[CRNMC] Decolonization of Mind - Discussion Group - Meeting Notice

[Charles Cresson Wood]

DECOLONIZATION  OF  MIND 

Lunch-Time Discussion Group Announcement
Event Title: Emancipation From the Myths of Getting Older
Time & Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2015, at 12:30PM 
(we meet on the second Tuesday of the month)
Location: Downtown Ft. Bragg (see directions below)

Event Description
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Ageism is the prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s age. While there is unquestionably prejudice and discrimination against children and young people, this meeting will focus on the other end of the age range. We will discuss: (1) discriminatory interpersonal attitudes toward older people, (2) institutional and cultural practices that perpetuate negative stereotypes about older people, and (3) prejudicial attitudes towards the aging process that are embedded in the culture. Stigmatization and unnecessary limitation of older people occurs not only in other groups but also in older people themselves. 

At this meeting, we will cover matters such as discriminatory treatment in hiring, the erroneous belief that older people are unwilling and unable to change, the idea that older people are out-of-touch with the times, and the notion that older people should be sidelined from the important activities of society. More importantly, we will also address how our own attitudes about getting older limit the range of our experiences, the extent of our future happiness, and the difference that we are able to make with others and out in the world. By bringing greater consciousness to ageism, and how it works both inside us and around us, we can emancipate ourselves from an unconscious and largely unexamined straightjacket that can seriously hold us back. We will affirm that there are significant contributions to be made by people at all stages in life, and also that there are important things to learn in all stages of life. 

Facilitators
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Charles, who is 60, is a law school student, writer, and a Mendocino Coast Transition Towns organizer. Among his books is a frame-shift meditation book called “Opening To Abundance,” which can be found on Amazon.com. Charles will talk about psychological strategies for self-emancipation, including stepping outside of the cultural beliefs that hold us back (some call this “the matrix”). Also co-facilitating this meeting will be Linda, a local community activist and co-counseling teacher. At 71, she still runs her book production service. Linda invites attendees to consider a few questions before arriving: (1) When you were young, what did you think it would be like to be old? (2) Now that you are older, have those ideas about older people significantly changed? If so, in what ways have they changed? (3) If you’re already old, what’s great about being that way? And what’s difficult about it? Separately, the perspectives of the group participants will also be actively solicited, voiced, pondered, and discussed. This event will be an honest exploratory discussion among a group of equals -- not a teach-in, not a download of any creed, not an indoctrination, and not a sales pitch. Everyone is welcome.

Location & Directions
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The location of this meeting will be Linda’s house in Fort Bragg. Consistent with the nature of our discussions -- which are not approved or endorsed by any government or corporate entities -- there's no official address that you could look up on Google maps, since Linda lives in an alley. To get there, drive east on Oak Street for about a mile from Hwy 1. Wall Street is on the right side and her house is in the alley right after Wall Street (between Wall and Sanderson). There's a fire hydrant at the alley. Make a right into the alley (you can't make a left) and her house is the first (and only) house you come to. The house number is 139-1/2. 

About the Decolonization of Mind Group
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An outgrowth of Mendocino Coast Transition Towns and the Community Rights Network of Mendocino County, this discussion group was a spin-off from a weekend workshop that activist Paul Cienfuegos facilitated in February 2014. That workshop, dealing with community rights, and the powers of people versus those of corporations, included a challenge from Paul that the participants not only understand how their minds have been colonized, but how they could escape from that colonization. In keeping with Paul’s challenge, the decolonization of mind group has, since that time, sought to go beyond the propaganda from government, the indoctrination of the public school system, the brainwashing from corporate advertising, and also the myths created and perpetuated via movies, TV, newspapers, Facebook, and other modern media. The discussion group has met monthly and seeks to empower its members to be able to emancipate themselves from all that, so that they may come back to their own personal power to live the life they feel called to live. For further information, contact Charles at ccwood at ix.netcom.com.