Waging Peace

Before the post proper, I want to bring your attention to the left column of this blog--designed to hold much valuable information!

Now...

{{{ This image is from an office I've created in the Virtual World, Second Life.

That Second Life link will take you to the Hyde Park Hotel (enter the lobby, teleport, and enter room C) in a re-created section of London called Knightsbridge.

This office space and the activities planned for it are cousins of my Social Network, Waging Peace.

Why build an office to facilitate Waging Peace in a Virtual World?

Mostly because the concept of Virtuality is actually "coming of age" and this Space offers methods of contacting people that Real Life lacks.

Check out these organizations that have placed a Presence in SL (Second Life):

~~~The official Tech Soup SL Non-Profit Directory~~~

The nonprofits listed here are those that have a presence in SL or are currently building a presence in SL.

Breast Cancer Action
Key Contact people:
RL: Angela Carrier
Email: info@bcaction.org

SupportForHealing
http://supportforhealing.com
Key Contact people:
SL: Zafu Diamond ???

Activities:
http://secondtense.blogspot.com/2006/06/educators-as-innovators.html
There is the supportforhealing island, which is a sort of 3D extention of their website. From the site, it appears they'll be on UK's Channel 4 as part of the 'Second Lives' series of short films.
Also InnerLife and related Mandala Games sites, which have been working to integrate biofeedback devices with SL (quite successfully too) for varying purposes.
Support for Healing:
http://www.supportforhealing.com/
InnerLife:
http://gaeacoop.org/cgi-bin/InnerLife/index.cgi
Mandala Games:
http://www.mandalaweb.net/english/secondlife/secondlife-a.htm
InnerLife Tavarua SLURL (active as of 6/16/06):
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tavarua/245/231/24/

911 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
http://www.121contact.typepad.com
http://www.peacefultomorrows.org

Key Contact People:
SL:Zeke Poutine
Activities: Found a kiosk/notecard on Democracy Island - Raising awareness of their work in RL

SLURL/SL Location
Democracy Island, Democracy Island (153, 170, 26)http://slurl.com/secondlife/Democracy%20Island/153/170/26/

Acceleration Studies Foundation
http://accelerating.org
Key Contact people:
Jerry Paffendorf - Research Director
SL: SNOOPYbrown Zamboni
jerrypaffendorf@accelerating.org
Timothy Moenk - Future Salon Network Director
SL: Lyre Calliope
timothymoenk@accelerating.org
Activities:
The ASF has been running the Second Life Future Salon (the longest running educational event of its kind) since April of '05. THe ASF is also responsible for causing trouble in the video game, IT, GIS, Acadamia, and other related industries and fields through the Metaverse Roadmap project.

http://slfuturesalon.blogs.com

Alliance Library System
http://www.alliancelibraries.info/secondlife.htm
Key Contact People:
Lori Bell, Director of Innovation
SL: Loreli Junot
Activities: The ALS Alliance Library System is working with librarians all over the country to create a library in Second Life on Information Island.
They have set up a blog to report on events/activities
http://secondlifelibrary.blogspot.com/
Promoted in Second Life newspaper
http://www.metaversemessenger.com/PDF/MM-2006-04-25.pdf

American Cancer Society
http://cancer.org
Key Contact people:
Randy Moss - Futuring and Innovations Center
SL: RC Mars
randal.moss@cancer.org
Keith Morris - Lead volunteer for the slrfs
SL: Jade Lily
Activities:
The Second Life Relay For Life is having its' second run this July, and the ACS is looking into bringing some of their community programs into SL.
A description can be found here:
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/GI/content/GI_1_8_Second_Life_Relay.asp
They are blogging about their work here:
http://www.fispace.org/home/

Amoration
http://www.omidyar.net/group/amo/ - discussion thread
Key Contact people:
Evonne Heyning
SL: In Kenzo
Activities:
Art activities on Better World Island. Has offered help to newbies.
Other nonprofits on Better World Island include Camp Darfur (an independent partnership working with the Save Darfur Coalition, GI-Net and Stop Genocide Now), PeaceTiles, 911 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, and Peace Games/Chandi Chess.
See http://www.omidyar.net/group/secondlife/news/16/

Boomer Esiason Foundation
http://www.esiason.org
Key Contact People:
SL: Dave Radio
RL: Dave Rimington
drimington@esiason.org
Activities: The Boomer Esiason Foundation is a partnership of leaders in the medical and business communities joining with a committed core of volunteers to provide financial support to research aimed at finding a cure for cystic fibrosis. They are planning to set up a CF University in SL.

Camp Darfur

http://www.campdarfur.org
Activities:
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/03/new_world_slurl_8.html

Creative Commons
http://creativecommons.org/
SLURL/SL Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kula%204/75/75
Kula 4 (74, 75, 25)
Key Contact people:
Joi Ito
SL: Joi Ito
SL: Liana Linden
Activities:
http://joi.ito.com/archives/2006/01/31/second_life_party_yesterday.html

Eyebeam

http://www.eyebeam.org/

http://research.eyebeam.org/

Friends of the Urban Forest
http://www.fuf.net/

SLURL / SL Location: Siona (167, 95, 61)

Activities:

http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/05/sl_events_of_th_1.html

Global Giving
http://www.globalgiving.org

Global Kids
http://globalkids.org/

Key Contact people:
Barry Joseph
SL: globalkids Bixby
Activities:
Blog: http://dmi.globalkids.org/

Global Kids, Inc. is a seventeen year-old organization with a mission to prepare urban youth to be global citizens and community leaders. Global Kids has embarked on a project studying the use of interactive tools to teach kids public diplomacy. Global Kids Island is a virtual space within Second Life where kids in the after school program facilitate their own workshops with teens across the globe. In this way, the students in the after school program are gaining leadership skills and kids across the globe are connecting to learn about cultural issues.

More info here: http://www.globalkids.org/AboutGK/PressCoverage/03282006.jsp

Global Kids Island, Chablis (139, 132, 59)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/global%20kids%20island%2C%20chablis/139/132/59/

International Space Flight Museum
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/06/to_the_stars.html

Landing Lights 3-D Wiki, part of Democracy Island,
sponsored by New York Law School's Do Tank.
http://secondtense.blogspot.com/2006/06/educators-as-innovators.html

It's a "Build your own park" for local people in a real location in Queens, NY, to have direct input into what they think should be done to improve their park. The 3-D Wiki will be used for actual feedback to the city's planning board, and the board has been aiding a great deal in providing feedback to allow us to meet their needs.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
http://www.lls.org/hm_lls

Key Contact people:
SL: Confucious Madonna

SL: Cram Doctorow
RL: Marc Sirkin

Marc's Blog: http://www.sirkin.com/nonprofit_emarketing/

marcsirkin@yahoo.com

Activities:
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society have started virtual chapter and built a cabin.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lls/166401313/

SLURL/SL Location

Pryeri (85, 189, 30)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pryeri/85/189/30/

Live2Give
http://braintalk.blogs.com/live2give

Key Contact People:
John Lester
SL: Pathfinder Linden We should ask John if someone else should be listed as the main contact person, or if he'd prefer one of his alts listed here

Activities:
To foster an online community helping people dealing with cerebral palsy and similar physical disabilities.
Wilde Cunningham is part of this program.

SLURL/SL Location

Live2Give (147, 183, 30)

Also see Project Brigadoon
http://braintalk.blogs.com/brigadoon/2005/01/about_brigadoon.html

Make-A-Wish Foundation

http://wish.org/

Key Contact people:

SL: Yonder Doesburg

Activities:
Collecting donations inworld: http://slurl.com/secondlife/mogwa/197/185/59/

Last checked (6/23/06) $14,000 L was donated or roughly $45 USD

IM from Yonder: "I am not affiliated with Make A Wish. I only ask for donations from citizen of Second Life, and at the end of each month I sell the donations on the Lindex, then donate the money to Make A Wish. Each of my donation boxes will give any one who touches them more information about how the donations are handled.

SLURL: Mogwa (197, 185, 59)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mogwa/197/185/59/

Frank Contacted 6/28

New Media Consortium

http://www.nmc.net/

Key Contact people:

RL: Alan Levine (CogdogBlog)
SL: CDB Barkley

Activities:

http://www.nmc.org/sl/
They had an event on blogging and vlogging in SL

Here's Alan Levine's (CogDogBlog) notes on it:

http://cogdogblog.com/2006/06/10/real-and-virtual/

Ourmedia

http://www.ourmedia.org

Key Contact people:

Pixels4SL

http://pixels4sl.blogspot.com/2006/05/welcome-to-pixels4sl-project-blog.html

Key Contact People: Xavier Potau (not sure whether this is SL or RL name)

Activities:

Pixels4SL is a NGO created in-world, a virtual NGO. The purpose isto raise funds inside Second Life by selling products and services. Benefits of those sales will go 100% to a donation pot which will be translated periodically into real US$ and donated to humanitarian projects in Africa. All the donations will be given through the website www.globalgiving.com to local project in Africa monitored by the World Bank.

San Jose Art Museum

http://www.sjmusart.org/

Key Contact People:
Activities:

Putting up a virtual Island for display of virtual art works being sought from SL
http://www.ludica.org.uk/NewWest/

The event will coincide with ZeroOne Festival http://isea2006.sjsu.edu/Grabbed from comments in blog post here:

SDForum

It is unclear where there will be an org. presence or just the exhibition

http://www.sdforum.org/SDForum/

War is Evil

I've been studying non-violence these past months, finding ever more reasons that War is never necessary and Peace is our only Hope.

I felt a strong need to show people the gruesome results of war, especially the results when visited on children...

I found a blog article that made me sick!

I think every feeling, thinking human should expose themselves to the pictures in This Article; especially if you're like me and live in relative isolation from the results of War.

When we don't take actions for Peace we do violence to any spiritual feelings we may have.

Take this action for Peace. Look at these violent images. Let them sink into your soul and propel you to take action against their evilness.

I'll quote one of the Comments to a reprint of the original article:

"GOD ALLMIGHTY … Haitham - I am 36 years in medicine/mostly ICU and I thought there is not much I haven’t seen so far but these pictures made my heart miss several beats! WHAT KIND OF ANIMALS DID THAT?????? I have seriously problems to grasp the incomprehensible …

"And if the previous pictures are not horrid enough, what absolutely got me was the last … a fetus, maybe 4-5 months old … shot! How evil can it get?? How horrid .. I am missing the right words - what a terrible nightmare, what a horror!!"

Did you look at the pictures?

If you didn't I urge you to do it before you read the following list of simple actions you can take to further peace.

Why look at gruesome pictures before reading ways to further peace? Because most of us are far too content in our little worlds of relative calm. The truth is that we are One Human Family! If your biological family were involved you'd do whatever it takes to help.

Well...

This is your Spiritual Family...

64 Simple Actions Anyone Can Take To Further Peace In Our World

1 -- Today, I will reflect on what peace means to me.
2 -- Today, I will look at opportunities to be a peacemaker.
3 -- Today, I will practice nonviolence and respect for Mother Earth by making good use of her resources.
4 -- Today, I will take time to admire and appreciate nature.
5 -- Today, I will plant seeds--plants or constructive ideas.
6 -- Today, I will hold a vision of plenty for all the world's hungry and be open to guidance as to how I can help alleviate some of that hunger.
7 -- Today, I will acknowledge every human being's fundamental right to justice, equity, and equality.
8 -- Today, I will appreciate the earth's bounty and all of those who work to make my food available (i.e., grower, trucker, grocery clerk, cook, waitress, etc.)
9 -- Today, I will work to understand and respect another culture.
10 -- Today, I will oppose injustice, not people.
11 -- Today, I will look beyond stereotypes and prejudices.
12 -- Today, I will choose to be aware of what I talk about and I will refuse to gossip.
13 -- Today, I will live in the present moment and release the past.
14 -- Today, I will silently acknowledge all the leaders throughout the world.
15 -- Today, I will speak with kindness, respect, and patience to every person that I talk with on the telephone.
16 -- Today, I will affirm my value and worth with positive "self talk" and refuse to put myself down.
17 -- Today, I will tell the truth and speak honestly from the heart.
18 -- Today, I will cause a ripple effect of good by an act of kindness toward another.
19 -- Today, I will choose to use my talents to serve others by volunteering a portion of my time.
20 -- Today, I will say a blessing for greater understanding whenever I see evidence of crime, vandalism, or graffiti.
21 -- Today, I will say "No" to ideas or actions that violate me or others.
22 -- Today, I will turn off anything that portrays or supports violence whether on television, in the movies, or on the Internet.
23 -- Today, I will greet this day--everyone and everything--with openness and acceptance as if I were encountering them for the first time.
24 -- Today, I will drive with tolerance and patience.
25 -- Today, I will constructively channel my anger, frustration, or jealousy into healthy physical activities (i.e., doing sit-ups, picking up trash, taking a walk, etc).
26 -- Today, I will take time to appreciate the people who provide me with challenges in my life, especially those who make me angry or frustrated.
27 -- Today, I will talk less and listen more.
28 -- Today, I will notice the peacefulness in the world around me.
29 -- Today, I will recognize that my actions directly affect others.
30 -- Today, I will take time to tell a family member or friend how much they mean to me.
31 -- Today, I will acknowledge and thank someone for acting kindly.
32 -- Today, I will send a kind, anonymous message to someone.
33 -- Today, I will identify something special in everyone I meet.
34 -- Today, I will discuss ideas about nonviolence with a friend to gain new perspectives.
35 -- Today, I will practice praise rather than criticism.
36 -- Today, I will strive to learn from my mistakes.
37 -- Today, I will tell at least one person they are special and important.
38 -- Today, I will hold children tenderly in thought and/or action.
39 -- Today, I will listen without defending and speak without judgment.
40 -- Today, I will help someone in trouble.
41 -- Today, I will listen with an open heart to at least one person.
42 -- Today, I will treat the elderly I encounter with respect and dignity.
43 -- Today, I will treat the children I encounter with respect and care, knowing that I serve as a model to them.
44 -- Today, I will see my co-workers in a new light--with understanding and compassion.
45 -- Today, I will be open to other ways of thinking and acting that are different from my own.
46 -- Today, I will think of at least three alternate ways I can handle a situation when confronted with conflict.
47 -- Today, I will work to help others resolve differences.
48 -- Today, I will express my feeling honestly and nonviolently with respect for myself and others.
49 -- Today, I will sit down with my family for one meal.
50 -- Today, I will set an example of a peacemaker by promoting nonviolent responses.
51 -- Today, I will use no violent language.
52 -- Today, I will pause for reflection.
53 -- Today, I will hold no one hostage to the past, seeing each-as I see myself-as a work in process.
54 -- Today, I will make a conscious effort to smile at someone whom I have held a grudge against in the past.
55 -- Today, I will practice compassion and forgiveness by apologizing to someone whom I have hurt in the past.
56 -- Today, I will reflect on whom I need to forgive and take at least one step in that direction.
57 -- Today, I will forgive myself.
58 -- Today, I will embrace the spiritual belief of my heart in my own personal and reflective way.
59 -- Today, I will enlarge my capacity to embrace differences and appreciate the value of every human being.
60 -- Today, I will be compassionate in my thoughts, words, and actions.
61 -- Today, I will cultivate my moral strength and courage through education and creative nonviolent action.
62 -- Today, I will practice compassion and forgiveness for myself and others.
63 -- Today, I will use my talents to serve others as well as myself.
64 -- Today, I will serve humanity by dedicating myself to a vision greater than myself.

Sophia Makes A Visit

{ image credit }

I'm honoring another blogger today--Sophia from the blog, Visions of the World.

The picture is there because of the obvious "visions" of the world title but also because Sophia likes puzzles and mystery:

"I am a woman who loves puzzles, mostly sudoku and logic problems but especially the puzzles of living what is called life. I am fascinated by the world around me. My purpose with this blog is to try to learn as much about the world around me as I can. On this blog I will post my thoughts on subjects that take place all around the world. What I seek to do - what my main purpose is, my aim - is to experience."

I also chose that cartoon image to, hopefully, bring a laugh to Sophia's life today. She paid me an honor on her blog and I'm trying to pay her back ;-)

I truly love surfing over to her Space on the Web because it's usually happily surprising and often deeply thought-provoking.

Definitely worth a few visits!!!

One more quote from Sophia:

"I am an experiencer experiencing and experimenting with this amazing yet quizzical thing called life. It baffles me yet at the same time amuses me. I am constantly reminded that there are things out there that I have no understanding of, and quite possibly, no one else does either."

Educating Ourselves Out of Hell

My Faith teaches that Heaven and Hell are more than "places" one can go depending on some amount of ethical behavior--they're very Real states of heart and mind we all experience while still in our bodies here on Earth!

{{ This image is the photo-logo of a group I helped get off the ground recently, Mountaintop Conversations.

We're using some novel methods of communication in small groups to reach within and find ways to realize the "Dream" of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Reach within" is the important part of the process because if we want to educate ourselves out of the "hell" of poverty, racism, and violence we must go within and release the qualities we all have that Dr. King so eloquently portrayed.

Even the word "Education" comes from roots that mean to Draw Out !

I've mentioned before my parallel immersion in a simulation of non-violent methods and I've recently found a virtual world, Second Life, that looks to be a marvelous tool for training people to educate themselves out of their personal hells.

I believe even the most sceptical would find a space of interest in Second life (I personally, along with my work of Waging Peace in this virtual world, find it extremely calming to hang out at a huge castle...)

For any of you who want a glimpse behind the magic of Second Life and a more technical view of it's educational potential, Google has a neat video about all that [N.B.: The vid says there are 150,000 people using 2ndLife... That was when they made the vid; it's now over 5 million \\+// you can actually make money in this simulation !!!]

Wrapping up this post about my virtual educational experiences are two pictures--one of me in the Real World and one I created in Second Life. I'm still learning how to use the controls so my avatar doesn't look as much like me as it could; but, I'm Learning!

Women Walking In Wisdom’s Footsteps™

We've had a few posts here devoted to women:

There was Mass Murder of Women,
Abused and Tortured Women - Mass Murder #2, and Women: From Bad to Better . . .

So, today, I'm going to direct your attention to a woman's blog that's "For women who are humble enough to seek wisdom yet sensible enough to impart it."

It's called: Women Walking In Wisdom’s Footsteps™ and, since it offers to share wisdom from women, I want to, especially, invite men to take a look!

Men? Hell yes!!! I'm a man and I grew up being told that the best philosophers were men. Then, I attained an age to begin to know better. Wisdom is the name of the Goddess Sophia and if you Love her (philo) you are into Philosophy (the Love of Wisdom).

Women Walking In Wisdom's Footsteps™ is ripe and replete with Sophia's Love...

Here's that blogger's profile:

About KWiz

Dec 6th, 2006 by KWiz

What’s with this eye?

I am the wife of a wonderfully caring man, the mother of a fabulous 2-year old “big girl”, and a teacher of Biblical Studies at a private, college prep high school in Georgia who is seeking to live out her calling as a Woman Walking In Wisdom’s Footsteps.

I’ve been married since April 14, 2001 to a great writer, photographer, speaker, poet, and all-around fix-it man. He also happens to be a great father. I’ve experienced alot of growth as a result of this relationship, but it hasn’t been easy. You’ll read about some of the growing pains I’ve experienced and the many resources God has sent my way to help me grow.

I’ve been a mother since May 20, 2004. My pregnancy was divinely-ordered, and out of it came the most beautiful baby girl you’d ever want to see (of course, every mother says this about their new babies!). I struggled during most of my pregnancy, and almost lost her. I’ll tell you a bit more about these struggles and what I learned from them, hopefully providing some encouragement for those “older” women (35+) who are discouraged because of their age.

I am also a teacher of biblical studies at a Christian college-prep high school in Georgia. God orchestrated this as well, as I was blessed with this position right after I completed my Master of Divinity degree at Emory University. I enjoy studying and teaching both Old Testament and New Testament from an academic point of view; it doesn’t negate faith at all, but it does open up the scriptures in a way that adds so much richness to one’s faith, if they allow it. I’ve been teaching on an academic level for seven years now - it is my calling, and I’m so thankful that I was open to receiving what God had for me. I’ll be speaking a bit about calling and how you can go about discovering yours.

These are a few of my many experiences that I hope will enlighten and encourage you as we seek to gain and share wisdom together.

Veterans For Non-Violence

{ image credit }

As a past post indicated, I'm deep into a study of the means and principles of non-violence. I've found a wonderful Serious video game called A Force More Powerful and the Director of the Dayton International Peace Museum and I are planning to take it to local high schools and help the kids learn that non-violence is much more powerful than violence (no matter what the media would have us believe...).

That man on the left is General Douglas MacArthur. I've heard rumors that he was a warmonger and a completely horrible man. In a second, I'll give you some of his words that surely seem to falsify that rumor but first I want to show the path that led to this post.

Not everyone who visits here knows how stories happen and there are, in reality, many ways and means. The particular one for this post was one of the more circuitous: I have an alert with Google to find any news, or blog posts, or other web pages that have the words "spiritual" or "spirituality" in them. Today, as I began to ready myself for blogging, I hadn't had any of the more synchronistic methods occur so I went to my storage for those alerts. I entered the word "war" and the first e-mail that popped up was:

WAR AND SPIRITUAL PROGRESS
By chenquestion
Wow! Just found a terrific quotation from warrior of legendary stature, over at the InsideAwake blog: http://insideawake.blogspot.com/ . Among other goodies.
Chen.quest.ion - http://chenquestion.wordpress.com

That led me to War and Spiritual Progress on another blog called, insideawake (which is pretty cool since "inside" and "awake" together make "idea" pop out!). This blog had a quote from a speech made by MacArthur and the link-out led me to The American Experience section of the PBS site where I found the whole speech and this quote (the emphasised words are my doing...):

"Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods through the ages have been attempted to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start workable methods were found in so far as individual citizens were concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international scope have never been successful. Military alliances, balances of power, Leagues of Nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be 'by way of the crucible of war. The utter destructiveness of war now blocks out, this alternative. We have had our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature and all the material and cultural developments of the past 2000 years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."

Sound like a warmonger to you.........?