Conscious Choice: Changing the World, One Broadcast at a Time

March 2002

Changing the World, One Broadcast at a Time

Through New Dimensions Radio, wisdom elder Michael Toms uses dialogue as spiritual practice

by Bobbye Middendorf

"New Dimensions...takes us into the heart of the landscape of the imagination...[It] is creating a new culture around the world — one voice, one heart at a time."

— Terry Tempest Williams, New Dimensions Annual Journal

Are we living at the final vortex, getting inexorably sucked toward darkness—or experiencing the death throes of an old paradigm whose era is over, but for the death rattle? Biology reminds us that an organism on the verge of expiring often puts forth a final burst of energy, in seeming contradiction to its approaching death. Thus, this time of violence, vengeance, and fear may not be the step backward it seems. There still is a new paradigm glimmering in the wings. You can listen to it stirring on New Dimensions radio.

New Dimensions is the longest running independently produced public radio talk show available around the globe. Michael Toms has been carrying on radio conversations — more than 3,000 of them now — with leading edge thinkers and activists every week for nearly twenty-nine years.

Broadcasting the History of the Future

"Dialogue is what everyone’s life is about. We are very blessed and fortunate to be following this path, to do it in a way to expand and enrich our lives and others’." — Michael Toms

Michael Toms created New Dimensions in 1973 with co-founder and life partner Justine Willis Toms, who was raised in Glenview. An outgrowth and reflection of both their quests for wisdom, knowledge, and their spiritual path, New Dimensions is a seedbed of ideas before their time. Inspired by the words of psychologist Charles Tart ("We may be in the most dramatic shift in human consciousness in the history of the planet, and nobody is paying attention."), the Toms’ vision "was to change consciousness by bringing diverse thinkers, social innovators, creative artists, scientists, and spiritual teachers together in public dialogues."

Together with a group of about a dozen staffers, they now connect a community of more than three million listeners worldwide with the most brilliant dialogues on the planet. They are "changing the world, one broadcast at a time" by creating a body of wisdom that includes conversations with the likes of H.H. the Dalai Lama, mythologist Joseph Campbell, Jungian Marion Woodman, physicist David Bohm, inventor Buckminster Fuller, corporate agitator Anita Roddick, philosopher Krishnamurti, and thousands more. In the process, Michael Toms has become a living encyclopedia of ways to create meaning in the world.

Toms likes to think of New Dimensions as "a source of light in the mass media darkness." As such, he has developed a sort of portable university of the future. For example, New Dimensions has presented early innovations from the margins (hospices, birthing centers, alternative healing) that are now common currency.

"We cover timely issues in a timeless way," says Toms. "We’ve conducted more than a hundred short interviews since 9/11 with a variety of voices that aren’t heard within the consensus trance that the major media is presenting as the one and only truth. These are all at www.newdimen sions.org in streaming audio, so they are available around the world any time." Many of those conversations are being edited into longer documentaries, "Time for Choices," that are running as part of the weekly New Dimensions programming. The dialogues focus on going deeper, getting to the root of situations, getting at truth and substance and presenting a variety of viewpoints that are seldom heard in mainstream media.

Doing His Own "True Work"

A few years ago, the Toms co-authored True Work: The Sacred Dimension of Earning a Living. Sharing their own story and those of others, they have been able to inspire millions to reconsider their life paths, to follow their passions. Born in Virginia, Toms learned to love native son and fellow "comprehensivist" Thomas Jefferson. A voracious reader, he was inspired by Will Durant’s The Pleasures of Philosophy and Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson. Conversations and learning in religion and philosophy became his touchstones.

It wasn’t a straight line from these early realizations to the radio dialogues that have made him the hero of millions. In fact, early on, Toms was highly successful in a Fortune 500 advertising firm. Then, he notes, "I realized my ladder was against the wrong wall." As he learned to listen to his own inner voice, Michael eventually attracted all the pieces that gave birth to New Dimensions. "New Dimensions is a mirror. It is about a quest for wisdom. The interviewing has become a spiritual practice. It feeds my soul. And it’s changing my life every day. I am engaging with people, with ideas. I get to talk to anyone I want and explore whatever I want. Because of New Dimensions, I can live in a rural area and maintain a simple lifestyle. There are plenty of valleys and peaks, enriching and powerful experiences. It continues to be an extraordinary ride, and I am grateful every day."

Planting Seeds for Creating a New Future

"Hope means believing in spite of the evidence, and working actively to change the evidence." — Michael Toms

Recently, New Dimensions has begun adding programming with an orientation toward news. "It’s news that won’t be dead next week," emphasizes Michael. For example, he suggests that "the current attack on civil liberties is connected to environmental degradation. It is all in the interest of corporate power, and designed to rob us of our voice to change things." He sees corporations as the "new" aristocracy. "Now is a good time," he counsels, "to reread the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. We need to go back to our own first principles that are a beacon of light supporting individual rights. What are we doing to promote life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for others around the world? What if we really promoted these principles instead of promoting corporate interests?"

In the February e-zine, he says, "Webster’s defines‘inalienable’ as‘cannot be taken away,’ such as‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. The Patriot Act does, indeed, take away rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. We cannot exchange our basic freedoms for so called‘security.’ It is too dear a price. Why is it that the Congress, virtually without a whimper, is going along with this full-scale assault on what makes America unique?"

Toms does not pull punches. "It is our responsibility as individual citizens to challenge our government’s policies if we disagree with them. Dissent is inherent in democracy and is neither un-American nor unpatriotic. I, for one, will continue to speak out whenever and wherever I perceive our government leadership to be in error. My hope is that you will do the same. The future of our democracy is at stake."

Recent initiatives at New Dimensions include "True Work" workshops as well as a week-long training led by Toms called "Deep Listening, Deep Questioning." Generously sharing the body of knowledge and wisdom he has amassed over nearly three decades interviewing others, Toms offers a week interspersed with fields of deep listening and interaction, both within oneself and in a community. With the help of guest speakers he intends to open the learning circle, empowering others to adapt for themselves the path of mastery of authentic conversation and continual growth. Offered twice a year, once in spring and once in the fall, and held at a retreat center just north of San Francisco, the training is a profound and magical experience. (I enrolled in the training in Spring 2001, and the lessons and power still percolate through my everyday actions.)

"There are lots of gaps that need to be filled. Everyone has a contribution to make, has a path to follow," says Toms. "If each of us is willing to take responsibility for our own contribution, our own spark, the world will change." An additional training session, offered since September 11, includes a series of smaller local conversations around the country. Similar to the longer "Deep Listening" training, these conversations bring to the surface pathways and tools to traverse the new territory we face. This new seminar, "Deep Listening in Changing Times: The Power of Timeless Wisdom" will be presented by the Singing Wolf Center on March 9 and 10 at the Michael Fields Institute.

Toms has performed a unique service to the world in following his passion; yet doing this, his own "true work," also feeds his soul. "Everyone should be finding and following their passion," he asserts. For our part, we are lucky that the passion Toms has followed benefits us — and the planet — so directly.

Bobbye Middendorf is a writer who practices deep listening in every part of her life. She is a fan and student of Michael Toms and New Dimensions Radio.

Go Deeper

Click here or call 262-248-9110 for information or to register for "Deep Listening in Changing Times."

Click here for a complete map of programs, tapes, seminars, membership, e-zine, and other services. All the post-9-11 interviews are available online via streaming audio.

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