The New Church of Sustainability is "Awakening the Dreamer". By Willi Paul, PlanetShifter.com

"Biblical stories which give man dominion over the planet, manifest destiny, Ayn Rand, Karl Marx, the list is long. I don't deny the power of myths -- and I revere many myself -- but while I'm in favor of retaining those which stress our common humanity, I also think we need stories that will act as instruction manuals as we learn to live wiser, more sustainable lives. Whatever you may think about films like "Avatar," they undeniably address an urgent, unsatisfied hunger in audiences."

Burt Kempner
Subject: New comment (3) on "Can the old stories save us?"
LinkedIn Group: PlanetShifter.com - Innovating Evolution in Homo Sapiens

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Last Saturday I had the privilege to attend a seminar by Awakening the Dreamer, by The Pachamama Alliance, who mission is to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on Planet Earth.

Please view two terrific videos.

One called, The New Dream; and a YouTube call to action.

They insist that the "The Old Dream is dying. Its demise becomes inevitable as we discover the devastation we've caused to our own planet home, as we count the rising cost of our inhumanity to each other and as we see how our current way of living fails to deliver lasting happiness. All of these are the inevitable conclusions of an old dream rooted in acquisition, consumption and putting personal gain above communal good." And that "The New Dream is emerging! It's community, collaboration; it's life-enhancing and earth-honoring; it's together and for our grand-children, rather than Supersize me Now!

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We are the Change Agents
Defend what we love
We are passion gifts
Imaginal cells
Blessed unrest
We are instruments of something that works thru us: conduits
The Sustainability Church
Sit quietly with deep gratitude
This needs to be focused on kids and teens
The petroleum complex
Stars of the collapse
We are mistaken not flawed, mislead, corrupted but pure in heart

Willi Paul, Re-Streaming Consciousness

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Throughout the day's presentation – scripted, read with video/power points, an interesting analogy emerged and took shape stemming from one of my many research questions is if sustainability is like a new religion?

Awakening the Dreamer is quite possibility the new Church of Sustainability. Consider the components:

• Facilitators (readers, guides) are like Priests
  
• A strong set of Messages, Values and Principles
  
• The Alter is the media screen
  
• Participants as Congregation
  
• Call to join, be present and contribute
  
• Friendship bracelet for all participants
  
• Could be a once per week gathering
  
• Who are the Prophets? These include Swimme, Berry, Robbins, JB Hill, Hawken, Tutu, and many others
  
• Like ate church, the facilitators repeatedly called for feelings-based, silent reflection or "prayer"
  
• The Earth is God, we are stewards of the good
  Green Sanga principles enjoin the vision (Compassionate Action and One Body)
  
• Life changing mythological / biblical-like stories are stressed:

- The Eagle and the Condor: Tech/Science vs. Spiritual Life
- "The Universe Story," by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry

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The Awakening the Dreamer symposium or "movement" as a Church can be debated. Many of the churches around me are "holding fear" and doing little to actionize folks beyond it. Nature-based spiritual movements are now coming (back) around to the forefront and can offer some structure and continuity to followers.

One might argue that the Awakening the Dreamer symposium is too passive, as I experienced in the event. There is also the risk of not getting out into the world -- "Being and Deeping." I want more aggressive action toward bad corporations and dumb religious institutions. We don't have time anymore for too much reflection.

We need to be careful not to preach to the choir! Awakening the Dreamer needs to capture kids and youth now! "Passing the Light to the Next Generation" is on YouTube.

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There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution

Our so-called leaders speak
With words they try to jail you
The subjugate the meek
But it's the rhetoric of failure

Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If it's something we can't buy
There must be another way

We are spirits in the material world

"Spirits in the Material World"? The Police

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Connections –

Awakening the Dreamer

The Pachamama Alliance
San Francisco
+1 (415) 561-4522