Evolutionary weaving of the threads of life
Don’t be alarmed if the site looks strange for a little while. I’m playing with themes and they’ll need to be customized once I settle on one.
Okay, I’ve settled on this red one for now. The recent comments is giving me fits. I don’t know how to fix the colors for the commenters’ names. And the actual most recent comments aren’t showing up. It’s lagging behind, somehow. Hmm.
Earlier this week, I wrote in blogs, attention, and working in public about how we can drive visability to the issues, causes and actions we care about when we work on those issues in public, and link to others do the same. That post was linked to from Gift Hub: Blogging for Social Cohesion. I’m linking back to that post ot illustrate the point. We’re having a conversation on two (so far) blogs. Very cool!
I also mentioned in that post that I was to set up a blog for my friend Sharon. In the spirit of working on public, here’s the rought draft. So far all we have there is a note from me to Sharon asking her to register. We don’t have a title yet, or any content, but why not allow others to follow along as we get set up?
The other task I set for myself in that post earlier this week was to write a white paper on this whole concept of blogging to create an audience (thanks for the phrasing, Phil!). If this were a wiki, I could write a draft and you could edit it right along with me. We’d only have one working copy at a time. Doing this in a blog will be a bit different. I’ll write a draft and you can comment (or not). Then I’ll write another draft and publish that. It can still always be a work in progress, but the older versions will be a bit more visible here. So I’ll start that work in the next post.
For a few years, I’ve been the webmaster for my friend Charles’s organization of Ogoni students (more on him another time). I am not an html expert and the idea of coding changes and then uploading them is too overwhelming to even imagine, so http://nuos-ogoni.org hasn’t been updated in years. That’s the bad news. One part of the good news is that their mailing list has been growing like gangbusters! Another part of the good news is our new web and email list host, May First / People Link. From their website:
May First / People Link is a project organized by a group of progressive activists who have been working in the technology sector for years. We are building an Internet services and technology organization with a mission to help reclaim the Internet, enhance its function as a tool for mass communication and organizing, develop new technologies and uses for it, and help social justice movements use it effectively.
May First/People Link is a union shop. Members of Local 1180, Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO.
Their tech support getting us set up has been truely amazing! I highly recommend them for any progressive organization’s technology needs.
globalchicago
test, please ignore
I’ve written before about the first two circle of friends gatherings. Tonight was #3.
One of the outcomes from the 2nd one I didn’t write about was the intention to create an opt-in mailing list for the Circle of Friends itself, not mixed with the entire Tantra Nova mailing list. I suppose I wasn’t totally clear with the others that I hoped to have that list then live outside Tantra Nova so if other similar events wanted to be organized, it could be done without starting from scratch. When we went to make the list it occured to me that this might not be the understanding with Elsebeth from Tantra Nova, so I didn’t make the list. I instead wrote her an email with my thoughts, saying it didn’t feel coherent for me to be creating something that wasn’t owned by it’s members (not sure if I went quite that far, actually). She wrote back I remember, but I don’t recall what she said. We had no more communication until tonight’s circle.
I arrived about 20 minuntes early, as usual, to set up the space. The chair were already in a circle, but I found the posters from last time with Law of Two Feet and the Four Principles and put them up as people were arriving. About 5 minutes before the scheduled start, I sat down in the other room to eat an apple (no food in the circle room) and Elsbeth and Simone came and sat down as well, to talk about the plan for the evening.
Elsbeth didn’t want to use open space. She said that the results from the first two were just talking and not physical enough so she didn’t want to use it tonight. So again, as with the first two circles, I had my work cut out for me, internally. I just breathed deep, worked on staying open and listened to what Simone had to say. She made some other suggestions about future meetings, where someone could volunteer at the end of one to lead the next one. Since there was nothing prepared for tonight, she suggested we solicit people’s ideas and see if there’s a consensus and then do what the group wants. Elsbeth did ask me how I felt and I expressed my belief that the group was progressing quite nicely in open space, with the second one being quite a step forward from the first. I also shared the topic that I came prepared to convene tonight, which was to do a particular energetic, connecting exercise. I didn’t share with her that I felt this type of energetic work was missing in the first two meetings, which is but one of the reasons I wanted to do it tonight.
Simone agreed to do introductions and then it was more or less open what would happen after that. I did say that my skills do not include soliciting ideas and then deciding where the consensus was. It was left open how that would happen.
By the way, one of the complaints about the open space was that it took a lot of time to set up, and we only have an hour and a half. So at 15 minutes past the scheduled starting time, I went into the circle, concentrating only on my breathing, as I felt the rug had been pulled out from under me and the process. Almost 5 minutes later we were finally all arranged for introductions, which turned into “What are my intentions for tonight’s (or future) gathering(s)?” I shared my desire to do energy flow work and connecting.
After that and a bit of negotiation, someone was pressured into leading a meditation. After that, the suggestion was made to do something physical. We all got up and a blanket was put down on the floor. During some akwardness about what would happen next, I went to use the toilet. When I came back, most of the people were engaged in an activity I had no interest in, one person on her back, 4 others arranged around her, one with each limb, the idea being to “let go” and allow the motion to happen. I lay down in sarvasana instead, working on my breathing and being okay with whatever happened. I was invited several times to participate and I said “no thank you” or “I’ll pass” each time, hoping for gentleness, not sure if I got there.
About ten minutes before the end of the scheduled time, everyone except me had had a turn being the receiver in this exercise. Someone suggested people share about what they are up to. A joke, some poetry, nothing feeling very connected to me, especially with 10 people in the room, just too many to have an effective conversation, and no real way (that I could see) for me to attempt any real connection with one or two people. A few minutes after the scheduled end, it didn’t seem like anyone was moving toward closing, so I started putting my overclothes back on (the place is quite warm so I had my socks and sweater off), and when there was still no motion towards closing, I made eye contact with one person, waved goodbye and quietly made my exit.
So now what? Did I mix roles as participant and space-holder? Is that why I felt and feel so let down? I’m feeling very selfish right now and if Elsbeth were to call, I can’t think of anything I could say that would both be honest and wouldn’t feel like I was attempting to make the evening be all about me and what I wanted out of it that I didn’t get. Could I have spoken up and asked for what I wanted? Perhaps, but I had no interest in being the center of attention for 10 people. What I really wanted was to go off in a corner with one to three others (or whoever wanted to be there) and do some connecting energetically.
Am I too close to “open space” to be okay with not being in charge? Is that it? It doesn’t feel like it. It just feels like in the first two meetings we had a container that anyone could then put there own self into. Tonight felt container-less to me. It felt like pressure. It felt like obligation. If felt closed.
And of course it wasn’t closed. There was connection happening. The exercise that was chosen was lead not by Elsbeth, but by Mary. It was just more closed than it was for the first two meetings. I long for that openness again.
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Hmm. I’ll have to meditate on that one after tonight.
By the way, one point I forgot to mention is that I had the paper and markers in the middle of the circle before the abrupt shift in plans, and the Law and Principles on the wall.
Near the end, someone who han’t been at the previous meeting when we had the Principles up and explained asked me about them. I answered that it wasn’t the time to talk about them because I couldn’t think of any way to talk about them without bringing up the abrupt change in plans, and that just didn’t feel right to me. I just wasn’t up for any sort of confrontation.
Last night I had dinner with my friend Sharon. She’s been my orientor in the Humanist Movement for almost 9 years. We were talking about quite a few topics, some of which I’d like to get down here to remember myself, and also to share with my readers (both of them).
So I’m setting up a blog for Sharon and plan to write 2 versions of a white paper about the benefits of blogging, one for Sharon’s sister and one for the General Assembly of the Humanist Movement.
Just had a great phone call with Josh Skov of Eugene, OR about the Local Commons Survey Project. Our next step would be to have a first meeting, say the 1st week in April. Between now and then, I’d love to figure out if there are people or organizzations we can invite to take part. The cool thing about this pilot is that its fairly open and we can define our task to match our capabilities. We can also choose a few Commons that interest us in particular. I’d really like to make every effort to be inclusive and not be the new white guy project. So if you’re interested in working with me to make this happen, let’s talk soon and I can give more details about what I’m thinking and see how we can invite others to participate.
Doug says: “Maybe money needs an expiration date.”
I’m not sure if he’s serious or joking, but there are alternative currency systems where the money expires. This ensures flow, which is what’s necessary for a currency to be an effective value exchange mechanism. This makes saving for a rainy day a bit difficult, so sometimes people design in a value storage currency as well. Good stuff, Doug. Thanks!
http://goodnewsnetwork.org has just re-launched! If you like the idea of sharing the good news in the world, check it out. If you like what you see, why not register and participate? Your ideas, submissions, comments and ratings will me the site even better.
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