Robin Wood's Renaissance2 organisation held the Great Shift Gathering 2009 to catalyze the Second Renaissance by bringing together the world's expert thinkers and doers at the forefront of evolutionary change (such as legends Barbara Marx Hubbard, Ervin Laszlo, Don Beck, Andrew Cohen, Marilyn Schlitz, and Neale Donald Walsch). The gathering of seventy people took place over eight days at the beautiful Chateau La Tour Apollinaire in Perpignan, France. Skilfully facilitated by a team from AIESEC, the mix of seminars, open space workgroups, and integral life practices addressed two themes critical for humanity at this time:

• Designing a Resilient Civilization - the tools, technologies and techniques needed to shift from global emergency to the emergence of a fully sustainable globe.
• Conscious Evolution - the use of our creative power to guide our own lives and the evolution of the systems and the communities in which we live and work.

One of the aims of the gathering was to nurture concrete action in the form of real-world projects the exist or arise from participating group. The final three days were therefore dedicated to birthing the Worldshift Alliance, a new network of organisations to scan for, map, connect, and communicate what’s working in the world to mobilise for action now. The critical role of the Alliance is to catalyse social innovation in time to meet the challenges of the moment and co-create a thriving global civilization.

In between the express roller coaster of mind expanding and hugely exciting work, we were treated to the first performance of Heartgasm - a jazz duo which formed especially for the occasion.

I both participated as a representative of WorldShift 2012, and assisted with technical production. I'm especially grateful to Robin & Elena Wood, Graham Boyd, Matthias Lehmann, Andre Soldwedel, Dee Dwyer, and the Apollinaire staff for hosting this amazing event... big evolutionary love to everyone who participated.