International Charter of Compassion launched

Karen Armstrong, winner of the 2008 TED prize, along with religious leaders from around the world, gathered on November 12th 2009 at the National Press Club to unveil the Charter for Compassion.  The Charter is a single document, endorsed by HH the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu among others. It was crafted by people from all walks of life, nationalities, beliefs and backgrounds with the intent to unify, inspire and bring compassion back into the heart of society. Compassion is the principled determination to put ourselves in the shoes of the other, and is often referred to as the Golden Rule – a tenet that is central to all major religions. At the unveiling, Ms. Armstrong, and religious leaders, called upon the world to make a commitment to living a life of compassion. Over 60 Charter for Compassion Plaques, designed by Yves Behar and his team at fuseproject, will be hung in significant religious and world, in cities such as New York, Cairo, London, Ramallah, Melbourne, and Buenos Aires.  The design focuses on the power and meaning of the Charter’s words rather than purely the form. Consisting of sustainable maple, simple construction and laser-engraving, the plaques have a unique and iconic design reflective of the key messaging of Karen Armstrong. The text can be viewed at www.charterofcompassion.org. As Ms. Armstrong explains, “Compassion is not the feeling of good will or pity. Instead it is the principled determination to put ourselves into the place of the other [that] lies at the heart of all truly religious and ethical systems.”

The Charter of Compassion’s Call to Action

The final text of The Charter, unveiled on November 12th 2009, calls upon all men and women

to restore compassion to the center of morality and religion.

to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence,

hatred or disdain is illegitimate

to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures

to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity

to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings ~ even those regarded as enemies

Celebrating The Golden Rule

Events to commemorate the launch of the Charter are taking place across the globe from Australia and South Africa to Argentina and Thailand with more than 100 partner organizations today and in the following week. They include everything from art exhibits and film screenings to small lectures and large conferences. Religious leaders will be giving services on compassion and the Charter in houses of worship this following weekend, November 13-15.

Affirmers from All Walks of Life

Affirmers of the Charter hail from near and far including luminaries such as Queen Noor of Jordan, Sheikh Ali Gomaa, Candido Mendes, Jody Williams, Deepak Chopra and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche as well as cultural icons Meg Ryan, Vusi Mahlasela, and Salman Ahmad.

Origin of the Charter for Compassion

A 2008 winner of the TED Prize and renowned author, Ms. Armstrong has been working with the TED community to create, launch and propagate a Charter for Compassion—a document that would bring attention back to the principles of universal justice and respect that are central to all the world’s great religions. During the Charter-writing period, people of all faiths, from around the world, contributed their ideas, suggestions and stories. “I was excited to join so many different individuals contributing to the Charter’s development. I believe that this Charter will help bring people together to recognize our interdependence, commit to furthering our mutual wellbeing, and act with compassion for all, not just one’s own group” said contributor Vincent Cheng. A Council of Conscience, made up of eighteen renowned religious thinkers and leaders, then wrote the final version. “TED is committed to ideas worth spreading, and you can make the case that the Golden Rule is the best idea humanity has ever had,” said Chris Anderson, Curator of TED. “It is an idea that builds on our fragile biological instincts to care for those close to us and extends it to all. Without it, we might already have blown ourselves out of existence. In a world where all of the big problems are global in nature, we need it more than ever. It can act as a lightning rod to foster collaboration instead of conflict between the great religions and also provide a common moral cause with the secular world.”

Karen Armstrong had a desire to impact the violence attributed to religion around the world and wanted to remind people of the core similarity that lies at the heart of all religions – the Golden Rule. Karen won the TED Prize in 2008 and the Charter for Compassion was her wish.  Global participation in an open writing process was the critical starting point for the creation of the Charter for Compassion was launched in the fall of 2008 to allow people of all nations, all backgrounds, and all faiths to contribute. People from all over the world have contributed to this Charter; it transcends religious, ideological and national difference; it has been composed by leading thinkers from many traditions with passion, insight, intellectual conviction and hope.

TED is a non profit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It is an annual conference which brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).  TED.com makes the best talks and performances, the ideas worth spreading, from TED available to the public, for free. The TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED Community’s exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of “One Wish to Change the World.”

Made Possible by the Fetzer Institute

A private operating foundation based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Fetzer Institute engages with people and projects around the world to help bring the power of love, forgiveness and compassion to the center of individual and community life. Founded by broadcast pioneer John E. Fetzer, the institute carries out its mission in a number of ways: by supporting scientific research to understand how to increase the human capacity for love and forgiveness; by convening conversations that help community leaders explore the practical application of love and compassion in their work; and by sharing compelling stories of love and forgiveness at work in the world. While the Fetzer Institute is not a religious organization, it honors and learns from a variety of spiritual traditions.

***

The animal in us has no compassion. Even the human in us has no compassion. We use the word compassion, but it is nothing other than attachment. Only the divine in us has compassion, and this compassion is for the human in us and the animal in us. Our compassion is the life-changing miracle-power in us. With our divine compassion, we can raise the standard of humanity far beyond our imagination. -Sri Chinmoy

New timelapse movie on the Swiss Alps by Michael Rissi

Swiss Videographer writes on his new video on vimeo: A new series of timelapse movies which I recorded this summer and autumn in the Swiss Alps. Most locations are only reachable on foot, some need alpine hikes of 3-5 hours. I spent several weekends in cottages of the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC), where I shot these clips.  The music is from Beethoven’s great 7th Symphony, 2nd movement. Locations are: Diavolezza (Bernina Range, Graubünden), Gleckstein, upper Grindelwald Glacier (oberer Grindelwaldgletscher), Flüelapass (between Davos and Engadin), Schwyz, Rigi, Triftgletscher, Glärnisch.

First NZ Impossibility Challenger World Records Games took place

A frenzy of record-breaking took place at the 16th Impossibility Challenger, with 11 Guinness and 7 world records broken. The event was held on 14 November 2009 in Auckland’s Trusts Stadium in New Zealand, the first time it has ever occurred outside of Europe. Swiss weightlifter Albert Walter, who already participated in various editions of the Impossibility Challenger Games in Switzerland and Germany,  set two Guinness world records for ripping a 1440 page phone book in 6:83 sec and breaking a 30cm long  and 9.5 mm wide carpenter’s nail in 3:24 min, both with his bare hands. He especially traveled to New Zealand for this event. Alastair Galpin, one of the most prolific Guinness record breakers in the world, set nine new Guinness records in the same day, including the most high-fives in a minute and the furthest distance spitting a ping pong ball. Four employees of New Zealand tyre company Frank Allen Tyres smashed the world record for the fastest 4 wheel tyre change on a car, reducing it from 2 min 30 sec to 1 min 25 sec. 20 people constructed a 270.3 metre balloon chain in one hour, beating the previous world record of 216 metres. Plenty of new world records were set including the fastest mile pushing someone in a supermarket trolley (8 min 14 sec), the furthest distance traveled by a balloon powered car, the tallest hat made from balloons (3 metres 20 centimetres) and the world’s largest dot to dot drawing.

The Impossibility Challenger was founded in 1982 by the accomplished weightlifter and runner Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007) to promote self-transcendence, the ideal of challenging limits and going beyond previous accomplishments.  More news on the NZ event on the website: www.impossibilitychallenger.org.nz

Hubble Telescope reveals new pictures of our Milky Way Galaxy

A never-before-seen view of the turbulent heart of our Milky Way galaxy is being unveiled by NASA on Nov. 10. This event will commemorate the 400 years since Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens in 1609. In celebration of this International Year of Astronomy, NASA is releasing images of the galactic center region as seen by its Great Observatories to more than 150 planetariums, museums, nature centers, libraries, and schools across the country. The sites will unveil a giant, 6-foot-by-3-foot print of the bustling hub of our galaxy that combines a near-infrared view from the Hubble Space Telescope, an infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope, and an X-ray view from the Chandra X-ray Observatory into one multiwavelength picture. Experts from all three observatories carefully assembled the final image from large mosaic photo surveys taken by each telescope. This composite image provides one of the most detailed views ever of our galaxy’s mysterious core. Participating institutions also will display a matched trio of Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra images of the Milky Way’s center on a second large panel measuring 3 feet by 4 feet. Each image shows the telescope’s different wavelength view of the galactic center region, illustrating not only the unique science each observatory conducts, but also how far astronomy has come since Galileo.

The composite image features the spectacle of stellar evolution: from vibrant regions of star birth, to young hot stars, to old cool stars, to seething remnants of stellar death called black holes. This activity occurs against a fiery backdrop in the crowded, hostile environment of the galaxy’s core, the center of which is dominated by a supermassive black hole nearly four million times more massive than our Sun. Permeating the region is a diffuse blue haze of X-ray light from gas that has been heated to millions of degrees by outflows from the supermassive black hole as well as by winds from massive stars and by stellar explosions. Infrared light reveals more than a hundred thousand stars along with glowing dust clouds that create complex structures including compact globules, long filaments, and finger-like “pillars of creation,” where newborn stars are just beginning to break out of their dark, dusty cocoons. The unveilings will take place at 152 institutions nationwide, reaching both big cities and small towns. Each institution will conduct an unveiling celebration involving the public, schools, and local media. (Source: NASA)

11-11-11 Video message by Shellely Sage Heart

Watch what Shelley Sage Heart produced on November 11th 2009…

Florian Schlosser: Living as the Space for the Totality of Now

Florian Schlosser gave a live interview on the channel “2012 and beyond” on Friday, November 13th. He not only spoke about his feelings on 2012 but also focused on the importance of  consciously living in the eternal now. In his third book “Space” he explained some of his ideas:

“Many people speak of this moment as all that exists, which is self-evidently true. Yet what is the composition of this and every moment? And how is this moment – now – showing up in consciousness to be experienced? The now exists as what we could call the Trinity of Life, consisting of: Who we are; What we have; and What we do. Who we are is the awareness in which everything appears and disappears moment by moment. What we have is the experience of now, as a multi-sensual sensation in the body and nervous system. What we – consciously or unconsciously – do is play with different qualities of attention. The quality of the attention we give and receive determines how we experience this moment. In most of us the attention is either completely turned outside observing external objects, or it is turned inside on what we think, feel and experience inwardly. In either direction our attention is habitually used and controlled in a narrow focus, mainly as a means to get what we want, and get rid of what we don’t want. Our focus becomes highly selective and exclusive, constantly re-creating a sense of being an observer who is separated from what is observed. Unavoidably, yet innocently, we are caught up in a dualistic experience-perception loop. In this narrowness of focus the body and nervous system – the actual interface between unmanifest consciousness and the manifestation of life – are excluded. Without our being aware of it, in excluding and separating the body from consciousness, our natural capacity to include and experience the totality of now is rather limited. The LIVE INTERVIEW can be watched on the channel 2012 and beyond by clicking on the ON-DEAMAND button and select Florian Schlosser.

Sri Chinmoy: 170 instrumemts in one concert

On September 11, 2005, Maestro Sri Chinmoy chose the village of Interlaken in the Swiss Alps to offer a concert performing on a record number of 170 musical instruments from around the world. This is an excerpt with a sample of 8 different flutes. It is now available on www.srichinmoy.tv

Fall-Beauty Mandala by Shelley Sage Heart

Enjoy the fall colors on this special mandala, created by Shelley Sage Heart from the Sunlight Circle Productions. More on:
www.sunlightcircle.com

An-Ra-Nae will spoke about 2012 and beyond

An-Ra-Nae, a High Priestess in the Lineage of Isis and a Priestess in the Order of Melchizedek. was live on the channel 2012 and beyond this today. Her life mission is serving the Divine Mother in balancing male/female energies on Earth. Her life purpose is activating Codes of Remembering in individuals for the fulfillment their Divine Plan. At this time of the Return of the Goddess to planet Earth, Isis has called her to activate and train Priestesses in the Lineage of Isis/Mother Mary/ Kuan Yin/Magdalene. She has also been given a Language of Light by the Hathors of Ancient Egypt to be used both for transmutation and for DNA activations in activating Light Codes. An-Ra-Nae is the Master Alchemist for Mystic Journey OM – Sacred Oils for the Journey Home. She is living in Ashland, OR (USA) and is currently on tour in Europe teaching spiritual tools for the ascension, aromatherapy, and the Language of Light. In the Friday LIVE interview An-Ra-Nae will reveal her visions on the developments around the year 2012, her relationship to ancient Agypt and the purpose of her healing oils. More infos: www.MysticJourneyOM.com; email: anranae@mjom.com. The interview is still available on the channel by clicking on the ON-DEMAND button and choosing her interview.

Further interviews on the “2012 and beyond” channel are planned with Florian Schlosser (November 13th), Rhea Powers (Novembet 20th) and Patrizia Alexandra Pfister (November 27th). On December 25th there will be a reply of Franciscan Monk Sean’s prayerful ralk on Maria Magdalena. Broadcasting times are always Friday’s at 21:00 h CET, which is 8 pm GMT, 3 pm NY time and 12 noon PDT.

Global Buddhist peace generator project in Thailani

No matter how technologically advanced the world has become, people will always need a knowledge that can help them douse misery, develop inner peace, and discover true happiness. On the occasion of the 100^th birthday anniversary of the late Meditation Master Nun Chand Khonnokyoong, Abbot Dhammajayo Bhikkhu initiated a project to build a new Pali and Buddhist school of studies to replace its original one being worn out through decades of use. The Building will house Thailand’s largest Pali and Dhamma school of studies.  Studying Pali is essential for monks as the Lord Buddha’s original teachings are kept in this ancient language. It is also designed to be the coordinating center for the Dhammakaya Temple’s overseas dissemination work that has brought the Lord Buddha’s time-tested knowledge of inner peace and happiness to people in more than 100 countries spanning as far as Qatar, Uganda, Solomon Islands, Mongolia, and even in former Buddhist lands such as Bahrain, Dubai, Indonesia and Jordan. Today, the temple has more than 50 overseas meditation centers, each providing free meditation lessons for interested members of the general public.  As the scope for dissemination work widens, there is a need to train and retrain monks to be qualified teachers to property coach new generations of monks and lay staff to be responsible and respectable role models for virtuous leaders in both word and, more importantly, action. The 15-storey building will be a place where people of all colors and races and various nationalities work together for world peace; similar to a United Nations of Buddhism.  It will become a venue where Buddhist academics and expert practitioners from all over the world meet, discuss, exchange ideas as well as cooperate on educational and global peace programs. More infos here.