From The Great Turning Experiment

With Theo Brown, the Executive Director of Ground Zero, Craig and Gary founded Project Victory in 1985 to spread the Great Turning. They chose the name Project Victory because in the age of weapons of mass destruction and climate change, the only true victory is a victory for all humanity, for all our children and for the generations to come.

Craig holds a law degree from Stanford and a Ph.D. in psychology and ethics from the Graduate Theological Union and UC Berkeley. Craig has taught at Harvard, Stanford, and Trinity College, and was the Professor of Environmental Ethics at U.C., Santa Cruz. He developed a coaching practice in Transformative Psychology, counselling and training hundreds of individuals and organisations based on the great Wisdom Traditions and Neuroscience. For 30 years as the President of Project Victory, Craig and his team have worked to advance the Great Turning:

• Organised and facilitated national dialogues with citizens of diverse views on issues about the fate of the Earth – on reducing the risk of nuclear war, on creating peace and security, on disposing of chemical weapons, on increasing understanding across race and faith traditions;

• Trained the U.S. Navy and Marine Chaplains worldwide in conflict management; and trained over 30,000 people in the skills of conflict resolution and compassionate leadership;

• Recently Craig and Heidi Schindler designed and teach the Wisdom Leadership Intensives and founded the Great Turning Institute; and

• Craig’s forthcoming book is: CHOOSE HOPE, YOU MATTER! The Call To Live Your Light and Rise for the Great Turning. He calls us to choose hope with our lives for as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often said: “The darkest hour of the night is the hour before dawn.”

Questions for Ongoing Reflection and Dialogue

1-What is the Great Turning and how can you embody it?

A. What is the shift of consciousness and action needed for us to evolve to the next level of our humanity, for the human spirit to survive and flourish? Describe, draw or paint how you envision the Great Turning in our world.

B. What is the shift of consciousness and action needed for you to elevate the quality of your soul and the quantity of your compassionate action, as you seek to fulfil your higher purpose? Describe, draw or paint how you envision the Great Turning in your Life.

C. What are the daily practices you can do to live the Great Turning – to increase your commitment to love and compassion and to take personal action to lift your spirit and help heal our world? Describe, draw or paint your personal pledge to help create the Beloved Community and to embody the Great Turning, as you understand it.

2-What experience do you have of consciously shifting from small self to Big Self?

A. Recall a time in recent memory when you became aware that you were operating from the small self. Immerse yourself in the experience. Describe, draw or paint the occasion, depicting it in as much detail as possible. 

What did you feel in your body, your heart, your mind?

What qualities did this version of yourself produce?

How did this affect your state of being, your perspective, your behavior, your interaction with the world around you?

What did you notice both within and without?

What learning can you harvest from this experience?

B. Now bring to mind an experience of being aware that you were operating from the Big Self. This could be connected to the small self experience you just described, but were able to transform the moment by reconnecting with your higher self. Immerse yourself in that experience. Again, describe, draw or paint the occasion, depicting it in as much detail as possible.

What did you feel in your body, your heart, your mind?

What qualities did this version of yourself draw forth?

How did this affect your state of perspective, your behavior, your interaction with the world around you?

What changes did you notice both within and without?

What learning can you harvest from this experience?

What was it in that precise moment of transcendence of small self that brought you back into awareness of Big Self?

How can you use this experience to cultivate the inner awareness needed to catch yourself in small self moments and come back to Big Self?

3- How does our Session 2 content inform ‘Your More Beautiful Life’? Set aside ample reflective space to review ‘Your More Beautiful Life’ worksheet completed after Session 1. 

Remember, cultivating your more beautiful life is an iterative process, so be sure to engage deeply with this question and allow your soul force to breathe new life and conscious expansion into each category of your worksheet. 

Allow Spirit to guide you and flow freely through you for your very highest unfolding at this stage in the journey.