without travel papers, money, friends, or access to your bank account. Imagine you don't even speak the local language. Could you go into a courtroom, alone, and convince a judge that you shouldn't be sent back?Asylum Access was founded to make refugee rights a practical reality in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It provides on-the-ground legal assistance to refugees in the first country they flee to, and empowers them to stand up for their internationally recognized rights instead of begging for food and handouts. Join us! It's easier than ever to save a life, even on the other side of the world. Donate by emailing donate@asylumaccess.org, or visit www.asylumaccess.org to find out more.
*****
Help refugees find safety and assert legal rights by shopping online! Access your favorite online vendors through www.igive.com and a portion of your spending will benefit Asylum Access. Just visit www.igive.com and designate Asylum Access as your chosen cause. It's easy, fun, and free!

Emily E. Arnold-Fernandez
Executive DirectorAsylum Access: Realizing Refugee Rights in the Global
www.asylumaccess.org

Campaign for Consciousness

Hello to All!
Campaign for Consciousness is gathering steam...the website is up and running.
Visit the blog @ http://www.campaignforconsciousness.org/blog/blogpage.html

From Portland to Purdue

So here I randomly enter a coffee shop on the streets of Portland to try my hand at completing some impatient tasks on my list...and then
...all of the sudden the distance between Portland and Dad becomes minute. As I order my designer caffeine, I inquire how the barista enjoys Portland and how long she has been living here. As we enter a dialogue, the home state of good ol' Indiana joins the conversation. Her eyes light up--"Indiana, I have cousins in Indiana." As the world turns, she mentions an uncle who is a professor there. Her response to "where" is none other than Purdue. (retired prof) I chime in that pops is a prof there too. We exchange 'of what's' and again the eyes light up as I say stat (not a normal reaction in my experience). "I love statistics," she replies. Turns out she is in school and I share that maybe she uses his book--well certainly there we are--the blue McCabe book-she LOVES that book. (and likes that it is very pretty) She said they had a couple of class experiences dedicated to discussing the book. Apparently it is a hit in Portland. I told her she could give me the feedback and I would get it to the right man. She said the only thing she would revise is to have the examples lead you in a little more step by step rather than dive in--that they are a little tough.
O how a large world becomes small.
Cheers dad! Way to go rock star stat guru--