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The Global Wisdom Council In the spirit of the great sacred pilgrimages, eco-spirit teacher and storyteller, Heather Foxhall, founder of the Rainbow Ark Foundation, extended an invitation to help build an Ark for the Twenty-first century by implementing a series of Global Wisdom Councils. Building the Rainbow Bridge was a series of Global Wisdom Councils that celebrated the power of the healing, council and ceremonial circle as tools that can help heal the fragmentation between our cultures, our generations, the Earth and ourselves-as well as create the space to celebrate and honor life... our greatest gift. The Global Wisdom Council is an intercultural, interdisciplinary, intergenerational global healing council that is meant to create the space not only to acknowledge our differences, but to learn how to respect them in new and creative ways that will inspire transformative action, helping to heal the fragmentation of our cultures, our generations, and our relationship to the Earth and ourselves. Our Councils seek to answer the current state of the world challenges from the intuitive wisdom of the heart. The Global Wisdom Councils is designed to galvanize eco-spiritually based citizens to build links and bridges between people and organizations that are already working to create a better world, so that we can synergize a greater global collaborative effort in helping to create a culture of lasting peace... and healing of the Earth. The Rainbow Ark Foundation's mission to help create peace through culture was initially focused on the production and video documentation of these Global Wisdom Councils as a way to educate and share these Councils with a global audience, helping our voices and visions to be heard. Today we have synthesized all of the video documentation into a multi-media performance piece, The Mystical Path to Healing the Ancient (Collective) Broken Heart, that clearly defines our message of healing. History of The Global Wisdom Council: The Rainbow Ark Foundation's first Global Wisdom Council was held in the summer of 1998 at Zaca Lake, CA. Peter Russell, author of The Global Brain, Mark Dubois, co-producer of the International Earth Day Events, David Dellinger, one of the original Chicago Seven and dear friend of Martin Luther King, Lavina White, Haider elder from the Queen Charlotte Islands, were some of the many visionaries in attendance. As a result of the events of September 11, 2001, we took the Rainbow Ark Foundation's vision to the next level by creating a voyaging Global Wisdom Council on board an Ark for the 21st century. This tangible symbol of global steward-ship and global-citizen-ship brought together those already working for peace, ecology and human rights to focus on the creation of a greater collaborative force for positive change. On October 11, 2001, in New York City, The Rainbow Ark Foundation hosted The Global Wisdom Council on board one of the great tall ships of the world, the Europa of the Netherlands. This event was co-produced with The Lifebridge Foundation. On board the Europa, people actively working for peace, met in council with media makers to spend an entire day together to begin to understand, and possibly heal our "us against them — victim vs. enemy" beliefs which dominate our way of being in the world. We discussed the recent example of our collective trauma that occurred in Manhattan, exactly a month earlier, with the intention of going to a deeper level of healing within ourselves. One of the goals of the Rainbow Ark's Global Wisdom Council is to influence media makers to pick up the "torch of peacemaking" through making commitments to creating theater, film, television, journalism and personal statements that will reach and affect their audiences. A key objective of the New York council was to engage invited media makers into a deeper conversation regarding their role as storytellers in creating peace. The Global Wisdom Council asked its crew to contemplate these questions:
Other attending council elders committed to join the next steps of the Rainbow Ark Foundation's Global Wisdom Council trek. One was Paul MacIssac, award winning filmmaker, journalist and current artistic director of the Play Back Theatre, NYC (an international theater troupe that uses improvisational theater to make socio-political statements) brought the power of his troupe to the council experience. Others that have joined the Crew included renowned ecologist and representative for the Olympics, Jean-Michel Cousteau. Subsequent Councils held in Los Angeles and the Netherlands marked the beginning of a series of Global Wisdom Councils intending to draw together some of the world's greatest visionaries from the media and theater arts as well as peace, environmental, social justice and spiritual initiatives. These Councils began to create a visible global chorus of Wisdom Elders (elderhood not necessarily meaning old age, but a sacred way of being in the world, whether 18 or 80) to help heal our wounded world, as well as to navigate our newly emerging compassionate world society at the chaotic beginnings of the twenty-first century. We created a contemplative chorus that would hold a higher divine directive, helping to create a culture based on spiritual values. This visible chorus carrys the voice of another conversation, currently unrecognized by our corporate media that speaks of a desire for a new moral code that's beyond the "eye for an eye" mentality. This chorus speaks of tolerance and compassion as Gandhi taught us,"... a willingness to hear the other side." Peter Russell (author of The Global Brain) and council elder from England attested about the importance of these Councils, "... this deep sharing from the heart is what our society needs so desperately. We need to develop kindness, caring and compassion for each other. This is how the Śmagic' happens and the needed changes in the world take place." The Rainbow Ark Foundation celebrated it's 7th anniversary on July 23, 2005 at the Center Stage Theater in Santa Barbara, California with a multi-media performance piece; Medicine of the Rainbow: The Path to Healing the Ancient Collective Broken Heart‹ An Evening of Storytelling, Prophecy and Healing presented by Foxhall. The evolution of our work is based on the concept of The Epidaurus, the ancient Greek healing center that used healing arts along with the performing arts for transformational purposes. Crew Members for the Rainbow Ark's Global Wisdom Council: Ed Aguilar, Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities Ruben Aronin, Director, ECO-Earth Commutations Office Barnet Bain- film producer What Dreams May Come Ed Begley, Jr., Actor Sarah Burns, Institute for the Environment at UCLA Jean-Michel Cousteau, Founder of Ocean Futures Society Mary Crowley, Founder of Ocean Voyages Laura Dorsey, Founder of Gardens for Peace Mark Dubois, Founder of Friends of the River, co-producer of International Earth Day Gangaji, Spiritual teacher, Ramana Maharshi lineage Douglas Gilles, Author of Prophet: The Hatmakers Son (Biography of Robert Muller) Klaas Jan Hendricks, Founder of Foreign Media Affairs Barbara Marx Hubbard, Founder of The Foundation for Conscious Evolution Frank Kelly, Writer, journalist Larry Kopald, Chairman, Earth Communications Office Heidi Kuhn, Founder of Roots of Peace Satish Kumar, Aauthor of Path Without Destination, editor of Resurgence Magazine Dennis Kuncinich, Visionary congressman from Ohio David Kreiger, Founder of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Jay Levin, Founder LA Weekly Dries Langeveld, Publisher of "Bres" magazine Eisha Mason, Center for Non-Violence Jennifer Muller, Artistic director of New York City based "The Works" Louwrien Wijers, Founder of Art Meets Science and Spirituality in A Changing Economy Paul McIssac, Artistic director of Playback Theatre Ben Quinto, Director of Global Youth Action Network Peter Russell, Author of The Global Brain Thekla and Richard Sanford, Sanford Winery (organic) Alice Slater, Director, Grace Foundation John Steiner, Co-Founder, Social Venture Network Fred Stern, The Rainbow Maker Susan Tixier, Forrest Guardians Steve Oster, Producer of the Star Trek TV series Marion Woodman, Author of Dancing in the Flames Woody Vaspra, Director, The World Council of Elders David Zasloff, Social/political comedian/musician The Rainbow Ark Foundation is a 501c3 Non-Profit Corporation. |