We should just trust what our leaders tell us, and everything will be OK.

Or…

Is it time each found the visionary leader in ourselves???

I’m always eager to connect you with fellow visionaries who are bringing a fresh perspective to bear on the big questions of our time. So, I’m delighted to share with you an invitation I recently received to participate in what I see as a leading-edge endeavor to evolve our understanding of spirituality in the 21st century.

The Great Integral Awakening: Pioneering a New Spiritual Path is a FREE online teleseminar series where you can interact with many of today’s leading visionaries—including Ken Wilber, Diane Hamilton, Andrew Cohen, Marc Gafni, Don Beck, Michael Murphy, Genpo Roshi—in an in-depth exploration of the next stage in humanity’s spiritual development.

Over the next three months, you can join them each week online and by conference call to explore the burning questions facing all of us who aspire to live an authentic spiritual life in our increasingly chaotic, fast-paced world.

Questions like:

* How does the spiritual path need to evolve to meet the evolutionary challenges and opportunities of our time?

* How can we make sure our own spiritual path and practice is “integral” and informed by both the timeless wisdom of Spirit and an up-to-date understanding of the human condition?

* What does it mean to live a life of passionate evolutionary engagement that integrates our deep longing for spiritual transformation and our desire to improve the world?

* How can we come together with other evolutionaries to begin to create microcosms of evolutionary culture?

* How can we engage our spiritual practice not just as a path to personal growth but as a contribution to the further evolution of humanity, life, and consciousness?

Each event will explore this set of questions from a unique angle. We’ll look at how the discovery of evolution is giving birth to an entirely new spiritual impulse—as well as a new framework for engaging in spiritual practice. We’ll ask how the great traditions of the past can be brought up to date and kept relevant to a rapidly changing, increasingly complex world. We’ll explore some of the new, integral forms that spirituality is taking, from the emergence of new paths of self-inquiry to the birth of collective enlightenment. And we’ll think together about the vital role each of us can now play in creating a more integral—and more enlightened—future for humanity.

There is no charge to participate. All of the luminaries have volunteered their time so that as many of us as possible can come together for this groundbreaking FREE online event. I hope you’ll join them in creating the future.

CLICK HERE to learn more and register today.

Standing with you and for you,

Michael

Consider this…

Visionary entrepreneurs and enterprising visionary individuals (like YOU) are the change we’ve been looking for. Government can no more force us to have high moral character than they can force us to be creative. What powers our future, a world that works, is YOU.

Texas Billionaire, T. Boone Pickens, has a vision and a plan to have Americans lose their dependence on foreign oil. It’s simple. And none of it involves forcing anyone to do anything. Here he is showing his plan.

Do Americans have trouble facing reality? Are we really as arrogant as the rest of the world seems to think? Are we drunk on credit and consumerism? Here’s Peter Schiff…

Here’s a great presentation about how entrepreneurs and enterprising individuals can be a powerful force for good. It’s Michael Strong, John Mackey and Jeff Klein of FLOW presenting for at Freedom Fest 2007.

I spoke with Michael the other evening, and he’s doing something very cool next week I’m going to invite you to participate in.

I choose not to own a television, but I was turned on to comedian Jon Stewart’s conflict with CNBC Mad Money’s Jim Cramer. Jon Stewart has been criticizing CNBC for being largely complicit with the companies involved in the economic meltdown, and took special issue with Cramer’s advising people to continue to invest in Bear Stearn, the first big, over-leveraged investment brokerage to go down last year.

They’ve both been doing a lot of trash talk about each other recently (admittedly, they both get paid to entertain). Jon’s used his comedian skills to shame Cramer and CNBC, and when news came out the Cramer was to appear on Stewart’s The Daily Show, Cramer was obviously nervous.

It was obvious that Stewart could have used his position and charisma to humiliate or attack Cramer in front of millions, which is typically how such conflicts go (such is the positionary style of a Bill O’Reilly, an Ann Coulter, a Michael Moore, a Sean Hannity, a Rush Limbaugh, etc.). Instead, Stewart called Jim Cramer to rise to a higher level of responsibility, and no doubt, Cramer felt honored, even if embarrassed.

Here’s the exchange:

My point is not who is right or wrong. My point is the manner in which Jon Stewart used his power, and the result, which is the kind of result that few of his peers tend to create. Many talking heads take a position in a way that results in their “adversary” only becoming more adversarial, more positionary, more reactive, more entrenched. A skillful demonstration by Stewart of honor, courage and compassion.

News networks tend to dramaticize (my word) conflict in a positionary way: this person one, and this person lost (Example from CNN), which doesn’t help us to move forward to create a world that really works. Instead, it leads viewers to take positions and get caught up in the positionary drama of fighting against, rather than the visionary drama of standing for. In my view, Stewart was an example for pundits around the world. And Cramer, for his part had the courage to look at himself honestly and step up. That’s not “losing” in my book. Kudos to Cramer. Let’s see how he evolves his show as a result.

Listen as she speaks up for women, and calls Muslims to stand.