There is so much to share from this most recent VisionForce Boot Camp, which we’ve used to jumpstart the One Million Visionaries campaign. We’ll start with a press release written by one of the 28 visionaries in attendance:
Healing Divisiveness: The Birth of a New Culture based on Honor and Vision, from the Heart of Texas.
Could a Born-Again Christian and a non-Christian embrace each other as brothers and sisters? Could a U.S. Soldier and a Peace Activist recognize one another as their most powerful and committed allies in life? Is it possible for a Liberal Environmentalist and a Conservative, Capitalist Republican to not only come to honor each other, but also each other’s values?
In a world increasingly divided by viewpoints emphasizing what we are against, the above question seem almost as absurd as expecting oil and water to just blend together, yet they may be the questions which determine our survival. Increasingly, we ask ourselves what kind of future awaits our children in a world of growing conflicts between groups armed with nuclear bombs, depleted uranium, altered genomes, viruses, etc. What could possibly heal, for example, the rifts between evangelical Christians and people who outrightly profess to earth-based “pagan” beliefs, much less have them actually relishing each other’s company? Could anything inspire a conservative Republican and a super-liberal environmentalist to see each other not only as “having some things in common,” but as intimate friends who profoundly trust each other to gaze deeply into each other’s heart, knowing full well that the other loves and cares deeply for them and their vision!?
“Impossible!,” you say? It’s happening right now in the heart of Texas and spreading to the world. This weekend, Michael Skye, an Austin cultural visionary and educator called 28 visionaries from around the world to show them the steps to building a new global culture based on honorable relationship and vision. Participants were selected for their desire to make a significant difference in other people’s lives and their firm commitment to facing everything, avoiding nothing and standing to BE the full, living manifestation of the vision they honor. Those accepted into the 4-day Vision Force Boot Camp experience came from a broad spectrum of religions, political persuasions, and ethnicities from around the world.
Michael Skye, founder of the Vision Force process and www.visionforce.com, leads a 4-day intensive that could be the seed of a global cultural transformation. With a profound understanding of our relationship to self and other, Michael Skye shows people how to use simple, powerful relationship models, to understand the process by which we create suffering in ourselves and separation from others, starting with those closest to us. Michael Skye shows visionaries how to transform the very process which generates pain and divisiveness in our personal and collective lives as the key to powerfully transforming, healing and empowering our vision and values in the world. How many of us have a tremendous vision for how to bring our gifts to humanity, yet have loved ones with whom a misunderstanding has festered for years? The Vision Force process leads to profound relationship healing and empowerment, starting with our relationship to ourselves and the inspiration that so many of us have turned our backs on, considering them the follies of youth, unrealistic, or unachievable.
In Kampala, Uganda, a young man named Clovis Ategeka overcame the apathy that leads to despair for so many young people worldwide after he and his family made tremendous sacrifices for him to complete university studies, only to face political and economic realities where opportunities are reserved for those in the power structure, and not for those most gifted to bring their talents to play. Clovis credits the Vision Force work in empowering him to transform his local economy by showing young people how to embrace their honor and vision first, and then to make it real. Ugandan visionaries are now embracing their life’s adventure boldly and linking to the world. The deep wounds that fester in many countries where corruption and economic exclusion shred the social fabric and generate endless wars are now being healed thanks to the power of vision. In Uganda, Clovis is weaving the threads of a colorful cloth of human culture. He credits Vision Force for showing him how.
The effectiveness of the Vision Force model derives from the simplicity and elegance of the tools which Michael Skye has evolved. There is no doctrine to subscribe to, no leader to follow. Only powerful robust models for understanding the pain we face in our homes, workplaces and for facing the challenges of our current planetary and cultural situation one relationship at a time. Vision Force imparts a living understanding which awakens the leader within and inspires us to rise in the morning nourished and inspired by vision, treating every human being we encounter with profound honor and dignity, while standing for the full actualization of our noblest human potential. What if people and communities who have defined themselves as standing at odds to one another could be totally transformed and freed from their enmity through a powerful 4-day educational process? What if we could learn how to heal wounds carried in our hearts for years, generations and even centuries?
Could learning how to face and understand ourselves really show us how to understand and honor others?
It’s happening now in Austin, Texas and moving out into the world. www.visionforce.com
Lt. Ehren Watada Video
We post this video here, not to support the position that Bush is bad and the war is wrong. Rather we post it to honor this man for taking a stand for peace.
It is tempting to react with agreement or disagreement about someone’s position. Yet, it is this very conditioned propensity that keeps us from consciously evolving and standing together for a world that really works for all of us.
There shall come a day when it is easy to relate to each other as conscious beings. Those who step forward first to call humanity to rise to a higher level of consciousness are indeed visionary.
As you know, the Boot Camp ship has sailed. So, unless you were fortunate enough to be selected as one of the 30 visionaries from around the world to attend the upcoming Vision Force Boot Camp, you’re going to miss out on the most powerful training we have to offer.
However, we wanted to do something special for you, because we know you’re serious about creating a better world. So, next month we’re hosting 4 special,
LIVE training events and inviting you to participate.
As a visionary entrepreneur, educator, artist or other change agent, these
trainings will multiply your power to stand for your vision and bring it into
reality. These will be tele-trainings and web casts, in which we’ll,
1) SHOW you the power of the Vision Force methods, and how you can apply
them to SPECIFIC situations in your life,
2) reveal the latest upgrades to our powerful Inner Conflict Diagram
technology by web cast,
3) walk you through the simple yet powerful exercises
in our Visionary Mind program
4) and much more…
Here’s how it works:
First, you must show you’re serious by investing in our physical home study program, if you haven’t already. (If you’re one of our Visionary Mind owners already – you’re already in.) You can get your own copy shipped to your door here
The manual gives you the forms you’ll need to perform the Vision Force diagrams and exercises. And the audio CDs coach you through them. The private forums will allow you to discuss the conference calls and material
with other participants.
Second, once you’ve ordered your Visionary Mind program, we’ll send you the dates, times and private call-in number for the tele-seminars. You’ll get access to the special forum boards on-line, where you can join other participants. You’ll get to ask as many questions as you like on the forum boards, and on the calls. If you can’t make the calls, don’t worry, we’ll record them for you and give you the private links to download the MP3s!
Why are we doing all this? It’s simple, we believe that when you experience the power of the Vision Force methods first-hand, you’ll find yourself thrust head-first into creating a better future for all of us.
We give you a full 90-days to evaluate the program, and send it back if it’s not
every bit as powerful as we promise.
The world can’t wait, and we hope you don’t wait either.
To get your Visionary Mind program, and be invited to these special tele-seminars in April, go to this special order page.
We’ll look for you in the special forum boards and listen for you on the calls!
Standing with you and for you,
Michael Skye
VisionForce.com
Another TEDtalks visionary presents his ideas.
Aubrey de Grey, British biogerontologist and founder of SENS, controversially claims to have created a roadmap to defeat biological aging. In this talk, he argues that aging – like other diseases – can be cured, and that humans can live for centuries, if only we approach the aging process as “an engineering problem.”
Watch the video. (Recorded July 2005 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 23:31)
I sat down with local visionary entrepreneur and founder of the Bootstrap Network, Bijoy Goswami, to discuss his revolutionary ideas about starting a venture. The insights revealed in this audio are valuable for the entrepreneur, social entrepreneur, non-profit leader and more.
He boils down the entrepreneurial process to get at the essence of what great entrepreneurs have been doing–whether they realize it or not.
You'll want to give yourself time to listen to the full thing. It's about an hour.
Bijoy has an on-line bootcamp for bootstrappers that you can check out here. I think it's invaluable and it's the next best thing to living here in Austin and getting him to consult with you in person. I recommend it to anyone starting or building a business or organization.
What an incredible tribute to those who took a stand for peace.
Here at Vision Force, we also salute the soldiers who fought, and in doing so stood for peace. The more we can all see the stand even in our adversaries, the more we can call them to stand with us in a way that works.
This video on TEDtalks got me thinking…
As people who care so deeply and are committed to so much, it’s easy to try to force change in ourselves and others. The high standards we place upon ourselves are often at the expense of compassion for ourselves and others. And without compassion, we and others tend not to evolve consciously. We can force behavior from ourselves and others in the short-run, but consider that the fastest way to achieve lasting positive change or conscious evolution in ourselves as individuals and groups is actually by slowing down–at least slowing down enough to honor the whole being, the whole system.
Many of today’s methods for parenting, educating and governing are based on models which seem to equate human consciousness with animal consciousness–as if we as humans are little more than smart animals. With such an assumption, authoritarian guidance seems quite appropriate. Punish the behavior you don’t want, reward the behavior you do want, educate the person to know which ideas are “the right” ones, and which ideas are “the wrong” ones. Such training happens at the expense of the trainee’s ability to think independently, honestly and creatively. Those trainees who conform may behave in a way that the authority deems right or responsible, but it’s usually at the expense of the trainees’ ability to make conscious, responsible choices on one’s own.
In these uncertain times of accelerating change, the notion that we can create truly happy individuals or a just society by training children to be our version of what is “good” is a very dangerous one. Such positionary goodness limits our children’s degree of moral courage, compassion and vision as adults. What their survival and happiness requires going forward and what the world needs now is visionary children who are responsible for the future of the world–not visionless followers who are responsible for obeying whoever the leader happens to be.
I invite you to slow down today and invest some of your time in an inquiry worthy of your life and your children’s lives:
Trained Goodness vs. Natural Greatness pt 1
Trained Goodness vs. Natural Greatness pt 2
Goodness vs. Greatness
So many of us are so eager to learn the next tip or trick for happiness, success or leadership skill, that we fail to create lasting change, develop real mastery or much conscious evolution.
Kiva lets you lend to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world, helping them lift themselves out of poverty. This model is genius. It’s about time I checked it out… several of our Vision Force subscribers have been telling me about it for a while now. Amazing stuff!
‘Hurricane Katrina’ -Peace Takes Courage
A 15-year-young visionary woman is moving people to action with the powerful videos she creates such as this one. Visit http://www.PeaceTakesCourage.com
It is no surprise that she is home-schooled. Most of the public school system and authorities here in Austin rebuked public school children here last year, when they defied orders to stay in school and instead took a stand and walked for something they believed in. What were they trying to teach our youth? That it is more important to subvert your mind and conscience to the will of authority and majority? There exists today a grand illusion that training our youth to be “good” and fit within the system is the best we can do to create a world that really works. We train them to be good, rather than allow them to develop their natural greatness.
Visionary educators are now and shall soon be creating education systems that develop our youth to be conscious visionaries who stand for and create a world that works for all of us. Some such visionaries will be at our March Boot Camp, and I can hardly wait…
A model for world-changing is emerging…
1- We’ve witnessed the success of our project in Uganda with young visionary, Clovis Ategeka, who has been changing the world, largely due to his ability to access the internet, and thus Vision Force, Zaadz, etc.
2 – The school we visited in Ngong Kenya has no internet access, and it has been difficult to follow up with the students there, who were so inspired by the Vision Force work, and wanted to continue to develop themselves as visionaries and entrepreneurs. The plan they created when we were there was to start an internet cafe there on campus, and since then they’ve received several new computers… but still have no internet access.
3 – Morris Thuku, a Kenyan visionary, who started an institute of technology for street kids in a small village outside of Nairobe has a vision to raise youth and communities throughout Africa from poverty by training them in computer repair, maintenance, etc. Most all African homes do not have computers yet, so his students are positioning themselves for wealth… but Morris lacks the kind of funding that has come so easily to Clovis through his access to a global community.
Clovis has a vision of spreading Vision Cafes throughout Africa, as a way of connecting people to the global community and all of the resources and opportunities that come with it. The internet creates opportunities to raise funding, make money, save money, get educated, find business partners, collaborate with a global community, etc. But the beauty of this vision doesn’t stop with the advantages of internet access. Clovis sees these cafes as a way to educate and train people to be visionaries, leaders and entrepreneurs. Both the tribal and colonial culture contexts are very authoritarian and lacking in entrepreneurial and visionary concepts and conversations.
Clovis sees his Vision Cafes bringing everything the internet has to offer, as well as everything the west has to offer regarding entrepreneurship and advanced ways of thinking as a conscious being and visionary.
The bottleneck is internet access. In East Africa it’s outrageously expensive, and so at first glance it does not seem feasible to spread these Vision Cafes throughout Africa. But there is a bigger vision here, that once seen could easily inspire many organizations and individuals to invest their time and resources in the cause. Clovis, through his Vision Cafe in Kampala, is not merely providing jobs and adding value to the community. He is in essence, “creating creators.” It is one thing to fish, it’s another to teach someone how to fish–and quite another thing to teach someone how to be a visionary entrepreneur and create a business… or better yet, teach someone how to be a visionary entrepreneur who teaches others how to do the same. That’s what Clovis is up to. He wants to train others to train others, and thus open up all of Africa to unimaginable opportunity.
Democracy and capitalism are very new in many parts of Africa, and still only a dream in others. In Kenya, when I visited last year, I could feel an energy in the air… people were actively engaged in politics, not resigned and cynical as so many of us seem to be in the West. Kenya only gained freedom from Britain about 40 years ago through a violent revolution. Everything is still new, everything is possible. And the youth… so many told me they were going to be president one day. Yet, the colonial and tribal cultures there silence the youth in many respects. There seemed to be a consensus among Kenyans 40 and under that they’d never be listened to until they were at least 45 years old. This, even though so many Kenyans are known for their oratory skills (so many we met spoke like Senator Obama, whose father was Kenyan–or even more eloquently). The youth we met were incredibly bright, incredibly spirited, well-spoken and authentic. The only things that seemed to be missing for these young leaders to have the power to bring their visions into reality was 1) lack of access to technology, and 2) lack of entrepreneurial/visionary contexts.
Enter Clovis and his Vision Cafes, where he not only connects the youth to the world wibe web, but he liberates them from the conditioning which keeps them silent. The Vision Force concepts and work are incredibly powerful in this regard. Vision Force technology was not created from within the context of existing structures, and thus does not teach people how to be successful within the system. No, it encourages and empowers independent, creative thought, entrepreneurial thought. It’s most powerful for those willing to step outside the existing structures and create something new. It’s very liberating and refreshing for many who’ve grown up inside the heavily authoritarian cultural contexts in Africa. Perhaps this is why some come from 6 hours away to attend Clovis’ Vision Force workshops. Clovis is not just bringing hope, he’s bringing vision and everything that comes with it.
Kampala is ready. Kenya is ready. Could these Vision Cafes be an idea whose time has come?
How will we find the funds and resources to bring these internet learning centers into existence? Well, just ask Clovis, who through investing himself in the Vision Force 101 program, has been able to articulate his stand and his vision in such a way that he’s inspiring people from around the world to collaborate with him. One man, Michael Blomsterberg, and fellow Zaadzster (member of the Zaadz community), was so inspired that he has organized a trip for 12 to Kampala this summer, and plans to bring 10-20 computers for Clovis’ Vision Cafe. Other Zaadzsters and friends of Michael’s have joined in, and are doing what they can to support Clovis and his vision.
We at Vision Force along with generous Zaadz members have just recently raised $3,400 to get Clovis’ Vision Cafe wired with high-speed internet access. Some 80+ people from around the world were inspired to contribute. Others have purchased and sent Visionary Mind packages to Clovis. And the story goes on…
Vision Cafes throughout the 3rd world… supporting One Million Visionaries just like Clovis… can we really change the world? Do we even have a glimpse of how quickly we could create a world that really works for everyone? Organizations and individuals alike are already stepping forward to join forces in manifesting this vision. It’s not a Vision Force thing. It’s much bigger than that. It’s simply time.
We wish to acknowledge and thank every single person and organization that has chosen to stand with and for Clovis and all our African visionary friends. This is just the beginning! Together we really can create a future where all people are honored as creative, conscious beings… a world where we’re free inside and outside to live powerfully, and where it’s just natural to do so… a world where our best efforts go to collaborate creating a world that works for all, rather than fighting to enforce our individual views on others…
Everything here is made possible by our Patrons!