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"A flag sticker placed on a car means you are pro-war and pro-Bush administration," he said during a telephone chat. "We are collapsing its meaning." The flag is intended to be a symbol for all of us, said O'Dea (pronouned Oh-DEE). He mentioned embracing people who are "pro-war and anti-war, pro-choice and pro-life, straight and gay." "We can all live in peace under that flag," he said. O'Dea is qualified to talk about peace and the flag and the right thing. He ran the Washington, D.C., office of Amnesty International for seven years. He lived in war-torn Beirut, endured a civil war in Turkey and observed human brutality in Guatemala he can scarcely describe. There was too much "collapsing its meaning" in those three places. In his new job as president of the 30,000-member Institute of Noetic Sciences, O'Dea plans to avoid such prolapse and narrowcasting. Instead, he plans to widen awareness about where philosophy, spirituality and science all intersect. O'Dea said he believes greater human consciousness can change our world for the better and forever. It's all about kindness, forgiveness and seeing the other person's point of view. No matter who or how unconscious the person might be. Heady stuff, but just the sort of perspective that sticks in the mind. Here's a guy who steadfastly believes we can all come together, that we're capable of peace, even after seeing too much blood, guts and social injustice. Such conversations are what makes it energizing to be a journalist. You talk to people for a living. You get your best material by listening, not interrupting. You take notes and consider how that person's thoughts fit into a bigger picture. Then you get to have the next round of conversations with people who read the story or see the photos. It you do it right, the talk reverberates throughout the community. People talk about the story or photos at dinner, on the bus, over a morning cup of coffee. That's what I look forward to most in my new role as editor of The New Times. To hear what's next, write it down, pick the photos and report it all to you. Our monthly publication will undergo a number of changes in the coming months. Some will be subtle, others will be robust--including a name change by early 2004. All will be with you in mind. Probably the biggest change is we will be covering a wider scope of authentic and conscious living. Along with a ready supply of personal growth and spirituality topics, look for reports on natural health, environment, food, social justice and related matters. To that end, this month's cover story focuses on a local university that has suffered no collapsing of its meaning. Bastyr University's naturopathic medical school trains 1,200 students and treats 34,000 of us at its Seattle clinic. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this school, Bastyr is a national leader in integrating what is now the outmoded term, alternative medicine, with more conventional or Western medicine. "When we started, our intent was for natural medicine to a viable part of the health care system, not as alternative," said Joseph Pizzorno, N.D., a Bastyr co-founder during one conversation. Check out pages xx to xx to see just how Bastyr helped change medical care in our city and region, plus how it plans to achieve the next breakthroughs (hint: one part of future will involve acupuncture). There are other stories in this issue to show our newfound range: Mariel Hemingway, the actress and famous granddaughter who is planning a movie version of "The Moveable Feast," talks about the quiet reserve she draws from yoga (see page xx). Rebecca Wodder, president of the American Rivers advocacy organization, explains how salmon and our local economy will both flow better by opening up the lower Snake River dams (page xx). Michael Pollan, author of the must-read book, "The Botany of Desire," talks about the meaning of "organic," circa 2003 (see Culture Shift, page xx). And O'Dea, who visited in Seattle in late September, checks in with his thoughts about how service is as much spiritual as practical (see our Inner Life department on page xx). Enjoy the issue. I look forward to starting those conversations. -- Bob Condor |
On Sept. 11 last month, exactly two years
after the most horrible of imaginable days, James O'Dea was talking
about the American flag.