Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Antioch Hosts Awakening the Dreamer Symposium

Awakening the Dreamer Symposium Scheduled for February 14, 2009

A day-long symposium to help New England residents respond creatively to pressing global issues, and promote more ecological sustainable, socially just, and spiritual fulfilling communities, will be held at Antioch University New England on February 14, 2009 from 10 am to 4 pm. This Awakening the Dreamer Symposium is co-sponsored by Antioch’s Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program and the newly formed Monadnock Pachamama Alliance. It will be led by EAOP Director Steve Chase and Monadnock Pachamama Alliance chair Katy Locke.

“What’s different about this workshop,” says Locke, “is that it allows people to look right into the heart of darkness of our deep cultural, economic, and social crisis, but also recognize that we have the opportunity and power to embrace a very different future and to live lives of great compassion, conviction, and wholeness.” Steve Chase adds, “In this workshop, we will encourage everyone to see how they can help foster new solutions for our communities from clean tech, local food, green collar jobs, to renewed citizen activism. This work involves nothing less than updating Martin Luther King’s dream for the 21st century.”

The Awakening the Dreamer Symposium is an international initiative of The Pachamama Alliance, a San Francisco-based non-profit whose mission is to preserve the Earth’s tropical rainforests by empowering the indigenous peoples who are its natural custodians, and to contribute to the creation of a new global vision of equity and sustainability for all. Asked by their indigenous partners in Ecuador to help them change the dream of the modern world, the San Francisco-based group created the Symposium in 2005. Currently, over 1,000 volunteers in over 22 countries have been trained to run this unusual and ever-evolving workshop in local union halls, community centers, schools, theaters, public libraries, and places of worship. The goal of the workshop is to generate a widespread awakening at the grassroots level about the power we all have to meet the challenges of climate change, economic crisis, social injustice, and a growing sense personal isolation and meaninglessness. 

The workshop uses inspiring and informative videoclips, quiet reflection time, and dynamic group discussions and exercises. Over the course of the day, participants will hear from some of the world’s leading experts on topics as diverse as the current state of the Earth’s biodiversity, the reality of the socio-economic disparity throughout the world, and the growing movement around the globe to create a more just, sustainable, and fulfilling world. The interactive exercises also offer an unusual opportunity to share your concerns about the state of the world with other open-hearted members of your community, and offer support to each other in taking steps to effect the changes that you wish to see. Participants will leave the Symposium empowered to take clear steps to embody their vision for a better world, and will likely have established new connections to work with others on issues of common concern.

Pre-registration is required, and a donation of $10 to $25 is requested, though no one will be turned away for lack of funds. For more information, call 603-357-2626 or write Steve Chase at schase@antioch.edu. A short Internet trailer about the Symposium can be found at http://awakeningthedreamer.org/content/view/115/135/.