3rd Annual International Conference on

 

"Engaging The Other:"

The Power of Compassion

September 4 - 7, 2008   

 
San Francisco (San Mateo), California USA

 

WE INVITE YOU TO:
an extraordinary international conference to address the roots of negative stereotypes, prejudice, and concepts of "The Other" from a universal, cross-cultural perspective. 
JOIN an international list of remarkable presenters and visionaries to promote a wider public dialogue about images of "Us and Them," and to develop practical applications for our communities from the local to the global.

 

Registration is 

Open to the Public

 

An important, timely dialogue 
            ....everyone needs to be part of.

 

Now More Than Ever...

 

 At a time of rising turmoil - a time that calls for new thinking, new vision, new understanding, and new ways of relating in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent global community.

Common Bond Institute invites you to join in supporting international efforts advancing the consciousness of peace and healing by raising the capacity of the individual in society to compassionately transform conflict in their daily lives.

 

 Who We Are And What We Do

Common Bond Institute  (CBI) is a U.S. based Non-Governmental Organization that grew out of the Association for Humanistic Psychology's International (Soviet-American) Professional Exchange.  The Professional Exchange was initiated in 1982 as one of the first Soviet-American non-governmental human service exchanges. CBI organizes and sponsors conferences, professional training programs, relief efforts, and professional exchanges internationally, and actively provides networking and coordination support to assist newly emerging human service and civil society organizations in developing countries.

Our Mission

Cultivating the fundamental elements of a consciousness of peace, and local capacity building, are seen as natural, effective antidotes to small group radical extremism and large group despair, as well as to hardship and suffering in the human condition. To this end, enabling each society to effectively resolve and transform conflicts, satisfy core human needs within their communities, and construct effective, holistic mechanisms for self determination, self esteem, and fundamental human dignity and worth is the purpose of our work.

CBI is grounded in the application of humanistic psychology's principles in it's committment to capacity building at both the grass roots and social institutional level. It works to actively form strategic alliances and partnerships with organizations, groups, and individuals dedicated to nurturing global relationships as a whole in creating and promoting an authentic world culture of peace.

 

Our Style And Commitment

By design, our efforts are fundamentally collaborative for a larger impact. We maintain an expanding global network of partner groups and organizations that cooperate in pulling the requisite pieces together to create and operate programs, while minimizing the drain on individual group resources. The focus is on increasing skills and services, exploration of human relationship dynamics, and expanding public dialogue and awareness of critical issues.

 

Intentional Community: Essentially all of our efforts, and particularly the conferences, are designed to be living laboratories for creating and participating in deep, authentic community as a common ground of reference for exploring core themes and integrating formal learning. They offer a dynamic microcosm of the larger, diverse, global community for a first hand personal experience of moving beyond artificial barriers to the reality of what is both possible and practical. The purposeful use of intentional community is a central element of our work. It assumes the basic drive/need for integration through inter-connectedness and belonging that can be nurtured to develop conscious intent toward harmony and peace in our relationships. 

 

 

 Contact Us

To inquire about the activities and projects of CBI please contact:

Steve Olweean, Director and Conference Co-Coordinator

E-mail: SOlweean@aol.com

Telephone/Fax: 269-665-9393

Postal Address: 12170 South Pine Ayr Drive
                             Climax, Michigan  49034 USA