Tenth Agreement — July
10th Agreement: To Forge an Evolutionarily Enlightened Sisterhood
Despite superficial differences, I recognize that my sisters are my self. Only together can we each individually find the fearlessness, freedom, strength, and purpose to change the momentum of culture and history. We are bonded in a profound allegiance to a goal of transformation in which I can trust and be trusted to create an intersubjective transparency as the foundation of a world in which women and men are liberated from our habitual cultural roles, and through this, create a foundation for a truly new culture.
You can download the audio from this month’s presentation here:
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Q&A session with Andrew (60min):
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Q&A session(1 hour 40 min):
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Goal of the Advanced Training Program Women’s Stream
The goal of the Advanced Training Program Women’s Stream is to forge and develop a new culture between women as it emerges through our living the spiritual truths of Evolutionary Enlightenment. This new culture of women emerges when we embody a radically different orientation to life: different values, a different perspective on self and other, and a different Life motivation. This new culture between women is foundational to a truly new culture between men and women.
MAIN POINTS
How can women co-create a new culture through forging an Evolutionarily Enlightened Sisterhood?
The 10th Agreement is a culmination of the previous nine Agreements, and is what they lay the foundation for. It is the goal of this course, and is the basis of a future where women and men are co-creators of culture.
By embodying the first nine Agreements, a new sisterhood begins to emerge between women, based on these new values that we share. As we begin to shift our identity to the deepest ground of our own being, and know ourselves to be the process of evolution itself in human form, as we take responsibility for our collective history and begin to cultivate ourselves in ways that take us beyond what women have historically been, and as we do this through cultivating our own integrity in relationship to these deeper truths we acknowledge, a new sisterhood begins to emerge.
This new sisterhood is an enlightened sisterhood, based on new values and motives, and arises between women when each individual woman deeply internalizes her own wholeness to such a degree that she doesn’t need external affirmation from men (or women) to know it is real. When individual women come together in this way, deeply committed to embodying the Agreements so self and culture can evolve, this gives rise to an emergent field of trust and unity. This new enlightened sisterhood of trust and unity between women, based on our individual sense of wholeness and fullness, then makes new relationships possible between women and men, creating the fabric of a new culture.
What is an Evolutionarily Enlightened Sisterhood?
An evolutionarily enlightened sisterhood is founded on a shift of our identity from that of a separate being to identifying as the process of evolution, and on the recognition that fundamentally we are One; we share the same depth of the timeless ground, and we share within us the evolution of the human race as women. Because of this understanding, we choose to take responsibility for and embody all the previous Agreements and thus give rise to a new sisterhood. In this sisterhood we recognize that we are made up of the same “stuff,” and renounce the need to be the special One that outshines all others. We have each other’s backs always, and truly want our sisters to shine in order for Woman to shine; we see the success of each sister as the success of Woman. We want always to see the best of each other, to hold and be held to our highest realization, and to express all of this in an ongoing developmental framework. By doing so, a trust and transparency is present between us that – while not being the source of our fundamental strength and confidence – nonetheless supports it and serves to deepen it for each of us.
An Evolutionarily Enlightened Sisterhood is the means by which the awesome task of liberating ourselves from our habitual cultural structures, and thereby transcending our collective history, can occur.
MATERIALS
1. OVERVIEW OF THE 10 AGREEEMENTS
This two-page document gives an overview of the Advanced Training Program’s Women’s Stream, together with a summary of the goal of the course. It includes the complete list of all 10 Agreements, presented both from the perspective of how they build on each other in groupings, and also individually presented with the full text of each Agreement.
This document is presented in this agreement because the 10th Agreement can be thought of as the culmination of the previous nine agreements, and can only happen as a result of a shift of motivation and identification. Because of this, it’s important while contemplating this Agreement to refer back to and integrate all the Agreements of this course. The Agreements can be looked as ten specific pieces, or they can be seen collectively as one stance — the stance of a new Evolutionarily Enlightened woman — and the fabric of our new shared culture which we are endeavoring to create and stabilize. Click To Download the PDF
2. EXCERPT: “THE INTERNAL UNIVERSE” by Steve McIntosh (interview by Carter Phipps for his book, Evolutionaries)
This short piece by integral philosopher Steve McIntosh explains in straightforward terms how the development of culture actually occurs, and the importance of shared agreements in that process. He describes the relationships that exist between people as an “entity” in itself, which is key to creating culture and which helps illustrate the importance of a sisterhood. Click To Download the PDF
3. AUDIO: WOMEN’S VIRTUAL SEMINAR, “SEX, POWER, & LEADERSHIP FOR WOMEN”, 2012
This 10 minute audio is taken from the recent “Sex, Power, and Leadership” virtual seminar with Andrew and Elizabeth in May 2012. In it, Andrew explains why women’s liberation “will be based in and will come from having established and co-created a firm foundation of deep unconditional trust in each other.” He goes on to outline the effects this will have; holding each other to our highest, having each other’s backs, coming together beyond competition, and our ability to transcend our collective history. Click here to listen
4. PDF Excerpt of Andrew Cohen: Changing Culture from the Inside Out (March 27, 2011)
This excerpt explains how and why it’s essential for women to come together with each other in order to experience total fulfillment and liberated autonomy, and how this changes the playing field between men and women so true equality becomes possible. Click To Download the PDF
5. AUDIO: “THE HEROES JOURNEY”, WOMEN’S VIRTUAL SEMINAR, 2009
In this 20 minute audio, which was taken from the 2009 Women’s Virtual Seminar, “The Heroes Journey,” Andrew discusses some of the qualities that emerge when women come together in an Evolutionarily Enlightened Sisterhood. Click here to listen
6. ARTICLE: “THE FIRE OF FREEDOM” by Elizabeth Debold
This article by Elizabeth Debold was written for the EnlightenNext magazine issue entitled “Woman: A Cultural, Philosophical, and Spiritual Exploration,” in 2007. In it, she gives a broad overview of the history of women’s “spiritual uprisings and their impact on culture”. She illuminates key moments and movements where women fought for and created deep changes in culture, but were unable to stay “out there” beyond their cultural roles and values. She explains historically why something new is needed for women to “go beyond and stay beyond” our conditioning that keeps us both dependent on men and in competition with women, to truly be co-creators of the future. Click to download the PDF
7. EXCERPT: “I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE DID THAT!” by Nan Mooney
Author Nan Mooney exposes through her personal experiences a compelling and stark look at competition among women in the workplace in her 2005 book, “I Can’t Believe She Did That!: Why Women Betray Other Women at Work”. It illustrates how even in today’s world with all of our advances, we still find ourselves acting out of age-old survival habits of competition and betrayal, especially in times of great personal insecurity (for example as a young woman new to the work place, as described in this piece). Many of the stories in this piece point to a lack of support, respect and trust which are still very real obstacles for women. Click to download PDF
8. VIDEO: ELIZABETH DEBOLD AND DALMA HEYN, “Women Surfing the Edge of Change” in Boston, 2010
This video excerpt is from a presentation given by Elizabeth Debold and Dalma Heyn in Boston, in 2011. Pay particular attention to the second half, when they speak about the fact that women have come together in extraordinary ways throughout history for survival needs, and how much of a step it would be to come together to create something new. Click to watch video.
9. BONUS CALL from 10 Agreements spring 2011 course
This excerpt is from the Bonus Call of the ten-week 10 Agreements course in the spring of 2011. This excerpt captures Ros Bennett and Ellen Daly (senior students of Evolutionary Enlightenment) speaking about the 10th Agreement from their own experience of an Evolutionarily Enlightened Sisterhood. Click to listen
10. EXCERPT: ANDREW COHEN ON CULTURAL EVOLUTION, Evolutionary Enlightenment, Chapter 17, “The Higher We”
In this excerpt, Andrew Cohen describes the “we-space” that is culture. He points out that this “we-space” is usually filled with beliefs and perspectives from our past and current cultural experiences, and has little room for anything new. He continues on to speak about what becomes possible when a group of people come together with the intention of transcending these historical constructs in themselves, thus generating a new momentum in consciousness, as a collective. In this way, culture begins to move. Click To Download the PDF
11. FILMS THAT GIVE A SENSE OF THE QUALITIES & POWER OF SISTERHOOD:
These two movies, while not true Evolutionarily Enlightened Sisterhoods, show that we have examples of what can be accomplished when women come together for a common goal.
- IRON JAWED ANGELS (2hr 4 min)
This is a powerful movie starring Hilary Swank as Alice Paul, who devoted her life to getting women the vote, and later to women’s rights. This movie is about the movement she headed, together with her best friend, and exemplifies how women can come together in a deep and profound unity to accomplish a mission. It is a moving example of how women can have each other’s backs, and how culture can change when women together take a stand. As you watch, pay attention to what it evokes in you, particularly in the relationship between Alice and Lucy (her best friend), and in the scenes in prison. The movie appears on YouTube in 12 parts, under the title “Iron Jawed Angels” or can most likely be rented.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96JifSnHhaY - DARE TO DREAM; the story of the US women’s soccer team (Documentary) (1 hr 18 min)
This documentary tells the story of the rise of the US women’s soccer team, and of women’s soccer in the US. The movie documents the deeply powerful and supportive relationship that the women have with each other, which is clearly the reason for the success of the team. These women supported each other through many situations, and stayed unified through successes and failures, with one common goal. It is an inspiring movie and since it tracks the women’s team over time, it also tracks the deepening relationships between the women. If you can watch only one part, watch part 2 where it shows Mia Hamm’s rise to fame as she becomes the face of women’s soccer. It is clear that both she and the other players value her fame only to the extent that it serves the team. She does not see herself as special or ‘the One’ and they do not turn on her for standing out. For all of them, what’s most important is whatever serves the success of their team.
Part 1 (26min)
Part 2 (36 min)
Part 3(15 min)