My Invitation to You

The youths pictured in this guidebook have each accessed an experience of personal calling, personal meaning, that has motivated and guided them into action in the world in service of others. Of course, in the act of serving others, these youths have also entered the adult society, created meaning for themselves, developed and enhanced their capabilities, and promoted their own unfoldment as persons.

For each of these youths, their service has no doubt been the best education possible.

Every human being has the potential to find a calling, a purpose, and to contribute to the betterment of all.

For some, this may sound like a radical assertion. Are there not special individuals who have qualities and capacities that are not present in the rest of us? This is an assertion that many cultures assert for the purpose of social control. What would happen if all humans discovered and enacted their own callings? Would it not be of great value to us all to find out?

You can invite youths to explore their own potential experience of calling by engaging them in invitational experiences of imagination. The remainder of this guidebook will equip you with the initial skills for conducting these experiences.

In 2011, at age 16, Boyan came across more plastic than fish while diving in Greece. He decided to devote a high school project for deeper investigation into ocean plastic pollution and why it was considered impossible to clean up. He later came up with the idea to build a passive system, using the circulating ocean currents to his advantage, which he presented at a TEDx talk in Delft in 2012. Boyan has raised millions of dollars to support this project, and in 2018 his first Ocean Cleanup structure was tested in the Pacific Ocean. The first effort, System 001, demonstrated that several key elements of its design worked as planned. There were also no environmental impact issues observed from the placement of the structure. However, while System 001 gathered plastic, it was not able to retain it as effectively as required. Boyan and his team are now studying the data from this first experiment and modifying the System to enhance its capacity to function effectively. Once the modifications are completed, they will re-launch System 001 in the Pacific.

awareness of global warming. Alarmed by heat waves and wildfires in her country, Thunberg, then in ninth grade, decided to not attend school from August 20, 2018 until the Swedish general election on September 9. Every day during school hours, she protested by sitting outside the Riksdag with the sign Skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for the climate). Her demand was that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions as per the Paris Agreement. After the general election, she continued to strike every Friday. Greta gained worldwide attention and inspired students across the globe to take part in similar strikes. Millions of students have now joined her in school strikes in dozens of nations. In December 2018 Greta addressed the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Greta Thunberg’s voice is clear, focused, and powerful.