Paul Helfrich Speaks at 57th Annual Conference on World Affairs

by Paul Helfrich

I was invited to speak at the Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado, which Jo and I attended. April 2-11, 2005. It was a leap of faith into the unknown - why did they invite me, with my unique interests in Integral Conscious Creation, and the channeling phenomenon? The surprising answers became clear as the week unfolded.

We flew into Denver on Saturday April 2nd and were greeted by Tracy Stientjes, one of many student drivers who shuttled us around and treated us like royalty all week. Leaving the airport with great views of the snow-capped Rockies, Tracy drove us to Boulder to our “housers” - the local folks who volunteer their homes to put up most of the conference speakers. We were greeted by George Oetzel and his wife, Marti, who showed us to our room…. the entire second floor of their home! They would turn out to be amazing hosts who made us feel at home.

That evening, we took the Oetzel’s out for dinner at the 14th Street Grill and talked about the conference. We didn’t realize it was such a big deal. The entire community works year-round in preparation for this springtime event, and it’s a carnival atmosphere. Sunday was a sight-seeing day, as Marti and George took us to see the Chitauqua House, Celestial Seasonings plant, a Tea House for lunch, and NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research).

Sunday evening was an opening reception at President Elizabeth Hoffman’s mansion. We were greeted by University Regent Peter Steinhauer holding a half-filled bottle of beer and sporting a Cheshire cat grin. His wonderful wife, Julianne, a jazz singer, greeted us inside. She welcomed me by name and pointed out to the man behind me that I had a Ph.D. in music. That “man” turned out to be Dave Grusin, an accomplished jazz musician with eleven Oscar nominations for film scoring (over 40 films) and seven Grammy awards, not to mention a local music building named after him. These were the kind of folks we would be rubbing elbows with, and occasionally crossing swords with, all week.

I will never forget how welcomed Jo and I were made to feel in such a short time. Jo and I met four or five panelists and chatted about their backgrounds, if they were new or old-timers, and what attracted them to participate. We got lots of advice by old-timers about the format of the panels. Since it was our first time, we really didn’t know what to expect, though we anticipated the potential debates that lie ahead.

The way the Conference works is interesting. It turns out that if you live in Colorado, you can’t be invited to be a panelist. The idea was to get new ideas and people into Boulder each year to discuss God, life, the universe, and everything. Also, the community is very involved, and even though UC hosted and used its venues for panels, the community had gradually begun to take a larger role in supporting and raising money for the event.

The students are also very involved in the selection process and panel themes. There are nine subcommittees that select panelists, for example, Arts, Boulder High, Gen Y, Global Commerce, International Affairs, Literature/Storytelling & Film, Politics & Media, Qualities of Life, Science and Technology. I was brought in through the Science & Technology group, so I was put six sci-tech panels based upon my science museum background in informal science education.

The basic idea is that each panelist gets about ten minutes to introduce their worldview on the subject. The approaches would vary tremendously, according to background and experience. The panelists then ask each other questions or the moderator just opens it up to the audience. So the eighty-minute panels become a blend of panelist and audience alchemy. As you might guess, it can cover a wide range of ideas. But that’s the whole point.

We left the Sunday dinner early to get a good night’s sleep and finish up my thoughts on how to approach my first panel called Creationism vs. Evolution. It was slated for the largest venue of the conference, Mackey Auditorium that held up to 1,000 people. Also, Roger Ebert, the Pulitzer prize-winning film critic was slated for that panel, so I was anxious to say the least!

On Monday morning, we joined a brunch hosted by the student volunteers. That’s me sitting down holding a cup of water and a vegetarian breakfast burrito, the best in Boulder! Soon, we were herded to a sidewalk that led to Macky Auditorium and the plenary speech to be given by Charles Krauthammer, a well-known beltway pundit who writes for the Washington Post and appears regularly on news shows.

Surrounded by flags from the world over, we took our official walk to Macky accompanied by a throng of news cameras. Once inside, Charles gave a plenary outlining the neoconservative agenda. He received a standing ovation, though upon opening the floor to questions, folks like Harvey Wasserman offered stern critiques of the failures of the neocon and “Bush doctrine” agenda.

Afterwards, Jo and I ran over to the UMC (University Media Center) to catch Bill Arntz, one of the directors and producers of the New Age hit movie What the Bleep? He held court to a pro-Bleep audience that didn’t ask any hard questions, and it was clear that Bill likes to keep it light and fun.

We left early to get ready for my first panel, and what an experience that turned out to be! We’re supposed to meet in a central location with all the panelists, the moderator, and producer, whose job it was to simply get the right name tags, and people to their venue in time. The moderator finds out who wants to go first or last, and also outline generally what people are going to speak about so as give panelists a chance to feel each other out. Roger Ebert, and Dan Odescalshi, as with many veteran panelists, didn’t show up, which I should have taken as an early warning sign.

[Continued in the NewWorldView Library]