Activities of the Task Forces

Activities of the Task Forces

The image is called "Synergy"  jpg - www.infinitezoom.com/gallery8/synergy.jpg

 at: www.infinitezoom.com/gallery8/synergy.htm

This is just the merest first draft, just initial ideas. The full operation of the Task Forces will be co-created as we go along by all those involved. This is just to give you more specific ideas about what ASELF is about, what it will be doing for the world.


The activities will unfold in various phases from the beginning. Each Task Force will have from one to about thirty people involved; they will be in various places around the world, working together over the Internet. 

For more information about the ASELF Task Forces, you might want to read The Structure of ASELF and List of Potential ASELF Task Forces.

  


1. (and ongoingly) Orientation


The Task Force members will be learning the vision, mission, and operations of ASELF Foundation and Task Forces, and will meld together as a Team. Procedures will be finalized for ongoing interfacing and synergizing with the Foundation and other Task Forces.

• SYNERGY is defined as the beneficial result of interaction among different groups and/or people, results which go beyond the simple addition of the parts of the process, so that something very new, unpredictable, and wonderfully amazing happens. 

2. (and ongoingly) Research


Each member will be looking all over the world, via the Internet, via networking, and other resources, for individuals, groups, and organizations who are focused on the Task Force's world-improvement topic and who meet our criteria.


Each TF will be creating from what they find, a List of potential Beneficiaries of our services. The List will be finalized by agreement of all TF members.


Procedures will be set up so that this research process is ongoing.


3. (and ongoingly) Invitations


Invitations will be sent to those on the List. The invitations will say something like 

• "Hey, we are a nonprofit organization interested in your world-improving topic. Our mission is to help others interested in this topic to synergize with one another. 
• 
  
• We've discovered similar groups to yours, who meet our criteria. You might like to know about them, get in touch with them, cooperate with them for mutual benefits. These benefits might include division of labor, sharing of resources, and speaking with a unified voice representing more people worldwide.
• 
  
• If so, do we have your permission to be in further touch with you, to share information about you with others on our list, and send you information about them?
• 
  
• Then let us know your needs and desires, and we'll share those with others and help you figure out ways to synergize.
• 
  
• We are here as a resource for you! We can help you connect, coordinate, and cooperate. We are here to help you find resources and to help you with research to meet your needs. We are not, at this time, a source of direct funding. 

4. (and ongoingly) Synergize


Carry out activities designed to help the individuals and groups to cooperate, coordinate, and connect with each other for their mutual benefit. The exact nature of these activities will be determined by the capabilities of Task Force members, the resources they have access to, and the needs, desires, and capabilities of the groups and individuals being worked with. We expect innovations will emerge frequently, and the Task Force will help bring these innovations to the attention of other Task Forces for use with their Beneficiaries.  


5. Repeat and Expand


Repeat all the above. Expand the number of Task Force members so it can do even more.


Remember, the above is just a first draft, just initial ideas about what the Task Forces will be doing. It will all be much richer and even more exciting than this description!




For more information about the ASELF Task Forces, you might want to read The Structure of ASELF and List of Potential ASELF Task Forces.

List of Potential ASELF Task Forces

List of Potential ASELF Task Forces

(Many of these might either merge with other Task Forces, or morph into several Task Forces. Some might be dropped; others might be added.)

While the Vision does have priorities among these topics, some of which are indicated in boldface, each Task Force will be formed whenever people relevant to that Task Force's topic become available.  
Each Task Force will be about one of the topics below. Each Task Force will be finding, linking up, and synergizing, the grassroots individuals, groups, and organizations who are focused on, working in, that Task Force's topic.


Aborigine/Original People issues 
Acceptance of Strangers (ways of dealing with xenophobia which is essentially instinctive in humans 
as in other animals) 
Affordable and Green Housing design and materials 
Air Purity 
Alternative Fuels/Power 
Alternative Health – modalities 
Alternative Health – practitioners 
Alternative Health – supplements 
Alternatives to Plastics and plastic bags 
Animals 

Banking and the banking function in society 
Books helpful to many people 
Building Materials, Green and cheap 
Business philosophy and systems 
Business waste disposal 

Children's Issues 
City design 
Clothing 
Communication systems 
Communities and Community-Building, 
Community structures and processes 
Conflict Resolution/Mediation/Negotation (skills, resources) 
Credit-cards, Education about credit in our lives 

Earth-Healing Meditation projects (ongoing) 
Economics/Politics – Education 
Economics/Politics – Practice 
Economics/Politics – Theory

Note: While ASELF Foundation and Task Forces are completely non-political and do not work with political groups or organizations, we do foster whoever seeks to expand their (or others') awareness around economics or politics

Education theories and philosophies 
Educational systems and institutions 


Films 
Food 


Global Brain (communications) 
Global Village (human relating systems) 
Global Warming 
Good News networks, sources, distribution 


Healthcare systems 
Helping places like Whole Foods Markets be more consistent within themselves 


“Integral” this and that 
Integral Life Practice 
Inter- or Multi-National waste disposal 
Intercultural Awareness 
Interfaith “Tolerance” 
International Business philosophy and systems 
Internet's role in New Earth-building 


Landfill/Waste issues 
Legal systems and Constitutions 
Litter (focusing on increased awareness of what the health of the environment requires us to do.)  


Masculine and Feminine (describing healthy and unhealthy versions of each, helping build
complementary and synergistic relating) 
Maximal recycling from households 
Meditation Mental Health – Education 
Mental Health – Issues  
Mental Health – System 
Microfinance – its upsides and downsides 
Money 
Multi-national Corporations 
Music 

News Media 

Ocean Health 

Rainforests 

Seeds and Crops 
Sexuality 
Shadow Work 
“Spiral Dynamics” this and that 
Spiral Dynamics stages of human development: one Task Force helping define 
healthy and unhealthy expressions of that stage (apprx. 8 Task Forces.) 
Spirituality 
Spiritual Teachers who are highly effective and “efficient” with wide appeal, such as Adyashanti, Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, and others. 
Standards and Definitions of “Organic” and “Natural” 

Transportation – vehicles and systems 
Trees and plants 

Visual Arts – static and moving 

Water Purity 
Women and children: Respect for safety and personal sovereignty (focusing on non-violence) 
Women's and Children's Issues other than violence


Which of these aspects of the future wonderful Earth do you feel passionately about co-creating and building? 
Are there other aspects you'd like to see on this list? Leave a comment.


For more information about the ASELF Task Forces, you might want to read The Structure of ASELF and Activities of the Task Forces

The Structure of ASELF

The Structure of ASELF

ASELF consists of two kinds of groups. The first, ASELF Foundation, is a pool of resource folks for the second, the ASELF Task Forces. Eventually there might be about 50 Task Forces. The list of potential Task Forces is * List of Potential ASELF Task Forces. 

The ASELF Foundation will have approximately 10-20 people, whose purpose will be to facilitate and synergize the work of the various Task Forces. 
The ASELF Task Forces will each focus on a particular topic or area of life, of the new world, and will have perhaps 10-30 people whose purpose will be to facilitate and synergize the work of various grassroots individuals, groups, and organizations, all over the world, who are also focused on that topic.

Both the Foundation and the Task Forces will have folks scattered all over the world, working together primarily via the Internet. 


Each Task Force will begin operating when there is at least one person willing to serve on it.

What does the name ASELF mean?

What does the name ASELF mean?

"ASELF” is an acronym and also has spiritual meanings. Each letter stands for some of our core ideas and main activities. The significance of the name of our Vision is from the Vision's sacred purposes and values.

A 
is for Appreciate and for Amplify, and also 
awaken, aware, one, action, assent, advocate, allow, accept, acknowledge, all  
S 
is for Synergize, and also  
savor, see, sacred, sentience, soar 

E 
is for Educate, and also
evoke, expand, enlighten, enjoy, earth, embrace, everything, everyone, embody, empower, empathize, elate, exhilarate, elevate 

L
is for Link and for Light, and also  
love, lighten, leaven, laugh, learn

F
is for Find and for Foster, and also
flow, fun

Those who are spiritually inclined might also notice that A SELF can mean

• No-Self (another name for infinite God/dess,) 
• One-Self (another name for All-That-Is God/dess,) 
• Earth as one self, 
• and any particular self.

Inspiring Quotations about Visions and Visioning

Inspiring Quotations 
about Visions and Visioning

This list will be expanded as we find more quotations. 
Feel free to contribute yours in the Comments

Vision says: Take one step toward me, and I will take a 
thousand steps toward you. 
(Source unknown)

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. 

LAO TSU (c. 604-531 B.C. Source: The Way of Lao-Tsu

My pride and my power of vision were all that I owned when I started - and whatever I achieved, was achieved by means of them. Both are greater now. Now I have the knowledge of the superlative value I had missed: of my right to be proud of my vision. The rest is mine to reach.  AYN RAND (Atlas Shrugged, p. 793)
As long as I can remember I feel I have had this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision. It is all these combined. My brain becomes magnetized with this dominating force which I hold in my hand. BRUCE LEE
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. . . . Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. CARL JUNG Source: To patient in Cambridge MA, quoted in Gerhard Adler ed "Letters Vol I," Princeton 73
If we have no faith in ourselves and in the kind of future we can create together, we are fit only to follow, not to lead. Let us remember that the Bible contains two proverbs we cannot afford to forget. The first is " Man does not live by bread alone " and the second is " Where there is no vision, the people perish." CHARLES LUCKMAN
"An infinity of forests lies dormant within the dreams of 
one acorn." Quoted by Dr. Wayne Dyer, p. 148, Excuses Begone!

Inspiration for YOUR Vision

Inspiration for YOUR Vision

Do you have a Vision, too? 

Many of you reading this share the Larger Vision of a cleaner, more peaceful, more loving, healthier planet Earth. ASELF Vision shares these words of inspiration meant for you.  


About the world, the lives, the planet we envision, 


There is no price to be paid or cost incurred – except the price and cost of your allowing it to be. 

There are no conditions which have to be met first – except the conditions of your appreciation and enjoyment of your life, your experience, your world. 

There is no Karma to be paid first – unless you choose that.
 
There is no one who must be convinced or changed before your world can be experienced by you – except you.

There are no dangerous consequences of your envisioned world.  

There is no one who has to agree with you or believe you first – except you.  

There is no impossibility about the creation of your world. No rules of life or laws of the universe prevent it, or need to be changed for it to come into being – except the rules and laws you accept.  

There is no one to be safe from or hide from before your world can exist – except you.  

There is no one who can restrict or constrain the creation of this world – except you.  

There are no big obstacles to overcome – except the ones you can't allow not to appear.  

There is no stress or distress necessary before this world can be experienced – except what you can't let go of your addiction to.  


This world is not strictly a human achievement. It is more of a gift. Yes, there is activity and doing in the creating. But acting and doing are fruitless and wasted without accepting and allowing the Being. Accepting and allowing your own Being in that world-Being. Starting now. Starting with this situation right here now for you. And the next situation. And the next situation. 


Your new world is  
only a breath away 
only an eyeblink away 
only a heartbeat away  
of your acceptance of it in every fiber and in every corner of your body and soul.  

How many miracles did you push away today, as “impossible?” 

It is safe for us now. It is possible for us now. Things are simply going to turn out well. Things are simply going to go well. 
Can you allow it? That is your only challenge and your only obstacle.  
Can you allow the next moment, the next minute, the next situation, the next hour or day, to turn into, to become, your new world? 
How many “you's” does it take to make an “us?” How many “us's” does it take to make a world?  
Blessings from the ASELF Vision to others who share our world-Vision.  

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

Here is another description of similar attitudes, in less poetic words, written by Rev. Alia in November, 2008.  

[Summarized from elsewhere: The energy of joy is suffusing our planet, making it easier and easier for us to believe in positive and joyous outcomes. We have irrepressible positivity. We can more easily choose to believe that things are going to be just fine. But we must choose.]  
It means that my pessimistic thoughts are easier to release, that I suddenly have extra energy, motivation, and empowerment to get more active in bringing my gifts and services to the world and I feel safer in that. So can you.  
It means I have greater expectation of finding others to synergize with. You can too. 
It means I greet news of advances into the New World's way of living and relating not with skepticism about their fate, but with enthusiasm in knowing they will indeed bear their fruit. So can you.  
The way I see it, the old will dissolve. It no longer has to be "overcome." We can relax a bit. The momentum of the new simply has to be flowed with. The new is so powerful, and the purpose of the old is done, and we shall see miracles of transformation. Inexplicable instances of things going "right." Odd instances of non-benevolent stuff simply not materializing or getting put into action. People having changes of heart and mind, that we would never expect. New alternative respectful, loving, benevolent ways of doing things that pop up seemingly from nowhere, ready to be implemented by people now oddly willing to accept them.  
Our work is to accept all this! The consensus is "The work begins now." Consistent with the slogan Yes WE can, now there is not just individual personal empowerment, but also the necessity and willingness to collaborate, cooperate, synergize with others. To learn ways of not just tolerating but using differences for the betterment of all.

How to Get Involved, as of 10/14/2009

How to Get Involved, as of 10/14/2009

ASELF is less than a week old. The Vision is setting up its structure, finding people who want to get involved, and attracting resources.

If you feel drawn to participate in any way, please contact ASELF at aselfvision@gmail.com. If you feel drawn to donate, please email us about how to do that at this time.

Grassroots New Earth

Grassroots New Earth

The individuals, groups,and organizations Paul Hawken describes and lists are the kinds of folks the ASELF Vision has given ASELF a sacred Trust to support and foster.

Click on the link or click on the triangle in the light rectangle in the TV-screen image. This is incredibly inspiring and uplifting, so energizing and galvanizing us to get involved each in our own way in our own neighborhoods, co-creating the world the way we want it to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fiubmOqH4

or

Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest and WiserEarth

This is a video talk by environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author Paul Hawken about his latest book Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. And you don't even hear about it on the media. About 6 minutes long.

WE also strongly recommend this hour-long talk about the same worldwide movement, by Paul Hawken, in the Authors@Google section of YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npKaOddyrcY&feature=related

or

Authors@Google: Paul Hawken

He's pointing out that there are about 1-2 million grassroots organizations in the world, focused on a huge variety of ways of stopping harm to the environment and people, and fostering/implementing new ways of relating to our world and one another. This movement is non-ideological, has no leader, is composed of 100-200 million ordinary people, and is decentralized, he says. There has never been anything like it in history before.

Highly recommended for both optimists and pessimists about the future of humans and the earth.

A Short ASELF

A Short ASELF

ASELF is a nonprofit organization whose mission is creating new, spiritually and ethically higher, more loving, and more Earth-enhancing ways of human behaving and relating by finding, linking, and synergizing individuals, groups, and organizations who are designing, creating, implementing, fostering, and supporting new higher values and ways of living and relating in every area of life. 
 
ASELF is the embodiment of a Sacred Vision. 
 
ASELF is a nonprofit Sacred Trust to support a huge variety of individuals, groups, and organizations whose purpose is to co-create a new, more conscious, more loving, more thriving Planet Earth.  

ASELF exists to support those who are creating and/or implementing new ways of behaving and interacting in every arena of life, ways that are uplifting, respectful, loving, and peaceful, and that promote optimal wellbeing for all.  

ASELF exists to support those working toward increasing consciousness and behavior that foster respect, harmony, and ecological balance among all who affect our living planet, Gaia.  

ASELF exists to support those who are actively working toward a life for everyone that is loving, joyful, and thriving on an Earth that is clean and peaceful.  

ASELF exists to support those who encourage consciousness and behavior that plans and acts in ways that would make life on this planet optimal for all future generations, and that takes into account the wellbeing of all present and future living Beings on the planet, as an interdependent system.  

ASELF exists to support those who do all this as a positive expression of their own expanding consciousness, compassion, and wisdom.  

ASELF is an organization whose own structure and functioning embody and refine those higher values and ways.