Dear Alternatives friends my 'alternative' friend Pracha in Thailand sent me the invitation below. The times don't work out for me, but for those of you 'up north' who are interested it might be possible. Christi

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*From: *M.Schupbach + P.Hutanuwatr <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> *Subject: **Social + Spiritual Activism + Deep Democracy* *Date: *24 October BE 2563 08:51:37 GMT+7 *To: *Pracha Hutanuwatra <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> *Reply-To: *M.Schupbach + P.Hutanuwatr <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>

*Saturday, October 31, 2020 * Bangkok 9.30 - 11:30 pm, Berlin 3.30 - 5:30 pm, Los Angeles 7.30 - 9:30 am, Nairobi 5.30 - 7:30 pm

*Pracha Hutanuwatr, Thailand and Max Schupbach, USA*

If you would like to present a situation, please write [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> as early as possible. We will discuss situations in the order that we receive them.

*Social Activism, Spiritual Activism +  Deep Democracy*

An Interactive Lab

As/social activists/we devote our lives to advocating change - waking the world up to marginalization, injustices, and other imbalances in ecosystems. At times, some of us might question our impact and wonder about how much self-care is needed for a sustainable effort. As/spiritual activists/, we deeply experience the world as one, and advocate inner work and inner balance, compassion and love as key drivers in change. At times, we can question our impact and wonder how much direct activism is needed to maintain a deeper sense of our whole presence. Many of us take our inspiration from figures who seem to bring these qualities together: Harriet Tubman, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela.

Deep Democracy is an approach that differentiates between awareness levels in terms of parallel worlds of/everyday reality/or/consensus reality/;/dreaming reality/where local and non-local roles interact with one another; and/essence/, the core that gives rise to polarizations.

This is a learning lab for everyone who is affected by some of the issues mentioned here. Come and explore with us how we as individuals, teams and communities can support each other to forward sustainable change where all voices - human and sentient - and all levels of reality are/over time/being taken into account. The format of these two hours will be an interactive lab, where participants can present situations, inner dilemmas, personal growth issue and/or strategic decisions. The discussion will be facilitated by Pracha Hutanuwatr, Bangkok, Thailand and Max Schupbach, Oregon, USA.

*Ma**x Schupbach, Oregon, USA* co-founded the Deep Democracy Institute (DDI), a think tank and learning hub with Deep Democracy leadership initiatives in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Russia, Ukraine and the USA. DDI regularly creates Open Forums for the public where hot topics that divide communities are processed. DDI's mission is to collaborate with diverse communities to explore how process awareness can improve and deepen the lives of individuals and communities. Max facilitates conflicts on the government level, in grassroots and social activist movements, corporations, diverse spiritual communities, and prisons, to name a few. He is a founding member of the Deep Democracy movement dating back to the eighties.

*Pr**acha Hutanuwatr, Bangkok,Thailand* is a facilitator and author passionate about integrating contemplation and social action.  A former monk with a socialist background, he was trained under the guidance of the late Buddhadasa, renowned Buddhist philosopher and Sulak Sivaraksa, an influential intellectual of Siam.  Pracha released his role as director of Wongsanit Ashram in 2002, which he held for 10 years, and founded/Young Awakening/to bring holistic education to youth. In 2012 he co-founded/Ecovillage Transition Asia/to promote ecological community reconstruction in Asia.  For more than 20 years, he has been facilitating seminars in/Ecovillage Design Education/(EDE) for social change workers and officials in Burma and South China. Pracha co-directed the/Grassroots Leadership Training/(GLT) programme for over 10 years, a successful sustainable community initiative in Burma and South East Asia. Through the decades he has been supporting and empowering holistic organisations and promoting participatory leadership in service to the community. Pracha has written and co-written numerous papers on Engaged Buddhism and ecological politics from an Asian perspective. Since 2016 he has co-directed/Awakening Leadership Training/an annual 6 month-programme based at Wongsanit Ashram for social change workers throughout Asia and beyond. The training focuses on spiritual cultivation and assists participants to integrate an ecological perspective into their work while sharpening socio-political awareness for social justice, sustainability and cultural integrity.

*Registration* The lab is free of charge, however we encourage you to donate a class fee of 40 $ if it is affordable. The donations will be split for scholarships to the Bangkok leadership institute and travel and lodging scholarships for courses for DDI learners. Register for the Zoom Class here https://ddi.best/activism <https://deepdemocracyinstitute.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=03394fcc8287e937b12ac732c&id=09b77825c7&e=8324d5465f>

This email was sent [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> /why did I get this?/ <https://deepdemocracyinstitute.us4.list-manage.com/about?u=03394fcc8287e937b12ac732c&id=12ad2e285a&e=8324d5465f&c=d8f12a2302> unsubscribe from this list <https://deepdemocracyinstitute.us4.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=03394fcc8287e937b12ac732c&id=12ad2e285a&e=8324d5465f&c=d8f12a2302> update subscription preferences <https://deepdemocracyinstitute.us4.list-manage.com/profile?u=03394fcc8287e937b12ac732c&id=12ad2e285a&e=8324d5465f> Deep Democracy Institute · 625 Highway 101 # 179 · Florence, OR 97439-7634 · USA