Mental Health in a Time of COVID

Mental Health is a major issue for the world as we traverse the pandemic. How we deal with it will have a significant effect on future health and wellbeing. In this session, we connect experts on understanding mental health and how we can work together to enhance human well being. The pandemic has radically changed the landscape and nature of dialogue about the issue, but are we any closer to understanding and agreeing what we mean when we talk about mental health.

Never since the last World War in Europe (and elsewhere in the world) have so many seen such a radical day-to-day shift in their daily routine, been exposed to extreme levels of stress, anxiety and more - and yet it still seems we fail to grasp how we can actually improve our mental stamina. Can we change this dynamic?

And likewise - while everyone's busy talking about the virtues of mental health, our mental health institutions and hospitals are experiencing the same financing problems as ever, the same stigma, and the same lack of research. Can’t we change this old narrative?

Mental health and mental illness represent a distinct spectrum, with sometimes arbitrary cut-offs between one and the other. Prejudice, fear and misunderstanding permeates this aspect of our health in quite a unique way. Can we challenge the model towards  better care for both the pathologically mentally ill  and those with completely normal but still life-affecting mental problems, in the latter case, granting mental health the same status and attention that we now give to looking after and trying to maintain our physical health?

Presenters

• Bob Grove, Senior Policy Advisor, Mental Health Europe

• Jonathan Munro, Associate Director for Criminal Justice & Secure Care Services, Rethink Mental Illness, UK

• Meri Larivaara, Director, MIELI Mental Health Finland (tbc)  

Convened by Lars Münter of the Nordic Health 2030 Movement and David Somekh of the European Health Futures Forum 

Co-Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

The Magic and Mystery of Chartres

In this session, Jim Garrison will explore the history of Chartres, France, the site of what is called “the queen of cathedrals.” From earliest prehistoric times dating back thousands of years, the hill of Chartres has been associated with a powerful presence of feminine energy. The Druids arrived there 3,500 years ago and attuned themselves to the feminine energies they discerned and called Chartres theirvatican, their “seat.” For the Druids, Chartres had the most potent energy in all of Europe and so each year all the Celtic peoples gathered in Chartres to commune with the feminine aspect of earth energies. With the rise of Christianity 2,000 years ago, Chartres became a sacred site and carried on the lineage of acknowledging the presence of a profound feminine energy. Then 1,000 years ago, the Chartres Academy was established which for the next 250 years taught the seven liberal arts and the power of the feminine, honoring Mary and Mary Magdalene as central figures in spirituality. For the Chartrian Masters, both nature and religion led to an awareness of the Divine.

Each year since 2005, our Wisdom School leads a pilgrimage to Chartres to consecrate ourselves in the presence of the sacred feminine as we study the seven liberal arts. This year we will convene the pilgrimage virtuallyJuly 4-11and explore the second liberal art of Dialectica.Please join us.

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Relational Path to Regenerating Education

The landscapes of knowledge and learning have shifted hugely in recent years, with the development of technology, digital media, and more importantly, the enlivened human consciousness of our connections with each other, and our relations with the planet. Yet, practices of public education largely remain fixed to a model of a century's duration, unresponsive to the emerging conditions and perilous in terms of preparation for the future. If regenerative practices in education are imperative, what is the most promising direction for transformation? Deeply immersed in the exploration of regenerative education are collaborators and co-authors Kenneth Gergen and Scherto Gill. Gergen's writing on relational being lays an important conceptual foundation for educational transformation, while Gill's work on deep dialogue and well-being offers insights into viable practice. Together they will discuss and illustrate the potentials of a relational vision for regenerating education. Favoured by this vision is the thriving of innovation, co-inquiry, inclusion and collaboration for the global good. 

Presenters:

• Kenneth J. Gergen (PhD) is President of the Taos Institute and Senior Research Professor at Swarthmore College. Ken is internationally known as a major figure in the development of social constructionist and relational theory and its applications to practices of social change. His major writings include Realities and Relationships: Soundings in Social Construction (Harvard University Press), The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life (Basic Books), and the award-winning Relational Being: Beyond Self and Community (Oxford University Press). Ken lectures throughout the world on contemporary issues in cultural life, including the self, technology, civil society, organizational change, educational practices, global governance, and political conflict. Gergen and has received numerous awards for his work, including honorary degrees in both the U.S. and Europe.

• Scherto R. Gill(PhD) is Senior Fellow at the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace (GHFP) Research Institute, Associate Professor at the University of Sussex, and Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA). She directs a UNESCO Initiative on Educational Transformation and Collective Healing, and leads the G20 Interfaith Forum‘s Education Working Group. Through research, grassroots projects and published work, Scherto actively explores ways to implement innovative ideas, such as deep dialogue, ethics of caring, positive peace and holistic well-being, in social transformation. Her most recent publications include: Happiness, Flourishing and the Good Life: A Transformative Vision of Human Well-Being (Routledge), Ethical Education (Cambridge University Press), Education as Humanisation (Routledge); and Critical Narrative as Pedagogy (Bloomsbury).  
  
  Most recently, Ken and Scherto published the co-authored book Beyond the Tyranny of Testing: Relational Evaluation in Education (Oxford University Press).

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Healing Voice: Liberation Through the Ecstasy of Chant

This session will focus on an uplifting exploration of transformative breathing and chanting, mantra and sonic meditations, sacred and healing chants. An introduction to Mongolian overtone chanting: an ethereal and powerfully meditative vocal yoga, which transforms our voices into rainbows of sound and light and one of the most powerful tools for healing yourself and others. Demonstrating the power of the voice to establish the fullness of our potential as luminous human beings. Working with the voice in this way empowers our lives, balances our mind and body; frees our voice, bringing physical health, emotional joy, and spiritual ecstasy. To include a discussion of Jill’s work with healing trans-generational patterns.

Jill Purce is recognized internationally as the pioneer of both the sound and ancestral healing movements. She has taught Healing Voice and Family Constellation workshops throughout the world for four decades and re-discovered ancient vocal techniques, the power of group chant, and the spiritual potential of the voice as magical instruments for healing and meditation. Author of The Mystic Spiral, Overtone Chanting Meditations, and Healing Voice, she guides non-singers and singers in their pursuit of the lost voice. 

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, The Human Story Changes

Elizabeth Lesser believes that if women’s voices had been equally heard and respected throughout history, humankind would have followed different hero myths and guiding stories—stories that value caretaking, champion compassion, and elevate communication over vengeance and violence.

Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, The Human Story Changes is about the stories we tell and how those stories become the culture. It’s about the stories we still blindly cling to, and the ones that cling to us: the origin tales, the guiding myths, the religious parables, the literature and films and fairy tales passed down through the centuries about women and men, power and war, sex and love, and the values we live by.  Stories written mostly by men with lessons and laws for all of humanity. We have outgrown so many of them, and still they endure. This book is about what happens when women are the storytellers too—when we speak from our authentic voices, when we flex our values, when we become protagonists in the tales we tell about what it means to be human.

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Inequality and Public Health

This is the final session of the second series on future health and wellbeing  for Humanity Rising: convened as ever by Lars Münter of the Nordic Health 2030 Movement and David Somekh of the European Health Futures Forum - under the overall headline of ‘Challenging the Model’.

In this session, we have a fascinating group of contributors on a theme which troubles all of us, and remains over the past years a major issue that won’t be resolved without major changes. During the pandemic, the existence of inequality, whether of income, of health or of opportunity, showed the dire consequences it can have on a significant portion of society. It had been there before: the pandemic simply amplified the effects on those lives.

It’s also true to say that our societies have never been so diverse. Mass migration through all sorts of factors during the last decades has accelerated this trend, but often there are real barriers to integration of the new-comers. Cohesion within our affluent society has been weakening anyway and this problem of integration increases the fragmentation. Even in a different sphere, where there has been some progress, regarding  sexuality, gender identity and the rights of specific groups it’s all been too slow.  

Presenters

• Bob Fullilove,  Prof in Sociomedical  Sciences, Columbia University NY,  working with vulnerable African-American men

• Katerina Cramer, Research Fellow in International Relations and Global Politics of technology at University of Bonn, on differential impacts of the COVID pandemic

• Stephen Brien, Director of Policy, the Legatum Institute (London): COVID and social justice

• Anna Myrup, Programme Manager for Public Health Services, WHO Europe, on strategic leadership in the time of the pandemic  (a brief video contribution)

• Rebecca Malby, Professor Health Systems Innovation, London South Bank University, on inequality in the UK NHS services

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

How to Be a Better Ancestor

We live in the age of the tyranny of the now: politicians can barely see past the next election or businesses past the next quarterly report, and we are addicted to the latest tweet and the ‘buy now’ button. How can we overcome this frenetic short-termism and extend our time horizons to tackle long-term challenges from the climate crisis to threats from artificial intelligence and the next pandemic on the horizon?

Drawing on his powerful new book, The Good Ancestor: How To Think Long Term in a Short-Term World, leading public philosopher Roman Krznaric reveals how we can expand our imaginations far beyond the here and now. Exploring everything from the seventh-generation thinking of indigenous peoples and politically empowered ‘guardians of the future’ to the history of the London sewers and the latest neuroscience research, Krznaric argues that we have an inbuilt capacity to become ‘cathedral thinkers’. 

It is time to confront one of the most vital questions of the 21st century: How can we be good ancestors?

Roman Krznaric is a public philosopher who writes about the power of ideas to change society. His latest book is The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short Term World. His previous international bestsellers, including Empathy, The Wonderbox and Carpe Diem Regained, have been published in more than 20 languages. After growing up in Sydney and Hong Kong, Roman studied at the universities of Oxford, London and Essex, where he gained his PhD in political sociology. He is founder of the world’s first Empathy Museum and is currently a Research Fellow of the Long Now Foundation.

Recommended reading/links

• Book: The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World by Roman Krznaric
• TED talk: How to Be a Good Ancestor
• Resource links for Time Rebels - organisations dedicated to long-term thinking and intergenerational justice
• Twitter: @romankrznaric

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Dialogue Creates

As colleagues who have worked together for nearly a decade, Susan Taylor and Hidde van der Pol have committed to a shared vision of the future founded upon inclusion, authenticity, and balance. Through Dialogue, they harness the power of co-creation with individuals, teams, and organizations around the globe, enabling the type of transformation that has the capacity to ignite the emergence of new realities.

Why now?

We are experiencing an increase in polarization worldwide. This divide continues to fuel “either/or” thinking; inequality; individualism; judging; hate speak; fragmentation; and endless discussions on who is right and who is wrong. At the same time, humanity is facing challenges that require “both/and” thinking; equality; unity; openness; acceptance; harmony; and an intention to fully understand one another.

From our combined 50+ years of experience, we know that the practice of Dialogue is theonlyway to maximize our influence to co-create new realities. Dialogue is the gateway to the emergence of our desired future where the sustainability of humanity and our planet can become a reality. The practice of Dialogue helps us to seek mutual understanding and harmony through seeing all others as legitimate and why its “quantum father”, Dr. David Bohm, labelled it with a capital “D”.

Dialogue is more than just a conversation. It is a practice with the requirement to do our inner work. In this, we enable ourselvestomaximize our influence to walk new paths that awaken new potentials we couldn’t see before—co-evolving to the higher levels of consciousness required to face the challenges of our time, as we createnew models for the world we all know is possible in our hearts.

Presenters

• Susan Taylor has devoted much of her life to exploring the deeper dimensions of human potential. As CEO of Generon International, Susan collaborates with leaders, teams and organizations to create more effective, advanced, conscious contributions to business and society. Susan is a certified group facilitator through Interaction Associates and a certified coach through CTA. She is ICF certified and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, an invitation-only organization for successful business and career coaches. Susan’s expertise in Generative Dialogue and executive coaching are routinely applied as she works with executives to build organizational cultures that are values-based and purpose-driven. Through advanced leadership development, Susan helps individuals, teams and organizations become more conscious through transformational experiences that inspire, educate and empower them to elevate humanity through business, helping to create a world in which business is both practiced and perceived as the greatest force for good. Susan has two daughters, Carolanne and Erin, and resides on Hilton Head Island, SC with her life partner, Christopher Walsh.

• Hidde van der Pol has devoted much of his career focusing on challenging organizations and individuals to reconnect with their true selves to create clarity and higher consciousness in their personal and professional lives. His purpose is to replace outdated ways of thinking with a purpose driven, enlightened approach to everyday behaviors and long-term goals. His compassionate attitude combined with his encouragement of critical thinking leaves his clients prepared and inspired to take control of their destiny to fulfill their personal and professional dreams. His facilitations and guidance help clients to unwrap the gift of judgments and negativity and transform them into authentic power and creativity. Hidde is a certified facilitator at the Foundation for Natural Leadership; he also holds certifications and expertise in Cultural Transition Tools (Richard Barrett Values Centre); Systemic Dynamics in Organizations (Bert Hellinger Institute) and Extra Communicative Skills and Energy Reading (van Benthem Institute). Hidde is also an ICF certified executive coach by the MMS Worldwide Institute. 

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

Recommended Links

• Dialogue Creates
• David Bohm Society – Preserving, promoting, and realizing David Bohm's work.
• Sustainable Transformation for People, Strategy and Culture - CEC - Conscious Energy Consulting
• Generon International

Recommended Readings

• Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership by Joseph Jaworski
• Source: The Inner Path of Knowledge Creation by Joseph Jaworski
• On Dialogue by David Bohm

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Dialogue with Robert Kennedy Jr.

Robert Kennedy Jr. is the son of Senator Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John Kennedy. He is the Chairman of Children’s Health Defense and President of the Board of Waterkeeper Alliance, a non profit group he founded in 1999. Trained as a lawyer, he was the senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council from 1986-2017 and assistant district attorney in New York City before that. He also served as adjunct professor of environmental law ant Pace University. He is the author of several books, including his forthcoming workThe Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Let’s Talk! What does meaningful youth participation look like?

As part of World Unity Week, this event will bring together five youth organisers from different parts of the world, who are working to enhance youth engagement in their contexts. They will engage in dialogue with Youth Policy expert, Noella Richard from UNDP. Youth engagement looks different across the world, and yet there is a common misconception of youth engagement simply being a ‘ceremonial’ act or a tick-box exercise. Young people are often given entry level positions, such as internships or volunteer roles, with limited scope for growth. We believe that young people are expertly positioned in understanding current and local contexts, and engaging with processes of peace building and grassroots organizing to address local and global issues. With this in mind we ask the question, what does meaningful youth participation look like in our field? And what are the strategies and mechanisms for meaningful youth engagement that we can learn from each other?

Speakers:  

• Noella Richard (Youth Policy Specialist for UNDP) will be in conversation with 4 or 5 young leaders from URI. 

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

A Salute to Stan Grof on his 90th Birthday — Navigating the Collective Death and Rebirth Facing Humanity: Dialogue with Rick Tarnas with Stan and Brigitte Grof 

Dr. Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D. is a world-renowned pioneer, theoretician, and practitioner of the transformative potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness. His groundbreaking theories have influenced depth psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy with his brilliant mapping of the transpersonal and perinatal dimensions of the psyche. Stan is well-known for his seminal work with LSD as a psychotherapeutic tool, beginning with his first LSD session in 1956 followed by his extensive clinical research through the 1960s and early 1970s. His use of LSD and other psychedelic substances in his psychiatric practice foreshadowed today’s widespread recognition that such substances can play an invaluable role in the treatment of many emotional and psychosomatic disorders as well as the alleviation of anxiety concerning the fear of death in terminally ill patients.

Stan was the first person to recognize that the results of LSD use for psychoanalysis were the same as what spiritual teachings have shown for thousands of years regarding non-ordinary states of consciousness. This led to his creating an award-winning cartography of the psyche that coined the term “ holotropic" as characteristic of non-ordinary states of consciousness such as meditative, mystical, or psychedelic experiences, all states which aim towards wholeness and the totality of existence.

For the past 50 years, Stan has continued his exploration of the many states of mind that can be explored without drugs by using certain breathing techniques. This holotropic breathwork (Grof® Breathwork) is an experiential method of self-exploration and psychotherapy that combines and integrates various elements from modern consciousness research, depth psychology, transpersonal psychology, Eastern spiritual philosophies, shamanism and other native healing practices. In May 2020, together with his wife Brigitte Grof, they launched their Grof® Legacy Training where students can develop theoretical and practical knowledge and skills in a large category of non-ordinary states that have a healing, transformative, heuristic, and evolutionary potential.

Stan turns 90 this July 1, Ubiquity University is collaborating with Stan, Brigitte and their Grof Legacy Training to celebrate his enormous contribution to the world’s understanding of how each of us can enter transcendent states of consciousness. His research and study have provided us with evidence that these “non-ordinary” states can grant us more robust health, an increased enthusiasm for life, an expanded worldview, and a sense of the sacred that is universal, non­denominational, and all­ inclusive.

Rick Tarnas,PhD explains humanity’s sense of separation from the natural world through a philosophical and historical perspective. This disconnect has resulted in the destruction of the Earth’s ecosystem, which Rick refers to as a crisis of consciousness for both individuals and the collective. He observes how Stan’s work with psychedelics and exposure to Eastern philosophies allowed him to see the archetypal nature of non-ordinary experiences, and note the similarities to ancient spiritual traditions. This rendered Stan's approach “psychiatrically grounded and spiritually informed.” Seeing how the traumas underlying Stan’s 4 Basic Perinatal Matrices are reflected in humanity’s fear of mortality, the fear of the feminine, and our need to control nature, Rick believes humanity is poised for a collective death/ rebirth experience.
Stan Grof and his wife Brigitte join Rick, reflecting on the long and profound collaboration between them, and the collective friendship that began at Esalen over thirty years ago.

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Exploring Unity: The Superorganism Meets the Holomovement

As we celebrate World Unity Week, what does it mean to live in the reality of our undivided wholeness? Wholeness and unity do not mean static oneness, but a dynamic wholeness-in-motion in which everything—all life—moves together in an interconnected process. Join us for this lively conversation. We’ll discuss the practical application of some big ideas and how to grow into our collective potential with Charles Eisenstein, Julie Krull, and Emanuel Kuntzelman.

• Charles Eisenstein is one of the great social commentators of our time. He has written extensively in the areas of anthropology, ecology, history, spirituality, politics and psychology. He brings sensitivity to the nuances of social affairs that enables all of us to discern more deeply unfolding world events. His seminal essay on the pandemic called The Coronation was read worldwide and was enormously helpful in enabling people to understand the nature and scope of the pandemic we are all still going through. He is the author of Sacred Economics, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible, The Ascent of Humanity, and Climate: A New Story.

• Julie Krull, PhD, is a steward of the new earth, midwifing the evolution of consciousness, supporting whole-system health, and expanding a whole worldview. Her 34-year career as an intuitive, integrative health practitioner and psychotherapist, coupled with her spiritual gifts that emerged after an early childhood Near Death Experience, have influenced her work with evolutionary thought leaders and change-agents from around the world—co-creating connections that inspire personal, cultural and planetary healing. As a visionary wayshower and consciousness coach, her authentic, down-to-earth approach assists in bridging worlds, navigating change, and bringing a message of hope in liminal times of whole-systems transformation. Whether speaking, writing, or working with individuals and groups, Krull eloquently shifts awareness away from the ego-centric challenges of separation to a healthier, soul-centric flow of resonance, coherence, unity, and a deep alignment with Nature. Dr. Julie is a popular speaker, teacher, Co-Founder and President of GOOD of the WHOLE, INC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, host of the popular The Dr. Julie Show: All Things Connected, and author of the international bestselling and Nautilus award-winning book,Fractured Grace: How to Create Beauty, Peace and Healing for Yourself and the World. Her second book, Imaginal Souls, will be released in early 2022.

• Emanuel Kuntzelman is a social entrepreneur, writer, motivational speaker and an activist for purpose.  Among his business activities, he founded the Chicago-based non-profit Greenheart International in 1985 and continues as Chief Advisor to the organization.  He is also the co-founder of Fundación por el Futuro in Madrid, Spain, and has served as its president since its inception in 1995.  He is a founding co-creator of the Global Purpose Movement, which has merged with Unity Earth, and this partnership has now launched the Purpose Earth fund (www.purposeearth.org), of which Emanuel is the volunteer Director.  Purpose Earth is the sponsor and fundraiser for World Unity Week and other events that promote the evolution of consciousness. His most current project is developing the theory of the Holomovement as a chaotic attractor for a shift in consciousness. Emanuel currently serves on the boards of Greenheart, Integral Transformative Practice International, the Laszlo Institute for New Paradigm Research, and Unity Earth.  Emanuel is also a member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle.  He is a contributor to the recent book Intelligence of the Cosmos and is co-editor of the publications Purpose Rising and Purpose to the People:  a guide to radical transformation.

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Report from Colombia:  Building Humaneness from Chaos

Nowadays, we are all living in situations that we do not understand. Uncertainty often leads to states of social chaos from which we sometimes think we cannot escape, making us lose faith in humanity. Citizen mobilizations like those in Colombia could show us the path of light in the apparent darkness. Beneath all the chaos there is the potential of societies that could allow the transformation to flow towards higher orders instead of losing purpose by trying to 'order' the forms that no longer even exist.

• Juliana Bohórquez has been central to the struggle for justice in Colombia for many years. She is an accomplished artist, systemic thinker, trainer and coach. She has worked on toolkits and methodologies to help with reconciliation, peace and community-building over the course of 15 years in the framework of the armed conflict in Colombia. Co-creator and professor with a masters degree in Transdisciplinary Sustainable Living Systems at the University Externado of Colombia and founder of two organizations over a decade ago — Meráki and SysLab — she is devoted to social innovation, mobilization, systemic analysis and mapping. She contributed through activism in recent years to the signing of the Peace Agreement in Colombia, to declare climate emergency at Bogota, sign the Escazú Agreement, mobilize collaboration between millions of Colombians to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis, and contributed to the legal care of the Amazon as indigenous advisor, creating frameworks to protect water and forests rights in regions of Colombia. For more than a decade, she has organized ancestral spiritual gatherings with Abuela Margarita to remember the nature of humanity. 

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Leading a Country towards Comprehensive Healthcare - A dialogue between Peter Merry and Dr. Amir Hagos

Dr. Amir Hagos is the former Minister of Health for Ethiopia. In that role he lead the implementation of transformative systemic changes in the healthcare system in the country, inspiring many at home and abroad. He is currently advising the World Bank’s Global Financing Facility on a Country Leadership Program focused on systemic change for national healthcare systems, which Peter Merry is also involved in as an expert in Transformative Leadership. They are embarking on a project to explore how they can integrate more traditional approaches to healing, which 87% of the Ethiopian population still use, with the best of the Western scientific approach to medicine. This session with explore Dr Hagos’ journey to becoming Minister of Health, his experience in that role, and his vision for the future of healthcare in Africa and globally.
Dr. Amir Hagos is passionate about quality, accessible, affordable and equitable health care as a fundamental human right and a non-negotiable moral imperative. He has served in different positions both in government and private philanthropic organizations. His most recent assignment in the government was as Minister of Health of federal democratic republic of Ethiopia. Under his tenure at the Ministry of Health in various capacities, he lead the health sector in the implementation of a transformation plan by pioneering new initiatives and setting ambitious goals while devising innovative approaches and executing major multisectoral collaboration to expand health care access to tens of millions of Ethiopians. These efforts have improved the population’s health status and health systems performance of the country. He holds an MD from Addis Ababa university and MPH from the University of Western cape.
is the former Minister of Health for Ethiopia. In that role he lead the implementation of transformative systemic changes in the healthcare system in the country, inspiring many at home and abroad. He is currently advising the World Bank’s Global Financing Facility on a Country Leadership Program focused on systemic change for national healthcare systems, which Peter Merry is also involved in as an expert in Transformative Leadership. They are embarking on a project to explore how they can integrate more traditional approaches to healing, which 87% of the Ethiopian population still use, with the best of the Western scientific approach to medicine. This session with explore Dr Hagos’ journey to becoming Minister of Health, his experience in that role, and his vision for the future of healthcare in Africa and globally.

Dr. Amir Hagos is passionate about quality, accessible, affordable and equitable health care as a fundamental human right and a non-negotiable moral imperative. He has served in different positions both in government and private philanthropic organizations. His most recent assignment in the government was as Minister of Health of federal democratic republic of Ethiopia. Under his tenure at the Ministry of Health in various capacities, he lead the health sector in the implementation of a transformation plan by pioneering new initiatives and setting ambitious goals while devising innovative approaches and executing major multisectoral collaboration to expand health care access to tens of millions of Ethiopians. These efforts have improved the population’s health status and health systems performance of the country. He holds an MD from Addis Ababa university and MPH from the University of Western cape.

Convener:

• Peter Merry, Chief Innovation Officer, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

The Caledonian Forest

The Caledonian Forest originally covered much of the Highlands of Scotland, extending to over 1.5 million hectares about 4,000 years ago, and formed a vast primeval wilderness of ancient Scots pines, birches and many other trees. It was part of the boreal forest ecosystem, and was home to large mammals such as the brown bear, Eurasian lynx, European beaver and the wolf, as well as birds including the capercaillie and the Scottsh crossbill, the only bird endemic to Scotland. However, by the late 20th century, thousands of years of human exploitation and deforestation had reduced the forest to a few scattered and isolated remnants totalling 17,000 hectares - just over 1% of its original range. Gone with the old trees were most of the large mammals which had been hunted to national extinction in Scotland, and the remaining forest patches consisted only of old trees, as all the seedlings that germinated in the past 200 years had been eaten by excessive numbers of deer and sheep. With the old trees dying at the end of their lives, the last patches of the forest were in terminal decline and likely to disappear entirely.

Some initial efforts to help the forest regenerate and recover began in the 1950s and early 1960s, with fences erected to keep deer and sheep out of the woodland so that young trees could grow successfully. Trees for Life was founded in 1986 to expand on those efforts, with a specific purpose of helping the Caledonian Forest to return to an area of 2,500 square kilometres, and with the aim of creating enough woodland habitat to support the reintroduction of all the forest's missing wildlife species. Using a combination of techniques including natural regeneration of the trees and targeted planting of native trees to create future seed sources in what was then deforested land, the project's aim was to assist and accelerate the forest's own inherent ability to recover following major disturbance. After more than 30 years of work, the results are visible at numerous sites, as the trees grow in the absence of excessive grazing pressure, the whole forest ecosystem, from fungi and microorganisms to trees, birds and mammals, begins to re-establish itself. Another aim of the project is to be an example of ecological restoration, or rewilding, as forests everywhere are now suffering the same fate as that in Scotland, and restoring them is vital for the health and biodiversity of the planet

Speaker:

• Alan Watson Featherstone is an ecologist, nature photographer and inspirational public speaker. In 1986 he founded the award-winning Scottish conservation charity, Trees for Life, and was its executive director for almost 30 years. During that time it became the leading organisation working to restore the Caledonian Forest in Scotland and his TedX talk about that work has been viewed by over half a million people. Alan has given presentations at events and conferences in more than 20 countries worldwide, and has received a number of awards for his work. He has been vegan for over 40 years and lives in the Findhorn Community in northeast Scotland.

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Dialogue with Mac Macartney: Remembering the Ancestors

Mac Macartney is a writer, an activist, and an international speaker. He is the founder of Embercombe in Devon, a centre that seeks to inspire and empower people to live in close relationship with nature and co-create a regenerative, flourishing future for all species. Over a period of twenty years Mac was mentored by a group of indigenous elders. During this training and ever since, he has attempted to bring two worlds together – an ancient world-view that emphasises relationship, interdependence, and reverence for life with the significant challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. He has sat on several sustainability advisory boards including Danone NA, P&G, Lafarge, and most recently, The Climate School. Mac is the author of a recently published new book entitled The Children’s Fire, heart song of a people. He has delivered four compelling TEDx talks.

He says of himself:  I have explored many paths, some unwisely, some with discernment, all with enthusiasm, vigour, and persistence. As a young child I fell deeply in love with nature and since that time I have endeavoured to listen to the guiding dreams, visions, and experiences that have been offered me. I am indebted to my indigenous friends for directing my attention to the ancient history of my own land and people. With their guidance I have begun the long journey of reaching back and clasping the hands of long-forgotten ancestors, whilst also standing firmly in the present, and reaching forward to a kinder, wiser, and gentler human presence on Earth.

I am privileged to move between, learn from, and contribute to, many diverse and contrasting spheres of society. I find this enriching, stimulating, and often, deeply troubling. I walk with grief and joy cupped together in my hands, rejoicing to be alive at such a time, and happy that the storms, droughts, blizzards, and beauty-blessed wonderment of years past seems to have enabled me to love other humans and myself with some measure of compassion and delight.

• www.macmacartney.com
• www.embercombe.org

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel

Ecesis: How Nature can Save Humanity

The process by which a species and its environment coevolve into a dynamic and perpetual stability is called ecesis - the process of finding home. Put another way, ecesis is the process of becoming real, where realness is a measure of reciprocal positive feedback with an ecosystem – of finding and maintaining a niche. This necessitates an awareness of the relational self as a function of the ecological self. If an organism cannot maintain a niche, negative feedback will remove it from the system, permanently. This is a problem for Homo sapiens and it is a problem for the system into which it is currently trying to ecize.. Because of the scale of these interactions, this poses the greatest of existential crises for all involved.

Building on the concepts of deep ecology, shallow ecology, and philosophies as varied as those purported by Heraclitus, Alfred North Whitehead, Abraham Maslow, Thomas Berry, Nora Bateson, Gregory Bateson, David Bohm, Jane Goodall and others, this session proposes that ecological principles are human principles to depths many may not have considered. Namely, that the relational self is the ecological self. Though this conclusion is not new, we will explore new lines of evidence that support and strengthen the claim in unique and inspiring ways. This session also proposes tools by which we can measure the efficacy of our ecological relationships regionally as a necessary step in building and maintaining regenerative communities and regenerative consciousness. 

Presenters

• Justin Thomas is co-founder and Science Director of NatureCITE, a non-profit, research and outreach organization based in Missouri’s Interior Highlands (a North American biological hotspot). Justin conducts ecological and taxonomic research and teaches plant identification and ecological awareness workshops throughout central and eastern North America. He is currently assembling a curriculum, and conducting workshops, focused on the concept of human ecesis (the process of becoming a stabilizing component within our environments). He is an adjunct professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology where he teaches Plant Biology and Vegetation of the Ozarks and the co-author of the Ecological Checklist of the Missouri Flora. He also podcasts at www.naturecite.org where he attempts to address the deep beauty in accepting, understanding, and embracing nature as reality.  

• Tesa Madsen-McQueen is a PhD student at the University of California Riverside in the department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, where she studies plant community ecology and vegetation responses to anthropogenic global change. She began her career working as a seasonal field botanist in the Ozarks, where, after becoming intimately familiar with the flora, she became captivated with the seemingly endless variety of morphological differences within and among plant species and wondered how such differences translated into larger-scale patterns of biodiversity. She pursued her Master of Science degree in biology from Appalachian State University, where her curiosity shifted from studying individual taxonomic entities to understanding the interrelationships which govern processes of ecological organization. Recognizing the weight of scientific narrative in an era of ecological crisis, she is also passionate about the history and philosophy of science as it can help understand and reshape ecology as a worldview. 

Recommended Readings/Links

• Ecesis: Chapter II by Justin Thomas
  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zgb6sbTdPOcNSfLNppBYqrUqDETYEeVH/view

• NatureCITE’s “Philosophical Foundations”
  www.naturecite.org

• The Second Law of Thermodynamics Is the First Law of Psychology:by John Tooby, Leda Cosmides, and H. Clark Barrett
  https://www.cep.ucsb.edu/papers/lickliter.pdf

• Ecological autocatalysis: a central principle in ecosystem organization? by Michiel Veldhuis et al.  https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecm.1292

• Process Ecology: Philosophy Passes into Praxis by Robert Ulanowicz
  https://people.clas.ufl.edu/ulan/files/ProcStud.pdf

Not knowing, the Sacred Feminine and the Future of our Planet

Zen practice teaches about being empty. In Zen, this empty mind can connect us with the wisdom of the universe. We call this knowing beyond conceptual thinking “not knowing.” Our ancestors 30,000 years ago lived in the mind of the not knowing. Their minds, free of patriarchal conditioning, were opened to all possibilities. When our ancestors looked at their surroundings, the animals, the plants, the moon, the caves, the darkness, the rain, the sun, they intuitively knew, felt and recognized all creations as the manifestation of the Mother, the Great Mother, which was later called in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, Prajnaparamita, the Mother of All the Buddhas, symbol of the wisdom of emptiness that gives rise to all creations, including men and women.  It is through the experience of the emptiness of all things that many practitioners over the centuries have realized the interconnectedness and the interdependence of all things in the fabric of life and death. Our Paleolithic and Neolithic ancestors understood the interconnectedness and the interdependence of all things, and this understanding was undoubtedly a very important factor in the survival and evolution of humanity. The fabric of connections, interdependence and sacredness of our Paleolithic and Neolithic ancestors lasted until it was broken in the middle of the Bronze Age (c 2200-1500 BC) with the arrival of nomadic warriors tribes. This fabric was further broken with the advent of the Judeo-Christian tradition with its myth of the Garden of Eden and the destruction of the civilizations that honored the Mother Goddess.

Regarding the psyche, Carl Jung writes: “Its ancestry goes back many millions of years, sprung from a perennial rhizome beneath the earth; and it would find itself [referring to our psyche] in better accordance with the truth, if it took the existence of the rhizome into its calculations, for the root matter is the Mother of All Things… The knowledge of all the human race is stored within the psyche, as the rhizome [the original root], and potentially available to each one of us.” Our ancestors saw the whole of creation as the Great Mother that gave birth to all the forms of life that were Herself. She embodied our planet and the whole of creation. We were her children.  This primordial way of conceiving the universe is still present in our psyche. The vision of the unity and sacredness of life has lived in the roots of the human psyche for thousands and thousands of years and we can always reconnect with Her. The notion of war or the underworld with darkness, lifelessness and menace was not present in our collective psyche until the trauma and anarchy of Late Bronze Age (c1000 BC). Actually, the development of the patriarchal civilization that is currently destroying our planet was rooted in the suppression, persecution and denial of the Sacred Feminine. Doesn't it make sense that if we want to heal, we should start to reclaim the Sacred Feminine from the shadows of our unconscious mind where She still is together with the possibilities for peace, guidance and survival?

Presenter

• Roshi Shinko Ilia Perez, after 20 years of training with prominent Zen masters, became a Zen Sensei in 2004 and a Roshi in 2014 both in the White Plum lineage. Since then she had been teaching and leading Sacred Feminine and traditional Zen retreats and is the Abbess of Maitreya Abbey and co-spiritual director of the Great Mountain Zen Center, both in Berthoud, Colorado. Shinko ordained as a Zen Priestess in 2006. She is the co-author of The Great Heart Way: How to Heal Your Life and Find Self-fulfillment and the creator and leader of Great Heart Way retreats. She is also author of The Zen Priestess and the Snake: A Woman's Path of Transformation and Healing Through Rediscovery of the Great Mother Tradition which is used as a textbook for her Buddhist Goddess Practices. She has led retreats in the Caribbean, Mexico, Spain and in several US states. Shinko was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and grew up in Madrid, Spain where she earned a MA in Archeology. She has two grown sons and two granddaughters. 

Convener:

• Jim Garrison, President, Ubiquity University

---

To make a voluntary contribution to support the partner organizations and the Humanity Rising team, please see our contribution form. 

Each Zoom live webinar will have a maximum capacity of 500 participants. If you are not able to join on Zoom, we will be live streaming here on the UbiVerse and on:

UU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UbiquityUniversityOnline

UU YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UbiquityUniversity

AwakeTV: https://www.awaketvnetwork.live/humanity-rising-channel