Ilchi Lee's Blog, page 78

Bird of the Soul

[Video] Meet Your Soul in the Energy of Sedona

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had the pleasure of speaking in front of an informal group of people who are essentially my neighbors where I live in Sedona, Arizona when I gave a talk at the Lunch and Learn program at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Yavapai College this month. I enjoyed speaking about the special qualities of Sedona, the most important of which I think is its ability to help you feel your soul more easily. In this lecture, I spoke a lot about the soul—what it is and how communicating with it can help you live a life of integrity and continual self-development.

I also introduced my new book Bird of the Soul and the Earth Citizen School I’m developing right now in Sedona. It’s my dream to help people discover their innate humanitarian nature and be real heroes in their lives and in our world.

I had so much fun giving this lecture. I hope you have some time to listen to it yourself.

Meet Your Soul in the Energy of Sedona

In a lecture he gave for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Lunch & Learn program at Yavapai College, Ilchi Lee describes the powerful energy of Sedona, Arizona. He told his Sedona neighbors how the land’s healing power enhanced his creativity and contributed to his success because it is an ideal environment for discovering your soul. Visualizing your soul as a bird in meditation, he also said, will help you discover your hopes and dreams. Ilchi Lee shared his dream, which he is working on now, of an Earth Citizen School where students can discover their innate humanitarian nature.

We Can All Be Heroes

What do you think of when you think of a hero? A man in blue and red tights who flies around saving the world?

Sure, Superman is a hero. But we don’t need to have super powers to be a hero. All we need is our conscience and the integrity and courage to follow it. And we all have that embedded in our natural energy state.

Unfortunately, we don’t always exhibit these characteristics that are simply a part of being human. Sometimes, instead, we find ourselves sick, despondent, and/or afraid. Our habits and circumstances may have left us too weak or unmotivated to reveal our hero qualities. However, we don’t have to stay that way.

If we believe we can change, the way we were in the past or the way we are now doesn’t matter because our brains have a “Brain Operating System” (BOS). According to the rules by which our BOS functions:

1. If we choose it, it will happen.

2. Giving ourselves positive messages will change our brain for the better.

3. So wake up and pay attention!

The first thing we need to do to choose to change from sick, despondent, and afraid to courageous, proactive, and compassionate is give ourselves energy. We can use breathing and meditation, especially active meditations such as yoga, tai chi, and qi gong, to fill up our chakras—our body’s energy tanks.

The next thing we need to do is listen to what our conscience is telling us and act on what it says right away. The more we do this, the more power and courage we will get, creating a snowball effect. Soon our higher selves will grow so big we’ll be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

 

Ilchi Lee

 

One Heart for Humanitarian Education

Today I had the pleasure of having breakfast with Neale Donald Walsch, who is an old friend of mine. He was in Phoenix, Arizona speaking at the annual Celebrate Your Life Conference and had just finished videotaping an interview for the sequel to my film, CHANGE: The LifeParticle Effect.

While we waited for our meal, I showed him my newest book, Bird of the Soul. He pored over the charming illustrations, and the edges of his eyes crinkled into his winning smile as he christened them as “sweet.” I signed one of my advance copies for him, and, delighted, he offered to write an endorsement for it. Along with our usual good-natured banter and catching up, we also told each other about our current projects and felt that uncanny harmony in our philosophies and ideas all over again, a resonance of our hearts that transcends time and space and language.

One topic of particular interest to both of us is education reform. I told him about my ideas and my plans for the Earth Citizen School, especially in the United States, and for an online alternative school in South Korea that I’m calling the Benjamin Humanitarian Prodigy School. (The school is named after Benjamin Franklin, whose dedication to self-development and humanitarian values I particularly admire.)

In 1997, in his second book, Neale wrote about an entirely new curriculum for the world’s schools. He wrote that the world’s schools needed to shift away from a curriculum based on academic topics and toward a curriculum based on values such as honesty, compassion, tolerance, patience, persistence, and a general sense of goodness to life and to each other. I agree that intellectual knowledge is easily looked up in this day and age, but what is missing is education on humanitarian values and character and integrity. What the world needs right now are not mathematic, scientific, artistic, or athletic prodigies, but gifted humanitarians—prodigies of character and integrity.

We’ve both known this for a while, but I believe that now is the time to take action. We’ve delivered positive messages for many years, written many books, given many speeches, but now is the time for taking responsibility for what we said and gathering people, young people who will become the leaders of our future generations. We ourselves may not benefit from these efforts, and we may not live to witness the beautiful blossoming of the seeds that we planted in the past and are avidly watering now. But we’re polishing the foundation. When those seeds sprout and grow, when a lot of people come together and develop, they will go in the right direction. We can get the ball rolling and point everyone in the right direction.

As Neale said this morning: “Many people are saying many of the same things, yes? The challenge is with all of these people saying the same things, what’s the tipping point, what will it take for these messages to begin to have an effect in the world? That’s why I’m excited about the Earth Citizen School. Because you can write all the books you want to write. You can give all the lectures you want to give. Give all the TV interviews you want to do. But unless you have a group of people like you’re doing who are young and trained out there, and they become the teachers of the next generation, that’s the only way. When I was younger, I had a foolish thought. I thought I could change the world. I’d like to think I’ve done some good. I’d like to think I added a little bit.”

I think he has. And both he and I, we’re still going strong. With our hearts united as one, Neale will give his lectures at the conference and travel on to Florida and later Europe this year. I’m back in Sedona and will soon return to Asia. But we’ll meet again in the fall, when I get to update Neale on how well the Earth Citizen School is going, and when he’s teaching the Earth Citizen students for a couple of days and giving a commencement speech for them at their graduation ceremony.

I hope through the Earth Citizen School, we will cultivate and inspire many young people who follow in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela as prodigies of character and integrity who live according to their values and for the benefit of all humanity. I know that every human being has this potential. All they have to do is choose it.

A New School for a New Earth

By Michela Mangiaracina

On February 5th, Ilchi Lee gave a talk to the young students of the current term of the Earth Citizen School—his latest project. Founded in 2013 by Lee, the Earth Citizen School aims to produce leaders who embody the ideal of Earth Citizenship and who will inspire others to adopt it to change their lives.

Students of the Earth Citizen School are learning

1. what it means philosophically to be an Earth Citizen.

2. key life skills for sustainable living.

3. leadership skills for community service and promoting the Earth Citizen Movement.

The Earth Citizen School goes beyond the traditional classroom. It teaches students how to live mindfully using the mind-body system of Brain Education developed by Ilchi Lee. It also engages students in sustainable living practices such as organic farming and sends them into the local community to teach Brain Education.

The leaders who graduate from the Earth Citizen School will be self-sufficient and have a global humanitarian outlook. They will be committed to their continual self-development and promoting peace and sustainability in communities around the world.

Ilchi Lee emphasized this commitment to self-development in his talk. Self-development begins with being confident in your innate value. Its course is determined by the purpose you set for your life. He told the twenty-four high school and college students from South Korea who have gathered at Sedona Mago Retreat in Sedona, Arizona that they need to recognize that they are very valuable. They need to tell themselves with confidence that they are on earth right now because the 21st century earth desperately wanted them here. Given that, they can ask themselves what they are really here to do, and discovering their purpose, they need to pursue it with determination and integrity. Self-confidence and integrity are essential prerequisites for having the desire and ability to create a harmonious world for all.

In attendance at the talk was Anne Covert, a Dahn Yoga practitioner from Boston, Massachusetts whose donation of $2 million has made the Earth Citizen School possible. Ann was inspired to make the donation when she learned of Ilchi Lee’s dream for a healthier and more harmonious world based.

Before Ilchi Lee spoke, the students thanked Anne for her generosity with a special note and a song. Then Anne told them her own story. Now in her seventies, when Anne was young, she was an activist for peace and women’s rights who believed in a more peaceful and happy world. After many decades of a lot of work and repeated frustration, however, she became burned out mentally and physically. Through practicing Brain Education, of which Dahn Yoga is a part, she regained her health and her passion. Anne told the students she was envious that they found what she had been looking for all her life so early in their path and thanked them for choosing to live as an Earth Citizen. Anne’s passionate words and generous actions moved everyone in attendance.

Run by the non-profit New Millennium Peace Foundation, the Earth Citizen School began in June 2013 as the Earth Citizen Leadership Course. Passionate individuals in their twenties and thirties from the U.S. and South Korea spent three to ten weeks at Sedona Mago Retreat developing an Earth Citizen Lifestyle.

Earth Citizen School terms will be six weeks long, with the next term beginning on March 9, 2014. Four terms are planned in the U.S. for 2014. The terms are broken into two-week blocks, so students can take them two weeks at a time if they are unable to attend for six weeks at once.

OLLI Talk Emphasizes the Link Between Our Conscience and Our Greatest Potential

By Michela Mangiaracina

Ilchi Lee had the opportunity to share his personal journey and latest projects at the OLLI (the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) Lunch and Learn program at the Sedona, Arizona campus of Yavapai College on Wednesday, February 12, 2014.

Ilchi Lee talks about his Sedona story at the OLLI Lunch & Learn

Lee, a 17-year resident of Sedona, was asked to speak because of the special experiences and contributions he’s made to Sedona, a place he attributes to much of his inspiration and creative drive. He explained his experiences in his most visible contribution to Sedona, his New York Times bestselling book, The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart.

As he told the audience of approximately 100 people in attendance, the breathtaking beauty and unique energy of Sedona offers many who visit a chance to open their heart and experience the pure energy of their soul. Many people who come to Sedona see only what’s on the surface. However, by using a deeper sense, our natural ability to feel energy, we can perceive the magic of Sedona that lies beneath.

The strong energy of Sedona helps people activate this deeper sense, allowing them to examine themselves and their own energy, including the pure, unchanging energy that lies at their core, the energy Ilchi Lee calls the soul.

Lee wrote in The Call of Sedona and repeated in his talk that afternoon, “Sedona is beautiful, but your soul is even more beautiful.” The soul, Ilchi Lee indicates, is the source of our passion, conscience, and creative power. Having active communication with and expression of our conscience is the key to developing ourselves to our fullest potential.

Ilchi Lee said what the world needs for its problems right now are prodigies of humanitarianism and integrity, rather than prodigies of mathematics, science, or art. Since we all have a conscience, we all have the potential to be humanitarian prodigies. To develop that potential, he’s established an Earth Citizen School, which aims to develop leaders who serve the good of all and are committed to their continual self-development and promoting peace and sustainability in communities around the world. Ilchi Lee has made Sedona, Arizona the home base for this school.

To make self-development accessible online, Ilchi Lee created ChangeYourEnergy.com, which offers online courses as well as free content. The educational media website will expand its offerings to include online live classes in April.

Ilchi Lee with Lunch & Learn program director Dr. Paul Friedman

OLLI is a local, volunteer, peer-to-peer, adult education program. Its Lunch and Learn program, offered weekly from 12:30 to 1:00 pm, is free and open to the public. The program invites local leaders in art, civics, and thought to speak on a wide variety of topics. An OLLI catalogue is available at www.yc.edu/lifelonglearners.

Deepen Your Perspective to See the Truth

See this rock? In this picture, you are looking at the rock from one angle. If you looked at it from another angle, it would look different.

To understand this rock, you would need to look at it from every angle. But your senses are limited. What you perceive with them is not necessarily the truth. Your eyes tell you that the sun crosses the sky each day, but telescopes and satellites tell us that the earth turns on its axis once each day and revolves around the sun once each year.

Telescopes, satellites, and mathematics give you another perspective. However, you don’t always have special instruments to help you see. How can you perceive the truth then?

When you first look at the rock, you know you are looking at it. If you focus on the rock and look deeper, you can come to sense that it is looking back at you. If you go even deeper and project your awareness into the rock, you gain a third-person perspective. From that perspective, you can see both you and the rock. And you can see that you and the rock are not separate; you are the rock.

To really know something, take the widest and deepest perspective. Have an observer consciousness through meditative focus.

 

Ilchi Lee

 

Ilchi Lee to Speak at OLLI Sedona Lunch & Learn

Ilchi Lee will share his personal journey and his latest projects at OLLI (the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) Lunch and Learn program, Wednesday, February 12, from 12:30 – 2:00 in room 34 of Yavapai College’s Sedona campus (on Cultural Park Road, across Rte 89A from Red Rock High School).

Learn about Ilchi Lee’s experiences in Sedona, the founding of the Sedona Mago Retreat center and other institutions in Sedona, Arizona, and his other recent ventures, such as the Change book and film project.

Everyone is welcome and admission is free. Bring your lunch (or come for complimentary coffee, tea, water, and a little snack) and join in informal conversation at 12:30, or come at 1:00 when the program will begin.

OLLI is a local, volunteer, peer-to-peer, adult education program. The Winter term is underway, but many workshops are still open for enrollment. The catalogue is available at www.yc.edu/lifelonglearners. For more information about OLLI or the Lunch & Learn program, please call: 928-649-4275.

A Song from My Soul

One morning recently, I woke up to the voice of my soul coming from the earth and walked around my house. And a beautiful song of enlightenment burst forth from my brilliantly shining divinity. I would like to share it with you.

For the prodigies of integrity and character of this age.

I take a journey inside my brain in search of my soul,

flashing like a spark, sparkling like a star.

Within my hundred billion brain cells,

where is my soul?

Like the stars twinkling in the night sky,

the shining of my soul

in my hundred billion brain cells

guides me to an eternal world.

There, always shining and twinkling

like the North Star,

the star of my soul awaits me.

My humanity and my divinity

are the fabled Gyunwoo and Jingnyeo.

My soul is asleep in the hundred billion brain cells,

and I am walking on the earth right now.

The earth is a training room

for completion of the soul,

and I am here because the 21st century earth wanted me desperately.

I love the earth,

and it is my destiny and my mission

to look after all the life upon it.

My humanity awakens through the stars

twinkling in the night sky.

I hope that all people, that all children,

become prodigies of character and integrity

who light up the world like the starlight

that illuminates the night sky.

O dream of Hongik Ingan Ehwa Segye*,

the founding philosophy and spirit of the Republic of Korea,

be resurrected as the new birth

of the Earth Citizen and Earth Management.

Through BOS** and through Brain Education,

may the humanity of all people become bright like the starlight in the night sky.

I hope for all the people around me to be ever happy.

* Human beings who serve the good of all in order to create a harmonious world

** Brain Operating System