In meetings in the Aboriginal community, it’s not uncommon to have prayers end with “all my relations” an utterance that invites attention to everything we are related to, and everyone from whom we are descended.
As someone with a mixed ancestry, I sometimes like to think of an Open Space meeting that might have all 128 of my seventh generation genetic ancestors in the room. It would be crazy! Imagine them in a room looking at each other,perplexed, wondering what they could possibly have in common.
And then imagine inviting them to create something together. And imagine that at some point someone suggest that this incredibly eclectic group of people create a child in seven generations. A child that would carry all of their hopes for Ireland, for Scotland, for Nishnawbe-aki, for the Manx. And then I rememeber that I am the outcome of that Open Space meeting that never happened, matured exactly seven generations.
Once in a while I look around a room full of 120 or so people and I think to myself, imagine if what we created as a result of this meeting was a human being emerging in 250 years that would be the child of all of us. And suppose we decided that we would put our trust and faith in that child.
It’s amazing what a diverse group of 128 could create together.
What an amazing insight, and what a great way to step back and gain perspective. I’ll be using this!
this is great, chris. my favorite piece from “the celestine prophecy” was the notion that we carry the qualities of each of our parents, half an octave higher. (to use a low to high scale.)
and like angeles says, let this be the last generation to carry the wounds, may the next be free of them.
may that child of the far future be gloriously happy, dancing with her cousins!