Dear Catherine, Much appreciation for your taking time to respond.
Love, Peter and Esther Fisher Asheville, NC Catherine Pfaehler wrote:
Dear Peter and Esther I'm terribly behind with my readings in the list, but I love your essay on Sacred Circles. I forward it to Christine, a church woman in my town, to see if something is meant to happen, as well as to her predecessor Helen, who left her job to start development work in Guatemala. Open Space is a sacred circle in itself to me... Thank you for sharing this with us! Liebe Christine und Helen, wenn Ihr mehr wissen möchtet über Open Space, bitte zurückmailen - ich erkläre Euch die Regeln gerne und kann Euch auch mehr Quellen nennen. Much love and good developmends with your and many more sacred circle(s)... Catherine Catherine Pfaehler Kellersriedweg 8 CH - 2503 Biel T/F/B ++41 - (0)32 - 365 68 41 -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]Im Auftrag von Peter or Esther Gesendet: Mittwoch, 31. Dezember 2003 17:23 An: [email protected] Betreff: SACRED CIRCLES To the OS list: Here is an in-process draft of a write-up on "Sacred Circles" that came out of Open Space. Any comments and/or changes to improve it would be greatly appreciated. Happy 2004! Peter & Esther Fisher Asheville, NC SACRED CIRCLES The Asheville, North Carolina Sacred Circle came together in October 2003 out of an Open Space event. We consider ourselves "spiritual pioneers" as we explore spirit together and continue to evolve our Sacred Circle. But as we note below, it is not for everyone. Our Sacred Circle is a process of deep expression, listening and hearing by every member of the Circle, as we consider each other's responses. We are open to quiet, to song, to toning, to talking, to acting and to expressing and just to be or do "whatever". We are respectful of each other's expression and there is a goodly amount of "space" between our participations so that no one feels hurried, pushed or cut off. We watch and listen closely for threads of commonality and diversity. Both are desirable. We evolve and spiral -- in usually about two hours -- through layers of our personal and group spiritual awakening and reawakening. We often come to an "ideal" vision or situation -- for the moment -- and are then always quite ready for the next outworking -- to yet another ever more new reality. It is an exciting and deeply satisfying process of love outworking. We believe that Sacred Circles inform the next step in humanity's conscious evolution. It just might be incumbent on some pioneering wise, spiritual and thinking people to experience these new ways of being, of participation and of self-organization. It can jump start our conscious evolution toward more profound understandings of our new world -- that seem quite necessary in our world today, for the New Millennium. Some say we are similar to the Friends (Quaker) religion, and we do not mind that comparison, however we have absolutely no creed, no hierarchy, no history, no expectations, no fixed beliefs -- and we are simply not part of any official religious connection nor denomination. We do not have ministers, assistants or hierarchy of any sort. We all participate and it is heart warming to feel the Circle come alive each time with that participation. (As John Stewart, of The Daily Show said on the Larry King program recently: "we don't need anyone to interpret God for us!") Those of us who participate in the Circle have a direct connection to whatever we each sense God to be. We consider ourselves wise, spiritual God beings having a human experience. We know we have absolute CHOICE in our lives! Something beautiful and sustaining happens as we "do whatever we do." Sacred Circles are creative, self-organizing, non-hierarchal and participative. In our Sacred Circle we assume that all participants are both learners and teachers, both students and ministers, and that each and all bring valuable wisdom, knowledge and life perspective to the Sacred Circle. Our Sacred Circle is collaborative and transformative, resulting in many altered states of being, individually and collectively. Sometimes we go beyond BEING to DOING -- with personal or collective action -- spiritual, social, cultural or otherwise. We endeavor to always be in the NOW! Sacred Circles have several precursors. Open Space, developed by Harrison Owen, is primary. Open Space is a group dialogue "technology" and more importantly a way of life --much as Sacred Circles. Except Open Space events are usually held for hundreds, even thousands of people at the same time (over 1 to 3 days) with techniques to break into smaller groups. As we implied above, our Sacred Circle was sparked by and evolved out of an Open Space event. The Open Space phenomenon is an organic approach to facilitation of groups of people and a style of living. It enables a very natural process of self-organization found everywhere in nature. Open space works by creating a simple structure through the application of a few simple rules and allows for a free flow of communication between all its parts. Inside this process, groups unfold in a seemingly random fashion, but in truth, its participants interact guided by their passions and natural attractions. Thus was our Sacred Circle created. We also found the Sacred Circle approach written about by James Redfield in his "Celestine Prophecy" where he said: "Part of the Eighth Insight is learning to interact consciously." This entire approach, however, also harks back to the 60's when George Leonard, then a Look magazine editor and a New Age proponent, wrote a small book entitled "Education and Ecstasy" that was about a possible new state of being. It was about all of us having been brought up to sit quietly in rows in school as small children, about having been required to be attentive to the pronouncements of others as youths and about sitting in audiences, churches and seminars as adults even today -- listening to others talk AT US. The old idea was that others knew more than we did. We are changing that! Some of us have discovered that we have a very strong passion to explore our spiritual wisdom together in Sacred Circles. Sacred Circles are not for everyone, however. One almost has to feel restlessness with his or her current spiritual practices. Those who seem to take to the Circles most have that passion to express their wisdom in interaction and participation with others. These Circles require a profound level of presence and awareness. If one is still very comfortable and content with others taking the primary responsibility for one's religious or spiritual sustenance and consideration, then the Circle is probably not right yet. If one can accept a temporarily greater degree of uncertainty and looseness they may wish to meditate on their motives for attendance at their current religious or spiritual practices. If one has any degree of passion or restlessness toward greater participation, they may wish to attend a Sacred Circle. If you do decide to attend a Circle, please give it a good try, and participate fully three or four times until it "feels" comfortable. There is always a time of angst in "leaving" old familiar friends, practices and expectations. At any rate one can soon find a new community of friends and caring fellow seekers in a Spiritual Circle that will be most supportive, loving and caring -- if you simply give it a chance. We would love to have you join with us or help you get started where you are! Please call or contact us if you are interested in any way. With love, The Asheville Sacred Circle Asheville, North Carolina 828-298-5800 * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
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