SEED Summit

I just facilitated the Rauschenberg Foundation's SEED Summit and I found it truly refreshing work. Artists bring a different energy to the work of collaboration. They have an intuitive understanding of our inherent capacity to create. Most of these artists are not explicitly movement artists, they are not explicitly committed to social justice. It might sound strange but this too is refreshing. I am appreciating time with people who share my values but live outside of my echo chamber.

Read More
Gibran Rivera93-123Comment
Wild Dreams

We did it! The first-ever Evolutionary Leadership Workshop was a remarkable success. It was the landmark experience that we meant for it to be. Participants launched their projects, they committed to an experimental approach and they dared to take their dreams out of their heads and into the world.

Read More
Gibran Rivera93-123Comment
Grace Lee Boggs

We lost Grace Lee Boggs this week and our world feels a little bit smaller. But I try not to lose sight of the nurturing presence of our ancestors and I feel strong again when I know that she is among them.

I cannot say much that hasn’t been said about the life of this true American [R]evolutionary. I can say that her wisdom has shaped some of the most important aspects of my life and how I choose to live.

Read More
Breathing Patriarchy

I was overcome by shame when I read this piece on the experience of women in our culture - It was easier to give in than keep running. My heart aches with the awareness of my role in perpetuating patriarchy. You don’t have to be a rapist to be part of the problem. We swim in a patriarchal ocean, patriarchy is found in every crevice, it threatens to define each of our micro-interactions. We practice patriarchy with our gaze, with the energy that we bring into a room, with the sexualization of a friendly smile.

Read More
Gibran Rivera93-123Comment
Waking Up

Eleven years ago today I had an encounter that changed my life forever. The glance of a spiritual master led to an awakening experience that is still unfolding within me. It was an initiation so far outside my realm of possibility that it took two years and the breakdown of my life for me to begin to come to terms with it.

I am still learning the lessons that come with that unlocking... 

Read More
Gibran Rivera93-123Comment
Transformative Justice

I think this is some of the hardest work. It’s not about pack hunting an
external enemy, it’s about deep shifts in our own ways of being.

But if we want to create a world in which conflict and trauma aren’t the center of our collective existence, we have to practice something new, ask different questions, access again our curiosity about each other as a species.

And so much more.

Read More