We are sad to report  that Dr. Sara Halprin,  died early this evening.  At 6.30pm Portland Oregon time, Novemeber the 10th, our good friend, best author, wonderful teacher, exciting filmmaker, amazing colleague, creative therapist, inquiring student and spicy being, Sara Halprin has died.   Thanks to Herb Long, her best friend and husband for being with her, helping to facilitate the following interaction. He did this  in so many ways through the period of her 8 month illness and death. And thanks to Amy for having recorded the experiences below.  

After her death, we dreamed she wanted to “be useful” to the public; and as a result, decided to publish her final words, as they included her interest in being of use to all.   

One of her last (semi) verbal exchanges occurred while  being with her as she tracked altered state experiences, finally becoming a magical bird. She called it “The Mallard”. We think she might like it if others knew of her experience, and her bird.

Here is a reportage of those experiences (as closely as we can remember.)
 

Herb:

Amy and Arny are working this fall on world channel awareness, connecting to a hyperspace they are calling “the process mind”, and the many dimensions of publishing, as well as supporting certain organizations and groups worldwide.

The world map attached below (thanks to Wikipedia and the Global Security websites) portray what seems to us, to be a strip of war around our little planet. According to the Global Security website:“The United Nations defines ‘major wars’ as military conflicts inflicting 1,000 battlefield deaths per year.” We note that in 1965, there were 10 such wars going on. There were 15 in 2003 and 8 as of mid-2005. In addition, there are about 25 so called “lesser conflicts”.

Today, the concepts of both war and peace seem to us to be static concepts. They are useful to describe the outer appearance of events, but minimize our understanding of the ongoing complex communication and flow between conflicting partners. Furthermore, these concepts and definitions make most of us think that at any one moment, only those people in “war” zones, are failing to get along.

A new way of looking at severe conflict would be to appreciate its seriousness but also relativize the concepts of “war and peace”, as well as “the good and the bad guys”. We prefer instead to also stress the need for everyone, everywhere, to bring forward potentially conflicting viewpoints and learn to flow between and deeper into them. In other words, instead of thinking it’s only “those people” who are at war, we can help prevent serious conflict by realizing we are all at “war” in some way, much of the time.

Ach, the news about the various wars! The one-sidedness of most news reports! They sway us back and forth creating, rather than resolving or understanding conflict. We will be happy when the idea of deep democracy and ghost roles reaches our media people!
If we had magic wands, we would remind everyone, “You are not just fighting for what seems to be inevitable and good reasons. When we plot against or kill our neighbor, we are killing our own historic sisters and brothers.” But trauma, and “re-traumatization” make us hide such feelings.
We know from both sides of all conflicts something rarely mentioned in newspapers - - the terrible agony of soldiers wanting to protect their own people, feeling there is no way but to hurt the “other” people, people they secretly long to love. Some say that hurting someone you secretly hope to love is more painful than death itself. You do it, and then you spend the rest of your life trying to forget.
Many of us are like that. That is, we hurt others but don’t want to. Instead of dealing with that internal opposition, we feel pressed to be one way or the other.

We always remember August 15; it was a most painful and amazing day around the world. We think of Independence Day in North + South Korea (1945), surrender of the Japanese Military (1945), Independence Day for India 1947, and the Congo in 1960.

Thanks to Ms Hanna Chung, Arny’s “Working with the Dreaming Body” just came out in Korean.

The Lao Tse Press edition of Amy’s Alternative to Therapy comes out mid May and will be available at Amazon.com, and at your local bookstores.

Arny's book is now available as a free pdf file download (file size is 4.3MB). To open the file please use the password Itpcoma1. Note: The first letter of the password is l for letter

We like Marilyn Raff's new garden book, ORNAMENTAL GRASSES FOR WESTERN GARDENS because of its relationship to the earth. The book is filled with 100 vivid pictures and practical ideas,. Marilyn shows how grasses, with their repetitive lines, colors, textures, heights, and movement add beauty, drama and function to gardens. The publisher is Johnson Books.

January 2006

Distant learning access to Arny’s Portland classes this year is made “live” through phone bridges, and after the class via audio-recordings of the classes available at http://www.processwork.org/media.htm. If you want to sign up for a class with distance access, contact the PWI office. pwi@processwork.org. Please sign up as early as possible, and say whether you will be using the phone bridge as well as the audio-file, as the PWI office has to book phone lines, and this helps book the right number of lines, thanks. If you have more questions about distance access, connect to leesparkjones@earthlink.net

January 2006

January 2006

This is an unedited transcript of an interview about Lucid Dreaming done by the “Radio Rookie” Neil Ramkissoon (now of Hunter College) with Arny on National Public Radio in New York’s Manhattan (FM 93.9, AM 820) and online www.wnyc.org. See their “worldwork-diversity” facilitator-interviewer philosophy at http://www.wnyc.org/radiorookies/Elmhurst/index.html. Their interviews have been aired on “All Things Considered” and their “Morning Show”.

Download the transcript ... (Word document 67Kb)