Christy Lee Engle has posted a beautiful pair of quotes on sacred conversation. There is so much goodness in it that i republish it here for your edification.:
Peggy Holman recently posted a beautiful article called “Evolution, Process and Conversation: A Foundation for Conscious Evolutionary Agency” to the Open Space listserv, originally written for the Evolutionary Life e-magazine.
In it, she wonders/suggests:
“Could it be that consciousness is the latest evolutionary innovation that, when applied to conversation, catalyzes a new form of social system, the conscious co-creative collective, the radiant network of deep community? I believe that conscious conversation is the path to what Thich Nhat Hanh imagined when he said: “It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing understanding and lovingkindness, a community practicing mindful living. And the practice can be carried out as a group, as a city, as a nation.” [Thich Nhat Hanh, "The Next Buddha May Be a Sangha" in Inquiring Mind, Vol 10, No.2, Spring 1994]
which reminds me of a teaching I read a couple of years ago — a similar co-evolutionary idea in a different costume:
“‘Messiah’ in the original Hebrew is understood by the Kabbalists, quite astoundingly, to mean ‘conversation’. Master Nachum of Chernobyl, mystic and philosopher, points out that the Hebrew word for messiah, Mashiach, can be understood as the Hebrew word Ma-siach — Messiah, meaning ‘from dialogue’ or ‘of conversation.’ [Me'or Enayim, Parashat Pinchas] His assertion radically implies that the Messiah is potentially present in every human conversation — every mutual act of voice-giving.
All conversation is sacred. The ability to have an honest face-to-face talk in whihch both sides are true to themselves, vulnerable and powerful at the same time, is messianic. Simply put, sacred conversation is the vessel that receives the light of Messiah.”
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Powered by WordPress with GimpStyle Theme design by Horacio Bella.
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS.
“Could it be that consciousness is the latest evolutionary innovation that, when applied to conversation, catalyzes a new form of social system, the conscious co-creative collective, the radiant network of deep community?
Let’s hope so .. and let’s do more than hope, let’s encourage that possibility, let’s feed it, let’s care for it. Returning to a fundamental source of informing social systems is what will get us to the necessary next steps.
Comment by Jon Husband — March 18, 2007 #
The site looks great ! Thanks for all your help ( past, present and future !)
Comment by morganusvitus — April 5, 2007 #
[...] Parking Lot » Blog Archive » Christy on the sources of sacred conversation Bookmark to: 20d8 Posted in Sustainability, Change | [...]
Pingback by Brewed Fresh Daily » Powerful ideas — April 12, 2007 #
Was looking for this Thich Nhat Hanh quote. Why am i not surprised that you had posted it?
Comment by John Abbe — June 24, 2008 #