beauty is a light in the heart."
Archive for Beauty – Page 19
beauty is a light in the heart."
We just finished another amazing Thought Leader Gathering on Friday, produced by the west coast
Restoring Wholeness team of Heartland Circle, Resonance and myself –
this one was held in San Francisco, in the Golden Gate Officer’s Club at the Presidio.
Our conversation starter (so called because rather than a keynote
speaker or presenter, their words are truly a spark to fire the
group conversation) was Eamonn Kelly, CEO of the Global Business Network.
Eammon’s perspective about the state of the world (outlined in his excellent new book, Powerful Times) was in complete accordance with my own, but he used such a different analytical matrix to get there that it had the effect of blowing the top off my conceptual limits and letting in more light, illuminating my understanding with different hues than I am usually aware of. I heard variations of this opening and quickening in others as we engaged with Eamonn’s words in small group and whole circle conversations.
The group assembled for this TLG was one of our largest ever – 55 of us sitting in a circle around a centerpiece of beauty created by Pele Rouge of Resonance. We had to lean in a bit to hear each other at first, but with our ‘outdoor voices’ on it was soon effortless and the morning’s experience was extremely full and rewarding, in the unique way this event has of creating magic for us all.
I am continually awed by what happens in these sessions… it seems that no matter who the conversation starter is, who shows up, what the weather or external conditions are (we met the week of 9/11 in an almost unbelievable confluence, given travel limitations in the US at that time), there is always ‘something’ that occurs to make the morning seem like a special gift to each of us. I have the feeling this one will be reverberating in me for some time…
I’ve been appreciating trees – our ‘ent’ brethren – a lot lately. Perhaps it’s because of my recent time on the north shore of Lake Superior, where I met quite a few of them, or their part in the seasonal tableau of pagan beauty, but I’m very aware of their presence right now. Their grace and solidity; their sober vitality – I’m comforted by them.
Maybe that’s why I am so jarred when I see the abandoned Christmas trees start to show up on the side of the road & in empty lots. I shouldn’t be surprised – it’s the time of the year & no doubt there’ll be more of them. But I can’t help but see them as carelessly discarded bodies, homeless corpses ignobly thrown on the heap. I’d rather they were given a proper burial in the recycling chippie and sent back to the soil with a little dignity… if only in gratitude for their having blessed our homes with the smell of the wild.
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.
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