Some upcoming learning opportunities in the British Columbia and Washington state areas… News from my dear friend Peggy Holman that she and Steve Cato are offering their Appreiciative Inquiry facilitation training on February 1-3, and it’s not too late to register. Toke Moeller is hosting a FlowGame at Aldermarsh on Whidbey Island in the middle of March, after which we are penciling in an Art of Hosting primarily with Aboriginal youth, but open to the public as well on Vancouver Island. Michael Herman and I will be offering a retreat to support practices for Open Space faiclitation in April, during …
Jeff Aitken left me a comment with a useful framework for inquiry form Apela Colorado. These are principles of indigenous science: 1. The indigenous scientist is an integral part of the research process and there is a defined process for insuring this integrity. 2. All of nature is considered to be intelligent and alive, thus an active research partner. 3. The purpose of indigenous science is to maintain balance. 4. Compared to Western time/space notions, indigenous science collapses time and space with the result that our fields of inquiry and participation extend into the overlap of past and present. 5. …
Back home now. I’ll blog a little more on my learning from the Evolutionary Salon, especially with respect to the notions of the bodhisangha that was raised. For now here is a bit from an email sent by a friend who is a medical doctor, and who has been following along with the ideas raised in the Salon: As far as my comments on the subject of evolution of consciousness goes, I have to admit that my thoughts are not yet formed enough for me to make a coherent statement about them. The whole idea of raising humanity as a …
Some amazing conversations today about how to move forward from this gathering, which is including questions of sustainability of movements like this, in financial ways, energetic ways and in reflective, inquiry and learning ways. I have spent the morning in small groups, informally constituted thinking about how to move a gathering like this into a “bodhisangha” and enlightened community. One way we are thinking of doing this is harnessing the power of gifts, and today we are playing with three modalities of giving. There is the Buddhist dana, which is the gift given for the gratitude of teachings received. There …
Last night in the closing circle, my friend Pauline LeBel offered an observation that so much of our conversation, informed as it is by the great cosmological story, is very human- centric. She asked “What can we learn from the great love affair between the sun and earth?” It is a love affair in which the Sun asks for nothing in return. A group of us today took a walk on the land as a response to that observation. I posted a session in the Open Space today called “How does a forest change a mind?” We walked into the …