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Their experience confirms that integrated people, both men and women, are the inspiration for an integrated society, and that the field evoked by their presence and the work they did together in the circle has the capacity to hold and transform their lives, and the lives of those to whom they are connected. II. Circle Work: A 21st Century Movement in the Making ... your story, your experience, the conditions that allow the circle experience to be present,... When we meet in circle, we concentrate, or condense and then we concentrate more. Then we find ourselves dropping into a deeper space. At the time Guy was dying, Serena called, the two of you [other circle members] called, and while you didn't consciously know Guy was dying, at some level you did know. That wasn't planned; it wasn't rational. It was an example of energetic knowingness that happens when we're all connected in the field. Yes, other circles, practices, or projects that we've taken on. One of those is called "Coming into Your Own," which is a program for women in transition. To me, what just happened was you going over the boundary here. There often has to be a risk in order for the collective to show up. The risk can be one person's, two people's, or all of ours, but there has to be some kind of risk or vulnerability for crossing the threshold that you're talking about. VIII. Feeling the Essential Connection I think it's true of all relationships, that there is a personality dance that happens, for better or worse. Yet there's a more fundamental note that is the being-to-being connection. Once we get over the threshold, there's a certain richness, a collective listening capacity that is humbling. X. The Power of Collective Listening What I call "unfoldment" is trusting a sense of what to do. It was us loving her, loving her father, and her painting a picture of exactly what was so. And then letting go. XII. Being a Portal to Universal Patterns The quality of witnessing or holding that we're talking about here is personal identification with source in the circle. Something like: the eyes through which you see, the heart through which you feel, the ears with which you listen are not personal. But when it comes into the circle field, we witness it lovingly just as it is. XIV. Three Conditions of Collective Listening and Holding It's the impersonality of the love. Your personality doesn't overlay the situation. ...when we check out before closing the circle. It could be a simple thing like, "I'd like to write a letter to my brother to really connect with him deeply, and I'd like you to hold me as I do that, until the next circle." Ken Wilber makes the distinction between I, we, and it. It strikes me that what you describe is yet another perspective: the second person plural, that is, unconditional witnessing by a collective. XVII. Transformation through Holding (Listening) So relationships are more likely to flourish and to unfold if they are held in a larger field, particularly if they're held consciously in a larger field and cared for or blessed consistently over time. Once they could name their world, they could take the next step, which is core to what we do. XIX. Your Essential Self Is Present with You ... that there's something individual that happens for each of us, and then there's a shared creation that also happens. XX. Evoking the Presence of the Circle Being I feel like a bigger person. I feel fuller in my own being. And I feel empowered or enabled in a particular way. I feel seen. I feel the focus of attention is refined; that it's nonjudgmental, and loving. And I feel the presence of the Circle Being, which is different from the sum of the individuals. In calling a circle, we are co-responsible for that which has been called from the Great Field. Yet to me, the partner in the Great Field can always be called upon. The moment that I participate in calling the circle, I'm lighting the sacred fire and entering the stillness. XXII. The Small Group Is the Unit of the Future It immediately becomes something larger when the collective is called. It's as though the song of the collective appears. XXIII. Locating your collective identity in the Great Field I was feeling the field holding me - breathing me, actually. And interestingly enough, one thing that came to my mind was "What's going on at the WTO? " I trust that what comes in the flow as "my" challenge or seemingly personal situation has meaning beyond me. Though it is personal, it is respectfully placed in the clearing because we trust it also relates in some way to broader factors that need clarification or realignment. XXV. Painting Pictures of Circle Presence I'd like to invite each of you to draw two pictures showing how you experience your relationship to: (a) a normal group that you might experience in a meeting at work or in your community, and (b) a developed group such as the Circle of Seven. XXVI. A Field from which Creation Stems So what we're assuming is that this field is all over. We're connected to it. It's within us, around us, and bigger than us. XXVII. Being Seen and Witnessed as Essential Self In the second picture (2b), there's an impression of the unique gift of each one's inner presence or essential self. XXVIII. We All Come into this Circle Surrendered to the Field Yes. So here I am, rather like an alien to this group. I'm out here. I'm doing my darnedest, but in actual fact, I feel like an alien. XXIX. The Presence of the Circle Being It's a change in atmosphere. My ears ring; things slow down; time changes. A quality of depersonalization sets in, and I am urged not to speak casually. I speak when I'm moved by a larger presence that needs a voice. There is always a bit of a mix, but overall it jump-shifts into another zone. Sometimes we note, "We `ve dropped into the field." XXX. Forgoing Images for the Truth of the Moment It was a grand idea; we were going to initiate women everywhere into the fullness of who they are. XXXI. Practices and Practical Results It was a grand idea; we were going to initiate women everywhere into the fullness of who they are. XXXII. Commitment to Keeping the Field Clear and Open That's a rigorous discipline. We pay attention to static and blocks, and clear them as best we can. XXXIII. How Do You Hold the Collective? We stay in touch with each other in between about what's going on. Even if, for some reason, we aren't in touch, we each sustain a loving awareness of that which has been put in our care. XXXIV. The Theory of Change: Shifting the Fields of Attention My inspiration doesn't come from trying to change the world. It comes from doing what comes out of my own love and my own connection with the Great Field. XXXV. In Summary, the Circle in Action Otto, I have a real-time consideration. I'm wondering if you'd like you and your work to be held by this circle? |
