Ruth L. Miller earned the doctorate in systems science from Portland State University integrating intuition and analysis in impact assessment and decisionmaking. Her M.S. in cybernetic systems from San Jose State University was earned with a thesis integrating intuitive methods in systems planning. Her Certificate in environmental studies is from Long Beach State University and a B.A. in anthropology with a minor in american literature was earned at the University of New Mexico.
| I wanted to know all about everything, especially consciousness! Besides, I’ve been told by an astrologer that my chart says I “collect degrees.” |
Dr. Miller served as Associate Professor and Director of the Cybernetic Systems Program at San Jose State University and as Director of Curriculum & Evaluation for Rogue Community College. She has led countless workshops on new paradigms, systems thinking and futures research, and has served as adjunct faculty at Antioch University-Seattle, Marylhurst University, Portland State University, as well as the Living Enrichment Institute, and New West Seminary—receiving the highest evaluations for her classes.
| I dearly love learning, and helping people grasp new ideas. I really enjoyed academia, too, but the students’ emphasis on grades, as opposed to learning, was too much. So now I teach what people want to learn when and where they want it! |
After years of research into the nature of consciousness, Dr. Miller found she could no longer ignore the spirit. She became coordinator for Adult Religious Education in a small-town Methodist church while helping to found a Unitarian-Universalist fellowship there. In the process, she began a series of courses that would lead to ordination. She was ordained in the New Thought tradition and became the pastor of the Lifeways Center in Portland, Oregon, then interim Assistant at Unity of Beaverton. She’s been a “circuit riding preacher,” serving New Thought and Unitarian-Universalist churches in Oregon, Washington, and California since 1995 and now is based on the Oregon coast, working primarily with Unity by the Sea and The Portal.
| My body and soul couldn’t continue without honoring the spirit, and New Thought is the only religious philosophy that makes sense from a systems perspective – while Unitarians are the ones at the leading edge in a community. So I work with both. For most of the past couple decades, I-5 has been my “commute route” and the beautiful Pacific Northwest my home. |
Applying her theory and methods to community development, she worked as Neighbor Watch coordinator for Neighbors West/Northwest, helped low-income families purchase hones as part of Northeast Genesis Project, and was active in the Comprehensive Plan process for both Portland and Corvallis. She has held board positions for many Oregon nonprofits, including Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods, RAIN, the Alliance for Social Change, Flexible Ways to Work, and The Ecotopia Project, and helped to found the New West Seminary, the Aspen Grove Peace Project, Peacebringers, the Institute for Sustainable Culture, and Wisdom Centers.
| I’ve studied and taught personal and social change and the effects human cultures have on their environments all my life. So, whenever anyone is doing something that I think will make a difference, I try to help. One thing I learned early on, though: people come together when there’s a shared problem or enemy; they stay together when there’s ongoing shared projects and fun. |
In addition to numerous research reports and program plans, Dr. Miller has published papers in several professional journals and was twice honored by publication in The General Systems Yearbook. She contributed to the Club Of Rome’s Goals For A Global Community (Laszlo & Bierman), as well as Perspectives in Systems Education (Banathy) and Multiple Perspectives for Decision-Making (Linstone). Her articles have appeared in Portland Reflections, Portland Metrozine, Portland Views, New Connexion, various newsletters, Synchronicities, and New Harmony, the journal of the International Divine Science Federation. Her various manuals and books, including 150 Years of Healing have become standard texts. She is also the editor of a series called The Library of Hidden Knowledge for Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster, which offers modernized versions of the wisdom of 19th century writers and teachers as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wallace Waddles, Charles Haanel, and James Allen.
Among her recent books, Unveiling Your Hidden Power introduces the teachings and practice of Emma Curtis Hopkins, the teacher who taught the founders of the New Thought churches. Uncommon Prayer offers an explanation of what prayer is, how it differs from what most of us have been taught, and why prayer can be effective. Make the World Go Away: the gift of 2012 integrates her work as a futurist and New Thought teacher. Her latest book, Mary’s Power applies her anthropological systems perspective to the question of the disappearance of the Goddess from Western culture leading to a fresh perspective on who Mary, called the Magdalene, may have been and how we may be able to achieve a more balanced culture.
