January 8, 2013 NEWSLETTER
To access a past newsletter, click on a link
below:
December 4, 2012 | Sept. 25, 2012 | July 18, 2012 | June 11, 2012 | March 12, 2012 |
January
26, 2012 | Oct. 10, 2011 | Aug. 3, 2011 | May 9, 2011 | March 29, 2011 |
Feb.
18, 2011 | Feb. 5,
2011
Stone Cutters
The millionth circle is that one that tips the scales to bring us into
the post-patriarchal human era.
Dear Friends:
Here is an excerpt from Moving Toward the Millionth Circle: Energizing the Global Women’s Movement. I wrote it for heart-centered activists who are motivated to act by compassionate action, a sense of sisterhood, or fierce mother bear protectiveness which is a combination of love and outrage. I wrote it when efforts for a 5th World Conference on Women encountered obstacles and resistance, and I turned to writing as an expression of my activism. Copies of Moving Toward the Millionth Circle (MTMC) will be available to give to women from NGOs attending the March UN Commission on the Status of Women meetings and at some point will also be available for purchase.
THE STONE CUTTERS
Three stone cutters were working in a marble quarry.
Each was hard at work, shaping a large stone into a block.
A visitor came and watched them.
The visitor asked the first stone cutter, “What are you doing?”
His reply, “Isn’t it obvious? I’m making a block.”
He asked the second stone cutter, “What are you doing?”
His reply, “I’m making this for a wall.”
Then he asked the third stone cutter, “What are you doing?”
His reply, “I’m helping build a cathedral that will last a thousand years.”
It wouldn’t be hard to guess, everything else being equal, that the third stone cutter had the greatest job satisfaction, because his work had meaning beyond the immediate task. It would also be likely that he would take more care and pride in the work he was doing because he was participating in a significant undertaking.
One major source of meaning we have comes from connecting with or becoming part of something bigger 
than ourselves: a project that helps others, a chance to make the world a better place. In Reality is Broken, Jane McGonigal writes: “Meaning is something we’re all looking for more of: more ways to make a difference in the bigger picture, more chances to leave a lasting mark on the world, more moments of awe and wonder at the scale of projects and communities we are part of.” In summing up her findings, she concluded that the single best way to add meaning to our lives is “to connect our daily actions to something bigger than ourselves – and the bigger the better.”
The idea of contributing toward the millionth circle and a global women’s conference to accelerate this fits being part of something bigger, but like the stone cutters, what you are doing beyond that which is obvious to see has to be held in your mind. If you form a new circle or meet regularly in an ongoing circle with a sacred center, each time the circle comes together, it contributes to the morphic field for your particular circle and to the archetype of the circle in the collective unconscious. This would be true whether you are aware of it or not. However, when there is a conscious intention to add to this circle toward the metaphoric millionth circle, and the intention is invoked, something subtly shifts. The familiar circle takes on a deeper significance: we feel that we are participating in in a shared bond and furthering a vision. This is an intuitive or felt link.
I believe that conscious intentions are thoughts bonded to energy. The thought comes to mind, is put into words. Then it is taken to heart—which is more than an expression. We can also hold and mold intentions, incubating and growing them. Our intentions go ahead of us into time, and at some point can manifest through new accomplishments, shifts or materialization of the intention. We become part of a movement when great numbers of people hold the same intention or vision as we do.
I feel momentum is growing toward the millionth circle from observing how women influence discussions and the decision process when they are in a position to do so. Conversational collaboration comes easily when women are involved as equals with men in the workplace and in organizations as well as in egalitarian personal relationships. The simple act of asking for a pause in the midst of a heated discussion (reflection, centering, moment of stillness, inner check in) invites in the morphic field/archetype of the circle with a sacred center. Moreover, when the idea of the millionth circle is shared, a level of meaning is added that some will grasp and take to heart. It is this that I especially am fostering and hoping will happen, with a proliferation of circles with a sacred center.
Activism is a personal choice. It is a passion for a cause expressed
through actions, funding, communication, as well as prayer, rituals, and art.
©2013 by Jean Shinoda Bolen.
Moving Toward the Millionth Circle
What Happened to 5WCW?
The Secretary General and President of the General Assembly issued their joint statement supporting a Global Conference on Women (5WCW) on March 8, 2012, urging the General Assembly to pass a resolution needed to make it happen by 2015. Lobbying efforts failed to gain the necessary support in the General Assembly. In 2015, plans are to celebrate the Beijing Platform for Action, 20 years after the last UN Conference on Women in 1995.
What Next?
Advocacy continues for 5WCW.
The belief that there will be one grows.
Regional Meetings proposed that could help idea to spread.
The 20th anniversary of Beijing Platform for Action (4WCW)
will be celebrated at the UN in 2015.
The timing was set back to between 2016 – 2020
Upcoming Events:
The UN Commission on the Status of Women meetings are in New York,
March 4 – March 15, 2013
While they are held, panels and workshops organized by NGOs concerned with women and girls are held. I will be participating in these following events:
Circle Gathering in Preparation for the UN CSW Saturday March 2, 2013, 5 – 8 pm
Panel: Degradation of the Environment and Violence Against Women. Tuesday March 5, 8:30 am
Panel: Grassroots Activism and a Global Conference on Women (5WCW). Tuesday March 5, 6:15 pm
For details about panelists, location: they will be posted on my website schedule:
About Circles
For resources about circles and information about the Millionth Circle Initiative 
www.millionthcircle.org.
See links below for guidelines and principles which can be downloaded and printed.
Circle Guidelines: Download from website www.millionthcircle.org/Resources/guidelines.html
Circle Principles: Download from website http://www.millionthcircle.org/Resources/principles.html
Circle Difficulties: The Millionth Circle. pp. 55-67.
Books:
For more information about books: Click Here
(all available on Amazon.com)
All are published in Spanish and many other languages: Click here for more information
With love, hope, perseverance and optimism,
Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD
to join or follow 5WCW group: 
http://www.jeanshinodabolen.com/
www.5wcw.org
and the archival site www.5wwc.org
www.millionthcircle.org
Click here to download pdf of this newsletter