Hi Raffi, I was not in Goa but I am a steward of the Seattle Spirited Work community. My heart and soul was in Goa, embedded in Mark, Candi, Anne, Peggy and Michael (who are all members of the spirited work community and present in Goa). The Fourfold Way is outlined in a book with the name by Angeles Arrien. Here is Angeles' website: http://www.angelesarrien.com/
We are in the season of the teacher and the leading principle of this season is to be open to outcome. After two years in the Spirited Work community, the principles of OS and the four-fold way have become woven into the entire fabric of my life. I was familiar with OS for a long time before I 'met' the four-fold way. Now I am not all that clear within myself where OS begins and fourfold begins or where the two intersect. Anyway, the real reason I am writing is to inform anyone who is interested that Spirited Work has a small fund for sponsor the cost of our gatherings for people from other countries. Ethel Kessler, Peggy Holman's mother and a beloved member of the Spirited Work community, asked that memorials to her be dedicated to funding people from other countries to attend Spirited Work. Ethel passed away in the spring. Spirited Work operates as an open space community and whoever shows up are the right people. I happen to be the 'right person' who stepped up to administer the Ethel Kessler Foreigners' Fund (it doesn't have an actual name but since I am the only person in charge of it, I get to call it what I want and this is how I think of it: the Ethel's Foreigners' Fund!). So! The point I am trying to get to is that I have a small fund that I can award to any foreigner who feels drawn to attend a Spirited Work gathering. We do not have funds for travel to Seattle (at least not yet) but if you are reading this and would like to come to Spirited Work, I warmly encourage you to email me and let's see what can happen. Even if you read this and think you can't afford to fly here, not even for a free, fantastic gathering, if the idea of checking out Spirited Work quickens energy within yourself, I urge you to at least contact me. Who knows what might happen?! In this season of the teacher, I aspire to be open, not attached, to outcome. . . but I sure would like to enhance the field of Spirited Work by attracting 'foreigners' to our gatherings. I would like to honor Ethel's impulse to have people from other countries join our work. And I know that the entire Spirited Work community yearns for participants from other parts of the world. We next meet November 11 - 13. Raffi, check us out at spiritedwork.org. >From: Raffi Aftandelian <ra...@pochtamt.ru> >Reply-To: OSLIST <osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu> >To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu >Subject: reflections on Goa >Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 13:27:45 +0400 > >Hi folks! >I'm reposting this because it didn't seem to make the listserv... >Raffi >----- Original Message ----- >From: Raffi Aftandelian >To: OSLIST >Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2004 1:01 PM >Subject: reflections on Goa > > >Hi all! >I wanted to put in my few words about Goa. It was all I could have wished for and more. It was funny how after the first day I was sad that the OSonOS would be over in two days. By the end of the second day, I was very full, so full that I felt too tired to carry on with the 4th (!) topic I'd posted-- "Personal preparation for OST". One of the Indian participants (Khosro, I believe-- I mix up his name because there's a Persian analog of his name) who'd never been to an OST meeting before, however was curious about this topic. And it was curious to be the one imparting information about OST. Prior to that I'd be the one doing the "downloading", listening to more experienced OST practitioners, challenging them (gently), asking questions. Now, of course, any human exchange is a lot more complex and curious than either "downloading" or "uploading". > >I took lots of notes and hope to type them up, much to digest for a while. It's hard even to imagine going to Halifax for now. There was so much from this event, and so much ahead in my personal life as many at the event learned. > >One of the interesting learnings was hearing how Seattle folks, or more precisely the Spiritedwork community there, include the Fourfold Way in opening space. I realized that there were certain OST meetings in the past where I definitely could have used those four practices. As I keep on hearing about the Fourfold Way I realize that it can no longer be a book gathering dust in a box. I need to bring those practices into my life. > >One thing I somehow never got to say to you Harrison, but I did when we hugged upon meeting on Day One, was how grateful I am to you (and Spirit) for bringing OST to our Now and for bringing OS principles into our consciousness. It is such a gift. > >And I am so grateful for Janet Pinto's work in making this OSonOS possible. There were so many touches that just left me very grateful. So much care, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness went into the meeting. While I know that some participants felt awkward about the inclusion of the Ganesha celebration in the OSonOS - which I understand-- I really appreciated the invitation to participate in the celebration. And I really valued hearing the story of Ganesha. > >I left feeling much more confident in my abilities as an OST facilitator. > >Side remark to all: Shabbir looks like my father; and Zachary looks like my brother!! > >Also I want to express my thanks to OSI-USA for making it possible to come to Goa. A real gift. I'll be typing up my notes into Russian and sharing them with the OST world here. > >Warmly from a Moscow bursting with autumn colors (after a beautiful run in Sokolniki Park-- where the tsar and his buddies went falcon hunting in the good old days), >Raffi > >* >* >========================================================== >osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu >------------------------------ >To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, >view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: >http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > >To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: >http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist _________________________________________________________________ On the road to retirement? 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