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 By Stephen Dinan, founder and CEO of The Shift Network
Welcome to 2014! Let's make it another landmark year in the shift to a sustainable, peaceful, and healthy global culture. We're particularly excited to expand our philanthropic impact in the year ahead.
I felt profoundly nourished by our Dec. 21st Planetary Birthday event with 36 thought leaders all sharing about the "good news of 2013" as we move towards a new consciousness and society. You can still access those audios here for free.
Barbara Marx Hubbard has been our guiding light and lead visionary in this work of celebrating and advancing the birth of the new global era. And she's written an inspired article called "2014 is Year Two of Our Birth" for this issue of the Catalyst to illuminate how we can make the next steps. Do make sure to tune in this Saturday for her free call event on "The Next Stage of Our Evolution" as she shares her latest breakthroughs in the next evolution of humanity.
Also in this issue is an article from my beloved wife and leader of Shift's women's programs, Devaa Haley Mitchell, who explores the importance of a global sisterhood to create the life of our dreams and a culture that honors the feminine again.
Cynthia James, a beautifully inspired spiritual teacher who will begin teaching for Shift in the spring, has written a great piece for calling in your true vision for 2014. And we also have a piece on "Changing the Narrative," written by Reverend Patrick McCollum, a remarkable visionary of peace and global oneness.
In the member profile section, we feature two men we were blown away by on our recent trip to the Holy Land, one a Palestinian and the other an Israeli. The first is Sami Awad, a Palestinian peacebuilder who is training a whole generation in non-violent change. I strongly encourage reading his profile and supporting his Holy Land Trust organization, as Shift has done. And then we have Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein, whose vision for an interfaith worship center in Jerusalem is truly breathtaking.
Take heart: the world IS changing and evolving. We ARE on the pathway to a sacred global culture. We are each called to step in with all the brilliance we have in our souls to do our piece, collaborate with others, and serve in the deepest way possible. May all of our 2014s be years in which we know that we did our unique best to contribute to a better world for ourselves, our children and our great-grandchildren.
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Ancients
This film follows the ancient cycle of sunset, to night, to sunrise. It is a reminder that we are part of a beautiful, expansive and ancient universe. |
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 2014 is Year Two of Our Birth
A Letter from Barbara Marx Hubbard
Here is the question: What really has happened during the fateful year of 2013?
On December 21-22, 2012, we all made an "announcement" of the birth of a new era of evolution. It was in some respects like the announcement of the birth of the baby Jesus in a manger. Only the wise ones knew. Yet there were hundreds of thousands of us worldwide who affirmed, celebrated, and honored the emerging world and the "birth" of a new humanity . . . [read more]
 A True Global Sisterhood
By Devaa Haley Mitchell,
co-leader of the Soulful Women program
Recently I mentioned to a friend, who I'm just getting to know better, that my husband Stephen and I were thinking of going to Hawaii for a New Year's break. Without any hesitation, she asked if we'd like to stay in her place there for free. With a car.
As this was high season, rooms were high-priced, so this was quite a generous offering. It turned out to be the perfect sanctuary for us to have some down time and really relax as a couple.
So why did she make such a generous offer? . . . [read more]
 Calling in Your True Vision 2014
By Cynthia James
Your true vision is beyond what you can see, think or feel in this moment. It is expansive, powerful, non-linear and infinite in scope. Your true vision is filled with powerful possibilities that cannot be recognized from the intellect. You are here to do great things that stretch boundaries and bring into manifest form unparalleled freedom.
Now, I know this sounds BIG. That is because it is . . . [read more]
 Changing The Narrative: How changing the story we tell ourselves can contribute to Human Rights, Social Justice, Pluralism, and ultimately ... World Peace
By Reverend Patrick McCollum
We live in both precarious and magical times. While on one hand the Earth and all her inhabitants are in crisis, on the other, our level of comfort, ability to combat disease, and our understanding of the world we live in, has risen exponentially. Technology, though sometimes devastating to our natural resources, also connects people across the globe and creates a means of communication and human interaction never before thought possible. Throughout the process, our world for all intents and purposes has gotten significantly smaller with advanced communications and high speed travel becoming the standard of the day. Yet with all of the progress and advances, old patterns still remain. Patterns that threaten the very existence and survival of the human race and the planet we call home. Patterns based on old stories rooted in primitive survival responses, tribal boundaries, mythos, privilege, and fear
. . . [read more]
For submissions and recommendations, email editor@theshiftnetwork.com.
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 My Friend, Sami Awad
By Dianne Brause
It was in the spring of 2012, while on a Compassionate Listening Project Delegation that I first met Sami Awad. Our small group of Americans and Canadians were traveling around Israel and the West Bank, meeting with people who were passionate about their particular views on the Israeli/Palestinian situation and how they were working to "solve" it. These ideas ranged from "There were never any Palestinians and those people ought to just go back to Jordan or Saudi Arabia where they came from and leave this land to us, the Jews, as God promised!" to a group made up of Ex-Israeli soldiers and Palestinian Freedom Fighters who had each come to the conclusion that violence and killing one another would never lead to peace–so they joined forces in talking to school children on both sides about the stupidity of waging war against each other. There was a wide range of groups, points of view and attempts to change the situation, all with varying tactics and results . . . [read more]
 Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein
By Peta Jones Pellach
Rabbi Dr Alon Goshen-Gottstein, who likes to be called simply 'Alon', is a dreamer. He is not a day-dreamer, who allows his imagination to distract him from completing the tasks at hand. He may be a little like the Biblical figure, Joseph, who received prophecy through dreams and had to bear the skepticism of many around him until seeing them realised. He is not unlike Martin Luther King, who had a dream of a better society and was spurred into action by that vision. Alon has his own dreams and, blessed with the support of many others, he is gradually seeing them fulfilled . . . [read more]
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 Inner Peace is a Global Responsibility is an article by Philip Hellmich, Director of Peace at The Shift Network, that was recently published in the Contemplative Journal - click here.
Join the Search is a global movement to end violent and destructive conflict starting with conflict in our own lives and expanding to our communities. The goal is to get 1 million pledges to end violent conflict by International Day of Peace 2014. Pledgers receive one monthly email with: 1) A Join the Search challenge to exercise conflict-solving muscles; 2) An inspirational story from the field, showing peacebuilders in action; and, 3) An invite to a virtual event with amazing speakers all over the world. To Join the Search - click here.
What does Peace Look Like to You? Visions of Humanity announced the results of its peace photo competition. "Peace is a difficult concept to articulate, yet it is something at the very core of our societies and the most commonly shared global objective. Peace is just as personal as it is political. It is both abstract and tangible. And now, thanks to all the brilliant people who sent us photos, we can start to see what peace looks like." To see the results - click here.
The Secret of Great Sex (Hint: It's about safety & security.) This insightful article was published at the Good Men Project with more than 300,000 views. It was written by Lion Goodman, a former Shift Network staff member and current faculty who is a champion in the men's awareness community - click here.
Tapping into Balinese Wisdom – For 21 years Cross Cultural Journeys has been taking people to cultures such as Bali, Cuba, Brazil, Turkey, Ethiopia and Bhutan that have much to teach us if we are open to exploring new ways of being. Tri Hitta Karana, the Balinese way of living in harmony with the natural world, with each other in community and with spirit, is a powerful example. To learn more about the learning journeys or to give a journey to a loved one this holiday season - click here.
Native American Music Award - benefit CD for the Wolf. Winners and nominees of the Native American Music Awards have come together to give their gift of song to honor and protect their brother and teacher, the Wolf. Featured artists such as; Jimmy Lee Young & co-writer Davide Buzzi of Switzerland, Austrian-based group Big City Indians, The Gray Wolf Blues Band, Jack Gladstone, Jan Michael Looking Wolf, Painted Raven, Joanne Shenandoah, Joseph FireCrow, Silverwolf, The Plentywolf Singers, Rushingwind and Mucklow, and Cal Silverfox have contributed beautiful and poignant songs for a CD compilation to benefit Gray Wolves and Wolf conservation centers. To learn more about and purchase the Wolf Benefit CD - click here.
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2014 Catalyst: (#1, 1/12)
2013 Catalyst: (#22, 12/14) (#21, 11/30) (#20, 11/16) (#19, 11/3) (#18, 10/20) (#17, 10/6) (#16, 9/21) (#15, 9/8) (#14, 8/25) (#13, 8/4) (#12, 7/21), (#11, 7/7), (#10, 6/16) (#9, 6/2) (#8, 5/12) (#7, 4/28) (#6, 4/14) (#5, 3/24) (#4, 2/24) (#3, 2/9) (#2, 1/26) (#1, 1/13)
Birth 2012 Catalyst: (#15, 12/9) (#14, 12/1) (#13, 11/22) (#12, 11/10) (#11, 11/3) (#10, 10/20) (#9, 10/6) (#8, 9/16) (#7, 9/8) (#6, 8/25) (#5, 8/16) (#4, 8/4) (#3, 7/28) (#2, 7/21) (#1, 7/14)
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| The Gandhi King Season for Nonviolence (SNV) commences for the 17th consecutive year on January 30, 2014 in cities across the globe. The annual 64 day campaign, co-founded in 1998 by Dr. Arun Gandhi and The Association for Global New Thought (AGNT), is an educational, media and grassroots awareness campaign spanning the January 30th and April 4th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year the celebration has a new program honoring Nelson Mandela. To learn more - click here.
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Darpan is a musical performer, sound healer and shamanic guide who lives in Australia. He studied meditation with Osho for several years in India, moved to South America to live and work among shamans and healers, and went on to deeply explore Transpersonal Psychology, Tibetan Buddhism and Taoist philosophy. His multidisciplinary spirituality shines through his music, particularly in his most recent offering, LoveLight. In Darpan's own words: "Lovelight is a collection of my songs and insights. Coming from the heart, they reflect the pulse of the planetary shift that we are currently experiencing on a personal and collective level. I have wanted to make this CD for a long time and it is a distillation of my years with Osho in Pune. My beloved friend Maneesh de Moor produced it and Sudha did the female vocals." Favorite songs include Awakening and Om Tare. Listen to the album at his website, www.darpan.com.
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