Reaching Into the Universe Dedicated to creating an enlightened world: spiritually fulfilling, physically healthy, socially just, and environmentally sustainable.

Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream

When I first heard about the Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium, I went to the website, decided it didn't look integral enough, and forgot about it… until I heard Lynne Twist, co-founder of the Symposium's parent organization The Pachamama Alliance, speak at the Green Festival.

She inspired me to check it out, and after attending my first symposium I realized that it was good enough, being continually improved, and more importantly it is already here, now. I'm not aware of any fully integral programs for educating and mobilizing the public to solve global issues—yet!—but right now you can search for symposia to attend all over the world!

And while the Symposium is not explicitly integral, they've got the Big Three covered—the program focuses on the interconnections of three crises the globe now faces: spiritual fulfillment (I), economic and social justice (We), and environmental sustainability (It). Not only does the Symposium cover them, it gets that the three arise together and thus these issues are not actually separate issues.

The arc of the Symposium addresses all three as it covers

1. Where we are now—what do these crises look like?
2. How we got here—how did they happen?
3. What's possible—can we change them?
4. Where do we go from here—how do we make the change?

The intention is to awaken people to the global crisis we all find ourselves in, but more importantly to awaken a sense of themselves as an agent of change in resolving that crisis. In short, you have a role in the global crises that you may not have been aware of and thus a role you can take consciously in undoing them.

What I like most about the Symposium is its shamanic origin. This bears mentioning given recent discussions regarding the importance of shamanism in solving global problems. The Pachamama Alliance was created in response to a call from an indigenous, ayahuasca using tribe in the Amazon. Looking to protect their way of life, the shamans had seen that what needs to change is "the dream of the North", the cultural programming and assumptions that result in the erosion and destruction of our bodies, minds, spirits, communities, and planet. The biggest threat to indigenous populations is US and our unsustainable mindsets, beliefs, practices, and policies. The biggest threat to everybody on the planet, including ourselves, is us.

Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream is about changing that, starting with YOU when you sign up and attend a Symposium.

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