I can offer you one snippet of the breakfast conversation. The commitment of a group of people to a shared purpose is very powerful, and – not to forget - it needs to resonate with the larger field.
There was no dancing this morning; the circle formed itself somewhere after nine. Our attention went already to the outside world and What after this gathering? For most of us it became clear that meeting with each other and with the larger community of change agents is a necessary and important step to take. It brought up fears of exposing our full selves into the world. Will we lose some clients? What will people think of us? Words of relief were spoken by someone ‘running for congress’ in the US. Of course his whole history is now exposed to the world; but why bother? I’m an asshole; indeed, but you too! Right? He goes for radical honesty.
We were wondering: Is there a difference between our personal life, our private life, our public life? Some of us spoke of removing the separation between them.
There were some words of wisdom around the Sacred and the Secret; but I don’t remember…
Some people voiced sensing an imbalance and the ones who had not spoken so far were invited to do so. Some imbalances were spoken of and taken into the whole. Not all energies got spoken of and it turned out later that some tension stayed until the afternoon.
The question we started our gathering with, was there again: What is my contribution?
One of us spoke of his project “Dreams for the city of Aarhus”. Can we imagine more projects about citizens dreams of their cities? A city is a very concrete thing for people to relate to, it connects them to something bigger than themselves. The city as the middle…
Related to my posting of yesterday somebody spoke about the importance of recognizing that so many things are going on in the breaks, and in some way or another we pretend it is not. I’m very much wondering what we have to learn from this. Is there something like a natural flow between being in a bigger group and then in a smaller one? Or has it to do with more and less structure; even when our ‘structure’ was pretty much unstructured… maybe that’s not the right thing to say… the structure was not given by some facilitator or host; it was not decided by somebody; but sitting in a circle is a powerful structure… My guess is that we will need to learn about this.
The law of the two feet (from Open Space technology) – you stay when you can learn or contribute, otherwise you go – was seen as just natural; as the only polite way. There is no other law than being authentic!
Of course reflections were made on our collective experience of the CircleBeing yesterday. The listening and speaking from the middle was named as a divine experience. Showing up with our hopes, struggles, passion and dreams, and showing up for each other will in the end be irresistible; and will create the new world.
This profound experience from yesterday made beliefs in visions and beliefs in trusting the field stronger.
A group photo; our last lunch; a real internet classroom and the last presentations were video taped! Saying goodbye came closer, but we still had two hours to go.
“If this circle was a prototype, what would we be a prototype of?” That question generated a lot of answers.
For simplifying complexity: when the Collective Being is the next level of complexity in humanity, then dealing with complexity becomes simple! Remembering the quote of Einstein: “ “ related with the question of Tom Atlee regarding this gathering. (links)
For a wikipedia co-intelligent democracy.
What if we were a prototype of a school?
I would love if it would be a prototype of government.
It is a prototype for a society of abundance; we have everything.
We are a prototype of a container that can hold everything. It is moving, it is becoming.
If we think of our gathering as a prototype of a system – like DNA – let us articulate precisely how exactly are we a prototype! Invitation to all of us to reflect on ‘something’ of these days; and when we get it together it will be a gift to the world. Prototyping creation. Prototyping the evolutionary process.
And then a lot of wisdom was spoken!!! I tried to capture it… We are touching the touch. We must contact the improvisation of the heart, dancing with gravity, not against.
The essential of this prototype is the relationship with the field and the ability to …. On this site of the threshold, people regress a lot of times into childhood stuff. Whatever level maturity depends on the relationship with the field; the ability to develop that relationship with . The complexity now in the world is a result of not doing this! It created a huge mess! The way through it is the relationship with the field, the middle, the center; and this step by step. The relationship with the middle is held at an individual level and sustained by the Circle. The CircleBeing in this incarnation, with exactly these people, will never be there again. But this prototype can take a million of forms!!!
There is nowhere where the field is not, the middle is not.
In this relationship with the middle, it is important to transcend the personal agenda (How do I look like? What will they think of me?) and to be present, to be there in that relationship, in that space. And when we can do that, the magic happens. We each bring our uniqueness and we can take that to any place, we can hold that space.
We have here experienced people, most of us are meditators, we designed for silence. This brings immediate simplicity, and it comes associative, with what was just spoken. The collective mind is working like a magnet; it is not reasonable, not logic, but associative. Whenever we get to describe this prototype, it will get more attractive!
There is this model of time: linear time, clock time; cyclical time, like the seasons and other cycles; and eternal time, which embodies both. This prototype is the entry into that timeless space that includes all time. Because of that it has access to the other dimensions of time. Going to the silence, the quiet place … comes to a point of shared recognition.
Are there tools for the pre-process, to speed up the going beyond the personal, to make it replicable?
We can translate tool as ‘social practices’, backed up by individual practices. What are they that now can be named? F committed to keep on searching for these social practices, building on the ones he already has – and who all showed up!
the centre
the talking piece
calling into silence
the company of friends
Working from this design criteria of ‘company of friends’, how would you prepare yourself?
How can we make this work more accessible to somebody like me? How can we make it more tasty?
The real invitation was of spirit and heart. This is a way to be a magnet, as a way of connecting. Joy and the desire in participating is one of the qualities of the CircelBeing. To belong here, I had to long to be here.
How will this prototype work with a lot of pressure: time constraints, hostilities, and different opinions?
What are the enabling conditions for it to work better?
This prototype is some kind of creation. We started from scratch and we did it. The emptying was needed, the not-knowing made it started. More tools? Anything will show up anyway. In the near future we might be able to do this with a deadline, in a hostile environment; there we could find out what we can or not.
The tension that was noted in the morning was still there, it created some disturbance, but one of us could see it as dynamic that probably is of the larger field and that it introduced itself, but it needs to be taken care of in a next gathering as this.
One member offered a way for us to take in what we have received and yet lighten our load as we prepare to go our different ways. In silence we took in and acknowledge the many gifts and knowings received during our time together and imagined them collected in a bowl we created with our hands. And then as we felt the fullness of the bowl, we released them, lifting and empyting the bowl of our hands quickly into the air (as if into eternity).
Another beautiful ending unfolded with a little ritual outside under the tree: the women’s circle in the middle, the men’s circle around. There had been a sense of acknowledging and more deeply understanding the feminine during our days together, so this seemed meant to continue in that flow. First women facing the middle, then facing outside and slowly the circles turned giving the right movement, nod, laughter, hug, words to the one in front. We as embodiements of feminine and masculine energies, seeing and knowing that in one another.
No doubt, we moved the edge!
of consciousness
of love
of fear
of life!