As regular readers will know, each year, World Goodwill sponsors a seminar at our three centres in New York, London and Geneva. This year, the theme of the meeting was Energy Follows Thought. We were able to stream video live from the events in New York and London, and the archived videos are now available for viewing here. Also at this page is an audio recording of the Geneva event.
Why this theme? Simply put, the power of enlightened thinking is the evocative principle of the new world community that we all long to see. Energy follows thought is an idea whose time has come and it’s imperative that the consequences of this natural law are understood and responsibility taken for one’s own thought life. For seen with the inner eye, thoughts are living things which, depending on the motive of their creator, can be beautiful, resonating mental sculptures whose geometry and colour is naturally shaped by the quality of spiritual intention. Consciously formulated thoughts of light and love have a powerful effect on others and may endure for long ages until they have fulfilled their purpose. Indeed, human progress is built on powerful thought patterns that condition and hold societies together for a time, then give way to other ideas. The role of goodwill is to see that ideas are born in an atmosphere of goodwill so that they are impulsed by the good and towards the good.
The various speakers approached this theme from a number of angles. In New York, David Nicol, Director of the Gaiafield Project (gaiafield.net), discussed ‘subtle activism’. This is the use of the subjective energies of meditation and prayer to empower the dynamics of social change. Craig Holdrege, Director of the Nature Institute (natureinstitute.org), considered the organic, connected transformations undergone by living plants, and reflected on how one can learn to think in this manner. In London, Leonidas Zoudros of World Goodwill delved into the infinitely self-similar patterns of fractals and their reflection in nature, and proposed that, in mirroring these patterns, thought can reveal the inner dimensions of the divine Plan. Dr Chintamani Yogi, founder of the Hindu Vidyapeeth Nepal schools (hvp-nepal.org) and the Peace Service Centre, unfolded from the single seed of the Sanskrit greeting ‘Namaste’ a simple yet powerful meditation on the importance of right thought, right feeling, and right action, and shared some of the social and educational programmes in Nepal based on these principles. Matt Daw, Projects Manager of the UK charity PhotoVoice (photovoice.org), revealed how participatory photography can empower communities to communicate their core message to legislators and decision-makers. In Geneva, Marco Toscano-Rivalta of the United Nations presented an interesting and thought-provoking view on the UN as “a centre for harmonising the actions of nations,” a phrase from the UN charter. It triggered a lively discussion including the question: “Why does the word ‘confidence’ not appear in the Charter of the United Nations?” Other ideas, which were touched upon in the talk of Dr. Paul Béquart included the concept of synchronicity which connected perfectly with the theme of the day. Thierry Bécourt closed the series of talks by a rich selection of reflections on Triangles and Energy follows Thought. The group discussions, focussing on the Geneva theme of “Group consciousness in the world of tomorrow,” led to profound insights on the role of visualisation and energy following thought.
In the rest of the newsletter, we present a selection of summarised extracts from many of these speakers, in order to give our readers a flavour of the day.
