Seeds for a happy planet

Beginning of November I was in Africa, Zimbabwe, for what came to be known as the Kufunda Gathering. It was called by six people and four places, with some support of the Powers of Place Initiative. This post is the first of a series that will cover the whole gathering, so enjoy the full story over the following days!

A landscape of big boulders in a kind of forest. Not like any Belgian forest that I know, but small trees scattered all over the place with some leafs unfamiliar to me and even scattered with some cacti. What is sure, the bugs, spiders, beetles and so on are surely bigger and totally unfamiliar to me.

I arrived here, at Kufunda Learning Village, close to Harare in Zimbabwe, now one and a half day ago. It is a place of peace, of beauty, of learning in a society that still has huge challenges on many, many levels. I was here almost 4 years ago, to learn more about Art of Hosting, and it is good to notice that many of these young people walk more upright, with more sparkles in the eyes, more sure about who they are and what they can offer. They are teaching in neighboring communities the knowledge they gained themselves through doing and learning.

Yesterday, the calling and hosting team of this gathering met for the first time face-to-face. Some of us only knew each others voices, but the resonance – the feeling to be on the same wave length – and the trust was high enough to call this gathering. Early in our conference calls it was clear that it needed to happen ‘outside the US’. Soon came the invitation from Jackie to gather in Kufunda. We followed that invitation. Extending invitations and following invitations seems like an important pattern in how we became a group of almost 40 people, and how most of us live and work.

As I said, yesterday morning the 6 of us – all women – sat together in the morning hours for a deep check in and we invited other participants, who also arrived early, to join the circle in the afternoon to share the stories of what called them to be here. There was a long silence before anyone picked up the talking piece and I sensed how the holding capacity widened and deepened; both the capacity to hold stories, diversity, conflict and pain, as also the capacity to be like an empty tube and listen to the intangible, the land and the wisdom to be uncovered.

Later in the day we would look for patterns or themes – and outliners – in all what was said. One of them was about ritual or ceremony; how it is an experience that doesn’t get lost, and that we can spread when back home, wherever that is. The quality of attention we have for the people here, the place and each other has almost this ritual quality. I think it has to do with both realising the bigger picture we are all in – how can humanity find its right relationship with the earth again? – and the translation of this on the smaller scale of here and now: how are we, as Western people in right relationship here with this community, this Learning Village that is hosting us over the next five days?

This was a question that was unanswered when I was here the first time. Is it right to give my second hand stuff to the people here? Is that really right relationship? I, myself, have a lot of second hand cloths, furniture etc. but still… it is a topic that doesn’t have easy answers. It has many, many layers to it… (another theme that we noticed)

How can it – the give and take – be healing for both parties?
Maybe that is the question?

(pictures by Joanne de Nobriga or myself)

This is a blog post – In Dutch – from a few weeks ago, first published on the Dutch blog Levend Vlaanderen.

Iets schrijven over de Open Leerdag Leven in Transitie staat op mijn lijstje van dingen te doen… maar ik heb geen goed overzicht lijkt me, want er gebeurde zo veel die dag…

veel interessante ideeën…
mensen uit veel verschillende contexten…
veel conversaties die te kort waren en wegens tijdsgebrek moesten stoppen terwijl het net interessant werd…

Ons team van vorige keer was lichtjes gewijzigd. Dirk en Stien voelden niet de passie of hadden niet de energie om de voorbereiding van het hosting proces mee te maken; maar anderzijds vroegen we Rik – wegens zijn interesse in transitie – om aan te haken. Het was duidelijk dat de tijd en energie die we in het voorjaar hadden besteed aan het bouwen van ons gezamenlijke veld nu zijn vruchten afwierp. We kennen mekaars deskundigheden én leerpunten, we weten waar we mekaar moeten aanporren en waar we soms uit de bocht gaan…

Het ging dus vrij vlot in de voorbereiding, hoewel we pas aan het eind van de zomervakantie op dreef kwamen en het effe duurde voor iedereen een overzicht had van wie en wat in het Vlaamse transitiewereldje. Het was een beetje spannend toen we begonnen met uitnodigen, maar de eerste 8 à 9 mensen waren er vlug. Inschrijvingen bleven binnen druppelen tot de laatste dag. Uiteindelijk zaten we met 34 in de kring.

Het was voor ons duidelijk dat Erik zou openen omdat het zijn passie en zijn verlangen was om al deze mensen samen te brengen. Hij gaf het kader mee van zowel de spelers in het Vlaamse transitieveld als van Art of Hosting, in zijn eigen vertellende stijl. We waren vertrokken!

Dan een kennismaking: zowel met elkaar als met de vier kwadranten (bouwend op Ken Wilber) die altijd en overal tegelijk aanwezig zijn. ’t Was tof om er op deze manier – letterlijk – in te stappen en nieuwe mensen te leren kennen. Rik en Ivo hadden er hun werk van gemaakt en het nuttige aan het aangename gepaard. Fascinerend ook om te zien dat er een vrij gelijke verdeling van mensen was verspreid over het hele veld; èn heel wat mannen in het van van Ik-Innerlijk! Trouwens dat was ons al opgevallen van in het begin: veel meer mannen dan vrouwen onder de deelnemers; net andersom dan in de vorige Open Leerdag rond Participatie.

Dan was het tijd om het diepere en ruimere gesprek te openen om te kunnen starten vanuit een gezamenlijke basis. World Café is hiervoor een zeer geschikt instrument. De techniek en de principes zijn helemaal in lijn met de wereldvisie van levende systemen. Het brengt ons – door het wisselen van gesprekspartners doorheen de drie rondes – in een soort van chaos. In ieder geval is voor even het overzicht op het geheel kwijt, maar de minimale structuur die ook de dingen weer samenbrengt, biedt de kans dat er iets wezenlijk nieuws ontstaat. Het chaordische (op de grens tussen chaos en orde) laat ruimte voor een grote diversiteit, brengt ons vaak in een weerstand of een ‘kreukzone’, maar dan kan de emergentie zijn werk doen. Dan kunnen we van een Groots Gemene Deler –die altijd klein is – naar het Kleinst Gemeen Veelvoud – wat dus groter is én alles omvat.

Julie had het allemaal mooi uitgetekend de dag voordien en loodste iedereen hierdoor. Ze benadrukte nogmaals dat dialoog pas lukt als we het gevecht, de discussie achterwege laten, maar denken in “én – én”, diep luisteren en de verschillende draadjes door mekaar weven.

Dit weven – het weven van een web zonder voorafgaand plan – was een metafoor die we in onze voorbereiding veel hadden gebruikt. Er zijn zo veel mensen op één of andere manier bezig met transitie; wat kan er niet ontstaan als we meer bedacht zijn om de andere velden mee te betrekken in onze projecten? Ergens was dat onze hoop voor deze dag, en zowel het World Café als de Open Space was een aanzet in deze richting. We sturen niet in de richting van het ontstaan van een bepaald soort initiatief, wij willen vooral ruimte en tijd creëren die de

zelforganisatie kan bevorderen. Ruimte waar passie, verantwoordelijkheid, initiatief en engagement optimaal tot hun recht kunnen komen.

Het leuke vond ik dat het belang van goede vragen werd onderkend. Dat is inderdaad iets waar elke hosting team – van eender welk project of initiatief – veel tijd aan besteed. Het is één van de pijlers van hosting, en ook wat het vaak verschillend maakt van begeleiding (of faciliteren). Hosts zijn geen experten in antwoorden, maar verstaan de kunst om (grote) groepen van mensen door ‘conversations that matter’ in betekenisvolle dialoog te laten evolueren tot het opnemen van initiatief en zinvolle actie. De vraag/vragen waarrond je mensen laat praten, en hoe de vraag is geformuleerd maakt of kraakt zo’n dialoog, omdat het een smal of ruim kader biedt, al of niet beperkende vooronderstellingen aan het licht brengt.

In het oogsten van het proces van het World Café – niet het oogsten van de inhoud dus – was een opmerkelijk moment. In het vuur van zo veel goede ideeën en veel gepraat stelde één tafeltje voor om 1 minuut stilte toe te laten. Wat we prompt deden en velen van ons weer/meer in ons lichaam bracht. Het was voor mij een aanduiding dat we misschien te veel in ons programma wilden stoppen… dat we te weinig het eerste principe van Art of Hosting hadden ingebouwd: Wees aanwezig. Ik moet mezelf er altijd aan herinneren dat voor vele mensen aanwezig zijn in hoofd, lichaam en gevoel niet gewoon of evident is… We hadden gerust enkele korten stukjes hier rond kunnen inlassen… volgende keer beter!

Voor mij was de stilte voelbaar, niet alleen de afwezigheid van praten, maar wel de collectieve aandacht voor de kwaliteit van stilte en rust… Wat als we die kwaliteit zouden kunnen vasthouden als we gesprekken voeren en de dingen kunnen uitspreken die dan opborrelen, ook al hebben we ze nooit eerder zo gedacht of uitgesproken? Rik nam over en bracht ons weer in een cirkel.

Bijna middag. Tijd voor Open Space. De overkoepelende vraag was: Transitie is bezig, hoe kan ik mee het verschil maken om het in een goede/betere/gewenste richting te sturen? Een oproep weer tot het volgen van je eigen passie en het zelf verantwoordelijkheid nemen daarvoor. En die passie was duidelijk aanwezig! Op vrij korte tijd werden 1à à 12 sessies aangekondigd; en zoals meestal: moeilijk kiezen want zo veel interessants! Wat ik mij nog herinner uit het hoofd:

- vraag en aanbod samenbrengen
- transitie en scholen
- begeleiden van transitie en geld verdienen
- een sessie buiten die in de gang eindigde
- ikzelf bood een leermoment aan rond Chaordisch Pad
- …….

Broodjes werden vlug verorberd tijdens een half uurtje pauze en meteen ging een eerste

ronde sessies van start. Een uurtje later de tweede ronde. Intense gesprekken, iemand rustig op zichzelf… iedereen haar/zijn eigen energie volgend… de wet van de twee voeten: leren of bijdragen, anders weg!

Het samenbrengen van de vele sessies is altijd een moeilijke opgave in een kort tijdsbestek. Toch vond ik de korten 1 minuut aankondigingen én de extra tijd voor het gallerijbezoek wel geslaagd. Alleen weer te kort. Ik voelde me als een schooljuf om onze tijdsplanning toch min of meer aan te houden.

Langzaamaan gingen we uitbollen. Tijdens de voorbereiding hadden we ervoor gekozen op ruim tijd te nemen om terug te kijken op de dag en te kijken naar het grotere geheel. Het grotere verhaal hadden we het genoemd. Eerst even individuele tijd voor persoonlijke reflectie: Wat wordt duidelijk van het grotere verhaal en hoe zal dat je acties beïnvloeden? Delen in groepjes van drie en dan een gezamenlijke oogstronde. Zeer veel, mooie, diepe, inspirerende punten werden verwoord…
… het transitie-concept werkt blijkbaar verbindend (ook al hebben we het niet gedefiniëerd!)
… we zijn blijkbaar – als beweging/stroming – volwassen geworden en hoeven geen gelijke meer te halen of ons te verdedigen.
… de vele perspectieven en experimenten kunnen daardoor naast mekaar bestaan en mekaar bevruchten: de vrucht van diversiteit én het advies: werk nooit alleen!
… de draadjes – het mycelium – tussen de paddestoelen zijn voelbaar
… en iedere paddestoel is zijn eigen klein verhaal
… vanuit goesting!!!
… het geheel is zichtbaar, maar niet overzichtbaar
… proces en inhoud; structuur en cultuur gaan hand in hand
… het ‘is’ geen verhaal, maar het verhaal ontvouwt zich en het pad vormt zich
… wat zou goede voeding zijn voor dit mycelium?
…

Goede verhalen zijn een ongemeen sterk middel om dingen los te zetten, ze zijn een bijl om het bevroren meer in onszelf te lijf te gaan. (Franz Kafka)

Tijd om af te ronden…
ieder nog één woord…
met de tonen van Rik op de handpiano…

Het smaakte naar meer en langer.
(nog meer foto’s hier)

For me this is a must read about one of the current new developments: understanding more about what The Commons is about. Here you find an interview with Silke Helfrich, one of the leading ladies of this ‘movement’ of commoners.

I thought you could do this one click to read it, instead of copy/paste it over here. You might find other interesting stuff over there, who knows?

A comic story that is travelling… makes clear why I am into permaculture!

God: Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.

St. Francis: It’s the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers ‘weeds’ and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

God: Grass? But, it’s so boring. It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It’s sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

St. Francis: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

God: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

St. Francis: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it-sometimes twice a week.

God: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

St. Francis: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

God: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

St. Francis: No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

God: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

St. Francis: Yes Sir.

God: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

St. Francis: You aren’t going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

God: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It’s a natural cycle of life.

St. Francis: You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

God: No!? What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

St. Francis: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

God: And where do they get this mulch?

St. Francis: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

God: Enough! I don’t want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you’re in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

St. Catherine: “Dumb and Dumber”, Lord. It’s a story about….

God: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.

From one of my friends…

Sisters,
I felt the call to share this with you… feeling like it is a beautiful description fo the harvest and reminding me that no accident that we are harvesting our work now (from Women Moving the Edge) – in this autumn harvesting energy. I hope you enjoy… from one of my teachers Richard Heckler of the Strozzi Institute. I find myself full of longing to be with real food and women creating the next form of fruit to jam…. ugh! That longing!

Here is what she send along; pictures are mine, taken on Genesis Farm – a great place to be!

Let The Arrow Fly

A nickel-plated summer sky, gloomy and cool, finally opens to an unrelenting sun. Bingo! Everything ripens at once. Yellow squash, beans, zucchini, arugula, lemon cucumbers, blackberries, watermelon, roma tomatoes, cantaloupe melon, lettuce, and chard are the bright headliners in the garden. I also collect the windfall from the pear, apple, plum, and peach trees and give them to my neighbor Amy. They return as applesauce and jam. There is plenty enough for both of us. Fingernail dirt and sparkling glass canning jars, reciprocity is well remembered when the jam spreads resplendent on morning toast.

I return to the orchard and harvest the remaining fruit. The ground is wet from the night’s dew and the mourning doves break from the top branches and fly to the dojo roof. I ramble through the trees first shaking the larger branches and see what falls. Then I eyeball their color, cup them in my hand and feel if they’re keen to surrender their relationship with the mother tree. Each piece of fruit is different; their unique timeline of sun, water, the biology of photosynthesis, and the Great Mystery all factor into their readiness to be plucked into a new life. As I wander from tree to tree it occurs to me that, besides simply harvesting fruit, I’m engaging with the questions: “What is being ready?” “How do we know that something is ready to come to a new form?” This is not the ready of, “I’m dressed and ready to go.” But, more in the theme of the Old Testament author who says in Ecclesiastes, “There is a season for all things. There is a right time for everything.”

What is the right time to harvest the fruits of our actions? What is the moment to surrender? What is it that longs to come to form? What yearns to be released into a new life?

If I wait too long the fruit falls bruised, immediately settled by squatter ants and yellow jackets. If I force them off the stem, they’re hard and without the sugar load that makes them what they are. When we force something we’re usually ahead of ourselves and off center, acting out of self-interest and fear; if we hesitate or procrastinate our fear drives us to inattention and we don’t heed what is required and the harvest is lost.

Perhaps our part in evolution may be simply to attune to what has now come to fruition and is to be harvested. Yes, there are certain logical predictors of this but if we wholly rely on our mental decision-making we will lose the wisdom of a vaster intelligence. In kyudo, the Japanese art of archery, the moment of releasing the arrow is called hanarai. This is the result of ai or harmony. It is the moment where the fully drawn bow, in synchronization with the body and spirit of the archer, can no longer contain the energy of the union position, and the arrow is spontaneously released. The release or surrender then is naturally birthed from ai. A legendary kyudo Master said, “When the time is right, the arrow flies, as a fruit falls from a tree.” The arrow flies simply because it is what must occur next. It is a poetic completion of dignity and daring.

The deep inner wisdom that tells us when to take action and how to do it skillfully is part of the path of mastery. Feeling and sensing the current of energy that moves through us is the doorway to contact that wisdom. This requires that we listen deeply to the impulses, images, and streamings that are part of our livingness. Take a moment and walk through your inner garden and feel and sense what has ripened in you and can now be harvested; notice what has not yet come to maturity – needing more time to develop. See what can be composted to enrich your future visions. Hanarai!

Take It Easy, But Take It

One of my friends of Women Moving the Edge, Cari, send a link to a TED video that she is enthused about. (many, many good video’s there! ) And I fully agree! It is a famous writer (which I didn’t know before…), Elisabth Gilbert, talking about the creative process and the role of the ‘daimon’ or ‘genius’.

This is the announcement on the TED page:

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

Cari wrote in her note to us: “… can’t help feeling just listening to it again after a while that she is talking about source. … I think what we (Women Moving the Edge) are working with a is a reliable, replicable practice to call on and be with and come from source such that the capriciousness that she speaks of (the maddening part of creativity historically) is diminished. Like a channel we are receiving stronger or evolving into hearing better, louder, clearer over time….

Over the last months and even years I have been writing down the learnings, insights and patterns that have come out of the 9 iterations of the Women Moving the Edge gatherings; and much is about source, sourcing and collective sourcing. I just started the process to let the manuscript be read by a few of my dear friends and co-creators in this experiment. Helen just recently, took one part of it, and turned it into a beautiful blogpost! Just read along!

Recently, I have been for two weeks ‘on the road’. I put it into brackets as I haven’t been driving a lot, as I was mainly hosted in two places. One place was with my friend Judy, in Gloucester, near Boston, and the other place was at Chris and Caitlin’s house on Bowen Island near Vancouver.

What I appreciate so much is how my friends open their house in a most natural way. It really makes me feel at home to know that I am trusted that I can make my own tea whenever I want it. It is both nice that at one time they prepare a meal for me to join and at other times they trust that I find the food and the snacks myself. The most fun is that I am allowed to do some little tending in the garden. In Judy’s place I made sure that her big geranium (right name is Pelargonium) will look beautiful again, with lots of flowers, in a few weeks time. Being with Chris in their garden I told him how to prune his outdoor tomatoes. Most of this I learned from my dad and through my own experience. It is so rewarding to pass some of the knowledge on to others.

I made this trip to join in two different gatherings, one was named the Art of Humans Being and the second one was a gathering of stewards of the Art of Hosting. Many times it is named that the work we do through this network is build on friendship. Maybe it is even bigger than friendship. Of course a deep trust in each other is part of it, but it has also to do with the recognition of a certain resonance. It feels to me that this shared vibration includes more than a ‘normal’ friendship, because there is also a deep trust in the unfolding of our future story. There is an inner knowing that we are in deep transition time on the globe and we all want to spread the essential skills of hosting conversations that matter. It was amazing to see the long and inspiring list of all the projects we are all involved with.

The resonance is also about being constant learners and constantly reflecting on where our actions and thoughts originate. This makes for open minds and big open hearts. Sensing, seeing this resonance is always assuring to me and it nurtures my soul! My guess is that if our souls come even into deeper resonance amazing, unexpected and wonderful things will happen.

First picture taken on Bowen Island, where I was hosted by Caitlin and Chris. It is part of quite a big statue, righ there when you enter the island. It is named; Embracing the Spirit of the Flame. The second picture is of Judy, during an exercise outside, in pairs. I found the expression of both speaking of friendship, and maybe or resonance?

A little gem from Dave Snowden in a recent blogpost:

The essence of interventions in a complex space is that you get the system to model itself; you don’t (unlike systems thinking) attempt to model it. Resonates with Gell-Mann idea that the only valid model of a complex system is the system itself. Its one of the key differences between human complexity thinking on the one hand and systems thinking and aspects of computational complexity (agent based modeling) on the other. The dangers of partial or incomplete representation are too high if the system is complex and involves humans, so the focus is on whole system interventions.

Some time ago I posted a question on my Facebook wall: “Sitting with this question: what makes witnessing so powerful? Is it because it links with our deepest soul?” A whole lot of answers came, and really nice ones.

The question had been fueled by recent experiences in some gatherings or learning events. One was were we did a listening circle – instead of speaking when you had the talking piece, now you were the one to listen to the others who would share what they saw was your precious gift. To me, it was a very special moment and someone said: This is even beyond Appreciative Inquiry! It was special because we could all touch a layer that we normally don’t give words to. It was about each others essence. I would say it was about and from the soul level. Also in the Immersion, a learning gathering around Living Wholeness the witnessing was very present.

Here are some of the answers that came on my FB page:
I have been sitting with this question as well Some words from Alan Watts made me wonder if that’s a possible answer!
“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.” ~ Alan Watts

Often I’m reminded that our anatomy doesn’t let us see our own beauty except in a mirror. We can do that for each other!

There is definitely something about being seen and heard – and maybe that is about the universe being seen and heard through each of us.

mirror neurons?

perhaps the gracefulness of not attempting to change but accepting something…

there’s also something about seeing and hearing ourselves within that process which makes it so potent for me too.

The Vedas talk about unmanifest Being splitting itself into Rishi, Devata and Chandas – the Knower, the Process of Knowing and the Known – in order that it might know itself. Witnessing is a practice of being consciously aware of all three to complete the trinity, rather than just focusing on the ‘Known’ …

Isn’t there a lot of wisdom in my friends? I really was surprised by the abundance of the answers, as this was more or less the first time I engaged myself in this way on Facebook!

This is a small video that I immediately repost after seeing it! It fits my recent, deeper insight that this is not about the new story, but about the next story, in an infinite ongoing bigger story.