Key Concepts

The Surgeon's Attitude 
Your "Supercharity"  
Path Management
Want Management
The Eight Lane Highway
Two Tables, the Golden Rule 2.0, and about making changes in systems.
The Sakai   (also called The Sakai Vision)
World Peace One and World Peace One's global strategy to attain the Sakai.
"Hold the Pattern Together"
 "Make a friend. Be a friend. Lift a friend higher"
"You do the quality control"



The Surgeon's Attitude

The Surgeon's Attitude is to have the seriousness and focus of doctors surgeons who know that lives depend on the quality of their work. There are five parts of the attitude:

a. Commitment to the best methods. A surgeon would never be considered competent if he or she used less than the best methods. We are a group that aims to live this spirit for the benefit of all: ourselves, our loved ones, and the whole world.

b. Passion. Good doctors are not totally detached and cold. The spirit of the surgeon's attitude is to "act as if your child's life was on the line, and not someone else's. -- Your Molly, your Jason, your Kizito, your Prajhi, your Ling. Act as if you can see their faces."

c. Reasonable stretches. We make reasonable stretches, not "kamikaze" stretches. "Make reasonable stretches" is a useful slogan to bear in mind. Do your level best.

d. Conscious effort. We ask for conscious effort for five hours per week, but we hope that the spirit of doing the best, most loving things pervades the rest of your life.

e. Commitment to ongoing learning. Just as doctors must keep up to date and learning, we need to keep learning because our world and our personal situation keeps changing.

"Your Supercharity"

People give to charities for many reasons, but not all of them are good reasons.  Some people give because a friend asks, and they don't want to look bad.  Some people give because the charity offers some benefit in return.  Some give because a charity has spent money to create a good image through impressive PR -- whether or not the charity is effective.  

To increase the good that people do through charity, we decided to create a new term, "supercharity."  Your supercharity is the organization (or group of organizations) that best address the problems that you would not want to personally suffer.  For instance, if someone thought that the worst thing was political torture, then giving to organizations that efficiently address political torture would be supercharity for them.  But if another person thought that sexual molestation was the worst thing that they could imagine, then giving to organizations that prevented or minimized that problem would be supercharity for them.  Your supercharity (or supercharities) depend on you and your values.

In any case, you don't have to limit your supercharity to one issue or problem.  There's no need to try to figure out what is the worst of many awful forms of suffering.  By defining this new term, "supercharity," we are trying to encourage people to donate more money and time to their supercharities, and less to other, less critical charities.  When most people do this, you can expect the amount of suffering in the world to be much less.

Along with donating to your supercharities, you should not forget to support "behind the scenes" organizations that attack some of the problems behind the problems.  For instance, no one dies directly from being illiterate or uneducated. But certain kinds of education empower people to avoid problems and situations that cause suffering and death.  





Path Management

Path Management is related to the Surgeon's Attitude. Path Management is to periodically ask yourself the question "What is the best, most loving use of my time, right now?" -- and answer the question with action.  [Those doing an Internet search will find an analytical tool called "Path Management" that is something completely different.]  More.

Want Management

Want Management is an approach to time management that is involves managing your wants. It is also related to the surgeon's attitude. Here's a brief introduction:

Everything you do can be divided into three categories: things you need to do (to survive); things you want to do (but don't need to do); and things that you don't want and don't need to do, but do anyway. This third category includes duties, addictions, and things that other people sometimes get you to do. (Note that some duties are things that somebody needs to do if we are to survive, but other duties are just social duties.)

All of our wants can be divided into "really-wants" and "it-would-be-nice-ifs," Really-wants are desires closely connected with our personal mission or the missions those we love. It-would-be-nice-ifs are the things that we could live without but find ourselves seeking, such as the latest product or movie. It-would-be-nice-ifs aren't always bad. It's only when they clutter our lifestyles and interfere with us getting our needs and our really-wants met that they cause problems. Weeding out it-would-be-nice-ifs is a good way to have less stress and more capacity.

It also pays to realize that some of our "really-wants" are actually symbols of what we really want, and not the reality itself. For instance, if you say you really want a big house or a lot of property, maybe you really want the security these represent. Or the money or power that some people want is just a means to get the recognition, acceptance or attention from others that they deep-down really want. People can waste large parts of their lives working for these symbols and end up feeling empty. So ask yourself if some of the things you are working for can be gotten more directly in other ways. For example, if you realize that for you a big house represents emotional security, instead of spending years paying for a large house, you might form the personal relationships that give you the emotional security that you really want. More.

The Eight Lane Highway

The Eight-Lane Highway is a concept developed by Tim Cimino, based on some words of Martin Luther King about a two-lane highway approach to promote civil rights. Each of the eight lanes has a simple, easy level, and a more powerful level. Together, the eight lanes form an integrated strategy. Part of the strategy is to anchor yourself with the first lane first, so that you have created expectation and momentum to take action. Then, as needed, focus on the second lane next, so that you will have sufficient time, money and skill to eventually work on all of the remaining six lanes. The second lane should be a constant focus because without it, your ability to do good will be limited.

Lane 1. Easier level: have an ongoing personal support system (buddy or small group.)
More powerful level: have all of the necessary ingredients of a learning environment.

Lane 2. Easier level: build up time, money, energy or skill.
More powerful level: work on getting whichever resource or ingredient of change is most needed by you, whether it is time, money, a certain skill, encouragement, feedback, expert knowledge, or any other ingredient or resource.

Lane 3. Easier level: spend an hour on personal fulfillment, whatever makes you feel most alive?
More powerful level: work toward your deepest sense of fulfillment. Thus the hour may not be the most pleasurable if you are doing things like planning or envisioning.

Lane 4. Easier level: do charity with your time and money, focusing on the problems that you would most hate to experience yourself.
More powerful level: do research to support the most strategic charities, and also learn how you can help them to be more effective.

Lane 5. Easier level: be politically active, by informing yourself about current issues and by making your voice heard.
More powerful level: increase your ability to think critically and analyze issues, and learn how to do the most strategic political actions, ones that make systemic changes.

Lane 6. Easier level: make your lifestyle more environmental.
More powerful level: learn about the most strategic environmental actions, and do them

Lane 7. Easier level: be active economically (this means influencing the economy through things like socially responsible investments and by understanding the political and economic impact of your spending and saving habits.)
More powerful level: learn about the most strategic economic actions, and do them.

Lane 8. Easier level: empower others through personal contact, whether informally or through volunteer contacts.
More powerful level: teach and support someone to be a member of Fellowship of the Dream, so that they will have access to the support and resources, and later pass them on.




The Two Tables, the Golden Rule 2.0, and about making changes in systems.

a. The Two Tables model of your life-support systems.  If you imagine that all your goals and dreams for this life are in a box, the box rests on a table whose four legs are the stability of your health, mental health, key personal relationships, and ethical/spiritual integrity. If even one of these legs is compromised, your goals and dreams -- and maybe your life -- are in trouble. Most people recognize the importance of maintaining these four legs. But this table is on another, much larger, table whose four legs are the stability of the environment, the economy, the community, and your political system. Instability in any of these four life-support systems can cause suffering or death.

b. The Golden Rule 2.0.  Once you have the Two Tables image in your mind, realize that each of the eight legs is a life-support system. The Golden Rule 2.0 is to put back into each of these eight systems at least as much as what you take out. This new Golden Rule is the spirit of the original Golden Rule, but it is a higher standard. The Ecological Lifestyle Assessment provides some idea of the many actions that you can do. Most people who take the assessment are surprised by the many ways they fail to live up to the Golden Rule 2.0. They should not feel guilty about this. Instead, they should realize that if it took years to develop their current lifestyle habits, they should give themselves years to change these habits -- for instance, by changing one or two habits every four months.

c. The difference between temporary and structural changes in systems.  There is an easy way to understand how to have greater impacts on your life-support systems. Imagine that you are in a boat on a lake, and the boat has a slow leak. There are two ways that you can keep from sinking. One way is to keep bailing water, the other is to plug the leak. Bailing water doesn't change the structure of the boat, but plugging the leak does. All your life-support systems are similar to the boat. For instance, if you have a close personal relationship that is having major problems, you can try temporary fixes (buying a present to make up for a fight, or going on a vacation) but temporary fixes don't change the structure of the relationship.  A better approach is to figure out a permanent strategy, by figuring out what's wrong and by either learning a needed skill, such as active listening or conflict resolution, or by instituting a regular process, such as weekly writing a personal letter of your feelings to each other, or weekly setting aside quality time to be together -- or something else, depending on what the relationship needs.  All other life-support systems are similar:  You can make temporary fixes, or permanent structural changes.




The Sakai (also called The Sakai Vision)

Sakai is a Japanese word that means border, frontier or boundary. We define The Sakai, using a capital S, to mean the vision of a hundredfold reduction in the preventable suffering and death on Earth, and the stabilization of our life-support systems -- including the economy, the environment, politics and our communities.

a.  Remember that the Sakai has two parts: First, to diminish the preventable suffering and premature death a hundredfold by the end of this century, and second, to stabilize Earth's life-support systems such as the environment, the economy and the political realm. (Stability will help keep suffering near a minimum.)

b.  Importance: As opposed to the utopian goal of world peace, this is a goal that, though lofty, is measurable and within the realm of possibility. Depending on what happens in the future, it may not be possible to reach it in this century. Regardless, having the vision will spark people to do their level best. Commitment to the vision is also likely to spark new ideas and methods. Aim high!

c.  Is long-term stability really possible?   When talking about stabilizing the planet, it's important to acknowledge that many experts believe that our population already far exceeds what the Earth can support on a long-term basis.  So, realism is necessary.  All adults understand the meaning of "too late."  For those adults and children who will die today, it already is too late.  Stability might not be achieved in this century, or it might require some severe adjustments to avoid a great "die-off" as some experts predict.  On the other hand, a high quality of life depends more on a person's inner life and personal relationships, and on political freedom than on possessions, property or luxury, so the adjustments that most people make be major, but on balance, they may be more positive than negative, more life-enhancing than life-damaging.  So, rather than fearing what you might lose, we encourage you to focus on the lives you can save, by embracing the Sakai today.




World Peace One and World Peace One's global strategy to attain the Sakai. (Superprograms, the $500 billion a year strategy, and the Contest of Superprograms)

World Peace One is a tax-exempt, tax deductible nonprofit organization begun in 1989. Its mission is to help people examine their lives and make changes that improve the quality of life for all. It was founded by Tim Cimino and friends. In 2007, the Group Genie division of World Peace One was formed to generate more new ideas.  Here are three new concepts:

a. Superprograms are multipurpose programs that include ongoing support, capacity building (like lane two), and other strategies that make self improvement and world improvement easier. (Superprograms were defined on the Home Page.)  The Fellowship of the Dream, Mission Ball, All Around and Climb Today's Mountain are all superprograms. These superprograms are ready to use, but they are serve as models to inspire people to create other superprograms.

To encourage the creation of a wide variety of other superprograms another part of our strategy is to sponsor an annual contest between a variety of organizations such as universities, corporations, religious bodies, self-help authors, and nonprofits. They will be able to design programs tailored to different cultures and populations, and, the more this annual Contest of Superprograms is promoted, the more these organizations will have marketing and PR incentives to participate. For this reason, the Contest of Superprograms is also called "The Greatest Contest on Earth" because of the great good that all the superprograms will inspire.

b. The $500 billion a year strategy is for charities to sponsor time and money management training for volunteers and donors. The more the volunteers and donors save, the more they will have for both themselves and their favorite charities. $500 billion is the estimate of what the idea could add to the pool of donations and volunteer hours worldwide.  (While short term trainings should be enough to boost time and money, we expect that the ongoing support of a superprogram will maintain the gains.)  More.

"Hold the Pattern Together"

"Hold the pattern together" is a phrase that has two meanings:

1. First, the Fellowship of the Dream had two parts that must be held together: It should not be used by people who only have personal goals, or by people who only want to change the world. It's an integrated program, and participants must make reasonable stretches in both areas of the program. Naturally, people tend toward self-interest, and many tend to put off other-centered actions. But those who understand the Two Tables analogy should realize that other-centered actions are equally long-term insurance for your own welfare.

Practically speaking, this means that in the small groups and the buddy contacts, all members should expect a balance of action from all participants. While it may take months to activate all eight lanes, from the very start participants should do some actions on behalf of others. Only people in crisis have the right to focus exclusively on themselves. If someone seems interested only in themselves, you should withdraw your support if they cannot be coaxed into action. In all Fellowship contacts  maintain the expectation that we are working toward the Sakai, for the good of all -- ourselves and others.

2. The second meaning of "Hold the pattern together" means to use all of the strategies together, because they are much more powerful when used together. For instance, the first two lanes of the Eight Lane Highway will make action in the other lanes possible for most people, even those who don't consider themselves environmentalists or activists. Finally, the eighth lane of passing on the program, makes the power of the program grow huge very fast. For the sake of illustration, imagine that each participant takes six months to get comfortable with the program and then supports two people in the following six months. At that rate, the program would cover the whole world in less than 25 years. Then, imagine that each participant uses the support over the next ten more to gradually make some major lifestyle changes.  The result is that you have a transformed world in 35 years!  

Also, superprograms and the $500 billion idea can work synergistically together. The $500 billion a year idea will cause more food, medicine, computers and other resources to be sent to developing nations, and superprograms will provide the support and learning structures for people in these countries to make the best use of these resources. Once again, the other lanes of the Eight Lane Highway will produce greater political, economic and environmental stability, also contributing to the welfare of economically or politically oppressed people worldwide.

Many of the strategies can be used separately and produce some good. But avoid the temptation to make a quick splash. Using the strategies separately is like grinding, cooking and eating seeds. Using them together is like planting and tending the seeds, and producing a hundred or a thousand times more food -- in other words, a hundred or a thousand times more good.

"Make a friend. Be a friend. Lift a friend higher."

Power can be used for good and evil. The materials on this web site can be used by dictators and other power-centered people to increase their power over others. In fact, it is almost inevitable that some people will be empowered to do more harm. But there are two ways to minimize the damage. One is to be as strategic as possible in empowering the weakest and most oppressed, so that, on balance, good will increase much more than evil. The second way to minimize the damage is to do most of your empowerment of others through personal relationships. This process is summed up in the slogan "Make a friend. Be a friend. Lift a friend higher."

Why empower through relationships? When you form a personal relationship with someone, you'll get a good idea of what to teach, how to teach it, and when. You'll also know what not to teach, for instance techniques that they're not ready for. A second benefit of friendship is summarized in the saying, "People don't care what you know, until they know that you care." In other words, you can offer skills to people, but sometimes they aren't motivated to learn and change without personal support and caring. A third benefit is the opportunity for mutual lifestyle transformation. Friendship and relationship are not just a means of screening people for the appropriate values. They are a way to express your values in a way that speaks louder than words. Of course, there's always the question of authenticity: Your goal cannot be merely to influence alone.

The empowerment process is in three steps. Making a friend can involve reaching out and talking to new people, but more often than not it means talking with people you already know, but on more than a superficial level. Being a friend involves active listening. It also involves being of service—sometimes doing for, sometimes doing with. The depth of service depends on how well you listen to them to figure out what they need and "really want." It also depends on your generosity. Being a friend means loving them as they are, and loving the vision they hold of themselves for their future.

Lifting a friend higher can mean inviting them to a healthier, holier, or more holistic way of living. It can mean a gentle invitation, or a direct confrontation. It can't be done if you don't know who they are.  It can't be done with someone who doesn't know and trust you.  And it can't be done if you're not authentically living in a higher place. It can mean helping them become conscious and clear on their vision, while at the same time contributing what you can to make the vision greater and clearer.

[This three-step method is actually adapted from a method used in a Christian movement called Cursillo. The original phrase is "Make a friend. Be a friend. Lead a friend to Christ."]




"You do the quality control"

When Tim Cimino was designing this program he realized that he had a choice. He could try to grow the program slowly, carefully teaching people the vision one-to-one so that they would catch the surgical attitude from him. Then the high standards would be maintained in all of the Goal & Growth Groups and in any Groupings of Groups. The problem with this approach is that the program would grow and spread slowly, and it would take a huge and expensive central organization to monitor all of the groups. It's likely that a bureaucracy would develop, and it would be unlikely that the central organization would respond adequately and quickly enough to a variety of situations around the world.

The other alternative, the one Tim chose, was not to have any formal quality control—in other words, to give each buddy pairing and each group the responsibility to maintain the quality of their own interactions, by trying to live up to the Surgeon's Attitude.

In this way, the program can spread very quickly. For instance, you might never have met anyone else in the program, and yet you can still start a group by just using the resources on this web site.

The problem with "you do the quality control" is that quality of the groups will range from very good to very bad. For instance, we can put materials on active listening on a web site, but we can't force people to use active listening skills in a support group. So you might join a group of people who aren't good listeners. Or you might join a group where someone is trying to control the group. In this case, loyalty to the program and vision should cause you to abandon an unhealthy group and find or start another. You should also leave a good group if it's not helping you. If you asked for a change and didn't get it, why stay?

Of course, there's a danger that bad groups will give the program a bad name. That's why it's up to good groups and sincere members to continually learn skills and use feedback from each other to improve themselves, and to actively recruit participants, giving them a quality experience. Eventually it will become common knowledge that there are no officially sanctioned groups, and so new participants will know to stay on their guard and exit unhealthy or unproductive situations.