Seeds for a happy planet

“Dear Friends,

This is the time for the emergence of a new feminine archetype. I call it the “feminine cocreator.” As we have fewer children and live longer lives, as the world heads into its “crisis of birth” of a new humanity, this feminine cocreator is arising. We are giving birth to the authentic feminine self and our work in the world because it is necessary for the survival and thriving of our very species.”

This is the first paragraph of an email send out by Barbara Max Hubbard (visionary, futurist, author) to announce the Women’s Wisdom Conference: Touching Greatness, Igniting Purpose and Passion, and also the book The Power of Yin.

Just now – today – when I want to announce the second Women Moving the Edge gathering, which I host and organise with Judy Wallace from the US. This is the first paragraph from our invitation:

“A purposeful gathering of conscious women who will:
• explore and move the edge of what it means to know, sense, and be our emergent collective future potential
• hold, embrace, and birth the unfolding wholeness together
• and in this process of discovery co-create new grooves in consciousness beyond our individual and collective edge

In this gathering we will not only explore the edge, we will be it, we will do it. Our world requires of us the courage to open, to engage, to inquire, to suspend, and to explore beyond what we think we know. Together we will co-create and be the vessel to awaken the inter-subjective “We”, the Being who comes alive through all of us together, who awaits our invitation to bring collective leadership into the world.”Although they are both about The Power of Yin, the difference is that the first format is about ‘Presenters’ and the second one is about ‘Participants’…

Although days and weeks have past since we held the Art of Hosting on Art of Hosting early June, it is only now that I have the time to harvest some more of it. During some of the sessions I made notes, which I will now share.

After the Open Space sessions of the second day we came together in the big circle, and were asked to share the learnings of this day within the little groups formed in the morning, in honouring of this collective, emerging pattern.

I found myself in the morning immediately in the space that was named as that what is not yet visible in the pattern and the pain in the community, the world. Other words that were named: Seeing the whole, holding the field; seeing, naming what is not whole yet. Love and trust. Invitation from the field. Silent witness. Witnessing the pain.
Tom Hurley asked: In what ways is the shadow holding the field? I never thought of it in this way! That what is in the shadow is actually holding the field… maybe… embracing our own shadow is necessary to host other people in it… certainly…

One question was offered: What did you see, what have you learned today?

One session was on Creating an Art of Hosting field book. How would a book look like, when read, it would invite more hosting? It would need to be an example of the Art of Hosting, it would hold space…

Another session was on new tools or practices to use within Art of Hosting: How to express – and experience – its essence without words? The main message was, whenever we are hosting: use more senses and trust that there are people in the group so that you can start co-hosting…

But this sharing was not a mere reporting back of what was the content of the Open Space sessions, it was also giving words to some deeper patterns.
Tom, as an outsider of this community was privileged to reflect back to us: “I really appreciate and honour there was simultaneously a continuing sensing into and inquiry in to the essence of the Art of Hosting and at the same time, also probing the edge: where this work is evolving. Art of Hosting as a dojo… as something we need to develop… actually – in each of the conversations – the pattern of this morning was present – all the elements… It is a testimony to you all: each person is fully welcomed and being listened too. A real honouring of relationship. I want to bear witness, it is not just a nice set of words; it is a practice that is tangible. The invitation to live in the next level, it was embodied. I saw a community growing itself, by practicing its own patterns.”

Toke said: “When life is at stake – the big turning, the future – and we are ready to be learners and teachers, then de dojo arises. It can happen in the car, in a retreat, but it has certain boundaries. The next level of the Chaordic pattern is: practice generosity, share freely what we learn as quickly as possible; be a student; be a teacher, and practice relationships/friendship/trust. Maybe that’s all. This is a code of ethics for an Art of Hosting practitioner. I have experienced the generosity – when people hold big work – “It was enough that you took the time to come.” That is the service we can offer. This happened here: we showed up for each other. That is my mate: to whom I can speak of my fear, and he will not shy away…”

In that moment in the circle I saw lines coming together… George talked at different times about an Evolutionary Guidance System. Suddenly I saw how it is comprised of different arts:
the art of calling
the art of convening
the art of hosting
the art of harvesting
the art of governance
the art of wise acting

And who said this, I don’t remember… “I have just sat with a circle of grandmothers, on the third day in listening to the guidance. There was a pattern that wanted to come through the pipe. On the fourth day we surrendered, and it came. We saw the four paradigms of governance, and then the fifth paradigm. The intelligent, wise collective use – the sphere – this is a structure in which the spiritual, the social, the business, the public sector, can live together in reasonable harmony. To bring it into place takes time, takes conversations…”

Tom: “Some of what I’ve been hearing, I hear in other circles as well. Different circles see the same thing, connected to the same deeper source.
But how do organizations and networks relate to other groups? What form might conversations and partnerships with related circles, related organization take? We clearly need each other; we need all the circles to co-operate that will support the re-invention of all these sectors. Art of Hosting has some real thing to offer it. By standing in the circle you get to know the essence, but somebody from outside can see it different. Fascinating to explore….”

Toke: “Duri and I have this dream to call the founders of all these lineages…
it might not be the founders… I feel most at home here, if the dojo is to practice friendship…The gathering need to be of people… not attached to one form…. they will only really ‘produce’ when ‘what really matters’ is in the center.“

Being part of the World Café community and the Art of Hosting community I see three movements happening, which can all be seen as a translation of a re-connecting with wholeness.

First of all we see how meaningful conversations become part of bigger processes, which lead to or are intended to foster community building. It goes beyond having now and then a meaningful conversation, but we see these meaningful conversations arise as an operating system in a community (like Kufunda and the Shire), a region (like in Ohio), a city. It is an expression of what Phil Cass came to see as the difference between ‘the individual voice’ and ‘the official voice’. People in their position tend to feel victimized by the big system they are working in, but when asked to act as an individual they are willing to engage in conversations, even when the outcomes are not sure. People tend to be resilient, positions are not!

A next development tha I see is that body, movement, stillness, meditation, martial arts gets bit-by-bit integrated in these ‘talking’ communities. It is another integration or re-connection that happens. It will lead us in the end to – what I call – a wholeness of knowing. An integrated knowing of mental, physical, emotional intelligence; together with what we learn from nature’s intelligence, systemic intelligence and so much more!

The last topic is about how to steward his kind of global movement, global communities. There is not one leader, and we see people all throughout the global netwerk taking up responsibilities. How to host this kind of living being? How to keep is somehow ‘on track’; meaning: congruent with it’s initial pupose, but flexible enough to include diversity and evolve over the years? We see both networks flourish on the friendships that are build over time. Isn’t this also a sign of reconnecting with wholeness, when work, life and voluntary engagementt is all one, and shared with each other?

The complementary part of reconnecting with wholeness is that each uniqueness can become visible and manifest. Then what is the difference between these two networks?

The Art of Hosting is more focused on the inner art of hosting, and trains people in and outside communities to become better hosts, which can then train other people. Something like martial arts in the field of hosting.

World Café has its own book and gets translated in more and more languages. it has a new website and is building up it’s online community through blogs and forums. It seems more outside oriented. Please add your thoughts on this!

Sitting outside in my garden on this summerlike Spring evening, the fragrance of a special apple three fills my nose. How abundant nature is! The three is full, full of uncountable little white flowers, spreading its smell with no holding back.

I just finished reading the book Artful Leadership by Michael Jones. The subtitle is: Awakening the Commons of the Imagination. The first chapter is called: A Walk in the Park; The Personal and Social Artistry of Leadership. It says:

In times of uncertainty
we need to look to the spaces between
for order and coherence -
to gifts, beauty, grace, voice and wholeness -
what may be called the commons of the imagination.
Awakening to the presence of the commons
in both the personal and the public imagination
is our new art form.
It is also the leader’s new work.

For me it is a book of great inspiration. I made notes on almost every page! You have to read if you are more or less interested in Leadership for the future. It holds equal value as the book Presence, by Otto Scharmer and his colleagues. Michael, being a musician, and knowing a lot about writers, poets etc. can give beautiful words, poems and quotes to what will be essential qualities for all of us, and leaders in particular.I enjoyed reading it, as much as enjoying the smell and the view of my neighbour’s apple three.

I’m slowly coming back into ‘normal’ life after a 3,5 day dancing workshop. It was an international 5 Rhythms workshop, named ‘Journey into Trance’, led by Jonathan Horan.

Coming back to ‘normal’ life doesn’t mean that I am stiff or that I am longing for more dance, but it means that I’m really changed by the workshop and I don’t want the old habits to take over! It is amazing what dancing with attention and awareness can do!

I knew it, and some years ago I took a lot of workshops – covering a lot of life-themes – and then I stopped. Don’t know why; it just happened. It supported my personal development in many, many ways. The most important thing was that it gave my pleasure and spontaneity back! This workshop and how it was designed, and also my level of how I stepped in went beyond this. What Jonathan named Trance, was what we name in other circles as ‘not-knowing’. It has nothing to do with a trance, like when taking drugs and one part of you is off the world. Trance is there when you are totally in the moment, when you are not dancing, but the dance is coming through you! It are heavenly moments when you are so fluid and open that you are able to follow your body – no thoughts or fears in the way – and what your body is doing is just amazing!

Because of the theme we danced a lot on ‘chaos’ music – the one with a heavy and quick beat. One of the guidelines throughout the workshop was to follow the repetitions that your body makes. As you follow through them, it will finally result in some healing motions: a self-healing of the body. One moment in this chaos music, I was lying in the floor, very sensitive and attentive to what happened in my body. I had already ‘worked’ with releasing some tension in my lower belly, but now – everytime I wanted to get up on my feet – I could sense a slight anxiety in my upper chest. Of course I could step over it, and just return to my ‘normal’ way of dancing, but I was here to do something else. So I followed my body, the opening up of my chest in a very, very slow way; on every side surrounded by people dancing and jumping in all kinds of ways! The anxiety was slightly above my stomach, causing some little nausea. Millimeter by millimeter I opened my chest by opening my left arm. And suddenly tears were in my eyes, I could cry for the many times I was supposed to be bigger than I was, and I ‘stood up’ with some fear blocked in my body for almost 50 years!

There were a lot of moments like this, and I was happy with the few guidelines that were provided. They were right on the spot and not too much, and they spoke about great wisdom. So here I am with a much softer body, a much deeper relaxation inside.

An important insight I got – another gift that dancing gives to me – is that this embodied presence will be so needed in the future, especially for leaders. One moment of big chaos, turmoil and screaming, when more or less all 70 participants were struggling with their own blockages to come to a deeper place of surrender, I felt myself dancing in this quick beat but with total silence inside of me. Immediately I ‘saw’ how important this would become for the future! Complexity and chaos will increase in our world and we will need bodies that are capable of being totally in this chaos and still have the capacity to act and think out of stillness. Not being re-acting out of our own hidden and unconscious fears, hiding away somewhere deep in our bodily tissue.

Once again, I was in awe for the beautiful, spiritual practice that the 5 Rhythms can be. I want to end with one quote from Gabrielle Roth (the mother of Jonathan), the inventor – founder of this beautiful map:

“Anything outside the breath is ego.”

Lots of enthused people for the first Art of Hosting Learning Day, but finally we gathered with six – and a baby. And a learning day it was!

My body held still some sadness as I arrived, triggered by some last minute cancellations. I felt my face was closed.

We were welcomed by Rik in nature – his favorite working space – and by the sound of his flute. We stood in circle under a very old tree, hearing the sounds of working machines and closeby stood some building materials. It felt right to include them in our circle… including the ones who choose to do some ‘work’ and not to be here with us; and including the world ‘out there’…

I felt that nature, the silence and slow pace of our conversation and the music opened me up again… what a relief! My face opened up, my breathing became deeper and the smile returned on my face!

We were then invited to have a creative presentation as an answer to the question: In your wildest dreams, who – what – where do you want to host? Of we went for 20 min to let the ideas come up…

When we gathered again Sander was the first to invite us to join him in putting our nose to the window glass of the big room where he sees himself hosting leaders of the world. What did we see or hear while looking inside? This picture is what Helen saw: looking through the window, through the room, through the window on the other side, throught the garden, and through the gate and still seeing Sander’s reflection! Amasing lessons were shared from these small observations and Sander had the impression these answers were why he came all the way from the Netherlands to join us in this day.

Next was Hannelore to tell her wildest dream of having a farm and a garden connected with the Heerlijckyt, so that ‘a whole life’ experience can be offered to all visitors. She invited us in the field with the three donkeys…

Now it was Rik’s turn, and to keep his – and our – fire burning, he invited to build together a structure with some wood we could find around the place. This was an amasing experience! Nobody took the lead, the men were more collecting the sticks, women tended to build the foudation of the structure… and we managed to build something that was nice and exceptional! Again different lessons about working together, how things can emerge with no plan beforehand and lots more!

All this strenghtened my idea of how important it is to include the wholeness of knowing – all the different ways of accessing knowing.

Time for lunch!

This time we gathered around the fire-place inside, and I started harvesting on a big sheet of paper what we already got out of our conversations. If you ever were part of this kind of flowing, inspiring conversations you know it is almost impossible to capture. So rich, so many links, deep silence, building on each other, deepening our understanding together…

Some of the sentences:
We host the new world, as it emerges. Hosting means: holding the field outside the content; hosting the container for questions; hosting the process between people; hosting the trust.

We are creating the new, conscious groove.

What spoke to me the most was: We come together as hosts – without content – as the field, and this is an evolutionary, collective act and practice.

It was clear to us, after some time, that we were not here to organise something or to find a next step for some kind of action. This coming together, our search for deeper meaning, this inspiring conversation was our purpose!

Since earlier in the conversation we were talking about the history of the venue, De Heerlijckhyt van Elsmeren, where we were gathered and that we all have a strong relationship with. It was here that the first Art of Hosting happened last October. Julian remembered his first visit, when I showed him the barn that is used these days for storing wood and all the working materials. Somebody proposed to visit it right now, and of we went…

It is truly a remarkable place… a deep silence is almost tangible… an emptyness…

Rik started playing his flute, two others joined in with sound… Who is singing? Who is singing me?

The last words on the flipchart:

simplicity of love

power of silence

the mystery

as a gift

Thanks to Helen, who made so many beautiful pictures, go and visit them here! I’m pleased that I could use some of them to beautify my blogposting. The harvest team is building!

It is Saturday already, and I still want to share the last part of our fascinating gathering. Our harvest on Tuesday morning still had the same quality of a collective sensing field that started on Monday morning. There was an overall opening to a collective and deeper knowing, in the form of questions ànd answers.

We were wondering about: What is the transformative dynamic? What made us come to this point, this state of collective wisdom, this Circle Being? Many elements were named…
start from silence…
deep listening…
walk the talk…
contain the pain and destructive forces…
holding chaos…
emptying for the whole word…
start from diversity…
trust the system…
listening to Life itself…

But the real answer was to me:
A community that has the willingness and the practice to tune into the notes of grace.

(more…)

We started our third day again with some music, movement and dancing: to become present in our bodies, to be able to receive precious information from that source of wisdom and knowing. Actually the start was earlier. We all arrived more or less on the scheduled time, some were lightning the candles, clearing away stuff from yesterday that we didn’t need anymore; putting the flipcharts on the wall etc. Only then we were invited in to the dance and at the end we let the words in of Sheila Chandra:

Women, I’m calling you!
Yourr wisdom can not be lost,
your spirit can not be broken!
Your wisdom is in dreams.

(more…)

again by Judy!

This afternoon was moving in and out of confusion and chaos.  I guess this is part of the process.  I felt we were really all coming from different places.  I could not discern a voice from the Middle.  I think we were not at all tuned into any collective knowing.  We were working with Action Learning, which is probably a very good tool, but not working well in this context.  We did not seem to converge on a question or have group buy-in to the process.   So we seemed to stop and start and restart.

All the while most present for me were the questions:

What is our Circle Task?
What if we are doing this FOR the world?

Many seemed to feel the question of how we were to make a difference in the world was too big.  Or that it was presumptuous to think we could really be much more than a ripple in a stream.  I was yearning to move into a deeper inquiry, a deeper space, into communion with a question, almost any question.  I know that from Moving the Edge last March I had worked through some of my uncertainty and fear with this process.  And yet it is still an edge.  After once touching into speaking from the Middle, I would forever want to return there, to that incredible and liberating power of knowing.  To that little worn groove in consciousness, that is now a bit more familiar.  The possibilities are so vast.  The opportunity to shift consciousness even in a small way is so attractive energetically.  It is as if consciousness is calling, magnetizing me and us to answer, to listen, to sense into, to be present, to co-sense, and to co-presence.  Once knowing this experience it becomes a capacity that must be utilized, that must be put into service.  The sense of urgency is compelling.

And then near the end of this long afternoon, Ria spoke as consciousness spoke through her.  I sat in silent support, holding the space, honoring her as the vessel.  Lisa captured her words; I was in stillness and awe of the clarity and presence of what emerged.  I defer here to Lisa’s rendering.  It was a huge shift for us.  We all knew it.

And then we moved easily and gently into dinner and a relaxing evening of conversation.  We glowed around the fire and admired the incredible pictures captured on Helen’s camera – colorful renderings of our faces, our hands, our time, and the beautiful setting that is the Heerlijckyt.

A Blessed day!

Blogentry by Judy

What is behind the shadow? The long held and suppressed multiple ways of women knowing. The natural ways that have been suppressed in consciousness – from Witch hunts, the Inquisition, and our own permission. The wisdom of the body, of the womb, of ritual, ceremony, intuition and of the mental and feeling natures.
And now … And now we can begin to rediscover from this level of consciousness, we can create new ways of knowing from this place integrating all, bringing a wholeness to knowing, a new stage on the evolutionary spiral. From the interval, the space between, in time and between us, we can bring forward these sensing organs, nurture this as if a baby in the womb, that is being birthed through us. We have the power to co-create, to co-discover, to nurture, to bring something greater into being, into the world, to change the world.
Comfort Zone and beyond What is ego still holding on to, how do I still make myself feel safe? Is there fear – yes in the not-knowing, in the nothingness, in the fear of being lost. And yet I know that beyond the ego self is the Self, the one who has no fear, no past or future, no need for anything except to be in fullness, in now, and to emerge. No need for comfort as there is no fear. It is really the One, a Collective Self. The only me that is there is an instrument of how this Collective Self will move in the world, through this human consciousness.
The Circle Being So how can we as a circle of women co-create access to this Self? Are there practices that can take us there? How are death, emptiness, the womb, rebirth, nurturance all connected? Who is the She, the Collective She? How can being in a state of inquiry be liberating, safe in a way, free of all limitations, beyond the fears, pain, holding back of the ego self. Is the long held and dwelt upon pain and suffering a comfort zone? I am exhausted from the pain and fear of pain that lives within me. Can I allow what pulls and attracts me to be the draw, at least to the next level of safety and comfort? Can I be in the chaos that surrounds and infuses this journey? With the not-knowing. I am so used to knowing, to the comfort of mental models. Can I move to this frontier? Can we?