Passing at the solstice

This is a dark time of year, and the light is returning. It is a time for rebirth.

My friend Finn Voldtofte died last night. He was well known in the world cafe community as well as in communities of practice in Europe looking at collective intellegence. He was an early designer of the Art of Hosting and the flow game.

Finn was with us here on Bowen Island in November at a gathering we held looking at conscious evolution. He was sick while he was here, and upon returning home he discovered that he had pnuemonia and leukemia. Back in Denmark, doctors attempted to treat both, but they were unable to handle his infections in a way that allowed the treatment of his cancer.

He died with the most amazing grace and with a community of people around the world holding to his request to let him do his work to be free. I have never seen anyone die like Finn did; even from a distance his dying touched us very deeply and was a profound reminder of the power of practice and liberation and how one strong and courageous heart can touch and transform many.

And so I offerthis image of a sun behind a fir tree I shot last year and this song, that is about the choices we have to step into the new and deep world, whatever it may be. We sang this song for our closing at our gathering in November, and it feels as if Finn embodies this sentiment unlike any man I have ever met.

One stormy spring day
As I rambled at the Cape
And gazed out to the ocean
Where the seals sport and play.
From the sea foam and spray
There arose a fair maid
As she stepped on the rocky shore
To me she did say:Oh the old world is dying, and the new is yet to come.
Oh the old world is dying, and the new is yet to come.Her gaze met my eye
And she began to cry
And her keening stilled the south wind
In the far distant sky
Said she “Sir, you stand
Firmly rooted on this land
I appeal to your true heart
Will you give me your hand?”

For the old world is dying, and the new is yet to come
For the old world is dying, and the new is yet to come

The wind died away
And the sea foam and the spray
Took back the fair maiden
At the end of the day
In a grove of old fir
I felt my heart a-stir
To respond to her calling
And devote my life to her

For the old world is dying, and the new is yet to come
For the old world is dying, and the new is yet to come

This is a time of year for rebirth in the northern hemisphere. And so I wish peace at the end of the transformation for Finn, his children and his partner Tina and all who are deeply touched by the stories and examples of new birth, hope and light that permeate the cultures of northern peoples at mid-winter.