Women RISE

Cultivating "Emergence" as a response to the emergency of our time.

March 31, 2023 Gloria Cooper, Educator Architect Season 1 Episode 5
Women RISE
Cultivating "Emergence" as a response to the emergency of our time.
Show Notes Transcript

Gloria Cooper is a veteran public school teacher who has dedicated her life to empowering youth. She and her husband started New Age Academy, a private school in Berkeley in 1981, to help at-risk middle school children by providing emotional and physical nourishment. After running the school for 25 years, Gloria designed the Sophia project in 2007 to provide education and support to children who have experienced trauma, neglect, and abuse. The project aims to create a safe and nurturing environment for these children to help them heal and develop skills to thrive in their lives. Additionally, the project advocates for a society that values and supports all children, irrespective of their background or circumstances, to create a world that is emotionally and spiritually balanced.

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Claire: I'm delighted to introduce our guest today, Gloria Cooper. Gloria was a public school teacher. She has a passion for empowering young people and together with her husband, she founded New Age Academy, a private school in Berkeley in 1981, which aimed at providing emotional and physical support to at-risk middle school children.

With over 25 years of experience running the school, Gloria's dedication to the wellbeing of children led her then to envision and design the Sophia Project in 2007, which is what you're here to tell us about Gloria, and I understand that you're still working on this project

Gloria: yeah, well, , what led to this for me was what I learned from the kids at New Age Academy, they did give me a directive, Gloria, you need to talk to the grownups. And I [00:01:00] agreed. And part of that grownup was me because I needed to learn. And, and also, embrace what I was learning and actually do more and more research with the community or to find out what we could actually do.

And so one of the things that is, , right now we are in a process of an emergency. But an emergency goes two ways. Emergency is the opportunity to emerge. That which is already in the field. And so we need to acknowledge what we're emerging from so that we know what we are merging into, so to speak. 

And so, one of the things that we know right now that, we are facing, all kinds of suicides for the youth, I was concerned about, but we're also facing biocide. The earth is also facing that aspect of the reality we're living in. And so we need to emerge from that with wisdom, not with the, talents or the energy of corporate media. And corporate media has a tendency to want to take control over something that's really, our mind. 

How do we direct our mind toward that which is emerging? And the mind as you remember, is the intangible frequencies of our thoughts and behaviors out in the world. And it detects that which we think is important to us and which we should and do use in order to go forward into the future.

And so in order to do that, we need to understand those frequencies and to [00:03:00] understand the frequencies we need to have, which we understand and communicate. And that language is both an internal language, it affects our organs our everything that we know about our system, our biological system, but it also affects our, our actions in the external world.

How do we proceed with this information that's on our radar system? And that's education. And if we don't have a technician or someone to actually, not only to detect it, but also to interpret it. How, what does this mean? You know, how, what is the way to go forward? 

And so part of that is understanding what is important to us. . And so we need through education to, and education to remember means to bring out that which is already inside of us. How do we use that information to actually have a meaningful life, right? And so, what I learned from New Age students is that they didn't feel like they were having a meaningful life.

And as I told you earlier, before that one of the reasons we started the school is because the students were committing not just physical suicide but emotional suicide, intellectual suicide, and even in their friendship with their parents or in their immediate friendship. And so something was wrong.

There was a disconnect. The information was there, but it wasn't being, amplified into their physical system that they were inspired to live. 

Claire: Right. And so let me just, recap what you just said here because it's important to understand how these 25 years that you spent as a teacher and leader in that private school with your husband, provided the experience and the learning collective to envision and design this Sophia project. Right? 

And the Sophia project seems to be a program that trains children to heal and thrive, through transmitting, cultivating meaningful relationships with themselves, with their environment, with the natural. World. It's something that brings a lot of different approaches and systems together as a practical response to the crisis that we're in. Is that accurate?

Gloria: Yeah. One of the things I do need to add that it wasn't just me. I, I had a lot of help. I had at least 11 teachers. Who were also in this particular, it wasn't just me project, because I knew I had holes, you know? I didn't know. So yeah, one of the holes was physical. And so, we had a Tai Chi teacher, we had a kung fu teacher, we had a meditation teacher, we had, we had teachers to actually have them ground themselves.

. It wasn't just me because I didn't have all of those skills, you know. 

Claire:, Of course. But you actually brought it together. 

Gloria: Well, I was part of the collective, I'll put it that way.

Right. I wasn't necessarily, I don't think of myself as leader. I think of myself as a person who was able to see, oh, where are the holes here? And then to actually bring that in. Yes. So that it can be integrated into…

Claire: You were a weaver more specifically. And, so this is beautiful because it really speaks to a particular skill of leadership which is emerging in this type of initiatives, which is about “leading with” and “weaving together”, right? So that's what you're describing beautifully. 

Gloria: Yes. So, one of the, as I said before, not being in their bodies was prevalent at that particular time. They were really outside in the technical world of television games, et cetera, et cetera. They were in, they were in that…

Claire: We're talking about the eighties and the nineties here. 

Gloria: That's right. Definitely. And it's kind of worse right now because we not only did, well, for example, I felt a little guilty because we wrote the first schools to require computers, but I would program the computers with the programs that I wanted them to have access, and they didn't have at that in the beginning.

They didn't have those personal computers in their home. It became, it was. by the time it was the nineties. And I had to, and they would come in with their little, you know, little individual computers and I would have them park it in the front of the school. And I didn't wanna see them until, they got them after school.

And if they brought their little personal computers out, then I would you remind them that this is not what we're doing, we're doing this kind of thing right now. They didn't like it. It's because they came used to having that little device in order to check everything, to do everything, to understand everything.

So much so, and I'm just, I'm going off a little bit that, by the nineties, late nineties kids were having their mathematical skills at decline because they were using their, little devices to multiply, you know, all the things that they, the process is longer and harder, but they didn't have that.

So that process was missing. So anyway, also the process of understanding each other, they were not interested or it took time to process their conflict. And so, one of the first things that we had to do at the school was to, okay, how do we resolve the conflict? They had no idea how to resolve it.

It's just like you had a conflict, you find it out and whoever's the stronger, that's it. You know? And that is obviously not true, and it's actually kind of the culture that we're living in right now with all the wars. So, it's a negative rather than a positive. And that's, you know, the culture has to change.

Claire: Mm-hmm. You were doing this in the eighties, so you were at the leading edge of these approaches in school, bringing all these different approaches, emotional intelligence, intelligence of the body… What inspired you to create something like that? . 

Gloria: Okay. So part of my upbringing was very inclusive. It was both artistic through, dance, through piano, through music, through making sure that I had all of the skills I needed in order to communicate with other people.

So, dance, as I said before, was an integral part. Piano was my first love cuz I started that when I was four years old and it also became my first teaching tool. I started teaching when I was 14 to the neighborhood kids piano and basically cuz somebody came into my house and started banging on my piano and I went crazy.

I said, no, you can't do that. And explaining that, if you wanna learn, I'll teach you, but don't come in and bang on my piano. And that's how I had eight students by the time I went to high school, you know, and I didn't think of myself as a teacher. I just felt as a way of sharing that, which I loved, you know, with others. And also my first love in genres,, was, of course classical, you know, I, fell in love with the beauty of Rachmaninoff, for example. 

I mean, so I wanted to share with the kids and I did at the school, so when we, would go to concerts in Berkeley, and going to dances and going to operas, et cetera, to just broaden, their knowledge of how to do society, not just through, you know, video games and all the other things that were going on at the time.

They loved it. You know, because if you're introduced to something that's beautiful, of course it, it inspires you. Sorry, this went off a little bit. 

Claire: No, that's beautiful because you were given a gift from a young age, and you were privileged to be brought up in that way, right? To be given all this exposure to awaken all of your different intelligences, and it was your way of giving back in a way. 

Gloria: Yeah. And that was really important because one of the things I used to say with the kids , the students at the school that once you get it, your obligation is to share it. And I have to say that they have, all over the world, and I'm very very…

Claire: So tell me something … I suspect that when you said that once you get it, you're not just talking about the, you know, the exposure to certain music , or to certain plays … There's something, what, what is that it that they get?

Gloria: Well, one of, one of the things I recognize is that when you are indoctrinated into a particular system, you stay in that system until something inspires you to do something more. To get out of that and to try and have, have the, courage to explore something.and , you have to go outside of your comfort zone and you have to go into the place of the unknown. And that's scary for some people. They prefer sometimes to to stay with their comfort zone that they think is [00:14:00] all there is. And once they realize there's something else, they have to have the courage to go outside of that zone and find something else. And usually, Wow, what is this? This inspires more exploration and that's actually, I loved seeing that moment in students. I had one who, who was just such a, he was fighting all the time, just doing this. He's doing that. And we would always come in circles and resolve issues because I tried to tell them - not tried to tell them, I told them that the way to resolve something was collectively listen to what everyone had to say, understand what they're trying to say, and then see how it can be part of the collective rather than, this is my idea, that's your idea, and so on. 

And so anyway, this young man was just wreaking havoc and we were in, you know, circle and so on and so forth. And then finally something clicked in him and he got it. And we knew he got it because the whole, energy in the circle changed. It was like, and when we all got it, he was crying. We were crying. It was like, I can't describe that. For me, as, as an educator, I called those moments.

And with that moment, promise was pinky finger promise that once they got it, their job was to share it with others. 

Claire: Mmmm.Yeah. I noticed that you, again refer to the collective intelligence, the emotional field of that  community , in your example.

And my sense is that as a leader, you are able to operate from that field and these times, as you mentioned earlier of emergency where we need to respond with emergence seems to be an emerging leadership skill which we need to develop. And, I'm curious to know how, you used this skill, with the other teachers when you were in the school? How are you operating, as a collective? What were the, the practices or, or the habits that you cultivated in order to make sure that this was online? 

Gloria: Well, first thing I had to have them know that I was only part of a solution, and that they were also an integral part of a solution and, and more often, parts that I didn't understand that I wasn't an expert in that whatever.

And so, we were a collective doing one particular thing, having sharing a particular process together. That was really, we were all part of that together. And, and when one succeeded, we all succeeded. You know, it wasn't like one did this and I did this, and it came together in what we called at the end of the year, Um, we had a …This goes into something else, but anyway, we had an end of the year performance. So in the beginning of the year, I would ask the kids, and I learned this from my second year in public school where I was given a special class where kids had an IQ over 130. And so, the principal said, just do what you want with them, they don't need to learn how to read or write or anything, just see what you can do with him. Um, so I prepared all summer for this group and, um, the first day of school, two little boys came up to me and said, miss Harden, miss Harden. I wasn't married at the time, who's right? So-and-so says the moon is X miles away. And I say, it's X miles away. 

And I looked at them and I realized that all my preparation went out of the window. And I said to them, I don't know, but I'll teach you how to find out. And so, then I asked the other kids who else is curious about something? and they had all kinds of, you know, I'm curious about this or that, or, you know, and so we divided ourselves up into a circle to those who were interested in those particular components.

And I thought, okay, this will last maybe a week. It lasted all year. They were the curriculum and I learned I was a learner. We learned, you know, sometimes we had bugs in the classroom, you know, praying manta I mean, all sorts of things that I was not comfortable with, but they were loving it.

So at the beginning of the year, they would separate into what they wanted to do research in, and at the end of the year, they had to come as a collective and presented to the community. And that was the end of the year performance.

And it lasted all year. So their research was all part of that. And then they had to come together in dance and music . And they were always inspirational, the community loved it, I loved it. And it was just amazing. 

So, and so it's amazing. Sorry, I'm using the word a lot. What we can learn when we let go and allow the flow of the collective come together to create something that is bigger than the sum of the parts. And so what was emerging out of them also emerged out of the community and it was more than we ever expected. 

Claire: And Gloria, so, you're bringing all this together, you're actually creating a system which is the culmination of these 25 years of experience of learning in community. You're transmitting this information into a holistic program which you called the Sophia project, which is a series of blueprints. Tell me more About these blueprints prints please. 

Gloria: That's right. . So, most of our thinking that we do is linear. And so the blueprints are non-linear. And in doing that, we can see, rather than just looking at this part, that part, this part and that part. And then we, using our collective wisdom, using our personal wisdom, can bring it together so we can emerge more knowledgeable, with more information, more available to the changes, that are happening that we are a part of as well.

And so, I do have to say one little extra thing. The last year of the 25th year, when I came back, I came back in the middle of the year. I had a stroke before that and I was away. But anyway, we had the end of the year performance and, and uh, and that's one to have into the year performance, but the collective wasn't happening cuz of one.

And so we, this is the day before the performance supposed to happen. And so, we sat in circle that day and we tried to resolve it in circle that day and it didn't happen. And so we came back into circle the next day, the day that we should have been, you know, last finishing touches on the performance.

And we started, and then I realized that the power of this one student was, he was powerful, but at the same, and just realizing he taught me a lot. He didn't want to, you know, it wasn't being resolved. So, I said to the kids, okay, I got it. I'm gonna sit over here and start a new circle, and those of you who would like to join me in this new circle based on what we talked can join. So all of the kids, except for that one student did not join. And I realized that was his power over the collective. And that that power was not for something bigger than all of us. It was for its own personal ego. And so, when he was the only one left, I said to, almost said his name, but I said to him, uh, I'm sorry, I have to let you go.

And unfortunately, or fortunately, I expelled him because he was misusing his power. And when I talked to his parents about it, they said, we understand. And he was the only one that I actually expelled from the school. And I felt guilty, but at the same time, I learned a lot because there are people out there who misuse their power to tap control over others for their own ego, their own personal gain.

So, I didn't mean to stop on that particular note, but we can use that power for good or not good. We merge when we see ourselves using that benefits the whole, and we go in a downhill spiral when in fact we don't do that, which is what I feel we're doing right now today.

Claire: You empowered the children reclaim their natural power.

Gloria: That's true. Exactly. 

Claire: Their gifts. Which is what power is. It's a gift. 

Gloria:. It is. And to know the difference between when we're in empowering someone or taking their power away. Right? And part of the Sophia project is giving them tools back. Giving them the inner tools cuz we all know it, but we get distracted and think that something's wrong with me because I don't feel this way. Or we get indoctrinated into a system that's not natural but unnatural, you know, it's an artificial kind of intelligence.

Claire: So how do you envision the Sophia project to impact the world of education today? If you had a magic one, what would you do with it?

Gloria: Well, one would be that people begin to love themselves and trust their inner intuition. Cause we all know what we need to do. We just have to have the courage, the courage to do it, but when we're distracted, we feel that's something we, we doubt ourselves. We think that something's wrong with us. And doubt is a hangup you know, there are beings that use that doubt to get into it and have other programs artificially take over.

So I would love to see people begin to empower themselves, particularly women, because women have been targeted in many, many ways. And, I wish women would say, you know what? I have the power of life in me. The power of love in me,  and I am going to use it for the good, for creating new life.

Claire: That's so key, Gloria, to this new paradigm of leadership that I see is rising in women. Women who actually have roles as leaders in organizations who are slowly allowing themselves to let this power of life of love speak to them, and they're slowly allowing themselves to speak through it, to actually allow that to inform their leadership.

It's still shy. It's not supported as much as I'm hoping it will in the future, but it's starting to happen. And as you know, I've started these dialogues to actually celebrate the fact that it is rising, and to encourage these courageous women who are taking your lead, taking your inspiration. So; this is a message to let them know that they're on the right tracks. That they should not be afraid of the little light inside that is …

Gloria: guiding them. That's right. And to be determined. To be determined. That's a word. That I, I hear the word “Let's hope this”… No. Let's be determined that this happens. That this light will shine, you know, and will be and is shining right now. Just look for it inside ourselves first, as well as in others because it's happening. Beacons of light everywhere. Yeah. 

Claire: The flame is so alive in you. The flame of life, the flame of love is so alive, and this does not have any age. It only grows better and bigger and brighter, and you are a leading proof of it.

Gloria: Thank you. I'm grateful to all the love and I've received my life, and that my job is to share it and to have people.

That's who they really are. That other stuff. No, it's artificial and no, there's no substitute for love. It is. Thank you, Claire. 

Claire: Thank you, Gloria. Such a pleasure. Thank you. My best wishes for the Sophia project that you complete it, and, that it, can be shared in schools and in all the ways that it can be inspiring to many children.

Gloria: Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate.Thank you.