I feel this could be talking about us!

[Kathy Thurmer]

From the September 2009 Issue | Being « Previous Random Next » A Special Comment: on Community Beyond Belief by Chris LaFontaine I once knew of a respected visionary who articulated a concept about how people in the future would gather together. Details escape me, but I seem to remember something about being grouped in threes and creating overlapping circles. Soon I was reading about workshops designed to teach people how to gather in threes and create overlapping circles. I’m stretching the story a bit, but you get the drift. This person had a glimpse of a possible future and set about trying to make it happen. People came together based on respect for the visionary, but the groups dissipated when the energy wasn’t sustainable to continue meeting in a foreign and unsatisfying structure. This way of gathering was not yet being moved into existence by creation, so an externally imposed agenda created expectations that could not be fulfilled. In this case, an idea took dominance over a natural order of progression. It’s a little like trying to be born a fully functioning adult without the developmental stages necessary to actually reach the outcome. Visions are senses of possibility, not blueprints for goals to be reached. I have been observing a trend in the recent energies of our transformation, and possibly a similar tendency to shortcut the process. There is a growing desire among many of us to be together with others, possibly in new structures or forms. I interpret this as a sign of our shift out of duality and its illusions of separation. We’re tired of feeling alone, and long for genuine communion and creative interaction. We’re also tired of turning ourselves into commodities for consumption, hence a fatigue from an over-abundance of “expos.” We’re not sure what new forms may be trying to birth, but we’re recognizing a deep desire for some kind of fundamental shift in relationships with each other. Herein lies potential and the need to honor a process in motion. Community arises. It is an ever-evolving organism. It is not up to the mind to decide what constitutes community and attempt to make it so. My experience with “intentional” community leads me to avoid participation in something that puts behavioral expectations on me. I once lived in cooperative housing created by sensitive creative types who nonetheless expected attendance at mandatory meetings, committee assignments and adherence to Robert’s Rules of Order. Since the very governing structure was the antithesis of the creative process, it was not a complete surprise that a dysfunctional autocracy still managed to express itself in endless drama and control. For me, the growing heaviness of my experience became the push for me to leave. Sure, it was all perfect, yadda yadda, but still I have no desire to show up ever again where dogma is valued over essence. Certain memes (cultural concepts) get passed along through the new-age grapevine, just as in other facets of our world. We might come across a certain channeling or astrology reading that observes us moving into a time when we will come together in communities and be more co-creative. This is a vision, or reading, of the energies in motion. Sensitive types may feel the energy of this impulse, and suddenly the idea is spreading that we’re now supposed to be co-creative in communities. Pretty soon someone is posting a notice that says it’s time to be in communities and be co-creative, so let’s get a group together at 7 p.m. on Friday and co-create. Sounds a lot like the idea in the first paragraph, no? Now, please don’t think I wish to dissuade anyone who wishes to create gatherings. In fact, I will be among those doing so. I only offer caution to avoid letting the mind attempt to dictate the experience, setting agendas and trying the control the outcome of what is an organic process. Mental dominance, by definition, is not co-creative, so it’s no surprise that the new field does not support such attempts at dictating what is to be. You could begin by calling together people who share a common interest in addition to their spiritual credentials. How about inviting people who love to cook, or love to create art, or love to entertain others, or perhaps just want to socialize with others who share a similar path. Hang out together and see what shows up. Not everything has to be about “spirituality.” I’m just sayin’. We have no idea what is coming as one world dissipates and another takes the stage. We are creating ourselves anew, and we have no reference from past experiences for what creation wishes to birth through us now. There is no way to know, so save your energy trying to figure it out. The slate is wiped clean for everyone, and the most-needed practice right now is to listen. Everything else will proceed from those impulses as we come together and share who we are. No predictions, dogma or agendas needed. Just us. Copyright © 2009 Chris LaFontaine. All Rights Reserved.

[Glenda G. Lybbert]

" " " thank you " " "

[Marianne]

!!! : )