Alan Briskin's Page

Bringing Your Soul to Work

EMPLOYEES TODAY are actively searching for more meaning in the workplace, for work that resonates with their being. How d...

The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace

This deeply lyrical book offers perspective for those struggling to hear the quiet voice of the soul over the din of the ...

  • A Prayer for Tuesday

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    A Prayer for Tuesday

    As many of you know, I have been writing about the social and unconscious dynamics behind the U.S. Presidential election of 2016.  This final post before the election is more of a meditation and prayer. Please read and forward to as many people that might benefit from reading it.  Read my late...

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    April 19, 2017

  • Hitler Speaks From Grave – Wants to Get Back Into the Game

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Hitler Speaks From Grave – Wants to Get Back Into the Game

    (Also published in the Huffington Post)  Are these times too absurd to address issues rationally? Are we in times so serious and fragile that it is inappropriate to make light of them? Is resistance to threat our only choice, or can this be a time to renew principles and practices that remind u...

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    April 19, 2017

  • Angle of Descent, Part IV — How the Collective Unconscious Strikes Back Through Individuals

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Angle of Descent, Part IV — How the Collective Unconscious Strikes Back Through Individuals

    (This post was also published on The Huffington Post) Introduction / Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four In Parts I through III, I summarized how our educational system was designed to advance less than a third of our population toward a bachelor’s degree and that the economic conseq...

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    September 30, 2016

  • Angle of Descent: Demagogues and the Collective Situation

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Angle of Descent: Demagogues and the Collective Situation

    (This post was also published on The Huffington Post) Introduction / Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four Mathematician and visionary Arthur M. Young introduced his book The Geometry of Meaning with the enigmatic words “All meaning is an angle.” Does meaning emerge from the tension of ...

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    September 9, 2016

  • Angle of Descent: Demagogues and the Collective Situation, Part I — The Swiftly Flowing Current

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Angle of Descent: Demagogues and the Collective Situation, Part I — The Swiftly Flowing Current

    (This post was also published on The Huffington Post) Introduction / Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four If a man going down into a river, swollen and swiftly flowing, is carried away by the current, how can he help others across? — Buddha Racism, nativism, xenophobia — and Donald Tru...

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    September 9, 2016

  • Angle of Descent, Part II — Seeds of Despair

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Angle of Descent, Part II — Seeds of Despair

    (This post was also published on The Huffington Post) Introduction / Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four From Part I: Somehow we have arrived at a moment in time when the entrance of a perceived tough and cunning figure with no need to talk in full sentences has become the advent of a...

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    September 9, 2016

  • Angle of Descent, Part III — The Tragic Fruits of Despair

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Angle of Descent, Part III — The Tragic Fruits of Despair

    This post was also published on The Huffington Post) Introduction / Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four From Part II: Prosperity was not disappearing from the American landscape, but simply shifting. In roughly the same 30-year period when growth in workers’ wages was slowing down to a...

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    September 9, 2016

  • FINAL REMINDER

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    FINAL REMINDER

    Leading as Sacred Practice: A Retreat & Conference September 5-9, 2016 http://facilitation.kommunikationslotsen.de/training/leading-as-sacred-practice/ Please join me and my colleagues, David Sibbet, Gisela Wendling, and Holger Scholz for an extraordinary five days of learning, reflection, ...

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    July 27, 2016

  • The Big Idea Behind Integrative Medicine

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    The Big Idea Behind Integrative Medicine

    My new Huffington Post piece explores the emerging field of integrative medicine.  I have been involved in the medical field as far back as 1972 when I did an internship at the Berkeley Free Clinic. It’s where I first began to understand how optimal health is a joining together of the individu...

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    July 27, 2016

  • Leading as Sacred Practice: A Retreat & Conference

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Leading as Sacred Practice: A Retreat & Conference

    September 5-9, 2016 Registration and Brochure Please join me and my colleagues, David Sibbet, Gisela Wendling, and Holger Scholz for an extraordinary five days of learning, reflection, and collective discovery.  During our time together we will investigate how ritual, ceremony, and the natural...

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    July 11, 2016

  • Taoist Parable: A Tale of Synchronicity

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Taoist Parable: A Tale of Synchronicity

    The background to this new Huffington Post was a chance encounter between Carl Jung and the theologian and Chinese scholar, Richard Wilhelm.  Jung had been  struggling with early formulations of a collective unconscious when Wilhelm sent him the Taoist text, The Secret of the Golden Flower.  T...

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    May 20, 2016

  • SPRINGTIME FOR AUTHORITARIANS

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    SPRINGTIME FOR AUTHORITARIANS

    In this new post, I write about a meeting with one of my first mentors, whose study of authoritarianism awakened my interest in the subtle interplay between personality and social system.  With a nod to Mel Brooks, a salute to Daniel Goleman, and a bow to Maya Angelou, I explore a new generati...

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    May 4, 2016

  • Update – Springtime for Authoritarians

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Update – Springtime for Authoritarians

    Dear Colleagues, I’ve gotten wonderful feedback on my latest Huffington post, Springtime for Authoritarians, and wanted to share it again for those who have not seen it. Also, I’ve been in contact with Jonathan Weiler, who is mentioned in the post, and he sent me a wonderful interview he did on...

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    May 4, 2016

  • Snow Monkeys of Nagano

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Snow Monkeys of Nagano

    Does spirit exist in all forms of life?  Is there a divine spark within us if we look closely enough? Some scholars speculate spiritual intelligence requires an intellectual capacity to contemplate the Cosmos.  So it is not surprising humans speculate that only other humans can have spiritu...

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    April 12, 2016

  • NEW HUFF POST: The Middle Finger Party

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    NEW HUFF POST: The Middle Finger Party

    For those interested in applying mindfulness and emotional intelligence to larger social forces, read my latest Huffington Post article. The political fanning of flames, the surging up of anger, and the demonization of the other are all signals, at the collective level, of something deeply unse...

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    April 12, 2016

  • Please Join Me in Germany for Leading as Sacred Practice Conference

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Please Join Me in Germany for Leading as Sacred Practice Conference

    What is the role of the sacred in your life?  Have the sacred dimensions become marginalized, dismissed, or ignored in the organizational world?  Is the sacred purely a personal matter relevant only to the individual or is it part of our group and collective evolution toward social cohesion an...

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    April 12, 2016

  • Democracy’s Shadow

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Democracy’s Shadow

    One of the core practices of collective wisdom is seeing whole systems. This requires us to step out of our particular bubble and ask essential questions, to diagnose critical relationships within a system, and to work in subtle realms, including what is not immediately apparent. Most signific...

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    January 29, 2016

  • NEW HUFF POST – DEMAGOGUES

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    NEW HUFF POST – DEMAGOGUES

    For the past weeks, I’ve been writing with a growing sense of urgency on the rising levels of fear and divisiveness evidenced in our political process here in the United States and around the world.  It occurred to me that I was witnessing a beauty pageant for demagogues.  What is a demagogue? ...

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    December 13, 2015

  • Bringing Your Soul to Work free e-book

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Bringing Your Soul to Work free e-book

    My publisher, Berrett-Koehler, is featuring my book, Bringing Your Soul to Work, as a free e-book over the next 48 hours. They also offering 40% discount and free shipping on all their publications, including my other books, The Power of Collective Wisdom and The Stirring of Soul in the Workplac...

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    December 4, 2015

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  • The Politics of Intolerance

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    The Politics of Intolerance

    I just published an article on Huffington Post called The Politics of Intolerance. It’s being appreciated by many and … ruffling a few feathers. Have a look!

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    October 7, 2015

  • Bob Dylan: Fate’s Encounter With a Mighty Spirit

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Bob Dylan: Fate’s Encounter With a Mighty Spirit

    During the period I was writing the comparison between Donald Trump and Gorgeous George, I by chance was reading Bob Dylan’s memoir and saw his story about meeting Gorgeous George… It struck me that George was a Trickster figure, evoking different responses depending on the context. For awhile...

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    October 7, 2015

  • Behind the VW Scandal

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Behind the VW Scandal

    Mixing in Leonard Cohen, Fortune Magazine, the Amida confession on Yom Kippur, Pope Francis, Volkswagen, and metaphors involving apples, I cooked up a hearty stew published on Huffington Post that I hope you will enjoy.

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    October 7, 2015

  • Is Donald Trump the Love Child of Gorgeous George?

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Is Donald Trump the Love Child of Gorgeous George?

                  Alan just published his insights on this intriguing question in the Huffington Post… Here’s how the article starts: “I don’t want to start rumors, but Gorgeous George the wrestler was thirty-one years old, and already famous, when Donald Trump was born in the borough of Queens, N...

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    August 20, 2015

  • Fuji Declaration

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Fuji Declaration

    Alan is a co-signer of the Fuji Declaration, an “international alliance of individuals and organizations who are united by a commitment to live and collaborate toward the advancement of a more harmonious and flourishing world”.  He’s off to Japan in a few days to participate in a ceremony, hel...

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    May 11, 2015

  • Ten Steps on the Path of Self Awareness ~ Step Nine: Body Sensing

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Ten Steps on the Path of Self Awareness ~ Step Nine: Body Sensing

    I Heard it Like This… Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax. TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESSThere are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness.  These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano.  We can practice them separately...

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    March 6, 2015

  • Ten Steps on the Path of Self Awareness ~ Step Ten: Engagement

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Ten Steps on the Path of Self Awareness ~ Step Ten: Engagement

    I Heard it Like This… Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax. TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESSThere are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness.  These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano.  We can practice them separately...

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    March 6, 2015

  • Alan Briskin Galleries in Jo Lee Magazine

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Alan Briskin Galleries in Jo Lee Magazine

    The stunning JoLee Magazine is once again featuring Alan’s work – this time a 12-part photographic series called “Spirit and Nature: The Photographic Galleries of Alan Briskin”. The series covers Alan’s wide range of photographic subjects – from “Shadow” and “Reflection” to “Cityscape” and “Hu...

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    March 6, 2015

  • Show Me the Money and I will Show You Shenanigans: From the Personal to the Collective

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Show Me the Money and I will Show You Shenanigans: From the Personal to the Collective

    There are consequences to avoiding our fate, especially at the collective level and especially when we have been given stark warning.  In this case, the warning came from Franklin D. Roosevelt and it is as much about the interior domain of the collective as well how it manifests at the highest...

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    March 6, 2015

  • Hard-Earned Wisdom From Inside San Quentin Prison

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Hard-Earned Wisdom From Inside San Quentin Prison

    Insight-Out is an extraordinary program founded by Jacques Verduin, a man I met briefly in Assisi, Italy as part of a larger global network of innovative initiatives supported by The Fetzer Institute.  Insight-Out is an in-prison rehabilitation program and includes the one year GRIP program – ...

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    March 6, 2015

  • Encounters with Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi

    Alan Briskin posted a blog post

    Encounters with Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi

    Reb Zalman passed over today.  I’ve known he has been slowly slipping away and was preparing himself and others for this day.  Still, my spirit is heavy, and my gratitude overflowing. This is a photograph from a time we had together in Colorado. We were exploring ways to enter states of consci...

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    March 6, 2015

  • David Marshall

    David Marshall commented on Alan Briskin's wall:

    Alan - Thanks for the kind note and for updating your bio page. I hope you will blog about your Devine Spark work and the 2015 gathering in Japan on this site as well.

  • albriskin

    Alan Briskin is now a member of Berrett-Koehler Community

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