I just returned from a 7 day Pachamama Gathering. I am exhausted, full of hope, full of despair and very much wanting to briefly share my experience. Here is my attempt. I hope that my notes were accurate.

The first 4 days of the gathering was a meeting of 30 facilitator leaders from around the world who have created what is known as the World Initiative Team WIT. The final three days were shared by close to 200 people at the global gathering. We were represented by people from the US, Britain, France, Belgian, Australia, Spain, Argentina and Japan. We were taught and we taught, we sang, we processed, we shared and we learned that we were all connected by a slight irritation inside- one that wanted to transform our species into one that is life sustaining. This slight irritation we called Blessed Unrest. We were told by Lynne Twist that all we need is a hundred million people who were motivated by Blessed Unrest to reach the tipping point on the planet.

Lynne shared with us some great stories about the work being done with Prince Charles Rain Forest Initiative. The Prince is pulling together the CEO’s of the 20 largest corporations on the planet around saving the remaining rain forest and creating a shift in thinking. Johnson and Johnson is initiating a program to encourage all 120,000 of their employees to experience the symposium. Sun Microsystems is going to help put together an internet version of the symposium primarily for its own employees. Jerry Weintraub of Warner Brothers is putting together a new socially responsible film company whose first movie will be The Pachamama Story.

Lynne also reminded us that there was a difference between the Symposium and the Initiative. What we are really about is bringing forth a new society. She stressed that we are about transformation and not change. Transformation is something much bigger. And finally Lynne explained to us that her husband was in Ecuador working with the government to help create a new constitution in which nature will be given basic rights.

Paul Hawken taught us that we will need to encounter our fear. Everything about the future that we believed in will change. We are entering a period when life will not evolve around cheap energy. We are past peak oil, peak water and probably peak coal. There are technical solutions out there but they will take commitment and time to bring them on. All living systems are cratering and population continues to grow.

In business terms Paul taught that CapEx and economies of scale will give way to Operating Costs and the need to build economies based on diversity. Companies caught up in the old dream will fail. New companies that are bringing forth new technologies will succeed.

Paul said that the gift of the moment is that the world is going to wake up. He encouraged us to use humor to overcome fear.

Joanna Macy taught about deep time. She noted that current time has sped up. We have all been forced into short-term thinking. She took 200 of us through a couple of deep time exercises that had people sobbing uncontrollably. She is teaching how important it is for us to come alive to our feelings.

Brian Swimme put us into awe with his knowledge and humor. He described the 14 Billion year jump from hydrogen atoms to butterflies and Giraffes as a lot of playing around in the dark. He challenged us to breathe in and out molecules that represents everything from the beginning of time. He taught us that at the speed of light that time does not exist. We are still seeing the light of the big bang.

We saw samples of the new video intensive version of the symposium. It was incredible but Blessed Unrest has already moved the conversation to a truly global version. This version would have teachers speaking in their own languages from all places on the planet.

We were introduced to the new and much improved Awakening the Dreamer Website. Here we will be able to better tell our story and greatly improve our communications.

Many participants made public declarations as to what their intentions will be when they return home. One group is working on a youth symposium. Another group is working to bring the symposium to more businesses. Another to bring the symposium to Unity Churches. And another to help build alliances.

And the part that I can’t fully put into words is that people were working together with a very high level of integrity. Slights and wounds were being taken care of by people who understood that the initiative was more important than the slights and wounds. There was a true transformation taking place within the room.

Victor Bremson