Yesterday, I attended this event here in Austin, where we watched the widely acclaimed documentary, Favela Rising, about a young social revolutionary who responds to his brother’s murder, gang warfare and police corruption by starting a drum group, called AfroReggae, for the purpose of uniting everyone in his favela.

FAVELA RISING documents a man and a movement, a city divided and a favela (Brazilian squatter settlement) united. Haunted by the murders of his family and many of his friends, Anderson Sá is a former drug-trafficker who turns social revolutionary in Rio de Janeiro’s most feared slum. Through hip-hop music, the rhythms of the street, and Afro-Brazilian dance he rallies his community to counteract the violent oppression enforced by teenage drug armies and sustained by corrupt police.
At the dawn of liberation, just as collective mobility is overcoming all odds and Anderson’s grassroots Afro Reggae movement is at the height of its success, a tragic accident threatens to silence the movement forever.

After the inspiring film, Anderson Sá answered questions about his life through a translator. Young Austin social revolutionaries listened to this man, and some asked how they might effect change the way Sá has. One was a local, conscious hip hop artist, named Gator, who I’d seen last summer performing at the National Hip Hop Political Convention. I spoke briefly with both Sá and Gator, and left inspired to find more such social revolutionaries. These are people who are working in the trenches to bring about positive change through non-violent, inspiring means. These are the kind of people we’re welcoming to attend our upcoming boot camp, which for the first time ever is a gift to such agents of change.

Bootstrapping is a way of bringing a big idea into reality. It’s the method Bill Gates and Michael Dell used when starting their businesses. Tomorrow, I’ll be interviewing visionary Austin entrepreneur, Bijoy Goswami, who is the founder of the Bootstrap Network and who has some fascinating ideas about bootstrapping (Check out this podcast of Bijoy presenting on bootstrapping).

I’ll be posting the audio from tomorrow’s conversation with Bijoy here on the blog. This is the second in a series of conversations with Austin entrepreneurs on the “E Revolution.” E Revolution? It’s how entrepreneurs are creating a radically different future for us–a beneficient, beautiful future that few see. Today, entrepreneurs–and all of us as individuals–have more power to change the world than ever before. Listen to the first podcast in this series here.

Next week, we’ll be talking to a third visionary Austin entrepreneur, Michael Strong of FLOW.

“In 1974, I found it difficult to teach elegant theories of economics in the university classroom, in the backdrop of a terrible famine in Bangladesh. Suddenly, I felt the emptiness of those theories in the face of crushing hunger and poverty. I wanted to do something immediate to help people around me, even if it was just one human being, to get through another day with a little more ease.”

Thus begins the story of Mohammad Yunus, the 2006 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. In his Nobel lecture (watch the video and read the transcript here), he tells his story of how he came to found Grameen Bank and pioneer micro-lending to the poor.

The prevailing assumption of bankers and capitalists at that time was that the poor were not a good credit risk. Over the last 30 years, the Grameen (meaning “village”) Bank has given out loans totalling $6 Billion (US) to 7 million poor people, and the repayment rate has been 99%. Yunus proudly asserts that Grameen Bank routinely makes a profit, is self-reliant and has not accepted donor money since 1995. And, according to an internal survey of borrowers, 58 per cent have crossed the poverty line.

These results have say something about who we are as human beings, and what is possible for humanity going forward. Mohammad Unus sees a future where poverty only exists in museums! The path to get there lies, he sees, in questioning our assumptions about who we are as human beings and using free market principles to help the poor lift themselves from poverty.

“I am in favor of strengthening the freedom of the market. At the same time, I am very unhappy about the conceptual restrictions imposed on the players in the market. This originates from the assumption that entrepreneurs are one-dimensional human beings, who are dedicated to one mission in their business lives − to maximize profit.”

“…Human beings are a wonderful creation embodied with limitless human qualities and capabilities. Our theoretical constructs should make room for the blossoming of those qualities, not assume them away.”

“…By defining “entrepreneur” in a broader way we can change the character of capitalism radically, and solve many of the unresolved social and economic problems within the scope of the free market.”

In his speech, Mohammad Yunus introduces the concept of a “social business,” as a free market solution to end poverty, and as a vehicle for young revolutionaries to change the world.

“Young people all around the world, particularly in rich countries, will find the concept of social business very appealing since it will give them a challenge to make a difference by using their creative talent. Many young people today feel frustrated because they cannot see any worthy challenge, which excites them, within the present capitalist world. Socialism gave them a dream to fight for. Young people dream about creating a perfect world of their own.”

The FLOW Movement being started right here in Austin, Texas is forming an idealogical framework to provide a global context for tomorrow’s young revolutionaries. Michael Strong, Co-Founder of FLOW, sees how these new ideas about human potential, entrepreneurship and free markets can ignite a spark in University students, giving them a viable way to literally change the world for the better.

Mohammad Yunus says that we have poverty, because we accept it as part of the human condition. Once we raise our standards and refuse to accept it, we will easily find creative solutions to eliminate it altogether. The human mind has incredible power to solve problems, but only the problems that we refuse to accept.

“We create the world in accordance with our mindset. We need to invent ways to change our perspective continually and reconfigure our mindset quickly as new knowledge emerges. We can reconfigure our world if we can reconfigure our mindset.”

Of course, this is what we are up to here at VisionForce.com. The visionary mind of the future is one that evolves continually in ways that empower the individual to stand for more, see more as possible and create more. Our free Visionary Mind Shifts course by email is an introduction to this kind of evolutionary consciousness.

Our Visionary Mind home study program takes you much deeper, having you question the biggest assumptions about human beings, which keep us limited; and having you experience your “inner calling” to stand for a better world–your call to “greatness.” You can dive more fully into your visionary mind, and accelerate your evolution with this program by purchasing your hard copy here.

And if you’re already deep in the game of world-changing and conscious evolution, or if you are committed to living as Mohammad Yunus has lived, we want you to attend this event and be one of the 30 to step forward this spring and create a future that really works for everyone. The revolution starts now!

Listen to this conversation with Kevin Koym, a visionary entrepreneur here in Austin, who believes that entrepreneurs are the revolutionaries who will solve the world’s problems.

This is the first in a series of conversations we’ll be having with Austin visionaries, who are coming together to create a radically different future than the one we’re headed towards now. A future that really works for everyone. What we talk about here directly affects your life and your children’s future. Download it to your iPod and tell us what you think. It’s about 50 minutes long.
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There’s something special about music… the way it can pull you into a whole new world, a new paradigm, a new context–instantly! Musical artists have always been at the forefront of change, evolution and revolution, painting a view of past, present and future that calls people to take the actions necessary to create a new future.

On my trip to Kenya last summer, the kids in a remote town who did not have electricity in their classrooms did have a TV in the cafeteria. And every chance they got, they were listening to Western Hip Hop artists. If only all of those artists really understood–intellectually and emotionally–the reach they have and their potential to cause positive change in the world…

One singer/song-writer who attended our last boot camp, grasps his opportunity and responsibility to create a radically better future for humanity. His name is Sean Clarke, and you can download many of his songs for free to your iPod, straight from his web site.

Sean records all of his music himself and plays all of his instruments digitally. We have entered an era, where one person really can change the world. You can also find Sean on Zaadz.

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” – Eric Hoffer

The Visionary Mind is not just a continually learning mind, but a mind not organized around psychological positions. Anyone can continually learn within the walls of their positions. The Nazi, the Roman Catholic, the Jew, the Environmentalist, the Rush Limbaugh Dittohead, the Marxist, the Dove, the Hawk, the Randian and the Patriot can all be continual learners, whose learning merely fortifies their existing positions. What marks the visionary mind is the quality of continual evolution, more than just continual learning.

And in these times of drastic change, it is the continually learning and evolving visionaries who shall not just inherit the future, they shall create it.

No matter your values, your beliefs, your cause or your level of learnedness, if your strength comes from your position, you will become less and less powerful to create the kind of life and world that will further your highest values and everyone else’s. It is your commitment and ability to evolve beyond your well-fortified positions and live from a dynamic stand that will empower you to create the kind of future that will really work for you and for all of us.

What we are talking about here is a complete yet subtle paradigm shift, one that we begin to explore in our free Visionary Mind Shifts course by email. It’s a paradigm shift, which is further rooted and explored with our Visionary Mind home study program, and deeply experienced inside of our 4-day intensives.

A First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army has taken a stand. Ehren Watada, a 28-year-old Hawaii native, faces a court martial next month and up to 6 years in prison. He is the first commissioned officer in the U.S. to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq.

Here’s the link to the blog and audio. Overy 100,000 people have commented on this man’s stand. Many of his peers call him a traitor and a coward. Others think he’s anything but that. (leave your comments below)

It’s easy to take a position on this young man’s decision, and that’s one of the fundamental problems with the world we live in. Actually, the problem lies within our methods of thinking, our consciousness. Yesterday’s consciousness is insufficient for the world we face today with all of it’s accelerating change, globalization, the advancement of technology, etc.

Someone thinking with yesterday’s consciousness, the “positionary mind of the past,” rushes to judgment without much honest inquiry. Rather than look to understand the person or organization they judge, they simply attack. It’s usually in defense of a position they formed long ago.

This is a very emotional issue, especially for those who chose to stand for their country by risking their lives by fighting at war–even if they objected to the war. To be inspired by this man’s stand, it’s assumed they’d have to turn on their own stand. They are proud of the stand they took to fight, and feel that those who stand for their country by not fighting are invalidating or dishonoring them.

Some soldiers, in going to war, might judge those who don’t as cowardly. This affords them more pride and confidence in their decision, but the judgment itself is what devolves their stand into a position.

In our eagerness to stand for something, we too easily form a righteous position, from which we can no longer think honestly about the situation.

Isn’t honesty the quality of not refusing to look at or think about something, when forming one’s thoughts, words or opinions? Yet, when we form our thoughts and opinions with yesterday’s positionary thinking, those very opinions become walls beyond which we cannot see. Beyond the walls of our position, we can not see the humanity, the courage, the stand taken by “the other side.” And then we treat and speak to them as less than human.

Is it any wonder the world is in such a state of crisis?

What we’re lacking is a new form of consciousness. A visionary consciousness, the likes of which have been rare throughout history. Gandhi is a great example of someone with a visionary consciousness. What we’ll need going forward, however, and what I see is fast approaching, is a much more sophisticated and developed visionary consciousness–higher level thinking methods that facilitate visionary thinking and make it much easier and more common place.

Eventually, evolution to a new kind of thinking will occur. Indeed, it must if we are to survive and thrive in this world.

Some are courageously undertaking the quest to evolve their consciousness even now, and are seeking out training for living as a visionary. Of course, that’s why VisionForce exists–to facilitate this conscious evolution of consciousness.

And right now, we’re looking for 30. We’re looking for those willing to live their lives standing for humanity, including men and women who are standing for peace and freedom even now in Iraq–at war.

If you are willing to live your life as a visionary, as someone who stands, as a hero for mankind, we’re looking for you. We need parents, teachers, entrepreneurs, lawyers, politicians, activists, artists–we need you. Are you willing?