The New School at Commonweal

Ilene Serlin, PhD Dance and Psyche: How Moving Moves Us Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Ilene Serlin, psychologist and registered dance/movement therapist. Ilene apprenticed with Anna Halprin and worked with the New York Psychological Association in the 1970s to require creative artists in hospitals. She’s been a psychologist for 30 years on Union Street in San Francisco and Mill Valley, California. Ilene takes American psychologists to Israel to facilitate art therapy for trauma victims there, and has worked with autistic children using dance and art therapy. She created a video on Dance Movement Therapy for women with breast cancer, and is the author of Whole Person Healthcare, introduced by Dean Ornish. Ilene Serlin, PhD Ilene is a psychologist and registered dance/movement therapist in San Francisco and Marin. Past-president San Francisco Psychological Association, Fellow APA, and past-president Division of Humanistic Psychology, she taught at Saybrook University, Lesley University, UCLA, the NY Gestalt Institute, and the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. Editor of Whole Person Healthcare (2007, 3 vol., Praeger) more than 100 chapters and articles on body, art, and psychotherapy, she is on the editorial boards of PsycCritiques; American Dance Therapy Journal; Journal of Humanistic Psychology; Arts & Health: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice; Journal of Applied Arts and Health; and The Humanistic Psychologist. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Angeles Arrien, PhD Nothing Special: The Mystery of Everyday Life As a cultural anthropologist, Dr. Angeles Arrien’s research and teaching focused on values and beliefs shared by humanity cross-culturally, and on the integration and application of multi-cultural wisdoms in contemporary settings. She taught universal components of leadership skills, communication, health care, and education, showing how indigenous wisdoms are relevant in our families, professional lives, and our relationship with the Earth. Join us for conversation with Angeles and Michael Lerner—where they explore her writings, her Basque roots, her life journey and inspirations, what she’s doing now, and what is still to come. Angeles Arrien, PhD Angeles was a cultural anthropologist, award-winning author, educator, and consultant to many organizations and businesses. She lectured and conducted workshops worldwide, bridging cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions. Her work is currently used in medical, academic, and corporate environments. Her books have been translated into thirteen languages and she received three honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of her work. Angeles’ books include The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary; Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them, (Winner of the 1993 Benjamin Franklin Award); and The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom, (Winner of the 2007 Nautilus Award for Best Book on Aging). Her recent book, Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life is a Gold Medal Co-Winner of the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY Award) in the category of Inspiration and Spirituality. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Angeles Arrien, PhD Nothing Special: The Mystery of Everyday Life As a cultural anthropologist, Dr. Angeles Arrien’s research and teaching focused on values and beliefs shared by humanity cross-culturally, and on the integration and application of multi-cultural wisdoms in contemporary settings. She taught universal components of leadership skills, communication, health care, and education, showing how indigenous wisdoms are relevant in our families, professional lives, and our relationship with the Earth. Join us for conversation with Angeles and Michael Lerner—where they explore her writings, her Basque roots, her life journey and inspirations, what she’s doing now, and what is still to come. Angeles Arrien, PhD Angeles was a cultural anthropologist, award-winning author, educator, and consultant to many organizations and businesses. She lectured and conducted workshops worldwide, bridging cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions. Her work is currently used in medical, academic, and corporate environments. Her books have been translated into thirteen languages and she received three honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of her work. Angeles’ books include The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary; Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them, (Winner of the 1993 Benjamin Franklin Award); and The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom, (Winner of the 2007 Nautilus Award for Best Book on Aging). Her recent book, Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life is a Gold Medal Co-Winner of the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY Award) in the category of Inspiration and Spirituality. Angeles Arrien died in April 2014. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Symbols, Rituals, and Archetypes: Speaking the Language of the Deep Unconscious Mind The “affective domain” is the learning domain concerned with values, calling, and meaning, and is the basis of authentic community and sustained action and commitment. Although the affective domain is widely recognized as the foundation of direction, purpose, and deep satisfaction in work and in life—as well as the basis of spiritual hardiness in meeting with obstacles, difficulties, and stress—traditional models of education are not designed to accomplish such learning. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, about her journey balancing her life as mystic, scientist, and educator. Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Rachel is clinical professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal. She is one of the pioneers of integrative medicine and relationship-centered care. As a clinician, she was a therapist to end-of-life people and their families for more than 30 years. Dr. Remen is the founder and director of The Healer’s Art curriculum for medical students, which is now taught in more than half of American Medical schools and medical schools in 7 countries abroad. She is co-founder and medical director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Retreat Program, one of the first integrative care support groups for cancer patients in America. Dr. Remen’s bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal and My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge and Belonging, have more than a million copies in print and have been published in 21 languages. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Lynnaea Lumbard, PhD New Stories: Who We Are, What We Are Becoming, Where We Are Going Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Lynnaea Lumbard—co-president of New Stories, a non-profit educational organization serving as a resource center, creative collaboratory, and project incubator in support of emerging new stories for who we are as humanity, what we are becoming, how we are changing and where we are going together. Three principle foci of New Stories are (1) strengthening great transition stories, (2) fostering thriving communities, and (3) the Whidbey GeoDome Project, headed by Rick Ingrasci, a portable inflatable dome with an internal projector that offers the experience of the universe story in a way similar to a planetarium. Lynnaea Lumbard, PhD Lynnaea is a transformational psychologist, an ordained interfaith minister, and a wilderness guide. Her interests include depth psychology, conscious evolution, community weaving, social change philanthropy, and evolutionary spirituality. Lynnaea is co-president of New Stories, a nonprofit educational center on Whidbey Island. Lynnaea works at New Stories with collaborators who include her husband, psychologist and ordained minister Rick Paine, author Duane Elgin (Voluntary Simplicity and The Living Universe), entrepreneur Jeff Vander Clute, life coach Rick Ingrasci, and many others. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Stephan Schwartz Trends That Affect Your Future and Consciousness Research Join Michael Lerner for a conversation with Stephan Schwartz, the creator of the free daily on-line Schwartz Report: Trends That Will Affect Your Future. Stephen tracks significant social trends while postulating the reality of non-local consciousness. Integrating tough-minded social trend analysis with a deep knowledge of consciousness research, Schwartz arrives at challenging non-obvious approaches to thinking about social change. Stephan A. Schwartz Stephan Schwartz is a senior Samueli fellow at the Samueli Institute, columnist for the journal Explore, and editor of the web publication Schwartz Report. He has spent a lifetime focused on exceptional human performance, particularly involving nonlocal aspects of consciousness, and is one of the founders of modern remote viewing. Parallel with that, he has researched and written about trends that are shaping the world for many years. He is the former research director of the Mobius Society, research director of the Rhine Research Center, senior fellow of the Philosophical Research Society, scholar in residence at Atlantic University, and adjunct professor at John F. Kennedy University. He is the spokesperson for the Parapsychological Association, and a former board member; co-founder of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness of the American Anthropological Association, the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine, and the International Remote Viewing Association. He is the author of four books, 20 chapters in others, and more than 100 technical papers and peer-reviewed publications. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Tom Cheetham, PhD Spiritual Imagination in the Work of Henry Corbin, CG Jung and James Hillman Tom Cheetham makes a presention on Henry Corbin’s work and the links with Jungian psychology, and has a conversation with Dr. Michael Lerner on aspects of this topic. Henry Corbin (1903-1978) was a visionary Protestant theologian and a ground-breaking scholar and translator of Islamic mysticism. His understanding of the imagination as the fundamental creative principle in the world is urgently needed in our pluralistic and interconnected global society. He was a friend and colleague of C.G. Jung and shared his view of the significance of the active imagination in human life as well as his profound grasp of the importance of alchemy for religious psychology. Tom Cheetham, PhD Tom is a biologist, a philosopher, and the author of four books on the imagination and the meaning of Henry Corbin’s work for the contemporary world. He is a Fellow of the Temenos Academy in London and Adjunct Professor of Human Ecology at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. He lectures regularly in Europe and the United States. Tom’s website, and the official Henry Corbin website, have more information. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Rebecca Katz, MS The Longevity Kitchen: the Top 16 Age-Busting Power Foods Despite America’s anti-aging obsession and numerous medical advances, for the first time in recorded history, life spans are actually shortening because of what people eat. But it doesn’t have to be so. The scientific community has come to recognize the extraordinary power good culinary choices have over our bodies. Taking the very best of this science into the kitchen, wellness authority Rebecca Katz, MS, and her latest cookbook, The Longevity Kitchen, prove that great taste and flavor along with culturally specific, nutrient-dense foods are the best ways to promote a healthy long life. Tapping into the cooking wisdom of elders from noted longevity hotspots, including Okinawa, Greece, and Costa Rica, the book shows how cuisines particular to each region lengthen lives. Join us for a conversation with Michael Lerner and Rebecca, looking at the science and recipes that went into her new book and at the work she does in Commonweal’s Healing Kitchens Institute. Rebecca Katz, MS As a consultant, speaker, teacher and chef, Rebecca works closely with patients, physicians, nurses, and wellness professionals to include the powerful tools of flavor and nutrition in their medical arsenal, and with hotel kitchens and events to deliver healthy food with the taste their customers love. She is the founder and director of the Healing Kitchens Institute at Commonweal, which is dedicated to transforming lives through nutritional science and culinary alchemy. Rebecca serves as core faculty of Food As Medicine,The Center for Mind-Body Medicine’s renowned professional training in medical nutrition therapy and as faculty for Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine’s Nutrition and Health program. Rebecca is the author of The Longevity Kitchen: Satisfying Big Flavor Recipes Featuring the Top-16 Age Busting Power Foods, along with the award-winning cookbook The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Beyond, and One Bite at a Time: Nourishing Recipes for Cancer Survivors and their Friends (Second Edition). Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Michael Lerner, PhD Wounds of the Self, Wounds of the Earth This is a talk Michael gave on April 4, 2013, to graduate students and faculty at Sophia University in Palo Alto. Sophia University was previously called the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology. Michael says, “Most of the students had a working knowledge of Carl Jung, James Hillman, and Roberto Assagioli, as well as of eco-psychology. They were young and irreverent and we had a very good time together. Michael Lerner, PhD Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principle work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). He has spent the past months reading intensively in archetypal psychology and wants to share the exploration with New School friends. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Michael Lerner, PhD Pilgrims of the Way: Integral Yoga and Archetypal Psychology Integral Yoga and archetypal psychology offer complementary ways of understanding ourselves and other people. The triadic relationship between love, wisdom, and will is found in both traditions. Useful readings include the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, and any of the works of archetypal psychologists James Hillman and Thomas Moore — but no readings are necessary or assumed. Michael gave this presentation at the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco. Michael Lerner, PhD Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principle work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). He has spent the past months reading intensively in archetypal psychology and wants to share the exploration with New School friends. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Michael Lerner, PhD Archetypal Psychology: The Role of Soul in Daily Life Join Michael Lerner in this discussion about his studies and journey with archetypal psychology. James Hillman, a Jungian analyst, founded archetypal psychology to explore the power of archetypes and the place of soul in our psyches and daily lives. Thomas Moore popularized Hillman’s sometimes obscure writings. We’ll trace the lineage of archetypal psychology from the pre-Socratics through medieval and contemporary sources as a great tradition of Western psychology that complements Buddhist and other Eastern psychological traditions. Useful homework for listening to the podcast: 1. Read the Wikipedia entries on both Hillman and Moore, and background entries on Carl Jung and the Sufi scholar Henry Corbin. Note especially Corbin’s seminal book about the Sufi mysticism of Ibn Arabi, Alone with the Alone. 2. If possible, read any of Hillman and Moore’s books. Suggested: James Hillman, The Soul’s Code, The Force of Character and the Lasting Life, or A Blue Fire; Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul, Dark Nights of the Soul, or Soul Mates 3. Don’t do any of the above but come with an open and inquiring mind. Michael Lerner, PhD Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principle work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). He has spent the past months reading intensively in archetypal psychology and wants to share the exploration with New School friends. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Jeff Vander Clute Compassionate Action: New Stories, Healing, and Thriving Communities Join us for this conversation between Commonweal’s Michael Lerner and Jeff Vander Clute, executive director of New Stories — an educational organization serving as a resource center, creative collaboratory and project incubator in support of emerging new stories for who we are as humanity, what we are becoming, how we are changing, and where we are going together. Jeff Vander Clute Jeff is helping to build a world based on compassion, joy, and the creative expression of humanity’s potential for thriving. He is one spark among many in the emerging Thriving Communities movement, and he is quietly working to weave a meta-movement in which the various movements of Compassion, Happiness, Peace, Resilience, Wisdom, and Thriving Communities are all in conscious relationship. Jeff is the executive director of New Stories, and a founding editor of the Great Transition Stories project. Previously, as a software engineer, Jeff created an online publishing platform used by over 30 million people and a social-networking platform called Thrive, used to “connect the global heart.” He serves on the boards of the Compassionate Action Network International, the Happiness Initiative (board chair), and New Stories – all 501(c)(3) non-profits working to bring forth a restored, “restoried,” and thriving world. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

BJ Miller, MD Dying: Exploring the Terrain BJ Miller, MD, talks with Michael Lerner about his life, his disability, and his role as executive director at the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco. The Zen Hospice Project works to bridge medical and social models of care in effort to provide the finest palliative care available. This necessitates a broader multi-disciplinary approach to caregiving and offers a model for the synergistic integration of arts and sciences. This also opens new possibilities for lay/volunteer and professional training and scholarship. BJ Miller, MD BJ graduated from Princeton University in the Department of Art & Archaeology in 1993, and received his MD from UCSF as a Regents Scholar in 2001. He completed his internal medicine residency at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara where he served as chief resident. He completed his fellowship in Hospice & Palliative Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where his clinical duties split between the Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He continues to attend in the Symptom Management Service of the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF’s groundbreaking outpatient palliative care clinic. His academic support has largely served palliative care education and leadership development. In 2010, in only his third year on faculty, BJ received the William Osler Award, the School of Medicine’s highest faculty award. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Fritz Hull IONA Vision: the Founding of the Whidbey Institute New School at Commonweal host Michael Lerner explores Fritz Hull’s spiritual biography in this three-part series. Fritz Hull Fritz has been leading programs with his wife, Vivienne, since 1972 when they founded the Chinook Learning Center on Whidbey Island. A native of Seattle and Whidbey Island, he is a graduate of the University of Washington and Princeton Theological Seminary. Frtiz is an ordained Presbyterian minister, receiving his Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Fritz founded the Whidbey Institute and has served as its director. He is now a member of Board of Directors and leads several Institute programs including Integral Spirit. He is editor of Earth & Spirit – The Spiritual Dimension of the Environmental Crisis. Vivienne Hull Vivienne Hull is a native of Northern Ireland. She is a graduate of the University of Washington, holding a masters degree in Educational Psychology, and is a Lindisfarne Fellow. She was co-director with Fritz of the Chinook Learning Center and led numerous programs over twenty years. She was instrumental in the creation of the Whidbey Institute, and today is an associate director of the Institute. Vivienne is a writer, speaker, and teacher of Celtic culture and spirituality. For more than twenty five years she has been leading several retreats each year to the Island of Iona in Scotland. She participates in leadership in numerous Institute programs. Fritz and Vivienne have now created the Story House on land they own that is part of the 100 acres called Chinook. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Fritz Hull IONA Vision: the Founding of the Whidbey Institute New School at Commonweal host Michael Lerner explores Fritz Hull’s spiritual biography in this three-part series. Fritz Hull Fritz has been leading programs with his wife, Vivienne, since 1972 when they founded the Chinook Learning Center on Whidbey Island. A native of Seattle and Whidbey Island, he is a graduate of the University of Washington and Princeton Theological Seminary. Frtiz is an ordained Presbyterian minister, receiving his Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Fritz founded the Whidbey Institute and has served as its director. He is now a member of Board of Directors and leads several Institute programs including Integral Spirit. He is editor of Earth & Spirit – The Spiritual Dimension of the Environmental Crisis. Vivienne Hull Vivienne Hull is a native of Northern Ireland. She is a graduate of the University of Washington, holding a masters degree in Educational Psychology, and is a Lindisfarne Fellow. She was co-director with Fritz of the Chinook Learning Center and led numerous programs over twenty years. She was instrumental in the creation of the Whidbey Institute, and today is an associate director of the Institute. Vivienne is a writer, speaker, and teacher of Celtic culture and spirituality. For more than twenty five years she has been leading several retreats each year to the Island of Iona in Scotland. She participates in leadership in numerous Institute programs. Fritz and Vivienne have now created the Story House on land they own that is part of the 100 acres called Chinook. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Fritz Hull IONA Vision: the Founding of the Whidbey Institute New School at Commonweal host Michael Lerner explores Fritz Hull’s spiritual biography in this three-part series. Fritz Hull Fritz has been leading programs with his wife, Vivienne, since 1972 when they founded the Chinook Learning Center on Whidbey Island. A native of Seattle and Whidbey Island, he is a graduate of the University of Washington and Princeton Theological Seminary. Frtiz is an ordained Presbyterian minister, receiving his Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Fritz founded the Whidbey Institute and has served as its director. He is now a member of Board of Directors and leads several Institute programs including Integral Spirit. He is editor of Earth & Spirit – The Spiritual Dimension of the Environmental Crisis. Vivienne Hull Vivienne Hull is a native of Northern Ireland. She is a graduate of the University of Washington, holding a masters degree in Educational Psychology, and is a Lindisfarne Fellow. She was co-director with Fritz of the Chinook Learning Center and led numerous programs over twenty years. She was instrumental in the creation of the Whidbey Institute, and today is an associate director of the Institute. Vivienne is a writer, speaker, and teacher of Celtic culture and spirituality. For more than twenty five years she has been leading several retreats each year to the Island of Iona in Scotland. She participates in leadership in numerous Institute programs. Fritz and Vivienne have now created the Story House on land they own that is part of the 100 acres called Chinook. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Sister Miriam MacGillis Opening the Christian Mysteries to the New Cosmology ~Co-sponsored with Point Reyes Books~ In response to the global crisis, Sister Miriam MacGillis — and her community at their biodynamic Genesis Farm in New Jersey — focus on connections between the health of Earth and of human communities within particular bioregions. From the Genesis Farm website: Genesis Farm is rooted in a belief that the Universe, Earth, and all reality are permeated by the presence and power of that ultimate Holy Mystery that has been so deeply and richly expressed in the world’s spiritual traditions. Join us for a conversation between Sister Miriam MacGillis and Michael Lerner about the New Cosmology — talked about by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme — and how she and the Genesis Farm bring these rich spiritual insights into the practical realm of agriculture, community, and care-taking the Earth. Sister Miriam Therese MacGillis Sister Miriam is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell, New Jersey. She lives and works at Genesis Farm, which she co-founded in 1980 with the sponsorship of her Dominican congregation. Miriam describes Genesis Farm as a learning center where people of good will are welcome to search for more authentic ways to live in harmony with the natural world and each other. The farm practices Biodynamic methods of agriculture, which are in tune with the natural rhythms of Earth. It was one of the early pioneers in converting to Community-Supported Agriculture, (CSA), a movement which has expanded across the country. Presently, nearly 300 families from the region are shareholders in its economic base. Miriam lectures extensively, and has conducted workshops in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. In 2005, she was presented with the Thomas Berry Award by the Center for Respect for Life and the Environment, and in 2007 was named among the planet’s top 15 green religious leaders by Grist magazine. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Tribute to Elizabeth Bishop Presented by Eric Karpeles and Melissa Smith The embrace of Elizabeth Bishop’s modest but exacting body of work into the canon of English literature continues unimpeded. In her lifetime (1911-1979) she was admired and celebrated, acclaimed by fellow poet John Ashbery as “a writer’s writer’s writer,” but it is only since her death that her influence on the literary arts of her time has been fully recognized. A troubled life was marked by struggle and pain, while her inspirited poetry was painstakingly crafted by determination and integrity. Painter and writer Eric Karpeles presents this talk about Bishop as a celebration at the end of her centenary year, discussing her work, her life, and the world through which she moved. Integrated into Karpeles’s talk, actress Melissa Smith reads poems and excerpts from Bishop’s stories and letters. Eric Karpeles Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles is a painter, author of Paintings in Proust, and translator of Proust’s Overcoat. A graduate of Haverford College, Oxford University, and The New School, he lived in France in the 1970s, holding fellowships both at la Cité des Arts in Paris and the Camargo Foundation in Cassis. Karpeles writes about painting and the intersection of literature and visual aesthetics. Find out more about Eric on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Richard T LeGates Chinese Cities: Their Amazing Rise and Possible Futures Since China’s “reform and opening up” beginning in the late 1970s, China has had double-digit gross domestic product (GDP) growth almost every year, including close to a 50% increase in GDP since the global economic crisis began in 2007. From an impoverished rural country where more than 80% of the population engaged in near-subsistence farming, half of China’s population now live in cities. What are the impacts of China’s urban transformation on the ground? What are China’s greatest urban planning accomplishments, failures, and challenges for the future? Join Michael Lerner for this discussion with Richard LeGates about China’s urbanization and China’s urban future. Richard T. LeGates Richard is a professor emeritus of Urban Studies and Planning at San Francisco State University and an authority or urbanization and city and regional planning. Earlier in 2012 he was a visiting professor of urban planning at Tongji University in Shanghai and Renmin University in Beijing and a Fulbright scholar at the Technical Institute of Bandung, Indonesia. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Rupert Sheldrake, PhD Science Set Free: Ten Paths to New Discovery Join Michael Lerner for a discussion with Dr. Rupert Sheldrake about his life, his views, and his new book: Science Set Free — Ten Paths to New Discovery. In his book, Rupert discusses his views on the ways science is being constricted by assumptions that have, over the years, hardened into dogmas. Such dogmas are not only limiting, but dangerous for the future of humanity. According to these principles, all of reality is material or physical; the world is a machine, made up of inanimate matter; nature is purposeless; consciousness is nothing but the physical activity of the brain; free will is an illusion; God exists only as an idea in human minds, imprisoned within our skulls. In the skeptical spirit of true science, Sheldrake turns the ten fundamental dogmas of materialism into questions, and suggests how all of them open up new possibilities for discovery. Rupert Sheldrake, PhD Rupert is a biologist and author and a former research fellow of the Royal Society. He studied natural sciences and biochemistry at Cambridge University and philosophy and history of science at Harvard University. He is a fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, near San Francisco. He has appeared in many TV programs in Britain and overseas, and was one of the participants in a TV series called A Glorious Accident, shown on PBS channels throughout the United States. In addition to Science Set Free, his books include The Sense of Being Stared At and Other Aspects of the Extended Mind (2003), Trialogues at the Edge of the West (1992), republished as Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness (2001, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna), and The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science and Spirit Meet (1996, written with Matthew Fox). Find out more on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Stephanie Sugars What Do I Have to Offer before I Leave My Body? In this podcast, long-time alumna of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program Stephanie Sugars talks with Michael Lerner about her journey with illness, treatments, and healing–and the insights that come from living on the “edge of life.” Stephanie Sugars Stephanie is a human being, a friend to life and death, and a passionate participant in the natural and human worlds. She’s lived with a serious genetic illness for more than 50 years (Peutz-Jeghers syndrome) and with metastatic breast cancer for more than 20 years. Her healing quest led her to Commonweal’s Cancer Help Program in 1992, 2009, and 2012. She seeks to be of use to the world. She explores the intersection of the personal and universal on her blog. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Francis Weller, MFT Entering the Healing Ground: Grief, Ritual, and the Soul of the World Join Michael Lerner in conversation with author and soul activist Francis Weller, about his work with people living with cancer, and his studies and experience with the grief rituals and ceremonies of indigenous cultures. Carried privately, sorrow lingers in the soul, slowly pulling us below the surface of life and into the terrain of death. Learning to hold sorrow and loss close to our hearts is a deep spiritual practice, a fierce and unflinching acknowledgement of the way of the world. This spiritual practice is a tempering of the soul, a gradual deepening that moves us closer to the earth, into an intimacy with our surroundings where we lean into those we love. In his recent book, Entering the Healing Ground, Francis reveals the hidden vitality in grief, uncovered when the heart welcomes the sorrows of our life and those of the world. Francis Weller, MFT Francis has been working with the emotional, creative, and spiritual life of men and women for thirty years. He is a community builder, writer, teacher, and psychotherapist in Northern California. He draws from an extensive background in depth psychology, mythology, group work, and indigenous traditions. His work embodies his love of soul, the arts, ritual and his devotion to bringing these into living and sustainable community. His writings have appeared in anthologies and magazines such as Sacred Fire. He has taught at many colleges and universities throughout the Bay Area including New College, the Sophia Center, and Sonoma State University. He is the founder/director of WisdomBridge and is currently completing his second book, A Trail on the Ground: Tracking the Ways of Our Indigenous Soul. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Walter and Aggie Murch The Bird that Swallowed its Cage: The Selected Writings of Curzio Malaparte ~Co-presented by KWMR and Point Reyes Books~ Join us for a reading and conversation between Walter and Aggie Murch about Walter’s recently published book, The Bird that Swallowed its Cage: The Selected Writings of Curzio Malaparte. Walter Murch Working within the growing Bay Area film community, Murch settled his family in West Marin in 1972. Since that time Murch has been honored by both British and American Motion Picture Academies, winning BAFTA and Oscar awards and nominations for The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, Julia, and Cold Mountain. Murch wrote In the Blink of an Eye (2001), which has been translated into ten languages. The Bird that Swallowed its Cage (2012) is Murch’s selected translation of work by the Italian poet and novelist Curzio Malaparte (1899-1956). Between films, he pursues interests in the science of human perception, cosmology and the history of science. Muriel (Aggie) Murch Aggie graduated as a nurse in England in 1964 and obtained a BSN from San Francisco State in 1991. In 1965 she married Walter Scott Murch and from 1972 raised their four children on Blackberry Farm in Bolinas. She is a founder of of KWMR(FM) radio in West Marin, and author of Journey in the Middle of the Road, One Woman’s Journey through a Mid-Life Education. Muriel continues to write stories and poetry while working as an independent radio producer for KWMR. When not traveling with Walter, Aggie runs the small organic Blackberry Farm, which remains the Murch home Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Bob Holman Sing This One Back to Me: The Spoken Word Bob Holman studied poetry at Columbia University in the 1970s (where he now teaches), but considers his “major poetry schooling” to be his time on the Lower East Side in New York with Allen Ginsberg, John Giorno, Anne Waldman, Miguel Piñero, Hettie Jones, Ed Sanders, Amiri Baraka, Ted Berrigan, Alice Notley, Pedro Pietri, David Henderson, Steve Cannon, and many others. Join Michael Lerner in a conversation about Bob Holman’s life, history with the Beat Poets, his activism, and the oral tradition of spoken word or “slam” poetry. Bob Holman As a promoter of poetry in many media, Bob has spent the last four decades working variously as an author, editor, publisher, performer, emcee of live events, director of theatrical productions, producer of films and television programs, record label executive, university professor, poet’s house proprietor, and archivist. Bob is the founder and proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City, which opened to the public in September 2002. Holman’s most recent work has been devoted to bringing attention to Endangered Languages — he is the host of Language Matters!, a PBS documentary shot in Wales, Hawaii, and Australia, that airs in late 2013. His most recent collection, Sing This One Back to Me, was released by Coffee House Press in May 2013. Find out more about Bob on his website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Julie McIntyre Wild Earth, Wild Plants, Wild Woman Join us for a conversation with Julie McIntyre and The New School’s Kyra Epstein exploring Julie’s life as an herbalist treating Lyme disease with a successful herbal protocol, an Earth ceremonialist, and the author of a new book: Sex and the Intelligence of the Heart; Nature, Intimacy and Sexual Energy. Julie McIntyre Julie is an Earth ceremonialist and metis of Norwegian and Mohawk/Blackfeet decent. Julie recently directed a state ceremonial program for Native men in prison and also works with young women with ceremonial rites of transition into womanhood. She has a private holistic health practice working with herbal medicine and chronic illness–she is the leading practicing expert using the herbal lyme protocol developed by her partner, Stephen Harrod Buhner. In her practice, she also works with sacred plant medicine, spiritual mentoring, ecological reclamation of the soul, becoming authentic, and sexuality. You can see more of her and her work on her website. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Tu-2 and Angela Oh Insight: Seeing the Inner Self Join us for a preview of the show “108 Bodhisattvas,” as well as a conversation with artist Tu-2 (Tu Ying-ming) and meditation teacher and lawyer Angela E. Oh. The full body of work, 108 Bodhisattvas, will be premiered in fall of 2013 at a workshop and show in Commonweal Gallery. Tu Ying-ming (Tu-2) Tu-2 is a visual fine artist who focuses on painting, photography, and documentary films. His current body of work began to emerge around six years ago: a series of spiritual portraits in silver pencil on blue paper that reveal the interior qualities of their subjects. Depicted in chiaroscuro (a light-dark technique with ancient roots)—but using a silver pencil to draw only the light—the images seem to be floating from darkness to light, mostly in a state of serenity. Learn more about Tu-2 on his website. Angela E. Oh Angela is the former executive director of the Western Justice Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advances peaceful resolution of conflict. She has worked as an attorney, public lecturer, and teacher of Zen meditation. In 1992, Oh gained national prominence as a spokesperson and mediating force for the Asian American community during the Los Angeles riots. Thereafter, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton as one of seven Advisory Board members to the President’s Initiative on Race, which was charged with engaging the nation in a dialogue on race relations in the United States of America. Oh is also an ordained priest, Zen Buddhist—Rinzai Sect. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Mark Renneker, MD, Michael Lerner, and Others Clinical Advocacy Public Forum As part of the first clinical advocacy conference at Commonweal October 11-14, this public forum brought ideas, experiences, and findings of the conference to a discussion with the larger New School and Commonweal community. This was a special day of presentations and discussions on clinical advocacy — bringing together clinicians, educators, patients, families, and researchers to share and explore the principles and methods of improving clinical care for patients with cancer, cardiac, vascular, and autoimmune disorders. Mark Renneker, M.D.: Introduction to Clinical Advocacy Dwight McKee, M.D.: Patients’ Use of Novel Natural Compounds (download PDF of presentation) Raymond Chang, M.D.: Integrative Use of Cancer Immunotherapies Penny Block, Ph.D.: Psycho-Oncologic Therapies Michael McCulloch, L.Ac., M.P.H., Ph.D.: Integrative Use of Chinese Medicine (download PDF of presentation, and link to original Pine Street Clinic studies) Gwen Stritter, M.D.: Preventing Breast Cancer Recurrence Sandee Birdwell, M.D. and Mark Renneker, M.D.: Summary of Findings Will Kennedy, D.O., Hospice and Palliative Medicine Specialist, Portland, OR (download PDF) Mark Renneker, MD Dr. Renneker used to be an oncologist at UCSF and then Cal Pacific before starting his research and patient advocacy practice. He founded it because he realized that there is far too much information about fighting cancer, and innovative treatments both in western medicine and in integrative treatments, for any doctor to stay on top of while practicing medicine full time. So Dr. Renneker stopped practicing as a doctor and dedicated himself to keeping abreast of treatment from all around the world for fighting cancer. He consults with patients, particularly those with serious or advanced cases of cancer, and helps them develop attack plans, find second opinions, and identify new treatments. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Mark Renneker, MD, Michael Lerner, and Others Clinical Advocacy Public Forum As part of the first clinical advocacy conference at Commonweal October 11-14, this public forum brought ideas, experiences, and findings of the conference to a discussion with the larger New School and Commonweal community. This was a special day of presentations and discussions on clinical advocacy — bringing together clinicians, educators, patients, families, and researchers to share and explore the principles and methods of improving clinical care for patients with cancer, cardiac, vascular, and autoimmune disorders. Mark Renneker, M.D.: Introduction to Clinical Advocacy Dwight McKee, M.D.: Patients’ Use of Novel Natural Compounds (download PDF of presentation) Raymond Chang, M.D.: Integrative Use of Cancer Immunotherapies Penny Block, Ph.D.: Psycho-Oncologic Therapies Michael McCulloch, L.Ac., M.P.H., Ph.D.: Integrative Use of Chinese Medicine (download PDF of presentation, and link to original Pine Street Clinic studies) Gwen Stritter, M.D.: Preventing Breast Cancer Recurrence Sandee Birdwell, M.D. and Mark Renneker, M.D.: Summary of Findings Will Kennedy, D.O., Hospice and Palliative Medicine Specialist, Portland, OR (download PDF) Mark Renneker, MD Dr. Renneker used to be an oncologist at UCSF and then Cal Pacific before starting his research and patient advocacy practice. He founded it because he realized that there is far too much information about fighting cancer, and innovative treatments both in western medicine and in integrative treatments, for any doctor to stay on top of while practicing medicine full time. So Dr. Renneker stopped practicing as a doctor and dedicated himself to keeping abreast of treatment from all around the world for fighting cancer. He consults with patients, particularly those with serious or advanced cases of cancer, and helps them develop attack plans, find second opinions, and identify new treatments. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Mark Renneker, MD, Michael Lerner, and Others Clinical Advocacy Public Forum As part of the first clinical advocacy conference at Commonweal October 11-14, this public forum brought ideas, experiences, and findings of the conference to a discussion with the larger New School and Commonweal community. This was a special day of presentations and discussions on clinical advocacy — bringing together clinicians, educators, patients, families, and researchers to share and explore the principles and methods of improving clinical care for patients with cancer, cardiac, vascular, and autoimmune disorders. Mark Renneker, M.D.: Introduction to Clinical Advocacy Dwight McKee, M.D.: Patients’ Use of Novel Natural Compounds (download PDF of presentation) Raymond Chang, M.D.: Integrative Use of Cancer Immunotherapies Penny Block, Ph.D.: Psycho-Oncologic Therapies Michael McCulloch, L.Ac., M.P.H., Ph.D.: Integrative Use of Chinese Medicine (download PDF of presentation, and link to original Pine Street Clinic studies) Gwen Stritter, M.D.: Preventing Breast Cancer Recurrence Sandee Birdwell, M.D. and Mark Renneker, M.D.: Summary of Findings Will Kennedy, D.O., Hospice and Palliative Medicine Specialist, Portland, OR (download PDF) Mark Renneker, MD Dr. Renneker used to be an oncologist at UCSF and then Cal Pacific before starting his research and patient advocacy practice. He founded it because he realized that there is far too much information about fighting cancer, and innovative treatments both in western medicine and in integrative treatments, for any doctor to stay on top of while practicing medicine full time. So Dr. Renneker stopped practicing as a doctor and dedicated himself to keeping abreast of treatment from all around the world for fighting cancer. He consults with patients, particularly those with serious or advanced cases of cancer, and helps them develop attack plans, find second opinions, and identify new treatments. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

erry Mander The Capitalism Papers: Fatal Flaws of an Obsolete System Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Jerry Mander about his new book, in which he researches, discusses, and exposes the momentous and unsolvable environmental and social problem of capitalism—in the vein of his bestseller, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. Mander argues that capitalism is no longer a viable system and that capitalism, utterly dependent on never-ending economic growth, is an impossible absurdity on a finite planet with limited resources. Climate change, together with global food, water, and resource shortages, are only the start. Jerry Mander Called the the patriarch of the anti-Globalization movement by The New York Times, Jerry Mander was founder and is a distinguished fellow of the International Forum on Globalization. He also spent 15 years in the advertising business as president of Freeman, Mander & Gossage, including producing the famous Sierra Club campaigns of the 1960s that saved the Grand Canyon. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

William Rosenzweig Food: Business, Movement, or Both? Join Michael Lerner for a conversation with William Rosenzweig about sustainable living and ethical business. William is the Republic of Tea’s founding CEO, and also co-author of the bestselling book The Republic of Tea: How an Idea Becomes a Business, recently named one of the 100 best business books of all time. William Rosenzweig William is currently co-founder and Partner at Physic Ventures, a venture capital firm supporting science-based companies focused on health and sustainability. Will currently works closely with EnergyHub, GoodGuide, Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, Own, Recyclebank, Revolution Foods, and Yummly. As an entrepreneur, Will has been involved as a founder and executive of more than a dozen early-stage ventures. Will was founding CEO (and Minister of Progress) of The Republic of Tea, an award-winning specialty tea company that is credited with creating the premium tea category in the United States. He has played key leadership roles at Nakamichi, the TED Conference, Odwalla, Leapfrog Toys, Brand New Brands, Hambrecht Vineyards and Wineries, Kingdom of Herbs, and Winetasting.com. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Robert N Bellah Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~ Join Michael Lerner for a conversation with Robert Bellah—a great sociologist of religion—about religion in human evolution. Robert N. Bella Robert is a renowned author, international speaker, and Elliott Professor of Sociology Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley. His last book, Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age, is a work of extraordinary ambition—a wide-ranging, nuanced probing of our biological past to discover the kinds of lives that human beings have most often imagined were worth living. In it Bellah offers what is frequently seen as a forbidden theory of the origin of religion that goes deep into evolution, especially but not exclusively, cultural evolution. Robert’s website has more information. Robert Bellah died in July 2013. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Michael Tilson Thomas in conversation with Eric Karpeles The New School at Commonweal is very pleased to present this conversation between San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles. Informal and wide-ranging, the conversation will be accessible to music-lovers of all degrees, and in keeping with Commonweal’s ongoing commitment to exploring the role of healing and the arts. Michael Tilson Thomas Just recently becoming the longest-reigning conductor in the San Francsico Symphony’s 100 year history, Michael repeatedly leads performances of intensely powerful music-making in programs full of emotional depth and staggering clarity. The orchestra is playing with virtuosic ebullience these days and the term “golden era” has been increasingly used to describe the institution’s current state of being. Thomas works from an encyclopedic breadth of musical history which helps listeners make connections and understand the context of a piece to great effect. A tireless educator, Thomas created a series of fascinating musical portraits of composers known as “Keeping Score” which air on PBS. In terms of impact, the orchestral academy Thomas created, New World Symphony, has been very significant to the artistic, personal, and professional development of outstanding young instrumentalists since 1987. Thomas is also the principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, a composer, and a concert pianist. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Kate Munger and the Threshold Choir Making Kindness Audible through the Gift of Song Threshold Choir is a network of a cappella choirs of primarily women’s voices: a community whose mission is to sing for and with those at the thresholds of living and dying. Founded in 2000 by Inverness resident Kate Munger, beauty and strength now bloom in the more than 100 choirs worldwide who provide singers at no cost when invited to the the bedsides of folks who are struggling. During this event, Kate talks with Commonweal Executive Director Susan Braun about Threshold Choir—the practice, the history, and the future. There will be opportunities for the audience to join with choir members to become a spontaneous Threshold Choir: coming together to sing a few of the many songs in their repertoire. Kate Munger Kate has devoted herself for over 35 years to creating non-hierarchical, collaborative models for spirited and contemplative group singing, joyful community building, creative problem solving, and deep fellowship through rounds and parts singing. In 2000 she founded the first of now more than 100 Threshold Choirs worldwide. This singing ministry has re-imagined what true service can look like: healing the giver as it offers comfort, presence and ease for the receiver. Kate lives, swims, works, and sings along the shores of Tomales Bay in CA where she lives with her husband, son, and daughter-in-law and her precious grandsons Dillon and Rory. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Brother David Steindl-Rast Spiritual Biography Brother David Steindl-Rast is an 86-year-old Benedictine monk who many consider the successor to Thomas Merton at the intersection of Christianity and Buddhism. Together with Merton, Brother David helped launch a renewal of religious life. From 1970 on, he became a leading figure in the House of Prayer movement, which affected some 200,000 members of religious orders in the United States and Canada. More than that, Brother David has developed a “common sense spirituality” that touches the heart of all the great spiritual traditions. He is an apostle of the spirit of gratefulness, described on his remarkable website. He says his favorite name for God is “Surprise,” because “Surprise” is the only name that does not limit the Nameless One. Brother David’s books include Belonging to the Universe (winner of the 1992 American Book Award), a dialogue on new paradigm thinking in science and theology with physicist, Fritjof Capra. His dialogue with Buddhists produced The Ground We Share: Buddhist and Christian Practice, co-authored with Robert Aitken Roshi. His most recent books are The Music of Silence, co-written with Sharon Lebell, and Words of Common Sense. In these interviews with Michael Lerner, which took place over a span of six months, Brother David talks about his life and work, the people and experiences that made him who he is, and his philosophy of living life with gratitude. David Steindl-Rast David Steindl-Rast was born July 12, 1926, in Vienna, Austria, where he studied art, anthropology, and psychology, receiving an MA from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and a PhD from the University of Vienna. In 1952 he followed his family who had emigrated to the United States. In 1953 he joined a newly founded Benedictine community in Elmira, NY, Mount Saviour Monastery, of which he is now a senior member. After twelve years of monastic training and studies in philosophy and theology, Brother David was sent by his abbot to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, for which he received Vatican approval in 1967. His Zen teachers were Hakkuun Yasutani Roshi, Soen Nakagawa Roshi, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Eido Shimano Roshi. He co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 and received the 1975 Martin Buber Award for his achievements in building bridges between religious traditions. At present, Brother David serves a worldwide Network for Grateful Living, through www.gratefulness.org, an interactive website with several thousand participants daily from more than 240 countries. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Brother David Steindl-Rast Spiritual Biography Brother David Steindl-Rast is an 86-year-old Benedictine monk who many consider the successor to Thomas Merton at the intersection of Christianity and Buddhism. Together with Merton, Brother David helped launch a renewal of religious life. From 1970 on, he became a leading figure in the House of Prayer movement, which affected some 200,000 members of religious orders in the United States and Canada. More than that, Brother David has developed a “common sense spirituality” that touches the heart of all the great spiritual traditions. He is an apostle of the spirit of gratefulness, described on his remarkable website. He says his favorite name for God is “Surprise,” because “Surprise” is the only name that does not limit the Nameless One. Brother David’s books include Belonging to the Universe (winner of the 1992 American Book Award), a dialogue on new paradigm thinking in science and theology with physicist, Fritjof Capra. His dialogue with Buddhists produced The Ground We Share: Buddhist and Christian Practice, co-authored with Robert Aitken Roshi. His most recent books are The Music of Silence, co-written with Sharon Lebell, and Words of Common Sense. In these interviews with Michael Lerner, which took place over a span of six months, Brother David talks about his life and work, the people and experiences that made him who he is, and his philosophy of living life with gratitude. David Steindl-Rast David Steindl-Rast was born July 12, 1926, in Vienna, Austria, where he studied art, anthropology, and psychology, receiving an MA from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and a PhD from the University of Vienna. In 1952 he followed his family who had emigrated to the United States. In 1953 he joined a newly founded Benedictine community in Elmira, NY, Mount Saviour Monastery, of which he is now a senior member. After twelve years of monastic training and studies in philosophy and theology, Brother David was sent by his abbot to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, for which he received Vatican approval in 1967. His Zen teachers were Hakkuun Yasutani Roshi, Soen Nakagawa Roshi, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Eido Shimano Roshi. He co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 and received the 1975 Martin Buber Award for his achievements in building bridges between religious traditions. At present, Brother David serves a worldwide Network for Grateful Living, through www.gratefulness.org, an interactive website with several thousand participants daily from more than 240 countries. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Brother David Steindl-Rast Spiritual Biography Brother David Steindl-Rast is an 86-year-old Benedictine monk who many consider the successor to Thomas Merton at the intersection of Christianity and Buddhism. Together with Merton, Brother David helped launch a renewal of religious life. From 1970 on, he became a leading figure in the House of Prayer movement, which affected some 200,000 members of religious orders in the United States and Canada. More than that, Brother David has developed a “common sense spirituality” that touches the heart of all the great spiritual traditions. He is an apostle of the spirit of gratefulness, described on his remarkable website. He says his favorite name for God is “Surprise,” because “Surprise” is the only name that does not limit the Nameless One. Brother David’s books include Belonging to the Universe (winner of the 1992 American Book Award), a dialogue on new paradigm thinking in science and theology with physicist, Fritjof Capra. His dialogue with Buddhists produced The Ground We Share: Buddhist and Christian Practice, co-authored with Robert Aitken Roshi. His most recent books are The Music of Silence, co-written with Sharon Lebell, and Words of Common Sense. In these interviews with Michael Lerner, which took place over a span of six months, Brother David talks about his life and work, the people and experiences that made him who he is, and his philosophy of living life with gratitude. David Steindl-Rast David Steindl-Rast was born July 12, 1926, in Vienna, Austria, where he studied art, anthropology, and psychology, receiving an MA from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and a PhD from the University of Vienna. In 1952 he followed his family who had emigrated to the United States. In 1953 he joined a newly founded Benedictine community in Elmira, NY, Mount Saviour Monastery, of which he is now a senior member. After twelve years of monastic training and studies in philosophy and theology, Brother David was sent by his abbot to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, for which he received Vatican approval in 1967. His Zen teachers were Hakkuun Yasutani Roshi, Soen Nakagawa Roshi, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Eido Shimano Roshi. He co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 and received the 1975 Martin Buber Award for his achievements in building bridges between religious traditions. At present, Brother David serves a worldwide Network for Grateful Living, through www.gratefulness.org, an interactive website with several thousand participants daily from more than 240 countries. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Brother David Steindl-Rast Spiritual Biography Brother David Steindl-Rast is an 86-year-old Benedictine monk who many consider the successor to Thomas Merton at the intersection of Christianity and Buddhism. Together with Merton, Brother David helped launch a renewal of religious life. From 1970 on, he became a leading figure in the House of Prayer movement, which affected some 200,000 members of religious orders in the United States and Canada. More than that, Brother David has developed a “common sense spirituality” that touches the heart of all the great spiritual traditions. He is an apostle of the spirit of gratefulness, described on his remarkable website. He says his favorite name for God is “Surprise,” because “Surprise” is the only name that does not limit the Nameless One. Brother David’s books include Belonging to the Universe (winner of the 1992 American Book Award), a dialogue on new paradigm thinking in science and theology with physicist, Fritjof Capra. His dialogue with Buddhists produced The Ground We Share: Buddhist and Christian Practice, co-authored with Robert Aitken Roshi. His most recent books are The Music of Silence, co-written with Sharon Lebell, and Words of Common Sense. In these interviews with Michael Lerner, which took place over a span of six months, Brother David talks about his life and work, the people and experiences that made him who he is, and his philosophy of living life with gratitude. David Steindl-Rast David Steindl-Rast was born July 12, 1926, in Vienna, Austria, where he studied art, anthropology, and psychology, receiving an MA from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and a PhD from the University of Vienna. In 1952 he followed his family who had emigrated to the United States. In 1953 he joined a newly founded Benedictine community in Elmira, NY, Mount Saviour Monastery, of which he is now a senior member. After twelve years of monastic training and studies in philosophy and theology, Brother David was sent by his abbot to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, for which he received Vatican approval in 1967. His Zen teachers were Hakkuun Yasutani Roshi, Soen Nakagawa Roshi, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Eido Shimano Roshi. He co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 and received the 1975 Martin Buber Award for his achievements in building bridges between religious traditions. At present, Brother David serves a worldwide Network for Grateful Living, through www.gratefulness.org, an interactive website with several thousand participants daily from more than 240 countries. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

David Whyte A Pilgrimage of Identity ~Co-presented with the Institute of Art and Healing~ A captivating speaker with a compelling blend of profound poetry and insightful commentary, David Whyte is one of the few poets to take his perspectives on creativity into the field of organizational development. His life as a poet has created a readership and listenership in three normally mutually exclusive areas: the literate world of readings that most poets inhabit; the psychological and theological worlds of philosophical enquiry; and the world of vocation, work, and organizational leadership. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with poet David Whyte at the David Brower Theater in Berkeley. David Whyte David grew up with a strong, imaginative influence from his Irish mother among the hills and valleys of his father’s Yorkshire. The author of six books of poetry and three books of prose, David Whyte holds a degree in Marine Zoology and has traveled extensively, including living and working as a naturalist guide in the Galapagos Islands and leading anthropological and natural history expeditions in the Andes, the Amazon, and the Himalaya. He brings this wealth of experience to his poetry, lectures and workshops. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Christine Brandes and Eric Moe An Afternoon of Classical Music The New School at Commonweal presents Soprano Christine Brandes and pianist/composer Eric Moe, offering a recital of rich music-making. Two contemporary song cycles by Eric Moe (one set to poems by American poet May Swenson, the other to poems from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus cycle) will flank Joseph Haydn’s thrilling cantata for soprano and piano, Arianna a Naxos, which Haydn himself was known to sing, a test of any singer’s dramatic mettle. May Swenson (1919-1989) was an American poet of rare lyric and dramatic gifts, repeatedly drawn to love and eros as subject, while the Prague-born Rilke (1875-1926) wrestles in these poems with questions of music and our human existence. See the video showing how the grand piano got up the stairs and into the Commonweal Gallery for this recital. Christine Brandes Christine has sung around the world. Her repertoire, ranging from 17th century music to contemporary works, will be perfectly showcased in this program. With a crystalline, dramatic voice, full of life and longing, Brandes will be coming to Commonweal fresh from having sung Despina in Jonathan Miller’s production of Cosi fan tutte with the Washington National Opera. She has sung at New York City Opera, with the LA Philharmonic and as part of the Mark Morris Dance Company, has been conducted by Pierre Boulez and Esa-Pekka Salonen, has fashioned fresh interpretations of numerous classic heroines and has also forged strong characters in new operas. She has an impressive discography of recordings. Eric Moe Eric is active both as a pianist and keyboard player. As a composer, Moe’s music is rhythmically rich and varied, propulsive at times, and his style has been called “maximal minimalism” and “music of winning exuberance.” The New York Times recently described his compositions as “subversive” in their fusion of classical forms and pop culture; a disc of compositions entitled “Kicking and Screaming” gives us an idea of his animated, irreverent enthusiasm. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Terry Tempest Williams When Women Were Birds: A Reading Terry Tempest Williams has been called “a citizen writer,” a writer who speaks and speaks out eloquently on behalf of an ethical stance toward life. A naturalist and fierce advocate for freedom of speech, she has consistently shown us how environmental issues are social issues that ultimately become matters of justice. “So here is my question,” she asks, “what might a different kind of power look like, feel like, and can power be redistributed equitably even beyond our own species?” Williams, like her writing, cannot be categorized. She has testified before Congress on women’s health issues, been a guest at the White House, camped in the remote regions of Utah and Alaska wildernesses, and worked as “a barefoot artist” in Rwanda. Join us for a reading by Terry from her latest book, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice. Terry Tempest Williams In 2006, Williams received the Robert Marshall Award from The Wilderness Society, their highest honor given to an American citizen. She also received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association and the Wallace Stegner Award given by The Center for the American West. She is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in creative nonfiction. In 2009, Terry Tempest Williams was featured in Ken Burns’ PBS series on the national parks. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Orion Magazine, and numerous anthologies worldwide as a crucial voice for ecological consciousness and social change. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Tribute to Adrienne Rich Presentation by Eric Karpeles Adrienne Rich, who died at her home in Santa Cruz on March 27, 2012, was a writer and thinker of enormous stature. Her first book of poetry was singled out by W. H. Auden for the Yale Younger Poets series in 1951 and Rich continued publishing books of poems in every subsequent decade. She used her awareness of herself as a woman—full of passion and compassion, gentleness, rage—as a framework to understand the inequities of modern life. Unabashed in her critical thinking, she possessed a unique and oracular voice in American poetry. …I have been standing all my life in the direct path of a battery of signals the most accurately transmitted most untranslateable language in the universe I am a galactic cloud so deep so invo- luted that a light wave could take 15 years to travel through me And has taken I am an instrument in the shape of a woman trying to translate pulsations into images for the relief of the body and the reconstruction of the mind. —Adrienne Rich, from “Planetarium,” 1971 Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Pauline Tesler Integrative Law: A Healing Approach for Resolving Divorce and Other Conflicts A divorce is the fate of about half of all marriages, and is the reason most Americans will encounter the legal system. In addition to the inherent stresses of divorce, many families experience serious and avoidable collateral damage as a consequence of handling complex and personal family systems breakdown in a court system designed to resolve automobile accidents and breaches of contract. Nearly every family, business, and community institution is harmed by outdated ways of providing legal help for people experiencing conflict. Pauline Tesler, author of two groundbreaking books on the new and revolutionary Collaborative Divorce method that is changing the practice of family law worldwide, joins Michael Lerner to explain Collaborative Law and other dramatic transformations taking place in the legal profession. Pauline will explain how integrative lawyers working in interdisciplinary teams can help people discover deep and durable solutions for legal issues that arise from deeper, more pervasive breaches of trust within human relationships and systems. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Paul Hawken An Uprising: The Global Crisis and Our Response Paul is a truly visionary thought and action leader. He is among the great contributors to the global effort to re-imagine our place in nature and how we may live balanced and creative lives together. In these recordings, Paul talks with Michael Lerner about the interlocking global environmental, financial, and human crises we face and the ways we can respond. Paul Hawken Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author who has dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. He is author of seven books including The Next Economy, The Ecology of Commerce, and Blessed Unrest. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Paul Hawken An Uprising: The Global Crisis and Our Response Paul is a truly visionary thought and action leader. He is among the great contributors to the global effort to re-imagine our place in nature and how we may live balanced and creative lives together. In these recordings, Paul talks with Michael Lerner about the interlocking global environmental, financial, and human crises we face and the ways we can respond. Paul Hawken Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author who has dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. He is author of seven books including The Next Economy, The Ecology of Commerce, and Blessed Unrest. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Emilie Conrad Moving Medicine: Continuum, Movement, and Enlivening Health Visionary somatics pioneer, Emilie Conrad, shares with us the “medicine” of movement, from the cellular to the global, as it relates to health, thriving and the limitless possibilities of what it means to be human. In this conversation, she discusses the work of Continuum as a way to uncover our birthright as part of an ongoing evolutionary process that began millions of years ago, and extends past what can be imagined today. Her life-long investigation into how the fluids of the body resonate with the fluids of the planet and the cosmos contributes vast new ideas and innovative approaches to what is needed for humans to flourish, and therefore what is needed to in order to heal at the deepest levels. Emilie Conrad Emilie is a compassionate rebel against the cultural forces that engender lifeless, patterned thinking and movement. She pioneered Continuum more than 45 years ago, and has made a profound impact on the entire field of Somatics. Emilie began as a dancer, and weaves her artistry into all her explorations of what is it to be a body. Emilie continues to evolve Continuum as a way for people to slow down and access the subtle energy that is the source of all creativity and healing. She is considered a visionary, and her work is incorporated by an International audience of professionals from fields such as Rolfing, Zero Balancing, Hellerwork, Osteopathy, Physical Therapy, Dance, CranioSacral, Psychoneuroimmunology, and Physical Fitness. Emilie has been a featured teacher, lecturer, and keynoter at major universities and centers across the USA and Canada, including: Esalen Institute, Kripalu Institute, Omega Institute NY, UCLA, USC, U of Arizona, Rolf Institute, and the Lee Strasberg Institute. Sharon Weil Sharon is an award winning screenwriter, producer and director. She is also a long time student and teacher of Continuum. Sharon and Emilie have been in a 22 year, ongoing collaboration of putting the vastness of Continuum into words. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Irene Borger Ten Thousand Joys and Ten Thousand Sorrows ~Co-presented with the Institute for Art and Healing~ Attention Listeners: You may want to do some writing while you listen along with the participants of this event. If so, have a pen and some paper handy and use the pause or start/stop buttons of your audio player to pause the audio while you reflect and write. The sources of our writing life – the range of joys and sorrows – are close at hand: What we have seen, heard, smelled, touched and been touched by, what we remember, how we have befriended our life experiences through words. Whether we are dealing with illness, creating something from scratch, or just going about our business in the wild world, we are always swimming in the stream of the unknown. Transformed through the eyes of curiosity, uncertainty becomes vitality, and the core of our creative life. Irene talks with Jaune Evans about her life as a writer, master teacher, and muse—and offers an opportunity for the audience to participate in simple exercises that invite discovery, playfulness, and, no less important, a bit of exhalation. No prior experience or talent is required. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Stephen Parker, PhD Jung, Art, and Healing I have been struggling with this never-ending wound for more than a year, and still it haunts me by the hour. A heart attack is also a deeply isolating event. Others act as if their lives will go on forever, but how can I participate in this charade, knowing deeply and irrevocably that any moment could be my last one? I identify much more with people who have terminal illness than with those who are caught up in the illusions and routines of everyday life. In hopes of reducing this isolation and finding a way through this purgatory, I thought I would try to post a daily blog about the experience. I am fascinated and struck by the story of Chiron, that mythical Centaur who had a permanent wound in his knee that would not heal. In Puget’s painting, Achilles is being dragged by his rationality, his head, and it looks like there isn’t much he can do about it. Not particularly wanting to be hunted, I have to somehow find out just where this heart attack is leading me. With these words written in his blog, Dr. Parker begins an exploration – in words and paintings – of the dreams and meanings around his 2005 soul-changing heart attack. In The New School conversation with Michael Lerner February 19, Dr. Parker talks about this journey and presents the opening of his show at Commonweal Gallery. His talk was followed by a gallery reception. Stephen Parker, PhD Stephen is has lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, since 1980, consulting in many of the Alaskan communities as a psychologist and as an expert witness in all of the superior courts of Alaska. In 2005, he experienced a severe heart attack, changing the focus of his life. He now works extensively with people with chronic illness and life-threatening conditions. Stephen is a graduate of Stanford University and the California School of Professional Psychology – San Diego. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Donald Abrams, MD, and Clint Werner Marijuana: Is It Medicine Yet? Please join us for a science-based talk and conversation with Donald Abrams and Clint Werner on the medicinal uses of this ancient herbal remedy. Donald Abrams, MD Don is one of the world’s foremost experts on the medicinal uses of marijuana, especially for cancer. He is professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and chief of hematology/oncology at San Francisco General Hospital. He provides integrative oncology consultations at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. Clint Werner Clint is author of Marijuana: Gateway to Health: How Cannabis Protects Us from Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease, which Andrew Weil, M.D., says “should be required reading for all medical professionals, elected officials, and everyone interested in health and wellness.” He has worked in preventive health for more than 25 years. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Tom Nash Our Particular Universe: Understanding What We Know, What We Don't Know (Yet) See article about the event on Michael Lerner’s blog. Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with physicist Tom Nash in a combination physics tutorial and cosmology exploration… pondering questions such as whether there is one universe or many, whether the universe is alive or inert, and whether life is an accident or part of a cosmic design. Tom helps us understand some challenging, very current, and surprisingly related subjects. These include: The conceptually difficult “Standard Model,” and the Higgs Boson (aka the “God” particle); Stephen Hawkings’s beautiful book The Grand Design about the structure of the universe and the suggestions that there is a multi-universe, of which ours is just one of a huge number; The technically heroic search for gravitational waves. Tom Nash Tom is now an emeritus scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, where he spent more than 30 years as an experimental high-energy and astro physicist, a high-performance computer developer, and finally as associate director for Computing and Technology. He is presently a member of the California Institute of Technology group collaborating on the LIGO Gravitational Wave Project. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.