Thanks, Woody.  I am saddened by Michael Lerner's divisive use of one of our potentially most powerful unifying metaphors -- God.  And as a lifelong progressive activist who has only recently begun to connect with the humanity of those on "the right", I'm afraid I find as much "materialism, selfishness, and fear" on the Left; and "hope, generosity, and love" on the Right. The whole Left/Right framing is designed to keep us from recognizing our common humanity and the spectrum (not dichotomy) of our diverse believes -- and, from that place of broader, more nuanced understanding, creating new options that work better for the vast majority of us.  I find Borg's continuum more enlightening and useful, noting that it intersects both left and right, and has an evolutionary element in it.

SusanC <!-- SKYPE_UNIQUE_CODE STARTS -->

Dear ________,
 
Recently several co-creators and I convened two extraordinary multi-day "Evolutionary Salons” These gatherings engaged over 100 leaders like yourself, people who are re-shaping their fields of expertise and/or advancing their work by means of an emerging evolutionary/ecological perspective and inquiry.
 
The theme of the first salon, held in central California in May 2005, was "Evolutionary Directionality, Emergent Complexity and the Future of Humanity": http://www.thegreatstory.org/ev-salon.html. The theme of the second salon, held at the Whidbey Institute in January 2006, just north of Seattle, was, "Catalyzing Collective Intelligence and Social Creativity": http://www.thegreatstory.org/ev-salon2.html. 
 

These events were profoundly moving and inspiring, and in ways that continue to surprise us. Salon 1 was an experiment that ignited deep conversation and passionate desire for more. The response to the Salon 2 invitation was such that many leaders who wanted to attend had to be placed on a waiting list. Participants arrived from 15 countries across 6 continents and catalyzed the creation of an interactive website where an energetic ongoing dialogue continues: http://www.evolutionarynexus.org.  

A shared sense has emerged that this moment in history and evolution is calling for additional gatherings of this nature, and that perhaps some kind of “movement” or wave is being seeded.
 
We are inviting you to Evolutionary Salon 3, the theme of which is "Listening into the Future:  What is Calling? A deep exploration into evolution, where we are going and where we might go as a planet.  Our shared inquiry has been framed by a set of questions that has continued to unfold and deepen with each subsequent salon. In addition to sensing into the highest potential future that wants to emerge, we will be exploring the dynamic tensions inherent in such a collective endeavor.
 
Salon 3 is scheduled to be held May 19-24, 2006 at the Chinook Center of the Whidbey Institute, a remarkable retreat setting located on Whidbey Island, an hour north of Seattle, Washington: http://www.whidbeyinstitute.org/place.html
 
As an exploratory dialogue with potentially historic impact, this will not be a traditional conference. The first evening and morning will be devoted to grounding the salon in the most widely accepted and inspiring evolutionary understandings to date. Most of the ensuing conversation will be facilitated using methods developed to foster group opportunities for self-organization, co-creativity and emergence. There will be opportunities for those who wish to participate in extended, focused working sessions over multiple days, and also ample free time for relaxation and random conversations -- we all know that important breakthroughs can easily happen during such times!
 
One of the dynamic tensions we will be exploring is the energy and evolution of money in relation to these salons. Costs are being kept to a minimum while providing for sustainability and quality. The registration fee will be self-determined at the event. Lodging and meals will be approximately [give realistic $ range]. Our intention is to establish a fee arrangement that both motivates the success of the current and future salons, acknowledges the value of the effort needed to produce them, and supports the presence of you and other leaders in this work.
 
We very much want you to join in this conversation--and our space is limited (registration must close at 60 participants). Because you are on a waiting list from a prior salon, you are receiving this invitation two weeks in advance.  In order to guarantee your spot, we must receive your registration information AND your deposit of [$amount].  The salon is accepting registrations on a first come, first serve basis.
 
With the evolutionary paradigm emerging as a significant force in virtually every facet of human endeavor, we believe it is time to start weaving these strands together to serve a better future. We know that evolutionary innovation and emergence is not just something that happened in the past, but is happening right now in profound ways -- developments in which we are intimately involved. We feel an imperative for ourselves -- and for society as a whole -- to become more conscious, co-creative participants in this evolution. We believe that generative cross-disciplinary conversation among well-networked, knowledgeable people is catalyzing an important shift in that direction.
 
So, once again, please imagine a group of leading-edge evolutionary and ecological thinkers and activists coming together to discuss the fact of evolutionary emergence and its various interpretations and implications, and to engage in generative dialogue about how to act on this understanding to expand its influence into the mainstream.
 
If you feel called to be part of this group and conversation, please register by [date]. We hope you can say yes.
 
Sincerely,
 
Michael Dowd
Title, website, etc.
 

Respond to [some email]

 

Registration and Additional Information
 
 
Registration Procedure [to be added by the invitation/logistics subteam]

• This will include submission of a bio and photo for the new page http://www.thegreatstory.org/ev-salon3.html  which needs to be created before the invitations go out!
  

 
Costs and Logistics[needs to be added by someone working on the money issue]

 

Self-Determined Registration Fee

·        Explain a bit more about it and give examples of average amounts
 

Meals

 

Lodging

·        Description (or links)
·        Prices
·        Homestays and homestay etiquette
 

Transportation

 
Agenda and Shared Inquiry
Please see: http://www.thegreatstory.org/ev-salon3.html. [this page needs to be crafted]
 

[put the following on the webpage, with links in the information sheet]

Our shared inquiry over the course of these salons has been framed by questions such as the following:

• ·How do we understand, interpret, apply, and communicate the evolutionary worldview offered by mainstream and merging sciences, to facilitate a positive impact on the evolution of humanity and the natural world?
• ·How do we support a movement towards the conscious evolution of increasingly conscious social systems?
• ·What is the worldview and what are the activities and strategies of the emerging movement to BECOME the new society, and how can we make the community of co-evolutionists more visible to itself so that it can be as influential as possible?
• ·What existing or visionary forms of social creativity could play significant roles in the evolution of social systems?
• ·How can "The Great Story" (the epic of evolution told as a personally and socially meaningful, inclusive, science-based creation myth) be told in ways that inspire millions of people with different belief systems to cooperate along just, sustainable lines?  And what would have to happen for such a big picture sacred story to spark people to find their calling or contribution, becoming active agents of social creativity?
• ·What can we learn about the interrelated facets and dynamics of social evolution that can be used as a curriculum to educate agents of conscious evolution of social systems as well as orient people to the role of their work in the larger movement?
• ·How can salons such as these draw in diverse thought leaders and practitioners, sending them back out with increased individual and collective awareness, coherence, effectiveness and co-evolvability?

 
The theme of Salon 3 is "Listening into the Future:  What is Calling? A deep exploration into evolution, where we are going and where we might go as a planet.
 

We sense that the field is inviting additional inquiry into areas such as these:[ this will probably need to be worked on by the design folks]

• ·Can we envision or recognize attractors that are drawing us into the future?
• ·What positive and negative attractors can we/should we be aware of?
• ·What large organizing visions or images of the future can help pull together today's diverse, and often fragmented, innovations?
• ·How can or do we embody evolution and vision as we co-create our world?
• ·How do consciousness and evolution work together?
• ·How do we go about scaling up our effectiveness in terms of social evolution?
• ·What does growing the capacity of the field look like?
• ·What are the evolutionary processes that support us in these inquiries?
• ·What do we really mean by evolution? Can or must a common meaning emerge? How does the Great Story explicitly inform this or not?

<!-- SKYPE_UNIQUE_CODE ENDS -->

Tree, I feel similarly....and I'd prefer a more essenceful final product. Sometimes I find that a bunch of stuff has to go into the draft before the essence can be distilled. Maybe we're on that fortunate path.

I too am one who was not particularly drawn to the salon by the previous invitation or the questions. I scarcely read or remembered them. If that was all I had to go by, I may not have come. It was an energetic call, and my gut responded. I ask myself, how can this invitation be a carrier of that invocation?

 

SusanC

The questions on the second invitation emerged from the first salon.  I imagine the questions for May emerging from salon 2.  I like the image of a connected unfolding.

Tree Fitzpatrick put some reflections on money at:

http://www.evolutionarynexus.org/node/245

She had a suggestion on money language for the invitation that I liked:

We ask you to pay for your personal travel, food and lodging although some scholarship funds may become available as this movement grows.  (don't get hung up on my language:  I am brainstorming, not dictating) The fee for the event will be self-determined.

 The term scholarship can be problematic from an IRS perspective, so we need a different word, but that's a quibble.

 

 After re-reading the questions from salon2 (especially the more general questions #1,3,5) I'm struck by how what we learned (or didn't) from the first two should be brought up more clearly in the 3rd.

I'm sensing that the invitation should include some snapshot of what emerged, and what questions are burning. It could give a sense of the salon series unfolding and having some interconnection. For example, many noticed that the participants were operating from very different assumptions and perspectives about evolution, and many hadn't really heard of the "Great Story".

So one question that emerged was "what do we really mean by 'evolution'? Can or must a common meaning emerge? How does the Great Story explicitly inform this or not?

more to come...

SusanC