Thanks to facilitator Jan Hutton in N. Carolina for this link:

On Faith: The Mystery of the Compassionate Brain – Deepak Chopra.

June 26, 2009 ~ Parents Circle | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Congratulations to CL facilitator Maha El Taji Tahsin in Haifa, for being one of the main organizers (along with her husband Jamal) of the Nakba-Independence Day event in Israel. Click here to read more.

2009 Advanced Training comes to a close…

Thank you to all those who participated in our Advanced Trainings this year. This is the 5th year we’ve offered our Advanced Training and the evolution of our work and practice continues with such depth and grace. This is where our learning community really comes together and shines. There were 3 lead facilitators, 4 highly skilled assistants (including Carol Hwoschinsky, author of our guidebook, Listening with the Heart), and an extremely wise participant group. (Click here to see some photos.)

We dove into some of the intense issues associated with bringing our work into the wider world: privilege, rank, power, oppression, internalized oppression, and what it means to really be an ally.
We held a ritual to touch and express the deep emotions lying within – fear, grief, anger, love, gratitude… Joanna Macy teaches us in her “Work That Reconnects”, that when we can fully express the pain that we feel, we are able to reconnect to each other and to the world with more clarity and ease…we move from despair to empowerment and feel renewed energy and courage to act in the world. Many new seeds sprouted this past week at the training that we’ll water and nurture with care (as Therese says, this is a real “intensive” with 4.5 days of immersion!).

For those of you who missed the Advanced this year, you still have an opportunity to participate: Susan Partnow and Leah Green will offer the 1st weekend – Compassionate Listening with Self and Others in Winnipeg, August 31st – September 2nd. Please see our calendar for more information.

Compassionate Listening made it into Wade Hudson’s list of top 27 recommendations after surveying progressive activists to find out how we can organize more successfully. Check it out at PoliticalForum.com

Thanks to Ulrich Gantz from our German-Jewish network who wrote to tell us about a powerful workshop he recently attended in Germany with Dan Booth Cohen from Massachusetts: Responsibility and Healing at Camp Föhrenwald, Wolfratshausen, Germany

Dan writes: “This 3-day seminar near Munich, Germany took place at the former site of Föhrenwald, a Displaced Persons camp for Jewish Holocaust survivors.

“Among the 30 participants were several children of Jewish Holocaust survivors and many children of Nazi perpetrators. Each of us came to Föhrenwald in search of healing and understanding for a part of ourselves or the essence of a loved-one who lives inside of us.

“Part of us cannot find peace or come to rest. In the silence of our dreams, in our restless thoughts, in the darkest places in our hearts, the terrible experiences that befell our fathers and mothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles live on inside us. They appear as nightmares or panic attacks, forgetfulness or sorrow.

“These dark influences also motivate our kindness and compassion, propelling us to be healers, peacemakers, and teachers. We honor our ancestors’ losses and soothe their pain by embracing that we are the living fruit of their sacrifices. They grieve when their suffering becomes ours. They bless us when we take our good lives and live well.” (read full report)

The Institute for Community Peacebuilding in Winnipeg is hosting two more introductory intensives in late May, and will also sponsor an Advanced Training in early September (our first Advanced Training outside of the Puget Sound). When asked why it is that the trainings are going so strong in Winnipeg, David Pankratz, the Director, told us that it was due in part to “a very well received initial training, that has well-respected people shouting the praises of Compassionate Listening.” I also know it has to do with David’s superb organizing, and that he involved various community groups in the planning process with large constituencies. Thank you David…

Thank you to Kirkridge Retreat Center in Pennsylvania and all the participants who came and co-created such a beautiful training last weekend. Also, my very special thanks to Amy Rakusin and Phil Fratesi – gifted Compassionate Listening facilitators who came up from Baltimore to teach with me. A weekend of collective wisdom and deep, transformative work.

Participant Liz Lacey wrote:
“It was an extraordinary weekend on so many remarkable levels. I am in awe of the potential and far reaching possibilities of the Compassionate Listening Project. …This is peace work that is truly unique from anything else I have encountered, and I believe it has great promise of bringing permanent change in the direction of less violence and more peace to the Middle East.”

And another participant says, “Dear friends, I am still processing the amazing experience and learning I had at Kirkbridge. What a gift from God! There is a clear before and after in my life.”

I was personally very inspired that about half of the group were men. Thank you to Charles Stephens for being the catalyst to make this training happen.

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Sending all our blessings to Maha El-Taji, CL facilitator from Haifa, and Anael Harpaz from Creativity for Peace, who are once again bringing CL to the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies with Jordanians, Palestinians, Israelis, and students from around the world…a magical setting for the work of Compassionate Listening.

We’re back on the fund-raising trail to support our upcoming Advanced training series for Israeli and Palestinian grassroots peace leaders. (You can view a short slideshow of our Introductory Intensive in the West Bank (allow time for the movie to load and turn your sound on). Your contributions are welcome!

This week I was once again moved to read a synopsis of research on Righteous Gentiles (those who saved the lives of Jews during the Nazi regime) by my former professor, Sam Oliner.

In his book “The Altruistic Personality: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe”, pioneering research revealed that characteristics such as traditional education, gender, age, socioeconomic status, profession and religion did not predict which individiuals would resist racism or who would choose to be a rescuer. The Oliners’ research revealed that ecumenical, inclusive religions, which encourage members to see all people as children of God and, therefore, extend moral behaviors toward others, were the exception…” Ethical, independent thinking was emphasized and valued over blind obedience to authority by parents and other significant role models in rescuers’ early childhood environments. Few rescuers felt that obedience was the core value in their childhood home. Non-rescuers and bystanders were 9-12 times more likely to cite obedience as a core family value.
Thank you to Bill Jacobsen for sending this.

blessings to all,
Leah Green

Love this writing from Gail Larsen too much to pass it by:

“Lately I’ve been telling a new story, one that has inspired many of my clients and e-letter readers to call or write. So I repeat it here:
This time of destructuring of our economy and revelation of greed and deception at the highest levels is the caldron of change that will lead to transformation of that which does not serve the greater good. Those who have been following their callings with integrity and vision will be heard. The work of our lifetimes will converge to place us in the right place at the right time. The language of the heart will be spoken and listened to with respect. We will give voice to the unnamed longing within people for which they have been unable to find words. We will tell the stories that show us a new way. We’ll confirm that we are the ones we have been waiting for.
…I challenge you to find – and tell – the new story than will change our collective experience and lead us into the enormous potential of the times ahead.”

© Gail Larsen 2009
Gail Larsen
Real Speaking – Truth Well Spoken
Whidbey Island, WA, USA

I just learned that Compassionate Listening has made it into a forthcoming book: The Give Back Solution: Create a Better World with Your Time, Talents, and Travel (Whether You Have $10 or $10,000), by Susan Skog. Thank you Susan and congratulations on your new book!