Let's Talk 2000
The heartbeat of 2000 A.D. from cyberspace"
April 1, 1996, Volume 2, Issue 6, a
bi-weekly bulletin
Topics covered in this issue:
The Millennium Doctor Speaks
News from the Field:
Talk from the Forum:
New Millennial Sites:
Contact Information
The
Millennium Doctor Speaks:
"Taking the pulse of 2000 A.D."
The Easter bunny knocked at our door yesterday. UPS delivered a huge candy
package from the grandparents for our 10 and 12-year old. This led to a
dinner conversation about our Easters of yester-year, complete with new
clothes, candy eggs, flowers and greeting cards.
This issue of "Let's Talk 2000" looks at millennial preparations
in Australia. There an Easter peoples movement called "Awakening 2000"
is working for the death of selfishness and the coming alive of mercy and
reconciliation. Organizers hope these "theo-dynamics" will help
the Cross supplant the Easter bunny.
Also catch Hillel Schwartz's new paper, "Generational Change, Historical
Age, Calendar Page." I review this recent millennial address in our
"Talk from the Forum" section. It's a must read for anyone wondering
how social tendencies are exaggerated at centuries' ends, and especially
so at this millennium's end.
News from the Field:
"Here is the latest news on year 2000 efforts" .
AUSSIES AWAKEN TO 2000
They come from the bush and the city to join hands for a nobler Australia. To Aussies it is as Australian as kangaroos, barking lizards or Crocodile Dundee. They call it "Awakening 2000." http://busker.trumpet.com.au/ad2000/awakehm.htm .
Aiming to recapture the meaning of Easter, more than a 1.5 million people, in 600 cities of Australia, will participate this Spring in Awakening 2000 Family Festivals, Operation Reconnect programs and public Pentecost Marches.
Having doubled each year since its inception in 1990, Awakening 2000 may well be the fastest growing millennial movement of the '90s. This year 1 out of 12 Australians are expected to participate up from 1 out of 17 last year. Their festival volunteers spread across the country number more than 10,000.
Behind this grass roots ecumenical Easter movement is a 58-year old talk radio talk host, Mal Garvin. Having taken the daily pulse of the Australian soul for 30 years, he asks his audience, "Could the simple husk of a sunflower seed be a parable for us Australians?"
"If we remain in the self-interest shells we've built around us, not only do we remain in our unfulfilled isolation, we also rob our children of their future."
To Garvin, the Cross of Easter is not only an event 2,000 years ago, it's a process that explains how human life was meant to be, how human families and communities are meant to grow. He calls this Awakening 2000 philosophy "theo-dynamics," a combination of practical theology, psychology, and group dynamics.
"Unless a grain falls to the ground and dies it remains alone in its unfulfilled potential. But if it does die, it not only fulfills the meaning of its existence, but gives life to the next generation."
To reinforce the sunflower parable, thousands of Aussie families will take home a package of sunflower seeds from this Easter Family Festivals this week. In turn they will plant them in their back yards and "watch a miracle happen" by June.
In looking toward the millennium, Garvin reminds his audience that after the Sydney Olympics in 2000, they will celebrate their commonwealth's centennial in 2001. "Are we ready to become great? Then let's link arms as Aussies, wherever our parents came from and face the future God has given us together."
For those joining the Aussie Awakening, the millennial journey toward greater meaning and community is walk away from self-interest into the Kingdom of Goodwill. Source: talk2000@rmii.com
Talk from the Forum:
"Here is a recap of recent conversations"
GENERATIONAL CHANGE, HISTORICAL AGE, CALENDAR PAGE
Millennium Institute Senior Fellow, Hillel Schwartz, has given an outstanding address on the impact that the millennial moment will have on people's conceptions of our epoch and our times. The whole address is available for browsing at: http://www.igc.apc.org/millennium/papers/change.html
Schwartz opens his paper with a historical example of the century's end affected the coming of age of Albrecht Durer, the Renaissance painter. He then offers and elaborates on seven tendencies at centuries' end, which illustrate the anxiety and anticipation inherent in our own millennium's end:
Schwartz ends his address by offering seven action steps people can take to transcend these centurial tendencies and work for lasting long term change in building a sustainable future.
New Millennial Sites:
"Here are new sites in cyberspace"
THIRD MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE: "New ideas for the next millennium"
A new website devoted to collecting thoughts, ideas, or plans which could improve the lives of many people as we enter the Third Millennium. Plans ought to illustrate the new way of thinking, a new approach for the next millennium. So far, the site seems empty! http://www.dsl.nl/ideeel/3mc/index.html
THE MILLENNIUM SOCIETY: "Advanced studies on proper temporal perception"
Seizing upon the fact that "half-educated marketing execs" are seeking to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium one year prematurely, this web page aims to obliterate of human ignorance everywhere by appointing full-educated Millenarians as associates. The funny thing is, this know-it-all group from Winnipeg chose a name for their society that is already in use by a long-standing and effective millennial group.
http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/flatland/tms/
Contact Information:
"Your link to the third millennium"
Talk 2000 Forum Home Page: http://humnet.humberc.on.ca/talk2000.htm
Talk 2000 Newsgroup: bit.listserv.2000ad-l
Subscribe to daily Talk 2000 E-mail Forum: listproc@usc.edu
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Submissions of newsworthy items: 2000ad-l@usc.edu
Publisher & editor: talk2000@rmii.com Jay Gary, aka The Millennium Doctor
author, The Star of 2000
(719) 636-2000 Phone
Publication keywords: groups, events, society, millennium
LET''S TALK 2000 © 1996 Bimillennial Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
LET''S TALK 2000 is a trademark of Bimillennial Press, Inc.