Andrea Brower on Social & Environmental Justice
by Lisa Er
Motivated by what she saw around her on her island Kauai, Andrea Brower embarked on a career of social and...
29 Mar
2018
Will Wilkinson is a ‘local hero’ - he sees the big picture holistically and realises that we cannot all be global superheroes.
He has localised his action and focus, to ‘pulling the strings of individuals into both unity consciousness and community’ - by bringing us cohesively closer together.
In doing so, expanding outward, yet recognising our inner world - the core of our being.
When I first met Will here in New Zealand, his relaxed manner made him easy to talk and engage with. I felt him considerate and able to listen to who I was. I also got that he was focused - that he really meant that his ‘Now or Never’ call for humanity is both urgent and valid. That if children of today and tomorrow want a future of freedom, peace and prosperity - we have to start now.
Not only that - he is calling us all to participate. All of us who realise the precarious state that we have on our planet, be it environmental, economical and societal. Why? Because at heart - we intuitively know that what is happening to humanity goes against the grain of how a human being lives on a planet. Especially in a family context where love and connection need to be the foundations of a healthy existence.
So how are we going to ‘take back our planet and biosphere? This interview touches on many subjects - that of being how to focus and also how to flow and be one with nature. It also calls on us to be not only mindful and compassionate - but also to be courageous and show strength of purpose.
In this interview you get the measure of the man - by his vision, commitment and his sensitivity to take a stand and walk his talk.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Tim: Time for a cool change? When you wake up in the morning do you bound out of bed thrilled to be alive. That's right springing into action ready for a totally new day being full of zeal possibility and opportunity for our dearly life to think that you still have this youthful childlike puppy dog zest for existence to burst into wakefulness as living in the moment definitely feeds and nourishes our soul yet here we are today. And we as a collective humanity are finding that we are immersed and awashed in challenging times.
Intuitively we know that humanity's drive to fulfill all our physical and material needs is a continuous task of survival. A lot of it coupled to stress and we in most cases have to do it on our own and often in an isolated family situation yet we instinctively know that there has to be a better way and that we have to change we need to change. But how do we find this better way and what is a trigger that helps us and assists us to change, this is the question. The old saying is getting faster and faster better and better and worse and worse still carries with it.
The urgency that we seven point six billion breath sharing human beings have to realize our connectivity to that of a greater whole. That somewhere our umbilical cords all connect to a distant past that spirals back through time to a common source. And that today now we can either come together as a conscious loving global family and commit to start mindfully co-creating, cooperating and collaborating to shape our common future. Or allow circumstances to drag us down to that of a stark reality that doesn't bear well for us and all children. Thus we are now entering and now or never moment. A time to say life has to be far better and joyful than this.
We could not have in most cases unelected entities and players pulling the strings behind the economic and political facade that is so out of touch with a localized community people as a whole and all life within the biosphere. Something, somehow now has to happen and it has to start with us and it needs to start with us. It needs to start with you and it has to start with me. Making excuses will only put off the inevitable. So for me as a radio host it's now or never. Will that be for you? Remember the greatest journey is from our head to our heart.
In the PlanetFM Studio
In the studio this morning I have Will Wilkinson. He is from Ashland in Oregon USA. And he has put a stake in the ground for today and tomorrow's children and the human race and all biota within the biosphere by writing a book called Now or Never. And as we all know, we need to now take care for our total future. And Will has come out with a statement saying something wonderful is happening. And this wonderful thing that is happening is that people globally are waking up they are wanting to commit to their children and grandchildren and to a positive optimistic peaceful tomorrow.
So Kia Ora Will, thank you for coming. I did a previous interview of you about four weeks ago I'm wanting now to follow up because you've inspired me and many others. So Kia Ora thank you.
Will: Kia Ora Tim, it's tremendous to be here in New Zealand to be with you in person we did our show before when I was back in Ashland. And I've since had about three weeks here in your beautiful country and it's great to be in the studio with you this morning.
Tim: I'm very happy that you are here too. Well because you've got a wealth of knowledge experience but you also have a certain intuitive knowing that the strings of community locally and globally have to come together. And so what is your present thinking now or how you see things in relationship to your book Now or Never.
Will: We're building a new world and we're building it with love. As I travel around I see that there are so many people who are awakening not just to some kind of personal experience like personal improvement but to their contribution in the world. And devastating as so many of the signs in the world are, they're feeling hopeful.
For me in New Zealand I'm captivated by the potential of this tiny country with three million plus people wondering what percentage of people would it take in New Zealand to really shift consciousness. I think the opportunity here is much better than it is in most other countries.
Tim: I do agree it's easier to change the minds of a small room of people than say a whole stadium full of people. Because you have less people to have to convince.
Will: Well it's true and then there's this phenomena of herd mentality when you reach a tipping point some people have become familiar with the hundredth monkey effect where consciousness shifts at a certain point when a certain percentage of people have made a shift then it seems to transmit to a far broader range of people.
Tim: It's very true and we'll aim for this today and the interview is to be able to let people feel what you are saying so that they can tonight when they go to bed dwell on this.
Will: Well Tim I just want to return to your introduction which I thought was quite profound because you put your finger on the distinction of what's going on in the 21st century versus what's gone on historically. Historically people start movement and they're rallied around something that people agree is important. This is a very different kind of movement now or never is much more personal it relates to what is my task in the world, not jumping on someone else's bandwagon but what is mine to do. What was I born to do in the world. And as I say in the book I feel it's now or never to personally commit to whatever that is. Then the movement is a movement that includes people who are all giving their unique gifts rather than rallying around one cause.
Tim: Very true now the New Zealand has built a lot of its global awareness around team spirit. We had the All Blacks then the All Blacks have been consistently as a rugby team. A very very successful group playing together. And then Team New Zealand's of the yachting team that won the Americas club number times they said Team New Zealand. So there is a undercurrent of wanting to work together for the betterment of the whole.
Will: It's a very important principle relative to what we're talking about I know in athletics they say that the measure of a really great player relates to what they're doing when they don't have the ball when they're not the focus of attention. Because the team's success depends on everyone being aware of each other and not just trying to do it on their own. So that's why I'm hopeful for New Zealand you've got that team spirit. It's actually right in the culture the Kiwi way is to be generous together.
Tim: We trust in this process most definitely. Now well you've just had a quick tour of the northern half of the North Island. And you would have been able to get a bit of feel for New Zealand and you see that you know we're so fortunate. You're driving along good roads, you're looking at farmland the endless green admittedly we have just had a lot of rain recently and you've gone through you've driven through little towns. And the towns appear to be doing quite well. The issue of is there are other people who are in their homes on the outskirts of town or areas of town where you don't see but essentially at the moment we are a relatively prosperous country. And what do you see that can help us take this prosperity to internalize us to get our riches from within to come out and spill out and work together as a more dynamic or synergistic community.
Will: Well we did tour north of Auckland and a little south and I've been here three other times and people haven't changed. People here are very friendly very warm and it is a beautiful country, my wife would move here tomorrow if she could. I think what I also notice is the apathy that shows up when people are so occupied just making a living. And my experience with people is almost everybody has a good heart. They're concerned about the world they want their children to be well.
But so many of us are distracted by what we need to do to make a living and that all the social media that's assaulting us, all the problems that are landing on us, it's it's difficult for the average person to stop all that. To disrupt the machine that's rolling run like a train rumbling down the track to interrupt the kind of kinesthetic direction of their life and go wait a minute what's really important. Because it's kind of like holding a penny up to the sun, we've got a thousand pennies blocking the sun.
All these little distractions that really blind us to what's most important which is that we're in an emergency situation. The situation on planet Earth is urgent and taking a stand means acknowledging that and asking what am I called to do about it. So as I tour the country on one hand I'm thrilled with the people, love the country, the weather who wouldn't love New Zealand?
I'm also concerned about the apathy and this is not to judge anyone, it's built into the system. We're apathetic because it's also overwhelming right and great and our leaders are not speaking up and telling us what they really should be telling us.
Tim: I agree I mean my word as many ways as complacency. Yes is because we are a safe country and this has been particularly over the last 20, 30,40, 50 years, a safety net for New Zealanders. So it's been in many ways quite easy, it's getting tougher now. And so again a lot of people have to focus on a job. So if you’re focusing on getting to work and taking care of kids and all families are wanting to have their children do sport, do music, do ballet, everything outside schooling hours. And so that takes up a lot of your time as well that we haven't got time to also put our head above the parapet to see what's going on. But also it's to go to workshops I mean this is one of the good things that happens in New Zealand.
There are workshops happening up and down the country particularly in the major cities where people come from particularly from overseas who have got an understanding of how to from yoga to Tai-chi to being able to activate something within them just like you're doing now. And so I'd like you to speak to that.
Will: Well you use the keyword which is ‘activate’ and you know firsthand because you were in the workshop we did a couple of weeks ago, that my intention is to help activate the genius that everybody shows up with. This is opposite to the attitude in school for instance, where students are considered empty and need to be filled up with the knowledge that the teacher has that they don't have. Well this is endemic, it's a problem to all our systems, a dishonouring of the genius that lies in each one of us as potential.
I'm very concerned about young people because young people are the leaders of tomorrow. And real education is helping anyone but particularly young people connect with the organizing intelligence of the universe. I use the word love, others may use the word God, it doesn't care what we call it but the real education we need and the urgency of our times is to become deeply connected with nature with the power of spirit.
So that it guides us as a compass not a moral compass which is based in beliefs but a compass that's connected to the wisdom of life itself so that we're flowing with the same power that's beating my heart, steering the stars, taking care of everything. Now as a parent that's a number one thing a parent really wants their child to have is that compass so they know how to behave because they're not going to be hovering over them all the time. And they want to feel when my child leaves the nest they're well prepared to live a good life on their own.
Tim: It's interesting I was at the Holiday Park where I work this weekend and there was about four families and they were an antenatal group and they decided to have their holidays outside school holiday hours at this camp. And so all the kids in the families or all of the mums and dads and the children come there, they put up a tent, they all live together eat together, the kids are running around barefoot climbing trees, they're down on the beaches swimming, the kayaking, doing everything to give her a nice talking to these mothers and fathers. And they said all look the schools don't appear to be too concerned about we taking our children away because our children are really experiencing things that you just can't experience in the city. But not only that they're interesting one of them was reading a book. And he was only about nine years of age. Fantastic and then his father was just behind him says yes he's always reading a book.
And then we talked over about the Star Wars and asked the children about the force. And I'm getting one in say five children say yes there is a force. And I wanted to take this a little bit further. I said we're not speaking much about life after death anymore from a standpoint spirituality was part of my life when I was a kid. We used to ask who was a Presbyterian, who was a Methodist, who was a Catholic, who was an Anglican. And we had this continuing story about Christianity.
Well that's fallen away hugely but then the process so has been eliminated from the vernacular. You know I think we all must realize that soul is related to spirituality and we are spiritual beings having a nice experience.
Will: Well you absolutely tell me you've brought up quite a few points there and what you just said and introducing the concept of the force. And star wars popular as those films were and I think they contributed something valuable in terms of the hero's journey. I've often pondered what would it have been like if the franchise have been called star peace instead of star wars and the force. I think you are familiar with the book Power versus Force by David Hodges.
Very interesting because I think force is the external evidence of power which is an internal reality and if we're only using force it's all about might and control and power over others. The real power for instance in nature is different than that. It's a cooperative collaborate you could say it's the ultimate team spirit because you've got billions of species all operating on the same power source.
Tim: Completely
Will: And they're synergistic they're all helping each other so that's what we want our young people to connect with which is the power behind the force. So that their force is guided by the power, the same power that's guiding everyone and everything else.
Tim: Agree particularly when you have a look at how bacteria work and also the fungi and the mycelium networks that when we look beneath as you say at the lower level and see under the ground how all these networks interconnect and they actually break down food for the plant roots and for want of a better quick way of saying it. But there is a coordinated effect of everything working together. It's like ant colonies, bee colonies, there is purpose. And we human beings have seemed to jump the rails and not recognize that they are all these different kingdoms within nature that are working always constantly for the betterment of the whole.
Will: Absolutely and I think a route to reconnect with that is to interrupt the busyness of our lives. Whether it means getting out of the office and going for a walk sitting and meditating having a deep conversation with someone or oneself. I often think there's two aspects to our daily life there's flow and there's focus.
A good example of how both are needed is you're having a dinner party and people are talking and it's very social and then someone dings a bell and you know you have a 30 second grace someone says something everybody gets quiet and there's a feeling of reverence and a penetration there's depth and then you carry on talking. And flow if all you ever did was just flow if all the kids ever did was just play in the park nothing would ever come to focus. They would enjoy themselves and there'd be kind of an osmosis but think of it when a teacher a real teacher says look at these plants feel your connection to them hold this grasshopper in your hand or whatever it is, cicada, sense your kinship with that very different species. How does that feel. Now just that interrupts the kind of a unconscious experience that we're all in distracted by really and brings a focus and allows something to shift.
Tim: Very good. I was in Australia and I had a Japanese group that came down and some students came down. And so I went and got some cow manure and some soil and I put that in the box I made up a box and I distributed some radish seeds to each one of those. And I only was going to have these students for a very short time and so I got them to plant these radish seeds in the soil and we had a little ceremony. And then we watched over the days these radishes grow and then on about 21st or 26th day and we had a little ceremony and we picked the radishes out and gave them to each one and we had a relish eating moment.
Will: That’s great!
Tim: But they saw something start from nothing and they couldn't believe it that cow manure would offer them something. And I mean we gotta hit the humor of us as well.
Will: So, what a great education for them, to see life working.
Tim: Yes yes and you can do all sorts of little things I used to get carrot tops, I used to bring carrot tops in and put them in a little saucer full of water. And after a couple of days the carrot top would show a little bit of green a little bit of green and a little bit of green and we watched this and it came right up to full moon and then I carried on putting the carrot tops after full moon and they didn't grow.
And they had to wait another two weeks right of course the energy was descending and it really made me realize how powerful the learners in the whole game plan.
Will: Yeah exactly but you're reminding me of an experience my wife and I had just a few days ago, we are the the Tahara Retreat Center in Taupo and right behind our cottage was the garden and my wife is a big plant lady so she was out talking to the gardener and this was a woman whose gardened for 20 years. And she said you know I've learned over the years with gardening not everything works out. Some plants grow, some plants don't. And you can't really tell what's gonna happen sometimes the tomatoes go off, sometimes it's zucchinis, cucumbers, beans whatever. So she's very philosophical about it but she doesn't stop gardening.
And I was thinking that's what our lives are like. Some things work out other things don't do so well. We tend to blame ourselves or try and fix things. Well the main thing is to keep on gardening. And what do we do when we are gardening we make sure there's enough light there's enough water there's enough nutrients and I think that's the attitude to have about everything in our life to feed it and nurture it and to be not attached to the results.Because it's not up to us what grows and what doesn’t grow.
Tim: Yes I go barefoot and so I'm barefooted in the garden and I know that I'm Earthing myself. And if the sun is shining and this busy bird lives well it's just time out. And it's a magnificent time though just bay and I think this is where we again fall back into ourselves and realize.
Will: Well Tim you and I were talking earlier about the show and I mentioned a quote from my book and I want to read it it's very short because it relates to everything we're talking about. This is from Henry David Thoreau. “I am made to love the pond and meadow, as the wind is made to ripple the water”. Now that's a very simple one-sentence quote I'll read it again. “I am made to love the pond and meadow as the wind is made to ripple the water”. Now I'm a writer and I believe words are magic. There's a spell in these words, I am made to love the pond and meadow. In other words as a human I am designed to give something of value into nature.
Now that itself is a radical idea because usually we're in awe of nature we go into a forest and we're receiving. What am I giving? “I am made to love the pond and meadow” - to me that suggests a higher function in humans that we are here to bring a divine presence a current of love as he describes it into the world.
Now how many of us have accepted that responsibility consciously? That's what now or never is about really. I'm sitting here in this studio with you. I'm here consciously to contribute whatever I can that might bless your listeners, that might enrich their lives, might help you. That's my attitude and I feel that's the natural attitude that we're born with, that we get educated out of. Creators natural creators are turned into consumers. What can we get instead of what are we here to naturally give.
Tim: It brings it back to co-creating we are here as co-creators and working together. And I've been on enough working situations with people that we might have a small project to do and if we completed in one day and we all stand back and move we've made a little shared or something like that and at the end of the day we all stand back and think wow look what we've done. Everyone is everyone feels good. That’s just you know standing up.
Now if we can get our people there's so many people unemployed at the moment and this is I know that just a day working with the unemployed and you achieve something they’re ten feet tall when they walk out of there. Because for the first time maybe in years they've validated and experienced some success.
Will: Well you're talking about something extremely important and in my experience the change that we're looking for is turning duty into enjoyment. If we're doing something out of a sense of duty I should do it the motivation doesn't really last that long. When someone, when the boss isn't looking we'll stop working, tools down. Right but if what we're doing is a joy to do if we really enjoy it we don't need anybody to motivate us. We don't care if there's a boss cracking the whip we'll keep on doing it. So it's natural to enjoy being alive. Why can't we educate ourselves and our young people to include what they need to do to make a living as something enjoyable that they want to do.
Rather than what you should do this you should learn this trade to make a living. No what do you want to do, what do you feel passionate about. Do that, let me help you do that, contribute to society, love being alive.
Tim: We again when we're putting out and we're doing good for doing good seems to also allow us to meet situations that benefit us. I have a lot of synchronicity in my life. I trip over it. I mean just last night just last night
Will: It's a great image block, the tripping over synchronicity I'm gonna use that and I'll give you credit.
Tim: And just yesterday, last night, evening, I ran into a journalist and I've met him previously and he came over and he wanted to talk to me. And he just wanted to talk about what can we do to make the world better. And he stayed close on half an hour and we shared and I didn't expect that because I was vacuuming my car to make it all tidy for you when I picture of this morning. And he told me he said he's working with people and they are amazed at what he's done in his life. And I said yes because the story is the young ones aren't finding the mentors to assist them to flower and to get creative to be involved and to do just something that will fulfill them.
Will: Well this is such an important part of our potential success is that those of us who are of our age were both longer in the tooth. Stop being so preoccupied with ourselves and become available as mentors for others which means we take an active interest in them and create a field of nurturing where their genius can flower. Now that's a wonderful thing and sadly in our culture we don't really honor elders that way. We may revere them but how do we help older people become elders who are mentoring youngers who really need them. That's a big question.
Tim: It is because as parting farewell was that he said look I might take it to the editor that you do an article around mentoring. And said, I should all keep that door open because there are so many people just looking for something.
And this is a local publications called Mahurangi Matters and its it's a real community magazine. And they're popping up all over the New Zealand at the moment whereas the the larger newspapers for suburban newspapers they're falling off because the only based around selling advertising. And so the communities is wanting more connection well more connection.
Will: More evidence of what happens when people care for each other. I had something happen the other day, it was very humbling. I was in my office in Ashland and I was alone just doing some writing and the door open and some woman came in really in a state of consternation. And I didn't know who she was and I went out to ask her how it could help her she presented herself as a crazy person and I drew back. I was quite nervous suddenly who was this and she felt it immediately. And she said oh you don't want me in here you want me to leave. And of course I I heard that and that kind of brought me to my senses and I took a step towards her and began to engage with her.
Within about thirty seconds, she told me that her son had just committed suicide and she was trying to deal with it and no one was helping her. And she was crazy with grief and so I reached out and I held her and we cried together. And that was so humbling she stayed a few more minutes and then she left thanking me but initially I rejected her. I didn't have room for her because she brought a disturbed energy into my life and I'm not proud of that. But I tell the story because it's a learning moment for me. We need people who are available to handle what others bring to them. And I learned a big lesson there and I know that that improves my ability to help people.
And I'd like to tell the story because it reminds me of how I can be dismissive of others who I just judge. I was judging her and I think we need more compassionate listeners people of whatever age who are available for the grief the heartache the pain the suffering the confusion that others are carrying that they don't have anybody to talk to about. Why is our suicide rate so high. I mean for a person to take their life and thousands are doing it the rate for young people is just heartbreaking. It's because they have no one that they really feel is listening to them, that really cares about them.
I want to be I want to grow into a person who can who has that capacity and I really feel humble in this. I have a way to go but I'm conscious of it and so I'm developing my ability to do that.
Tim: Yeah I had a situation a wee bit like this two up at the Holiday Park. There was a lady she might have been about odd no fifty-five, she didn't look healthy, she was not pretty, and she seemed to have some scars on her arms. And she was staying in her little campervan and she'd come back with some force to a kitchen and prepare her food. And so I felt to ask her how are you going are, you enjoying yourself here. And so she came back she said all of this place is lovely.
Anyway we’d developed a conversation around it and I just checked my to make sure she’s okay. And then I met her a couple more times over next few days. And in the last day she was leaving and she came up to me and she said “Can I hug you?”, I said sure.
Will: That's great
Tim: And I didn't look to see if anybody was watching or anything like that I hugged her and I held her. And then when she went away and just around the corner I heard her say “Yipeee”.
Will: What a great story. See that's exactly what we're talking about here, it's called compassion. You reached out to her and you really heard her. Imagine now the ripple effect from that going out in her life touching other people that are to know her.
Tim: Yes, yes, yeah, well the fact we share breaths. You see why the whole radio program is premised in many ways as an environment, health and consciousness, they’re all interlinked. And the fact too - and I've made it clear many times is that at a localized level our planet lends us a body. It lends us free fresh air, free rainwater, and a free food chain until recently. What are we doing in reciprocity?
And it's the fact is we are connected to this magnificent superorganism Mother Earth that we need to be able to be thankful and grateful for the fact that we're having this breath because if we didn't have this breath in one-and-a-half minutes you and I'd be flat on the ground.
Will: Well exactly I mean I'm reminded of the phrase to whom much is given much is expected. And we've been given a lot every moment we’re given a lot. What do we do in return? There are people who are wondering how to save the world. Well you know it's a nice sentiment but who is standing right in front of you are you seeing the woman who needs a hug right in front of you.
I was thinking the other day about that story in the Bible where a Centurion approached Jesus and said my servant is sick and I'd like you to heal him I know I know you could. And Jesus said something like I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel. And the Centurion loved his servant and he believed that Jesus could heal the servant. So Jesus apparently said okay let's go let's go to heal your servant. And the Centurion said no we don't even need to go there to speak the word and I know my servant will be healed and he was.
And the message of the story to me is totally pertinent to what we're talking about, number one the Centurion loved his servant, he wasn't just a servant he was his friend. That provided a medium of transmission from an elder who had power because he was connected to source to flow it through and create a healing independent of space and time. So right now you've got people listening to the show if we're sharing this quantum moment, if we have true faith which is not in beliefs, it's not in a religion, but it's faith in love, faith in life. And we just open and we allow that life to flow everything and everyone we love is touched by that transmission. And that happens in the quantum moment we don't need a stadium filled with 10,000 people we don't need to be on television with a million, each individual can be touched in the quantum moment by the gift of love. If there's someone to transmit it and if there’s someone who has the faith to receive it and let him move out into their world it all happens in our consciousness.
Tim: I remember that scene well was Ernest Bergman they played the Centurion and it was Robert Powell who played Christ and in that moment. So I mean we've a connected to the field yeah this is a field it's an intent.
Will: Yeah it's a wonderful word the field I have my field you have yours we share a field we grow a field together a family has a field. Imagine if we were all consciously nurturing our field and like any culture a field grows something. You know a petri dish a culture and a petri dish will grow bacteria or whatever what is the culture in my field growing. I would like it to grow more love well how do I do that by expressing love. I often say to people if they're feeling unloved if there's a lack of love in their life be more loving because the first one who experiences what I express is me.
Tim: I come from a farm in Matamata lovely farm had a crystal clear stream running through it in those days it's still fairly clear but I wouldn't drink the water now. We once upon time I could swim and drink and dad offered me the farm and not only that he knew every cow by name, every cow had a name. And I wanted to go to the bright lights big city but that's where I actually grew in the end and work up. And I said to dad why do you really want to give up the farm and he said because I refuse to take one more calf away from its mother. Yes and if anybody has been present when a farmer takes the calf away from it’s mother they're traumatized. They’re both traumatized. The cow is moving and trying to get through the fence to get to his calf and the calf is bleating and it is a horrible scene because the love of the cow for its baby.
And this is part of the bigger picture that of mother Earth she has all the animal kingdom all the babies come from mothers. And if you have a look at polar bears if you have a look at horses you have a look at dogs or cats you will find that the mother has a very very powerful connection with its babies. And we need to be able to instill the way parents to have this connection with their children so much so that they'll say it's now or never.
Will: Well you're reminding me of what chief Seattle said when he finally signed the treaty with the white man he said that the white man should take care of the animals and we've done a terrible job of that. In fact early experiments on animals were done on the basis of believing that animals were incapable of feeling pain.
Tim: That's right oh yes
Will: Which is crazy I mean they'd make a cut in the animal would cry yeah what was that. So that in a sense is hopeful a hopeful sign we've evolved. We are becoming more aware the exceptionalism that separated humans from animals and plants and all the other species for some of us is beginning to fall away. We're realizing that we're one of a billion species on the planet and we need to cooperatively live together on this sphere the pale blue dot as as we were talking about earlier.
Tim: Carl Sagan said it very clearly that within the biosphere we are one and there is this thing called unity consciousness and I adhere to it very closely. And to bring this ideal through it is the challenge of the day.
Will: Well and let's give some hope to our listeners and remind ourselves that less is more. We live in a culture where more is more more money more love more sex more food more everything. But the science around for instance Andrew Curran Disruptors in the health field has proven that as you diminish the dose of a toxin you get to a point where a toxin is able to slip into the body under the defenses of the immune system. So in the past toxic reactions were measured from a certain starting point upwards so the more toxin the more poisonous effect. Then someone had the brilliant idea to ask well what happens if we measure lower in other words under that starting point. If it would say five milligrams four milligrams three milligrams two milligrams etc much to their surprise they found that the impact on a body from a toxic exposure increases as the dose goes down at a certain point because the immune system doesn't recognize the threat.
So we're all flying under the radar. I'm one person I'm small I'm not an army of ten million. What does that mean, it means that I can stay under the radar. I can get into the system I am in the system we're all in the system. And if anyone has ever dropped a drop of ink into a glass of water they've seen how that ink spreads out and covers the whole glass and before you know it the whole glass all the water has changed color.
So we should feel encouraged with our size not discouraged. We don't need a billion people all agreeing with us. Each individual is under the radar expressing the qualities that are moving into the system. And I use the term love, that love is the quality we want to be expressing that infiltrates under the defense system of the deep state as the words some people use, how do we affect the deep state. We stay under the radar and go underneath and get right into the system expressing the qualities that will change it.
Tim: Yes very true we need to be wise in the way we go about instead of reacting we do have to react in certain situations but we have to make sure that we have got a solution that is people friendly and planet friendly. And there's just heaps of work to do.
Will: Well and to be smart about it as you're saying be wise we we lost some money years ago investing it with a company where we discovered that the head of the company was railing against the government all the time. And he was painting a target on his chest and finally the government showed up in his compound in Costa Rica confiscated all his funds and we lost our money. Well he didn't need to be so vocal about his criticism of the government. See what I'm saying, he wasn't flying under the radar. So we can be aware of what's wrong in the world.
Me and my wife and I live in America and there's plenty to complain about there. But what actually makes a difference is to introduce what's missing. So if we see the evidence of hate and judgment and ignorance we can acknowledge it but then what do we put our passion into is it hating on someone else it reminds me of that phrase and I may have mentioned it too before Tim because it's one of my favorite evidences of hypocrisy Tom Lehrer the folk singer back from the 60s and 70s he introduced a song National Brotherhood Week this way.
There are some people who do not love their fellow man and I hate people like that. I think that really says it because we get very hypocritical you know in our country people are just rabid about how terrible Trump is. Well you can see that the man has some severe limitations but am I going to express the same way that he does in reaction to him if so we're all doomed. It's like saying he's putting holes in the boat and we're sinking and I go we'll all put holes in too and then we'll sink faster.
Tim: And I'll scream it out
Will: Yeah
Tim: And I think this is when going into polarity all the time and I think as we get more adept at conflict resolution and resolving different varying points of views we'll be able to get people at the same table. Gorbachev Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan were able to sit down and finally sort things out well between the Soviet Union and America. And they both committed to it which again you have to honor what they realized was going to be a horrible future if we didn't.
Will: Well and I think the key there was they started from the endpoint and worked backwards. And you know that my work is like that we begin with the vision of what we want we agree on that. And the definitive book on this is called getting to yes by Bill Yuri and Roger Fisher and they used that in the salt negotiations in the former Soviet Union successfully. You start with the end in mind and then you negotiate you work your way towards it. But if you don't have that initial starting point you just fight. So that's what's missing say in politics and economics everywhere where we have these massive problems don't start with the problem start with the end goal that we can all agree on.
We want our children to feel safe, we want our women to be equal to men in every regard, we want a healthy environment, we want respect for nature on and on and goes, we can agree on all these things. It's not rocket science. Where we differ is in our approaches to how to achieve them ok let's agree on where we're going and then discuss how we're gonna get there.
Tim: Interesting got an email just yesterday last night from two men from the States who came down and they spent some time with me and I said Tim with your radio program what sort of positive affirmation can we offer up. And we came to the conclusion we all want fresh vital water we all want pure clear air we want a food chain that is organic and nutrient-dense and healthy for us. It's a “we could all agree on that” and so this is how we build it out. And again is assumed this is best synchronicity I didn't realize that this is another one tripping over me because these two men have just landed in Auckland and I haven't seen them for ten years.
Will: Well and this harkens back to where you began quite a while ago in our conversation teamwork and how New Zealand is known for team spirit. When we start with the goal in mind that we can agree on we're on the same team. So often people fight because they think they're on different teams and they're trying to win. We're on the same team it's the human team it's one team. So if we can start with the goal that we share then we can honestly discuss our often very different viewpoints on how to get there. All it is is differences in navigation. We could go left down here we could go right over here now we know where we're going.
Tim: Good now can you build out from this particularly in relationship to your workshop and the Now or Never book.
Will: Well Tim I think the number one thing is to actually do something different. You know Einstein said the definition of insanity was to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. So listeners if they agree with what we're saying to get a different result in their life they'll need to do something different. Now I don't know what it should be, I can only take care of myself offer suggestions it might be helpful for other people.
My book Now or Never it's available on Amazon. It's filled with suggestions, ideas, visions. One of them I'd like to share right now if I can which is the easiest available for listeners is I set my smartphone for noon every day and when my little alarm goes off I stop what I'm doing no matter where I am and I have a little mantra that I recite. and I suggest to everybody do this why because it interrupts the flow we were speaking about earlier to introduce some focus to bring life to focus for just a few seconds. What I say is this is the moment and I'm building the future with love and then I pause the moment I just enjoy nature whoever I’m with and then I go back to what I'm doing.
Now that takes me 30 seconds if that it changes my day so I suggested listeners who may find that appealing set your alarm and then say whatever you want to say I just you know gave the example of what I like to say but that introduces a new discipline into life. A reminder is like a mini meditation that I am responsible for the future for what I'm doing what I'm expressing to help create the future. That's one tangible thing anybody can do.
Tim: Yes so I'd call it a memory dynamic - it is to hold you in your tracks for a moment and taking the breath
Will: Yep yes
Tim: And and this breath can be really big
Will: Yeah and then something else which you also mentioned earlier the early the first words in my book are something wonderful is happening. And I think we are so locked into an old paradigm of starting with problems that need solutions and then we get bogged down and discouraged. Instead I recommend starting with the vision that something wonderful is happening. My heart is still beating I'd be grateful for that I'd like to stick around for a while. The sun's coming out, the clouds come over, the rain falls, the children laugh, someone's being born.
There's a lot of wonderful things that are happening so when I remind myself of that at the very beginning, it creates a framework that allows me to handle the worst things imaginable because I'm I'm framing them in a positive way.
Tim: When you rang me last night I think that was my response to you yeah well telephone call when you call somebody you can say hi Joe or Betty or Norma how are you I want to tell you something wonderful is happening and that is your home and I can speak to you on the phone.
Will: Well I'm just gonna share this with you it is so relevant yeah I was sitting in a booth like this 35 years ago being interviewed on a radio program up in Canada by a woman I had never met and at one point during the interview I showed her a card that I had made up it's my business card and on the flip side of its be thankful. Now I learned that when she saw that, inside she grimaced and she thought boy is that ever corny. And she really reacted to it. But this woman ended up coming to see me as a client and I learned that she had some severe personal problems which I was able to help her with.
Long story short she later became my wife. We shared a wonderful 3, 4 years together and then went different directions because we were meant to but she was touched by exactly what we're talking about. Connect with life with gratitude her initial response was to push away because she wasn't ready for that but she told me she couldn't forget it. It kept working in her like a little seed and finally grew she made three appointments with me before she actually came. She'd make them and cancel them and finally she came and she broke down completely because her life was in real trouble. So I was able to help her just by presenting that one thing be thankful.
Tim: Oh this is story time, at the Holiday Park again where I do work I have many many wonderful experiences because as a community leader in many ways and I like that to be able to see people interrelating. And this are a number of older folks here and they all walk through the park from time to time and I'll go up to them and see them and I know them quite well now. And the other day everyone had gone home it was just absolute a storm and there's nobody there except a few of these people and I looked around them I saw that there's nobody's here so I said to them, guess what there's nobody around you can hold hands now.
Will: That’s great.
Tim: And it's good because the majority of the cases believe it or not the woman just flower of a smile and the man pull away, the man pull away. And yet the other day I found a couple and the man just sort of embraced his wife so much more and they both smiled because there’s a tendency to forget and then we need to be grateful for the companion that we're with because and 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago they told each other that they loved each other dearly. And I just interviewed Bruce Lipton last week and he's got the book The Honeymoon Effect.
Will: Yes I love that
Tim: Yes I mean if you were in love before the honeymoon why can not you touch this elusive the profound magical feeling of love 20, 30, 40, 50 years years on.
Will: Well my wife and I have had some real fun booking into a hotel and mentioning that we're on our honeymoon and sometimes a person registering us will say oh well great well we'll give you a bottle of champagne or something. We say we don't really drink champagne and she'll say well when did you get married will say well 20 years ago. We’re still on our honeymoon.
Tim: Yes. I'll tell you what you brightened up their day too.
Will: Yeah absolutely
Tim: And I think this is the magic of it is be able to share this this resonance we could have radiated if you can.
Will: You're right when we're in this stream like you and I are talking with each other which is thoroughly delightful and hopefully the listeners are enjoying this, we get our sense of humor back and that can be infectious. I was going into a theatre with my wife the other day and feeling really high we were having fun together and I said to the clerk one senior and one child, my wife is 59. And the woman laughed and said, okay and that’s what she charged us for. So I think people are just ready they're poised to have more fun to experience more meaning to feel good about their lives to experience some healing all it takes is someone showing up with a field that will nurture them and help them do that.
Tim: The checkout operators and shops and go to supermarkets that's when you can also bring some levity to the situation, they love it.
Will: And I don't think we ever can know the impact we have on others. Just from our casual social interactions how do we know that the guy who we pay our gas to isn't involved in a deep crisis and all he needs is just a moment from a stranger of showing that he cares about him to heal something and maybe change the course of his life. We never know. I think we have a bigger effect that way than getting on stage and talking to people or something. It's those little interactions day by day that can really affect people's lives.
Tim: Well again everybody's my brother hello brother hi bro can I do anything for you and I'm now even interesting as a male, woman I'll call em sister say hi sister yeah good to see you and it brings in another level of connection because there's less separation.
Will: Well and also you know we mentioned a few stories earlier about Jesus he said what you do to the least of them you do to me. Right?
Tim: I didn't know that
Will: What you do to the least of them, you do to me. So when I look at someone I think here's the Christ, what's my attitude. Is it just some kind of belief and spirituality or do I really see the divine in everybody that I meet and treat them that way. It's an honor to be in your presence because you represent the divine.
Tim: Wow that's a very high high high night of being is to realize that I am you and you are me and we are one and we are all together.
Will: Koo koo kachoo
Tim: Thank you, that was John Lennon wasn't it. And I think Magical Mystery Tour?
Will: Absolutely, I am The Walrus.
Tim: Yes yeah yes because when he was really informed Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, "Oh strangers meeting in the street, by chance to separate causes meet, and I am you and what I see is me". Wow that's profound stuff that comes out.
Will: Really and breathe, breathe in the air, remember?
Tim: And don't be afraid and afraid to care yeah.
Will: Tim it's so delightful talking with you, thanks for welcoming me into your studio here in Auckland I hope we get a chance to talk again.
Tim: Well we must definitely, we'll make that. Because one of the good things with your backup and follow through to your book Now or Never that you will Skype with the people who went to your workshop so that connection remains no matter if we are here in New Zealand and Tomorrowland and you're following about 16 to 17 hours later in the United States because we on a planet that has different time zones we can still be straight through.
Will: Exactly we need to garden together
Tim: Very true yes because the garden that we've got is the most profoundly majestic and beautiful planet that we have been given. Thank you so much.
Will: Thank you Tim
Tim: That was Will Wilkinson of www.willtwilkinson.com
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