Take Back Your Power

Here’s another quote from Joshua Ramo’s The Age of the Unthinkable:
“The moment you hand power over to other people, you get an explosion of curiosity, innovation, and effort.”
Humane education seeks to hand power over to you: Power to think critically and carefully and create positive change. Power to determine what is most important to you [...]

Generosity and Decency in the Face of Fear

In several of my next blog posts I’m going to refer to Joshua Cooper Ramo’s excellent new book, The Age of the Unthinkable, and use quotes from his book to jump-start my own thinking about current issues. The first quote is this:
“There will be many moments in the future where we will be surprised, confused, [...]

The Susan Boyle Phenomenon

I’ve been curious, delighted, and dismayed by the media response to Susan Boyle’s instant notoriety after performing on Britain’s Got Talent. Her performance has generated over 60 million views on YouTube, , and she’s become the new singing sensation. But most of the conversation has been around her appearance. Even Talk of the Nation, a [...]

That’s the Funny Thing About Judgments and Assumptions…

This past weekend I led a MOGO Workshop at Bard College. My car had broken down the night before, and so I borrowed my niece’s SUV to drive to the workshop from my brother’s house ninety minutes away. I begin MOGO workshops by exploring assumptions and judgments. I ask participants their impressions and assumptions about [...]

There Are No MOGO Experts

I was recently asked for my opinion on an ethical quandary facing a friend of a friend. I was asked because I was perceived as somewhat of an expert on ethical issues due to my role as a humane educator, president of the Institute for Humane Education, and a writer about MOGO choices. I was [...]

Tweenbots: Another Sign of Hope for Humanity

One of the graduates of our Humane Education Certificate Program sent me this link to Tweenbots. Take a look.
Recently, I’ve found myself absorbed in thinking about the Milgram Experiments, conducted in the 1960s at Yale University, in which ordinary men and women were willing to administer electric shocks – up to 450 volts – to [...]

What Happens When We Pay Attention?

Visit: http://www.sicklesinsight.com/experimental-psychology-human-perception/ and watch the video. Make sure that you do not read the information below the video until after you have followed the instructions carefully. And don’t read the rest of this blog post until you’ve done the above, too. Then come back and read the rest.
——————————————–
When we bring our attention to something specific [...]

Changing the World, Ourselves Through MOGO Online

At the Institute for Humane Education we’re offering our first MOGO Online course. Thirty-five participants from across the U.S. and Canada and several in Europe, are engaging in the 30 days of activities and exercises and online conversation to examine their lives, their values, their choices, and their actions with the MOGO principle in mind.
When [...]

Sirens for Basketball: Let’s Find a Win/Win for Supporting the Accomplishments of All Youth

Saturday night, my husband and I attended a local theater production of Lettice and Lovage. At the end of the 3-hour play, just as the protagonist was delivering her impassioned final lines, sirens started blaring outside the Town Hall where the production was held (we live in a small town in coastal Maine). Sirens are [...]

Changing Systems 1: Losing My Cool at the Airport

I just returned from a 10-day book tour on the West Coast. The trip entailed 3 cities, 6 flights, one car rental, one train ride, and many speaking engagements in a variety of settings. I’m not the best traveler, easily stressing at flight delays and lost baggage, and because I need a bunch of props [...]