Evolver: Wake Up and Dream

Sounds like a blast. I'm looking at flights...

;)

st

Stuck on the wrong side of the pond here in the UK, but from reading the post, it really reminds me of the megatripolis that used to be held once a month at heaven in London during the mid nineties. I was running a BBS for heads at the time, and we used to go down there with a powerbook to try and find new members. I saw Terence Mkenna do an amazing talk there to. Sounds great guys, and I'm jealous. Enjoy!

...and I must say I was not impressed.

I went in expecting so much, but came back feeling good about the burrito I had on my way home, and that's about it.

I'm not going to sit here and type out all the smaller problems I had with the artsy/experimental portions of the event (with which I have a few) because they weren't that big of a deal. My biggest issue was with the opening debate/argument/Q&A/shit-show/whatever it was they were trying to do. I'm not an over-critical guy, so realize I must have really been put-off when I say that this was the most unorganized event I've been to in my entire life, flat-out.

It started late because there were so many people piling in (understandably so) and nobody seemed to mind, we were just happy to be there and be free and be calm. Then, after a fun little intro about the animals and spirits of the world, we went right into it: an opinion contest between Daniel Pinchbeck and Sharon Gannon. Why do I call it that? Well let me start by being kind first.

I LOVE Daniel's writings, his book on 2012 and the need for a global change in the human psyche was awe-inspiring for me. I've really found incredible insight in his writings. And Ms. Gannon is obviously extremely learned in Yoga and far beyond (I don't know of her as well as Pinchbeck but I respected a lot of what she had to say and her views on consciousness).

That being said- the way they handled the "talk" was sub-par. First of all, we all arrived expecting what they told us to expect from them: they were to compare and contrast yoga and shamanism and how these ancient techniques might just save our world today. WHAT DID WE GET IN STEAD??? Daniel Pinchbeck basically attacking yoga as a whole in front of a large audience and using Sharon Gannon as the person to describe his opinion to (in a rather offensive manner). Then (even though I believed Sharon was more in-the-know all night) she would strike back with her own feudal attempts at debate which would QUICKLY turn into boring argument with Daniel. Meanwhile, hundreds of laid back fairies and pixies and lizard-men and bird-children all watched in horror. We sat in the crowd and watched everyone begin to squirm in their seat when we all realized there was literally no structure to this "debate" and it was becoming a pissing contest of sorts. The fact that we could so easily sense the bad vibes pulsating and growing stronger was enough to make my skin crawl. Finally some crowd members began to speak up and voice their opinions out-loud, when they couldn't take it anymore. Sadly, some people began getting out of hand, and I even witnessed some people yell angrily at their own sitting neighbors (mostly out of frustration from what Daniel was saying... no offense Daniel).

I'm not going to go too deep into this because it's been enough for one night and I'm sick of remembering it. I'll end it with this though- we are all looking for a change, for something new. We all tend to agree that we need a GLOBAL TRANSITION into a more SACRED way of life. But how on EARTH are we going to do that when those of us who want to be leaders, can't have a night of "transitional" proportions without simply arguing. Because that's all I saw tonight with these two folks. Argument. Which led to more argument. I SAW A GIRL LIVID AT DANIEL IN THE CROWD. I saw a girl outside after we left about to burst saying she couldn't believe what she heard. I saw the co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga unable to contain herself and decide to be argumentative. I saw little to no real structure.

I don't know for sure what we want but this was NOT it.

Unstructured to say the least. Cheesy and lame to say the worst.

 Part of the problem is Daniel's approach is analytical and skeptical by nature. So, putting him up there with someone as dogmatic as Sharon was like the worst alchemy imaginable.

 Launching into a statement about how Western Yoga is elitist was not going to get a good response. Though I have to say there was validity to his statement, the delivery was a bit harsh. But her response to everything was very much like she was quoting scripture the whole time.

 Also, when that fellow got up on stage and presented a VERY good argument about why there is a balance between passive/aggressive in nature and so in man, using tribal cultures as an example on how they hunt animals etc..and this is part of the balance of the ecosystem to be consumed and destroyed in order to keep creation going, Sharon's response was to attack the guy because he mentioned the Bhagavad Gita and he hadn't read it front to back. That wasn't even the main thrust of his argument, but that was all she could grasp onto. Nevermind, the rest of what he was saying had validity. She wasn't going to concede to any of the other points.

 I understand a large part of her philosophy is animal rights. That is a worthy cause. But as soon as Daniel made the statement that animals don't have the same consciousness as humans it was like a needle stuck on a record. But if you think that a vegan philosophy can be applied to all cultures and ways of life you are being very narrow. You aren't going to go down to the Amazon and tell the people there they shouldn't kill monkeys or jaguars because they have a 'consciousness' and it's wrong. They aren't being spiritual because they eat/use animals to survive? Cultures that are in touch with nature and it's cycles and with respect take and give back are more 'spiritual' than a bunch of Westerners sitting in a yoga studio doing asanas or arguing bullshit philosophy about the definition of consciousness.

 That's where the elitism comes in. When you think your way of life can be applied to all. There are many ways and forms to worhsip and be spiritual and last night was not a good example of any of them.

 We have a long way to go, but first we have to crawl out of our own asses.

www.organelle.org

www.truetao.org

www.organelle.org

www.truetao.org

The unique thing about the party last night was that two seemingly different crowds came together and got to know one another, shared some space, shared some dialogue, and shared some love.

I thought that the conversation contained many moments of ego, both on the part of the audience members and the speakers. I was impressed by things that were said by both Daniel and Sharon AND the audience members.

The bottom line is that none of us are above acting from a place of ego, and we can all work on that in different, personal ways. In the meantime, the dialogue was fruitful for me. I had to sit with difficult feelings about myself, about spirituality, and about two people I admire for different reasons.

The coalescence of a visionary community can only ever happen in the moment. IF there was stress last night, that doesn't mean there is now, for me, right here. I believe that turning within, turning the other cheek, running away, standing up, it all has its place. Not because theoretically all things are relative but because all of these do in fact happen.

Therefore their theoretical value, to me, is good insofar as they are actually occurring. And last night they both occurred, and those of us who like it to be one way or another, or found ourselves in one temporal location over the other, might have been a bit shaken by one or the other.

But the point of yoga or Ayahuasca, things I have several years of experience with respectively, is, as both D and S said, to open up new spaces, within and without. I think new spaces were opened up last night, not for a collective that I can speak for, but for a space within me.

I was opened up, and I will take this new space with me and occupy it in a way that opens up spaces in the world outside of me. Blessing both spaces and bowing my head for the mystery and challenge of being.

Thank you Daniel and Sharon for your hearts. You are loved by people who are seeking more love, within and without. Let's have more dialogue, even when it hurts our collective muscles to stretch out! My only regret was that we couldn't have gone a little longer! 

Adam Elenbaas

www.organelle.org

www.truetao.org

The only "Magic" is a Shift in Perception.

A lot of things have been covered in the posts preceding mine, so that i don't have to go back into it. I didn't know much about Daniel until recently, but after Saturday night, as i reacted a bit against his arguments that to me were kind of disrespectful to the fact that he was invited into the home of a spiritual school owned by Sharon Gannon and David Life, i thought if he wanted to disagree or debate about our fundamental direction "Ahimsa" (non-harming) , he should have at least let Sharon know, so she could have had the chance to reaffirm to him that she will not compromise her lineage in anyway, and that is because if you know Sharon like her students do, you'll know one simple thing. She simply advocates to the detail of the meaning, the scriptures of Patanjali.(not her own scriptures, like some ego centered Yoga teachers seeking for popularity and money first) Jivamukti is unapologetically spiritual and in no way an exercise center to show off some flexible postures while practicing vegetarianism for vanity health reasons or elitism and narrow mindedness. I rushed to read as much as i could of Daniel's book "2012" the past few days, to make sure i would get to know him better, and i certainly think that he is a remarkable being and i admire his work. I think he has explained in his own posts, that he is looking into a positive future, and maybe a seed was planted that night for a shift in perception for all. I was not always a vegetarian, and I was surely at one point of my life on the other side of perception toward animals, but by practicing yoga with Sharon and David, i quickly gave up my culinary French philosophy about 10 years ago , for the understanding that anything I will allow to be harmed on this Earth will be my own harming because there is nothing out there that isn't a part of me. (including the guy that calls my teacher a bitch.) "Compassion is potent medicine" You see, Sharon is only trying to teach us what teachers before her taugh until it came to her, and she spreads the word for who is ready to go in that direction, that yoga. Her love for animals is her love for humanity, because yogis believe they are responsible for all matter (karmas) of the universe, as we believe in re-incarnation. It is from protecting wild form of life that you can begin to help the civilised, not the other way around. The link between Sharon's convictions and Daniel's today, is for example: that it takes 17 showers worth of water to produce a single hamburger patty.(do the math) 27 billion land animals slaughtered yearly only in America (we are 6 billions humans in the world), means it's a 24 hour non-stop production of pain that we ingest and that eventually makes us behave like the pain we eat. you want to know more? be courageous and educate yourselves, if you have gone as far as educating yourselves toward Reality Sandwich,(which quotes at the bottom of the site, "You are what you eat") then maybe you can make the connection by seeing the DVD EARTHLINGS www.isawearthlings.com or go to sites like www.peta.org and find out more about the outcome of what the Earth is really dying of. If you thought SUV's were the cause of global warming, think again, and also if you don't want to buy a gallon of water for $30 by 2010. Sharon is not only interested in Yoga, or else why would she offer so many ranges of consciousness awakening events at Jivamukti, which many of them come from different lineage but have only one goal, and it's not a different one from People like John Lennon, Mahatma Ghandi and Dr. King had,(and i can certify that those 3 were vegetarians by the way.) Probably people like Sharon, David and Daniel , would have been shot 30, 20 years ago for having gathered too much popularity for a peaceful, war free, healthy planet. But now is not a time where governments of the world have as much power as they seem to. We have 10.000 folds communications tools at the speed of light such as the internet, to show the increasing number we are of people with different ideas but only one whole heart. So please , let's not use this great tool of communication to use words like "that bitch" and other small mind stuff when we can finally speak out ways to bring our different ideas to build one place where our children can live in peace and harmony . Why do you think people used to travel miles to go hang in front of the white house and protest? no internet!

Peace Peace Peace

Eddie T.

Greetings!

As the founder and director of Body Temple, one of Evolver's inspirations (according to Jonathan Phillips), I wanted to offer some feedback and comments from a "behind the trenches" perspective.

To the Evolver crew. First off thanks for doing this event. It is a big undertaking and hard work to pull off anything of such a nature. To have such a large turnout first time out is amazing. There is a need to have such experiences in NYC, and since Body Temple is on hold it is great to see others fill in the gap and do so with such enthusiasm. I know you will improve as you go along. To do so you must remember one thing "The customer is always right." A lot of folks seamed to have a good time and I did hear a lot of complaints during and after the party. Please listen to the good and the bad, and learn from both. Do not offer any resistance or make excuses to what the public has to say. Take ownership and responsibility, take risks and listen and commit to improve what you are doing. You and your audience will be the better for it. In my experience how you start and end an event is very important. The beginning will set the tone for the evening and the ending will ground the energy and create the vortex for the next event. Daniel and Sharon you are the public face that set the tone for the event, so understand when you speak to an open minded audience every nuance will reverberate larger then you might realize. Be prepared. People do have high expectations when they come to a yoga space to learn and celebrate. Be aware and be grateful to have such a sensitive audience. Be clear and centered before you open the doors and you will have a victorious event and happily returning customers. Lastly seek out the wisdom and experience of the Globesonic crew,Haj, Parashakti (and me if you like). They are the co-founders of Body Temple and their own events/parties/rituals. They have a wealth of experience in celebrating in a conscious way. Good Luck.

To everyone who came and had a "Bad experience", please cut these folks some slack. Sorry to say this but writers,yoga teachers,event planners, etc are people too. And people are not perfect. I believe that the Evolver crew are sincere. They are trying to do good. This was their first time out. Until you put on a large scale public party without major budgets and booze money you have no idea how difficult this sort of thing is. If you want to have healthy alternatives to party at, then please support what they are doing, with positive constructive criticisms and volunteering to help out.

Let go of needing "spiritual leaders" to be perfect gurus. Letting go of the perfect teacher image is a big step towards maturity of the soul. There's an old saying, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power,the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix

Thank You Daniel for the time spent writing what you mean.I think I have met a teacher in you as well. I am plunged in you book 2012 today, and it is amazing. You are indeed a brainiac . (LOL)There are too many things i'd like to tell you about what you said, but i think we have to take it face to face, and you know where to find me.(we have met many times, and the last time was with Parashakti in the East village, walking down the street).I feel that you and I are not feeling , or thinking of the world in such a different way.You flavor it with Salt, and i do with Turmeric.I cannot speak for Sharon when you quote her, but i can say what i would have said if you had asked me the same questions, and it might have been similar answers.(i'd run away too) because if i remember the time i was 18, and 5 Skinhead punks in Paris beat me up and through me off the bridge into "la Seine" river in the middle of December, when i made it to survive out of the cold waters i certainly realized that they were not prepared for a oneness speech . So i could help them better by running away physically (not spiritually).But Hey , It was a day of great learning for me, and that is personal.You say you feel your best way is to bring , not necessarily a comfortable subject to debate. I feel that makes you an aspect of Lord Shiva. How can one who is aware of cause and effect not bow to your form and sound.-The different people that you quoted, are simply teaching yoga.Are they Satvic? (truthful) Rajasic ? (in it for the money) Tamasic? (in it for the power).I don't know!What i think, is that each follower of a "way out" of feeling disconnected or separate from others , has his/her own teacher at the intentional place they come from.A seed is planted and it blossoms in this life, if that is their karma.The fact that you and I interact, means we have Karma with one another.That is what i believe from my own experience.I chose yoga and the interpretations of Sutras and Gita into my life , partly because although coming from a Psychoanalyst Father (of the Jacques Lacan Lineage), i still felt disconnected and separated.Not to say my father himself was a vegetarian 35 years before me, and besides the path of the mind, he also has a path that took him many years in india studying different levels of meditation scriptures and yoga paths of devotion to personal divinity, which did not influence me at all until i met Sharon And David many years later.You remind me a bit of my conversations with him.(Him and I are very close and very different.)I was too much into analysing everything, and i chose a way where I listen to the moment , listen to the message coming from within without manipulating it. and i still struggle not trying to, but it's a work in progress.What E. Tolle talks about, whether he really means it or not. doesn't matter, he's not the doer, his he? He is just telling Patanjali's sutra (1-23) in a wordy way. Some will use it to be asleep , some will wake up and dream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPg9DnMP2D4

Also i want to thank Mark from Buddha Temple, for what he added above, because it completes my point of view as well.I'm sorry if my original statement was a reaction, I'm only human, or a dragon guardian of my temple. www.jivamuktiyoga.com

Peace to you Daniel.

The world needs people like you.

And i think everyone should read your book "2012" and keep it close by like a map.