triageart@yahoo.com
Represented by Chris Watkins of Shughart, Thompson & Kilroy
120 West 12th Street Kansas City, Missouri 64105 816.421.3355
“The future must enter you a long time before it happens.” Unknown
Bluelab Mission
Bluelab is a developing non profit corporation providing new approaches to new media art productions. Bluelab will seek collaborative involvement on the part of many leading artists, filmmakers, performers, writers and musicians along with highly regarded spiritual teachers and leaders of other fields. Through the functional fusion of the historically disparate fields of art, science, and philosophy we will explore new cosmological forms of integration and hopefully thereby new insights and solutions to our shared global crises. As a primarily artistic venture our intention is to funnel these new insights, energies and discoveries into collaborative new media works of art that will be beneficial to the community at large.
Executive summary
Bluelab will be a non-profit venue offering professional production services along with performance facilities, a public gallery and café facilities. Our income streams will be developed and maintained through a variety of complementary services including live performances, installations, workshops, lectures, films and special events. By consolidating tools, facilities and resources we will be able to offer a wide range of services wherein all our facilities and services can be used heavily providing for a self-sustaining and solvent non-profit organization. Our philosophy will be one that focuses on making reconstructive transformative art through community building processes and financial sustainability.
Bluelab will develop the following resources:
1. Guest Artists
Our yearly schedule will include 5 large scale events. With each of these events we will host workshops, lectures and installations led in part by the visiting artists. By providing a quality gallery environment for the work of important artists as well as lectures and workshops we will be able to offer viable compensation for their involvement which otherwise might be cost prohibitive.
2. Gallery
We will offer a quality environment for major and emerging artists’ shows in all installable media.
3. Live Venue
Wednesday nights through Saturday nights during major shows we will offer full scale live productions. Sunday through Tuesday nights will be for smaller productions and live music events. During periods between major shows we will schedule live shows and events attempting to fully utilize the environment and facilities to further provide sustainability.
4. Production facilities
Alongside the use of our production environment for our in house shows we will offer leading edge tools and a small technical staff for video, sound, and music production. Our rates will be competitive and we will have some provisions for low budget ventures we deem worthy of our help.
5. Café
We will offer basic cafeteria-style presentation of food items from morning throughout the day with a limited dinner menu offered each evening. Along with these will be a coffee and juice bar. The café will provide a casual and comfortable environment for snacks, meals and informal meetings during daily business hours and the space can be adapted for large live events in evenings.
6. Gift and Print Shop
Bluelab will have a gift and print shop with t-shirts and low cost prints and gift items which will add cash flow and offer affordable memorabilia and gift items for visitors. We can also have small original works available by young and emerging artists on consignment.
7. Web
It’s hard to over estimate the potential of a quality website. With a single employee as webmaster we could construct and maintain a large website that would effectively link us with many organizations, donors, and artists all over the world. As with most large commercial galleries we could show each new “series” offering saleable items and tickets to live events along with footage and stills from performances. The assumption is that our technical staff could build and maintain the website along with their other responsibilities.
Please note that this is only a beginning in attempting to define Bluelab and its operational direction. The keys to Bluelab are community, collaboration, integrative studies, public service—and from a pragmatic business standpoint—sustainability. There are many details that perhaps remain undefined. The below was offered by Norm Kurland, president of the Center for Economic and Social Justice (cesj.org.) Norm was a close friend of the lawyer- economist and theorist Louis Kelso, and the late social philosopher, William Feree and has agreed to become a member of the board for Bluelab and will help us implement a business plan that will truly empower and support artists involved in Bluelab works.
Justice-Based Management (JBM) is a leadership philosophy and management system that applies universal principles of economic and social justice within business organizations. The ultimate purpose of JBM is to create and sustain ownership cultures that enhance the dignity and development of every member of the company, and to economically empower each person as an owner and worker.
JBM promotes a company’s long-term profitability within the global marketplace by enabling all worker-owners to serve and provide higher value to the customer. JBM connects every worker’s self-interest to the bottom-line and long-term success of the company.
The JBM process builds upon a written articulation of the philosophy and principles of the company’s leader (typically the CEO or chairman of the board) and leadership core group, in terms of universal principles and core values of the company. JBM proceeds in stages to build a consensus upon these fundamental shared values and vision of the company within each work area of the company.
These articulated values provide the foundation for enhancing the productiveness of workers and company profitability, and include such structures as employee-monitored economic incentive programs, participation and governance structures, two-way communications and accountability systems, conflict management systems and future planning and renewal programs.
The ESOP and Justice-Based Management
One of the main components of JBMSM is the "empowerment ESOP." While the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) was originally invented as a means for providing working people with access to capital credit to become owners of corporate equity, most ESOPs are set up as just another employee benefit plan or tax gimmick, or as an employee share accumulation plan (“ESAP”). Most ESOPs today are not designed to treat worker-owners as first-class shareholders. The “empowerment ESOP,” on the other hand, is designed to encourage workers to assume the responsibilities and risks, as well as the full rights, rewards and powers, of co-ownership.
Furthermore, all academic and government studies to date have concluded that ESOPs alone are not enough to affect individual and corporate performance. Within a JBM system, in combination with a regular gainsharing program tied to bottom-line profits, and structured systems of participatory management, the empowerment ESOP stimulates everyone in the company to think and act like entrepreneurs and owners.
Balancing Moral Values and Material Value
Justice-Based ManagementSM offers an ethical framework for succeeding in business. JBM balances moral values (treating people with fairness and dignity) with material value (increasing a company's productiveness and profits while enriching all members of a productive enterprise). JBM's three basic operating principles are:
1. Build the organization on shared ethical values—starting with respect for the dignity and worth of each person (employee, customer and supplier)—that promote the development and empowerment of every member of the group.
2. Succeed in the marketplace by delivering maximum value (higher quality at lower prices) to the customer.
3. Reward people commensurate with the value they contribute to the company—as individuals and as a team.
Justice-Based Management is guided by the concept of social justice, as articulated by the late social philosopher William Ferree, SM. Social justice involves the structuring of social organizations or institutions (including business corporations) to promote and develop the full potential of every member.
JBM also embeds within an ownership culture the three principles of economic justice defined by the late lawyer-economist Louis Kelso and philosopher Mortimer Adler: (1) “participative justice,” or the right to the means and opportunity to participate in the economic process as an owner as well as a worker; (2) “distributive justice,” or the right to the full, market-determined stream of income from one’s labor and capital contributions; and (3) “harmony” (or social justice), or the right and responsibility of each person to work in an organized way with others to correct the “social order” or institution when the principles of participative or distributive justice are being violated or blocked.
Within JBM the principles of social and economic justice provide a logical framework for defining “fairness” and structuring the diffusion of power within the corporation.
Structuring Ownership Participation
JBM is designed to systematize and institutionalize shared rights, responsibilities, risks and rewards within all company operational and governance structures involving:
Corporate values and vision
Leadership development and succession
Corporate governance and future planning
Operations (policies and procedures) and hardship sharing policies
Communications and information sharing
Training and education
Pay and rewards
Grievances and adjudication
A well-designed Justice-Based Management system sharpens and crystallizes the leader's philosophy around “universal” principles, providing a solid foundation for a corporate culture that enables people to internalize these guiding principles. JBM generates organizational synergy by connecting each worker-owner to the financial tools of ownership (i.e. ESOP and profit sharing), participative management systems, and a defined share of power in the governance of the organization. This in turn enables people to make better decisions, discipline their own behavior, and work together more effectively and cooperatively—because it is truly in their self-interest to do so.
“Spirit is the most creative, inspiring, and meaning-giving element in all of life, and yet it is also the most dangerous. When spirit visits us, it moves us toward action, commitment, ambition, goals, ideals, vision, and altruism. All of these feed the soul, but they also wound it. To the soul their opposites are equally important—waiting, doubting, retreating, and not going anywhere, not knowing, not seeing, and being absorbed in oneself.
When spirit is not grounded and checked by soul, it quickly moves into literal forms—converting others and becomes blindly and callously ambitious. Its powerful force may turn without conscience into violence, its altruism blackened as intrusion into the freedoms of others. Its creativity becomes unbounded productivity, and its quest for ultimacy transforms into jealous possession of truth.”
Thomas Moore Meditations
Bluelab Budget
July 2007
Overall Bluelab Project cost is based on 3 years of operation
1. Initial digital equipment $104,330
a. Video and Multimedia (3 editing stations) $55,000
b. Sound (professional recording set-up) $31,830
Live Performance Environment
a. Sound $7,500
b. Lighting $10,000
c. 3 Projectors $ 4,000
2. Organizational Costs $4,000 Legal Costs (including est. Non Profit, entertainment law and 501 C-3 non
profit corporate organization filing)
3. Marketing, printing, mailing $3000.
4. Kitchen staff with chef (3 years) $300,000
5. Commercial Kitchen and dining facilities $50,000
6 Food costs 2000 per week 50 weeks per year $300,000
7. Space Lease and Utilities (3 years @ 2500 per month) $90,000
8. Per Project Artist Costs allotted for 5 per year @ 20,000 per event
for 3 years (15 total)
$300,000
9. Administrative staff Director, Assistant Dir, Administrator $200,000
10. Web $ 30,000
11. Production Staff $200,000
12. Incidental costs $ 30,000
3 year operating budget $1,611.330.00
per year budget $487,110.00
I. Live performances 5 large shows per year
Performed Wednesday nights through Saturday nights-- 4 nights per week 300 seats at 20.00 average
(Based on 250 tickets per night 5000.00) Each show performed 2 weeks or 8 shows 40,000 total ticket sales per show average
5 major shows at 40,000 per show ticket sales $200,000 per year for major shows
Accompanying each major show will be:
1. installation by the major artist/s gallery will receive 40-50% of sales of all works sold.
2. large public lecture ticket sales at 15. 00 average cost at 200 tickets (average) $3,000.
$15,000 for year/ $45,000 for 3 years.
3. workshop (ticket costs may vary widely but for the sake of this projection we will say that we could promote workshops for 300 per person. At 50 tickets we could make $15,000. which we would split with the celebrity 50/50 after overhead. For 5 yearly workshops we could net around $37,500
(3 years $112,500) for workshops
II. Small shows for live music and lower budget events
Sunday night through Tuesday night could be used for smaller events and for rental of facilities for “friends” which we will rent out the venue and facilities for a fee plus door percentage.
At 50 weeks usage per year with 3 “off nights” usable we could conservatively generate $750.00 per week or $37,500 ($112,500 for the 3 years) for the year in off night venue events
III. Professional Services and Production Facilities
Leasing sound recording and video facilities will be offered on sliding scale to artists who meet certain requirements. At market rate of 25-50 per hour using our facilities 10 hours per week as a conservative estimate we could pull in 250-500 per week or $12,500 to $25,000 per year based on these numbers
Estimate: $120,000 per year for pro services or $360,000 for 3 years. We will seek to hire some highly talented and resourceful individuals for our Production staff and will structure a base salary plus incentives based upon sales and production. 3 Production Staff at 30,000 base plus incentives.
IV. Café
150,000 per year break even. We will strive to hit 4,000 per week in food sales. $50,000 profit for org.
V. Gift and Print Shop
300 per week in sales at 50 weeks --$15,000 and $45,000 for 3 years.
VI. Web
It’s hard to estimate the potential of a quality website. With a single employee as webmaster we could construct and maintain a large website that would effectively link us with many organizations, donors, and artists all over the world. As with most large commercial galleries we could show each new “series” offering saleable items and tickets to live events along with footage and stills from performances.
30,000 for 3 years –cost —this would be a contract to a first rate designer/webmaster who could develop the site and work from day to day and week to week to maintain the site. This would be a great part time job for the right designer/webmaster and we could pay them monthly for ongoing work.
With low cost items like DVDs, t-shirts, posters, etc. the web will not only offer steady cash flow, it will be our greatest marketing tool.
Operating Summary
I. Live performances 5 large shows per year $200,000 per year for major shows
$600,000 for 3 years
Installations and art sales for 5 shows $20,000 ($4,000per show as
conservative estimate)
$60,000 for 3 years
Lectures $15,000 per year
$45,000 for 3 years
Workshops $37,500 per year
$112,500 for 3 years
II. Small shows $37,500
$112,500 for 3 years
III. Professional Services and Production Facilities $20,000 per year
$60,000 for 3 years
IV. Café $50,000
$150,000 for 3 years
V. Gift and Print Shop $15,000
$45,000 for 3 years
Total $1,185,000
1. Initial equipment
Video and Multimedia Suites and Production
a. 3 Apple G5 computers with large monitors and video
editing software and storage $25,000.
b. 3 digital HD camcorders and tripods $17,000.
c. basic 4 post lighting kit $2000.
d. microphones and sound deck (for video) $2000.
2. Live environment $26,500
a. 3 video projectors $4000.
b. live sound system $7500.
g. live lighting system (beginning system) $10,000.
h. miscellaneous tools and extras $5000. ($72,500)
Entry Level Recording Studio $31,830 ($104,330)
(Details below compiled by sound artist/engineer Kristian Ball)
ProTool Digi 002 Control Surface: $2,195.97
Apple Power Mac G5 $3,299.00
Quad 2.5GHz
2 Apple 23” Cinema Display $2,600.00
Computer Hard Disk Storage $2,000.00
Computer Misc. $1,000.00
Software Plugins EFX $6,000.00
Desktop Mixer
Mackie 1604VLZ $ 999.00
Surround Sound package.
Genelec 8030.LSE Power Pak
5.1 Multi-Channel Active Monitoring System with 5 8030A Nearfield Monitors and 7060A Powered Subwoofer
$4,850.97
2 Near-field Studio Monitors
Mackie HR824
Active Bi-amped Nearfield Monitor with 150W 8" Woofer and 100W 1" Tweeter (ea) (THX approved)
$1,230.00
2 PreSonus DigiMax 96k
8-Channel Microphone Preamp with Limiter, EQ Enhance, and 24-bit/96kHz Digital Output
$2,660.00
Studio Microphones
$5,000.00
ProTools TDM system
w/ Acel cards + [$20,000.00]
__________________________
Total: $31,830.00
Total $104,330
As much as anything, Bluelab is about consolidation of resources toward the assistance of talented and hard working artists. There are many philosophical underpinnings and a fairly elaborate general direction established based on years of contemplation and research but these are but a beginning point. The central presumption of Bluelab is the endgame need for heightened cooperation among artists and the efficacy of art toward cultural transformation.
The key ideas, concepts and strategies that will make Bluelab successful can only come through a consensual developmental process. Bluelab is not the be-all end-all for artists and the world—it is simply one of a number of new ventures cropping up globally toward developing and creating new art forms in the hope of making a real and sustaining contribution to the world around us through collaborative art making.
We will have to be sophisticated and balanced in the way we approach business and work. Maniacal business approaches are prime breeding grounds for self-centered and competitive behavior that will undermine the environment we will want to build.
Is it possible to create spiritual structures for art making and to implement such structures toward the building of a community with such a depth of conviction, courage and inspiration that its members can move beyond self- interest toward some new form of collaborative art that might hold truly new possibilities? Is it possible that with rigorous and focused (and fun) processes artists can cheerfully make work toward engaging meaningfully with the specter of our global challenges while exploring the uncharted territory of their souls? Is it possible that operating as a test microcosm a community of highly talented and skilled collaborators might discover processes through close relationship to one another fostering new art forms? Can community building processes readily pour into art making wherein something meaningful and healing might evolve? Is it possible that these discoveries might be transmitted to the public at large through various new media modalities shedding fresh light upon human potentials? Is it possible that inspired spaces discovered through rigorous spiritual and communal processes might imbue works of art and be transferred to the public at large in beneficial and transforming ways?
Is it possible that all of this could dovetail with the efforts of important organizations such as The Global Justice Movement, Environmental Defense and Amnesty International toward a healthier and happier planet?
We say hopefully, yes.
Why would young individualistic artists want to participate in something like Bluelab?
Perhaps initially only those who’ve had some sort of opening or awakening (or sometimes collapse) can see and feel the merit of these ideas. Only people who’ve come to some sort of precipice in their lives will comprehend Bluelab because in many ways its ideas go completely against the grain of the ego. There’s nothing per se wrong with the ego and it’s generally understood that the ego is inescapable in our lives and in fact is the mechanism by which we know ourselves. People with no ego at all are harbored in various institutions. The key here seems to be in artfully addressing the ego and working with it in constructive and healthy ways. It seems clear to most reputable spiritual teachers –- whatever their traditions that perhaps the key to authentic spiritual practice as opposed to false is in how the ego is addressed and dealt with. Contemporary culture is littered with the incomplete, ineffective, and even destructive teachings of self-appointed teachers who lack the credentials for dependable spiritual direction. For this reason, Bluelab will seek to ally ourselves only with well known and respected teachers and elders from various widely regarded and respected traditions.
People coming out of art schools and trying to erect a livable career by which they can continue to make work, explore new ideas, and simultaneously enjoy at least a survivable lifestyle have learned to be wary of distractions. To some extent we are all still marching to the tune of our Modernist ancestors. We’re all still at least a little enamored of the image of the lone ranger kind of artist who’s mysterious and grand, solitary and defiant—riding into town on a pale horse, making a big splash, then disappearing again. Rugged individualism still has a certain beauty, but if we are to face, embrace, and give ourselves to the task of “The Great Work” of global transformation we will need to be deeply rooted in community. No human being has the personal isolated strength to undergo the changes we must entertain without substantial structure, assistance and supervision.
Granted, the image of oneself as simply one of a company of artists is hardly as sexy as that of the reckless and flamboyant rugged individualists of many of our predecessors. Theirs was a different world than the one we inhabit. Maybe one can come to see that the pay offs of communal art making are equally rich and valid. It seems that many teachers throughout time have tried to tell us that suffering is inherent in authentic human life and that much of the suffering comes through the perpetual resistance of the ego. We can’t really escape the ego and its influence—at least not immediately. Many masters would say that we never circumvent the ego—that it retains its strength and gains in ingenuity as we make meaningful discoveries. The ego can easily co-opt whatever gains we make through our surrender processes and becomes more cunning and wily the more we grow.
There are however clear pathways to success here. Many have traversed these trails and left clues, experiences, encouragement and teachings.
This is part of the necessity of the “Sangha” or spiritual community. Artists are often wary of “spiritual communities” for a number of reasons—many valid reasons based on the scandals and debacles of recent years. However, upon further consideration these were not communities in the true sense of the word at all. A true community is a work of mystery and defies dissection and simple assessment—however there are a number of pioneers who throughout the last twenty or thirty years have made real progress in understanding and discerning the true community from its counterfeits. Some of our understanding in recent years has been informed by the tragedies of various cults as well.
We all feel vulnerable in this contemporary world. Information seems to come in faster than our digestive systems can handle it. I think in some ways artists are the most vulnerable. Artists are wide open to all that we experience and in many ways lack the psychological filters that most have allowing distance from the voluminous stimuli and the more terrifying prospects around us constantly piped in by a global media complex including twenty-four hour news channels and the web. Many artists don’t watch television at all. Some find it easier to direct their interests through navigating around informational channels on the web and stay focused on things of their personal interest which is helpful—but perhaps all who are truly intuitive sense the looming dangers we’re all subject to.
So much seems to be at stake. Yet on many levels and over the years at many times I’ve seen that there are mysterious forces at play here—and as utopian or improbable as this whole thing seems—it or something similar can and in fact needs to be created. All resources must be gathered toward combating ignorance and injustices for these are now linked to technologies of unspeakably destructive potentials.
Art is one of our greatest human assets. To turn away from the difficulty of all this would mean utter failure on my part. To embrace this vision and to humbly and vulnerably approach people seeking support and participation seems my only viable alternative. For years these ideas have been too ethereal and inchoate to sell—even to artists. While some have seen merit in the scope of the vision, I have slowly come to the understanding that without grounding these concepts in logistical and strategic solutions they hover sadly quixotic.
To do the impossible, one must first glimpse the invisible. Truth cannot be conceptualized, it must be sighted. To see with the eyes of the soul, one must first feel safe enough to let go of all that obscures its field of vision. Bluelab has been conceived as a safe and encouraging place for gifted artists and thinkers to join with others of like mind in order to rise to their highest capabilities funneling the fruits of their gifts into state of the art multimedia events in the service of the community at large.
Our human dilemma will not be resolved through great ideas alone, but through changed hearts. Artists are often big hearted servant/leaders. By guiding and supporting them into transformative breakthrough they will naturally go on to inform, transform and heal those around them. Generosity is not a distant ideal to be attained, but our very essence as human beings –as souls.
Great artists and creative thinkers are great souls. Herein is hope for our troubled world.
Bluelab is intended to become an art driven triage center for a world culture on the verge. We are aware that there are no simple solutions to the systemic difficulties we all face. We call forth and celebrate a strange and translogical freedom to hold as true the notion that as artists willing to become empty of self-concern, the phenomenon known as “time” is on our side. All resources shall be called into our assistance for our intentions are truly altruistic.
Bluelab will be seeking support and funding from visionary contributors to provide stipends and consultation for collaborating interdisciplinary artists and thinkers. Bluelab will be bringing in a variety of exciting guest artists and thinkers who are leaders in their respective fields and our friends and supporters will be invited to participate in some of the liveliest and most life affirming research and dialogue available anywhere today. Supporters and friends will have access to many of our key creative process moments along with raw early rehearsals. This will give us the energy of a live audience to reflect back to us the ideas and energies we’re working with while providing our benefactors with access to some ecstatic personal and shared experiences.
Bluelab is formed upon a foundation based upon “perennial values” and we honor the essential non-hierarchical nature of reality and will provide an atmosphere largely free of pretense and political strife. We recognize that all human beings have gifts to share and that communities flourish in diversity.
Bluelab offers a model of radical inclusion in which all who sincerely want to be a part of our community will be welcomed. As our individual hearts grow we discover the power of dynamic tension which is to say the power of loving inclusion of divergent human leanings and tendencies which when held in the poise of compassionate tolerance can give amazing depth, potency and vibrancy to co-created works of art.
Those with eyes wide open are aware of the urgency of our global situation and are intent upon doing all possible to address it by working to heal ourselves and our world. We look forward to many wonderful and formative evenings with guests, participants and supporters with a number of warm and casual events planned in order to provide clarification, comfort and encouragement to all who visit us. The wise men and women who created A.A. have a saying, “Easy does it.” We don’t have to take ourselves too seriously. Here is the subtle power of true humility. We must know our limitations as individuals to discover the almost limitless potentials of community. It’s truly mind-blowing when one does see what communities are
capable of.
Bluelab plans to rapidly ramp up organization and construction toward a number of projects even as “artist / transformers” are standing by in Kansas City (and perhaps elsewhere) continuing to sharpen their skills while awaiting funding and organizational opportunities to allow them to pour their formidable gifts into our transformative new media works. Most prospective participants have art degrees from leading nationally honored schools and many years under their belts in the development of specific skills and craft/s that they will be bringing to our work.
Art has always been inextricably linked to philosophical, theological, and scientific questions. We align ourselves with those who lead the way in searching for solutions to the problems we face as beloved relatives on this gorgeous and troubled little planet.
The primary interest in Bluelab is in doing our part to fully change ourselves knowing that whatever we might be able to do for the world will be contingent upon what happens within each of us as individuals—within the context of daily practice and all of us as a community of individuals must be willing to practice ethical principles in order that our work together might be feasible.
“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Albert Einstein
“If one wishes to change the world, one must first become that change.”
Mohandas Gandhi
“Forbearance, patience and tolerance are the only conditions which keep two (or more) individual hearts united.” Hazrat Inayat Khan
“I wish I were living in Amsterdam. I'm serious. America has no great tradition of transcendental work, William James, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Josiah Royce, and that's about it. Otherwise, Americans are cowboy pragmatists, which is very disheartening. And when Americans do get interested in "transpersonal concerns," it is almost always quite crazy and regressive. But I'd also like to suggest that we all remember the importance of transpersonal practice. Our practice might be meditation, or yoga, or contemplation, or vision quest, or satsang, or spiritual work, or any work done with equanimity.But seriously, we must practice. Not many people understand that Thomas Kuhn's extremely influential notion of "paradigm" does not mean a new conceptual idea; it means a new practice, which Kuhn renamed "exemplar." And the practice, the paradigm, the exemplar of transpersonal studies is: meditation or contemplation, by whatever name.And so, please practice! Please let that be your guide. And I believe that you will find, if your practice matures, that Spirit will reach down and bless your every word and deed, and you will be taken quite beyond yourself, and the Divine will blaze with the light of a thousand suns, and glories upon glories will be given unto you, and you will in every way be home. And then, despite all your excuses and all your objections, you will find the obligation to communicate your vision. And precisely because of that, you and I will find each other. And that will be the real return of Spirit to itself.You and I will find each other. And in our dialogue, and our mutual recognition, and our friendship, and our respect for one another -- soon even our love for each other! -- we will embody the very Spirit of the Cosmos, and honor that vision mightily. The sublime Ralph Waldo Emerson said: ‘The common heart of all sincere conversation is worship.’ And the beautiful, beautiful Holderlin: ‘... we calmly smiled, sensed our own God amidst intimate conversation, in one song of our souls.’
Bodhisattvas are going to have to become politicians Interview with Ken Wilber by Frank Visser
“It is the elusive law of spirit: you can’t safely go high unless you also visit the depths. Without attention and cultivation, deep thoughts and emotions remain raw and wild. Spiritual people often ignore them, thinking them irrelevant. Yet no one is more plagued by freewheeling bigotries, sexual confusion, and aggression than the religious or spiritual zealot. The underworld of the saint echoes Dante’s inferno and Sade’s cellars.
Spiritual people may be anxious to avoid shame, the emotional realization that we are of the earth and have a close and mysterious relationship to the animals. Shame is not guilt for having done something wrong; it is the sensation of not being the light and airy person we might aspire to. Shame connects us to our earthy nature, and through it is not entirely a comfortable feeling, it can initiate us into much needed depth. Shame corrects the hubris of the spiritual ascent.”
Thomas Moore, The Soul’s Religion
“What seems to happen when we have spiritual experiences can only be known when that is tested. Otherwise we are likely to call ourselves a chef, open a fancy restaurant, and promptly poison the clientele.”
“A real teacher is continually diminished and a false teacher is continually exalted. Because if you’re a real teacher, working with students, the impossibility of transformation must diminish you. When you understand what it means to be responsible for a teaching position, you can’t be inflated. You see yourself in relationship to the immensity of the universe and the impossibility of what needs to be done, and you can only be diminished. It must humble you more and more and more. You could not be anything but humble if you were looking at what you are up against as a teacher, because what you’re up against is impossible. Nobody, no matter how brilliant or skillful, can master the physics of reality. One can master the physics of form—like Satya Sai Baba and Swami Premananda, who can materialize things. That can be mastered. But no teacher can master the physics of human nature.”
Lee Lozowick
Our Principles (Borrowed with permission from the Global Justice Movement)
The Following is so well conceived and written that I felt moved to ask GJM if we could use the principles. Once we are up and running we will possibly spend some time to adapt these—or edit them making the principles our own.
Global Justice for All
1. Much wealth creation is now made possible through the inventions and innovations of people who passed on long ago. Without taking anything from anyone, this cultural inheritance makes it possible for each person to:
· Have warmth, clean air, clean water, food, and housing.
· Be respected, equal, free and able to choose their own destiny.
· Fulfill their full emotional, intellectual and spiritual potential.
Respect for the Earth
2. Every person must respect the rest of creation and take responsibility for preserving the environment including the fauna and flora, all of which are interdependent and share a divine origin with humanity.
Abundance and Freedom are Possible
3. The inalienable rights of the individual include the rights of life, liberty, access to productive property, truly free markets and equal justice before the law. Whatever is physically possible is financially possible
Creativity at Work
4. There is a hierarchy of human work: The highest form of work is improving the social order to elevate each person in his or her freely chosen relationship to others and to a higher power, if desired. The lowest but most urgent form of work is for sheer personal survival.
Economic Democracy
5. It is the duty of democratic government to secure the results the people want from the transparent management of their public affairs, as far as such results do not infringe on the rights of the individual.
Code of Ethics
1. Courage. Overcome fear to test your ideas with others or to raise questions about ideas you don't fully understand.
2. Competition of Ideas. Nobody has a monopoly on the Truth. Resist the feeling that your ego or dignity is being attacked if others severely challenge the ideas you bring to the table. Ideas are meant to be challenged, so that bad or defective ideas can be replaced with better ideas that will advance Truth, Love and Justice for the good of all. Challenge will also sharpen our ability to communicate our ideas.
3. Dignity of the Person. In challenging someone else's ideas, don't attack or insult the person who advances the idea. Separate the message from the messenger.
4. Tradition. Don't lightly discard ideas accepted in the past. The burden of persuasion is on the person challenging old traditions or decisions previously debated and agreed upon, not only to point out the errors of the past, but also to offer a better alternative.
5. Inquisitiveness. There may be bad, ignorant or even absurd ideas, but there are no bad, ignorant or absurd questions. Treat every question as a good teacher should, with respect for the person who is seeking to understand the Truth.
6. Enthusiasm. Fear not the heat, excitement or intensity of debate. This passion is healthy and natural for those committed to the pursuit of the Truth. Don't throw cold water on the normal exhilaration and emotions people feel when they are reaching out to the borders of reason and new ideas.
7. Compassion. If you have problems with the personality or behavior of any member of Bluelab, avoid even subtle criticisms of that person with others. This breeds distrust and divisiveness. Take him or her aside privately and discuss your observations and concerns on a one-to-one basis in an atmosphere of mutual respect, solidarity and compassion.
8. Charity. Everyone in Bluelab is human and therefore imperfect. To strengthen the unity of the movement, it's better to strengthen all our members and help them become more effective in reaching out to others, than to exclude or pull anyone down.
9. Solidarity. We should continue to perfect ourselves and GJM as models for those pursuing Truth, Love and Justice for all. This means we need everyone pulling together to attract the rest of humanity to Bluelab principles and new vision for a more just and humane future for all.
10. Humility. No one is an expert on how to gain widespread acceptance of a truly revolutionary advance in moral philosophy, as represented by Bluelab principles. We are all amateurs in the process of communicating revolutionary social thought.
11. Patience. As an advocate of new and revolutionary ideas, discipline yourself to the fact that acceptance and implementation of our ideas will necessarily be evolutionary, somewhat unpredictable and highly experimental.
12. Tolerance. Without losing your enthusiasm and passionate commitment to our principles of justice, be patient, friendly and tolerant of others who have not yet internalized these ideas.
13. Maturity. In the "war of ideas," adjust your level of expectations in our moral crusade to each distinct phase in Bluelab’s evolutionary development-- the "guerilla war" phase, the "beachhead" phase, the "victory" phase and the "institution building" phase--and to the realities of who and what are committed to carrying out that phase.
14. Commitment. Presume that every other person in our core group is 100% committed spiritually and intellectually to the principles of Bluelab. But also acknowledge that each of us must be the sole judge of how to allocate his or her limited time and resources to Bluelab as well as to family and other commitments. Therefore, accept graciously whatever anyone has contributed in the past or is willing to contribute in the future.
15. Initiative. If you are ready to propose a new initiative, be prepared to assume responsibility to carry it out, if no one else volunteers.
16. Integrity. Don't promise what you can't deliver. If you do commit yourself and then discover that you can't deliver, ask for help. If you're uncertain, don't promise but try your best.
17. Persistence. There are three keys to gaining acceptance of revolutionary ideas: Persistence, Persistence and Persistence.
Bluelab Board of Advisors
Norman G. Kurland, President, Center for Economic and Social Justice, Washington, D.C. Mr. Kurland is a lawyer-economist, pioneer of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and a leading global advocate for “the Just Third Way,” a post-scarcity development model that transcends both capitalism and socialism by combining free markets with the democratization of economic power and capital ownership. He serves as President of the all-volunteer Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ), a non-profit think tank headquartered in Arlington, Virginia that he co-founded with Fr. William Ferree and other economic and social justice advocates in 1984. Mr. Kurland also founded and heads Equity Expansion International, Inc., an “investment banking firm for the have-nots,” which implements “Just Third Way” strategies around the world to turn non-owners into owners. He is a co-founder of Global Justice Movement.org (based in Canada) and the American Revolutionary Party(.US) launched in April 2005. He has taught binary economics and binary policy reforms in privatization seminars at the International Law Institute in Washington, D.C. In 1985, President Reagan appointed Mr. Kurland as deputy chairman of the bipartisan Presidential Task Force on Project Economic Justice, to promote economic democratization through ESOP reforms in Central America and the Caribbean.
He was a close colleague for eleven years of Louis O. Kelso, author of binary economics and inventor of the ESOP. With Kelso, Kurland co-founded the Institute for the Study of Economic Systems. He later became Washington Counsel for Kelso’s investment banking firm. Collaborating with Kelso, Kurland authored and lobbied the first and subsequent ESOP legislative initiatives in the U.S. Congress. He is the principal architect of several model ESOPs and legal systems for expanding ownership, as well as: the first ESOP and worker shareholders association in the developing world at the Alexandria Tire Company in Egypt; the “Capital Homestead Act” (a comprehensive package of national monetary and tax reforms); the “Community Investment Corporation” (a vehicle for enabling community residents to share land ownership and profits); and “Justice-Based Management” (a system for applying Kelsonian principles of economic justice for building a participatory ownership culture at the workplaces of business corporations).
Business Week described Kurland as “the resident philosopher of ESOP in the capital.” He was the recipient of CESJ’s first Kelso-Ferree Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor he shares with Senator Russell Long, the legendary champion of ESOP on Capitol Hill. Mr. Kurland has authored numerous articles on the Just Third Way, binary economics, capital homesteading and related concepts for universalizing access to capital ownership. He was a contributing author to the 1994 compendium Curing World Poverty: The New Role of Property (John H. Miller, ed., Social Justice Review), and was the principal author of CESJ’s comprehensive economic reform agenda, Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen: A Just Free Market Solution for Saving Social Security (Economic Justice Media, 2005).
Before joining Kelso, Mr. Kurland was director of planning of the Citizens Crusade Against Poverty, a national coalition headed by the labor statesman Walter Reuther. Before that Mr. Kurland, as a Federal government lawyer, became deeply involved as a civil rights investigator in the Mississippi “one-person, one-vote” movement and later with the core group shaping economic empowerment initiatives in President Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” He came to Washington in December 1959 after receiving a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Chicago, where he studied law and economics, following five years as an officer on flying status in the U.S. Air Force.
Clarence Thompson, consultant, Louisburg, Kansas. For 20 years, Clarence Thomson was the director of Credence Cassettes, the largest producer and distributor of scripture and spirituality on audio cassette in the Catholic and mainline Protestant traditions. He is the author of three books on the Enneagram and teaches the Enneagram and uses it to coach nationally and internationally. He has Master's degrees in theology and communication.
Robert Delford Brown, artist, New York, NY studied at Long Beach College and UCLA from 1948-1952. In 1952 he received his B.A. from UCLA and in 1956 he received his M.A. from there.From 1955 to 1958 he studied drawing with Howard Warshaw (1920-1977). “When I came out of school in 1950, the art world I was preparing for was gone.” In 1959 Brown moved to Manhattan. “If you aspired toward becoming an artist you had to go to New York.”
Brown’s art career as a first rate iconoclast started shortly thereafter. “In 1963 I met Rhett and life got better.” His wife and art-partner for the next thirty years, Harriet (Rhett) Elsa Gurney once said, “When I met Bob he was 29 and working in a psychiatric ward. A lot of his work comes out of that experience.”
An early significant event for Brown was his participation in Allan Kaprow’s presentation of the musical play entitled "Originale" by the German avantgarde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. This scandalous event was held at Judson Hall in New York City as part of the Second Annual Avant Garde Festival in 1964. Brown created the memorable image of "the mad painter" which was splashed across the pages of local papers and national news magazines.
Next, Brown’s second success d'scandale, the "Meat Show", was staged in 1964 in a large refrigerator unit at the Washington Meat Market….Brown became the first artist to stage a meat performance, renting “tons of meat and gallons of blood” and a refrigerated locker for a blood-spattered happening.
“We went and rented a meat locker, telling the owner that we were making a movie and needed a set. The trucks arrived bringing all this steaming hot meat. We hung it everywhere on hooks. Then we got thousands of yards of lingerie-like sheer fabric and created rooms as in a brothel. It actually looked very erotic. The cops came in to inspect and said we had to have some red lights in the back which made it even more erotic,” said Brown’s wife Rhett.
Late career
In 1967, Rhett and Robert Brown discovered a branch library building that was up for sale in the West Village. They immediately created a physical place for the headquarters of a work begun in 1964: The First National Church of the Exquisite Panic, Inc. The building on West 13th Street, referred to as The Great Building Crack-Up, became an architectural landmark that was later featured in the New York Times.
From his Church, Brown continued to create collaborative performance artworks for the next three decades.
His physical collaboration of choice these days is the “Collaborative Action Gluing” where by email and telephone, he arranges for a space and a participative audience of non-artists. This can be in another city or another country. He then shows up, armed with glue, scissors, rubber gloves, colored paper, magazines to cut up and several canvases for the participants to embellish collectively with their unschooled musings, each eventually transformed from a day-glo tabula rasa into a vibrant, swirling testimony to the power of joint action by non-artists, yet at the same time, surprisingly reminiscent of the likes of Miro, Kandinsky and of course, Matisse’s cutouts.
Since the early 1990s he has done much of his work online via the church website, Funkup.com.
His work is represented in the collections of (partial list): The Museum of Modern Art, New York City; Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado.
Allan Kaprow, credited with originating the Happening movement in the early 1960s, said of Robert Delford Brown,
"The ecstatic power that has marked Bown's art since the 1960s threw a monkey wrench into the avant garde in those days. He was (and is) a visionary you couldn't ignore or forget. Brown's work is important. He touches a nerve at the core of the social codes that organize not only our behavior but also the limits of our art… Robert Delford Brown's transcendent vision takes on a great significance."
Mark Bloch, artist, New York, N.Y. also known as Pan, P.A.N., Panman, Panpost and the Post Art Network, is an American multi-media artist from Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Since 1982 he has lived in New York City. He is a conceptual artist in the tradition of Dada, the Surrealists, Marcel Duchamp, the Fluxus group and Ray Johnson.
Bloch has been interested in digital electronics since 1977 when he created his first computer-related artwork. His art uses the postal system as well as other communications media. In 1989, after over a decade working in mail art, he began to work on the Internet and soon after created a "digital performance artwork in progress" called Panscan for Echo Communications.
Bloch has done video, performance art and experimental music since the late 1970s and also works with networks, e-mail art, postcards, 'artistamps', coded envelopes, information theory, mass media, speaking, journalism and broadcasting.
He became active with mail art in 1977 and created several international postal art, post-art games including the infamous Last Mail Art Show which created controversy. He also raises eyebrows by eschewing institutionalized anarchy such as Neoism, preferring instead the strategies of Arthur Cravan. However, he supports the work of Neoists and other traffickers in Externality everywhere and is an advocate for artists' rights and against the mythic stereotype of the "starving artist." He adheres to principles originated with Situationism, DIY and other forms of Postmodernism in his theoretical approach to issues of art and commerce but refers to it in his writings as "Pan-Modern."
For the past 14 years, since embarking on his personal Art Strike, Bloch creates a new manifesto every day upon waking. These writings remain unpublished.
Bloch also creates articles, pamphlets, books, and mail art-related projects in the tradition of Johann Gutenberg, William Blake, William Morris, Thomas Paine, and El Lissitzky. He recently revived his irregularly issued fanzine called Panmag in the form of a cable TV in New York show called Panscan TV.
Bloch's formative years were spent in Kent, Ohio, where he was influenced by the performance artist in residence Joan Jonas and faculty members Adrian deWit and Robert Culley. Bloch founded an offshoot of the punk rock movement called The New Irreverence which also included future Art Teacher, Kim Kristensen, future Research Scientist, Daniel M. Lewis, and future Columnist, Michael Heaton as well as a group of painters that later came to be known as M'bwebwe in New York City.
He became active with mail art in 1977 and created several international postal art, post-art games including the infamous Last Mail Art Show which he utilyzed to create a controversial international dialogue. He also raises eyebrows by eschewing institutionalized anarchy such as Neoism, preferring instead the less-hackneyed strategies of non-joiners like Arthur Cravan, Robert Wyatt and Brian Eno. However, he is an advocate for artists' rights and against the mythic stereotype of the "starving artist." He adheres to principles originated with Situationism, DIY, Quakerism and other forms of Post-modernism in his theoretical approach to issues of art and commerce but refers to it as "Pan-Modern."For the past 30 years, embarking on his personal Art Strike, Bloch creates a new manifesto every day upon waking. These writings remain unpublished. He is the inventor of the art of storAge (accent on second syllable) wherein the artists relationship with his work, other artists, the general public and art markets are called in constant question.Bloch also creates articles, pamphlets, books, and mail art-related projects in the tradition of Johann Gutenberg, William Blake, William Morris, Thomas Paine, and El Lissitzky. He has published his irregularly issued fanzine called Panmag since 1980 and he distributes video via a cable TV in New York show called Panscan TV.Bloch's formative years were spent in Kent, Ohio, where he was influenced by the performance artist in residence Joan Jonas and faculty members Adrian deWit and Robert Culley. Bloch founded an offshoot of the punk rock movement called The New Irreverence as well as a group of painters that later came to be known correspondence art to the Fales Library at New York University's Downtown Collection.
Stephanie Nuria Sabato artist, designer, teacher, Kansas City, Missouri, is an interdisciplinary designer/artist. Her work as a designer/artist has been exhibited throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Sabato’s work has appeared in several publications and books and has won her numerous honors and awards.
She has been involved in the education of artists and designers for the past twenty-five years. She has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, University of Kansas, and the Kansas City Art Institute. Sabato is currently Chair of Graphic Design at Johnson County Community College. Stephanie holds a seat as an Executive Advisor to AIGA-KC (American Institute of Graphic Artists).
Stephanie’s studies of world religions have taken her on spiritual pilgrimage throughout Europe, the Middle East and India. She was ordained as a minister in the School of Universal Worship in 1991, and assigned the post of Center Representative for the Sufi Order International also in 1991 by Pir Vilayat Inayat-Khan. In 2005 Pir-o-Murshid Hidayat Inayat-Khan assigned her to the post of Midwest Regional Representative for the Sufi Movement International. In 2006 Stephanie was appointed as a Shiraja in the School of Universal Worship for the Sufi Movement International. She has received initiations in all five schools of studies within these orders.
Her first journey to India was in 1990 when she personally met and worked with Mother Teresa. In l990 she also met His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama. Since 1990 Sabato has traveled back and forth to India yearly where she studies and teaches. She has received numerous initiations and teachings personally from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Khamtrul Rinpoche, Achock Rinpoche, Ribur Rinpoche, and Rabjam Rinpoche. While living in India she is in residence at the Chime Gatsal Ling Nyingmapa Monastery in Dharamsala, India.
Stephanie began teaching meditation in 1990, and has taught throughout the US, Europe, and India.
In 1997 she co-founded the Jamtse Tsokpa Foundation – Tibetan American Friendship Society. The Foundation is dedicated to raising and distributing aid to suffering exiled Tibetan Refugees. Her work as co-founder and chair has received recognition by HH the Dalai Lama and in 1997 she was invited to meet with His Holiness in His personal residence in Dharamsala, India.
Mike Miller, Publisher and Chief Editor Ermeritus, Review Magazine, Kansas City, Missouri. Mike Miller Founder and Editor ArtTattler http://www.arttattler.com/index.html has worked in all phases of the publishing business for 35 years in Detroit as editor of the Southfield Eccentric, in Los Angeles as an account executive for the Los Angeles Reader, and in Kansas City as a marketing executive for the Pitch.
Fr. Patrick Eastman founded and edited Monos, a bimonthly spirituality journal in 1985 which continued under his role as spiritual director of The Monos Community until 2004. He was a regular columnist on the subject of prayer for the Eastern Oklahoma Catholic diocesan newspaper from 1984 to 1992. Father Patrick has contributed articles to a number of spirituality and monastic publications. He currently writes a regular article on Prayer and Spirituality for the Clifton Diocesan newspaper and website.
Father Patrick has been a Benedictine Oblate since 1963 and is currently an Oblate of the Camaldolese Benedictines at Big Sur CA. He retains close links with several Cistercian (Trappist) communities. He was a Zen student in the Sanbokyodan lineage under Dr. Ruben Habito from 1995 and from October 2001 until March 2005 he was a formal student of the Mountain and Rivers Order under the direction of Abbot John Daido Loori Roshi at Zen Mountain Monastery. His teacher is now Fr. Robert Kennedy Roshi SJ in Jersey City who installed him as a Dharma Holder in the White Plum Asangha in June 2006
Father Patrick's interests include the history and development of Christian spirituality and mysticism, contemplative prayer, the recovery of the Christian Wisdom tradition, interfaith dialogue especially with Zen Buddhism, the new science, and the writings and life of Thomas Merton and Bede Griffiths. He is a member of the International Thomas Merton Society and on the Committee of the British Section of that Society, Pax Christi and Amnesty International. His central and most important concern is to draw from the ancient Christian and Monastic tradition and teach a contemplative path to non-violence and justice.
From May 2004 until October 2006 Father Patrick was Priest-in-Charge of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Fairford with St. Mary’s, Cricklade in Gloucestershire England. He has now retired from Parish Ministry but continues to serve as a member of the Clifton Diocesan Committee for the On-going Formation of Priests and he is a Committee member of the Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He continues to provide individual Spiritual Direction and is available to conduct retreats and workshops on several spiritual topics but especially on Zen practice in a Christian context, the Eucharist, non-violence, and the writings of Thomas Merton, Bede Griffiths, and Julian of Norwich.
Praxis, Brainerd Carey and Delia Bajo Performance and Video Artists, New York, http://www.twobodies.com/
http://www.curcioprojects.com/praxis.html
Dylan Mortimer, artist, minister, Kansas City, Missouri http://www.dylanmortimer.com/
Joshua Jeff Hogue, http://www.blueflyers2.blogspot.com/ Founder of Bluelab, artist, designer, organizer, and Sufi Cherag (minister), received a BFA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1995. Jeff has worked on television and film crews in Austin, Texas and Kansas City, Missouri. In 1990 he created Eclectic Wear Inc. in Austin, Texas and formed a partnership with Teed Shirts a large shirt printer who printed and distributed the line nationally. In 1995 he created Next Art offering fine art commissions, high end faux finishes and special art and interior design services in the Tulsa and Kansas City areas. Jeff Hogue has shown work in a number of group and individual shows and has sold work through dealers and galleries throughout the United States. In 1998 he received a commission from Richard Harris, of Chicago, Ill. who marketed his hand colored serigraphs on plaster, canvas, and wood nationally. Jeff Hogue has developed, participated in and organized a number of performances and collaborative shows in Texas and Missouri. He was ordained as a Sufi minister in 2002 under the Murshid Khabir Kitz, leader of the Cherags in the SIRS Order.
The Whole Key is Community
The vision of Bluelab hinges upon the technologies of real community.
It seems that far too many people—even sophisticated, intelligent and educated people have little or no idea what “true community” actually is. Perhaps even fewer have personal experience with it.
Bluelab is a new approach to collaborative performance and art making focusing on community as creative vehicle.
Bluelab offers a way for talented and skilled professional artists to work together in a truly comfortable and supportive atmosphere with quality professional tools. Bluelab encourages spiritual practice which can be defined in a wide range of interpretations but which simply helps individuals to relax controls, to watch the breath using various techniques, and to effectively quell the personal ego and its influences. We’re not interested in ideologies—though many of us are dedicated personally to various religious or philosophical interests— we’re more interested in the experience. As Jung said, “contact with the numinous (God) is what heals us”.
In other words Bluelab proceeds upon the idea that it’s better to keep things simple on theoretical levels and to direct our attention and energies toward efforts that are clearly mutually beneficial.
If one studies religion from a mystical perspective one finds a lot less to argue about. The problem here is not with the mystics of the world. They have never been the trouble makers. The problem seems to lie with the religious politicians and powerbrokers. Jimmy Hendrix is quoted as saying, “When the power of love becomes greater than the love of power, there will be peace.”
Bluelab takes the attitude that love is what it’s all about and that learning to communicate and work together lovingly and peacefully is intrinsic to making artistic collaborations which are substantive and transforming.
. “Religion is often a defense against the religious experience.” Joseph Campbell
Initial Questions for Artist Applicants
1. How do you feel about collaborative projects? Do you like working with others? What experience if any do you have with collaborative art making?
2. If offered a stipend would you be willing and able to drop everything in your life and pour yourself into an intensive and immersive collaborative process?
3. Which media do you have experience with? Which are you most proficient with?
4. What in your mind is the difference between “art by committee” and art developed “communally”?
5. Do you have an interest in spirituality? Could you elaborate? Do you have any sort of daily spiritual practice?
6. Are there ways that you see in which art making and spiritual practice are related?
7. Are you optimistic about the coming years—personally and collectively?
8. What is your vision and philosophy for the arts in this new post postmodern culture?
9. How do you think we could make collaborative artwork fun?
“As I talk to men and women sincerely trying to find meaning and an end to a confusing and sputtering life, often I hear the jargon of popular psychology and the glowing bloated terms of the new spirituality. Emotionally it is always tempting to go from one extreme to another, from the bottom to the heights, from feelings of deflation to inflation. This bounce from earthy despair to airy hope; is a particular problem in the spiritual life.
The downward way toward sprit is unflinchingly disintegrative. In an early book of mine I made much of the alchemical saying ‘Solve et coagula—dissolve and congeal.’ Apparently we need to be dissolving all the time, even as we get ourselves back together. But saying it doesn’t accomplish it. We may have to give up the words that cheer us on and discover, simply by being open to the life unfolding in front of us, the particular way of disintegrating that turns us inside out and shows us our spiritual potential. For this mystery Renaissance thinkers, so sophisticated to these matters, used Plato’s image of a Silenus, an ugly and grotesque statue that opened up to reveal the gods.
Dis-integrate means not to feel whole. The word has an interesting and, to me, unexpected origin. It comes from the Latin tangere, to touch, and eventually came to mean untouched or complete in itself. Dis-integrate is a double negative, leaving us with touched, messed with, not original. We may have two different fantasies about our spiritual condition: one is to be pure and whole as we are from the beginning: the other, common in alchemy, is to be in process, to be making soul rather than just being. Spiritual people often speak glowingly of wholeness and pursue it as an ideal. But the soul is present in disintegration as well when we have entered life generously and have been affected, having lost our original innocence and ideals.
To be spiritual is to be taken over by a mysterious, divine compulsion to manifest some aspect of life’s deepest force. We become most who we are when we allow the spirit to dismember us, unsettling our plans and understandings, remaking us from the very foundations of our existence. Nothing is more challenging, nothing less sentimental, than the invitation of spirit to become who we are and not who we think we ought to be…
We are always becoming whole, and that means we are never whole but always disintegrating as we go. We find our wholeness as we are peeled away, like an onion, with the process finished when there is nothing left to peel. Perhaps only then will we be moved to give up the idea of wholeness altogether, having disintegrated sufficiently to be touched by life, and are therefore empty.”
Thomas Moore, The Soul’s Religion
“Vulnerability, then, is not only the ability to risk being wounded but is most often made manifest by revealing our woundedness: our brokenness, our crippledness, our weaknesses, our failures and inadequacies. I do not think that Jesus walked vulnerably among the outcasts and crippled of the world purely as a sacrificial act. To the contrary, I suspect he did so because he preferred their company. It is only among the overtly imperfect that we can find community and only among the overtly imperfect nations of the world that we can find peace. Our imperfections are among the few things we human beings have in common….Indeed, only honest people can play a healing role in the world.”
M.Scott Peck, M.D., a Different Drum
“Every creative act involves a new innocence of perception, liberated from the cataract of accepted belief.”
Arthur Koestler
What is Community Building?
"In and through community lies the salvation of the world."
The Following are excerpts from A Different Drum Community-Making and Peace M. Scott Peck M.D.
“We are so unfamiliar with genuine community that we have never developed an adequate vocabulary for the politics of this transcendence. When we ponder on how individual differences can be accommodated, perhaps the first mechanism we turn to (probably because it is the most childlike) is that of the strong individual leader. Differences, like those of squabbling siblings, we instinctively think can be resolved by a mommy or daddy—a benevolent dictator, or so we hope. But community, encouraging individuality as it does, can never be totalitarian. So we jump to a somewhat less primitive way of resolving individual differences which we call democracy. We take a vote, and the majority determines which differences prevail. Majority rules. Yet that process excludes the aspirations of the minority. How do we transcend differences in such a way as to include a minority? It seems like a conundrum. How and where do you go beyond democracy?
In the genuine communities of which I have been a member, a thousand or more group decisions have been made and I have never yet witnessed a vote. I do not mean to imply that we can or should discard democratic machinery, any more than we should abolish organization. But I do mean to imply that a community, in transcending individual differences, routinely goes beyond even democracy. In the vocabulary of this transcendence we thus far have only one word: “consensus.” Decisions in genuine community are arrived at through consensus, in a process that is not unlike a community of jurors, for whom consensual decision making is mandated.
Still, how on earth can a group in which individuality is encouraged, in which individual differences flourish, routinely arrive at consensus? Even when we develop a richer language for community operations, I doubt we will ever have a formula for the consensual process. The process itself is an adventure. And again there is something inherently almost mystical, magical about it. But it works. And the other facets of community will provide hints as to how it does.”
Realism
“A second characteristic of community is that it is realistic. In the community of marriage, for example, when Lily and I discuss an issue, such as how to deal with one of our children, we are likely to develop a response more realistic than if either of us were operating alone. If only for this reason, I believe that it is extremely difficult for a single parent to make adequate decisions about his or her children. Even if the best Lily and I can do is to come up with two different points of view, they modulate each other. In larger communities the process is still more effective. A community of sixty can usually come up with a dozen different points of view. The resulting consensual stew, composed of multiple ingredients, is usually far more creative than a two-ingredient dish could ever be.”
“We are accustomed to think of group behavior as often primitive. Indeed, I myself have written about the ease with which groups can become evil. “Mob psychology” is properly a vernacular expression. But groups of whatever kind are (never) seldom real communities. There is, in fact, more than a quantum leap between an ordinary group and a community; they are entirely different phenomena. And a real community is, by definition, immune to mob psychology because of its encouragement of individuality, its inclusion of a variety of points of view. Time and again I have seen a community begin to make a certain decision or establish a certain norm when one of the members will suddenly say, “Wait a minute, I don’t think I can go along with this.” Mob psychology cannot occur in an environment in which individuals are free to speak their minds and buck the trend. Community is such an environment.
Because a community includes members with many different points of view and the freedom to express them, it comes to appreciate the whole of a situation far better than an individual, couple, or ordinary group can. Incorporating the dark and the light, the sacred and the profane, the sorrow and the joy, the glory and the mud, its conclusions are well rounded. Nothing is likely to be left out. With so many frames of reference, it approaches reality more and more closely. Realistic decisions, consequently, are more often guaranteed in community than in any other human environment.
An important aspect of the realism of community deserves mention: humility. While rugged individualism predisposes one to arrogance, the “soft” individualism of community leads to humility. Begin to appreciate each others’ gifts, and you begin to appreciate your own limitations. Witness others share their brokenness, and you will become able to accept your own inadequacy and imperfection. Be fully aware of human variety, and you will recognize the interdependence of humanity. As a group of people do these things—as they become a community—they become more and more humble, not only as individuals but also as a group—and hence more realistic. From which kind of group would you expect a wise, realistic decision: an arrogant one, or a humble one?”
The community-building process requires self-examination from the beginning. And as the members become thoughtful about themselves they also learn to become increasingly thoughtful about the group. ‘How are we doing?’ they begin to ask with greater and greater frequency. ‘Are we still on target? Are we a healthy group? Have we lost the spirit?’
The spirit of community once achieved is not then something forever obtained. It is not something that can be bottled or preserved in aspic.”
"...'Community' is a group of two or more people who, regardless of the diversity of their backgrounds, have been able to accept and transcend their differences, enabling them to communicate openly and effectively, and to work together towards common goals, while having a sense of unusual safety with one another. Community Building workshops endeavor to create this safe place."
“Community Building… refers to a group process where participants experience and practice communication skills that create the possibility for deep human connection.
“Community, according to Peck, may be described as "a group of individuals who have learned how to communicate honestly with each other, whose relationships go deeper than their masks of composure, and who have developed some significant commitment to 'rejoice together, mourn together,' and to 'delight in each other, make each others' conditions [their] own.'" [Drum, Simon and Schuster, 1988, p. 59.]
The stages of Community Building generally include:
Pseudocommunity
An initial state of "being nice". Pseudocommunity is characterized by politeness, conflict avoidance, and denial of individual differences. Let's be honest -- most of us can't keep this up for long. Eventually someone is going to speak up, speak out, and the dam breaks.
Chaos
In the stage of chaos, individual differences are aired, and the group tries to overcome them through misguided attempts to heal or to convert. Listening suffers, and emotions and frustration tend to run high. There are only two ways out of chaos: retreat into pseudocommunity (often through organization), or forward, through emptiness.
Emptiness
Emptiness refers to the process of recognizing and releasing the barriers (expectations, prejudices, the need to control) that hold us back from authentic communication with others, from being emotionally available to hear the voices of those around us. This is a period of going within, of searching ourselves and sharing our truths with the group. This process of "dying to the self" can make way for something remarkable to emerge.
Community
"In my defenselessness, my safety lies." In this stage, individuals accept others as they are, and are themselves accepted. Differences are no longer feared or ignored, but rather are celebrated. A deep sense of peace and joy characterizes the group.
The communal approach to art making in Bluelab
1. Gather
2. Encounter
3. Surrender
4. Accept
5. Transform
6. Celebrate
7. Consecrate
8. Produce
9. Perform
1. Gather
It is important on all levels to gain involvement and commitment from at least a sampling of Kansas City’s finest artists and thinkers. As has been stated elsewhere, I believe that many of the finest artists in KC are destined to be involved in Bluelab. Bluelab is not interested in usurping the other important art related organizations in the city and rather sees itself as a friend to all existing endeavors. While members of our community may want to remain active long after the period when they were directly involved in creating a production we assume that a lot of artists will naturally rotate through our doors. Bluelab will probably work best if there’s a steady turnover among performers from show to show keeping us refreshed and forever young and learning. In terms of the community building process, this will be a time of gathering together able bodied artists and thinkers who understand enough about Bluelab to make an informed decision about getting involved.
2. Encounter
The initial projects will be harder than subsequent ones in terms of these early phases of the process. Artists and creative thinkers are often very private individuals and because most of us are still under the influence of modernist belief systems we find a certain amount of vainglory in isolationism. Again, Bluelab seeks only to change the way artists see themselves in the context of this work and its necessary processes and experiential thresholds. If artists participate in a show they may need to return to the desert or the isolation and privacy of their previous studio lifestyles for a period of time in order to assimilate and make sense of what they experienced and discovered in their time with Bluelab. Some may never want to try something like Bluelab again. I suspect that most however will want to be involved as much as possible with future projects and may create similar organizations and efforts on their own.
The encounter process is my term for what M. Scott Peck has termed, “chaos.” This is where the rubber meets the road in terms of authentic group process. The encounter phase is the stage of the process wherein as kind and gentle a way as possible, individuals become fully aware of who each one is in the context of the group and our shared intentions. This is where biases and beliefs and disagreements are laid out on the floor in the middle of the circle in plain view of everyone. This encounter phase is the point in the process where people give up the need to pretend and to posture and find out and assert who they are and what they think and feel. This is the beginning of a really courageous process of deep and meaningful honesty and self-disclosure and leads to the experience of the collision that we all feel when we try to bring our ideas and thoughts and beliefs (attachments) to others who may or may not fully agree with us (who have there own).
Some personalities thrive in this sort of conflict while others naturally recede and prefer silent observation to vocal participation. It seems important that everyone has at least some time in the limelight and that those who tend to want to speak too often learn to be quiet and to bracket their urges to express and hear someone else’s thoughts and feelings while the more stoic need to push against their natural urge to retreat and to let themselves be heard.
At times very volatile issues emerge and everyone is thunderstruck by the chaos and the confusion of the moment. The aggressive want to take over, the squeamish look for the door, and everyone throughout the spectrum of experience finds themselves wondering what they’ve gotten involved in and whether this thing is real or worth the hassle. For those who’ve been through a number of these experiences it can actually be an encouraging signpost. When one has been through the nooks and crannies of community processes enough times, one finds a level of equanimity and detachment by which to simply let things happen. When dealing with human beings in the context of building a true community one is dealing in the realm of mysterious phenomena and subtlety too complex to ever really control. One learns that rather than controlling, one must simply trust. As each person gathers positive experience through the process, each individual begins to build experiential knowledge that the process can be trusted—that we can each trust our personal experience as well.
3. Surrender
This is one of the most difficult and perhaps rewarding phases of the process. Surrender is perhaps the essence of all authentic spirituality. In this context we are speaking of the individual and collective struggle to let go of control and to experience the silence or emptiness of relinquished personal exertion. In dealing with a group of true artists and highly creative thinkers we’re talking about a coming together of some very strong personalities. It has been my discovery that even so, the more sensitive, intelligent and creative a person, the easier it is to tune into the conversation of the moment and to simply be with others. The more each member can surrender to deeper levels of silence, the more powerful the group becomes. Some mystics such as St. Theresa of Avila make a distinction between meditation and contemplation. In terms of the collective process, this is the point in the journey wherein people begin to sense some larger force beginning to show its will. This is the point in which awe becomes known—the point in which things seem to become easier—where glimpses of inspiration begin to replace effortful struggle.
A simple analogy might be that of growing corn. If we as a farm coop want to grow corn together to eat and to sell in the market, the larger the field we develop, the more corn we’ll harvest to eat and to sell. Obviously there’s more work involved in clearing 100 acres than 1. This removing or emptying of belief systems and ideas we may have attached ourselves to and brought in the doors with us coming in to the community building process is the crux of the work of surrender. This is tough stuff one can be certain, but is also incredibly rewarding and freeing. As we learn that love always fills the vacuum left when anything is sincerely surrendered we welcome more and more the necessary struggles and difficulties we must walk through in order to make our beliefs real.
When a group of people has suffered together and been truthful enough with one another and are clear enough about what they as a group want and don’t want for themselves, a miracle begins to grow in which each person begins to feel the extension of his or her boundaries grow. Our hearts grow larger and stronger—more capable of love and compassion. This surrender becomes the very process of forgiveness. We come to experience within the same equanimity of God who “rains upon the just and the unjust.” It is though this transformation that we begin to discover our capacity for unconditional love and for self-transcendence. This, some would say, is the essence of enlightenment.
4. Acceptance
Just as in Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ 5 stages of grief work, acceptance is the attainment of the miracle of Grace. In the context of community building this is the stage wherein a group of strangers has passed through some difficult thresholds together and have arrived at the shared mystical phenomena known as “true community.” There is a palpable experience shared by the group in this context. Suddenly individuals begin to experience a level of trust and warmth and safety that had heretofore seemed like little more than a pie in the sky ideal.
It is at this point that the group has become prepared for collaborative work that will go much deeper than simple creation by committee.
5. Transformation
This is a word that’s been tossed around so freely that it’s lost much of its specific meaning. A true transformation implies a qualitative change in the object in question. From a holographic standpoint, as we are changed as a group we are of course changed as individuals and vice versa. When gifted articulate artists are brought to this level of collaborative experience, there is an emergence of an entity recognized as the “Group” or “Community” that is truly something and this something is worthy of deep reverence. When the individuals comprising the community experience the power of this exalted thing each member becomes humbled and inspired by it and sees “IT” as the vehicle—not him or herself. There is a lot of relief in this as it takes a lot of the heat and pressure off the individual and allows each individual to begin to shift their perception to “IT” as the sanctified vessel of which each individual is a part. As one builds experiential knowledge of this sort of thing one begins to understand new depths of ideas like “love” and “service” and one begins to know life in new and profoundly deeper dimensions. As one gathers experience along this line, one develops greater powers of perception and discernment on all fronts of one’s life. One’s sense of center deepens and becomes more and more deeply rooted offering greater and greater buoyancy, peace and well being.
Most of all when thinking of community, I remember one of my greatest teachers, the beloved section chief, Dr. Dean Collins of the Menninger Clinic. In the two years from June of 1980 to June of 1982 that I lived there as a long-term patient I never caught even a glimpse of disingenuity in that man. He was a tower of depth and awareness and fecundity. He was conversely accessibly squishy and Buddha like. He was soft-spoken but always rosy complected and potent.
Occasionally there was chaos such as when once a fellow patient committed suicide on the unit. During the emergency community meeting the following day I noticed Dr. Collins sitting sage like and fully engaged, yet completely transcendent and compassionate. There were others times when I would be sitting alone in the cafeteria eating lunch or dinner and Dr. Collins would politely ask if he could join me. I never ever saw staff—especially doctors sitting with patients. He loved us as only a true saint could. My egotistical antics never seemed to faze him and I always felt warmly received by him in whatever the circumstances. It was his commitment to truth and his absolute integrity and clarity that set the tone for the quality of our community. Years later in a video interview for a school project entitled, “The Return of the Soul”, he humbly disclosed to me that one of his proudest achievements had been his leadership in the development of the “team model” for the institution. He is one of the finest men I have ever known and a master community builder.
6. Celebration
Words seem almost silly here. When we have arrived at this point in the process there won’t be too much confusion about celebration or what it’s about or why we should do it or whatever. Celebration will come naturally. In the context of making art, this is the point in which this gathering of gifted artists gets to really show off. In this context it’s appropriate to show off—as this is truly an archetypal impulse and is as pure and right as all pure archetypal impulses are and having done the work of community building we will have the natural sense of balance and limitation to push off from and to return to in a sort of rhythm that will be as simple as breathing. The power of joy and love and inspiration will be as palpable as the wind. If we have done our work leading up to this point, this will be the point in which we really reflect upon ourselves as a community and each of us as individuals will be able to truly say that we’ve paid a price to get here and that we’ve grown perhaps more than we knew possible and that we’ve come to realizations that we’d never even dreamed of.
7. Consecration
This is the point in the process in which we as a community can reflect on all that we’ve discovered and through the shared experiential knowledge can say that what seemed impossible—perhaps ridiculous before now seems very possible—even eminent. We have found innocence and have been reborn. This doesn’t mean we’ve been made perfect—but that we’ve perhaps revisioned perfection and now understand that it is actually only us doing our being. We are no longer encumbered by our egos in the way we had recently been. We sense that we are part of something great. We still have our balance though—this is not some sort of pretentious cult experience. We still have our individual will—it’s simply that we are aware of this entity—the Community—and we want to work for it—knowing that doing so simultaneously feeds our deepest longings.
So enjoying our newfound awareness it is now time to dedicate ourselves to the sacred task that Bluelab is about—participating in the Great Work—that of saving the world. This is simultaneously the stuff of cutting edge science and philosophy and the stuff of the ancients. “There is nothing new under the sun”…or one could say it’s all new—and this newness combined simultaneously experienced with a sense of the ancient is the stuff of awakening…
8. Production
Our production processes will be the natural progression of the processes we’ve established through the previous stages. More will be revealed and articulated about this when the time comes. For now, suffice it to say that we will be operating on very high levels intuitively and that much of what goes on in typical ego driven production environments will not be necessary for us here. Having discovered our center—both individually and collectively we will be far more focused on loving communication and upon sharing and developing ideas that are of a higher trajectory than much of our previous work. Here we will find ourselves doing things that weeks earlier would have seemed inconceivable.
9. Performance
Our performances will be the icing on the cake. I don’t want to say much here. Suffice it to say that our performances will be the proof we’re seeking that Bluelab’s productions will be authentically liminal.
People will be enthralled at our shows—and changed.
“It has been said that when the Buddha comes again, he will arrive not as a person but as a community.”
Marianne Williamson Everyday Grace
Bloom
a film about reenchantment, art and heaven (on earth)
Preliminary sketch one
Rather than beginning with small projects we could combine budgets to make a film. With a film we can trim back many of the initial costs and focus on only the equipment and expenses involved in making it. In some ways many of the assertions that define Bluelab will remain unproven even if the film is successfully completed and well received, but in general it will give considerable credence to many of our central ideas.
Bloom (could) will be a film in which we will watch a group of artists going through a community building process—then traveling around talking to some of the leading artists, thinkers and spiritual teachers of our time and then back to the core artists as they struggle with the discoveries and ideas and experiences which develop through the conversations.
The idea is that we could make the film a sort of docudrama with some animated moments. I want the film to be fresh, and appealing to a wide spectrum of people that for me would involve some of the great new “indie” music that’s out. I want the film to have real gravity—and exhilaration—a huge emotional range—I want people to be pummeled by watching it. I want to convict people to rethink their worldviews and lifestyles. This all means of course that we will all have to traverse this range of emotion.
Who are the bad guys out there? Perhaps there are no truly “bad guys” but that our real enemy is systemic?
How do we approach this sort of thing with some artful and journalistic stealth?
How do we convey to our viewers a huge amount without too many details—focusing more upon conveying the gravity of our situation—taking people to the precipice without making them throw up their popcorn?
How do we channel the utter seriousness of our global situation in ways that are new, unself-conscious, pure, and ultimately hopeful?
How do we function heroically without taking ourselves too seriously? “Angels have wings because they take themselves lightly.” (Robin Williams)
How do we make a film with wide appeal while staying true to ourselves and to higher and presumably less accessible issues?
How will we be able to distribute a film outside the corporate controlled system? If we do enough ground work and can represent the interests of large well funded humanitarian orgs? Can we all get together and invent new ways to distribute this?
One of my assumptions has always been that in a live real time setting we have the opportunity for a compression of energy toward collective thresholds that can’t be duplicated with films or other forms that are mass produced and distributed—although all media forms seem to hold unique value and capabilities.
In the film we could talk about corporatocracy. We could talk to some of the folks at Global Justice Movement and ancillary orgs. who are longtime D.C. players and insiders who could presumably dazzle us with very specific and supportable facts and info about what’s really happening all over the world as well as some accessible understanding of how to solve many of our problems.
Norm and I have talked about the ideas of Bucky Fuller and their possible synthesis with Louis Kelso’s and William Feree’s. Norm feels that there’s pleny of stuff here—that the combined ideas of these men could offer real global solutions and that when melted down their ideas are quite simple and accessible.
We will want to tread lightly on too much specific left brain information—we will get further with allusion, inuendo, gesture, and suggestion here. Those who want meaty details will be alerted by the film of the existance of these orgs and be directed to their recousrces. We will get further as a piece of art if we stay in the heart—and out of our minds.
This would most likely start a fire of moral outrage—and hopefully with the expert input on the part of the founders and leaders of these orgs we could come away from each interview with some very specific and practical information about how to deal on grassroots levels with these problems.
Foremost this film is about reenchantment. What I have found is that in that space, delight is natural and the mundane becomes charged with the extraordinary. Heaven to the sage is here—now. I think we all have to discover the sage within if we are going to make it through these coming years.
One of the key ideas I have been interested in for some years now has been how to collapse the traditional polarity that exists between the “artist” and the “audience.” I am very interested in how we draw people into active relationship to the work—how we draw “non-artists” into the awareness that they too are artists of a sort and that as such are charged with the same responsibilities and opportunities. On subtle levels, I can see how if the film is of real qualtiy, people will feel a deep connection to the people in the film—as they bare their souls and show up for who they are—this will naturally inspire the “audience” to do the same.
The flim could be a road trip—we would include footage of some of our communal trials and triumphs on the road—and this could all be shot on a “tour bus” which we could rent for a month or whatever time it takes to get around to the different destinations to visit with our guests in the film. I have rock star friends and have spent a bit of time on tour buses and for my money there’ no better way to travel—it could effectively be a moveable soundstage on wheels. There are companies that lease buses complete with experienced and credentialed drivers for a fee—a substantial fee—but if we are to go to say 15 or so destinations to visit with these leaders—the cost comparison with hotels and 3 restaurant meals per day adds up fast.
Process note: I am interested in not only how this film is constructed, but in how it’s edited. Perhaps we could invite those who are being filmed to have input into the editing.
I will seek to have conversations with these leading thinkers, scientists, and artists on film. Some I would like to include will be:
Suzie Gablik, art futurist, Lee Lozowick Spiritual Teacher, Mariana Caplan, writer, anthropologist and spiritual disciple of Lee Lozowick, Pir Shabda Khan, Spiritual Director for Sufi Ruhaniat International, Ram Dass, spiritual leader and writer, Wendell Berry, poet and eco activist, Stanizlov and Christina Grof, researchers and leaders in the field of depth psychology, David Michael Levin, philosopher and professor of philosophy, Northwestern University, Fr. Thomas Keating, Cistercian Monk, Abbot and Spiritual Teacher Snow Mass, CO, Fr. Richard Rohr, Franciscan Spiritual Director and Retreat Master, Jack Kornfield, Buddhist Teacher and Writer, James Turrell, artist, Andy Goldsworthy, artist, Mathew Fox, Writer and Theologian, Joan Halifax, Zen Roshi, Rupert Sheldrake, physicist, Norm Kurland, economist, activist . (This list is of course completely preliminary and likely to change)
While there are many authorities in various fields that are personally engaged in the collective project of “The Great Work”, these are some of my personal favorites. Most of these have touched my life personally and I feel that their presence alone will be sufficient to make an impact on viewers.
The approach we will take will be one that focuses heavily on process. We will work intensively together to forge creative direction for our film and initial projects with a heavy emphasis on communication and sharing of creative direction.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
The above speech by Nelson Mandela (Inauguration 1994) was originally written by Marianne Williamson
Other Ideas
The Supper Heroes Create a film around a 2 or 3-hour dinner with a group of 8 or 10 people made up from the above roster. The film would include a group of artists getting together and creating a performance and presentation for a number of people such as the above, showing the community building process, including animated moments disclosing the imaginary realms of the artists and their egos as they grapple with the arduous task of community building and art making in the face of all, then leading into the dinner set with the visitors. Suddenly the visitors would be across the line with the artists as performers.
Getting Down to Business
With a developmental budget we can buy some time for a handful of very bright and knowledgeable people to take all these ideas to the next level. The irony is that the core of these ideas have been developed in isolation—granted they are based upon at least some actual hands on experience with the concepts around community building and art making but in retrospect the actual experiences fall far short of where all this needs to go.
We need communal and holistic planning processes to get where we want to with all this. People are inherently frightened of real community. Our intention is to locate highly skilled and talented artists who have real communal knowledge and experience—but we need a good website and some webmaster’s expertise to link us up with all the right connections to be locatable on the web.
Again, with money we can “convert” talented artists to our way of thinking. After all, we’re not talking about a cult here or some covert or malign force. Community is ancient—even if currently forgotten and misunderstood. If artists are given a reasonable compensation for their involvement—they will come to believe and to experience the efficacy of these assertions. There will need to be a smart and thoughtful filtration process through which we will avoid bringing in artists who—though perhaps highly talented lack the emotional maturity to work in an environment such as Bluelab.
One big problem we all face: Corporatocracy
(sometimes corporocracy from Wikipedia)
“Corporatocracy is a neologism coined by proponents of the Global Justice Movement to describe a government bowing to pressure from corporate entities…Corporatocracy is also used by John Perkins in his 2004 book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man to describe a system of governance controlled by "big corporations, international banks, and government" (Perkins / Plume paperback edition, 94). Harking back to the "military-industrial complex", Perkins sees the corporatocracy manifested in the following cycle: the World Bank issues loans to developing nations to pay for large-scale development projects; contracts are then doled out to a handful of American engineering firms; as a result, these countries become ensnared in a net of interest payments and debts they cannot repay. American corporations benefit through increased profits, and the U.S. government benefits through securing its political clout and control over developing countries with vast natural resources. The majority of people in those countries do not benefit, however, since a large portion of their country's budget goes toward servicing the national debt instead of improving living conditions.”
Bluelab Donor Roster
Visionary 10,000 or more
Angel 5,000 to 10,000
Partner 2,500 to 5,000
Associate 1,000 to 2,500
Friend 100 or more
"Leadership is seeing hope in any adversity."
Brent Filson
“Nothing is more challenging, nothing less sentimental, than the invitation of spirit to become who we are and not who we think we ought to be…The new monk wears an invisible robe.” Thomas Moore, the Religion of the Soul Unless there is a speedy and radical shift in human consciousness, to bring about a ‘re-enchantment of the world’ and the return of the sacred to the center of our personal and collective life, the human enterprise on Planet Earth most probably will come to a catastrophic end. The paranormal events that we have been discussing may be wake-up calls coming from the regions of the Holy Spirit, or what Kenneth Ring calls ‘Mind at Large,’ to overcome our morbid entanglement with materialism in all its forms and manifestations and help us become aware of our Divine origins and our destiny as beings in the process of deification. Once that understanding, now buried down in the recesses of our individual and collective subconscious, comes to the surface, then we will feel, think, and behave in ways that will render us custodians of Creation and not its mindless destroyers.” “Conventional scientists, …sooner or later will have to recognize that what is happening today is not regression to prerational states of superstition but a quantum leap into super-rational states of awareness. It is not the reversal of the Enlightenment, as they are worried, but its fulfillment through the development of a new science that will incorporate the spiritual at the center of its preoccupation.” Kyriacos C. Markides PhD, Riding with the Lion
“A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feelings through words. This may sound easy. It isn’t. A lot of people think or believe or know they feel—but that’s thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling. And poetry is feeling—not knowing or believing or thinking. Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you’re a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you’re nobody-but-yourself. To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. As for expressing nobody-but-yourself in words, that means working just a little harder than anybody who isn’t a poet can possibly imagine. Why? Because nothing is quite as easy as using words like somebody else. We all of us do exactly this nearly all of the time—and whenever we do it, we are not poets. If, at the end of your first ten or fifteen years of fighting and working and feeling, you find you’ve written one line of one poem, you’ll be very lucky indeed. And so my advice to all young people who wish to become poets is: do something easy, like learning how to blow up the world—unless you’re not only willing, but glad, to feel and work and fight till you die.“ R. Buckminster Fuller, Critical Path “The possibility for re-enlivening a spiritual culture in the West that is authentic, sane, potent, grounded, and full of passion for Love and Truth, rests in the hands of the few who dare to accept the full responsibility of this task. Those who do are called to study, practice, be vigilant and courageous, and to express lives of uncommon integrity in these demanding times. “ Mariana Caplan, PhD. “He who expects to change the world will be disappointed, he must change his view. When this is done then tolerance will come, forgiveness will come, and there will be nothing he cannot bear.” Hazrat Inayat Khan
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing,There is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass,The world is too full to talk about.Ideas, language, even the phrase each otherDoesn’t make any sense.
Rumi
