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December 11, 2014
Still Here
“Still
Here” is a short essay that I read in one of my workshops at Esalen and
said that I would send it to them. Intuition after hearing from others
about people they have lost: send it out to all.
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No
matter what the cause, every time death comes to others, whether gently
or like a Tsunami and we are spared, there is an inner felt affirmation
that “I am still here.” Even in grief and mourning or guilt that “it
should have been me,” there is this reality, “I am still here.” The
challenge is to find or have the sense that there is meaning and purpose
to being alive. If we are - as I believe - spiritual beings on a human
path, it means that there is still more for us to experience, to do, to
learn, or to love if we are still here.
Implicitly
believed is that each of us has a soul. This means that something
immortal has become embodied in each of us for a relatively short time.
Each of us arrives as a vulnerable, dependent infant into the world,
which is imperfect, dysfunctional, sometimes even terrifying.
Encountering disappointment, betrayal, abandonment, limitation, is to be
expected: suffering of one sort or another comes with life. Power to
inflict pain on another or take advantage of another comes our way as
well.
While
this is so, the human experience offers opportunities to love and be
loved, to feel awe and be moved by beauty, to make mistakes, to choose
how we respond to what happens to us, to grow in compassion and wisdom,
and to contribute by who we become to the sum of human potential.
The
magnus opus each of us has is the life we have. Like a canvas, a
manuscript, or music being improvised, while we are still here, the work
is not yet finished. To be human is to intuitively know or to live with
the possibility that we have some significance in a vast visible and
invisible universe. Living from this premise, I believe that what we do
here does matter and that someday, we will know.
Jean Shinoda Bolen, from: “The Art of Living: A Practical Guide to Being Alive: edited by Claire Elizabeth Terry, 2008
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5WCW at the UN in Geneva
November 3 -5, 2014 Palais des Nations -Geneva, Switzerland
Click here to visit NGOCSW-Geneva website
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I
went to Geneva in November for the NGOCSW-Geneva and the beginning of
the Economic Commission of Europe as advocate for 5WCW. I made
headway—5WCW was the first recommendation from the Round Table on
"Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women", and then 5WCW
was thrown under the bus — as if meetings to evaluate Beijing + 20
by government leaders could accomplish what bringing NGO
leaders—especially the next generation together.
It was good to see the 5WCW logo on the home page of NGOCSW-Geneva,
better yet to read the eight page position paper by NGO CSW Geneva
supporting 5WCW!
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NGO CSW Geneva’s position paper on a 5th World Conference on Women (5WCW)
The
NGO CSW-Geneva supports the holding of a 5th World Conference on Women
including the 20 Year Review of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995).
The Committee’s Position Paper on a 5th Women Conference on Women provides the background to this decision, the rationale for such support and the key issues for considerations.
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I
wrote to Gloria Steinem that there are U-Turns in the labyrinth (28 in
the Chartres pattern) but the path continues to its goal nonetheless.
While organizing yet another panel at the UNCSW as part of the advocacy
for 5WCW may seem like pushing another boulder up the mountain again, I
feel I am on a labyrinth path, not doing a Sisyphean exercise.
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Still Here as Advocate for UN 5WCW
Women and Girls Empower One Another: Lessons from Beijing and the Women’s Movement. Women
and Girls Empower Each Other—this is the point of advocating UN
5WCW in New Delhi, India, more than 20 years after 4WCW in Beijing.
I went to Geneva for the NGOCSW-Geneva ECE meeting and heard Laksmi Puri
Deputy Executive Director of UN Women say that the regional conferences
and other high level meetings will be reviewing Beijing +20, and that
these meetings would accomplish what 5WCW would do. It made me realize
that the need and purpose for 5WCW has not been understood and not clearly stated.
In the Forum plenary organized by NGOCSW-Geneva, during a Q & A,
a young woman noticed that there were very few young people
present, and asked how might young people become involved. I was
recognized immediately after, and said that this is why we need 5WCW,
that it would bring together young women in NGOs from all over the world
who would learn from each other, become friends and allies and
communicate through internet devices with each other and with mentors
and role models. Earlier when the members of the audience had been
asked to raise their hands if they had attended any of the four UN
World Conferences on Women, a large majority did so. Going to
Beijing as a young NGO leader had changed their lives and given them
purpose. My books, The Millionth Circle, Urgent Message From Mother: Gather the Women, Save the World and Moving Toward the Millionth Circle: Energizing the Global Women’s Movement, explain
how ordinary people reach critical mass and change the world. Small
circles of women--girlfriends who learn from each other, have each
other’s back, look after each other’s children in a pinch, raise
consciousness, encourage each other to do what they believe will help
make this world better, and with courage, grit, brains, laughter and
organization became the women’s movement. Over thirty thousand
women attended the NGO Forum in Beijing. The ripple effect from this was
in the psyches of the women and the now hundreds of thousands of NGOs
are in existence that began with ideas and connections made at the
Forum.
In a 1995 paper, "More Than Just Talking: UN Fourth Conference on Women, Beijing 1995", Dr. Ilise L. Feltshans describes the 1995 NGO
Forum at the UN 4WCW as the first part of a two part conference, a
division that was made quite confusing by the powers in charge of it.
First, the NGO Forum began on August 31, 1995 and ended September 8,
1995. Second, the official diplomatic delegates to 4WCW met from
September 4, 1995 through September 15, 1995. The second conference
produced the Platform for Action, and was addressed by USA First Lady,
Hilary Clinton in her “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” speech. Felshans
explained what happened in the Forum was the female mode of verbal
communication, where Process is the Product.
Process-oreiented communication develops a profound common bond between
the participants. It united women in a long term process from every part
of the world.
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The Alchemy of Activism
Writing
The Millionth Circle was my first step into 5WCW activism. The response
of others led to forming The Millionth Circle Initiative, which in turn
brought me to the United Nations, informing me about the courage and
plight of women and girls. It became the first of my
activist-and-archetypal books:
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| Artemis: The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman is out in the world as a book and as an unabridged Audible audio book in my voice (Audible has this on sale for $5.45).
In Greek mythology, Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and of the moon
whose realm was the wilderness, the twin of Apollo. She is the
archetype in women who are activists, feminists, environmentalists,
social justice advocates, animal and forest protectors, those who have a
sense of sisterhood with women and equality with men. A capacity for
inner reflection, a sense of oneness in nature, mystical bonds are
qualities. In this storytelling book, many real life examples and myths
provide a depth psychology view, including related archetypes that often
develop in the second half and last third of life. Artemis is
also an inner image of the feminine or anima in a man’s psyche. It will
be published by in Spanish and in Italian. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS:
Descriptions & More Details
Book Signing. Artemis: The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman
324 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041
(650) 988-9800
http://www.eastwest.com
February 13-15, 2015 - Seattle, WA
Women of Wisdom Conference
Friday, February 13, Keynote Lecture, 7 pm
The Indomitable Spirit in Women: The Goddess, Archetype & Inner Child
Saturday, February 14, Workshop 9 am to 4:30 pm
Path with Soul, Path with Heart: Trusting Your Inner Compass
NOTE: Jean will be attending UN CSW meetings (March 9 -20, 2015) in New York City and the Parliament of the World's Religions in Salt Lake City, October 15 -19, 2015. She will also be doing a five-day workshop at Esalen in August or in November 2015, and an Online seminar sponsored by the Intelligent Optimist on three consecutive Saturdays mornings, March 28, April 4, April 11th, 2015. Click Here for Details
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FEATHERED PIPE RANCH — MONTANA
Water, Moon, Yin: A Women’s Retreat
June 20 -27, 2015
For the first time, a river will run through the workshop–we will
journey down the Missouri River in the middle of the week. The moon will
be moving out of new moon into first quarter when we begin, which is an
aspect of Artemis the Goddess of the Hunt and Moon, archetype of the
sister, goal achiever, and activist, whose realm is the wilderness.
There will be time to listen to stories and myths, to be playful, to be
in circle, to have opportunities for friendship and solitude. In the
midst of the beauty of the outer world of big sky, trees, hills and lake
at Feathered Pipe, the inner world is evoked, the inner child
remembered. -
http://featheredpipe.com/feathered_retreats/water-moon-retreat/
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With love, hope, perseverance and optimism, (my activist mantra)
Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD
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655 Redwood Highway, Suite 336, Mill Valley, CA, 94941 |
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