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NFNC Presents

Joseph Chilton Pearce August 14, 1998 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. near Gales Creek, Oregon $75.00, also includes lunch and dinner 1-800-624-8845 http://www.newculture.org/sc98 email: sc98@newculture.org The greatest contribution to child-rearing since Robert Young put on a smoking jacket. Every parent should know about Pearce's innovative approach to birthing and child-rearing. Even if you don't have children, delving into the world of this respected lecturer and versatile thinker will give you insight into your own consciousness.

World renowned thinker, author, and advocate of evolutionary child-rearing practices, Pearce has expertise that spans a broad range of disciplines: psychology, anthropology, biology, and physics. He has been a seminal figure in the study of human consciousness and child development for over a quarter century, beginning with the publishing of his influential works, The Crack in the Cosmic Egg and Exploring the Crack in the Cosmic Egg. His greatest publishing success was with the national best seller, Magical Child, in which he delineated an exhaustive and visionary approach to child rearing, especially focused on support for the "non-violent" birthing approach revived by LeBoyer, Lamaze and Odent, and popularized by Sondra Ray. He has since written three other books, most recently, Evolution's End, referring to the inherent potential which he claims lies dormant within all human beings.

Through lecture appearances, multimedia presentations, and prolific writing, he seeks to advocate a synthesis between the inevitable changes being wrought by the information revolution, and the reclaimed traditions of aboriginal peoples which he claims offer the hope of restoring sanity to our fragmented culture. He was a faculty member on child development at the Jung Institute in Switzerland. He spoke on the new paradigm of human development at the seventh annual Transpersonal Psychology Conference in India. Oxford University invited him to speak on several occasions. The Canadian Government sponsored a workshop with Native Americans on the prevention of violence and substance abuse featuring Pearce. He addressed Hawaii's crime prevention commission on the current causes of crime and violence. He has also testified before Congressional committees on the state of the family. Three different departments at Harvard University, all branches of the University of California, and Stanford University have each sponsored educational conferences featuring his work, as has Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. The Governor of California invited him to address two special legislative planning sessions on the challenges facing children and families. Many Waldorf schools have hosted him over the years. (The full list covers several pages.)

More recently, he has become a certified HeartMath trainer, further developing his already extensive insights into the heart-brain connection. This connection between the heart and brain is not merely neurological and autonomic, or romantic and metaphoric, it is central to our full development and total health.

He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institute of HeartMath, and this year was invited to address the Transpersonal Psychology Conference in Moscow.

The Possible Human

With the publication of Magical Child in 1977, Joseph Chilton Pearce revealed a stunning new vision of child and human development. In his subsequent books (The Bond of Power, Magical Child Matures, and Evolution's End), he has developed this vision to a degree that is truly inspiring.

In our present culture and meta-culture, we often speak of people as being made, as if they (meaning we) were designed and assembled in some factory or laboratory. However, bio-engineering hasnt taken us that far and we are still very much "grown from seed." For most of us, the difference between creative genius and drab mediocrity is about 95% nurture and 5% nature.

"Our challenge is to recognize and develop the biological potential within.
This is the true goal of life."

The Awakening of Intelligence

We have within us the ability to develop all structures of knowledge, yet none can unfold without the guidance of an appropriate model who has developed that capacity, or heroic effort in the absence of such a model. Intelligence is innate, not accumulated or learned, universally woven throughout the human body and all of nature.

Pregnancy, Birth and Bonding

The birth of each new human being represents an opportunity for growth and fulfillment, not only for the child, but for the parents as well. Three billion years of cumulative intelligence direct a mothers intuitive knowing if that intelligence is awakened in her through a deep awareness of her child during pregnancy and through intimate contact with her infant at birth.

Imagination and Play

Imagination and play are essential for self-esteem and form the foundation of true literacy and creativity. In subtle, but profound ways this capacity is in danger for many children. In children less than five years old, television, regardless of program content, adversely affects the brain and retards the development of the critical capacity to imagine.

Learning and Education

The decline of American education is as much a failure of the educational system as it is neural-behavioral impairment of a majority of our children. The major imperative in the development of intelligence is that the child feels unconditionally accepted, wanted, and loved, and, with few exceptions, our present institutions tend not to foster this.

Critical and Creative Thinking

All the tools used to deal with the physical world began as abstract ideas, first forming in the fluid field of imagination. The child's movement from the concrete world to pure abstraction is the most dramatic change that occurs during pre-adolescence. Learning how to process information accurately and creatively is generally far more important at this time than being able to memorize and regurgitate facts.

Adolescence and Beyond

Modern adolescence is the cumulative effect of both false education and intellectual interference with the natural development of intelligence. Instead, it can be a time of phenomenal creative and spiritual growth. The search for ideals and an ultimate model that begins during adolescence brings us to "Evolution's End" as we reach the threshold of pure spirit.

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