2017 GPC Spiritual Civilization Gathering & Members Meeting in Europe

Swiss Alps

Orsiéres, Switzerland, October 15-18, 2017
Connecting to Ourselves and Others for Social Impact

“Vulnerability, authenticity (not wearing masks), taking risks and the sense of belonging. That all opens us to abandon judgement and encourage curiosity which opens imagination. And that leads to beauty.”

                                                                                                                                                 - Peggy Dulany

Members of the Global Philanthropists Circle convened in the peaceful surrounding of the Swiss Alps, at the Montagne Alternative retreat center. Through the exchange of stories and reflective practices, participants connected to themselves, their peers and nature in order to explore ways they can individually and collectively create a positive future.

Member Stories

Diana Rose, The Contemplative-Based Resilience Project

“Trauma is a serious issue among humanitarian aid workers who suffer immensely without any psychological support... According to statistics, 40% of emergency workers suffer from PTSD, depression, etc. The CBR Project brings a solution offering contemplative practices for field workers that transforms trauma using mindful movement exercises and work with the psychology of stress... Aid workers often ask: “How can I suffer when they (the victims) are suffering so much?” The program helps them go through a process of learning empathy (feeling with) and compassion (feeling love towards those suffering), mastering techniques how to be able to feel the suffering, but not taking it on, most importantly without feeling guilt...” - Diana Rose

Henri van Eeghen, Social Investment as Systems Change

“I really believe that current times demand for a new language that gives momentum to the change that is in the air. We are moving from a simple market morality toward a more public morality. This new public morality makes it quite clear that the demand we put on society we also put on ourselves. If we individually strive for more we end up collectively with less. The crisis and the spirit of the time force us into a surprising combination of putting oneself into perspective and self-empowerment. Indeed ‘Everything I do contributes to society - and everything that I don’t do will be withheld from society.’ We are going to see our individual strength and values as part of the bigger picture. For me it leads to a higher and deeper consciousness and positive energy, or if you will the power of love.” - Henri van Eeghen

TRANSCRIPT
What does the future hold in 2040? - short film by Henri and Paul - VIDEO
Scaling Solutions towards Shifting Systems (by RPA) - PRESENTATION

Ivan Tse, Eco-Civilization

“It is apparent that nation states cannot save the current challenges of the world... How do we shift our frame of reference, our reference point?... We should prioritize holistic objectives and move towards transformation, not fight...”

TRANSCRIPT
Climate Action Pledge (CAP) - Ivan Tse

Practice Sessions

Frequencies of Love: A Soul’s Journey, Daniel Kropf, Catherine Pluys

The session centered around an experience of exploring diverse frequencies of love through engaging with various pieces of music. The music selections ranged from the highly personal (the state of longing) to the more expansive and ethereal. The journey of the soul embraces all of these frequencies. It is not a matter of right/wrong - necessary/unnecessary but the experience of the full range. Some of us have designed our lives to experience more of one frequency than another, but we need to be able to meet others where they are in the moment, and to transcend how we experience the various frequencies. It’s important - in knowing about yourself - to notice: where you most naturally live? where you are attracted? where do you get stuck? where you can be most helpful? which frequency you think is “best”?

Listening to Yourself and Others: A Discussion and Practicum re the Interaction Between Anxiety and Empathy in Everyday Life, Barry Walker

“Who are you when anxiety is not present?... Anxiety is a natural occurring state, but the next stage after anxiety is safety when the truth reveals itself...You can learn methods to see how anxious you might be, by paying attention to the other, by being listened to and by listening to somebody else. The listening needs to be empathic, the listener should be where the speaker wants to go... Emotions come when people feel heard, the conversation is a threshold. Empathy occurs and anxiety goes away...” - Barry Walker

Each participant answered a set of questions to begin opening up awareness about the ‘Life/Death Dance’ of anxiety and empathy.’ This ‘practice session’ is a unit from the Montana Retreat. The goal of this exercise is to initiate an internal self-reflective conversation that requires listening skills. Listening to your heart. Listening to the heart of others. Listening to the heart of the universe. Listening to nature. Listening as an art form. Listening as an act of love.

Social Presencing Theatre, Manish Srivastava

Drawing on the arts and contemplative traditions, Social Presencing Theatre brings body-based, experiential learning into individual, organizational and social change efforts. It quickly generates information about patterns and relationships that are “stuck” in a system, and offers methods for prototyping emerging futures that promote the wellbeing of all stakeholders in a system.

Peer Learning Session

Amy Brakeman, President, Umsizi Fund

“The top African students who received ALA scholarships and support on their education journeys are the future African leaders, who, however, face fear, shame, trauma and risk of mistrust and isolation after returning to their own communities...” - Amy Brakeman

African Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to develop a vision for an African education entrepreneur accelerator. Given that the largest interest group of ALA grads is education, and that many launch education-related ventures, Amy discussed with the participants how they could more systematically accelerate the development and impact of the most promising leaders and ventures.

Experience African Leadership Academy - VIDEO
Majak Ngor of Education Bridge - First ALA Echoing Green Fellow - VIDEO

Discussion Items:

Share ideas on how to

  • Build a community of high potential education entrepreneurs in Africa;
  • Use Spiritual Civilization and Synergos practices to make this more than another best practice sharing/ training group;
  • Articulate and frame the opportunity to assist the students on a transformative journey using a HAND-HEART-MIND approach.

Recommendations from the group:

  • Offer training to ALA staff and entrepreneurs in Synergos tools such as the Bridging Leadership course, which has 2 phases: 1. Retreat, 2: Bridging Leadership training;
  • Include in the curriculum training experiences of “inner work as a tool for outer action” and mindfulness programs;
  • ALA entrepreneurs, oftentimes burdened with their own trauma, can use reflective and mindfulness tools with their students, which can also help local communities;
  • Engage the entrepreneurs themselves in a participatory design process (trust building, process designing, etc.)
  • Collaborations with other institutions (Presencing Institute, Peace Jam, Garrison Institute).

Family Philanthropy: Reflections and Learnings

During this interactive session members were allowed to explore together questions of:

  • How their family philanthropy began, how it is structured, and their role in it.
  • The joys and difficulties of engaging in philanthropy with their families
  • Peer advice on how to transmit family values through philanthropy
  • Their sense of gratitude to others in their family through sharing philanthropy

Poems, Books and Other Resources

Photo Gallery

Event Agendas and Speaker Bios