John Taylor Gatto is one of the most important voices on the failure of schooling to shape our children into authentic individuals.
The schooling system, it turns out, has been specifically designed to dumb down our children and rob them of sovereignty.
Watch this 10 minute video - it's enlightening and inspiring.
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
The Lost Generation - Must See Video
My friend Malena Gamboa from We On Earth - http://www.weonearth.org - first showed me this, and it's absolutely brilliant!
Or Click Here to see this brilliant video about the Lost Generation the refuses to accept...
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Or Click Here to see this brilliant video about the Lost Generation the refuses to accept...
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
How is the New (Social) Media Affecting Your Kid's Brain?
If you have a kid, you MUST watch this video. Especially if they're in their teens.
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Why 2012 is So Frickin Exciting...
"If you're watching this video, you are one of those people who is being charged to share what you know with the people.
Or Click Here to see this on YouTube
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Or Click Here to see this on YouTube
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Who Am I When I'm Living Most Authentically? (Reflections on Burning Man)
One of my favorite mentors and friends is Alexis Martin Neely. She is a legal, marketing, business and celebrity expert (with the income to back it up) and she's unabashed about living her life Authentically.
She recently returned from Burning Man with her family, and shared her experiences on her monthly call: Mindset, Motivation, Marketing & Money You can fan her at http://www.facebook.com/PlayBigWithAlexis (click this link to see a picture of her in pink dreads, bikini top and WWII fighter pilot goggles ;-)
She asked such great questions about 20 minutes in to the call that I literally had to disconnect and journal. She talked about how 50,000 people spend 10 days in the desert under horrendous conditions for one common purpose - to live their lives as authentically as possible. Why I have yet to attend is one of the 11th mysteries of the world... maybe Rochester needs my authenticity more than Black Rock City.
Her battery of questions began with: Who would you be if you were living most authentically, how would you feel, what would you be doing... so I ran with it.
Here's an excerpt from my journal. It's rough, but isn't that more authentic?
So, what about YOU!!! How would you be living if you were totally coming from your most Authentic Self... at least more often, if not most of the time?
Very curious to read your responses!!
Enjoy ;-]
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
She recently returned from Burning Man with her family, and shared her experiences on her monthly call: Mindset, Motivation, Marketing & Money You can fan her at http://www.facebook.com/PlayBigWithAlexis (click this link to see a picture of her in pink dreads, bikini top and WWII fighter pilot goggles ;-)
She asked such great questions about 20 minutes in to the call that I literally had to disconnect and journal. She talked about how 50,000 people spend 10 days in the desert under horrendous conditions for one common purpose - to live their lives as authentically as possible. Why I have yet to attend is one of the 11th mysteries of the world... maybe Rochester needs my authenticity more than Black Rock City.
Her battery of questions began with: Who would you be if you were living most authentically, how would you feel, what would you be doing... so I ran with it.
Here's an excerpt from my journal. It's rough, but isn't that more authentic?
Living most Authentically with Who I TRULY Am…
Be: Who AM I?
I am a fragment of the spiritual heart of pure light that many call God. I am here for only one reason – to be a vessel and conduit for that light, attracting others together so that our light can grow and we can all see more clearly the reality of who we are so that the world can eventually transcend its own darkness and a renaissance of spiritual consciousness can “tip” the balance towards a world of great harmony and joyous co-creation with our like-minded reflections in the world of manifestation. So we can ALL live authentically, and we can all experience wholeness and fulfillment, and on THAT we can build a world of great artistic complexity and beauty.
I feel whole, connected, fully in love and reveling in the joy of living my passion, being seen and appreciated by others who really marvel at the way I’m bringing my vision into the world for all to share.
Do: How do I do this? And How do I generate income?
The way I do it is by creating art and sharing it with the world. Then teaching others what I know, and connecting those who are interested with those who I learned from so that we call enjoy a greater understanding of ourselves, our relationships, and our world. From this, money pours in to me from patrons, students and interns I work with who help me steward this arc.
Have: What do I have as a result of living in alignment with my core Authenticity?
I have everything I need and more, so much abundance that I am able to share my work with the world freely and feel like there are zero restrictions on my time and my freedom to create and to give from my deep soul.
So, what about YOU!!! How would you be living if you were totally coming from your most Authentic Self... at least more often, if not most of the time?
Very curious to read your responses!!
Enjoy ;-]
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Holy Crow - Wireless Electricity is HERE!!!
Watch this video - he actually demos untethered power on a TV and iPhone!
The only thing I might add is that the story I heard went something like: JP Morgan was the financier of the Tesla tower on Long Island... he had it summarily destroyed once he learned of the purpose - Free electricity around the globe.
Corporate Policy is to put a meter on EVERYTHING.
Notice how the demo in this video requires access to the same power grid we're already on - it just distributes the power locally in an untethered fashion.
What about TESLA!!! He dismantled his engineering notes and distributed them among a couple dozen nations and said, "When you can play nice, you can have my secrets to unlimited free power anywhere in the world."
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
The only thing I might add is that the story I heard went something like: JP Morgan was the financier of the Tesla tower on Long Island... he had it summarily destroyed once he learned of the purpose - Free electricity around the globe.
Corporate Policy is to put a meter on EVERYTHING.
Notice how the demo in this video requires access to the same power grid we're already on - it just distributes the power locally in an untethered fashion.
What about TESLA!!! He dismantled his engineering notes and distributed them among a couple dozen nations and said, "When you can play nice, you can have my secrets to unlimited free power anywhere in the world."
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
An Open Letter to Michael Strong (draft)
My mission is to Illuminate.
I do that by teaching what I know, or at least sharing my experiences with others - both successes and failures.
Sometimes I want to create a whole curriculum, with formal outlines and all that fun stuff. Then I realize if I can simplify amplify the example I am setting, that can be enough for those who are ready to learn what I'm laying down.
This is an example of a conversation I initiated with Michael Strong. A man who I would consider one of my top candidates for mentoring, if he were so inclined, based on his experience developing Socratic Montessori schools in Alaska, and his current work with John Mackey - founder of Whole Foods.
These are the types of people I want to get around if I am going to really serve the world with the vision I carry in my heart.
I invited Michael's input around my interest in finding a Grad program to deepen my confidence in how I present my vision to the world, and how I develop a community of inquiry around it.
He responded in true Socratic fashion with this clarifying questions:
"Do you know what role you would like to play in the world of education?"
My response, while involved, is the best I've been able to articulate both what I am doing, and how I aim to get there. I post it here both for anyone interested in the Enlightened Child vision, and also for Michael, since I will reply to him with a much truncated version of this stream of consciousness draft.
If you're looking for mentors of this caliber, there are a lot of lessons contained in every part of this blog post.
There are also a lot of suggestions I'd love to hear from anyone who has more experience with this than me.
Below begins my response...
~~~~~
Michael - such wonderful questions. Thank you.
This response is long - I won't be offended if you skip to the bottom where I do finally boil it down to one, tripartite sentence explaining what I am after.
~~~~~
From the hip: I want to foster a Community of Inquiry that spreads globally (via social media networks) like a mycelium network, attracting the brightest minds and deepest hearts and helping them launch a life of True Purpose according to their individual nature.
My methodology is to start with Truth, express it through Beauty, and simply invite those who are interested (find this Good) into a dialogue, into a community of inquiry where we explore the truth and get it working for us, get our lives on track because lord knows the current administration and schooling system all but insidiously intends to knock us off track, knock us senseless. Grrrrr...
So, my vision is to enter the educational process at any age - pre-birth to maturity - with a series of principles that quite frankly "Make Sense!"
I create Montessori-inspired toys and games and books that model core principles every child must come to know to be successful in life. They begin learning about Art, Morals and Science... Compass, Mentors, Maps... Health, Compassion, Wealth... from a very early age because I provide a format for discussing the big questions in life using the symbols for truth that have been refined over millenia - the Oroborous, Yin-Yang, Chakras, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Zodiac. "Graduation" from my "school" means a student is financially self-sufficient, well-connected and able to obtain new mentors, radiating health & has a clear compass in hand at all times.
My materials are patterned after Montessori materials because I attended 2 years of Primary. My daughter is in her 6th year now, and her mother just completed her 3 summer Primary certification. They are very simple - a coloring book that represents numbers 1-12 in a multi-cultural expose of principles. Oroboros, Yin-Yang, Triquestra, Zia, 5 Chinese Elements, Hexagram, Chakras, Ba-Gua, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Planetary Archetypes, Zodiac. I also create games - like painting a Mancala board with the chakras, using it to teach about cause & effect, relationship dynamics and how to create a windfall of success.
Imagine if the Tri-nomial Cube was a popular toy made by Mattel for the mass-market. You and I know Pythagorean mysteries are contained in the concrete operational artifact, and its purpose is to hardwire the child's brain for the abstract understanding to be overlayed several years later (assuming the child is able to stay with the Montessori curriculum!) My materials invite deeper mysteries - the deepest, most relevant ideas for the greatest number of humans. Who am I? What do I want? How will I get it? In a Good Way?
As a Dead Head, I developed my materials to "get around" and operate like a modular, supplemental education system. Since they are primarily tools for pattern recognition, it doesn't matter what "else" the child has learned to that point, interacting with the materials spontaneously organizes the accumulated data in the child's mind. A formal schooling environment is welcome to incorporate them as well as any homeschooler, as well as any curious child who happens upon these in a Dead parking lot ;-)
People of all ages can be attracted to the beauty, and allow the deeper meaning to seep in over time - like a young child or a thick adult ;-p, or for young adults, even teens, I want to create a series of coaching nad information products that invite them to dive into the deeper meaning and explore the principles I present them through coaching, group calls, events and workshops, and yes, perhaps physical schools... though this is not where I intend to focus. Too slow for me, though I respect the value of a well run institution when I see one ;-)
My own daughter has proven to me that children can understand the rudimentary principles as young as 3, probably younger if I knew how to test for this. I've developed a handful of proto-type toys and games and books over the years. People LOVE them. It's my passion to create them, delving deep into the mystery schools from which they have been passed into the world.
What has held me back from living this mission wide open to this point is critical deficiencies in my development. Ken Wilber's AQAL map has been the most helpful in pin-pointing the deficiencies, and now after a 5 year jaunt through the world of slash and burn economics, I have "graduated" back to a more Integral worldview, with the lessons of Marketing and Business Development seared into my heart like a cattle brand.
I'm ready to launch, to teach what I've learned to my entrepreneurial interns, and work out the organization of this "school" that also serves to administer my business (a social media marketing firm based on Authenticity). I have 12-15 young men paying $100/mo and doing these weekly and monthly coaching calls. That money accumulates until it is enough to scholarship one of these young men who is really showing earnest desire to teach and master through mentoring his cohort - send him to a national workshop or seminar that will completely alter his map of reality and transform his character. Integrate his energy across the rest of the cohort, and strengthen the frame of consciousness I am intent on fostering.
Come spring, I want to be enrolled in a program that will give me the CONFIDENCE (not just credentials) to really step things up to a national and international level. I want to fast-track my Authority positioning by writing some profound papers, possibly a book, that will explain this unique educational framework - the mentoring pyramid informed by inquiry into the principles of deep presence... Living Embodied Enlightenment if you will.
My hunch is, with enough exposure to enlightening ideas, the developing soul will spontaneously burst into a full blown Enlightenment experience. Even if only for a moment. And THAT is what I believe the world needs - more of us informed by a True vision of our Soul's Purpose. Along with the influence and resources to do something profound with that Vision.
And, like Ghandi says, I gotta be the change I wanna see. I have to model this and entrain the DNA of my "lineage" by aligning myself with mentors of strong character and penetrating insight - both into the world, and into me.
There is so much I know I'm capable of... I'm ready to start experiencing life with the guidance of worthy mentors who SEE me, Feel me, and draw me into the world in an extremely skillful way - much as you have done with your question today. Heheh - an Educator. One who 'draws forth from within.'
Michael - I'm open to creating this scenario for myself through some college that facilitates independent study. Or a program that is already in place (Fielding's MA in Educational Leadership & Change with an Integral Certificate caught my eye). Or even just diving in with some steady guidance by a man like yourself, and perhaps others you recommend to round out the experience and guidance.
What I mostly need is a focused course with a clear outcome - develop and publish an educational manifesto per above outline, secure mentoring relationships with a stellium of exceptional mentors, and grow this "school" that is really a business that pays the bills while paying interns to learn and stay close to me. Yep. That's it, in a nutshell.
Apologies for building you a clock when you asked for the Time. First opportunity anyone's ever given me to truly un-pack all that I've been carrying in my soul the past decade.
Thanks again,
Craig
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
I do that by teaching what I know, or at least sharing my experiences with others - both successes and failures.
Sometimes I want to create a whole curriculum, with formal outlines and all that fun stuff. Then I realize if I can simplify amplify the example I am setting, that can be enough for those who are ready to learn what I'm laying down.
This is an example of a conversation I initiated with Michael Strong. A man who I would consider one of my top candidates for mentoring, if he were so inclined, based on his experience developing Socratic Montessori schools in Alaska, and his current work with John Mackey - founder of Whole Foods.
These are the types of people I want to get around if I am going to really serve the world with the vision I carry in my heart.
I invited Michael's input around my interest in finding a Grad program to deepen my confidence in how I present my vision to the world, and how I develop a community of inquiry around it.
He responded in true Socratic fashion with this clarifying questions:
"Do you know what role you would like to play in the world of education?"
My response, while involved, is the best I've been able to articulate both what I am doing, and how I aim to get there. I post it here both for anyone interested in the Enlightened Child vision, and also for Michael, since I will reply to him with a much truncated version of this stream of consciousness draft.
If you're looking for mentors of this caliber, there are a lot of lessons contained in every part of this blog post.
There are also a lot of suggestions I'd love to hear from anyone who has more experience with this than me.
Below begins my response...
~~~~~
Michael - such wonderful questions. Thank you.
This response is long - I won't be offended if you skip to the bottom where I do finally boil it down to one, tripartite sentence explaining what I am after.
~~~~~
From the hip: I want to foster a Community of Inquiry that spreads globally (via social media networks) like a mycelium network, attracting the brightest minds and deepest hearts and helping them launch a life of True Purpose according to their individual nature.
My methodology is to start with Truth, express it through Beauty, and simply invite those who are interested (find this Good) into a dialogue, into a community of inquiry where we explore the truth and get it working for us, get our lives on track because lord knows the current administration and schooling system all but insidiously intends to knock us off track, knock us senseless. Grrrrr...
So, my vision is to enter the educational process at any age - pre-birth to maturity - with a series of principles that quite frankly "Make Sense!"
I create Montessori-inspired toys and games and books that model core principles every child must come to know to be successful in life. They begin learning about Art, Morals and Science... Compass, Mentors, Maps... Health, Compassion, Wealth... from a very early age because I provide a format for discussing the big questions in life using the symbols for truth that have been refined over millenia - the Oroborous, Yin-Yang, Chakras, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Zodiac. "Graduation" from my "school" means a student is financially self-sufficient, well-connected and able to obtain new mentors, radiating health & has a clear compass in hand at all times.
My materials are patterned after Montessori materials because I attended 2 years of Primary. My daughter is in her 6th year now, and her mother just completed her 3 summer Primary certification. They are very simple - a coloring book that represents numbers 1-12 in a multi-cultural expose of principles. Oroboros, Yin-Yang, Triquestra, Zia, 5 Chinese Elements, Hexagram, Chakras, Ba-Gua, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Planetary Archetypes, Zodiac. I also create games - like painting a Mancala board with the chakras, using it to teach about cause & effect, relationship dynamics and how to create a windfall of success.
Imagine if the Tri-nomial Cube was a popular toy made by Mattel for the mass-market. You and I know Pythagorean mysteries are contained in the concrete operational artifact, and its purpose is to hardwire the child's brain for the abstract understanding to be overlayed several years later (assuming the child is able to stay with the Montessori curriculum!) My materials invite deeper mysteries - the deepest, most relevant ideas for the greatest number of humans. Who am I? What do I want? How will I get it? In a Good Way?
As a Dead Head, I developed my materials to "get around" and operate like a modular, supplemental education system. Since they are primarily tools for pattern recognition, it doesn't matter what "else" the child has learned to that point, interacting with the materials spontaneously organizes the accumulated data in the child's mind. A formal schooling environment is welcome to incorporate them as well as any homeschooler, as well as any curious child who happens upon these in a Dead parking lot ;-)
People of all ages can be attracted to the beauty, and allow the deeper meaning to seep in over time - like a young child or a thick adult ;-p, or for young adults, even teens, I want to create a series of coaching nad information products that invite them to dive into the deeper meaning and explore the principles I present them through coaching, group calls, events and workshops, and yes, perhaps physical schools... though this is not where I intend to focus. Too slow for me, though I respect the value of a well run institution when I see one ;-)
My own daughter has proven to me that children can understand the rudimentary principles as young as 3, probably younger if I knew how to test for this. I've developed a handful of proto-type toys and games and books over the years. People LOVE them. It's my passion to create them, delving deep into the mystery schools from which they have been passed into the world.
What has held me back from living this mission wide open to this point is critical deficiencies in my development. Ken Wilber's AQAL map has been the most helpful in pin-pointing the deficiencies, and now after a 5 year jaunt through the world of slash and burn economics, I have "graduated" back to a more Integral worldview, with the lessons of Marketing and Business Development seared into my heart like a cattle brand.
I'm ready to launch, to teach what I've learned to my entrepreneurial interns, and work out the organization of this "school" that also serves to administer my business (a social media marketing firm based on Authenticity). I have 12-15 young men paying $100/mo and doing these weekly and monthly coaching calls. That money accumulates until it is enough to scholarship one of these young men who is really showing earnest desire to teach and master through mentoring his cohort - send him to a national workshop or seminar that will completely alter his map of reality and transform his character. Integrate his energy across the rest of the cohort, and strengthen the frame of consciousness I am intent on fostering.
Come spring, I want to be enrolled in a program that will give me the CONFIDENCE (not just credentials) to really step things up to a national and international level. I want to fast-track my Authority positioning by writing some profound papers, possibly a book, that will explain this unique educational framework - the mentoring pyramid informed by inquiry into the principles of deep presence... Living Embodied Enlightenment if you will.
My hunch is, with enough exposure to enlightening ideas, the developing soul will spontaneously burst into a full blown Enlightenment experience. Even if only for a moment. And THAT is what I believe the world needs - more of us informed by a True vision of our Soul's Purpose. Along with the influence and resources to do something profound with that Vision.
And, like Ghandi says, I gotta be the change I wanna see. I have to model this and entrain the DNA of my "lineage" by aligning myself with mentors of strong character and penetrating insight - both into the world, and into me.
There is so much I know I'm capable of... I'm ready to start experiencing life with the guidance of worthy mentors who SEE me, Feel me, and draw me into the world in an extremely skillful way - much as you have done with your question today. Heheh - an Educator. One who 'draws forth from within.'
Michael - I'm open to creating this scenario for myself through some college that facilitates independent study. Or a program that is already in place (Fielding's MA in Educational Leadership & Change with an Integral Certificate caught my eye). Or even just diving in with some steady guidance by a man like yourself, and perhaps others you recommend to round out the experience and guidance.
What I mostly need is a focused course with a clear outcome - develop and publish an educational manifesto per above outline, secure mentoring relationships with a stellium of exceptional mentors, and grow this "school" that is really a business that pays the bills while paying interns to learn and stay close to me. Yep. That's it, in a nutshell.
Apologies for building you a clock when you asked for the Time. First opportunity anyone's ever given me to truly un-pack all that I've been carrying in my soul the past decade.
Thanks again,
Craig
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
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