As long-time practitioner of circle, for many years now I have been inviting people to consider not just the methodology of circle but the being that is circle. It is both a format for meeting and a reclamation of a worldview that expects connection.
I’ve been reading a book recently by Heather Haying and Bret Weinstein — A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life. It includes this passage below on fire and sense-making, which lights up my circle heart.
Humans have been using fire for eons. We have used it to make light and create warmth, to increase the nutritional value of food, and to keep predators at bay. We have used fire to hollow logs to make canoes, to transform landscapes to new purposes, to soften and harden metal. We have also used fire for something even more important: The campfire is a forge for ideas. A place to discuss berries, rivers, and fish. A place to share our experiences, to talk, to laugh, to cry, to deliberate over our challenges and share our successes.
Here is to much good that any of us create and we reclaim connection.