jean houston

Writing this from work, so I'll have to add links later. For some reason, the Mac at the office won't allow me to create links.
Last night I went to a free lecture by Jean Houston at the Westside Y. I've heard so much about her over the years, but never had the opportunity, and to be honest, her workshops are bloody unaffordable for me.
She is a larger than life personality. Very dramatic. Exciting and enticing. Her talk was about Social Artistry which is a spiritual/mythic approach to addressing the multudinous wounds of the world.
What I love about a lecture like this, is that it appeals to a higher mind, intellectually. This isn't a Dummie's Guide to anything. Although Houston admitted to having studied The Dummies Guide to Magic recently while recovering from pneumonia in bed for seven weeks. And that's a testament to her energy force, I suppose. I am left wondering why anyone recovering from pneumonia would take up a new hobby, but at the same time, totally understand that some people are truly driven. Houston referred to this sense of urgency, as having the hounds of heaven at one's heels.
It's thrilling to be in a not-too large room, with a human being who is so profound and passionate. Admittedly, despite the fact that this woman's life work is in helping others be of service to humanity, and is herself, her speech is loaded with references to her many accomplishments. So she seemingly has a huge ego to match her personality. But she is a story teller who keeps you rapt, whether she is telling her own, or that of indigenous cultures.
One of the things she told us was that she made a decision a long time ago to offer her services free 6 to 9 times for every honorarium she receives. This allows her to work in ghettos, and I imagine to give free lectures like this one.
It's a bit shocking that the room and the attendance was so small. This is a woman who worked with Margaret Meade for many years, and is a contemporary of Joseph Campbell (she mentioned others, who I'm not as familiar with).
Apparently Hillary Clinton adores her. And Berstein of Woodward and Bernstein fame is after her - which she's not happy about because she likes to stay under the radar in a way that allows her to do the work she does without anyone getting too upset about it.
She was in town working with youth at the UN, striving for new paradigms of communication and conflict resolution. And she told a touching story of an Israeli and Hamas girl who were able to connect and communicate with one another through belly dance where they could not in words. A story that harkened back to one she told earlier in the evening of an indigenous African? tribe which she was sent to study by Meade, that had no history of violence or conflict. It was not that they were without problems, but when a problem arose, it was resolved in dance, by the entire community. They danced the problem. They danced the solution.