![\"Dr.](\"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/OttAndPicouFiveRiversA_7_6_2010.jpg\" "\\"Dr.")
<\/a>Dr. Riki Ott. and Dr. J. Steven Picou exchanging notes before their presentation, photographed July 6, 2010 by Dawn McKinney<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
![\"Part](\"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/SierraTalkBackSideCorner.jpg\" "\\"Part")
<\/a>Part of the concerned audience behind me, photographed July 6, 2010<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
For me and surely most present it was much more than information overload. The emotional content was even more powerful. Even with the very academic approach, the tears from the audience began to flow especially from mothers worried about their children and the future.<\/p>\n
Dr. Riki Ott and Dr. J. Steven Picou spoke of how we can change our future too. Move beyond the \u201cwarning,\u201d \u201cthreat,\u201d \u201cimpact,\u201d \u201cblame\u201d cycle to the \u201cmutual assistance,\u201d \u201ccharitable action,\u201d \u201ccommercial cooperation,\u201d \u201centrepreneur leadership\u201d cycle to\u00a0leverage our own immense \u201cexperience\u201d and \u201cresources.\u201d Use \u201ccollective common sense,\u201d give \u201chugs not shrugs,\u201d \u201cmaintain families,\u201d \u201crise up,\u201d \u201cbe leaders,\u201d \u201cchoose \u2026 to live \u2026 and get control of the tiller,\u201d \u201cyour power is from the community \u2026 the people \u2026 from the bottom up,\u201d \u201cspeak as a community,\u201d \u201chave your cry, get through it, and make a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The following morning I sat up in bed and cried too. Sorrowfully I thought of our natural surroundings and our communities. I saw how we get distracted so easily and make ourselves nearly powerless by dividing ourselves with all kinds of respectable labels: liberal and conservative, rich and poor, this religion versus that religion or denomination, republican and democrat, \u2026 Sorrowfully I looked at our bubbles and walls, the illusions of success, comfort, \u2026 It\u2019s quite strange how we seemed to need the Deepwater Horizons wake-up call to see the human and natural disasters around us and involving us.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s the plan, the prayer, the dream, \u2026? Listen to the calls within you to hold suffering people, to hold families together, to hold birds and fish too, \u2026 Despite all the bad news, together we have an incredibly positive future ahead of us, a future far better than our past.\u00a0Let me share this prayer with you. I look at each line as springboard for conversing with God, our All in All, and as springboard for my actions and hopes for the day. Let the wind blow where it will. You-Are-Who-Are, Infinite Lover of All, Eternal Creating Spirit! Inspire us to confidently ask for and seek all that we need Liberate us from every attachment, anger, dishonesty, conceit, and fear; Thank You, God.<\/p>\n [This prayer has been updated here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tuesday evening, July 6, over 100 concerned people gathered to hear Dr. Riki Ott and Dr. J. Steven Picou. Dr. Riki Ott has played a pivotal role throughout the Exxon Valdez disaster and Dr. J. Steven Picou has had extensive … Continue reading
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\nKumbaya to us, Your beloved children.
\nLive fully in each of us and be our All in All in each moment.<\/p>\n
\ntrusting day by day that Your abundant help can be found in many diverse places and persons.
\nInspire us also to profoundly appreciate the needs, beauty, and gifts of each person.<\/p>\n
\nsave us from every desire to do or return evil;
\nand guide us into Your boundless patience, hope, understanding, forgiveness, and love;
\nfor we yearn and ask to be healed and to live fully like You and with You for the benefit of all.<\/p>\n