Month: September 2011

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Occupy Wall Street

Some amazing happenings in New York, gatherings of ordinary citizens. The world is changing. These kinds of gatherings are expressions of a new consciousness, a new expectation. “We the people finding our voice.”

Below is from my friends, Tom Atlee and NCDD.

“NCDDers in NYC might find the occupier community (they call themselves “Occupy Wall Street”) a challenging, exciting context to work in.  Process is being evolved on the spot.  The occupiers were using a traditional consensus process, but the police forbade microphones.  So they developed a fascinating “human microphone” system where the speaker says a few words and the crowd repeats what was said (which allows those in the back to hear). (You can watch all this on streaming videos!)  But that increases the already extensive time needed for consensus (checking for concerns, etc.), so the police have started issuing demands that must be met within 5-15 minutes, which the crowd can’t respond to fast enough without formal leaders, which they don’t want.  The evolutionary pressures to develop new forms are intense.  What comes out of that could be very good, very bad, or something else…

If you/we want to do something more planned, best to start now planning for the parallel occupation of Washington DC by hundreds/thousands of progressive protesters that is about to hit the city on Oct 6 http://october2011.org.

For info on Occupy Wall Street, here’s some fascinating links:

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/7468-occupy-wall-street-take-the-bull-by-the-horns
http://www.readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/64-64/7564-the-whole-world-is-watching-nonviolence-at-liberty-plaza
http://www.truth-out.org/occupywallstreet-more-hashtag-its-revolution-formation/1316784846
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/09/chris-hedges-occupy-wall-street-is-where-the-hope-of-america-lies/
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2011/09/20/police-occupy-wall-street-9-20-2011/
http://thiscantbehappening.net/node/785

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Quinault Stories

Appreciating the stories that I’m hearing now with Quinault Indian Nation. There are 16 people here gathered at the Quinault School, home of the Chitwhins. My friends Sono, Teresa, and John are hosting a Domain Leadership meeting. People are now meeting in specific domains to support an overall strategic plan: Community, Wellness, Prosperity, and Learning. Other domain groups will convene later: Land, Governance, and the Queets Community Group. The focus is on preferred futures, indicators of wellness, and essential starting goals.

Great to hear the sparking ideas, particularly as I listen to the Learning Domain. One person is sharing some traits of learning that characterize the Quinault people. “We learn by doing. If you want to learn to make a basket, do it with me. We’ll make mistakes and then we’ll laugh together and figure it out.”

Another story was about being resourceful. “We used to do what we needed to. My husband came home one day with a paycheck of $99. It was not enough to pay our bills. We had someone help with our kids. We went clam digging. With what we got from the clams, we were able to pay our bills. Our schools are important. But it was wrong to take our skills away from us. We need to learn again to dig for clams, hunt, and be in our land.”

Happy to witness some of this work, the claim of sovereignty, and it’s expression in this culture.

A few pictures here.

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Principles of Building Peace

Appreciating these eight principles, sent to me from my friend Rowan Simonsen, now in Bogota. They are a collection of principles from Disciplines of Peace. A 4 minute video with a bit of description is here.

1. Spirit as light emanates life force
2. True presence is the doorway to the great mystery
3. Wholeness is only experienced through diversity
4. The essence of identity is embedded in cellular memory
5. The darkness in the holy womb of light contains all light
6. The universal relationship of co-creation exists through cause and effect
7. Universal truth informs right action
8. All things are born of woman

It is 2,3,4 that I particularly resonate with as I continue to learn and explore world views. Presence as core capacity for times like these — yes! Wholeness experienced through the ever opening eyes, ears, and heart to a larger ecosystem — yes! Identity in cellular memory, that can be remembered and activated — yes to that too.

Number 8 also catches my attention. With an awareness and knowing. With an appreciation for the feminine (in me and others). And with a bit of jealously wanting the inclusion (“well wait a minute.”)

Thanks Rowan.

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Tweets of the Weeks

  •  #AoHSask Celebrating some really good work, and this representation of it offered by Shelley Keyes: yfrog.com/met4wglj
  • Research from BYU: Being socially disconnected equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes / day. We are a meant to remember ourselves as web.
  • With Sono & Teresa on QIN learning: Patterned pathologies when gifting becomes charity and naming becomes labeling.
  • Oxygen supports life – but breathing oxygen is not the purpose. Money supports companies, but money is not their purpose. OS LIst.
  • Super grateful for fall in Saskatchewan. Reminds me of the 10 years of doing so as a young boy for Thanksgiving weekends in Kerrobert.
  • #AoHSask — Complete with this event. Not complete with the learning. Much stirring as I harvest, reflect, reach out.
  • #AoHSask Great night with telling stories, sharing food, wine. Laughing. Ease of community.
  • #AoHSask Teaching Berkana kit on engaging community. Principles for freedom in design of social process. yfrog.com/h3naaocj
  • #AoHSask Knowledge camp happening now. 2 Loops, Chaordic Stepping Stones. Good, powerful stories in the room.
  • #AoHSask Lovely checkin this morning from Vicki, Cathy. Grounding practice. Journaling. Mary Oliver poem.
  • #AoHSask Open Space on diving deep. Primed by 3 conditions for conversation: work, co-learning, relationships.
  • #AoHSask World view of diverge / converge with living system qualities overlaid.
  • #AoHSask Watching participants interact. There is a question to give it focus. However, mostly seeing it as energy activating.
  • #AoHSask yfrog.com/h89m3haj
  • #AoHSask Lilly Tomlin – “Reality is only a widely shared consensual hunch.”
  • #AoHSask: In triads exploring world view that supports engagement and hosting.
  • yfrog.com/khketgwj Starting with checkin, beginning to notice what is emerging as important to offer here.
  • Friend Glen in New Zealand, as invitation to our work: “let our mastery lay in thinking from, not about the principles of our field.
  • Leaving now for six days of hosting and learning in Saskatchewan. With anticipation.
  • And further for process-based events: “Push practice. Not project.”
  • An essential for belief for process-based events (thanks Chris, Teresa, Mark): “Hold space for others to do their work.”
  • Moving poetry from Drew Dellinger — Planetize the Movement. Just enjoy and share (and care, dare to beware)! bit.ly/rfRcyM
  • I’m cohosting this. Join us. on.fb.me/r719ZJ. Came together with ease. Such skill and grace of the people on the team.
  • If you get circle (stillness, deliberateness, conditions for life flowing through), it’s easier to go deep in other practices.
  • RT @PeggyHolman: We can listen not just with our ears, but with all of our senses, including our heart and our intuition.
  • Gross National Happiness in Bhutan by Silver Donald Cameron — A TED Talk so worth watching: youtu.be/1CLJwYW6-Ao
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Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.

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In My Nature is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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