Board
of Administrators: Vitor Rodrigues; President,
Vladimir Maykov, Bernadette Blin and Jason Wright
Newsletter Editor: John Drew
16 October 2005
EUROTAS NEWSLETTER 29
Dear Friends – please print this
or circulate to those who might be interested and ask them to send an email
for their own copy. Please note that certain notes are
repeated from the previous Newsletter in particular the letter from
our President Vitor Rodrigues. Please put the dates for EUROTAS France in your diary 5-8 October 2006
1. A letter from Vitor Rodrigues, our President after the Moscow EUROTAS Conference
2. A letter from Rumold Mol and the East-West Eurotas Foundation
3. Elena Francisc writes from
4. EUROTAS/GRETT Conference in
5. Ways through the Wall: Approaches to Citizenship in an Interconnecting World -The book of the EUROTAS and CTP London Conference
6. A Message from Nancee Sobonya about the Gifts of Grief
7. Lisinka Ulatowska and her novel “Fearless”
8. The EUROTAS website: our Webmaster explains the EUROTAS Forum
9. News from Sylvy Joly of GRETT in
10. Ovidiu Brazdau and a letter from
11.
12. The Moscow Conference: Gennady needs help!
13. Last Thoughts
1. A letter from Vitor Rodrigues, our President after the Moscow EUROTAS Conference
Dear EUROTAS Delegates and Friends,
I am very happy to be back in contact with all of you to say how much I enjoyed our EUROTAS Congress, our meeting in Moscow and the support I received for my proposals and the possibility for us to move EUROTAS further in our time of great need.
I have been reading about archetypes and the way they can give birth to several myths and the way myths can influence history – the same myth being reborn eventually several times in different areas of our globe and different moments of history.
Of course, the higher one can raise our consciousness, the closer one gets to the universal mind as the fountain of archetypes, myths and history. According to such vision, a great leader is always someone who got in touch with some myth in accordance with a certain nation and who incorporates this myth. So people can feel that following this myth and this leader they are following something that has a sense. Europe needs sense and it is loosing sense because lots of modern historians and politicians believe history to be only a matter of economy, local interests and struggles among people. Lots of humans are totally intoxicated with consumerism and a modern prostitution of old myths and archetypes. Our modern hero is a vague shadow of the archetype of the hero and our modern concepts of human value are pitiful things if one is to consider the values of consciousness expansion and human holistic development against the way nowadays an important human is one with lots of money, fashionable clothes, power and prestige and his achievements are to be found in what he owns, bodily incomplete sex and prestige. They are lacking the possibility of history to have a purpose and historical moves to be the unfolding of this purpose, to be found in myths and archetypes. For me, EUROTAS is one small but important hope for Europe to regain some sense and some inner purpose. It can become an important group leader.
So I was extremely happy to see the way our meeting in London was followed by our meeting in Moscow, the quality both had and the way we are developing a worldwide network of fellow workers for spirituality, sense in purpose all over the world. In Moscow, I had a feeling of the presence of an inner world beyond nationalities being presented and appearing through strong and harmonious national colours – as it should be. Also of course I am very pleased to witness the way effort and good will played – again – its part in making it all happen.
So again: we have huge possibilities even if we are a small bunch of people but we must channel them in useful ways. Let me suggest some:
1. As John Drew said, we can send our work through our EUROTAS website so that it can be an important meeting point and a resource for both general audiences and researchers in the transpersonal field;
2. We can find useful links to our website and send them
3. We can start inquiring about who will write articles from each country to our future joint book on European Spirituality and we can even start working on them
4. We can prepare short comments and summaries about books, articles, transpersonal work underway in our countries, the past, present and future of Europe and so on
5. We can answer each email from the President of EUROTAS even if we do it only to say we have received his last email!
6. We can participate in the EUROTAS forum but for this we must be able to make a commitment in this direction. We are EUROTAS… so, ASK NOT WHAT EUROTAS CAN DO FOR YOU BUT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR EUROTAS (I just borrowed this one from JFK but I totally feel it)
7. And we can start paying the membership fees for Eurotas (if we have not already done so). The Membership fee for 2004 was 150 € and for this year 2005 we have agreed is 200 €. Of course, some countries are expected to pay according to their possibilities (actually they were generous and some have paid already 2005 fees in Moscow). So, please, the Associations who haven’t paid the 2004 fee, do it along with the fee for 2005. You can transfer the money to the bank account I prepared for receiving Moscow’s money:
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria
Vitor Jose Fernandes Rodrigues (EUROTAS)
IBAN: PT50 0019 0044 0020 0044 8535 3
BIC: BBVAPTPL
When you do transfer money, please let me know
also by email so I can
track in a better way who has paid. I wish you all
very nice holidays
with lots of rest and inspiration
Warmest regards,
Vitor Rodrigues
2. A letter from Rumold Mol and the East-West Eurotas Foundation
Many of you know Rumold Mol and the work he did in supporting over many years the development of Eurotas and in particular the establishment of the East-West EUROTAS Foundation
This is the letter he has written and which you may wish to respond to. The initiative he proposes has not yet been considered by the Board of Eurotas but it is a start of an initiative. Please reply to Rumold and copy it to Vitor Rodrigues and the EUROTAS Board
European Coordination Center
Heemstede, 27 September 2005
Dear EUROTAS member and National Associations
EUROTAS has been an incredible success story. Regardless of all discrepancies we have gone through over the years it has been growing in quality clearly visible again in its new book "Ways through the Wall" and in quantity - the number of countries with one central national association which became member grew steadily. Now we are in the stage that it has to better use its force and its momentum.
The basic idea of EUROTAS is to form a network of transpersonal associations, one in each country of Europe. The purpose being to help Europe to evolve into the stage of a new transpersonal paradigm. I do think that the grand idea of EUROTAS, the transpersonal vision, fits very well in the stream into which Europe is developing; a quite unique social democratic entity as nowhere else exits in the world. Through the transpersonal vision Europe will be able to answer an increasing amount of its political challenges.
Though there are already many member countries, even more are not-yet-members. A challenge of EUROTAS is to see whether more can join. Together it must be possible to use our momentum to achieve this aim.
After the opening of the iron curtain EUROTAS was faced with a similar challenge and some of us started the East West EUROTAS Foundation. We started at the invitation of persons from Eastern European countries that had an interest in the development of the transpersonal vision in their country and wanted us to share our experiences and training in the years we were free. Numerous facilitators offered workshops, seminars, assistance to conferences, summer schools and training with the result that Transpersonal Associations established themselves in Eastern Europe and later in the process five countries became members of EUROTAS.
In my opinion this task of the East-West project can still be continued, though now with the collaboration of all members of our network. 9 countries in Western and 15 in Eastern Europe are not-yet-members. By now we can abandon the idea of East and West and just state that in Europe, as whole 24 countries are not-yet-members
The East-West project still has a staff and some financial resources. The staff is quite willing to continue its activity and join with new facilitators from any member-country.
Together all will assist not-yet-member countries which so request, by training its nuclear-group that will start subsequently the national association.
There must be many countries which have some kind of association related to the transpersonal or even full transpersonal associations which are ignorant of the existence of EUROTAS. The question is to make contact.
MY QUESTION TO YOU IS: Are you willing to think intensively whether you can find a contact in one of the European countries which is not yet member?
The question is to find a person with a desire to start a new association in her/his country. If this person is interested in any kind of assistance then we will work with her/him.
One more question, which follows out of this one, is, could your Association offer some assistance to a not-yet-member country?
We hope to hear soon from you.
With love and dedication
From all of the East - West EUROTAS project staff
Rumold Mol
East West EUROTAS Foundation
P.S.
Not yet members are:
Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria,
East West EUROTAS Foundation
European Coordination Center
Heemsteedsedreef 59 2101 LM Heemstede,
Tel / fax: 0031 23 529 1500 K.v.K: S41226181
Bank ING: 66 10 17 540, East - West EUROTAS Foundation, Heemstede,
e-mail itant.rumoldmol@freeler.nl
3. Elena Francisc
writes from
Elena Francisc is hoping to publish the EUROTAS book Ways through the Wall in
My Association (ATT - Asociatia de Terapii Transpersonale) is doing better and
better. This past weekend I had a 3 days workshop on Holotropic Breathwork.
22 people from all over
This year I will have only two other activities at the ATT (one in Nov and one in Dec) but next year I hope it will be much more. I am really happy that people are very open towards Transpersonal.
It will be a great help if you could send me more material (articles, essays, tapes, CD's).
Cosmo office: Elena Francisc-Turner, Cosmopolitan, Str.
I would very much like to be a member of EUROTAS with ATT and will look into applying.
And if I can help EUROTAS in anyway please do let me know. I would be more than happy to do it.
In October I will work with Tav Sparks in
All my love,
Elena
4. The EUROTAS/GRETT
Conference in
Bernadette Blin and her colleagues from GRETT have kindly agreed to host the 8th EUROTAS Conference from Thursday 5 – Sunday 8 October 2006. It will take place in the lovely Loire Valley two hours from Paris at the beautiful Chateau de Fondjouan which is situated in a large park in the countryside. More details later but please put the dates in your diary now. The Conference Theme will be “Revealing the Divine Feminine.”
On the Thursday 5th there will be an all day EUROTAS meeting for friends and delegates followed by a half day of sightseeing of the Chateaux of the Loire and then a joint conference with the GRETT Forum on the Friday evening until the Sunday evening.
More details soon on the GRETT website www.grett.org and the EUROTAS website www.eurotas.org or www.citizenshipconference.com
5. Ways through the Wall: Approaches to Citizenship in an interconnecting world– the book of the London EUROTAS and CTP Conference
Our book has been published. We hope
EUROTAS supporters will purchase copies because of the intrinsic interest
of the book and also to help EUROTAS finances! Special price for orders before 1 September for EUROTAS Newsletter
readers is £10 and postage will be £2
WAYS THROUGH THE WALL
First Stone Publishing
ISBN 1-904439-54-3
Softback 234 x 156mm
304pp
Publication: June 2005 Price: £15.99
Any order can be emailed, posted, phoned or faxed direct to the First Stone office - details below.
Cheques should be made payable to First Stone Publishing Ltd. Orders by post to:
Ways through the Wall
First Stone Publishing
PO Box 8
Lydney
Gloucs GL15 6YD
E-mail enquiries to: WTTH@firststonepub.co.uk
The office will reply to the e-mailer with details of how to order
By phone with credit or Switch card to 0044 (0) 1594 560600
Publisher’s Introduction
Many people from different backgrounds, cultures and faith traditions are beginning to review their concepts of consciousness and spirituality. All agree that more sense and meaning has to be made of our complex, interconnecting world society that is changing at an unprecedented rate
Ways through the Wall is a book of short essays that demonstrates how some concepts of transpersonal psychology are contributing in a practical way to our thinking about this fast-changing world
The twenty-eight contributors to Ways through the Wall are members of the international transpersonal community. They range from distinguished academics, writers, members of the faith traditions and leaders of spiritual traditions in their own countries to professional practitioners in hospitals, schools and other organisations. They are linked by their common concern for enabling the development of an interconnecting world and their practical experience of working to make things happen
This unique book is an invaluable source of hope and ideas to those who seek a way through the wall that prevents our deepest thoughts and spiritual longings from reaching their true expression in a modern, often unheeding, world. It will appeal to professionals interested in a wide variety of approaches as much as to the general reader searching for leads and ideas on their spiritual path.
6. A Message from Nancee Sobonya about the Gifts of Grief
Hello, my name is Nancee Sobonya. I hold a Masters Degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University in Orinda CA and have been the Bereavement Outreach Educator for Pathways Hospice in Oakland CA for the past 17 years. This year I have completed an educational documentary called The Gifts of Grief. I was inspired by the stories of love and loss of those I worked with and was moved to make this film about the nature of grief, what resources can help one through the grieving process and how grief can transform us at a deep life changing level.
I have already presented the film this year at the California State Hospice Conference, the 7th International Conference on Grief & Bereavement in London, NHPCO's 1st Access Conference in St. Louis and the World Gathering on Bereavement in Vancouver. I am currently planning screenings of the film in California in October and December, and will be presenting it as a teaching tool at churches, universities, conferences and hospices nationally and internationally in 2006.
Here is a short synopsis of the film.
"The Gifts of Grief” is a compelling educational documentary that explores how a unique group of people embrace their pain, learn to live with their loss and now engage in life with more compassion, courage and awareness. Told through personal and moving stories of eight remarkable people including author, Isabel Allende; Reverend Cecil Williams; Zen Monk/Vietnam Veteran, Claude AnShin Thomas; writer, Alana Laraine; youth trainer, Vinny Ferraro and filmmaker, Lee Mun Wah. The film invites us to open to pain, and discover for ourselves the extraordinary possibilities our own losses may reveal.
Please visit the website at www.giftsofgrief.com where you can view a 2 1/2 minute trailer.
Best wishes to EUROTAS members.
Nancee Sobonya
7. Lisinka Ulatowska and her novel “Fearless”
Lisinka Ulatowska who lectured at the London Eurotas Conference writes:
Thank you for “Ways through the Wall.” What a great book!
It's full of the most useful and inspiring ideas,
perfect as I set out on my various lecture tours. I like the blue and white
and the bright white paper. It makes it easy to read and both bright and serious
at the same time. It lies well in the hand as I read it. Great
diversity of articles, too!
I have placed the back cover description on my web site: www.worldcitizensaction.com
.
This site describes, workshops, (hand) books, financial systems
relating to world citizenship and the development of a sustainable global
community.
The www.all-winnetwork.org
website covers lecture/discussions, workshops, books, educational, human rights,
think tanks, and a UN Lobby relating to the all-win principle and humanities
attempts at an evolutionary leap.
My book Fearless has now been published.
FEARLESS.
Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things in a World Gripped by Fear.
By Lisinka Ulatowska (Tel.
/Fax +31 35 691 9275. ulatowska@versatel.nl.)
“Fearless combines front-line scientific information about the nature of our universe with fascinating material addressing the deepest recesses of the human soul. To be read and enjoyed by everyone keen on knowing what this world -- and we we -- are really like.”
Prof.
Dr. Ervin Laszlo, Founder and President, Club of Budapest and Member, Club
of Rome.
Fearless is an exciting novel, which provides valuable insights into the principles
governing the rapid changes we are experiencing today. These worldwide changes
cause fear, weaken people through stress-related diseases, and invite abuses
of power, using fear as a weapon. Whether we read the story for its heart-warming
characters and the contributions they are each able to make to our world,
or for its gripping plot, we learn what makes us viable as a species and how
we can apply this to the challenges we face individually.
This novel provides invaluable insights for business people, educators, statesmen and women, NGOs and all people confronted with the
challenges of living in to-days world. It presents an anatomy of fear
and its resolution--both profoundly complex and yet compellingly simple once
you know where to begin.
Lisinka Ulatowska, Ph.D. (Psychology), MA (German from UC Berkeley), has been associated with the UN since 1969, where, as an NGO representative, she also chaired a Task Force on Financing. She has written: A World Citizens Manual (English, Dutch, German, Chinese); and the Year 2000 on a self-financing World Marshall Plan. Fearless is a sequel to Samenzwering Samenspel which inspired the international All-Win Network for activists with heart, helping to build a durable global community where all can flourish.
You can order Fearless. Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things in a World Gripped by Fear, ISBN 142 087 8581 via bookstores throughout
Europe, the US and the Pacific Rim, as well as through www.amazon.com and at, a discount,
via the publisher, www.authorhouse.co.uk.
Those doing book reports on Fearless or interviewing the author for the media
can receive a free copy by providing details of the context and applying to
rthomson@authorhouse.co.uk or writing to Ross Thomson, 500 Avebury
Bvd, Central Milton Keynes, MK9 2BE.
With warmest best wishes and many thanks for your wonderful, book!
Lisinka Ulatowska
8. The EUROTAS website: our Webmaster explains the EUROTAS Forum
The EUROTAS website is getting recognized across the world as an independent and authoritative site on transpersonal matters in Europe. Increasingly important is the EUROTAS Forum
Chris Hall our webmaster writes:
The EUROTAS Forum is a very useful way to exchange transpersonal ideas and
thoughts and it can be accessed by everyone. We hope
that the creation of this new forum will help weave threads related to this
important event. We hope that you will visit the EUROTAS Forum
which is accessed from the organisation's web site at www.eurotas.org
or you may go directly to the Forum by putting the link http://www.eurotas.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi
in your browser.
You will also find many other interesting topics on the Forum relating to transpersonal affairs and we hope that you will take the time to visit and wave your own threads into the tapestry as we very much want to hear from you.
The Eurotas Forum is free and registration takes less than five minutes. You have the opportunity to express yourself to the global community but in order for a community to work it needs your participation! An example of how successful a Forum can be is by another Forum that was begun four years ago to discuss, of all things, football refereeing. In the space of four short years, this Forum has grown to over 1000 members and greatly assisted directing traffic to the website.
Although my new job precludes me from putting in the time on
the Eurotas website that I was previously able to accomplish, I would take
a moment to thank all of you for your kind words, thoughts and contributions
over the past five years. Together we have taken the site to become
of the most visited and eminent European web sites about transpersonal
affairs. It has been a great honour to be able to work with so many of you
and I look forward to hearing from you and watching as the association continues
to grow to bigger and better things.
With warm wishes,
Chris Hall
Webmaster
Chris Hall will be stepping down as the Webmaster of Eurotas and we would like to express our gratitude for the untiring work and devotion which he has given to developing the Eurotas website over many years. It is becoming an important communications method for all those interested in European transpersonal psychology
EUROTAS
is a not for profit organisation representing the member
organisations of European Transpersonal Associations. EUROTAS respect your
privacy, should you wish to be removed from our Forum
email list, please
email webmaster@eurotas.org with the word REMOVE
in the topic line.
9. News from
Sylvy Joly of GRETT in
Dear John
Thanks
a lot for the E Newsletter. It was a nice surprise to hear from you all. I
hope you and had a nice summer. I spent three weeks in
Autumn is gently settling down in Paris...beautiful colours...
Take care Love Sylvy
10. Ovidiu Brazdau and a letter from
Ovidiu who did
so much for the establishment of ARPT and the very special Eurotas Conference
in Sinaia in
Dear friends and EUROTAS colleagues
After 3 years of activity as a founding executive director of the Romanian Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ARPT), I have decided to leave to my colleagues the development tasks of ARPT and specialize my activities. I will remain in ARPT as a member and continue my activities in the field on psychology of consciousness, inside a new association to be launched this autumn:
- The Center for Psychology of Consciousness and Human Development -
Its mission is to explore the human development stages in relation with lucidity and consciousness transformation. Of course, transpersonal development is one of the major topics of interest. I will inform you soon about its activities.
Regarding EUROTAS
I would like to leave to others my position on the EUROTAS board, as I will no longer represent ARPT. Next year, after The Center for Psychology of Consciousness and Human Development will be fully functional, it would be an honour to ask to join EUROTAS again. I thank you for the support for ARPT and me during last years. It meant a lot for me. I will pass my responsibilities to the new board of ARPT, and soon you will be contacted by the new executive director. For contacts with ARPT, the e-mail address remains the same: arpt@home.ro, also the website www.arpt.home.ro.
Meanwhile, here
in
Please contact me in the future using my current e-mail address: ovidiu@psihologia.ro, Tel: +40 21 313 12 60, Mobile +40 722 28 88 03.
All the best wishes,
Ovidiu Brazdau
11.
Many will remember Egle and Arthur and their epic
journey across Europe to Sinaia in
These two intrepid entrepreneurs of transpersonal in the Baltic write:
Dear Prof. John,
We are sending a lot of greetings and Love to you and all our friends in Eurotas.
At this time we are "under reconstruction" of our organization and
working locally making informal "transpersonal learning" clubs in
different areas of
Also, this "e-field" we think we can develop as one of possible opportunities for Baltic Center idea with Eurotas, so we are looking forward with our colleges for the possibility to use Rumold' East-West Eurotas Foundation suggestion in that way too.
Thank you and all the Associations for support and that their work goes well
Wishing you all the best, with love
Egle and Arthur
12. The Moscow Conference: Gennady needs help!
Gennady Brevde, the master organiser behind the Moscow EUROTAS Conference in June needs feedback from those who were there. It will help him and cooperation in Europe a great deal if you could reply to him at: Gennady Brevde psyche@GB4205.spb.edu and copy please to profdrew@eurotas.org
Dear colleague.
The Eurotas Moscow conference, in which you have participated, is considered as significant and interesting not only by members of Eurotas, but by many transpersonally-oriented scientists and practitioners, who want to be acquainted with it's content & outcome.
In the nearest future I'm going to prepare it's overview for JTP. To do this job successfully, I'm undertaking efforts to collect opinions and generalize them into something like collective opinion. I need some information & supporting energy from you.
Dear colleague!
Please, feel free to make your answers as detailed as you want.
1. A Few words about you
2. The main impression you had got.
3. What papers or workshops presented at the conference you consider outstanding and why.
4. Your personal outcome (feedback, new ideas or methods that you will use in your work, new possibilities, etc).
5. What methods or paradigm, presented in conference you can or want to contend with.
So, be so kind to fill out enclosed questionnaire and e-mail it to me as attachment.
With best regards & love
Gennady
13. Last thoughts:
The plans are now being put
forward for the first world wide Transpersonal Conference in
The website needs active participation in the EUROTAS Forums. There are needs to contribute articles and information about Associations and yourself to the EUROTAS newsletter and we would ask you to buy a few copies of “Ways through the Wall” to support EUROTAS finances. All thoughts please to our President Vitor Rodrigues at psicosophos@mail.telepac.pt and copy to the Newsletter Editor profdrew@eurotas.org for passing on to those interested in your queries
As ever
Love
John Drew
Newsletter Editor