Our Sacred Journey

UK Barrister and Principal of the School of Economic Science, Ian Mason, has worked extensively to bring an ethical dimension to understanding economics with justice based upon a practical philosophy rooted in Advaita Vedanta and emphasizing the inherent unity of all of life. Economics with justice involves the creation of cooperative relationships based on mutual respect, kindness and compassion towards all. In stressing the importance of living an examined life, he delves into the study of the inner makeup of being human and systematic ways in which positive energies and human potential can be released, while restraining negative tendencies. Economics is a study of people and how they live and of the systems that people and governments establish to produce wealth and wellbeing. Daily practices of meditation, mindfulness, and the inner development of spiritual life are core to the curriculum of the School of Economic Science.

Sharing about musical tones, amplitude, frequencies and varying tempos, Barry Goldstein discusses the healing qualities of music as the universal language of love. A self described translator of sacred sounds and inspirational songs, he believes that music, set at certain soothing vibrational patterns can improve health and well being. He calls such music, “Music of the heart,” and he has helped to compose and play healing sounds which are being used in clinics, hospitals, wellness centers and by individuals who wish to improve their health. Receiving a flash of insight while riding a train in New York City, he understood the transformative power of love, as he observed the sunlight dancing on the waters of the Hudson River. He wanted to share this sense of sacred connectivity with all of life through the medium of music.

Moved by the large numbers of poor, uneducated children who are vulnerable to human trafficking, illicit labor practices, and exploitation, Naresh Jain co-founded Educare Foundation (www.educarecharity.org), with locations in India and New Jersey, to provide education to poor and marginalized youth. His organization helps to support eleven schools in nine states in India, and will soon open more branches. Youth leadership and Toastmasters programs, and an annual essay contest on compassion, and other important values have been launched in New Jersey. Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King, Jr. are held as the inspirational role models of Educare Foundation. The values of service, cultivating love and respect for others, developing the heart of compassion, and embracing positive principles for living are core to its mission. All officers, Trustees, and administrators of this charity are volunteers, and receive no remuneration for their services.

Professor Steve Szeghi spent his formative years, (from 15 to 25 years of age), with the United Farm Workers Union under the tutelage of Cesar Chavez, an activist farm worker, labor leader and civil rights proponent. Professor Szeghi learned important lessons on how to create transformation through acts of nonviolent civil disobedience so farm workers could receive fair wages and benefits. During this period of engagement, he discovered the poet within himself through the awakening of powerful feelings of compassion and solidarity that he felt with the farm workers. He discusses his more recent involvement with the Indigenous Peoples, primarily the Navajo, that deepened his appreciation for our sacred connection to the earth, and the respectful relationship which we must maintain towards it, and all life forms. A professor of economics for many years, his life experiences have infused his teachings with the importance of values, compassion, and maintaining right relationships with each other, and our precious environment.

While our physical bodies are miraculous vehicles that move us through our human experiences we are in reality far greater than our physical bodies. We are innately connected to higher realms of consciousness, and as we develop our spiritual lives we become more finely attuned to these subtler realms of existence that can deepen our appreciation and understanding of the sacredness of our lives, and all of life itself. Drs. JJ and Desiree Hurtak share about our true essence, and our participation in a great evolutionary flow that will ultimately lead us into transcendental union with the Divine Source of all there is. As we evolve we can discover our higher calling in life, and our life’s purpose, which helps us to learn how to care for each other with the heart of love, compassion and understanding.

In 1879, Lt. Richard Henry Pratt founded the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania that resulted in policies of cultural genocide to force the assimilation of the children of Indigenous Peoples into White society. His model was widely adopted and children were forcibly removed from their families. The goal was to “kill the Indian to save the man.” The children had to stop speaking their native languages, give up their tribal customs and way of life, and experienced the eradication of their native identities. They had to learn English and embrace Christianity. The children suffered severe mental, physical and sexual abuses which resulted in their premature death, trauma and suicide. Dr. Denise Lajimodiere shares the experiences of her parents in boarding school, the impact which their experiences had on her own childhood, and the forgiveness she had to find within herself to heal and break the generational trauma for the sake of her children and grandchildren.

Attorney Danika Littlechild, a member of the Ermenskin Cree Nation located in the territory of Treaty No. 6 in Alberta, Canada, shares about the complexities experienced by Indigenous Peoples who are caught between the Federal and territorial/provincial laws of the country regarding their rights to the accessibility, availability, management and purity of water on their historic, sacred lands. The Indigenous Peoples have a deeply spiritual relationship with water, which is seen as integral to their original creation story, and a primary molder of a person’s identity. Water is believed to have its own energy and soul, and was historically managed amongst the Indigenous Peoples by their customary laws. Ms. Littlechild shares a compelling point of view that advocates for removing the Indigenous Peoples and their water rights out of the current statutory, legal framework, and restore them to their own customary laws for resolution of all issues pertaining to water.

Professor Mutombo Nkulu N’Sengha returns to the US from spending a year’s sabbatical in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and shares his experiences in Kamina, a town in the Katanga region where he established the Bumuntu Peace Institute. The people of the Congo have been long suffering in a history fraught with colonialism, dictatorships, exploitation, and prolonged wars. Some of the world’s poorest people live in a country with the world’s richest and greatest reservoirs of natural resources: gold, diamonds, copper, coltan, and various rare earth metals. Professor Mutombo speaks of his work to provide education, promote health and ethical, sustainable development in his country of birth. He is a tireless champion for peace education, interreligious dialogue, human rights, the rights of women, and social justice for his people. He shares about his many challenges living and working in the Congo, and his unswerving commitment to continue with his work there against all odds.

Drs. JJ and Desiree Hurtak share their points of view about the great pyramids of the world as repositories of knowledge, and key centers that stored ancient records of higher knowledge for spiritual transformation and the development of higher consciousness. The triangular shape of the pyramid corresponds to the body, mind and spirit of the human being. They are concentrated power points that receive cosmic signals that lead us to greater realms of knowledge. The ancient records within these sacred sites retain encoded secrets that reveal among other matters-the great seafaring civilizations that previously existed, and an ancient energy system that provided light within the pyramids. Those who have entered the interior chambers of the pyramids know that they are pitch dark, and how the ancients were able to see within them have been an historic mystery.

Father James Channan, a Dominican Catholic priest, resides in a predominantly Muslim Pakistan. He shares the importance of his life’s work in cultivating and promoting interfaith dialogue to promote understanding and peace to alleviate extremism, and religiously motivated violence. Traveling extensively throughout Pakistan, and many countries, he shares his future plans of continued engagement with universities and civil society organizations that share the vision of communities of faith living in harmony and contributing to a world inspired by the deep wisdom of their underlying values and principles which teach compassion, caring, respect, and cooperation among all peoples. Frankly discussing the challenges of being a member of a Christian minority, Father Channan also shares about how we can all work together to overcome the economic, political and societal marginalization often encountered by minority groups

Numen: The Nature of Plants is the name of a documentary film made by Dr. Ann Armbrecht and Terrence Youk. Dr. Armbrecht discusses the importance of plants as medicinal sources for healing and health, and how everyone can feel empowered by learning about the therapeutic qualities of plants, growing them at home, and taking greater responsibility for their health. She presents a vision of safe, effective, sustainable medicine, calling on listeners to think about the sources of their medicine and how their healthcare choices impact themselves and the environment. The commodification of medicinal plants has generated a lucrative supplement industry, and she cautions about the processing steps that often create end products far removed from the original healing qualities of living plants. She encourages people to step into nature more, and establish a relationship with the plants themselves as a way to deepen our own physical, emotional and spiritual transformation.

A Pit River/Wintu and Neets’aii Gwich’in Athabascan from the Arctic Village in Alaska, Faith Gemmill, is the Executive Director of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL). In 2002 a group of Alaskan Indigenous Peoples representing each region in Alaska created REDOIL to share their knowledge and strategies with each other to address the detrimental impact of the oil and gas development in Alaska. She shares the importance of protecting the lands of the IP from environmental degradation through fossil fuel extraction, pollution, and the exploitation and commodification of ancestral lands. These once pristine lands have been seriously and irreparably impacted, and are contributing to the extreme climate change conditions in Alaska and elsewhere. The health, culture and survival of the Gwich’in Nation are threatened as their precious Porcupine Caribou Herd, located within the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, face radical depletion.

In their seminal book, Pistis Sophia: Text and Commentary, Drs. JJ and Desiree Hurtak share about the importance of the Divine Feminine that inherently resides within each one of us as the heart of love, compassion and sensitivity. In loving one another, the power of Divine Love can ignite and transform hearts. The imminent rise of the Divine Feminine speaks of the Divine Mother as the Great Unifier of people through their increasing awareness and development of common spiritual values. Drs. Hurtak discuss the various forms of the Divine Mother as Fatima in Islam, Mary in Christianity, Kwan Yin in Buddhism, and her myriad emanations and manifestations that help the soul through its many transitions, and the evolution of humanity’s consciousness to increasingly higher and subtler realms.

Sharing the challenges of the Indigenous Peoples (IP), Andrea Carmen, of the Yaqui Nation, and Executive Director of the International Indian Treaty Council (ITC), discusses the important strides made by IP through the international treaties adopted by United Nations. These treaties have provided the long needed international legal instruments to protect the human rights of IP, including their sacred places that are inherent to their identities, culture, heritage and connectivity to the land. An impassioned activist, she discusses the importance of protecting these sacred areas from desecration and exploitation for their natural resources. She shares about the UN Declaration On The Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the upcoming October 14-November 1, 2013 compliance review by the UN Human Rights Committee on the IP Sacred Areas and Free and Prior Informed Consent, and compliance by the US and seven other countries with the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.

For the past 27 years urologist, Dr. Steve Arrowsmith, has worked in 12 African countries as a surgeon repairing fistulas, (i.e. holes which develop in the walls between the vagina, rectum, or bladder), in women and girls. Fistulas are most often caused by obstructed labor, or trauma due to sexual violence or premature sexual contact with young girls who are not physically mature enough to engage in sexual relations. As a result of the fistulas, the women and girls suffer extreme humiliation because of their urinary and fecal incontinence which result in their being abandoned, isolated or ostracized because of the foul odor, leg and body sores and unsanitary conditions which develop. Dr. Arrowsmith has made thousands of fistula repairs, restoring women and girls to their dignity and health. He has trained other doctors in fistula repair, researched and written extensively about fistulas, appeared as an expert with international organizations, and helped to open fistula clinics in Africa.

The United Nation’s International Day of Peace (IDP), September 21st, has increasingly captured the imagination and creativity of people around the world who have found meaningful ways to celebrate this special day that honors and commemorates peace. Monica Willard and Deborah Moldow, two highly respected representatives of civil society, have devoted many years to highlighting this day of peace with the United Nations Department of Public Information, UN affiliated nongovernmental organizations, their respective organizations, (United Religions Initiative, and World Peace Prayer Society), students, and a broad constituency to grow this day of peace in the hearts and minds of all global citizens. They hope that this one day of peace will eventually become daily peace for the world. They share the history behind the IDP, this year's theme of Education for Peace, the UN Secretary General's IDP message, and how people can join in celebrating this day.

In 1973, Dr. JJ Hurtak, then a professor of religious studies, had a profound mystical experience that revealed we are all interconnected in a unified field of the highest unconditional love that contains cosmic blueprints with specific codes that can bring our secular lives into spiritual harmony with this unified field. Meticulously set forth in his seminal book, The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch, he shows how we each are tasked with taking responsibility for the development our spiritual lives and character so we can be elevated to the realms of higher consciousness, individually, as well as collectively in positive, beneficial ways. His experience showed that we have multi-dimensional natures that exist in a multi-dimensional world of multi-verses that are all inextricably linked together. Drs. JJ and Desiree Hurtak discuss how through daily meditations, studies, and prayers we deepen our spiritual lives that help us to flourish as loving expressions of this unified field.

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, a tireless advocate and proponent for the global culture of peace, updates us on the important initiatives at the United Nations and within civil society that are raising the profile of cooperative efforts highlighting our need for individual and collective peace. He shares about the 100 day countdown for the International Day of Peace, proclaimed by UN for annual observance on September 21st. This year's theme of the Day is Education for Peace. He also shares about the High Level Forum on The Culture of Peace which will convene at the United Nations on September 6, 2013, the drafting of the Declaration on the Right To Peace at the Human Rights Council. Ambassador Chowdhury emphasizes the responsibility of each person to embrace those core values of inner and outer peace, nonviolence, and respect for others, as well as the responsibilities of parents, teachers, and leaders in advancing the culture of peace.

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, a tireless advocate and proponent for the global culture of peace, updates us on the important initiatives at the United Nations and within civil society that are raising the profile of cooperative efforts highlighting our need for individual and collective peace. He shares about the 100 day countdown for the International Day of Peace, proclaimed by UN for annual observance on September 21st. This year's theme of the Day is Education for Peace. He also shares about the High Level Forum on The Culture of Peace which will convene at the United Nations on September 6, 2013, the drafting of the Declaration on the Right To Peace at the Human Rights Council. Ambassador Chowdhury emphasizes the responsibility of each person to embrace those core values of inner and outer peace, nonviolence, and respect for others, as well as the responsibilities of parents, teachers, and leaders in advancing the culture of peace.

In 2011, Hugh Locke, President, Co-founder of the Smallholder Farmer’s Alliance, launched a ten year experiment in Haiti with a new development design that has a seven step intervention process and seven sectors which he calls 7X7. He posits that this will be the foundation upon which the entire nation can be rebuilt, and be a potential model for other countries. Tracing Haiti’s history of colonialism, prosperity, economic decline that relegated it to a dependent foreign aid recipient, and the confluence of recent natural disasters, Haitians have been stripped of their economic and political self determination, stability, and prosperity. Locke also maintains that the 7X7 plan will help Haitians move towards self empowerment, and eventually reverse the trend of food imports from industrialized farms of developed countries, by having thousands of local farmers increase food production for their own country through organic farming methods that use natural, high quality seeds.