“What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Is it working?”

Over the last few days, John and I have been in conversation with some shining people down in Big Sur- specifically the community that supports and contributes to the Esalen Institute, the birthplace of the human potential movement, and the uniquely American phenomenon: “the religion of no religion”.

Presenters include Deepak Chopra, John Cleese, Mollie Katzen, Robert Reich, Jean Houston, Cathie Smith, Anisa Mehdi, Ken Dychtwald, Micheal Murphy. Captivating audience members, too: Reza Bundy, Wendy Hoffman, Danny Guillaume, Susan Dunn- to mention a few. Everyone there was interested and exploring social change, shifts in consciousness, and activism from a different viewpoint- and all were grounded in the practical world- people who can take effective action.

The main questions of the day, to all these change agents and thinkers, surrounded intention and effect. They are good for all of us to ask ourselves- namely:

What are you doing? Why are you doing it? and Is it working?

Activating the power of the individual- Mollie Katzen, Kathie Smith

Mollie Katzen (Moosewood Cookbook, Food Literacy and Food Justice advocate) told a beautiful story of being called from a young age to feed people- the serendipity of her early success and the beautiful progression to where she is today. Mollie believes that everything starts with healthy eating- that food should be both basic and beautiful- that food literacy is important- that Americans should eliminate the line between what she calls “remorse cuisine”- and that good food and good eating are a social justice issue. She’s doing an exciting project with Harvard on this. Recommended reading anything by Michael Pollan (yes, his Omnivore’s Dilemma changed our perception, life and our eating)

In a similar vein, Kathie Smith, inspirational fitness guru for 30+ years, is trying to teach the world to be healthy, a continuation of her lifelong goal- her narrative, too, was of early calling and progression toward her own consistent North Star- helping others feel better. She’s working on a program to incent the 70% of Americans who are sedentary with cold hard cash through employer health plans- to begin to create momentum toward personal fitness- without which there is no awakening.

Moving Attitudes- Getting People to Think Differently about the World As It Is- Ken Dychtwald, Jean Houston, Robert Reich

Ken Dychtwald’s lifelong effort is to get people to rethink and reimagine the second half of life as a time of incredible power. His prolific writing, and behind the scenes work to change images of older people in advertising and popular culture, as well as getting companies to rethink biases about older workers have already succeeded to a great extent, but with his energy and joy, you can tell it’s just the beginning. Ken’s beautiful and kind wife and daughter were there, with good humor- they were such a great picture of what loving family relationships can look like.

Jean Houston has bumped booties with more notables than you can imagine in her 60+ years- Helen Keller, Margaret Mead, Buckminster Fuller, the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa AND Hillary Clinton. She gave a compelling accounting of her travels around the world, and what she believes is needed to lead now- at this point in history, when all traditions are breaking free. Most leaders, she said, have been taught to lead in the mold of “a white man in 1926″-in a hierarchical, traditional society- something that no longer holds true. What she is doing is rethinking and retraining leaders for a thoroughly changed world- with the United Nations and UNICEF.

Creating New Perspectives- Anisa Mehdi, Jeff Kripal, John Cleese

Anisa Mehdi is showing us the world through the lens of her camera- her film Inside Mecca with National Geographic is a must see. She also facilitates inter-religious dialogues through her work at Esalen. Jeff Kripal’s thoroughly readable history of Esalen is a much broader story of the convergence of religious thought and the emergence of spirituality that has been midwived there- Cleese, what a surprise- an incredible clear headed political analyst and social commentator- he was hilarious on the inherent lunacies in all dogma, and right on re: America’s current version of democracy- here’s one excerpt- paraphrasing to the best of my recall abilities- must read this in a dry dry Life of Brian British accent.

“The trouble with American democracy is in its partisanship. For example, in that one election, you know the one with the chads? You had 5 republican justices voting against a recount, with 4 democratic justices voting for a recount- in the state run by the candidate’s brother, who is also the son of the former head of the secret police, who later became president. Insert pause. Can you imagine what this looks like from overseas? “

The point with all of these people- they HAD a clear answer to these questions. Do you?

What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Is it working?

Love to hear from you-

Xtine