Starting your own wisdom 'ohana
WisingUP:
Hawaii Lions features at fundraiser
Hawaii: Capital of the 21st Century
Helping create a wiser world through timely ideas, products and services
How WFI Came to Be
by Reynold Feldman and M Jan Rumi
Co-founders of Wisdom Factors International
WFI came about through an act of kindness. It so happened that one
of us had just lost half his consulting business in the space of several
weeks. In response, he sent emails to friends in Hawaii over the
title “Looking for New Dance Partners.” As a result, the two of us
ended up the next Sunday afternoon for a three-hour talk-a-thon at
Starbuck’s. Out of that meeting evolved the idea to write a book
together on wisdom. The youth version of that book, WisingUP, now
exists in Chinese and English and, as of this writing (October 2005), is
being translated into Arabic, Indonesian, Russian, and Spanish.
Another outcome of our initial get-together was something that came to
be called the “Community Collaboration Circle (CCC).” As few as
fifteen and as many as 35 of us got together periodically on Saturday
mornings at a friend’s mansion on Pu'uikena Ridge in the Aina Haina
district of Honolulu. There, after an opening ritual, we
introduced ourselves and shared briefly about an exciting current
project. A small number of people then spread out around the
house, and the rest had the opportunity to visit them for half-hour
periods to ask questions and make suggestions about their project.
There was of course a potluck food break, and we always closed with
another ritual.
A third piece that grew out the CCC was the Mana Group — five of us who met regularly to share wisdom and develop collective and individual projects. Mana is the Hawaiian (and Polynesian) word for something like the Great Life Force, the Holy Spirit, Prana, etc. The idea, to say it in Pidgin English, was that we would be “more better together.”
There were other components too. One of us conducted a series of
international youth conferences plus several wisdom gatherings in the
United States and Canada. In all cases, the focus was on
participants sharing their wisdom on particular topics. In January
2003 we had an op-ed piece on “Hawaii—Capital of the 21st Century”
published in the Honolulu Advertiser. The point was that Hawaii,
perhaps uniquely in the world, demonstrated that people of different
races, ethnic groups, and religions could live and work together
harmoniously. Therefore the state should teach this all-important
ability to the world. (You can read excerpts on this website.)
Finally, in August 2003, the two of us helped shepherd the Hawaii
delegation to the World Congress of Youth in Morocco.
All these streams led to our incorporating Wisdom Factors International as a Hawaii nonprofit corporation in 2003. It received U.S. tax-exempt status in July 2004, developed an active eleven-member board of directors in late 2004, and established an interactive web presence in fall 2005.
Our goal is no more and no less than to mobilize and enhance the world’s wisdom. With your active participation, we can help humankind and Planet Earth survive and thrive into the 22nd Century and beyond. Come join us! Our collective wisdom has the power to change and heal the world.
Aloha,
Reynold Feldman and M Jan Rumi
Co-Founders, WFI
October 2005
Seated (left-to-right): Reynold Feldman, M Jan Rumi, Randolph Sykes and Richard Hogeboom