Soul Education for Social Change

Presented by Nina Meyerhof in Geneva at Lucius Trust

The 21st century holds the greatest possibilities for an integrated peaceful and prosperous global community. Connected by telecommunications and a growing spirituality, humankind has a chance to actualize an evolutionary state of being. At the same time, never before has never the future been more challenged by worldwide terrorism, poverty, rapid climate change and inadequate education as well as health care and geopolitical unrest. The kind of world that the next generation will experience will depend upon the collective vision and intention of world leaders. As long as the global culture is grounded in fear, greed and scarcity, we will continue to waste our human and financial resources on war and destruction. As we shift towards love, compassion in education, we will deploy resources for the common good, lifting up all people to a life of hope and security.

Today, science and spirituality are coming to the same conclusion – that all people are intrinsically similar; the human genome project has proven that we are genetically 99.9 % alike with only 1 tenth of one percent that makes us different. Until we realize that “I am you and you are me”, only then will right action and thought be supported by the universal laws of nature. Until we can concentrate on what makes us the same instead of what makes us different, only then can we deal with the challenges ahead. It is imperative that we spend our time and resources on young people, supporting leadership and educational experiences that promote respectful communities, common ethics, sustainable practices, peace, and economic opportunities.

Education comes from the word educare…this means to draw forth or lead out.  Education is a calling…a vocation of passion for individuals who care about our next generation and our collective future. Educators today are often bogged down by the subjects they teach so that they often forget they are builders of this most important future- a future culture. The young people are not only inheritors of our past but are also our initiators into the next phase of cultural evolution. They are the architects for the coming phases that include social, cultural and global development. They have the potential to move beyond imitating what has come before, but rather to imagine the scaffolding for structures that lead us into a better future.

If we are to change our behaviors to realize our samenesses and our connectivity, then our educational system must also alter. Our systems need to reflect this deepest understanding of what it means to be human and to live at a time when the essence of a global society is truly and interconnectedness of all intentions and deeds. The need for moral education and the rising potential of the empowered voice of individuals has been in a process of evolution. To take this deeper is to know that the next relevant educational model is to educate for tapping into higher consciousness and translating the experience into societal actions for external global harmony.  We must lead with our hearts, use our minds to further our understandings of how our universe works, and then to learn how to behave as one family of humankind.

Our present day schools  are institutionalized by rules and regulations and tend to be a holding a mechanistic view to maintain status quo.. The focus is on downloadedable informtion. They are slowly becoming aware of the need to alter their purpose but are so reluctant and compelled to produce successful students- students that succeed in the world of materialism we have developed.  Thus the focus is on success defined by financial success and the continuation of competition between individuals.

In soul eduction there is a letting go, an acceptance and at the same time  growing understanding and acceptance of fullfillment of the self. In this model giving and receiving are vitally relevant. The soul becomes the expresion and  is in knowing that one is revealing and offering an individualized purpose.

Our Higher Consciousness is calling us to remember the true purpose of life. Our Higher Consciousness no longer wants to only function on an integrated personal level. Our Higher Consciousness is calling us into greater understanding. We are being asked to find deep appreciation of diversity and, yet, realization and integration that the sum of all parts do make a greater whole. We are the family of man. We are One Humanity. Our lives must encompass justice and sustainability.

World Service is the outer manifestation of the inner realization that we are all One. As I meet the other, I am meeting the self.  As I meet the self, I have givingness for the other. If I do not feel depleted and fearful of not having, I give and I receive and am in balance with nature’s call. With this we collectively become builders of the new culture….the Culture of Peace.

There has been a declaration calling this the decade for the Culture of Peace and Nonviolence. This manifesto is written and supported by all the living Nobel Laureates and UNESCO and in a resolution from the U.N. Those are only words and now each of us must translate these words into action. The tenets are; Respect All Life, Reject Violence, Share With Others, Preserve the Planet, and Rediscover Solidarity.

Educators are realizing that education needs to build the culture that unifies humanity. It is no longer realistic to imitate what has come before us but rather to step out and collectively build a unitive system based on the understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as one human family.

We as educators must learn to reach into the consciousness of the student—to touch that very inner core that exists beyond pain and pleasure and is in a state of isness. This core does not need to grow self-esteem—nor does it need more information on rules of how to live ethically. It knows within itself that life is sacred. It knows its self as full and complete. This evolved self often called the Soul, loves and shares and dares to live a life of meaning with service to others.

Soul Education consists of the seeking of spirit within the self to enhance all learning. This consciousness quest fosters intuitive knowingness and self –awareness. This sense of feeling whole and complete allows each individual to then integrate with others. The process of infused personal wisdom that reaches into historical consciousness matches our understanding of learning for meaning.

Soul Education is a process of soul searching—looking inward to go outward-- where typically no competition exists and the other is as valued as the self. The individual senses the importance of all of life. The ethics and values that emerge are the universal laws of life. These universals are dictates that exist in every culture and show us we are one human family.

These Universal Laws are ---all living things are alive and have spirit. Spirit is consciousness available to be tapped into. All of life is thus interconnected. Each action we take has infinite ripples in this web of life. Consciousness is being aware of this law of One.  Love is this interconnection of all there is while Fear is a human separateness that is learned. Love is the Law. Spirit connects. To Educate brings this forth.

Thus ethics to live as a just, compassionate, loving human being are intrinsic results of this inner quest. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists these Ethics for all of Humanity. The Fuji Declaration takes this one step further and identifies-- Affirming the Light of Consciousness, Committing to Peace, Live and Act on Behalf of All, Free the Human Spirit, and Advance Harmonious Human Civilization.

Soul Education for this emerging New Age of Peace requires many new useful techniques. Visualization processes for asking one’s self “who am I”. Teaching in multiple groupings going beyond the traditional age barriers and recognizing that age is only a preconceived construct of intellectual development…that a soul knows no age.

Then there is the concept of Altruistic Learning that implies learning to make another happy is to truly serve one’s own needs. There is Reflective Learning that asks the learner to ask the self the questions rather than restating what a teacher has said. In this mode the teacher is facilitator rather than instructor. Experiential Learning becomes very important as the learner experiences and analyzes and incorporates meaning to build the self and reflect on the self of self-level. Furthermore, it is important to think in terms of Systems Learning meaning not to be so focused on details but rather to see the whole and understand how things operate We presently teach so many isolated facts that the mind has to attach itself to without real personal relevance. But if we think in wholeness as life really functions this way then we begin to see the parts as part of a whole and a developmental system. Human Beings then develop a sense of the greater story of life.  Finally, Transpersonal  Learning is a methodology which asks the individual transform and go beyond what is the moment in the present thinking and step into the potential of the learning and to Transcend Learning which encompasses the whole seen from above.

Designing curriculum for academic growth is to study life from the initial atom of the self and to progress into the larger picture of the world. This means to study our place in the human family, our place in our community, our place in time, our place in the world and even our place in our planetary universe. This curriculum includes all the basics but emphasizes a sense of the miracle of life and the importance of the interdependence that is then defined as spirit holding form based on Robert Mueller’s curriculum which I helped design.

It seems it is up to us to begin to educate for soul recognition and allow our culture to alter its rigid views and strangling preconceived ideas of what a good life is about. A soul infused person or a person living with soul consciousness can have purpose and therefore a self-sustaining work, can be more aware of the surroundings and the needs of others, can hold a sense of inner peace, can care for through compassion and understanding, can develop strong positive beliefs, can be a relevant member of our society.
  
We are also learning that one’s genetic makeup can be always changing depending on one’s intent. Increase our positive intention and change our genetic makeup. This gives our future a better mapping of possibilities. Education can serve building genetically new pathways.
Educating for seeking inner truths of who each student is individually and how one is connected as one humanity, is a process of self-reflection and inner valuing of an Authentic Self, the Soul Self.
This is the potential of educational reform or the reformation of the “I” into the understanding of wholeness of the human family. It is through education that a future generation can bring forth a culture that recognizes our present ills and become fully self realized as interconnected and interdependent and thus clearing the mind for inner and outer peace for one and for all.

Education for living consciously using life’s principles of justice, equity and goodness fosters a set of universal ethics. Ethics are a standard by which all humanity needs to adhere to for us to live successfully as one human family. Education offers this bridge from personal ethics to collective freedom. This freedom is expressed as harmony within the self and with others or known as where the heart and the mind unite bringing peace and deep understanding.

The idea of soul says that each of us, if given time and space and some guidance, can find our inner knowing of who we are, why we were born and what we have to offer life.  In this knowing, each of us can feel whole and complete and integrated into life's stream of action and reaction.

It is important to note that self-esteem based on assessing ourselves from internal to external no longer has a relevant role to play. This fragile concept of feeling good is based on comparisons, competition,and outer reflections of who we are  in the world. Why does the poor inner city child lack self-esteem? Of course it is because that young one could never become the model of what is prescribed by our society. Could this child ignore the model and still have self-esteem? Soul knows the answer and has full esteem. Teach to educate.

CHILDREN OF THE EARTH

Children of the Earth is founded for this purpose of social change. We serve young people to become spiritually conscious leaders, through personal educational processes for the purpose of social transformation for the advancement of a peaceful and sustainable earth. We are determined to create an arena that serves to attract those who are inspired to serve the world through the discovery of their inner authentic soul self 's passion for living a life of meaning. They respond in actualizing their personal intention, becoming inspired to altruism, and weaving a web bridging all personal, cultural, national and religious divides.
Children of the Earth’s goal is to contribute to the facilitation of a conscious movement towards inner peace, unitive thinking and evolving positive social change.  We offer workshops based on our training model: Reflect-Connect –Act building this synergistic momentum. We are building an “inner revolution for our social evolution”
As educators, we need to invite children and youth to envision a world they want. They must engage in a process of how to fully realize their inner potential and share this with the world. Furthermore they need to explore and imagine how could we co-exist as one humanity and what does it truly mean that humanity is interconnected and interdependent. If we are to educate our children for these deeper understandings of life, then we must prepare them for the understanding that all consciousness is always evolving and is more and more accessible.
COE has been bringing youth together for over 25 years, providing community and networking opportunities to young leaders who are committed to positive global change. By developing a culture of co-operation, collaboration, mediation, relationship-building and understanding of our common humanity, these young people go back to their local communities and influence others through sharing their vision of how we can live together.

Mission

Children of the Earth inspires and unites young people, through personal and social transformation, to create a peaceful and sustainable world.

One Earth….with all her Children smiling!

Children of the Earth knows the actions of today’s youth will shape the future. We have pioneered positive change for over 25 years. We recognize, train, and facilitate young people in 60 countries. We have created a community of spiritual activists who will become the problem solvers, innovators, and unique contributors to a manifestation of peace across the globe.

Slogan

Inspires and unites young people for peace worldwide.

Vision

Our vision is that one by one, Children of the Earth will inspire young people to explore their inner life, be socially responsible and unite for peace building.

"Children of the Earth wishes to facilitate a conscious movement among our world’s young people, the Millennial Generation, to catapult a shift in humanity’s behaviors to help transform our world into a more harmonious, peaceful and sustainable planet through altruistic actions to create positive change."

How We Achieve Our Vision

Children of the Earth, founded by Dr. Nina Meyerhof in 1990, offers young people leadership skills programs, educational workshops and attendance at distinguished
conferences. We instill the concepts of global cooperation, multicultural understanding, spiritual values and ethical living.

Children of the Earth’s programs focus on building the youth spiritual movement for world consciousness. We offer educational, interactive and interfaith gatherings, work with local community groups to develop self-sustaining projects and invite young people to a virtual platform designed for positive social exchange.

Children of the Earth supports young people in actualizing their personal intention, becoming inspired to altruism, and weaving a web bridging all personal, cultural, national and religious divides.

Children of the Earth Guiding Principles

• Trust your intuition
• Demonstrate dignity and respect
• Communicate with honesty and clarity
• Assume the good intentions of others
• Support shared leadership
• Celebrate diversity
• Be inspired to take risks
• Allow decisions to emerge and embrace the process
• Understand the whole is greater than the parts
• Strive for actions based on selflessness and love
• Support sustainability both personally and environmentally
• Honor agreements and take ownership for outcomes

Hear the call for UNITY as a child of the ONE life

We Reflect, Connect and Act in order to create an Optimal Future for All.  

• Through our Code of Ethics we do this by:
• Nurturing the individual’s authentic expression.
• Holding workshops for finding meaning and connecting with inner purpose.
• Inspiring individual acts of kindness and social action projects.
• Facilitating processes that transcend cultural, racial, religious and generational divides.

Children of the Earth is founded for this purpose of spreading peace. We serve young people to become spiritually conscious leaders, through personal educational processes for the purpose of social transformation and for the advancement of a peaceful and sustainable earth. We are determined to create an arena that serves to attract those who are inspired to serve the world through the discovery of their inner authentic soul self 's passion for living a life of meaning. They respond in actualizing their personal intention, becoming inspired to altruism, and weaving a web bridging all personal, cultural, national and religious divides. Children of the Earth’s goal is to contribute to the facilitation of a conscious movement towards inner peace, unitive thinking and evolving positive social change.  We offer workshops based on our training model: Reflect-Connect –Act building this synergistic momentum. We are building an “inner revolution for our social evolution”.

REFLECT is the journey we take to awaken the inner self. The path may include meditation, contemplation, and or prayer. As we become still, we hear the inner calling of our authentic self and experience personal purpose.

The inner quest for the authentic self

As you go more deeply into the self, you realize that you are not defined by your surroundings, parents, culture nor religion. Rather, inside you dwells a loving human being seeking full expression.

Questions

1. Who am I really as my authentic self?
2. What unique gifts do I bring to the world?
3. How can I manifest my inner dreams for the world?

CONNECT bridges the gap between self and others, leading to unity. Through deep compassion and listening, conflict transcendence, and non-violent communication we learn that it is possible to live in harmony, weaving the interconnectedness of our family worldwide.

Deep compassion for others

You become conscious of how you can best express yourself in the world for the highest good. Transforming conflict, using language that recognizes the other, appreciating without judging, all these can occur when you no longer judge yourself. You begin to act as part of a whole. A sense of unity occurs that can be called love or spirituality in action.

Questions

1. How do I find connectedness and build a purposeful unity?
2. How do I hear the inner heart of another person?
3. How do I handle conflict in my life?

ACT is taking the inspired will to serve others in the world through individual actions, local projects and global work. These acts are based on spiritual principles and ethics of Spiritual Activism.

Knowing what to do

The third step is based on awareness of a global community of young people who are waiting to connect with you. Together you are the new leaders of this evolving
Consciousness for social change. You share a growing awareness of how to live as stewards of all of life. From this consciousness, you develop new models of how to live in our world emerge ensuring a sustainable future for all of humanity.

Questions

1. What does it mean to live as a Spiritual Activist?
2. What actions can I take to promote conscious social change?
3. What skills and abilities do I need to make a positive difference in the lives of others?

Our children’s future lies in our hands. The mind is a tool used for learning, but the wisdom of the heart is the driving guidance.  As young people focus on inner reflection they are called forth to do acts of kindness in their lives and in the lives of others.

In conclusion, we live in a timely moment in the history of humanity. We educate to move beyond religious divides into the understanding that we are all spiritual beings. Our philosophical premise recognizes that all of life is sacred.  Our goal is to live in unitive syncretic experiences of our deepest understanding that we are collective species who may use our consciousness to evolve systems that bring us into an interdependent, interconnected harmonious family of humankind, stewarding the needs of our earth. 

From I to We to ONE------- The Children of the Earth inner group of students  evolved the Great Invocation to meet their modern global times.
From the point of Light
  within the mind of Oneness,
Let Light stream forth into our minds;
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love
  within the heart of Oneness,
Let Love stream forth into our hearts;
May Love increase on Earth.

From the center 
  where the will of Oneness is known,
Let purpose guide our wills,
The purpose which the Holy Ones know and serve.

From the center
 which we call humanity,
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out,
And may it transform darkness into light.

Let Light, Love, and Unity heal our world.
Let Light, Love, and Unity awaken humanity.
Let Light, Love, and Unity cultivate peace and harmony on Earth.

Such is the search for this authentic soul self, the universal human that lives as fulfilled and connected to source.