NO FEAR
"For the Shambhala warrior, the actual, basic notion of victory is not so much that you have one-upped your enemy and therefore you are victorious. Rather, no enemy exists at all; therefore, there is victory. This is the idea of unconditional warriorship and unconditional victory. In connection with this, the concept of sacredness is that fearlessness is carried into everyday life situations, even brushing your teeth.
So fearlessness occurs all over the place, all the time. Fearlessness here is also unconditional. In this way, fearlessness becomes cheerful and very light. There's no need for cowardice or fear at all, or any moments of doubt. Actually what we're talking about is doubtlessness, we could say, rather than fearlessness. There's no doubt. There are no second thoughts. Everything is a complete warrior's world. So here victory is not having to deal with an enemy at all. It is the notion of no enemy. The whole world is a friend."
From OCEAN OF DHARMA: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa. 365 Teachings on Living Life with Courage and Compassion. Number 119. [Unpublished excerpt from Talk Five of Warriorship in the Three Yanas. August 1978, Rocky Mountain Dharma Center.]
The Omega Institute's 5th Annual "Being Fearless" Conference held in New York City in early April was structured to make tangible the above notion of " victorious living."
A gathering of more than than 20 world class presenters and almost 1,000 audience members heard from Robert F.Kennedy, Jr., Mia Farrow, Valerie Plame Wilson, and many other well known leaders ,writers, and speakers. This Omega Institute event was designed to inspire and give the attendees cognitive tools to rise above their fears and become proactive agents of cultural change.
We often use the term design loosely. But although designed conferences do not last as real physical structures, the Omega design does assist and affirm that the longevity of experience can be embedded, planted, sprouted and remembered. The belief is that the experience can be accessed time and time again to refresh and guide the participant as they continue their life journey towards victory.
“Great societies have to change and adapt in order to grow and thrive. When faced with
global issues, we must be willing to be bold in our commitment to human security," said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "By presenting antidotes to fear, Omega is once again teaching people how to build a better world. Omega has an impressive history of bringing forth ideas and practices like yoga, complementary medicine, and sustainability, that once
seemed to exist on the fringe and are now part of our every day language,” said Robert F.Kennedy, Jr.
The conference addressed how, in a post 9/11 world focused on “human security,” most people’s fears have
intensified due to escalating war, increased terrorism, economic instability, and threats of
global climate change.n the fringe and are now part of our every day language,” said Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr.
The speakers shared a wide range of experiences and insight, from lessons drawn
from Darfur, to practical ways of becoming more courageous by drawing on wisdom
traditions and wellness approaches such as meditation and yoga.
"This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration, in which basic
human freedoms are guaranteed to all, yet there are places, such as Darfur and Eastern Chad,
, where people are suffering beyond description. We must take action to give
meaning to the phrase ‘never again’," said Mia Farrow. "Omega helps people approach
these problems with a compassionate and fearless spirit," concluded Farrow.
“Fear often compels us to lash out with violence and build walls of separation when what
is needed is to reach across divides to build relationships based on mutuality and our
shared humanity,” said Carla Goldstein, Director of External Affairs at Omega
Institut
One can not" cover" an Omega conference. What is there to report on? Is it a revival , a mass woodstock meditation, a song festival, an information get health quick snake oil bazaar, a celebration of the spirit, a self flagellation, an intellectual obfuscation, an infinite multi-dimensional truth search?
Words like sacred activism, sacred yes, and om were intoned, but it makes one wonder whether the inhabitants of the "richest" and "healthiest" and most evolved" sector of the planet are really reflections of western civilization or is western civilization an idea still waiting to be realized?
The Omega Institute's tagline is "awakening the human spirit". Such a claim is revealing for it bears repeating what has been mentioned earlier. Has the "collective we" been slumbering as in a 4000 year deep sleep? Has human kind just begun to be aroused from a titanic coma? Or has humanity been fitfully awake with rage and spouting venom? In fact should our goal be to put to sleep forever the collective world anger and violence which has been manifest throughout recorded history ?
I participated in workshops conducted by Iylana Vanzannt, Erica Ariel Fox, Doug Stone and Tara Brach and shared in the audience communion in listening to Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith, Rickie Byars Beckwith, Seane Corn, Andrew Harvey and Caroline Myss .
Omega, Kripalu, Hay House radio, the movie The Secret, yoga, NEW AGE, and the earlier words and modalities such as group therapy, est movement and gestalt provide evidence that that the human condition evokes mystery and desire.
This new age, human growth, human potential movement is a very real industry and the Omega Institute is a major player in this no longer emerging but established marketplace of "consciousness raising"
Hospitals have incorporated wellness centers offering body-mind-spirit interventions. Oprah has a world wide web broadcast featuring Eckhart Tolle. Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer are prominent on PBS during the periodic pledge drives.
Let us not forget that there is a consistent historical trend in America,in fact some would suggest that America it self is a living witness to the ongoing experiment regarding the idea of reformation , of renewal, of repentance , of reflection, of rebirth.
The puritans, the great religious awakening of the 1800's in New England,the Civil War, Walden Pond, prohibition,Father Coughlin and Billy Graham,illustrate the ferment and at times boiling cauldron of revivalist attempts to redeeem and resurrect the heart and soul of "America"
So then, the Omega Weekend held this spring in New York City, is embedded in the American tradition. Based in Rhinebeck, New York ( an area of the country renowned for it's utopian community heritage) it provides an oasis for those that can afford it and it's menu of services are worth considering.
"For the Shambhala warrior, the actual, basic notion of victory is not so much that you have one-upped your enemy and therefore you are victorious. Rather, no enemy exists at all; therefore, there is victory. This is the idea of unconditional warriorship and unconditional victory. In connection with this, the concept of sacredness is that fearlessness is carried into everyday life situations, even brushing your teeth.
So fearlessness occurs all over the place, all the time. Fearlessness here is also unconditional. In this way, fearlessness becomes cheerful and very light. There's no need for cowardice or fear at all, or any moments of doubt. Actually what we're talking about is doubtlessness, we could say, rather than fearlessness. There's no doubt. There are no second thoughts. Everything is a complete warrior's world. So here victory is not having to deal with an enemy at all. It is the notion of no enemy. The whole world is a friend."
From OCEAN OF DHARMA: The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa. 365 Teachings on Living Life with Courage and Compassion. Number 119. [Unpublished excerpt from Talk Five of Warriorship in the Three Yanas. August 1978, Rocky Mountain Dharma Center.]
The Omega Institute's 5th Annual "Being Fearless" Conference held in New York City in early April was structured to make tangible the above notion of " victorious living."
A gathering of more than than 20 world class presenters and almost 1,000 audience members heard from Robert F.Kennedy, Jr., Mia Farrow, Valerie Plame Wilson, and many other well known leaders ,writers, and speakers. This Omega Institute event was designed to inspire and give the attendees cognitive tools to rise above their fears and become proactive agents of cultural change.
We often use the term design loosely. But although designed conferences do not last as real physical structures, the Omega design does assist and affirm that the longevity of experience can be embedded, planted, sprouted and remembered. The belief is that the experience can be accessed time and time again to refresh and guide the participant as they continue their life journey towards victory.
“Great societies have to change and adapt in order to grow and thrive. When faced with
global issues, we must be willing to be bold in our commitment to human security," said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "By presenting antidotes to fear, Omega is once again teaching people how to build a better world. Omega has an impressive history of bringing forth ideas and practices like yoga, complementary medicine, and sustainability, that once
seemed to exist on the fringe and are now part of our every day language,” said Robert F.Kennedy, Jr.
The conference addressed how, in a post 9/11 world focused on “human security,” most people’s fears have
intensified due to escalating war, increased terrorism, economic instability, and threats of
global climate change.n the fringe and are now part of our every day language,” said Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr.
The speakers shared a wide range of experiences and insight, from lessons drawn
from Darfur, to practical ways of becoming more courageous by drawing on wisdom
traditions and wellness approaches such as meditation and yoga.
"This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration, in which basic
human freedoms are guaranteed to all, yet there are places, such as Darfur and Eastern Chad,
, where people are suffering beyond description. We must take action to give
meaning to the phrase ‘never again’," said Mia Farrow. "Omega helps people approach
these problems with a compassionate and fearless spirit," concluded Farrow.
“Fear often compels us to lash out with violence and build walls of separation when what
is needed is to reach across divides to build relationships based on mutuality and our
shared humanity,” said Carla Goldstein, Director of External Affairs at Omega
Institut
One can not" cover" an Omega conference. What is there to report on? Is it a revival , a mass woodstock meditation, a song festival, an information get health quick snake oil bazaar, a celebration of the spirit, a self flagellation, an intellectual obfuscation, an infinite multi-dimensional truth search?
Words like sacred activism, sacred yes, and om were intoned, but it makes one wonder whether the inhabitants of the "richest" and "healthiest" and most evolved" sector of the planet are really reflections of western civilization or is western civilization an idea still waiting to be realized?
The Omega Institute's tagline is "awakening the human spirit". Such a claim is revealing for it bears repeating what has been mentioned earlier. Has the "collective we" been slumbering as in a 4000 year deep sleep? Has human kind just begun to be aroused from a titanic coma? Or has humanity been fitfully awake with rage and spouting venom? In fact should our goal be to put to sleep forever the collective world anger and violence which has been manifest throughout recorded history ?
I participated in workshops conducted by Iylana Vanzannt, Erica Ariel Fox, Doug Stone and Tara Brach and shared in the audience communion in listening to Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith, Rickie Byars Beckwith, Seane Corn, Andrew Harvey and Caroline Myss .
Omega, Kripalu, Hay House radio, the movie The Secret, yoga, NEW AGE, and the earlier words and modalities such as group therapy, est movement and gestalt provide evidence that that the human condition evokes mystery and desire.
This new age, human growth, human potential movement is a very real industry and the Omega Institute is a major player in this no longer emerging but established marketplace of "consciousness raising"
Hospitals have incorporated wellness centers offering body-mind-spirit interventions. Oprah has a world wide web broadcast featuring Eckhart Tolle. Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer are prominent on PBS during the periodic pledge drives.
Let us not forget that there is a consistent historical trend in America,in fact some would suggest that America it self is a living witness to the ongoing experiment regarding the idea of reformation , of renewal, of repentance , of reflection, of rebirth.
The puritans, the great religious awakening of the 1800's in New England,the Civil War, Walden Pond, prohibition,Father Coughlin and Billy Graham,illustrate the ferment and at times boiling cauldron of revivalist attempts to redeeem and resurrect the heart and soul of "America"
So then, the Omega Weekend held this spring in New York City, is embedded in the American tradition. Based in Rhinebeck, New York ( an area of the country renowned for it's utopian community heritage) it provides an oasis for those that can afford it and it's menu of services are worth considering.
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