Jay gave a peace covenant to Vice President Gore. I gave a copy of the book Spiritual Renaissance to Deepak Chopra, who passed it on to one of his colleagues who had already started reading it by the time I met him the next day. We spoke with Betty Williams and told her we have been studying her life and learning from the message of her commitment to action. She was pleased, and we will send her the book Peacemaking — 9 Lessons for Changing Yourself, Your Relationships and Your World and the film The Invitation when they are ready.

I also spoke with Rinaldo Brutoco who is the President and founder of the World Business Academy. This is an influential 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to bring spirituality into the workplace. “The WBA was founded upon the understanding that business is the dominant institution in society today and the one most capable of responding to rapid change.” I told him about the Intuitive Business Analyses we do. He was very interested and asked if we could do one on a country or a nation. He was interested in an intuitive report on the global economy and said they would publish the results, to let other people know about this service. I told him it requires the permission of the owner or head, and asked him if he would be interested in having one done on the World Business Academy. He said that he would. This has huge potential, bringing to business people the knowledge of how to cooperate with the Universal Laws. Imagine how the world can change when large corporations understand this!

There were other interesting connections made during the Gathering. Stephen Simon, film director and producer of such films as Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come, is forming groups called Spiritual Cinema Communities to introduce people to films that ask the primary questions, “who am I?” and “why am I here?” That is his definition of Spiritual Entertainment. He has founded a 501(c)(c) corporation called The Institute for Spiritual Entertainment dedicated to “the rediscovery of inner wisdom and divine power.” He is currently making a film called Indigo about an indigo child whose presence heals some of the adults in her life. I spoke with him about The Invitation and gave him a copy of our DVD of the making of the Peace Dome and will soon be sending him a copy of How to Raise an Indigo Child.

Kerry Bowden, a grandmother from Australia who vowed to make the world a more peaceful place by 2015 when her granddaughter was born three years ago, has written a poem called One Mind One Voice. When I told her about the Universal Peace Covenant and our One Voice she said it was destined that we meet. She is one of the original organizers of the Alliance for a New Humanity. I believe she may be influential in the School of Metaphysics being able to play a larger part in future Alliance gatherings. She was most interested in the Peacemaking book. She also offered to ask people for stones for the healing wall in her travels around the world.

Stephen Simon (far left) producer of the new movie "INDIGO"

Oscar Arias, Depak Chopra, Jason Crowe, and child peace advocate Tara

Jason Crowe, a young man who has just turned seventeen, was one of the speakers at the gathering. He is a remarkable indigo who we spoke with at breakfast the first morning. At the age of nine he started his own newspaper to raise money for cancer research, following the death of his beloved grandmother from pancreatic cancer. The newspaper’s mission is to Inform, to Inspire, and to Interconnect. At the age of ten, he started a foundation to raise money to build a peace statue and fund peace projects. To date he has raised nearly $50,000. Jason has his own website and has organized and visited notable people all over the world. I gave him a copy of the Universal Peace Covenant and the film Making Peace. He was very interested and may visit the College of Metaphysics.

I congratulated his mother Cindy on her support of him, and she said, “You know, you’re the only person who has told me that. Everyone else has congratulated me for making Jason into who he is. I didn’t have anything to do with it. I just allow him to be who he is.” Jason refers to his parents proudly as “The Great Facilitators” because they have helped him achieve his dreams. Cindy and I spoke about parenting and how it requires courage and wisdom for a parent to encourage their child to blossom to fulfill their own destiny. I will also send her a copy of the book How to Raise an Indigo Child. I am certain it will help her to understand more deeply why this young man is in her life and her own lessons in respect and humbleness. Cindy said that many people had talked to her about indigo children but she didn’t really know much about them.

The closing event of the gathering was a film called Mother Teresa the Legacy presented by two sisters who spent 20 years in Mother Teresa’s company. They filmed intimate moments with Mother and with some of the Sisters of Charity. The moving messages in the film were a fitting close for the two days of the gathering. “All great works are done in love,” said Mother Teresa, and the members of the Alliance are all people who devote their lives to some work of love.

The two filmmakers, Ann and Jeannette Petrie, were thrilled to hear that we were studying the life of Mother Teresa and using her example as a way to live more peaceably. They also are looking forward to reading the Peacemaking book when it arrives. Ann had spoken with Karen Mosby, who was filming some of the gathering, and whispered to her, “I’ve been watching you film and you’re good,” referring to her attentiveness in filming significant interactions among the people at the gathering. There are many ways that we influence people with our own example of practicing the Essential Life Skills taught in the SOM course of study.

Many ideas were generated at this gathering. One of the speakers is a swami named Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev who spoke about the urge within each of us for expansion. He was very simple and eloquent, stating that this urge for expansion means that whatever we value, we always want a little bit more. Whatever we think we are, we always want to be a little bit more. He said that in the mental (the intellect), this expansion is greed, in the emotional, it is love, in the physical it is sex. That’s why people are never satisfied, because whatever they have it is never enough. He said that the true expansion is in a dimension beyond the physical. It is fulfilled through uniting with the Infinite inwardly, not by trying to expand outwardly. The real expansion people seek is expansion of awareness. “When I am willing to change, the world changes,” he said.

This is the message of the Universal Peace Covenant. World Peace begins within ourselves. The Alliance for a New Humanity is a growing group of individuals and organizations who are actively working to change the world by changing themselves and their lives. David Simon, a doctor who is instrumental in the Chopra Center, exhorted everyone to spend some time in silence every day, to think about what you put into your body and into your life, to remember that peace begins at home, and to make personal commitments.

As representatives of the School of Metaphysics, Connie, Jay, Karen, Lisa, and I were all proud to be examples of the ways that we live these principles each day and teach others to do the same. We in the School of Metaphysics have a great treasure to give to the world. We have an understanding of the mind and how it works, how to discern cause, and in that, how to cause change. There are many determined and committed individuals in the world who yearn for the truths we know. We just need to reach out to them.

I give you my circle of love,
Dr. Laurel Clark

Read more stories from the Alliance for a New Humanity meeting......Connie Orsini......Lisa Bold........Jay McCormick......Karen Mosby

Copyright 2004, School of Metaphysics