TEDX Burlington went very well, yesterday.

There were six speakers on the program and several videos from other TED events. Overall the audience in the Burlington Performing Arts Centre seemed receptive and enthusiastic.

I led off the event, talking about our Teachers of Compassion, our Teachers of the Heart. I introduced Angeles Arrien’s archetype of the Four-Chambered Heart–the Full, Open, Clear and Strong Heart– from indigenous cultures.

I also told the story of John Albrecht, a man who changed my life for the better by teaching me to challenge my assumptions. I met John on the sidewalk in downtown Toronto. He sold me a postcard that he had painted. That began a four-year friendship that only ended when John died of a massive stroke.

John was a panhandler and a schizophrenic, ate raw garlic and wore shorts all year round. I learned how to see past superficial appearances and learn to love someone as different from me as night is from day.

John was a genius of relationship despite his circumstances. I’ll never forget the lessons I learned from this man.

Highlights of TEDX included Arthur Fleishmann’s talk on The Power of the Unspoken, about learning that his autistic daughter was a deep and complex personality although she could not talk. It was a very moving story.

Michael Jones, a friend, talked about an extraordinary conversation that changed his life. A stranger approached him when he was playing the piano and encouraged him to leave his job as a management consultant and become a full-time artist. Today, Michael is a Juno award winner.

Dr. Jean Chamberlain Froese gave a moving talk about her work on the importance of Mothers and Women’s Reproductive Rights in Uganda. Scott Graham talked about Bullying and his work in Toronto schools. And Trish Barbato presented on Everday Courage.

My thanks to the Organizing Committee of Spencer Campbell, Cathy Allen, Frances Hillier, Debra Pickfield of ThinkSpot, and Dave Zylich and Ryan Jaques.

I’ll post the link when it is available.

© Patrick O’Neill 2012. All rights reserved.

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I am preparing for my first Ted Talk, in Burlington, Ontario, May 27th.

It’s a real honor to be asked to participate. The theme of the Conference is “Passion For Compassion.”

I am going to address The Teachers of the Heart.

Who has taught you the most about love and compassion? What have they taught you and how has it changed the way you think, feel and act?

I’ll be sharing The Four-Chambered Heart, an indigenous archetype first introduced to me by cultural anthropologist, Angeles Arrien.

The Full, Open, Clear and Strong Heart provide a classroom for the development of love and compassion.

My thesis at Ted is that we have spent so much money on the development of our minds and far less on the education of the heart.

But what if our global problems could only be solved by better hearts?

A statistic that startled me as I was preparing for the talk is this: last year the global military expenditure was U.S.$2.1 trillion!

That’s a ton of money to spend on fear, aggression and defensiveness.

What if we channneled $2.1 trillion dollars into kindness and compassion?

The world would look very different.

© Patrick O’Neill 2012. All rights reserved.

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“Do your work for six years; but in the seventh, go into solitude or among strangers, so that the memory of your friends does not hinder you from being what you have become.” –Leo Szilard

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By now, I am sure you must think of me as an uber Catholic, what with my blog on the persecution of Women Religious by the Vatican; and my newsletter on the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin.

Despite the fact that I work for two religious denominations, I am not what you would call a practicing Christian.

I have my spiritual practices but sitting in a church pew isn’t one of them. Unless I’m taking my 98 year old Aunt to Mass. I just do that to be near a real holy person. And so that she won’t try to walk alone to church again.

After spending the past few days in a convent working with some of the finest women anywhere I find myself increasingly outraged by the Vatican crackdown on the Nuns.

Where are these guys heads?

They’re talking about investigating a community of senior citizens for being too “liberal.” That’s elder abuse if you ask me.

I think Women Religious across North America–and those who support and are the beneficiary of the good work that they do for society– should march.

The sight of these elders linking arms in self-defense against the male hierarchy of their own church would and should shock society.

The Nuns have enough to worry about without this bunch of knuckleheads searching for evidence that they are soft on gays, abortion and women priests.

They’re trying to help the poor, sick, and dispossessed. At the same time they’re running schools, literacy centers and hospitals.

Try that when you’re in your seventies and beyond!

The Church has got more pressing problems than this nonsense. I say march. Show the world who the Catholic Church is so afraid of.

© Patrick O’Neill 2012. All rights reserved.

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