From A Speck to the Universe – A Shamanic Perspective

What would you do if you woke up one morning and everything had disappeared?  All around you was black, as far as the eye could see.  Could it be an illusion?  Or is the reality we believe we wake up to every day the illusion?  Join us in the discussion of illusion, reality and the middle ground that transcends the duality.

A shaman is an intermediary or bridge between the visible world and the invisible world.  From the ability to access this place “between the worlds,” wisdom has been passed orally down the generations.  These teachings were kept hidden among indigenous tribes to protect the sacred knowledge and have only recently been made available to those outside the community.  

PRESENTER: Renee Joseph

“I spent most of my hiding in darkness… scared to answer the call to step onto the path of the unknown.  Until the question, “What if?” overtook me, and the journey back to my self began.  My old world of illusion fell away and I found myself immersed in the study of food, shamanism and yoga.”

Renee currently practices shamanic energy medicine, teaches yoga and gives workshops on integrative healing based on shamanic, yogic and energetic principles.  She is dedicated to her life-work and learning the lessons presented in every day moments… to deepen the understanding of herself, others and the universe.

The Ushers of Life and Death

Life and death are the two most powerful transitions we experience, the place-times when all who we are become transformed forever.  To feel whole we—individually and collectively—must fully participate in these events.  Otherwise all of life in between loses its context.  It is here where the contradictions of civilization have become most apparent. Once treated as spiritual peak experiences grounded in the loving, intelligent embrace of nature and community, Life and Death have become ever more institutionalized, routinized non-experiences, outsourced like our laundry, education and elderly homes. A place where women were instrumental has become a time for men to dominate. Awareness has been replaced by sedatives, wisdom by technology, ultimate acceptance and comfort by fear and alienation. Diane and Julia will share with us their historical perspectives, personal stories and spiritual insights, and will invite the same from us, as we contemplate the integration of our full nature, including the advances of culture.

PRESENTER: Diane Schade and Julia Chachere 

Diane Schade’s path to being a certified hospice and palliative care nurse has been a winding one. She studied Art History at NYU, catalogued prints at Sotheby Parke Bernet, owned Dede’s Dog-O-Rama in Greenwich Village, traveled for a year through Asia, lived in Madrid, and then moved to Brooklyn to have her child at home and to settle into being a mom. Yoga, meditation and service brought her back to nursing school, where Hospice care became her passion. She now lives in Sag Harbor with her husband, daughter (Ali-14) and dog, Candy, and is developing a new palliative care service at Southampton hospital.

Julia Chachere is a Certified Nurse Midwife and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner. Before joining Hamptons OB/GYN in 2009 Julia worked as a CNM with the Stony Brook Midwives and as a staff midwife at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. She received a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University in 1993 and worked as a perinatal health research analyst in the London from1993 - 2000. She lives in Sag Harbor with her husband, Gerard Doyle and two children, Adin (14) and Elia (11).

The CIA: More is Less

I will speak about the growth of the U.S. intelligence and communications mechanism since the 1930s until the present, especially its exponential growth in the last decade. True-life adventures will be interspersed in the presentation to add both humor and skepticism to the description of the tales of daring-do thus described.

PRESENTER: Ross Rammelmeyer

Mr. Rammelmeyer comes to us with a background as a graduate cartographer with post-graduate work in geology, law, and intelligence. He was a Naval Aviator with flying experience primarily in Asia and the Middle East. His principal career has been in intelligence work with both the National Security agency and The Central Intelligence Agency, primarily working as a cryptologist. He was briefly involved with federal and state law enforcement agencies in the early stages of the thus far highly unsuccessful 'war on drugs'. He was a pioneer in the development of 'all source intelligence analysis,' and stood as close to the sources of the information as possible in two of our four must recent, unsuccessful wars. He is, respectively, the father of Susan Moyer and the father-in-law of Douglas Moyer, who are husband and wife.

Climate Change Science, Denial, Rhetoric & Solutions

Is the climate changing? Unequivocally yes. The planet is warming and, as we persist with business as usual, the speed of the changes is accelerating. The questions about climate change are simple: What is causing it? What will be the consequences? What should we be doing about it? 

If ever there were a moment in human history to practice precautionary principles, this is it. Yet today there are four climate inaction lobbyists in our nation's capitol for every member of Congress and enactment of meaningful legislation to slow and then reverse the trajectory of steadily increasing greenhouse gas emissions is an elusive goal. Though many of our leaders are grappling with the issues with best intent, and constituents in greater numbers are asking for action, the public remains confused and distracted by climate change deniers' expert use of rhetoric. How are denial and messaging slowing critical progress? Let us understand what is occurring, let us face the possible consequences of inaction, and let us be clear about what we must do. Consciousness of the dangers of climate change will move us to demand and to embrace the opportunities present in the solutions.

PRESENTER: Sara Gordon

After becoming a parent in 1992, Sara Gordon turned her attention to learning about the challenges to sustainability, and to teaching and advocating engagement and action. She coordinated K-12 community service and service learning programs while working in land use, planning and conservation. In 2007 she became one of now 3500 trainees of The Climate Project and the Alliance for Climate Protection responsible for presenting climate change science and solutions worldwide to 7.3 million people. Sara is a LEED Accredited Professional, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Community Resilience and Adaptation Work Group of the New York State Sea Level Rise Task Force. She works in the Conservation Planning department of the Peconic Land Trust and sits on the Board of Directors of Shelter Island's Sylvester Manor Educational Farm. Sara lives in Sag Harbor with her husband Geoffrey, son Sam and Maddy the dog.

Curanderos, Ceremonies and Adventures in Peru

Join me as we immerse into the spirit world, into the depths of the Amazon and the remote heights of the Andes, as we travel through magical Peru and share some of my recent adventures. We will explore the Amazon plant medicine world and the indigenous cultures who have embodied these ancient healing rituals for thousands of years.  We will then hike up to the Andes with the Q'ero on a pilgrimage to connect to one of their powerful and sacred sites, Apu Ausangate. And to accompany us on our journey, we will listen to some Ikaros, the healing songs of the Curanderos that will go straight to you heart and nurture your soul.

For those interested, after the evening’s presentation there will be Coca/Tabacco ceremony, lasting an hour to an hour-and-a-half, for an introductory connection to the remarkable spirit of the tobacco.  $30 donation for the ceremony.

PRESENTER: Jackie Bobrowsky

For the last decade, Jackie Bobrowsky, a Peruvian native who has lived in the United States since 1981, has led dozens of groups of intrepid seekers of all ages on transformational journeys to the Amazon jungle and the Andes Mountains.  He has worked intensively with master shamans and healers and is dedicated to the transmission and preservation of the indigenous cultures of Peru. His compilation of sacred songs from the Amazon, “El Canto del Tiempo,” is available on his website, www.mamancuna.com.

Jackie has created an extensive personal network inside Peru to provide a unique and authentic travel experience. His goal is to help people reconnect to the earth and with the wisdom of the indigenous peoples of his native land. He sees himself as a bridge and a translator between North and South, between our twenty-first-century high-tech digital culture and the sophisticated plant-based spiritual technologies of jungle and mountain. Jackie is an expert guide to little known worlds of indigenous Peru, its sacred teachings and remote, startling beautiful places. He is pathfinder and trustworthy leader into the heart of the powerful exotic worlds of the Amazonian and Andean peoples.

Joyful Gnosis: Mind, Meditation And The Music Of The Spheres

David Hykes's inspiring presentation will include a concert of mystic Harmonic Chant with "sound mandala" video projections made by the human voice,  followed by the sharingof the work and research of his Harmonic Presence Foundation over the last 30 years relating music, meditation, healing and well-being.  Hykes will share key moments of his 35-year journey in wisdom traditions, from the Taos Pueblo to Tibetan Buddhism, in the music world from avant-garde New Yorkto sacred world music,  his scientific journey from musical cosmology to the Mind and Life Institute (which brings together neuroscientists and contemplative practitioners), and his transforming encounters and collaborations with rare beings of this world, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, elders from the Taos Pueblo, the Gyuto Monks and nuns of Nagi Gompa in Nepal, and his teachers, Tibetan Buddhist masters Tsoknyi Rinpoché and Chokyi Nyima Rinpoché. The light of both science and the wisdom traditions shows how deeply contemplative awareness practice can help us transform the mind and cultivate the deepest harmonic qualities ofbeing-- joy, compassion, presence and openness.

PRESENTER:  David Hykes

David Hykes, visiting from France to give concerts and teachings in New York, is a pioneering contempoary sacred music composer, singer, meditation teacher and visual artist. He leads contemplative music and meditation retreats around the world with the Harmonic Presence Foundation, exploring relationships between the mind, music, meditation and medicine. In 1975 he founded Harmonic Chant, an approach to "the music of the spheres" based on the harmonic series, found in all music and throughout the universe since the Big Bang (the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB), and the Harmonic Vision system for transforming music into visual mandalas. He was the first western musician to study and collaborate with musician-practitioners from Tibet, Tuva, and Mongolia, collaborating with the Dalai Lama, the Mind and Life Institute and the Gyuto Monks.  He is a noted “sacred cinema” composer ("Travellers and Magicians”, "Baraka”, "Meetings with Remarkable Men"...) as well as for films like "Ghost," and "Dead Poets Society."  Hykes’s work has been honored by UNESCO, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and NYSCA. His 12 albums include "Hearing Solar Winds," the best-selling "throat-singing" album of all time. Information: www.harmonicpresence.org.

Bauhaus Dances of the 1920s

The Bauhaus, an experimental school for the arts and design, was founded by Walter Gropius in 1919. The zeitgeist called the Weimar Republic, which lasted from 1919 to 1933, produced such luminaries as Albert Einstein and Max Planck in science; Bertolt Brecht, Lotte Lenya and Marlene Dietrich in theater and film; Thomas Mann in literature; Kurt Weill, Alban Berg & Paul Hindemith in music; George Grosz, Kokoschka, Kandinsky, Paul Klee in painting; Fritz Lang and his master films, Metropolis and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; and the Bauhaus as an institution of design innovation and worldwide repute. Uniting the arts, crafts and technology in a gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art), Gropius envisioned an architecture that would fuse the newfound technology of mass production with beauty and functionality. The Nazis forced the closure of the Dessau Bauhaus in 1932, but its influence is felt to this day. 

One of the more successful Bauhaus workshops was the Stage, or Theater Workshop, led by Oskar Schlemmer. The Bauhaus Dances were delivered as a series of abstract lecture dances between 1927-29. Schlemmer aimed to create figures that would symbolize the period’s fascination with new technology; each dancer was assigned both a primary color and a tempo to symbolize a psychological temperament. The avant-garde legacy of Schlemmer and his Stage Workshop would eventually influence the performance work of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Alwin Nikolais, Robert Wilson, Meredith Monk, the Judson Dance Theater, Laurie Anderson and David Byrne, amongst others.

Curious about the roots of abstract performance art, Debra McCall, in the 1980s, set about researching and reconstructing these unique dances that had not been seen for over fifty years. A chance introduction to the last surviving performer of these dances led to her meeting the widow of Walter Gropius and traveling to Germany to “rediscover” the original notes and sketches for the dances, thought to be lost during WWII. Debra will present the narrative of her reconstruction process within the narrative of the Bauhaus, and will screen her film of the Bauhaus Dances reconstruction. Artforum described McCall’s reconstructions as “a tour de force of research and as a demonstration of the continuing relevance of the master innovative artists of Modernism” while the New York Times wrote that Schlemmer’s works were “prophetic,” and the reconstructions “a revelation.” The film of the reconstructions was part of the recent “Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and was also included in the Performa 09 exhibition “100 Years [of Performance Art]” at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, which closed early April.

PRODUCER: Debra McCall

Debra McCall is Associate Director of the Ross Institute, East Hampton and New York City. She has served on the graduate school faculties of Pratt Institute, New York University, and Adelphi University as well as the New York Institute of Movement Studies. She is the recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the New York State Council on the Arts. As the 1988 Advanced Design Fellow at the American Academy in Rome, she researched the mystery rites of the Mediterranean basin to choreograph “Psyche’s Tasks,” based on Apuleius’ Metamorphosis.  Her reconstructions of the 1920’s Bauhaus Dances of Oskar Schlemmer premiered in 1982 at The Kitchen with sponsorship from Goethe Institute and the New York Foundation for the Arts. The reconstructions toured the US, Europe and Japan, including the first international Biennale de la Danse in Lyon, the 1984 exhibition Kandinsky: Russian and Bauhaus Years, 1915-1933 at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Oskar Schlemmer exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center and the IBM Gallery of Science and Art. Ms. McCall’s reconstructions returned to the Dessau Bauhaus in 1994 and her film of these pieces was selected for the American Dance Festival’s International Film and Video Festival tour. Her writing on the project is included in the Baltimore Museum of Art’s exhibition catalogue, Oskar Schlemmer, as well as the International Encyclopedia of Dance published by Oxford University Press. A certified movement analyst for many years, she created and delivered a series of workshops with James Hillman on the Body of Myth and continues to teach in art therapy programs at Prescott College and Art Therapy Italiana, Italy. Presently, she studies Middle Eastern dance.

The Cyborg, the Sage and the Bifurcation of Humanity

An honest analysis of the likely future trajectories of civilization and its relation to the biosphere suggest that humanity is hurling—with only slightly awakened eyes—toward several simultaneous natural and political/economical crises.  It is probable that none of the oft-advocated saviors to the human dilemma—namely technology, capitalism, the demographic transition and the evolution of consciousness—will deliver us from our troubles.  The first three are exacerbating our predicament, and the last remains far too muted relative to the magnitude of our problems.  More likely, we will continue down a path of widening bifurcation, where humans will further differentiate themselves, culturally, materially and even biologically.  This presentation is designed to picture in the manner of a collage the diverse worlds emerging on this planet as the millennia-old experiments of East (inner) and West (outer) begin their dance toward resolution.  

PRODUCER: Carleton Schade

For the past several years, Carleton Schade has been researching and writing a book entitled Dieback: The Science and Soul of the Coming Collapse, and has been speaking on the topic at a number of venues.  Last year, the academic journal Environment, Development and Sustainability published his paper Population crash: prospects for famine in the 21st century, within which it is argued that one to four billion people will die of starvation by mid-century.  Carleton was trained as a geologist, fiction writer and educator.  He has found passion in traveling, politics and writing fiction; comfort and love as a householder; and peace through meditation and yoga. 

Two Artists Discuss: From Gallery Work to Public Art and Back Again

As part of their art in public places series, Bomb Magazine, a publication covering literature, theater, music, architecture, and art, interviewed Ned Smyth for their new online magazine bombsite.com. They chose international artist Keith Sonnier—known for his work with neon—to interview Ned in his studio. Touching on his entrance to New York in 1971 and the SOHO scene in the ‘70s, the two artists describe the development and tension between the artists’ public and studio art, the move to public commissions, and the return to gallery-size work.  Please join us as Ned leads us through an exploration of the new territory from an early 21st century perspective.

PRODUCER: Ned Smyth

Bomb magazine online says, “Though Ned Smyth is best known for his public art projects, his studio work has been highly acclaimed since he began showing in the 1970s. He continues to produce both public and studio work today. His forthcoming public project, The Next Generation, will be installed at Lehman College in the Bronx. His recent show at Salomon Contemporary featured primal, found objects—such as stones, twigs and cast concrete—composed for private spaces.”

 Ned first started showing in galleries in NYC in 1973.  In 1975 he joined the Holly Solomon Gallery, which became an internationally successful gallery in but a year’s time.  Ned has shown internationally in London, Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Venice, Zurich, Copenhagen, Brussels, Oxford, Philadelphia, Washington DC. LA, Miami, etc., and he has also shown at museums all over the world, including The Museum of Modern Art NYC, The Hirschorn Museum Washington DC, The Venice Biennale, twice. Since 1976, he has built over thirty-six large-scale public projects across the country, in cities as diverse as NYC, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Forte Lauderdale, Anchorage Alaska, and St. Thomas Virgin Islands.

Ned stopped making small-scale work and showing in galleries in 1985.  He became focused primarily on large-scale commissions. In 2003, after building a studio on Shelter Island, he began thinking about smaller objects again.  Ned has been showing this new work since 2006, and presently has two shows up in NYC. 

The Physiology of Enlightenment

The numerous approaches to meditation and yoga generally aim at the preparation of the physiology for enlightenment.  Kimble's approach involves the interface between Western 21st century science and medical knowledge drawn from the Ayurvedic tradition.  His goal is to make abstract concepts and terminology accessible to contemporary audiences by using language and experience familiar to people in the modern world.  In the process, Kimble presents us with a map of consciousness which connects the level of immediate experience with the higher states of consciousness embedded in depths of human consciousness.  

PRODUCER Kimble Humiston

Kimble Humiston is a writer and lecturer on interdisciplinary themes in the Arts and Humanities traditions of world cultures. He is the author of a stage play on the life and literary contributions of the nineteenth century Russian novelist Fyodor M. Dostoevsky. He is also the author of a DVD presentation on Dante’s "The Divine Comedy" and its influence on the art, literature and music of Western Civilization. Kimble’s academic training includes a post-doctoral degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Cultural History from the Florida State University Center for the Humanities. Kimble's academic credentials were an introduction to a much broader range of knowledge gained through his association with the Indian saint Brahmananda Saraswati with whom he spent five years in the study of meditation and yogic practice.