SOLSTICE STORIES
The fifteenth Solstice, 2006

The Story Teller sits at his desk, writing words he hopes will convey all that he feels not only in his heart, but in the heart of the readers as well.  It is early morning, around 5:00 am, and outside dawn has not yet broken.  The soft and gentle blackness surrounds the world like a cloak and the first snowfall of winter has covered everything. 

The single most important thing we have accomplished this year is to have achieved an expanded state of consciousness.  Now that we are more awake, we must make every effort to maintain this outlook.  We can gather together in 2007, prepared to take the blessings that it will bring.

We have learned a lot about communication, and we have recognized that we are each the leaders who must show the way.  Some of you have heard Dr. Koestenbaum speaking, others perhaps have read his books or listened to his tapes.  You know what it means for him to say that we are “co-creators” of the universe that we will live in, and that he congratulated us because we are “making history”.  Think about that. I know Peter well now, and he actually visions our agency as a whole.

At our Annual General Meeting for 2006, Dr. Koestenbaum inaugurated our new Board of Directors.  He set us upon a spiritual warrior’s path, brave women and men who would take up the challenge of “living in the Now”.  It was interesting for me to see the “counterpoint” in Peter’s own life.  The next day, he was one of three internationally known leaders to speak at the Reception for the Dalai Lama.  This had required a great deal of coordination, and I remember thinking of the 10 years past since I had seen the Dalai Lama.  His Holiness was lecturing (with translation) a speech at U.B.C.

Guided by Angels that night, my wife, and a mutual friend and I drove out to the campus to hear the Dalai Lama.  We were able (coincidentally?) to get three excellent seats in the third row.  I found the interpreter quite difficult to understand, and I recall allowing just a tad of dismissive-ness to enter my consciousness.  “Well”, I said, “I don’t know that it was anything special.  It was quite ordinary really.”

As I said these words, I felt a “whoosh” past my left ear, and I was startled into turning and looking.  I looked straight into the eyes of the Dalai Lama, who stared into mine; he looked and smiled, first from his eyes and then through his lips.

It was an awakening for me to realize (and to forgive myself for being such an oaf) that the Gift was just that: complete oneness of self, the non-egoisticperspective on the world, the truly understood humility of the Ordinary.

When speaking most recently to a group of  neuroscientists, His Holiness told the group how one Buddhist meditation conditions us to accept every person unconditionally.  Now science can measure the physiological correlatives to this practice, and we understand how we truly are all interconnected, and that individually, we are most like holograms.

In the past Solstice stories, I have focused on the return of the Light.  It is in fact the Season of Lights.  But let us also give thanks to the Peacefulness of the dark hours, which send us that velvety cloak of protection that gives us the freedom to find our way to the Vision.  All the work with Dr. Koestenbaum and the Leadership Diamond™, as well as the pragmatic tools of the Justice Institute Training, and this year, our Team’s full commitment to CARF Accreditation.  One of the Board of Director’s goals, under new President, Celso Boscariol, is to have Tom Abbott, a non-profit consultant, come and “refresh” the Board on the model of governance we are on record as having.  At this time, it will be fundamental to ensure that our current model meets all the demands of Criterion J, for Governance from CARF.  We are coming together as One quite visibly now.  Our consciousness has changed.  We are co-creators of the Universe.  It is the time of magical births. 

2007 holds a singular event for every possibility in the universe.  We are the ones who must choose.  We choose probabilities in which to engage in order to fulfill our destiny as co-creators of the Universe.  But, once done, we shall be in good company. 

Namaste

Jordan