Are you Experienced? Philanthropy Marketplaces..
Ram Dass by Dean Chamberlain
The emerging role of "philanthropic marketplaces" is significant. Exquisite Safaris supports philanthropic marketplace's whose technology efficiently routes donations to well run projects.
However, that's still just a financial decision devoid of any possibility for heart to heart cross cultural experiences; a high tech form of checkbook charity.
Sign your permission slip..
Exquisite Safaris philanthropic travelers who have set the intention to turn their 'next vacation trip' into an educational philanthropic adventure overwhelmingly report that by personally experiencing a morning or afternoon 'in village" their perspective shifts positively.
Are you experienced?
Several studies indicate that people are more likely to give if they are convinced that their contributions are making a difference.
You get what you give..
For my Culture: Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel is about building relationships. Philanthropic travel is accelerating the benefit of "online philanthropy marketplaces" by "connecting travelers at the heart" to the very projects their donations will directly benefit. Our efforts indicate that your personal acquaintance with a project is an opportunity for everyone to deepen their connections towards a peaceful world full of sustainable communities.
Join Exquisite Safaris for your first a philanthropic adventure. Experience a new pathway to deeper understanding of the world and yourself.
Related Links:
Becoming a Philanthropist
My First Philanthropic Travel Experience
The Wisdom of Stone Soup
Zambia: Exquisite Safaris School Project
Affluent Parents Dedicated to Instilling Philanthropic Values in their Children
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Strategic Giving
Visionary Artist Alex Grey by Dean Chamberlain
"You see, what happened is that some of our philosophers got off base. And one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites, polar opposites, so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic." -Martin Luther King
Watch the Video
Related Links:
Understanding Philanthropic Travel
The Wisdom of Stone Soup
Free Hugs! Intimacy! You get what you give..
A Softer Touch
The Secret
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Personal Openings & World Travels
"Actively seeking the road less traveled along the path of my life has absolutely accelerated my awakening." -David Chamberlain
"Experience teaches only the teachable". -Aldous Huxley
A new documentary explores the insights of six contemporary spiritual teachers and their experiences on the path to spiritual awakening.
Ever wondered about trivial things like life, the universe, everything?
What are we here for?
What's it all about?
"I'd say awakening is opening to yourself as you are, not to yourself as you think yourself to be" - Gangaji
Terms such as awakening, enlightenment, a state of grace and "seeing the light" have all been used to describe the state that prophets, mystics, saints and gurus have appeared to have been held in. Most of the time these are just recounts of someones personal experience told by a third party or passed down through the ages in religious documents.
The documentary Awakening NOW explores first hand the basic concepts that surround a spiritual awakening as told by six teachers. The film explores with them about their thoughts and experiences on the topics of awakening, meditation, duality and enlightenment.
"What viewers can expect is more than a discussion on who is right and who is wrong, nor is it a discussion as to who has the answers and who doesn't," explains Jerel Mani, director of Awakening NOW. "It is an exploration of what man has been inquiring about since human records have started and probably before. Many traditions have taught these concepts. What Awakening NOW is communicating are these concepts on a more contemporary level".
The six teachers chosen to participate in Awakening NOW share their personal views on spiritual awakening, while providing the opportunity to address any misconceptions on awakening and spirituality in general. "I want this film to be accessible to everyone, to help people understand the fundamentals of spiritual awakening" explains Jerel.
The teachers that take you on their own exquisite safaris are:
Master Charles Cannon, affectionately known as Master Charles, is a contemporary American mystic and master of meditation. His earliest years were marked by spontaneous, meta normal experiences of expanded, heightened and holistic states of awareness. His formative education was in the creative arts with emphasis on comparative religion and philosophy.
Swami Chetanananda is the abbot and spiritual director of the Nityananda Institute. From his college days, he knew he wanted his life to be about helping people and creating positive change in the world. Swamiji formalized his commitment to spiritual growth by being initiated as a swami ("master of oneself") by Swami Muktananda on May 14, 1978. He took the name Chetanananda, which means "bliss of pure Self-awareness."
Andrew Cohen is an American spiritual teacher and visionary thinker widely recognized for his original contribution to the emerging field of evolutionary spirituality. Through his talks, retreats, publications, and ongoing dialogue with the leading philosophers, mystics, and activists of our time, he is becoming a defining voice in an international alliance of individuals and organizations who are committed to the transformation of human consciousness and culture.
Gangaji, an American born teacher and author, has traveled the globe since 1990, speaking with spiritual seekers from all walks of life. Her message is powerful in its clarity and simplicity: True peace and lasting fulfillment are not only our birthright, they are the essential nature of our being.
Isira Sananda is a Global Peace Ambassador. Her role is to inspire humanity to reclaim their own greater potential of wisdom, love, peace and compassion. She founded the world UNITY project, a declaration of humanitarian values. Isira is one of the modern world’s Spiritual Masters. Her work in teaching meditation, inspiring self-realization and campaigning for world peace over the last 18 years has brought her international recognition.
Swami Shankarananda Saraswati (Swamiji) is a meditation master in the powerful spiritual tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. This ancient yoga, which Swamiji calls Shiva Yoga, has been transmitted from master to student for thousands of years. He is in residence at the Shiva Ashram in Mt. Eliza on the Mornington Penisular, Victoria.
These teachers were sought out by the director as living examples of those that have achieved highly awakened level of consciousness.
Questions explored include what is enlightenment and what purpose does it serve?
How does meditation fit in with this and what does it do for us?
What is consciousness?
What does the terms oneness or unity mean?
Where does this thirst for further knowledge or knowing come from?
The answers are as interesting and varied as leaves on an autumn day. "But above all," Jerel adds "is what I had found was that these people are still just that - people, humans that have experienced the same feelings, emotions and suffering that we all have. People that have applied themselves, exploring and evolving. Driven by their own personal reasons, showing that it is possible and achievable for all."
For these teachers, now "awakened", their exquisite safaris continue. "The awakening is the key thing, not enlightenment" says Swami Shankarananda. "Once you are awakened enlightenment is inevitable, you have to do the work, but the awakening is the thing, then you are living in a new world. It may plateau from time to time, there is a inner knowing, a desire to seek the truth".
Awakening NOW demonstrates the growing phenomenon that is those who are experiencing their own spiritual awakening - there seems on this planet to be a growing number of individuals who are in this state.
Is this an accurate perception or has there always been this many on the planet and through new techniques of communication we have been becoming more aware of it? Awakening NOW explores but part of this phenomenon.
Learn More:
The Fable of Stone Soup
Understanding Philanthropic Travel
Fast Company Magazine on Philanthropic Travel
Philanthropic Traveler funded High School opens near Victoria Falls, Zambia
My First Philanthropic Travel Experience
Giving while Living: The Deeper News About the New Philanthropy
Dr. Jeffrey Sachs on the Strategic Steps Out of Poverty
Are We Talking about Philanthropy Yet? No, We Are Not
Philanthropic Travelers:
Marc Gold's 100Friends lead Philanthropic Travelers in Asia, Africa & South America
Visionary Philanthropic Traveler Chellie Kew
Jane Kaye- Bailey: Philanthropic Traveler
Richard Branson: Philanthropic Traveler
Palm Beach Life Magazine: Philanthropic Travelers
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Giving while Living: The Deeper News About the New Philanthropy
LISTEN: Philanthropic Podcast
10,000 families in the US, Katherine Fulton reported, have assets of $100 million or more. That's up from 7,000 just a couple years ago. Most of that money is "on the sidelines." The poor and the middle class are far more generous in their philanthropy, proportionally, than the very wealthy.
Philanthropy across the board is in the midst of intense, potentially revolutionary, transition, she said. There's new money, new leaders, new rules, new technology, and new needs. Where great wealth used to come mainly from inheritance and oil, now it comes from success in high technology and finance--- and ideas and expectations from those business experiences inform (and sometimes over-simplify) the new philanthropy. Some of the great older institutions like the Rockefeller Foundation are radically reorganizing around new ideas and opportunities. But still the greatest amount comes from individuals, many of whom are now "giving while living" instead of handing over the task to heirs.
One major new instrument for philanthropy are the community foundations, "the mutual funds of philanthropy, where donors can outsource their strategy." There are 1,000 such organizations in the world, 700 of them in the US, led by innovators such as Universal Giving, Acumen Fund, Social Venture Partners, New Profit Inc., and Women's Funding Network.
Online giving is growing rapidly, including the development of philanthropic marketplaces for direct, selective, fine-grain giving. Give India, for example, is a national market space of charity exchange. "By 2020," Katherine predicted, "we will see a headline, OPEN SOURCE PHILANTHROPIC PORTAL TOPS $1 BILLION IN GIFTS."
Katherine drew a matrix to classify kinds of philanthropy, with Short-term & Responsive on the left, Long-term & Systemic on the right; Personal & Local on the bottom, Global on the top. An important trend is from the lower left to upper right, from local and short-term toward global and systemic, exemplified by Bill Gates's move from bringing computers to American schools to bringing health to Africa.
"Philanthropy is how we make the long now personal," she said. The trait most often missing in philanthropy, including the new philanthropy, is stamina, patience. "Instead of rewarding success with continued funding, the givers get bored and look for something new. Really effective giving requires deep contextual understanding and tolerance for ambiguity. My advice to new donors is, 'Pick at least one difficult and complex issue and stick with it, and join with others to work on it."
The greatest needs require philanthropic stamina but will also reward it. She quoted Danny Hillis: "There are problems that are impossible if you think about them in two-year terms--- which everyone does-- but they're easy if you think if fifty-year terms."
Richard Rockefeller and Larry Brilliant joined Katherine on the stage, and discussion got going that wound up lasting to 1am at dinner with the sponsors of the Seminar series. One subject was the isolation that often comes with great personal wealth. Katherine emphasized that donors have to visit up close with whatever they're giving toward. Dr. Rockefeller supported that, describing how different his view was of Doctors Without Borders once he had worked with the physicians in the field in Peru and Nigeria. He said that direct experience helps free you from lots of theories that are just wrong, and from philanthropy that is a projection of your own neuroses.
Questions from the audience revealed a continuing problem with the whole social sector, which is the lack of clear mechanisms of self-correction and accountability. Government has checks and balances. Business has the bottom line. But "it's hard to speak truth to philanthropy," Katherine said. Richard said he looked closely at a $20 million effort by the Robert Wood Johnson to evaluate its programs and was unimpressed by the result. Larry Brilliant added, "And the new philanthropy is even less accountable than the old."
Over dinner the subject came back to the 10,000 families with over $100 million dollars, most of it inactive. One problem is that giving really large grants is harder than small grants. Only universities are well geared to attract and receive the multi-million dollar gifts that result in named buildings and additions to already bloated endowments. New institutions and mechanisms are needed for directing large grants in new directions.
And something generational is going on, Katherine mused. The generation of Andrew Carnegie and Richard's great grandfather John D. Rockefeller had a strong religious tradition that inspired them to public generosity and inventiveness. Those who came of age in the 1960s and early '70s had their experience with political activism as a driver for later philanthropy. "But I notice that many who became adults during and after Ronald Reagan seem to have no framework at all for giving."
-Katherine Fulton (with Richard Rockefeller and Larry Brilliant)
Related Links:
Becoming a Philanthropist
My First Philanthropic Travel Experience
The Wisdom of Stone Soup
Zambia: Exquisite Safaris School Project
Affluent Parents Dedicated to Instilling Philanthropic Values in their Children
Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel Donor Tours
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