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Archive for natural pattern

Restoring Wholeness in Lake Superior

Sunrise

This week I’m in a ceremonial retreat in a cottage on the shores of Lake Superior with some dear friends and colleagues. We are engaged in an emergent endeavor that has brought us together several times over the last year to contemplate the sacred task of restoring wholeness in the world.

The first part of this task is of course to restore wholeness in
ourselves, and spending these days and nights cradled in the rhythm of
nature feels like a crucial step in that process for me. I’m reminded that waking each
morning to the sunrise is an amazing restorative, completely free and
available to all…

Each of us have work and lives that take us to the heart of restoring wholeness
in our own part of the world, and yet we realize that none of us can make the
difference we want to see alone.  We feel that the crucial call of
our time is to come to consciousness about our relationship to each
other and to the earth. To recognize that we are individual parts of one
living organism, one body, and that all our actions, even our thoughts, effect
the other parts of this shimmering web. As a species we’ve wandered off that
path of knowing and our subsequent actions have effected the very air
we breathe and water we drink. It is imperative that we find our way back to consciousness, and to the love that is the very core of life, the motivation and reward and purpose of all. To the wholeness that is our true nature.

So we meet, and strengthen our bonds, and develop the microcosm of wholeness within and between ourselves and take the next step in doing what’s ours to do in manifesting wholeness in the macrocosm … I take an enormous amount of heart in knowing that we are not unique (and of course we ARE unique). All over the world there are others, too – gathering, restoring wholeness, repairing their part of the great web of life. I know many of you, and hear of more every day. One of my passions is shining a bright light on each of us so we can find each other and make common cause, because our time together here is precious and all too short, and there is much to do.

Belissimo Felissimo

One of my bibliophile friends frequents his local library’s infamous monthly book sales and distributes the inexpensive treasures he finds there as ‘prizes’ for our families’ regular Wizard games. The other night I received (for 4th place, no less) a gorgeous book that appeared to have been produced by an international group I’d not yet heard of, Felissimo.

I was initially enchanted by the beauty of the book’s design and
imagery, but almost immediately I became equally intrigued by the text,
which was presented in both English and Japanese. Here is an excerpt from the
introduction:

"All life is interdependent. No matter how proud we are of our
intellect, no matter how wonderful the civilizations we create, human
beings simply cannot live alone. Nature is the thread that binds all
lives together… we know many things. But what truly makes us happy?
At Felissimo, we have devoted ourselves to unraveling this paradox and
we have come to the conclusion that "love" is the answer. This does not
mean, simply, to love another person, but rather to embrace all life
with a deep, abiding respect."

Apparently Felissimo (which is made of two Latin words that mean
‘bliss’, & ‘with emphasis’) is a design company devoted to a ‘whole new
way of doing business’. They have a philanthropic arm, or perhaps it is more accurate to say they are an entirely philanthropically-motivated business, which supports a whole slew of creative and environmentally positive projects in an activation of their basic philosophy, which is to make a better world through applied creativity.

Bravo, Felissimo!