Comment

Comment by Helen Spector on April 8, 2010 at 6:21pm

Thanks, Seth. We will be looking into what's next. There will be some meetings of the group on Indigenous spirituality and wisdom, so stay in touch with Milt Markewitz (he is here on PeaceNext). And as those of us who want to re-connect begin to plan to do so, we will keep you in mind.

Comment by Seth Kinzie on April 8, 2010 at 6:17pm

Do send out another a message when you're thinking about hosting another Portland gathering. I'd love to get together with folks around town

Comment by Janet M. Elfers on March 22, 2010 at 4:20pm

The New Thought Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon offered wonderful hospitality to all participants involved in a Post-Parliament event on Sunday, February 21st . The day began with Native American drumming and a beautiful choir performance by the New Thought Church. Four of us who attended the Parliament event shared about a topic that inspired us at the event in Melbourne. My topic was Women’s Leadership. What follows is some of my thoughts regarding this issue and the women who participated in Australia:
Benedictine nun Joan Chittister, keynote speaker at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, inspired us all with her wisdom, humor, courage and eloquence. Sister Joan says that, “the moment a woman comes home to herself, the moment she knows that she has become a person of influence, an artist of her life, a sculptor of her universe, a person with rights and responsibilities who is respected and recognized, the resurrection of the world begins.” She underlined the urgency of confronting obstacles and fully empowering women—noting that 70% of the world’s people in poverty are female. Women (and men) in leadership must focus on the importance of working for gender equality as they confront the plight of widows without dowries, illiterate girls denied access to education, women denied business loans and beaten and trafficked women. As we acknowledge that religion bears at least some responsibility for these atrocities, people of faith can also own our powerful potential to do something to change the tragic realties for women worldwide.
Examples abound where women have made a profound difference in their society. Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, a devout Muslim, defied the Taliban by operating underground schools for girls in Afghanistan. She secretly entered the country at height of the Taliban’s influence in 1995 with $20,000 of her own money and opened 80 schools, educating 3000 young women. During the civil war in Sierra Leone a group of women of different faiths, distraught at their children being forcibly recruited as child soldiers, boldly confronted the rebels in their mountain bases. They were allowed to take some of the child soldiers back with them. In war torn Liberia, Muslim and Christian women rose up and forced peace on their shattered country—after a decade of violence in which more than 250,000 died and one million became refugees. They then propelled to victory the first female head of state on the African continent.
Katherine Marshall has worked for over three decades on international development with a focus on issues facing the world’s poorest countries. She is a senior fellow at Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, a visiting Professor and a senior advisor for the World Bank. One of her quotes in particular has stayed with me. When challenged about why it is important for women to be included in leadership roles her response was, “In my many years of work in the poorest countries I have learned this—if you are not around the table, you are on the menu.”
When women are fully empowered and put in leadership roles to help solve the momentous challenges of our age—global climate change, wars and violence, poverty—then we will see that the gifts and skills that men and women together possess can transform and heal our world.

Comment by Milt Markewitz on March 22, 2010 at 3:25pm

NOTES FROM THE ‘INDIGENOUS WISDOM’ CONVERSATION
Post-Parliament of World Religions – Feb. 21, 2010
Se-ah-dom Edmo & Milt Markewitz – Co-Facilitators


The purposes for our conversation were –
ß Awaken the Wisdom Within Ourselves,
ß Further ‘Right Relationships’ with Native Americans, and
ß Help others Awaken the Wisdom Within Themselves

And our process was to share our stories of a time when we were deeply touched by Indigenous wisdom, and to glean from these stories
ß Problems & How they’re being addressed,
ß How we might support each other,
ß Activities we’d like to Initiate, and
ß Relationship with the other 3 Conversation Groups – Women, Ceremony & Peace

I shared a story of the ‘13 Grandmothers’ and their response to a young man who lived on land that had been taken from a local tribe and parceled out for homesteading. The essence of the response was that the land is to be shared and revered, and that each of us has the responsibility to live in harmony with the land and all its inhabitants. I then assumed the role of scribe.

Se-ah-dom, Coordinator of the ‘Indigenous Ways of Knowing’ program at Lewis & Clark College, shared a Native American story about a boy who hissed derisively at whatever didn’t please him, and this led to his being rejected by community. Then through ‘wisdom medicine’ he became a snake, and he continues to hiss at whatever doesn’t please him. The lessons for us are to respect diversity, and realize that our creation stories can be fun and designed for learning and applying. Se-ah-dom then assumed responsibility for facilitating.

The following points were made as people shared stories and introduced themselves
ß The importance of being present
ß The power of naming rituals and the names themselves
ß Connecting with Nature and what has been lost through chemical applications
ß Botswana community that begins with ‘Ubuntu’, an expression of connection and dependency, and how fragile it is when powers like apartheid are present
ß The power of overcoming transgressions by a valuing community
ß The power of prayer when it helps us recognize we’re all related & dependent
ß Life is a treasure and how it can be underappreciated in urban cultures
ß The power of ‘traditional’ healing when energetically connected with all of Nature and that is recognized by community
ß Listening deeply within
ß Social Justice as a virtuous cycle
ß Chief Seattle’s wisdom particularly as it relates to the environment
ß How we’re drawn together by spirit
ß Learning – Environmental Studies particularly ‘Water’
ß Promoting Spiritual Dialogue
ß Interfaith activities that lead to Human Rights & Peace
ß Healing the Earth through ‘wholistic management’
ß Indigenous Perspectives
ß Human Rights in Interfaith work
ß Indigenous Land Restoration
ß Publishing Traditional Wisdom Information
ß Holding the Fire to create Community
ß Mixed Blood --> Unique traits & Languages
ß Healing People
ß Music to bring people together – Energized thru the beat & the words
ß We’re destroying our World
ß There are Universal Truths that must be adhered to
ß Educate to draw out and move forth
ß There’s a Natural Way --> Indigenous Wisdom can be spread via the Internet
ß Learning from Nature – Being in Harmony with our environment
ß Finding Love in different ways with all others

The points above are in the order they were stated, and there are some themes that emerge for me – harmony with Nature, connecting with the land and all life, misplaced power and the need for social action, spiritual community, healing, Indigenous wisdom, the crisis we’ve created for so many species including our own, communication and education, cultures are different from each other and it’s the variety that gives us hope for emergent answers.

Two follow-up items were brought up. One was getting together again, and I’m wondering if Jon or Max or Hawk would be willing to host a fire, and how many would be interested. The second, suggested by Lynn Hingson, was starting a conversation group, and I’m wondering if we might accomplish this by joining forces with Hawk and his ‘Speakers’ get-togethers.

Thank you all so much for your contributions and a particular thanks to Se-ah-dom for facilitating and all she contributed. I’m sorry we didn’t a) have more time together; and b) the ‘Report Out’ that was on our agenda.


Milt Markewitz
503 241-7172

Comment by Gabriela Franco on December 18, 2009 at 10:47pm

I was not as looky as all of you who went to Australia, but I really appreciate you are sharing with us part of your profound experiences.

Comment by Gabriela Franco on December 8, 2009 at 9:14am

There are two strong fellings in my heart, one is a terrible sorrow hearing all the magnificent events in Merlbourne, the reason is obvious.. I´m not there.. but the other felling is much much stronger a great joy . I cann´t express in words how I fell to be a witness of all the changings that this events are moving in humanity´s hearts
I´ve been alert and it is not only in the Parliament, but in the music, in the art,in the news... we are now srtating to open our eyes to a different kind of living.. a better way to love each other...a better way to loook each other to our eyes,.. to our souls.
Thanks everybody

Comment by Nancy Panitch on December 5, 2009 at 12:33am

I was able to watch a couple of videos that took place before the Parliament opened: Sara Talcott, Dr. William Lesher and Dr. Michael Nagler. They were wonderful. Wish I was there. I will be out of town this weekend, but will try to listen again when I get home on Sunday night.

Comment by Gabriela Franco on November 24, 2009 at 6:04am

Unfortunatelly we are not going to Australia, but we are going to be watching all the events from the Web page.
Have fun and thanks for sharing us all the events.