The Partnership School of the Future

TWENTI ETH ANNIVERSARY development, but downward developmentin all countries , includingthe United States. Finally, we need to focus more on home-grown economies and more self-reliant communities where more ofthe capital is kept inside small communities. We need to supportsmall businesses, local co-ops, and thiskind ofthing. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1999 IVOLUME 14, NUMBElt l Meditationand SocialChange bySharon Salzberg T HE BUDDHA SAID, "Just as the dawn is the forerunner and the first indication of the rising sun, so is right view the forerunner and the first indication ofwholesome states." "Right view" is a quality of perception that understands the world as interconnected , and understands that what we do is consequential , that actions ripple out through this web of interconnection. "Right view" is what is realized in meditation. boardas anorganizer and a teacher. The experience was muchlike that ofstarting Tikkun, exciting and creative. Eleven years laterthe center is flourishing and some ofour students are movinginto positions ofleadership. I'm mostinterestedinthestait-upstage of projects,itseems. I'mnowcreatinganother magazine, Persimmon Tree:AnOnlineLiteraryMagazinefor 01,derWomen. Tbis newprojectcomesfrommydesire tobroadenawarenessofthetalent, skill, andcreativity thatexistsamongwomen oversixty. I wanttohelp readers movebeyondtheusual setofassumptions andstereotypes to a.more nuancedunderstanding. TIKKUN: You are stillconnectedto Tiklcun as a writer andinformal consultant.Where doyou see the magazinegoing andwherewouldyou like itto go? NFG: In the early 1990s I leftthe magazinein Michael's hands. This was an exercise ofletting go, not easy at the time butthe wisest course over the years. I'm proudofwhat he and the competent Tikkun staffhave done, and trustthatthey will continue to publish a magazine with integiity and relevance in the future. • Our view ofthings molds our intentions, which in turn molds om actions. How we look at ourlives becomes the basis for how we act and how we live. According to Buddhist teachings, when we understand the interconnection ofall oflife, then we can act with the ease ofuncontrived altruism. We act with simple goodness. Whetherthey are personal and direct or take place in the larger arena ofsocial change, our actions arise out ofa wholesome state ofmind rather than out offear and anxiety. With clear vision, we see that we are all a part of each other's life and journey toward liberation. This knowledge forms the spirit with which we do meditation practice, and theway in whichwebringthatpractice into our dailylives. With gi·eater awareness, often formed and refined in meditation, webegin to see that we are essentially no different from each other, no matter who we are. We all share the urge toward happiness , and notoneofus leaves this earth neverhaving suffered. Thisview ofinterconnectedness maynotgive us the ability, the means, oreven the inclination to do a political analysis ofa situation or to engage in systematic social change, but it does give us an unfeigned goodheartedness . Itgives us an urge to include rather than to exclude, to care rather than to reject someone else's problem as having nothing to do with us. This is the consciousness ofsocial transformation. JAJ~UARY/FEBRUARY 2000 I VOLUME 15, NUMBER l The PartnershipSchool ofthe Future by Riane Eisler HEN I ENVISION the partnership school ofthe future, I see a place where children learn about the mystery and majesty ofour amazing universe. In this school, young people will hear many stories ofthe wonders oflife on ourEarth. They will learn thatcooperation and cru.ing play a major part in the life of many species with whom we share our planet, and that what marks our human emergence is not our capacity to inflictpain but our enormous capacity to give and feel pleasure. They will know about chemicals that, by the grace of evolution, course through our bodies, rewarding us with sensations ofsometimes exquisite pleasure when we create and care. Andtheywill understandthat this NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2006 WWW.TIKKUN .OR G TIKKUN 33 TWENTIETH ANN IVERSARY pleasure is ours not only when we are loved but when we love another, not only when we are touched with caring but when we touch another with caring. Boys and girls will learn to value women's cont1·ibutionsthroughouthuman history, andtogive particular valueto the caring and caretaking work thatwas once devalued as "merelywomen's work:'Theywill also understand that this work is the highest calling for both women and men, that nonviolence and...