The Legacy of Los Alamos, atomic city

Buffalo Deer Dance on San Ildefonso Feast Day

2012-01-23T23:35:00.000-07:00

Event: 23 January 2012; Updated: 27 Jan 12

The most important feast day of the year is in honor of San Ildefonso, patron saint of the pueblo, when the Buffalo Deer Dance is performed.

Male Figures in the Costume

Julian Martinez

1932

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Female Figure in Costume

Jose Encarnacion Peña

1932

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Male and Female Figures from

Jose Encarnacion Peña

1932

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Deer Dancer

Richard Martinez (Opa Mu Nu)

1932

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Big Horn Sheep

Richard Martinez (Opa Mu Nu)

1932

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Big Horn Sheep

Richard Martinez (Opa Mu Nu)

1932

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Buck in Deer Dance

Richard Martinez (Opa Mu Nu)

1932

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Buffalo Dancer

Julian Martinez

1950

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Deer Dance

Abel Sanchez (Red Cloud)

1950

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After the Dances, which featured all the costumes above, we dined at Mamma Isabelle Gonzales's home with family and her tribal sheriff son, Myron Gonzales, at the head of the table. On top of the cabinet on the dining room south wall, I spied the many inserts of their wooden Russian nesting doll ("matryoshka"). It was a gift from Sister City Sarov guests. Then I asked to sing for my supper my favorite Russian folk song about a birch tree. Myron thought it was worth an "American Idol" appearance. "Too old", I said, to which an old woman seated on my left declared. "Not so! Indians never grow too old!"

Salt Lake City trip objectives

2011-12-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

Event: December 26-31, 2011.

Traveled to Salt Lake City for LADDOF, Inc. with several objectives in mind:

1. Deliver solicited personal materials to the U of Utah Special Collections repository.
[Ongoing activity begun in March 2004]

2. Meet with John K. Carmack, Executive Director of LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund

3. Meet with Jack Tueller, Col (Ret) USAF, WWII Veteran, fighter pilot and Trumpet Player

4. Meet with Oscar McConkie, Jr., Recently retired general counsel for LDS Church

5. Hang out with youngest son, John.

In general: lay groundwork for eventual LADDOF patrons and repairing reputation of second family.

The Mormon-Church Factor in Los Alamos

2011-12-08T05:31:00.037-07:00

Posted: 8 Dec 11; Updated: 12 Dec 11

Peaceful Religion

Typical Sunday at Los Alamos LDS Ward (full parking lot)

I am working on a short (5-10 minute) presentation as a draft open letter to the Los Alamos community called "The Mormon-Church Factor in Los Alamos" as a subject for an upcoming forum sponsored by the Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum, Inc. This is a subset to a broader "first hot topic" regarding an apparent "disconnect" between the Los Alamos County Council and county citizens.

Meeting Myron (Strong Willow) Gonzales

2011-11-28T17:27:00.004-07:00

Posted: Monday, 28 Nov 11; Updated:

Eugene and Myron in Los Alamos on 11/28/11

It is hard to imagine a more meaningful conversation!

At long last I met with Myron Gonzales to discuss LADDOF's "Story Tree" project. Last August 18, San Ildefonso Gov. Perry Martinez assigned Gonzales in his role as the tribal council's representative for cultural affairs to evaluate the project. Frustrations, PC problems and unexpected obstacles delayed our meeting until Monday, November 28. But it was as if our meeting had been arranged by influences far beyond our control to give us ultimately an unhurried opportunity to meet and hear each other in a "deep democracy" setting. The meeting lasted almost three hours.

Marco's bronze horse sculpture

2011-11-23T17:06:00.005-07:00

Posted: 23 November 2011

On Saturday, November 19, 2011, Pat Trujillo-Oviedo delivered her husband Marco's bronze stallion, which Birgitta fell in love with at first sight last August in Chimayo. Last week she dreamed of receiving it. It was clearly time to bring her dream into reality!

Marco is one of the Hispanic artists who have agreed to contribute to the Hispanic spiral of the "Story Tree of Los Alamos".

JERESANO de SOLERA

Marco A. Oviedo

The Carthusian monks at Jerez de la Frontera, province of Spain, bred the best Iberian horses for the last 13 centuries to arrive at the purity and character of the Spanish horse of today. “Jeresano” refers to being of Jerez. In Spain, any good wine is aged in oak barrels and is called 'Il de solera' or 'of good origin' and made in the properly aged way. Hence the name, Jeresano de Solera, an elegant name which describes this beautiful Spanish stallion floating on air with character and flawless movement and a long-standing noble heritage. Jeresano de Solera pays homage to the French impressionist masters who saw the horse floating in the air, but could not prove what they saw until the first high-speed camera was invented in 1881."

First "Hot" Open Forum subject?

2011-11-16T17:45:00.065-07:00

Event: 16 November 2011; Updated: 25 Nov 11

On November 16, the Los Alamos Monitor published my letter about the implications of a recent unexpectedly strong defeat of a proposal that most County Council members thought would be an easy victory. This seemed a good topic for a first LADDOF event. Two letters the following week (Nov 22) confirmed that perception: a disconnect between county government and county citizens.

(Click on letters to enlarge)

Letter to Editor 16 Nov 11

Letters to Editor 22 Nov 11

This seems to me a local version of an issue being played out on national and international scales these days. In his classical book, The Spirit of Laws, French philosopher Montesquieu might refer to the issue as one of "political virtue", on which the republican form of government is built. That is, the willingness of the people to obey the law. When that willingness breaks down--when citizens no longer respect and obey the law--the republican form of government degenerates into one of two other basic forms. These are: despotic or monarchical. I believe we are heading for the former of these two.

On Monday, 21 Nov, I wrote to Max Schupbach, director of the Deep Democracy Institute in Portland, to alert him to this opportunity to offer a first forum and to ask support suggestions.

Max, you wrote us here in Los Alamos at this time last year from Nairobi to propose a first Los Alamos DD open forum. Remember? But we ran into a scheduling conflict. You asked us to identify a "burning issue" here for the forum. We have one now, which became clear only last week in the results of a county election on an initiative propose by the 7-person county council, which the council took for granted would pass easily. Instead, and to the council's dismay, it was roundly defeated by a margin of 2 to 1, indicating a profound "disconnect" between county government and community citizens. There is flash point energy brewing here, which I call "potential creative energy" or "PCE", which is manifest by low morale, suicide, destructive outbursts, etc.

We need guidance from you and your people on how best to set up this first open forum. Will you respond to this request?

On November 22, 2011, Schubach again replied from Nairobi, Kenya:

Thanks for letting us know, dear Eugene, we will be back in the US in Mid December, maybe we can connect after this. Please write to me personally, I would appreciate it. Thanks and best wishes for your work.

Dinner with Gov. Torres & Family

2011-11-04T21:53:00.004-06:00

Event: Friday, November 4, 2011; Updated: Thanksgiving Day

On November 4 we were honored to have former San Ildefonso Pueblo Governor Elmer Torres and daughter Tracee to our home for dinner to get better acquainted and discuss LADDOF. To our mutual surprise, Elmer and I discovered that we had worked in the same SIO (Stakeholder Involvement Office) for LANL back in 1993, before Elmer was elected governor of San Ildefonso Pueblo. We were also pleased to learn that Tracee, a tenth-grader at Los Alamos High, is planning to visit sister city Sarov next spring.

Elmer urged me to follow up with Myron Gonzales to get the project back on track from the scheduling difficulties since August. With that encouragement, I visited the pueblo to make a renewed attempt to arrange that long-awaited meeting with Gonzales. Fortunately we re-established contact and are now scheduled to meet for an evaluation discussion soon in Los Alamos after Thanksgiving.

Los Alamos Quakers

2011-09-25T11:00:00.003-06:00

Event: Sunday, 25 September 2011

My second meeting with the Quakers took place in a private home in Los Alamos. I love the first hour of complete silence! Two members from the Santa Fe community, who had been at my first meeting were there, but I hadn't recognized them. As is the custom of Quaker meetings, at the end of the period of silence those who feel led by the spirit are invited to speak. The hostess shared a story from the national organization. I felt like singing a song, but resisted the prompting at first. "Why don't you ask permission to sing?" the prompting continued. So I asked and then sang the song that had come to mind, a favorite old spiritual from Tennessee, circa 1830.

I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger
Travelin' through this world of woe
And there's no sickness, no toil, no danger
In that bright land to where I go.

I'm goin' there to see my father
I'm goin' there no more to roam
I'm just a goin' over Jordan
I'm just a goin' over home.

I know dark clouds will gather 'round me.
I know my way is rough and steep.
But golden fields lie just beyond me
And souls redeemed no longer sleep.

I'm goin' there to meet my mother.
She said she'd meet me when I come.
I'm just a comin' over Jordan.
I'm just a comin' over home.

We then gathered at the dining table for a potluck lunch. During our chat, someone asked why I had come to Los Alamos. I mentioned both the Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum and my interest in dream work as well as originally working with LANL's nuclear waste management group. Shari, one of the two from the Santa Fe meeting, expressed special interest in dreams and disclosed having studied dream interpretation with experts, including the well-known Jeremy Taylor, a Unitarian minister, whose celebrated work has impressed me deeply. Encouraged by her interest, I asked if everyone (nine folks) would be willing to try my simple CREEI process as a group experiment. They readily agreed, so I asked all to recall a dream without disclosing its content and then asked the twelve standard questions.

In this setting I did not ask for titles for the dreams nor did I take notes as I usually do. But they seemed to get the idea how a group such as this can develop closer community in the process of doing inner work (privately answering the questions) while also being aware of how others were answering by a nod, a smile or another outward expression. A simultaneous inner/outer process.

Shari then stunned me with an observation. How appropriate it seemed to have introduced my dreamwork and LADDOF to them as Quakers and didn't it now make more sense why Quakers were in Los Alamos?! That is, peace activists in a legendary weapons laboratory town.

There it was! Our purposes coincided and I marveled why this connection hadn't occurred to me earlier.

Corn Dance at San Ildefonso Pueblo

2011-09-11T17:07:00.003-06:00

Event: September 11, 2011; Updated: 17 Sept 2011

Corn Dance at a Pueblo

Having been invited by former governor Elmer Torres and wife Deborah to attend the pueblo's annual autumn harvest thanksgiving corn dance, I arrived early (while Birgitta attended Church in Los Alamos) to sit on their pueblo gift shop porch adjacent to the north plaza and wait for the festivities to begin. It was scheduled to begin at about 10:00 A.M. but actually began an hour later.

While waiting, a couple of foreign visitors came to the gift shop, not knowing what was about to take place. They were Yoram and Dafi Horowitz from Israel. It was a pleasure to discuss the pueblo and Los Alamos, as well as learn about their country, professions and attitudes. Yoram is a computer software executive; Dafi is a social worker. We agreed to keep touch.

After the dances began, Deborah came to meet her guests, while Elmer sang with the chanting men who gave life to the dance. All the guests were invited to a meal at their home nearby, an unexpected pleasure for the Israeli visitors.

During a rest break in the dances, I left to get Birgitta in Los Alamos. We also were treated to a delicious meal at the Torres' home together with another couple, who had come up from Albuquerque.

Viewing "Classic Maria Martinez" DVD

2011-08-19T20:27:00.008-06:00

Event: Saturday, 20 August 2011; Updated: 21 August

While at Elmer and Deborah Torres's gift shop on Wednesday (8/17), Elmer gave me as a gift a copy of the "Classic Maria Martinez" DVD on active display in their store. I got hooked in watching the first few scenes of Maria's creating a pot. I don't know if Elmer knew that my technical background is ceramic engineering, so I watched the DVD at home with Birgitta on Saturday with two sets of eyes: those of engineer and poet.

Maria & Julian

Maria Martinez Bowl

Maria Martinez Plate

Maria at work

I gained an entirely new perspective of making and firing specially prepared clay and its behavior under high crafted heat and skilled smothered quenching. I will watch that DVD many times!

Rescued!

2011-08-18T20:00:00.008-06:00

Event: Thursday evening, 18 August 2011; Updated: 20 August

Jump start rescue

After leaving Mama Gonzales's wonderful dinner for the Sarov visitors and other guests, I walked in the dark to the Governor's office not far away to where my car was parked. Alas, my battery was dead! Again? The last time this happened was not long ago, just after dinner with our Hispanic friends in Chimayo' and for the same reason. Was there a message here, beyond my absent-minded memory, I mused.

On my way back to Mama's house to find help, I passed the house of a young man who had been at the dinner a few minutes earlier. He waved at me as I walked by to say he had enjoyed the story I had told about my father becoming a Russian cowboy in New Mexico in the early 1920s. I felt emboldened to tell him my battery was dead and he immediately followed me in his Lexus to give my old Honda a jump start. When my car fired up I asked if I could know the name of my rescuer. He was proud to say "Laurence Peña", a counselor at the pueblo. I told him I would post this event on my blog. He hoped I'd spell his name right. :) I have a hunch we will meet again soon.

Recalling old dream: Backsliding off Mt. Majestic

2011-08-18T19:00:00.008-06:00

Event: Thursday evening, 18 August 2011; Updated: 21 August.

As I left Mama Gonzales's home to walk the short distance to my car parked at the governor's office, Deborah Torres was just driving into the driveway and stopped to ask how the dinner and tour with the Sarov kids had gone. I gave her a brief update, but as we talked, a very old dream (11-12 November 1964) came to mind that I'd recalled the day before in the process of writing an email to her and husband Elmer. In looking the dream up in my journal to refresh my memory for details, I realized that this particular dream was part of a set of three that were my earliest requested dreams. They came the night after I had read Hugh Lynn Cayce's freshly published book Venture Inward, which offered suggestions for recalling dreams. In those days I was new to this subject and did not know how to understand or interpret them.

In the spontaneous process of telling the dream to Deborah this past Thursday, it began to take on meaning that I'd never before considered. The dream ends with a few ordinary American Indians (!), who casually begin practicing basketball by shooting baskets at one end of a typical indoor basketball court. The dream begins with me on a slippery slope near the top of snow-covered Mt. Majestic, beginning to slide backwards on the snow without skis, but turning around by the time I get to the bottom where there is a school gymnasium.

To describe the parallel outer reality in November of 1964, I was a new PhD with General Atomic Corporation, working as a materials scientist on nuclear fuels for atomic power reactors. Professionally, I was at the "peak" of my (majestic?) new career. We'll leave the rest of the interpretation and associations for later... :)

Dinner with Sarov kids at Mama Gonzales's

2011-08-18T18:30:00.001-06:00

Event: Thursday evening, 18 August 2011; Updated: 21 August

American Indian cuisine

After the Buffalo dance the Sarov visitors and I were invited to Myron Gonzales's mother's house for a delicious traditional dinner. Mama Gonzales's home is not far from the Governor's office and it was full of good cooking, family and friends. A favorite meeting place. It would be difficult not to feel comfortable there.

Myron and I got a chance to talk a little more about the LADDOF project, but somehow the conversation got sidetracked when they asked me about my background and I told the story of my dad coming west after the Russian Revolution/Civil war of 1917-20 to become a Russian cowboy in New Mexico in the mid 1920s.

Young Buffalo dancers

2011-08-18T18:00:00.006-06:00

Event: Thursday, 18 August 2011; Updated: 21 August

Big tree on Plaza

After former Governor Elmer Torres took the Sarov student visitors and me for a walking tour of the plaza and its surroundings, including an admiring look at the famous 750-year-old cottonwood in its midst, we returned to the governor's building to witness a courtesy performance of the American Indian Buffalo dance. Myron Gonzales met us in Native costume and introduced us to the young teenage dancers, two of which were the buffalo with horns.

Buffalo Dancers

Gonzales was also the drummer to whose beat the dancers moved. He explained beforehand that this dance was hundreds of years old and came from traditions that included the experiences of Plains Indians and their buffalo hunts.

Meeting Governor Martinez

2011-08-18T17:00:00.005-06:00

Event: Thursday afternoon, 18 August 2011; Updated: 21 August.

Former Gov. Elmer Torres, Gov. Perry Martinez & LANL's Ike Richardson

A day earlier, when I met former Governor Elmer Torres at his family gift shop on the pueblo plaza to ask him when I could meet the current governor, he suggested I meet with Governor Perry Martinez the next day in the governor's office, just before his scheduled 4:30 meeting with the visiting Sarov Sister City students. Elmer would introduce us. After we shook hands that Thursday, I gave Governor Martinez a copy of the Tree of Transformation flier. He had already seen the graphics days before when I left an earlier copy with his administrative assistant, but this time he read the text on the back. After asking me to say a few more words he suggested that I meet with Myron Gonzales, pueblo council member and resource specialist for cultural affairs.

Myron was in the next room briefing the Sarov students, after which briefing Elmer introduced us. Myron and I agreed to meet again soon for a more complete discussion of the project.

LAPS Superintendent Schmidt rides my bus!

2011-08-16T06:45:00.008-06:00

Event: Tuesday morning, 16 August 2011; Updated: 20 Aug 11

Rex, Eugene & Gene at the annual LAPS kickoff breakfast

When I reported for work this morning, the second day of school, imagine my surprise to be told by the transportation supervisor that the Los Alamos Public Schools superintendent was waiting for me on my bus! I wasn't expecting him for another two days. He was delivering on his promise to me made two years ago when he first came to Los Alamos and shook my hand at the kickoff breakfast for the new school year of 2009. At that time I made him aware that we had the same name (!) [Kovalenko is a Ukrainian version of "smith"] and that I was a school-bus driver.

Following that breakfast, in the Smith Auditorium, Dr. Schmidt presented to all employees his vision for the school during his tenure. Above is a pic of him and me with the new middle school principle Rex Kilburn at the annual breakfast on August 8, 2011.

If Our Hearts Are Right... was the slogan Dr. Schmidt presented in 2009 as his vision for LAPS. "If only this were more than rhetoric", I remember thinking back then and looked forward to discussing this very point some day when we finally met. That day came last Tuesday, August 16, 2011.

Schmidt's 2009 Vision

As we traveled on bus #139 to my first morning pickup on Los Pueblos Street, I mentioned this slogan: Was it more than rhetoric? He was quick to assure me that it was indeed sincere and was pleased that I remembered it. With that we launched into a most exciting, far ranging conversation, beginning with the subject of dreams as "pictures of the heart that parallel our waking life". Was he interested to discuss that subject with me sometime as applying to his slogan? That he was genuinely interested was heartening! In fact he pledged to arrange such a discussion soon over coffee, once these first days of school settled down. Our discussion would also include the mission of the Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum, Inc.

I look forward to that day!

Sarov kids at El Rancho de Las Golondrinas

2011-08-13T15:00:00.015-06:00

Event: Saturday, 13 August 2011; Updated:

Sarov students at old closed church

Meeting former Governor Elmer Torres and family

2011-08-11T21:42:00.004-06:00

Event: Thursday, August 11, 2011; Updated: August 12

At the Los Alamos-Sarov Sister City welcome dinner tonight at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Birgitta and I were pleasantly surprised to meet the former governor of San Ildefonso Pueblo and his family. I was able to discuss the Tree of Transformation project with him and give him a flier. He offered to arrange a meeting with the present governor. Daughter Tracee, 15, is a student at Los Alamos High School. Wife Deborah manages their Than Povi Gift Shop at the pueblo.

Deborah, Elmer and Tracee Torres

Eugene, Birgitta, Deborah and Elmer

God Light on Pueblo and LANL

2011-08-10T16:30:00.006-06:00

Event: Wednesday, 10 August 2011; Updated:

As Birgitta and I drove home in late afternoon after a meeting with LADDOF director/adviser Jim Bradbury in Santa Fe, we noticed what photographers refer to as "God Light" streaming from the clouds over what seemed to be the San Ildefonso Pueblo area.

God Light over Pueblo?

However, as we came closer to home in Los Alamos, the light seemed to have shifted. It was now clearly raining down on the Los Alamos National Laboratory!

God Light on Los Alamos National Laboratory

Tepees in Berlin

2011-08-02T15:32:00.034-06:00

Event: 2 August 2011; Updated: 4 August 2011

Today's (Tuesday, 2 August) Skype conversation with LADDOF adviser Joseph Dillard in Berlin produced this photo of a tepee village not far from his home, which he photographed minutes after our conversation. Both of us were speechless after discussing my third visit to San Ildefonso Pueblo and he then mentioned what had been happening in the fields near Berlin for the last several weeks. Joseph was particularly impressed by Native American artist Alfred Aguilar's surprising, but illuminating comment about Native American art and their pots. In response to my question about how he would repair pots, Aguilar simply said, "One does not repair a pot."

I asked Joseph to summarize our conversation. He did so in an email and included this photo.

Tepees in Berlin
(August 2011)

Here is Joseph's summary of our conversation:

Dear Eugene,
My first comment was in response to what you learned from Aguilar about pots, that to "repair" is to deny the life of a living thing. To think thus is to miss the meaning and purpose of this creative work. Even when it is broken or marred...

So Los Alamos is broken or marred. The indigenous peoples of Russia and the Americas are broken and marred. The nuclear scientists of Russia and the United states are broken or marred. Those "pots" are living things. Living things need to be respected and listened to, to hear what song they want to sing, just like "the wind sometimes finds one of those songs still in the clay and lifts it out. And carries it down ito the pueblo and across the plaza."

So maybe dreams and songs will be imprinted in this tree to weave together separate stories into a new, transformed, transformational narrative that doesn't need to repair, just to sing on the wind.
And that comment contains the second thought that I had, which was that perhaps the indigenous peoples of the Tree have contributions to make. Perhaps the Russian nuclear community has some contributions to make, both from representatives of the contemporary equivalent of Los Alamos and from some retired voices that have the wisdom of perspective to add...

That led to the third, which was that perhaps an interview of the Tree of Transformation would direct you on this path. And perhaps an interview by Jim of his dream tree might be important. And that might lead to dream sharing by members of the Pueblos and perhaps even some interviewing of their relationship to this project.
These are scattered ideas. Do not let them distract you!

love,
Joseph

Tree of Transformation Project

2011-08-02T12:01:00.005-06:00

Posted: 18 July 2011; Updated: 2 August 2011

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Normally I place these posts to appear on the date of the event. This time, however, it is placed on the date of update to keep current on this now rapidly evolving enterprise....

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Discovering the Quakers

2011-07-31T13:30:00.007-06:00

Event: Sunday, July 31, 2011; Updated: 17 Sept 11

Front Gate to Quaker Meeting House in Santa Fe

After visiting Spanish Market I drove to Canyon Road to visit Dominique's and Phyllis's galleries. Looking for a parking place I noticed a space just in front of a sign to the entrance of Community of Friends meeting place. It was 10:45 A.M. when I noticed that their regular Sunday meetings were at 11:00--just fifteen minutes later, so I decided to enter. I'd never attended one of their meetings and had wanted to for years.

Since their normal procedure is to worship in silence, I sat with the gathering of 30 to 40 in pleasant, quiet surroundings. The lady who met me at the door as I came in explained that after about 45 or so minutes participants were invited to speak if they felt "led by the spirit".

An attractive woman was the first to stand, urging the gridlocked Congress get their act together to make a decision on behalf of the country. One or two others spoke identifying themselves as visitors. Then, I was shocked to find myself standing to share my most recent visit to San Ildefonso Pueblo where I learned about the nature of Indian pot making, that "One does not repair pots" and how illuminating that simple statement became for me.

Before long, others in the group stood to talk about their experiences with Native American pots, including a lament by a resident Quaker that their valuable collection of Indian pots had been recently stolen, recovered from a nearby museum and stolen again.

The woman just in front of me announced proudly (while remaining seated) that she made and repaired pots. Another, a retired school teacher, spoke of having spent much time on a local pueblo learning how to make pots the Indian way and how profound the experience was for her. Another lady expressed her grief up to that morning that one of her most cherished pots from Santa Clara Pueblo had developed a crack in it, but now she was at peace with that development in the life of her treasure.

A man then stood to tell of having had a successful career in producing and selling ceramic pots made in Japan. At the end of his career he had taken a young Indian boy under his wing to teach him his business and to learn the Indian way. He was dismayed at the boy's lack of discipline and what seemed a sloppy work ethic. But when it came time to produce something for an upcoming festival, the boy spent over 100 hours the week before to make one pot, which sold for more money than the man had made in months of his own labor!

To top all these comments off, someone spoke of an upcoming discussion on the theme inspired by poet Leonard Cohen about "Light through the cracks"!

"Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There's a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in."

When a lady announced an upcoming social potluck, I couldn't resist cracking (no pun intended) that I'd never be able to hear the word "potluck" again without remembering this experience. All laughed.

Quaker Meeting Room in Santa Fe

Quaker Announcement

I was invited to return and think I shall.

Hispanic wood carvers at Spanish Market

2011-07-31T10:30:00.000-06:00

Event: Sunday, July 31, 2011; Updated: August 7, 2011

Coming to the annual Spanish Market at the suggestion of Gregory Schaaf, I met several men who impressed me as possible contributors to the carving project. One in particular caught the vision of the Tree of Transformation Project. He has organized and facilitated large competitions such as the Albuquerque Balloon Festival as well as being a master wood carver. It will be interesting how this evolves....

Oviedo Ranch and Gallery showing

2011-07-30T20:00:00.005-06:00

Event: Saturday, July 30, 2011; Updated: 11 August 2011

Birgitta and I attended a showing at the Oviedo Gallery ranch on Saturday evening after having had dinner with the Oviedos at Rancho Chimayo the week before, where Pat and Marco agreed to join our LADDOF board of advisers.

(Click to enlarge)

Art by Marco Oviedo and Dominique Boisjoli

Birgitta fell in love with a horse sculpture by Marco and we left having put down a deposit. I took photos of the guests and Birgitta out in the rain during a thunder and lightning and heavy rain storm. Fortunately, there was a water-tight canvas covering over the patio to protect the musicians and guests.

Birgitta and the storm

Dominique, Phyllis and Birgitta

Musicians and guests

Pat took a photo of Birgitta's newly purchased treasure.

Spanish Horse by Marco Oviedo

Third visit to San Ildefonso Pueblo -- Artist Sa Wa Pin

2011-07-29T20:44:00.012-06:00

Event: July 29, 2011; Updated: August 1, 2011

(click on image to enlarge)

I learned an important lesson today in my third visit to Alfred Aguilar in San Ildefonso Pueblo. I watched him as he crafted a pot and graciously answered my many technical questions.

His answer to one question took me by surprise. How might he repair a pot that had lost its sheen or gloss? Without missing a beat he answered simply, "But then it would loose its value." It wasn't until he walked over to his card rack and showed me a poem that I began to understand.

(Click on poem to enlarge)

One does not repair a pot! To "repair" is to deny the life of a living thing. To think thus is to miss the meaning and purpose of this creative work. Even when it is broken or marred....

And then I understood even more. The life of this pueblo and its people stands in stoic, silent and dignified witness to a greater, deeper, wider reality. It is well beyond the advent of the Bomb and its aftermath....

Second Visit to San Ildefonso Pueblo

2011-07-27T06:48:00.003-06:00

Event: Monday, 25 July 2011; Updated: 27 July 2011.

Birgitta and I again visited San Ildefonso on Monday morning, July 25, arriving early enough to witness a dance by four men and four women in traditional costumes. It was a very hot day and the dancing took place on the bare ground of the plaza well beyond any shade. Four men chanted facing each other head to head while another beat the drum, as the dancers performed various stylized movements.

We also visited the Governor's office and learned that new Governor Perry Martinez had been governor once before in 2000. I wondered if this governor had been in office when LADDOF adviser Geoff Rodgers had been Los Alamos County Council chairman a decade ago, when he had had personal contact in county-pueblo negotiations. In a subsequent phone call Geoff informed me that Martinez had just retired from his first term and a new governor had just come into the office. He also told me that there are apparently two kivas (family communities) who lead this pueblo, which provide alternate leaders every two years.

On our way out of the plaza Birgitta and I visited Alfred Aguilar once again. Birgitta bought one of his exquisite miniature pots.

(click on image to enlarge)

Artist Alfred Aguilar at work

Alfred Aguilar Miniature Pot

Meeting Professor Gregory Schaaf, Constitutional Law Historian

2011-07-26T17:40:00.035-06:00

Event: 26 July 2011; Updated: 27 July 2011

Entering the beautiful home of Angie Yan & Dr. Gregory Schaaf on Tuesday morning (26 July 2011) was like encountering a living museum. Their home features a collection of Native American art important to the world. Greg's life-long devotion to helping Native People and promoting Native artists began when his grandparents told him at age 5 that some of his ancestors were Choctaw and Cherokee. Angie grew up in Hong Kong and worked as a Graphic Artist for the County of Los Angeles for a decade. When she moved to Santa Fe, Greg met her at the Santa Fe Design Center, and he hired her as a book designer. They fell in love creating the "American Indian Art Series," an encyclopedia of Native Arts. Over 15,000 Native American artists biographical profiles have been published so far. See www.indianartbooks.com.

Below are a few photos of my visit to their Center for Indigenous Arts & Cultures.:

Holding Totem Pole. Masks in background

His book about pots and many examples.

Holding Carved Stone and Silver Poles

Holding Prized Wood Carving

Prized Painting on Fireplace & Schaaf's book about it

Dr. Schaaf graciously invited me to visit him in his home during the precious time he needed for meeting a deadline for his latest book. Among an astonishing range of topics, we discussed his personal relationships with prize-winning Native American carvers and artists, the governments of the local pueblos and the attitudes necessary to gain their attention and trust.

Dr. Schaaf suggested building a circle of private supporters to help promote our non-profit organization. Some patrons will share our vision and support our positive projects. Recently, Native American Artists for Japan requested donations of art which were sold by the group on ebay, raising almost $50,000 for Japanese disaster relief via the Red Cross.

Many Native Americans are especially concerned about recent reports that the three damaged nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Japan . . . ARE STILL MELTING DOWN . . . hot as ever, and no one on Earth knows how to stop it! When Hopi leaders learned that without their permission the US Government had taken yellow-cake Uranium ore out of their land to develop the atomic bomb, they were greatly disturbed that they had inadvertently contributed to the disasters of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They recited Hopi prophecies warning that one day there would fall upon the Earth a "gourd full of ashes," this they interpreted to be atomic bombs. They traveled four times to the United Nations to warn the world and finally, their prayer for world peace was narrated by the Secretary General to the UN General Assembly. Twenty-five years ago, Dr. Schaaf spoke in the United Nations on "American Indian Peacemaking Traditions."

As a result of this visit, I realized that LADDOF needed to reconsider its title for the "Totem/History Tree" project. The new working title "Tree of Transformation" is better, because the project must include not only totem images from the Northwest, but also a history statement of our local Indigenous, Hispanic and Anglo traditions, plus a vision for the future.

Furthermore, it became abundantly clear to me from our discussion that the Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum project should NOT be located on San Ildefonso land, as originally considered, but within current Los Alamos community boundaries.

I left Dr. Schaaf's home with two of his many books: The U.S. Constitution and The Great Law of Peace (based on his doctoral dissertation for the University of California at Santa Barbara) and Franklin, Jefferson, & Madison: On Religion and the State (from newly discovered original historical narratives).

Dinner with the Oviedos at Rancho Chimayo

2011-07-23T21:59:00.046-06:00

Event: Saturday evening, July23, 2011; Updated: 21 August 2011

Birgitta, Eugene, Marco and Patricia

Birgitta and I met with Patricia Trujillo-Oviedo and her scientist-artist husband Marco at Rancho Chimayo for dinner and talk. My purpose was to recruit them into an advisory role with LADDOF. The conversation could not have gone smoother!

Jim Bradbury and I had worked with Pat Trujillo years ago (1993-94), when we worked together in the Stakeholder Information Office (SIO) at LANL. SIO had the responsibility of interacting with the public to find common ground and dealing with anti-nuclear activists.

Marco caught the idea of the intertwining spirals and suggested the practical strategy of creating miniature models of the tree to test preliminary designs and incorporating suggestions for change in the process. This would be an effective way to explore ways of working together towards a final design. As a bronze sculptor, perhaps he could design a preliminary working prototype.

Of particular interest to me was Pat's mention of having had a dream of me shortly after I had called to arrange to meet at dinner. Her candor in sharing this allowed us to get beyond superficiality. I was amazed by her dream:

as for the dream,what I remembered then and what I remember now is I was for some reason with some Austrian friends of mine who were with their grandchildren. They needed help of some kind and had asked you, Eugene, to help them. I advised them to be careful because you were some kind of an ex-KGB agent or something. The dream then faded out.

Then I told them about Birgitta's and my recent meeting with a British documentary film. My specialty in those long ago (1955-56) days was the KGB! Something in Pat had sensed something important and relevant!

Before leaving the restaurant that evening I discovered my car had a dead battery just in time to catch Pat and Marco before they drove off. They gave us an emergency jump start. Did that bode well for the future? Click here.

First visit to San Ildefonso Pueblo

2011-07-22T16:00:00.005-06:00

Posted: Saturday, 23 July 2011; Updated:

Jose Alfred Aguilar business card

After leaving the long postponed LADDOF board meeting in Santa Fe on Friday morning, July 22, Birgitta and I dropped by the San Ildefonso Pueblo on our way home to Los Alamos in mid afternoon. We intended to visit its gift shop and administration building before closing time. The LADDOF board had met to set new strategy due to the unavailability of Arny Mindell, author of The Deep Democracy of Open Forums or Max Schupbach, director of the Deep Democracy Institute in Portland, Oregon, to come to a Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum anytime this year. Making direct contact with this pueblo now became a first action item.

When we arrived at the pueblo, the Visitors Center was closed and the area seemed deserted. Furthermore, there were signs posted for visitors to stay on the main road and to keep their vehicles out of the Plaza area just across the street. Therefore, we parked on the main road under the shade of a tree near the Center. Leaving Birgitta in the car to relax, I walked into the Plaza to look around.

One of the first things one notices is a huge cottonwood tree, which dominates the bare plaza ground. Under the shade of this tree a pickup truck was parked. As I approached a nearby building, a tall slender distinguished old man got out of the truck and asked if he could be of help. He was Alfred Aguilar, owner of the gift shop in the building. He invited me to inspect his wares.

Inside the shop I asked how his pueblo had been affected by the recent Las Conchas Fire. He said they had been spared this time, although the Santa Clara Pueblo just to the north had been heavily hit. His San Ildefonso pueblo had been hit during the last fire eleven years earlier (Cerro Grande Fire of 2000) and it had received federal aid to recover. This time, however, although there was no structural damage and no similar aid available, the fire had driven wild animals down to their area to find food and one of his cows had died.

I looked at his pottery on display and asked him when he had begun to create such pieces. He said he began his work after being discharged from the US Armed Services after the Korean War. He'd been drafted and spent his service in Europe. Since I was a Korean War veteran myself and had served in Berlin, we discovered we were about the same age. He had just turned 78, which made him four months older than I. He showed me a book documenting the work of local artists and was proud to show me a picture of his father. He then pointed to a paragraph mentioning his own work.

I asked him about the source of images his people use in their art and he mentioned three main animals: bear, buffalo and turtle. He acknowledged that there were no buffalo nearby, but in past years their territory extended to the Midwest. Did he know much about totem poles?, I asked. No, that was what tribes in the north did. Did his people do woodcarving of any kind? No, but the nearby Hopi did and their language was similar, but they speak faster. Until the early part of the last century many different local tribes were in conflict and the Hopi often raided them. All that changed after the Second World War.

He gave me his business card and phone number and I wrote down the name of the book he had showed me. He also suggested that the best time to contact the pueblo administration would be next Tuesday, the day after Monday's upcoming celebration of Saint James Day. The new governor's name is Perry Martinez, who is in his mid 40s.

When I got home I called Gregory Schaaf, the author of the above mentioned book, who lives in Santa Fe, and left a message. A few hours later Schaaf returned my call and that is another story! We agreed to meet next week, possibly during the Saint James Day celebration at the pueblo.

New LADDOF strategy and action items

2011-07-22T11:00:00.053-06:00

Event: 22 July 2011; Updated:

On Friday morning, July 22, the board met at Jim Bradbury's home in Santa Fe. There were four of us: Jim, Birgitta, Ed Storms and myself. This was adviser Ed's first appearance and his contribution was brilliant. As we focused on film maker Paul Ratner's "Totem Tree Proposal" (TTP), which I'd forwarded to board members a few days earlier, Ed had an alternative suggestion to the design.

Instead of imagining the bottom third of the tree to be the responsibility of indigenous carvers, the middle third that of Hispanic artists and the top third that of "Anglo" (Manhattan Project) artists, Ed suggested three intertwining spirals telling three parallel, on-going and unfinished stories. That struck a resonant chord with all of us.

Furthermore, as we discussed approaching the San Ildefonso pueblo people, Ed took on the role of negotiator in their behalf. We quickly arrived at what seemed a generously fair position.

Armed with these insights, new approaches and potential negotiation points, I felt new confidence to visit the pueblo later that afternoon.

We are Official! The IRS has blessed us at last...

2011-07-18T07:25:00.007-06:00

Posted: 18 July 2011; Updated: 19 July 2011

On July 11, 2011, having just received the hard copy from the IRS approving our 501(c)3 status, I sent an email to friends of the corporation.

Arnold Mindell, author of The Deep Democracy of Open Forums (which inspired the formation of LADDOF, Inc.), and Max Schupbach, Director of The Deep Democracy Institute in Portland, Oregon, both responded within hours:

Looks just wonderful, thanks Eugene, best to all, amy and arny

www.aamindell.net

Congrats, fantastic, great work !!!!

Much love

Max

Here is the email notice:

Friends,

At last, WE ARE OFFICIAL!!

On June 28, 2011, the IRS accepted LADDOF, Inc. as a 501(c)3 corporation.

DIRECTORS and ADVISERS, please let me know ASAP your availability next week in Santa Fe for our next board meeting (which was postponed because of the Las Conchas Fire). It will be a strategy meeting to include:
1. Totem Tree Project (see attached proposal by Paul Ratner)

a. publicity and marketing strategies

b. approaching the pueblos

c. approaching activists groups

d. approaching area citizens

e. approaching Sarov-Los Alamos Sister City community

f. public screening of Paul Ratner's "The Caveman of Atomic City"

2. Eldering Group dream workshop

3. Dreaming Parents of Dreaming Children (six to ten week seminar)

4. UCLA (Unitarian Church of Los Alamos) Dream workshop on May 8, 2011
5. Eugene's report on Denver World Work conference last April with Arny and Amy Mindell.

All the best,

Eugene

(click on letter to enlarge)

IRS Approval Letter

Denver seminar with Arny & Amy Mindell

2011-04-11T20:54:00.012-06:00

Posted: Monday, 12 April 2011; Updated: Tuesday, 17 April 2011

Arny, Amy and Eugene

The seminar prior to the WorldWork 2011 conference was called INNER SAGE in the OUTER WORLD - Processwork and Spiritual Traditions. Tracking the Dreaming Landscape Beyond the Continental Divide: A Practice in Deep Democracy. It lasted three days, from Friday through Sunday, April 8-10, 2011, and involved about 100 participants from 29 countries and 20 US states, two thirds of which were women. The largest contingent was from Australia.

Here are the representative countries :

Australia

Austria

Canada

Colombia

Croatia

Cyprus

Denmark

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

India

Ireland

Italy

Japan

Mexico

Nambia

Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Palestine
Philippines

Poland

South Africa

South Korea

Switzerland

Turkey

Uruguay

USA

I was lucky to get the above photo of Arny, Amy and me, which was taken at the last session on Sunday, April 10, by Midi, a lady originally from Wales. She offered to take it after learning that my original photo had been lost when my camera disappeared after dinner at a nearby restaurant the previous Friday night.
..

Here we are...

2011-04-06T16:46:00.002-06:00

Posted: 6 April 2011; Updated:

An unnamed local poet sent an astounding poem a few days ago about this place called Los Alamos.

With his permission I have taken the liberty to lift out one line and expand it slightly. It seems a perfect statement for our LADDOF enterprise...

ANONYMOUS

Manhattan Legacy

Here we are:

An island of Anglos

In a veritable sea of Hispania

Within the high, silent desert of aborigine …

Los Alamos

6 Apr 11

WorldWork 2011

2011-04-05T09:37:00.003-06:00

Posted: 5 April 2011; Updated: 7 April

I will be attending the first part of WorldWork 2011 this coming weekend in a seminar with Arny and Amy Mindell called INNER SAGE in the OUTER WORLD - Processwork and Spiritual Traditions. The subtitle of the conference is: Tracking the Dreaming Landscape Beyond the Continental Divide: A Practice in Deep Democracy.

My goal for attending the seminar is to get better prepared for a deep democracy open forum in Los Alamos later this year, as well as making contacts that will help LADDOF grow and thrive.

Visit of documentary film crew for "Caveman of Atomic City"

2011-02-05T15:46:00.001-07:00

Event: Saturday, 5 February 2011; Updated: 21 Feb 11

On Saturday, February 5, documentary film makers Paul and Petra Ratner with their totaler son Felix came to dinner at our home. Before dinner Paul interviewed me for his film, took footage of the RPK Experiment and followed up the interview on the following Monday, Feb 7.

While the focus of their visit was to update old footage of "micromike" [the caveman] from five years ago and interview various Los Alamos scientists and citizens, Paul also took an interest in our LADDOF enterprise, especially the "Totem Tree" project, which has become a separate project.

Micromike's story was interesting to me because he represents an ideal example of an extreme position for this community, which belongs on the open forum table. We hope to present Paul's film during the first deep democracy open forum scheduled for next fall.

Letter to editor of Los Alamos Monitor

2011-01-16T09:16:00.005-07:00

Posted: Saturday, 15 January 2011; Updated: Monday, 21 February 2011

It is ironic that Friday's front page headlines of the Monitor [of 14 Jan] carried two items of immense importance where the more important item received less attention.

In the more important headline, "Council drafts a new vision statement", reporter Kirsten Laskey listed the proposed vision statement along with ten new statement goals. Not addressed in either the vision statement or the County Council's ten goals was there any critical concern for the reasons behind the other headline item, "Weapons cache seized".

Laskey's article reminds me of a letter to the editor of December 26, 2010, where citizen John Diennes wrote about the council's "backwards" priorities, observing that it marginalizes local citizens in the process of making its decisions. It also reminded me of Geoff Rodgers' statement during the September 12, 2010 LAGRI (Los Alamos Government Review Initiative) forum for potential councilors, where he addressed this same question, stating that he was a citizen first and a councilor second. I think Geoff has become the solitary voice for the ordinary citizen and was recently elected by the majority of marginalized citizens who feel unheard these days.
At least that is why I voted for him.

Note: an amplified version of this letter was published by the Monitor on Tuesday, January 18.
.

The Caveman of Atomic City

2011-01-15T21:01:00.010-07:00

Posted: 28 December 2010: Updated: 16 January 2011

On Monday, 27 December, after having wondered where "The Caveman of Atomic City" was now living, I found the following hand-written note from him on the back of a solicitation flier in my mailbox. In it he thanked me for making a small pledge to Los Angeles film maker Paul Ratner's film called micromikefilm.com, which is a documentary of micromike's current life and ideas here in the Atomic City. Ratner obviously had contacted Mike and to my astonishment, Mike's note revealed that he lived only two short blocks away from me! I wrote to him and we agreed to meet at my home the next day.

The Caveman of Atomic City, film flier and note.

On Tuesday, 28 December 2010, "The Caveman of Atomic City", who calls himself "micromike" came to my door at 11:00 and we spent over two hours at my place getting acquainted (see photo below) and another two hours at his place. Talk about strange and wonderful coincidences, we have met each other in a common interest! He would call it gravionic. I would call it spiritual. Our respective goals are similar, but not identical. Both of us recognize the international significance of Los Alamos and want to make a contribution to our community. We differ only in our approaches.

micromike and me

New Year's Day, 2011.

So much has happened since writing the above! One of the stories Mike told me about his experience living in his cave on government land and in the nearby forest was about a visit from a hummingbird who sat on a branch of a nearby tree to listen to Mike play his recorder. That wonderful story reminded me of my own experience of singing with eyes closed to a purring wild bobcat in my lap in a lodge in a forest on Mount Shasta, California many decades ago. But Mike's story became even more miraculous as he told of the same humming bird returning to that very same branch exactly a year later and sitting for 45 minutes as Mike once again played his recorder for the bird, this time offering his entire repertoire. "Have you ever heard of a hummingbird sitting for so long in one place?" he asked. Of course I hadn't. And I left my visit with the impression that that little bird would have sat on that branch even longer had Mike known anything more to play! :)

Sunday, January 16, 2011
It is hard to keep up with micromike's saga and Paul Ratner's rapidly developing documentary film about him and his ideas. Unfortunately, between New Year's Day and today a chill has come over my correspondence with Mike, which I hope will thaw soon. Mike was not happy that I did not read his book Gravionics right away and withdrew from further communication, posting a "Do Not Disturb" sign on his door. Actually, even though the book itself put me off at the very beginning, I am nevertheless reading it carefully at my own pace and with pencil in hand only because I learned to care for this strange, compelling man during the two four-hour conversations I had with him the week we first met. And I trust that initial experience.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Mike's front door with note

Because Mike's story and ideas are a perfect example of what I would call "potential creative energy", it is welcome in our LADDOF project. And, as I reflect on my own life experiences and behavior, I wish someone would have engaged me long ago with as much challenge and attention to my writings and ideas as I am now giving Mike and his book. I will soon be publishing an Amazon.com review of it, which will illustrate my understanding of The Golden Rule.

Note: Do Not Disturb

To be continued...

Two Letters to the editor in Sunday's Los Alamos Monitor

2010-12-26T23:37:00.009-07:00

Posted: Sunday, 26 December 2010; Updated: Saturday, 15 January 2011

In today's Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Monitor there are two letters germane to the LADDOF project.

One is from LAGGRI member John Diennes, who takes to task the county council for having its priorities "backwards". He addresses the issue of marginalizing local citizens in the process making its decisions. His point is clear and well made. It addresses the issue of PCE (potential creative energy) that LADDOF is focusing on in the upcoming open forum, scheduled for next fall.

The second letter is from film maker Paul Ratner of Los Angeles about a film he has made about a man called The Caveman of Atomic City, who was found living in a cave on LANL property some years ago. The film can be viewed by clicking on www.micromikefilm.com. Yes, Micromike's story is strange, but he talks about reconciling science and spirituality in terms he calls "gravionics", which belongs in our open forum project as one of the extreme views invited by the deep democracy process. I have written to the film maker and hope to hear from him. Who knows where Micromike is living these days?

On Monday, 27 December, referring to the previous blog,

Saijin said...

I read from their [Tikkun Magazine] website header:

Tikkun TO HEAL, REPAIR AND TRANSFORM THE WORLD

I read from this blog header:

The Legacy of Los Alamos, atomic city ITS EFFECT ON OUR COMMUNITY AND THE WORLD

The thought comes to me in the form of a guiding principle I hold dear:

Love begins at Home.

JND posted, “I am thinking that an evaluation of those historical examples that have succeeded and those that have not will identify key factors that both support and undercut rebranding efforts.” The thoughts followed the idea about re-branding Los Alamos.

Unity divides into polarity. Identifying this polarity is the beginning point—the understanding of the duality that requires the healing, repairing and transforming which will lead into the re-branding—the desired outcome. And the two shall become one. Rebirth. Transformation. Never by force—only through love.

John Diennes “…who takes to task the county council for having its priorities ‘backwards’. He addresses the issue of marginalizing local citizens in the process making its decisions. His point is clear and well made.”

MicroMike explains or clarifies Einstein’s E=MC2 –which he claims was Einstein’s true desire to understand energy, i.e. that it is not the atomic bomb but rather it is LIFE. “Love is the actions of a sentient being whereby they give more energy than they take, and they make more connections of gravity than they break.” He then speaks of gravionics--“the first model of science that’s big enough for love.”

This is the re-branding that needs to take place—the bringing together of the two so that they are greater than they ever could be separately. A synergistic effect—a transformation. For now, these two aspects lie in duality.

As president & CEO of newly formed LADDOF, Inc. (Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum), Eugene Kovalenko has extended an invitation to one of the self-identified opposition to come into discourse and begin healing: “I have invited Greg Mello to join our board of advisors in the spirit of deep democracy and its overarching spiritual purpose.”

To love we must respect the shadow aspect which is present. It pleads for understanding. It will sit obstinately until understanding is achieved. Not superficial. No fix-it gimmicks. True understanding. When the shadow is known for what it is, it will give forth the gift that is now hidden. This hidden light—this gift which comes from such ‘shadow-work’ or healing—is the key to the transformation which is desired by both the light and the dark. Together, again, in Unity.

I will add this to the discussion already underway. I believe that the two coming together begins with a willingness to be vulnerable. Vulnerability includes authenticity—an idea for which Eugene has invested his life force. I might suggest a TED video to begin such a consideration for Los Alamos: [Click here.]

Saijin Jack

LASG's Greg Mello in Tikkun Magazine about "New START" treaty w/r to Los Alamos

2010-12-25T13:15:00.098-07:00

Posted: Christmas 2010; Updated: 27 December 2010

No sooner had the last papers for incorporating LADDOF been submitted to the NMPRC (New Mexico Public Regulation Commission) and the IRS, than I received an email from Tikkun Magazine containing Greg Mello's article about the US Senate's ratification of the New START treaty. (See the article here.) Realizing how important Mello's remarks were, I forwarded the email to selected friends and colleagues, since it seemed a perfect topic, albeit a larger issue than originally envisioned, for setting the stage for next fall's Deep Democracy open forum.

Following my introductory remarks to the forwarded email are several responsible replies, which I will continue to add as they come in. I will not identify senders except for initials unless they give me specific permission.

On December 24, 2010, Eugene forwarded the Tikkun article to selected friends and colleagues with this introduction:

Dear Los Alamos friends and colleagues,

When I saw the name of the author of the Tikkun Magazine article [in the link above], I knew it needed to be posted on the LADDOF (Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum) and possibly the LAGRI (Los Alamos Government Review Initiative) websites. I have known author Greg Mello since 1993, when I was hired as a mediation consultant to the nuclear waste [management] group at LANL and Mello was the chief antagonist of LANL as founder of the Los Alamos Study Group (LASG). His voice surely needs to be heard at any public LADDOF event. I know no one more knowledgeable of the hazards of the nuclear question than Greg. I also believe that his personal motives need to be challenged. If he were present at our currently scheduled open forum next fall, he would add immeasurably to the discourse.

Note especially the paragraph below beginning with "The implications for the New Mexico laboratories are complex" and ending with "…The best days of Los Alamos are in the past."

In my new role as president & CEO of LADDOF, Inc., I have invited Greg Mello to join our board of advisors in the spirit of deep democracy and its overarching spiritual purpose. [He refused our initial invitation late last spring to join a proposed LAOF steering committee at the beginning stages of this project saying, "...we are not on the same wavelength. Three of us looked at the proposal over breakfast on Saturday and followed some of the links, and I must say frankly it is just not my, and our, cup of tea at all. Couldn't be farther afield from our interests." I hope to persuade Greg to change his mind, since I can't believe his personal spiritual aspirations are so far afield from ours].

If you have comments, suggestions or concerns about this decision, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Eugene Kovalenko

PS. I have bcc'd others who may be interested and/or affected by this decision.

Preliminary comments as of Christmas Day.

On 12/24/10 the following comments came in:

1. From CHJ, an international PR man:
"A compelling analysis. To have worked so hard to have accomplished so little: the substance of political compromise, and evidence of the lack of political will. To say this victory was pyrrhic dishonors the losses of Pyrrhus, who at least was willing to sacrifice to win."

2. From GJJr, LANL technician (ret):
"Thanks for Greg Mello's interesting article from Tikkun Magazine. Is Greg Jewish?... Anyway, while not interested in actively participating in LADDOF, please feel free to send me this kind of perspective, which looks beneath the surface of the news media's superficial and often biased presentations - as long as not too long / too much."

3. From BB, LANL physicist (ret):
"Thank you for keeping me informed. I refused to work on weapons research when I was a beginning scientist, even when Edward Teller attempted to con me into its web of deceit and moral degradation. It was the right decision for me then, and I have never regretted it even though many opportunities at the Labs were closed to me."

4. From NEK, a close relative:
"...You know, these days nothing seems quite like it is supposed to be. Now I'm wondering if it ever was what I thought it was supposed to be... I feel like a caveman in a complex world of dangerous technology run by other cavemen.

Can't we just be grateful for running water, indoor plumbing and sanitary septic systems without having to threaten the planet with nuclear disaster? Isn't this just another shell game & tricky way of redistributing significant wealth to another racket of special interests?

Aren't there better ways to defend and protect ones community and country? Think of what all of this money could do for alternative, sustainable energy technology which to me seems to be the key to a successful global economic future.

If we're not fighting and/or posturing over oil & gas supplies, what then would a significant portion of our military & bases be needed & good for?

And what does this do to the shift of wealth that has been occurring all this time from oil consuming nations to oil producing nations and those in the industry? Do we really need these kinds of jobs?

I often think of what the world would be like if we all didn't have to throw so much of our hard earned pay down the petroleum rat hole.

It seems little different than being a heroin addict... but what do I know, I'm just a caveman..."

5. From JND, an internationally known psychotherapist. [ENK Note: this, for me, is the most insightful and useful response so far]
"...Regarding the central issue here, whether START is progressive or regressive, I cannot speak, because I have no special knowledge in this area. That the military signed off on this should mean more restraints on Russian nuclear weapons, more support for the development of US weapons, or both. What we do know is that both the Russian government and the US government/military were strongly in favor of its ratification, as were most of the other governments of the world, to the best of my knowledge. It is widely viewed as lowering the risk of nuclear proliferation. I also know that it put a lower cap on the total number of warheads allowed on both sides, and that sounds like a move in the right direction. I also know that START puts verification procedures in place on both sides that increase national and global security. That START is a Christmas tree for the nuclear arms industry, full of promises for the development of future weapons systems, is probably also true.

Regarding the impact on Los Alamos, which Mello views as negative, I tend to think about this issue in terms of Wilber's four quadrants, particularly the internal collective quadrant of culture, values, interpretations, meanings, and world-views. This is because I see a gigantic disconnect between largely secret and unaccountable military/industrial culture and that of the broader culture. This is a sub-category of the broader disconnect between those who have money and power and those who do not. While this disconnect seems to be an ongoing part of social reality, it can become smaller and those with money and power can be held more accountable, as it is obvious that they need to be.

My point is a very cynical one, and I hope I'm wrong. It is that changing the culture of Los Alamos (or any other community relying on huge government projects) is in many ways a Quixotic pursuit. That is because the financial security, and therefore the lifestyles, of too many people in the community are derived from a continuing pact with the Devil. Pointing this out to people isn't going to do any good. Anything that is going to upset the steady stream of jobs due to tax dollars and government welfare programs to corporations will be viewed as a threat. The question that is the elephant in the room that no one asks when they are in such a position, is "How do I maintain my sense of self-esteem under such conditions?" This is not only a question for individuals, but a question entire communities end up asking, as some in Los Alamos, spearheaded by you, are currently doing. It is not a comfortable or easy question. It is a threatening question, because most of the audience doesn't believe it's legitimate. These people deny they or their community have problems with self-esteem. They point to new jobs, patriotism, higher standards of living, and better local services because they are demanded by the type of highly educated employees that the arms industries attract.

If Los Alamos had made its money and no longer was dependent on government largess, it would be in a better position to question its heritage and its culture. But it's not over. Maybe that's Mello's point. It's like talking to an addict who is still actively using.

It is one thing to get together to share perspectives on the evolving identity of Los Alamos and its citizens. It's another issue entirely to change one's own self-image or to succeed in re-branding ones' community. History is litered with examples of notorious places that have not succeed in rebranding themselves: Sodom and Ghemorrah, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Bronx, Detroit, Israel.

What to do? If you are interested in pursuing such issues, you might look around and see if any other historically notorious places have had any success at rebranding themselves and then see how they did it. Rome was historically notorious but it was also glorious, which most places, including Los Alamos are not. But Berlin has succeeded in rebranding itself, with enormous effort and many national and international factors working to help it do so. Both Rome and Berlin had the good fortune to remain centers of evolving cultures, allowing them to develop a narrative that transcended brutality. Most of the other places I mentioned did not continue to evolve, or did not evolve beyond their brutality.

I am thinking that an evaluation of those historical examples that have succeeded and those that have not will identify key factors that both support and undercut rebranding efforts. I do, however, come back to the culture of a place, both locally, in the eyes of community members and in the eyes of the larger world community. However, as long as any place continues to clearly be willing to prostitute itself for government money for weapons of mass destruction it is going to be difficult for any honest relabeling in the eyes of others to occur. The best that can be hoped for in that situation is that locals find ways to define themselves differently that are good and genuine. An example that comes to mind that may be unintentionally offensive as a comparison, but I will use nonetheless because of its clarity, would be a stripper or a prostitute who prides herself on being a good mother or working at a homeless shelter one day a week. She is doing important stuff for her community and for herself, that legitimitizes her self-worth, in the face of the glaring fact that in major areas of her life she is selling out.

This is, of course, the human predicament. We are all prostitutes in one way or another, but most don't have the courage to admit it. In fact, most have the audacity to label themselves as glorious, as politicians and narcissistic personality disordered lovers do, and have the charisma to get others to buy the presentation and ignore the dog shit inside. This works for a while, but generally not for the long run. But then, most people are interested in the short run, not the long run. People have to resolve short run worries to have the luxury to worry about long-run issues, like how the legacy of their community is going to appear in world history.

How to successfully re-brand Los Alamos? Perhaps make it a beacon for a counter-cultural inspirational theme? Like what? Sony Bono made Palm Springs into a yearly film festival mecca. It's called "changing the subject." Maybe that's what the Democracy forums can explore - what can we agree to change the subject to? It needs to be something that attracts well-heeled afficianados of something. Maybe a regional yearly green technology exposition? Get all those scientists at the plants to volunteer green projects for Los Alamos?

Please pardon the somewhat cynical and critical nature of some of my remarks! I have always been a believer that realism at the risk of offense is necessary to rebuild anybody or anything."

On Sunday, 26 December, the following response(s) came in:

6. From BSK in Sweden:
"I have read through this article. Oyh, what gloomy stuff! And this article aught to be circulated in regular papers and written for everyone to take part of. What is the circulation of Tikkun and who reads it? Do the people who should read this kind of stuff really get an opportunity to read it? Is the magazine Tikkun only for super-intellectuals? And I also read the comments to Mello's article on the LADDOF blog. Clifton really doesn't seem to care enough to be involved. I like what Nick writes. But Joe's! Wow! I love it. What a mind and what insight and for me who're not used to thinking deeply about such things, what a stimulating response. If I, who is just an average individual, am stimulated by Joe's thinking, why shouldn't this information, if published in appropriate media and in appropriate portions, appeal to a broad public? Don't you think Charlie Rose would find this stuff very intersting? How about Kosmos Mag and Yes! [magazine]? Wouldn't they be interested in this?"

7. From Greg Mello in Albuquerque:
"I appreciate your kind reading of that rushed essay -- really a press release, kind of, that got converted into an essay by the press of time and lack of need to address the basic facts of the situation, since presumably everyone already had them.

"With regrets, I can't accept your kind offer. I am up to my eyeballs in critical work here. Perhaps we can say it is work of a spiritual nature, if you will, or at least a not-yet-fully-sincere approximation to it.

We usually must wash our mouths with soap if we use that kind of language -- "spiritual" -- or anything like it, and watch our wallets when we hear it.

We need not connect with the Mind of God as we cannot leave it. I suppose that is Bankei Zen, and he had no major successors. Still, we use it and cannot put another head on top of the one we have.

If your friends can halt CMRR-NF -- show me your commitment, let me read of it and see it -- or if you can dramatically decrease coal burning in this state, by more than 5% per year and are willing to sacrifice heavily to get there, I will be with you, with gratitude. Four or five people are enough, at first. You and your friends have the resources, the connections, and the worldly knowledge. That will be deep democracy; it is incompatible with nuclearism and of course it is incompatible with global warming."

On Monday, December 27, the following came in:

8. From Saijin (see here for her comments to this and the following post)

9. From David B of Santa Fe:
"So good to see your e-mail and feel all the excitement of the project!!
MERRY X-MAS TO YOU AND YOURS.
lots of love, David"

Directors, Officers and Advisors of the Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum, Inc.

2010-12-23T14:00:00.006-07:00

Posted: 23 Dec 2010; Updated:

Today (Dec 23, 2010) was the deadline for submitting the first report of LADDOF, Inc. to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. In a weird synchronism I am pleased to say that this was accomplished two days ago on the winter solstice, the darkest night of the year, December 21, when there was also an historic total eclipse, the legendary "blood moon".

As of Dec 23, 2010, here are the current directors, officers and advisors for the corporation:

Board of Directors:
1. James N. Bradbury, Ph.D. (Santa Fe)
2. Eugene N. Kovalenko, Ph.D. (Los Alamos)
3. Birgitta S. Kovalenko, MFA (Los Alamos)
4. Laura Ellen Walton, MFA (Los Alamos)
5. Joseph N. Dillard, Ph.D. (Berlin)

Officers:
1. Eugene N. Kovalenko, President and CEO
2. Laura Ellen Walton, Secretary (Founder, Los Alamos Government Review Initiative)
3. Matthew Schmidt, Treasurer (President & CEO, Los Alamos Schools Credit Union)

Board of Advisors:
1. Edmund Storms, Ph.D., LANL Chemist (Ret.) (Santa Fe)

My recent dreams about LADDOF, Inc.

2010-12-19T14:39:00.012-07:00

Posted: Sunday, 19 December 2010: Updated: 24 December 2010

On Friday night (17 Dec), in response to LADDOF director Joseph Dillard's question on how I would envision the "reverse divorce of science and religion" proposal for the Los Alamos community (see previous post), I had the following dream:

I'm alone driving a car in a tight cul-de-sac with other cars parked in it, so that that I can't make the turn and the squeeze is so tight that the car's front end rises up and is about to fall on one or more of those obstructing parked cars. I don't know what is going to happen next and find myself weeping as I awaken.

CREEI score: +?+++-//--?/++? (Anticipatory traumatic)

I sent the dream to my wife Birgitta, now visiting her family in Sweden, and to friend Joseph in Berlin for comment.

Birgitta responded:

"....What a clear dream about your feelings!"

Dreamworker Joseph Dillard responded:

"Nothing much comes up for me, but what does is purely projective and says more about me than about you. First, I feel from the car dream that you may be holding this LADDOF project too tightly. You may be putting too much pressure on yourself to do more and be more than 'works.' Sometimes such pressures constipate the process. I would suggest laughing at the absurdity of the situation, of the absurdity of rational scientists letting themselves get pushed around by their fears, the absurdity of being the birthplace of nuclear holocaust, of the absurdity of thinking that science and religion ever got divorced in the first place, of worrying about not being relevant or significant. Don't worry about that - you aren't! None of us are! And of course in other ways, we are - just not in the ways we want to be or think that we should be..."

I love Joseph's suggestion to laugh at the absurdities!! But then we need to learn to work together in ways that are NOT absurd.

On Tuesday, 21 December, I had a follow-up dream, called "Obama and the Old Ones", which clearly reflects Dr. Dillard's observations above. See his Integral Deep Listening interview here.

First Open Forum postponed

2010-12-18T03:29:00.008-07:00

Posted: 18 December 2010; Updated: 20 December 2010.

Since receiving a message from Deep Democracy Institute director Max Schupbach on Thanksgiving from Africa proposing a first open forum on April 10, he has asked for a postponement until the fall. Here are our most recent exchanges:

On December 16, Max wrote:

Dear Eugene

hi and love from Portland. We are settling in after the jetlag, and enjoy recuperating. Thanks for the great film advice, we look forward to checking that out. We have news about the open forum also. We unfortunately have to postpone it, because of a change in our travel plans, that is out of our control. We had hoped to come to Albuquerque on our way to Denver to Worldwork, www.worldwork.org, but instead now will have to go to Europe before, sorry about that. we hope we can come up with an alternative date in the fall of next year and will let you know as soon as possible.

much love and till soon

max

On December 17, Eugene responded:

Hi Max,

Disappointed to postpone our first LADDOF event, but let's look at it as a blessing in disguise. It will give us more time to solidify our newly formed corporate base and introduce ourselves locally. I took a look at the Denver WorldWork link that you sent (www.worldwork.org). I think my wife Birgitta and I will attend perhaps with one or two other LADDOF, Inc. board members. That would be a good place to meet!

After my first reading of Arny's [Arnold Mindell] new book ProcessMind and your Amazon review of it, I wrote Arny thus:

In your book you speculate on reversing the divorce between science and religion that occurred 400 years ago with the advent of classical physics. I say what better time than now and in this place of Los Alamos to propose such a remarriage? I realized that this is the overarching objective for the LADDOF project. Don't you agree?

Arny replied:

… yes yes yes, bringing science and religion together is the BIG, perhaps biggest project for this century! Big hug, love arny

That could be the overarching theme for the first open forum next fall and would allow us to invite representatives from all the many religious and philosophical institutions that exist in this heroic/notorious town [that Garry Wills writes about in his book] Bomb Power.

What do you think?

With love, Eugene

Later that same day (17 Dec) Max responded:

Hi everyone,

thanks for understanding, we were disappointed as well. Love the topic, and the location for it. Really, made my day. Worldwork will be spectacular, and it will be great to have you there.

much love for now

max

Call from London Documentary film maker

2010-12-15T20:21:00.001-07:00

Posted: 15 December 2010; Updated: 17 December

This morning (Wednesday, 15 Dec) I returned a call from Sam, a London based documentary film maker, who called to determine my availability in February for an interview regarding a film documentary based on British historian David Stafford's book Spies Beneath Berlin. He was interested to know why I was calling so early (~0500) to which I explained I wanted to return the call well before preparing for a workshop for seniors later in the morning. He pressed to know more about the workshop and became even more interested when I mentioned its connection to an upcoming open forum regarding the legacy of Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project. Perhaps these three projects will evolve into something synergistic?

Letter from Deep Democracy Institute director

2010-11-28T11:02:00.001-07:00

Posted: 26 November 2010; Updated: 15 December.

On Thanksgiving, Max Schupbach, director of the Deep Democracy Institute in Portland, Oregon, emailed me from Africa.

Dear Eugene

hi and love from intense Nairobi. In case you are interested and think this could be a good idea, ellen and I could facilitate an open forum on Sunday night April 10th in Los Alamos. In case you and your team think this would be a good direction, we will help with setting it up.

Here is the conditions under which we work

a) we are responsible for the facilitation, all facilitation questions including possible additional team members, etc. are in our court

b) we help you with writing a public invitation that we can send out

c) we advise in terms of brief open statement speakers

d) we co-sponsor the event with our logo, so that your organization and ddi are organizing partners, which will give it more impact.

if you feel this is a fun arrangement, we are into it, but we also soooo understand if at this point, the whole project has a history where this is no longer possible or does add value, in which case we are equally thrilled to drop it and support you just spiritually.

Please answer me personally and I would like to finish this up between you and me so that we have a consensus, with copying others into this email. It will take less energy.

sending lots of love

max

We accepted his proposal at once and are now working out the details, which include getting the incorporation process completed.

Sedona Precedent of the LAGRI Experiment

2010-11-15T20:00:00.020-07:00

Sedona Afternoon

Posted: 15 November 2010.
Updated: 15 January 2011

November LAGRI Meeting
At their monthly meeting on Sunday, 14 November, I was invited by LAGRI president Ellen Walton to make a presentation about our LADDOF project, which included introducing those in attendance to an experimental dreamwork process. Specifically, my objective for the meeting was to introduce the concept of "potential creative energy" and have those present experience a practical application.

I began the presentation by writing "LADDOF" on the upper left and "PCE"on the upper right hand side of a white board and then engaging their hearts with a song and a poem before engaging their heads with the CREEI Process.

Sedona Surprise

I discovered this application years ago when invited by a board member to present to her 17-member board of a national philanthropic foundation meeting in Sedona, Arizona. Their purpose was to make annual strategic and budgetary decisions at a secluded place. Thinking there was at least half a day to present a workshop for that meeting, I became anxious by the end of the day when there was less than half an hour remaining and I hadn't yet been invited to speak.

The board chairman then turned to me and said, "Dr. Kovalenko, you have 20 minutes to give us an image." Wow! What the hell to do? Spontaneously it came to mind to have everyone recall a recent emotional event, whether inner or outer, preferably a dream, and give it a one or two word title. There was no need disclose the contents of the event. Only one person could not recall a dream. I quickly wrote down the titles as they were called out from all 17 participants and asked the Twelve CREEI Questions, which are designed to be answered "yes", "no" or "uncertain". To process the results of this questionnaire one looks first at answers other than "yes" to get an indication of where to focus first to seek "intra-personal balance".

It became abundantly clear, while asking these questions and registering how many hands rose with "no" or "uncertain" answers, that there was much hidden fear and anger within the group as a whole. When I pointed this out they were surprised. It was a new experience for all of them except for the board member who had invited me to attend. But they were open to my suggestion that unless they first focused on the emotions that they were unaware of at that meeting, it was unrealistic to expect the board to make responsible strategic decisions for the foundation. That made immediate sense to this intelligent, well motivated group and they reorganized their agenda to attend to these "meta issues" the very next day and before making the decisions they were there to make. I left the meeting that night feeling I had done my job after all, but more importantly having been taught by that group a new and important application of a process I thought I had understood well enough already!

The LAGRI Experiment

With that preamble I asked all the LAGRI members at Sunday's meeting to recall a dream and to give it a title, while I posted their responses on a white board. All participants responded with a dream. For the purpose of this demonstration it did not matter how old the dream was. It was enough to take the first such memory that came to mind for each person there. Below are the results as they were posted on the white board: (click on chart to enlarge):

LAGRI CREEI Process Experiment

Note the "Patrn" (pattern) column. The four typical CREEI patterns are:
1. Transformative (all yes answers);
2. Motivational (one or two "-" or "?" answers);
3. Anticipatory (three or more "-" or "?" answers in the first six questions);
4. Traumatic (three or more "-" or "?" answers in the last six questions).

The results above were similar to the Sedona experience. All but two patterns scored "Anticipatory Traumatic", which simply meant that there was a lot of "potential creative energy" (PCE) among this group. [Note: "PCE" is only a recently developed concept, which had not yet crystallized for the Sedona experience.] I believe this potential creative energy needs acknowledgement, expression and processing by group interaction before making more important decisions beyond the group.

If on reflection those who attended the meeting see value in this concept of becoming aware of their PCE, then we have a new opportunity to develop group awareness, which can then be applied in creative directions. For example, if LAGRI would take this process further, it could set an example for the County Council, as well as other organizations and groups in the Los Alamos community. This would be a significant way to illustrate the purpose of the Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum.

In this context, and with the technical expertise of this community in mind, one might consider the metaphor of the laser, where scattered light of various wavelengths is brought into coherence to generate a focused, more powerful beam.

For a more detailed explanation of the CREEI Process, click here.
.
.

We are incorporating!

2010-11-13T09:54:00.004-07:00

At the LAGRI meeting of October 3, it became clear to me that our LADDOF project needed its own non-profit vehicle. Ellen Walton, president of LAGRI (retiring from that position after the New Year), has agreed to be one of our founding directors, along with Jim Bradbury, Joseph Dillard and myself.

Arny Mindell and Max Schupbach of the Deep Democracy Institute in Portland, Oregon, have given us their enthusiastic support in doing this, which is great news! To help us get up and running we have engaged the law firm of Patel and Alumit of Encino, California.

Stay tuned.
..

LAGRI forum reflections

2010-09-24T16:51:00.005-06:00

Posted: 24 September 2010; Updated:

A superb irony!

Of all the questions that Geoff Rodgers, one of six county council candidates, could have picked at random from the box of 40 or so submitted and qualified questions from town people at the September 12 LAGRI forum in Fuller Lodge, it was mine:

How can our community harness the potential creative energy in those who are currently marginalized, dismissed or ignored by other citizens and institutions of this community? [This ignored potential creative energy manifests itself in many ways, including low morale, high suicide rate, anti-establishment rage, conflict between government and citizen groups, etc.]

Not only did Geoff not know the question beforehand, he didn’t know who submitted it, which was me, a personal friend and former employee when he was the LA Schools transportation supervisor several years ago! [His remarks can be viewed on the Pac 8 video of the forum at 56:19 minutes into the program.]

His answer could not have been more to the point in acknowledging the importance of the question. "County councilors are citizens first", he said, "and public servants second." And he would surely be open to concerns from those who have been dismissed, marginalized, ignored or otherwise discounted.

This synchronicity bodes well for the deep democracy process we propose to introduce at the next regular LAGRI planning meeting on October 3.

The LAGRI Opportunity

2010-09-19T06:23:00.036-06:00

Posted: 18 September 2010; Updated: 20 September 2010.
In reflecting on the turmoil continuously reported in the world, including political, technological and natural catastrophes, as well as religious persecution, I am at the same time aware of centers of light such as Ken Wilber's Integral Life center in Colorado, the Lorian and Yes! foundations in Washington, Esalen in Northern California, Findhorn in northern Scotland, the New Earth Foundation in Arizona, Arnold Mindell's World Work center in Oregon, Kosmos Associates in Massachusetts and other spiritually enlightened centers whose names I do not now recall.

In the face of this chaos and contradiction, I can envision one potential center of light that could have a uniquely symbolic global impact if it could transform its "Bomb Power" legacy into a spiritual transformation. That is the Los Alamos community at large. After all, it was in Los Alamos that the bomb changed the world with the astonishing achievement of the Manhattan Project and its on-going corrupting consequences. Historian Garry Wills' 2010 book Bomb Power rigorously details this project, its legacy and its continuing global influence. Wouldn't it be wonderful if, instead of continuing corrupting waves of influence, a new kind of influence could radiate from this place?

In his celebrated 1987 book The Different Drum, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck proclaims "In and through community lies the salvation of the world!" He then presents a model of the four stages of community, beginning with "pseudo Community" (stage I), moving into "chaos" (stage II), then "emptying" (stage III) and finally "true community" (stage IV).

When I read physicist/psychologist Arnold Mindell's The Deep Democracy of Open Forums earlier this year and at the same time read Garry Wills' Bomb Power, I realized that Mindell's model presented us in Los Alamos with the methodology to negotiate from stage I community to stage IV.

That's where LAGRI comes in.

At their recent successful Fuller Lodge forum, I witnessed and participated with a small, highly motivated grass-roots group of people, who implemented a promising first step in a vision for improving this community. This is the kind of established group that LA County Councilman Robert Gibson suggested months earlier that our LADDOF (Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open forum) core group find and join. We think we can offer an expansion of LAGRI's mission statement to include the closed forum just successfully presented and explore expanding that inclusion to the deep democracy of open forums.. This would tap into and utilize the "potential creative energy" of those in this community who feel marginalized, dismissed and ignored.

Our LADDOF approach acknowledges and includes this latter group.

In the coming weeks and months we hope to persuade LAGRI to participate in implementing Mindell's deep democracy methodology and to bring both Mindell and Wills to the first Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum sometime next spring or summer.

I have personally contacted Arnold Mindell about this idea and he is enthusiastic about our laying the ground work that would bring him and his skilled facilitators here. Jim Bradbury of our core group has personally spoken to Garry Wills about this idea, who has also expressed interest. Both these internationally celebrated men are waiting for substantive results and steps to grow the project into something that they can participate in. To have such men keynote a Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum would unquestionalbly capture international media attention.

On September 21, Zhenya said:
You have mentioned a lot of "light centers" around the country and the world, but not one religious institution. Is that deliberate? If so, why?

On September 21, Eugene replied:
Yes, it was deliberate and it applies to all ecclesiastical religious institutions that I know anything about, which includes Christian, Mormon, Jewish and Muslim organized religions. The conflicts and disagreements each has toward and about the others, as well as among themselves, are legion. This is puzzling and ironic. For me this is exemplified by a recent post (July 30, 2010) in my Orthodox Odyssey blog. I cannot help but think of the passage in St. Luke, which seems appropriate here:

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he had sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:17-19)

This scripture refers to the prophet Esaias, who is acknowledged by all the above mentioned religions.

Totem Pole for Los Alamos? A suggestive symbol

2010-08-31T22:02:00.173-06:00

Posted: 2 September 2010; Updated: 12 September 2010

Russian Chestnut Tree

In reading the next to last chapter in Arnold Mindell's Earth-based Psychology a few weeks ago, particularly the section on Black Elk speaks (which discusses totem poles), I recalled Jim Bradbury's dream about a "Magnificent dead Russian tree" the night after our first core group meeting in March 2010. (We all had agreed to pay attention to our dreams after that first meeting.) I wondered if in his dream Jim was preparing that magnificent dead Russian tree to become an eventual totem pole for Los Alamos.

Jim hadn't given it such thought until my recent question. But then he seemed to get excited and asked me to set up a meeting with our core group next week to discuss it. Here is the idea below, which captures my thoughts and some more of Jim's to bring them to the discussion table when our group is scheduled to meet on September 14.

In a discussion of his dream months earlier, Jim described it as a chestnut tree, to which I asked, "Did you know the chestnut tree is the national tree of Ukraine?" He did not. So, I suggest the tree come from Ukraine, perhaps Kiev, as the origin of the "Holy Russian Empire", which had converted to Christianity in 988. I subsequently discovered that the life span of chestnut trees is 100 to 300 years. This suggests that we choose the oldest dead or fallen tree possible (it must not be killed!), which would have witnessed the flowering of Russian and Ukrainian literature beginning with Pushkin and Shevchenko, respectively, in the early 1800s and, of course more recently, seen the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. Russians and Ukrainians will no doubt appreciate the symbolism.

To honor the dream, I believe Jim must make the final selection of the tree, whether from Russia or Ukraine. He may need the help of Russian and/or Ukrainian experts to assess the quality of a particular tree. It should be as long and large as possible in order to contain the images that will be carved into it from First American artisans at its base as well as Hispanic (descendants of the Conquistadors) in its midsection and "Anglos" (representing the Manhattan Project) nearer (but not on) the top. Selecting and importing the tree may be difficult and expensive, unless we secure the approval and endorsement of the governments involved.

Furthermore, I suggest that the blank totem be located on local pueblo sacred land closest to, if not within the boundaries of Los Alamos County, which would require consultation with and approval of local Native American elders and decision-makers. If the blank totem were "planted" first and sculpted later, then the artisans would have to work on it in place as the stories unfold, perhaps working simultaneously at different places. This would require discussion and consensus among all parties involved about the design, values, history, placement, etc. of all images. Jim has suggested that this location become a park containing other significant artwork to represent the history and values of this place. Perhaps the top of the totem would stay blank for the time being as the community comes together on the project and becomes aware of its "Big U" identity and direction. This is where the Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum would be valuable in helping the community raise awareness of itself, its history, its values and its future, including its "potential creative energy".

On September 6, Joseph Dillard wrote:

Do the Pueblos, Zunis, or other local tribes have any indigenous community art that is meant to accomplish what the totem pole does for the peoples of the NW? You'll make points with those who wish to appear politically correct in your town if you not only honor the natives, but do it with some "authorized" usage of their local tradition. [next sentence deleted 27 Jun 11]

Searching for "Del Clawson-type" People

2010-08-30T06:20:00.043-06:00

Posted: 30 August 2010; Updated: 22 December 2010

In considering "Del Clawson-type people", I wondered what that could mean as I reflected on my April 15, 2010 dream where my mother visits me, takes an interest in the Los Alamos Open Forum and advises me to consider "Del Clawson's people". Was it primarily because Del was a Mormon as well as my mother's favorite first cousin? That couldn't be it. Was it because he was a popular, effective politician? That was closer to the mark. Perhaps it was that he described himself as a "George Romney Republican with a Barry Goldwater attitude" and was elected time and again from a town and district in Southern California, which was heavily Democrat and Black and never lost an election? Yes! That's it! He was trusted by his constituents, his family and his church and never lost that trust to his dying day.

In Joseph Dillard's IDL terms Congressman Del Clawson scores 10 on all the core qualities of confidence, compassion, wisdom, peace of mind, acceptance and witnessing. These are the kind of political/social activists that the LADDOF could use most. Who are they? Where are they? How do we contact them?

I'm still looking....

Letter from dream worker Joseph Dillard

2010-08-28T09:32:00.006-06:00

Posted: 28 August 2010; Updated:

Dr. Joseph Dillard

Having read this blog to date and made several comments on the previous post, Joseph Dillard sent this introduction to his essay on Dream Politics, which is from his Integral Deep Listening writings.

Introduction, Dream Politics

We need to integrate our inner and outer worlds. Many breakdowns in both self-governance and the governance of others can be traced to a belief that these two dimensions of our experience have no practical relationship to each other. From Machiavelli’s advocacy of deceit, manipulation, and dishonesty, in the name of political “realism,” to today’s state-sanctioned lying, stealing, and killing by intelligence services and military, we find this double standard underlying all forms of government. Liberal republics complain about the way that autocracies, dictatorships, and totalitarian regimes lie, cheat, steal, and kill while justifying their own immorality and inhumanity as a matter of national security. Both democrats and autocrats admit that none of these activities are appropriate for their own children and call for other nations to stop them, while advocating those same behaviors themselves. Most governmental perpetrators claim that they are personally above such behavior. Generals, representatives, and CIA employees are individually decent and honorable people. If they torture or kill it is not a reflection on them personally.

This inconsistency between our internal and external worlds is a root cause of war, global warming, poverty, child abuse, our failure to adequately educate our children, control the cancerous growth of populations, or wipe out many diseases. This is because this double standard between our inner and outer lives justifies and creates a fundamental misallocation of precious resources while supporting predation through the continued externalization of costs.

A fundamental delusion of humanity is that such a disparity can be maintained without a loss of credibility for governments, businesses, families, and individuals. Dream Politics examines this and other fundamental delusions that allow us to maintain a gulf between our outer and inner, individual and collective worlds. It then demonstrates how concepts and principles derived from observing internal social groups have useful external applications for social governance in families, businesses, churches, ngos, towns, cities, nations, and international relations. It also shows how governmental concepts and principles have useful internal applications for understanding and supporting our own growth. By applying basic internal governing principles to our social world while using concepts from political science to understand our internal world we can first bridge and then integrate the inner and the outer, the individual and the collective, dimensions of our reality.

Dreams are part of this legacy

2010-08-18T22:32:00.024-06:00

Posted: 18 August 2010.
Updated: 17 September 2010

This is a personal blog about a public issue. It would be disingenuous in referring to Arnold Mindell's Deep Democracy model of addressing open forums not to reveal personal dreams about this place and our deepest awareness of its present, past and future. In doing so, others are invited to share their dreams as well, as we lay the groundwork for the first Los Alamos Open Forum sometime next year.

The genesis of this idea has been described at the beginning of this blog. It seems appropriate to present dreams along the way that serve as spiritual directing and refueling stations. The first dream came from one of our core group (JB) the night after our first meeting on March 24, 2010. On August 28, JB's dream suddenly became more clearly relevant as I read the section "Black Elk speaks" in Arnold Mindell's explanation of the origin and purpose of Native American totem poles in his Earth-based Psychology.

The rest of the dreams are mine, which will be amplified in future posts as it seems appropriate. We will make room for others' dreams as they come in. To do them justice we will refer to them by title and suggest one or two ways to access their wisdom. Readers of this blog are invited to comment as long as they are willing to identify themselves. Anonymous comments will not be published unless they are compelling to us who read them first.

First dreams:

1. Sculpting magnificent Russian tree (March 24, 2010)
2. Del Clawson's people (April 15, 2010)
3. Clasp of fellowship (July 4, 2010)
4. The Spiritual Transformation of Los Alamos (August 3, 2010)
5. Obama's confusion (September 8, 2010)

Comments:

On August 27, Joseph said...

After reading your blog I don't have a clear sense of what the Open Democracy Forum in Los Alamos project is supposed to accomplish. What are it's goals? When will people know when they are achieved?

On August 27, Zhenya said..

Will you post the dreams and show their relevance to this project?

On August 27, Eugene said...

Zhenya, yes. I will post each dream and show its relevance, beginning with JB's dream in which he is busy sculpting a dead tree, which had been a "magnificent Russian tree". We will amplify this later.

On August 27 at 9:44 PM, Eugene said...

Joseph, our goal is to engage the community of Los Alamos in nothing less than a spiritual transformation of the Manhattan Project legacy of "Bomb Power" into a place "Where Discoveries are Made".

In reflecting on JB's first dream it seems that this can happen in the process of the community creating a totem pole. This would begin with giving acknowledgement and honor to its most ancient aboriginal traditions and then include all subsequent ones, such as Hispanic and "Anglo". The symbol of the totem includes and transcends all the historical, current and future cultural and societal influences affecting the territory in which it stands. To accomplish such a symbolic edifice will require artisans from all these traditions working in harmony.

On August 27 at 11:14 PM, Eugene said...

A final thought for now. The Los Alamos Totem Pole is at present merely a blank pole, skillfully prepared, but without images carved in it. It will take the PROCESS of a Deep Democracy type open forum to allow the community to begin to formulate which images belong where on this splendidly prepared blank material.

On August 27 at 11:29 PM, Joseph said...

Where do I go to read the dreams themselves?

On August 27 at 11:35 PM, Eugene said...

Joseph, I haven't got that figured out yet. Remember, this is a PROCESS and I need the involvement of others to move further. I have not yet discussed my view of JB's dream with JB, who is out of town, so I may have been presumptuous in posting this much so far. The LADDOF cannot be a private view to be imposed on others.

On September 17 at 8:30 PM, Eugene said...
Joseph, since the above remarks I have arrived to this preliminary arrangement with respect to the dreams. The raw dreams will be posted on a separate blog just for that purpose here. In addition a "CREEI scan" will be kept of all relevant dreams in a running document. (Not sure yet where to post this.) Further, most dreams will be interviewed using Joseph Dillard's IDL (Integral Deep Listening) methodology, which when combined with the CREEI Process is called CDL (Creative Deep Listening). These dreams can be accessed here.

Interviewing dream with LADDOF theme

2010-08-18T15:04:00.047-06:00

Posted: 18 August 2010; Updated: March 30, 2011

Integral Deep Listening (IDL) interview of "Hippie Woman", a character in a dream of Eugene's, clearly associated with the LADDOF project.

LADDOF director Joseph Dillard interviewed me in August aboard the boat Indigo off the coast of Bimini in the Bahama Islands. For Eugene, the expense of the trip was worth this one interview!

Joseph asks of the dream: How do you get heard by those who value doctrine over love or justice?

How do you do drama without getting caught in the Drama Triangle? (Avoiding playing the roles of victim, rescuer or persecutor).

In this interview Eugene chose to interview a character that normally would supply useful objectivity: a building. But because it was a church building, it was soon found to be exclusivist and beyond reproach. Therefore, another character needed to be interviewed, but which one? It is interesting that while the church building was itself biased and close-minded, it was able and willing to recommend a character that was transformative for this dreamer: a large (not fat), aging former-hippie woman with a long blond braid.

What are fundamental life issues that you are dealing with now in your life?

1. Getting the Deep Democracy Open Forum project going in Los Alamos.
2. Completing the reconciliation process with my family.
3. Getting the RPK experiment up to date.

Tell me a dream you remember. It can be an old one, a repetitive dream, a nightmare, or one that you’re sure you understand.

I’m in the Los Alamos Ward of the Mormon Church with Dr. Ian Alexander, its bishop. He’s like the priest of a parish. We’re not in his office (which is where I have met him twice before on a one-on-one basis in real life), but out in the corridors of the building. There are lots of people moving around. One is a very large woman with a long, blond braid hanging down from the back of her head. I say to her, “I think you were a hippie in earlier years” and everyone laughs. I have a message for Bishop Ian: The two excommunications I have had from the Mormon Church were examples of “unrighteous dominion” and therefore the Lord does not recognize them. I am using church legal language to attempt to arrange a meeting on the matter with the local high council. My message is not only to see if the Church will acknowledge this unrighteous dominion behavior, but also to extend that acknowledgement to set an example for the larger community of Los Alamos, the site of the origin of the Atomic Bomb. If this can be done, Los Alamos might be able to transform its awesome and corrupting legacy and set an example for the world in terms of transformation. I cannot tell if the bishop understands my message because he continues being interrupted by others as we talk. He looks at a man who is cleaning up after a church celebration and nods approval at the cleaning up.

Why do you think that you had this dream?

I have a project I am working on in Los Alamos called “The Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum.” It uses physicist/psychologist Arnold Mindell’s well-tested model of deep democracy open forums and refers to historian Garry Wills’ recent book Bomb Power, which is a new rigorous history of the Manhattan Project. Bomb Power describes the on-going corrupting consequences of that urgent, world-changing project. The dream seems to talk about where I am and why I am in Los Alamos. If that’s a grand delusion, it’s grand indeed. But it makes sense to me and gives me an enormous amount of energy and motivation.

If it were playing at a theater, what name would be on the marquee?

“The Transformation of Los Alamos”

These are the characters in the dream, beside yourself…

Los Alamos Mormon Ward House, Bishop Ian Alexander, Hippie Woman, Vacuum Man, Rug, Debris on Rug, People milling about, Los Alamos community, the Bomb.

If one character had something especially important to tell you, what would it be?

Los Alamos Mormon Ward House

Los Alamos Mormon Ward House

Ward House, would you please tell me about yourself and what you are doing?

I have been built with the finest materials by inspired people to exact dimensions. I am very secure and well financed. In me is the Truth.

What do you like most about yourself? What are your strengths?

Security! Solidity, clarity, absoluteness, confidence.

What do you dislike most about yourself? Do you have weaknesses? What are they?

There is absolutely nothing I don’t like about myself! I have no weaknesses!

Ward House, you are in Eugene’s life experience, correct? He created you, right? What aspect of Eugene do you represent or most closely personify?

I am his sense of very rigid clarity!

Ward House, it doesn’t sound like you are going to be able to give us much of a different perspective. Do you have a recommendation of a dream character we can interview that might be helpful?

The hippie woman!

Woman with long blonde braid

Hippie woman, would you please tell me about yourself and what you are doing?

I am so pleased that you ask! No one asks me much of anything because I am so big! In this place no one wants to think about wild people. I have a very wild past that I love; they don’t like to hear about it because it scares them. I love these people, and that’s why I am here. I understand their fears and I’ve been waiting for this interview.

Hippie Woman, what do you like most about yourself? What are your strengths?

I love people! I accept people for who and how they are, without condemnation, with compassion! That includes their fears!

Hippie Woman, what do you dislike most about yourself? Do you have weaknesses? What are they?

There was a time when I didn’t like myself. At this time I am so pleased with myself! I am grateful for being here! That I am this large! I am grateful that I see what I couldn’t see before! I see the fear and the rigidness, the arrogance, the blindness, and it’s OK. But that’s where the problem is.

Hippie Woman, you are in Eugene’s life experience, correct? He created you, right? Hippie Woman, what aspect of Eugene do you represent or most closely personify?

His love for his people, his family, his friends, his love for those who hate him and fear him. He is feeling a deep desire that they know of his love and caring, but they don’t know of this and don’t know that they don’t know that they don’t know. He is expressing his gratitude for my being in his life among them. I have taken such a strong place.

Hippie Woman, if you could be anywhere you wanted to be and take any form you desired, would you change? If so, how?

No! I’m where I need to be! I am so moved that you have asked and that there are those that care.

Do you feel that Eugene is hearing you?

Yes! I am so happy to be truly heard!

(Continue, answering as the transformed object, if it chose to change.)

Hippie Woman, how would you score yourself 0-10, in confidence, compassion, wisdom, acceptance, peace of mind, and witnessing? Why?

Confidence: 10. I know who I am, warts and all!
Compassion: 10. I have been through a lot. I have learned to be compassionate. It’s not been easy.
Wisdom: 10. I can’t imagine it being less than ten. When I think of wisdom, I think of meaning, I think of seeing the connectedness of all creatures and images. I think of the meaning in trees, the ocean, the sky....It makes me smile! They are what they are. They all have a place. I celebrate that place!
Acceptance: 10. We are who we are! I love it!
Inner Peace: 10. I can’t think of anything less!
Witnessing: 10. I SEE (thank God!) a grandeur of being, a grandeur of beauty, of experience, a grandeur even of blindness and rigidity. It all has its place in life!

Hippie Woman, how would Eugene’s life be different if he naturally scored like you do in all six of these qualities all the time?

He wouldn’t need to react to anyone! He reacts a lot, now. He reacts a lot to the Ward House, to the leadership that inhabits and produced that building, that claims that building. He’s still in reaction to a lot of that and demanding. If he were like me he wouldn’t need to be that demanding.

Hippie Woman, how would that change his life?

He would probably dis-identify with that part of himself that is standing on top of the wall crying “repentance.” He would be joking, loving, accepting. He would just be there, wherever he was with understanding, without demands. Patient!

Hippie Woman, if you could live Eugene’s life for him, how would you live it differently?

With more patience, compassion, without demands, with humor!

Hippie Woman, if you could live Eugene’s waking life for him today, would you handle his three life issues differently? If so, how?

a. You have given him some ideas about how to bring about the Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum.
b. Follow through with his remote psychokinesis experiment.
c. Bring into completion his reconciliation process with his children.

Hippie Woman, what three life issues would you focus on if you were in charge of Eugene’s life?

The open forum is the one I am here for, to give him a different perspective. He is challenging, but not demanding of this new Mormon leadership to bring him in front of the high council and present to them an idea that seems to be timely, that this place of Los Alamos has an opportunity to take advantage of. This gives him a new approach that he hasn’t considered before.

[This brings to mind an event that occurred years ago on May 21, 1972, in the very Mormon church building where I was first excommunicated (in absentia 7 years earlier). I had recently come out of a southern Oregon forest where I'd been for seven years and looked like a Hippie and was the house guest of John R. Howard, then president of Lewis and Clark College in Portland. A week or two earlier I had received a telephone call at John Howard's home in Portland from Robert Perine, the former Laguna Ward bishop who had taken charges out against me all those years ago, whom I had not seen since. Perine had learned where I was from my family and had called to ask forgiveness for not understanding or listening to me back then. He confessed to me that exactly three years from the date that he took out those charges against me over seven years earlier, he himself was excommunicated for precisely the charges he had made. He asked forgiveness and we immediately reconciled. Even though Perine never returned to the Mormon Church, in his will he stipulated that I be asked to sing at his funeral a song he had composed for my voice, called “Hope”. His widow found this request in the will and flew me to Newport Beach just to sing this song.

Shortly after Perine’s call, I drove down from Portland at my 16-year-old daughter’s request to sing at the Mormon Ward in Newport Beach, since she had been given the ward assignment to arrange the music for the meeting—a ward conference (which meant that many of the stake high council members who had participated in my excommunication were in attendance), I chose to sing a Capella a Negro spiritual--"Steal away to Jesus". I was dressed in Hippie-like clothes with long hair. All my first family (ex-wife and five children) sat on the front row. After I sang the bishop was so moved that he wept and could not speak for a long time. Then, after I left the building to visit my family, I began to be nagged by a weird idea about Joseph Smith. As strange as it seemed, I looked up the birth and death dates of Joseph Smith and added the age of Smith at his death to my own birth date--November 17, 1933--and was shocked to discover that the date was that very day (May 21, 1972)! This shook me greatly and I began to wonder if the Spirit was telling me to return to the Mormon Church.]

Hippie Woman, in what life situations would it be most beneficial for Eugene to imagine that he is you and act as you would?

In virtually all life situations. That’s the personality he needs to carry with him in all life situations!

Hippie Woman, do you do drama? If not, why not?

Yes, but with pleasure, without anxiety, without worry. It’s fun, it brings color, it brings humor. It brings life! I can’t imagine life without drama! It would be silly!

Do you play the victim?

I can play it, but I’m not it!

Do you play the rescuer?

I can do that with great fake self-righteousness!

Do you play the persecutor?!

I can do it very well! There’s a Hitler in me - a small potatoes!

What is your secret for staying out of drama?

Detachment! I can easily detach!

Hippie Woman, why do you think that you are in Eugene’s life?

He needs me! He has forgotten me! I am there for him! He now sees me! That’s why I am so big. He has avoided seeing me before!

Hippie Woman, how is Eugene most likely to ignore what you are saying to him?

If he were a fool he would ignore me. He doesn’t want to be a fool. Actually, he IS a fool! He has been very proud of it before. Maybe he’s not so proud of it now!

Hippie Woman, what would you recommend that he do about that?

Remember the braid! (In contrast to the large long haired blond woman in his dream of 21 September 1965 about celebrating “the beginning of the recrystallization of the church”.)

I think Eugene had this dream because...

To get him focused at a new reference point. A new view of what he can bring to the table in his conversations with the Mormon community. It means a humanity to him that he hasn’t been so conscious of before, that he hasn’t allowed himself to be aware of, that he has been too proud to be aware of ! That he hasn’t felt was necessary before! He has been so stupid before!

I think this dream event happened or (some character) was in the dream because...

The man with the vacuum cleaner is cleaning up trivial stuff that’s what the Bishop is valuing now. He’s seeing trivial stuff getting taken care of. He doesn’t see the big picture. He’s young, well-intended, a medical doctor, just beginning his practice. He’s very confident and open and aware of being inexperienced. He’s trying to do a good job, but it’s all new to him. He has no idea of what’s coming.

What have you heard yourself say?

That my experience and view of the Mormon institution is that it is pretty rigid and insecure. It is self-contained and doesn’t see the need of any outside influence. But there is a presence there in the form of a liberated and liberating female that is very much aware of what is and what isn’t, who is there in a loving way despite that institutional self-sufficiency and spiritual conceit. The large woman part of myself has been through the woods, the ravine, the wars and survived them and thrived in spite of all this and achieved a sense of peace and wisdom and centeredness. She is good humored and doesn’t preach or attack. I’m in Los Alamos for more than just happenstance.

If this experience were a wake-up call from the most central part of who you are, what do you think it would be saying to you?

I don’t need to be anxious or sweat about consequences. Feel humor, be caring, love church authorities, family, colleagues. There isn’t anything other than that to concentrate on. The first fear of two fears experienced by ecclesiastical institutions is generally “the fear of defilement” or being contaminated; the second is “the fear of insufficient love”, i.e., not loving well enough. That’s the fear experienced by the saints of old. If one must fear, that’s the fear to embrace—not the first kind.

Note: Joseph sent this quote from the Buddha at the end this formal interview, which I like:

Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.

Buddha

Towards a Deep Democracy Los Alamos Open Forum

2010-07-15T17:06:00.077-06:00

Original post: 15 July 2010
Updated: 17 October 2010

Los Alamos moniker looking east

Background

Earlier this year (2010) I read two books that sparked the idea of a Deep Democracy Los Alamos Open Forum. They were Arnold Mindell's The Deep Democracy of Open Forums, published in 2002 and Garry Wills' Bomb Power, published in March 2010.

Physicist/psychologist Mindell, an old friend from the 1960s and 70s, with whom I had been out of touch until last summer, is a highly published author and celebrated founder of a new psychology called Process Work. He is based in Portland, Oregon. When I read his Open Forums I realized it was an approach to social and cultural growth that I had been searching decades for.

Then, becoming aware of Historian Wills' Bomb Power via a Charlie Rose interview in February 2010 presented an ideal application for Mindell's "World Work" process. Bomb Power is a rigorous history of the Manhattan Project and its continuing effect on this community, country and the world.

Nuclear Waste Management Group

Having come to Los Alamos in 1993 at the invitation of the nuclear waste management group, which had learned of my background as nuclear materials research scientist, Soviet-American trade specialist and aerospace engineering manager, I envisioned grand ideas of good things possible. Of particular interest to the waste management people was my anti-nuclear attitude, since at that time they were trying to dialog with local anti-nuclear activists who were trying to shut down the Los Alamos National Laboratory. They thought I could function as an intermediary in helping create an effective exchange. "I don't want to be your salesman," I insisted. "That is not what we are asking" they said. "We think you can help us better understand their views and help them better understand ours." And so, we struck a deal.

Alas, it did not last. Before I knew it my anti-nuclear activist contacts felt I had been co-opted and became suspicious, while anonymous others within the Lab began a series of dirty tricks to paint me as a "spy" in their midst. My effectiveness as an intermediary soon tanked and I found my contract transferred from waste management to the Stakeholder Involvement Office (SIO) in the deputy director's office. Someone higher up wanted to keep an eye on me and my position became compromised. I was soon out of a job.

LANL -- Tomsk Seminar

Fortunately, another LANL group learned of my background and engaged me in 1994-5 to coordinate and manage a problem solving seminar between Russian and American nuclear scientists concerning a nuclear accident in 1993 in Tomsk, Siberia, where a Plutonium reprocessing plant blew up. It was a challenging, satisfying assignment.

LANL--Tomsk Seminar (1995) Coordinator E. Kovalenko is second from right

Although my contract with LANL ended in 1995, my wife and I decided to stay in the Los Alamos area for reasons other than working for the Lab. This has allowed us to become aware of new opportunities as well as old and festering problems. With this awareness the afore mentioned concepts in the books Deep Democracy of Open Forums and Bomb Power came together to reveal a new opportunity. We call it potential creative energy.

Core Group

When the idea of a Deep Democracy Los Alamos Open Forum was conceived, I wrote to Arnold Mindell to discuss its feasibility and would he be interested to facilitate such a forum. Being both physicist and psychologist he saw the international implications at once and encouraged me to lay the groundwork, saying he or his people would be available after spring 2011. That seemed enough time to plan strategy and I contacted my old friend and colleague Jim Bradbury, with whom I worked in LANL's SIO office in 1993-4. From that initial conversation we contacted David and Lisa, a newly arrived couple to Santa Fe from Portland who were intimately familiar with Mindell's deep democracy open forum and world work concepts and applications. With my wife Birgitta, we formed a core group of five.

Steering Committee

It seemed important to the core group to gather a larger, inter-disciplinary group to advise us how to approach the community and which issues to focus on. A group of 10 to 15 members seemed appropriate and I began contacting those whom I knew in the area to assess their interest and suggestions. Several were former Los Alamos County Councilmen. Others were current members of the County Council. Still others were from outside the community of Los Alamos, but well familiar with its issues. These included a former policeman from Albuquerque who made us aware of the high suicide rate among young adults in the area as well as the influence of gangs. Another couple, both retired from the Lab, made us aware of an increasing morale problem at LANL because of recent fundamental management changes and increasingly tighter governmental regulation.

It soon became clear that, although all those approached seemed generally interested and supportive of the idea, virtually every potential steering committee candidate of more than 20 people was stretched to their limit with other responsibilities and commitments. It became unrealistic to pursue trying to bring them together even once.

Potential Creative Energy

In the process of discussing the idea on a one-to-one basis with these interested citizens, one councilman nearing retirement asked what was missing in his published vision statement that we could address and put into a few positive words. I could not answer his question at the time, but as I drove away from our meeting the words "potential creative energy" came to mind. That was it! When I sent him a follow-up email he replied, "Those words are heading in the right direction!" He further advised me to find an already established group that would find our project of interest. Yes!

Taking for example the legacy of the Manhattan Project, in 1942 there was a huge source of potential energy fueled by fear and frustration that created what became the most destructive weapon in history. That legacy maintains power to this day such that in 2010 we are now faced with a similar dilemma as fear of terrorism mounts in our country and the world. Here in Los Alamos, there is a lot of energy that remains untapped, which manifests in terms of depression, anger, frustration, dissatisfaction, suicide, etc. Many citizens feel marginalized, dismissed, ignored and otherwise out of productive community life. That is a potential that must be recognized and utilized.

Los Alamos has an historic opportunity to find creative ways of harnessing this energy, but this time for positive applications and by the community of citizens at large.

The Deep Democracy approach is particularly designed to evoke and harness such energy in this place that boasts "Where Discoveries Are Made!"