7/19: Convening in China:
Expanding our worldview through on-the-ground stories

with Conversation Starter Yan Fei, Entrepreneur, Thought Leader, Art of Convening graduate, Tian Shou Da Institute of Brain Science

In this Essential Conversation, Yan Fei will bring forward two primary questions for us to consider. Fei speaks to the Heart of the Matter: "We need to build bridges across our differences to create the potential for us all to live into our humanity, co-creating a world that works for all.”

Given that our worldview is shaped by our formative lived experiences, how can we learn from other cultural "points of view"?

The Art of Convening book has just been published in China. How can we collaborate and be allies with our Chinese friends in advancing the transformative practices of the Art of Convening in China?

How exciting to consider! But then, what are the challenges and opportunities?

‍MORE BELOW…

7/26: The Hearth: Part 2: A Community Conversation: ”Learnings from the 7/19 Essential Conversation, with Yan Fei and Dai Wei.

Yan Fei will return joined by Dai Wei, Chinese doctor, researcher at the Tian Shou Da Institute of Brain Science, Head of the Tian Shou Da ASD healing program

As we gather around the Hearth, we will have an opportunity to reflect on what it means to learn from and energetically support our Convening Colleagues in China.

More about the 7/19 & 7/26 conversations with Yan Fei…

This is Fei and I want to tell my story of how I become the person that I am. Now‍‍ to let you know me very quickly, I am quite a‍‍ person of broad interests that cover humanity, science‍‍, and also ancient wisdom. I started in material science and engineering. That's my undergrad and graduate education. I finished my college in China and then went to‍‍ the University of California, Santa Barbara for graduate study. It is now one of the best‍‍ materials research institute in the world, especially in‍‍ light-emitting and nanomaterials. ‍

‍The reason why I was attracted to science is that it's about truth. ‍‍Why truth is important? Truth is something that's universal. And to a very broad extent, it determines what we call the phenomenon. And it is very basic and it's everywhere. And‍‍ it's something that I feel very belonging to. I feel that‍‍ I should be and I am part of it. And the discovery of truth is a process by which I can understand the world that we live in and understand‍‍ who and what we really are. And this interest started from my childhood. ‍‍I read a lot of books and encyclopedias and I maintain throughout the years the curiosity and the love of truth. ‍‍It has become still a very‍‍ nice tendency of mind. ‍

So I did graduate study in the US which‍‍ allowed me to meet and work in person with masters in science‍‍ who are really dedicated to the discovery of truth and to work and also life. ‍‍So I was quite touched by that these people who are not well known to the world. But they play a very key role in‍‍ extending the horizon of the human being. So that's about the science and engineering part. ‍‍I admit I may not be a great engineer because I‍‍ find it quite lonely just to work with‍‍ things through data instruments, devices, ‍‍for days and months. It seems lack of this connection with later what I understand to be the subjective experience of truth‍‍.

After my graduate study which I didn't‍‍ become an engineer, I went back to China and‍‍ took on a job in publishing and that would feed my interests. Education publishing of about textbooks, ‍‍what we call K-12 textbooks. Another thing is that it allowed me free time and a lot of‍‍ contemplation of‍‍ how the world is running. ‍‍During that time, there was a lot of exploration and networking and connection with like-minded people in different fields. It was actually also the emerging of‍‍ mobile‍‍ networks at that time. So it went pretty quick that people can connect with each other‍‍.

After some years when I established myself as a young professional and had a stronger curiosity of what the world is like. ‍‍I quit my job and after a brief period of‍‍ time of exploration, I co-founded a startup. ‍‍It was for a number of years, 3-4years and quite an experience to me. There were up and down‍‍ challenges; I needed to manage a lot of‍‍ complexity, not just the “stuff,” but also humanity. it was definitely a challenge to‍‍ self-awareness, also to empathy with others, and also‍‍ how I can remain balanced or stable through all these difficulties.

‍So it has been quite a precious experience for me - first of all, ‍‍it let me realize that no matter how challenging, there is definitely a way out, and‍‍ it happens usually when I let go of something‍‍ that I think is very true or‍‍ impossible. Like some real limitations that I cannot break. ‍

‍So when I‍‍ allowed myself to let go of that, things started to shift. ‍‍It has quite an impact on me, that it's like a spiritual experience. The old self dies out and there's a new self emerges from that. ‍‍I think it is because through this challenge, ‍‍I have come to the edge of the inner world, which‍‍ I rarely had a chance to touch. Because as I started in science and also in professional and business world, where few people talk much about inner world in a direct way, nor immersed in this exploration. ‍

And after this period of self-exploration, I had a chance to look into my‍‍self through a “touchy-feely” group. And very shortly after that, the‍‍ experience with Diamond Approach Asia group, which is the first time it came to Asia. ‍‍It unfolded everything that is there. And‍‍ through this support, I was able to touch all that previously might be fixed, or might be‍‍ something that I feared, something that I held true. I was able to be in touch with them and really feel‍‍ what is truth in a very subjective way, ‍‍in a very direct “felt” sense, so that I understand my own truth. ‍‍In contrast to or supplementing the objective truth.

‍Now, what's interesting about this subjective truth is that it reinvents the world. ‍‍It is not that limited separated, co‍‍ld type of world anymore, but more touchable, clear, warm, ‍‍light type of world. And I think it's the open-up of the consciousness or spirit‍‍ so that it is more flowing. It has more freedom to touch what's inside and outside. ‍‍So the inner world and the outer world become more in unity and good with each other. They don't fight or‍‍ reject each other, or separate from each other like before. ‍

I can also share about a Daoism or the consciousness tradition of Chinese people. The practice is about‍‍ the human being in great harmony with heaven and earth. Humans are made up of the energy from a greater universe. Actually, it's like a small c‍‍lock that is in sync with the big clock. Now with the Dao is more like‍‍ to be in harmony with all this. It also has some ways to help people‍‍ revitalize themselves. So as to renew their body and spirit.

‍So it's all made up of Dao which is invisible. You can‍‍ say it's like the other side of this material world, and the‍‍ recognizing of Dao or the nothing‍‍ness helps people extend their limitation of experience or simply their world. ‍‍I believe that‍‍ is what Chinese culture could offer to help with the dilemma that‍‍ humanity is facing now. To recognize the great harmony human should be in with heaven and earth and a greater cosmic system. ‍‍So it's a conscious‍‍ harmony and it makes everything happy because the things are unfolding as they should. ‍

I may talk about our institute which is specialized in like curing very complex diseases, like autism, which is deemed to be incurable by modern medicine, because it's like innate deficiency. People were born to be with an overall lack in body energy or‍‍ in different systems. The way we see it is to understand human‍‍ not just as a materialized structure, but also an energy body. In Chinese medicine, we have meridians or the energy channel system. So if we can‍‍ help them open in a correct way, the energy in their body can be revitalized areas by areas. First, some‍‍ functions get activated, and when it accumulates and a bigger change may happen. ‍‍So it's also like an ecosystem type of‍‍ change.

‍And I witness these kids getting much easier to express their emotions and interact with people. ‍‍And these are very touching changes, when you can hear that they can speak very clearly, even some word. It means a big shift in their nervous system, in their self-consciousness. ‍‍This is quite an achievement and we are working on a community for‍‍ the spectrum syndrome kids and families to‍‍ recover and also to become professionals in arts or medicine, so that they have a lifelong community to live in. So that is the story I want to tell today. ‍

This will register you for both 7/19 & 7/26 sessions.
Attendance at both is not required.