A Life Transformed - Art ReVisioned

Not unlike many of you, it was personal crisis that prompted the series of events that led to the clarity that put me squarely on my own version of the yellow brick road. Interestingly enough, this was an image that was transformed and illuminated following a painful research trip for the "what is peace" project.

Through maturity we reach a point where we are able to discern the patterns in our life and listen to their song. Wisdom is illusive until one can accept the self as the cause and life experience as the effect. In this purposeful context, some encounters become catalyst that unfold as the next first step. In a space where ones own questions roll out the illuminated carpet, prana (breath) powered and attention charged.

The yellow brick road in my life has been represented by networking in cyberspace. Early in my journey, my first real insight into what networking could be came through connecting with Ronald Wopereis about two years ago. The thing that stands out most was the moment when he asked, "Will you help me build my business?" Now, he may have asked this of other people, but when he asked me it was like striking the bell that called my deepest wishes and most heartfelt dreams to awaken. Not only that, I could feel they were about to take their place on the center stage of my life.


There was a great deal of excitement on the one hand and on the other a deep sense of something that didn't feel so good. Even then WebAntiphon Corporation was experiencing the rumblings of change. There were questions and visions being pumped through WebAntiphon Corporation like blood flowing through veins. At least I thought that was the intention, but instead they were stirring quakes to be addressed but there was no free attention, no illumination that would allow me to see them as they knocked about in a cold room from the past. It was an impossibly frustrating situation. It was during one of our Skype dialogues that Ron suggested that I just step outside the room. "Ah-ha!"


Once I stopped chasing the source of the quaking sounds I felt something inside me...it called my attention with a dull pain. "Go inside the pain and find the boundaries. Tell me what happens," Ron suggested.


It was amazing! As explored the boundaries of my pain it dissolved and disappeared. It was replaced by insight; there was something to be expressed. I tried to push the words out, but they wouldn't take shape. I typed, "I can't find the words."

"Why don't you try drawing it," Ron typed.


Leaving my computer I went out to walk in the rain with my dog. Before leaving the yard, we circled a tree in the backyard several times. My thoughts had turned back to WebAntiphon. Circling the tree I felt that kick in the chest that anyone who has had their heart broken will understand. I stumbled and the tree held me up. "I need to know what to do. What do I want to create?" I hugged the tree and cried. Could WebAntiphon survive if it lost a heart?


I knew the other heart in WebAntiphon, the one that had refused to hear itself was shrinking. Instead of the steady pulse I was seeking to hear, with a rhythm that complimented my own, I felt the other beat slow and then I knew....it had in a flash turned to dust. The only heart beating inside WebAntiphon Corporation now was my own, but was it enough?


Walking the streets in my neighborhood, inside I traveled the corridors of WebAntiphon Corporation. Instead of running away from the "thump-thump-thump" I started to dance to it. They pitter patter of my steps walking with my dog Ronni, combined with the beat of the rain and the song rising in my heart. I became curious about what the music to my heart would look like, what were the lyrics to my song? Did this have something to do with the future of WebAntiphon?


I went home and created the Cultural Fusion Mandala Genesis. Then I sent it to Ron and told him my vision, what I wanted to create. His reply, "Excellent!"


My grand insight had been in discovering metaphors for social networking as a force shaping lives and enterprises around the globe. The ideas came to the forefront as if a dam had broken...films, games, events, products, services all stemming from this initial question. "What does CRM (customer relationship management)Strategy infused with Attention and Love look like?"

My soul smiled as shortly following the inspiration came that I would endeavor to create systems automating global social responsibility with art as the foundation. A lofty ideal, yes, but how else can the BIG challenges facing humanity and the planet be addressed?

That was in the Spring of 2006. Since then an International Team has developed and the founder of the International Network of Social Entrepreneurs (just last week) announced their support for the Cultural Fusion Art Series at the 2nd Social Entrepreneurship Congress in Portugal.

From that first question a spark was ignited, that experience was comparable to "The Big Bang" in cyberspace...where reality meets the soul.

But what had banged? That is what "Cultural Fusion-Art as Philosophy" endeavors to understand and share.

You can see the start of the Cultural Fusion: Mandala series here (http://culturalfusion.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1146658%3ABlogPost%3A2561)