Ralph,
That does, indeed, sound like a wonderful event. You've also described a
Quaker "silent" meeting for worship at its best: long, meditative silences
punctuated by spontaneous, "spirit led" words and song, connecting on the
spiritual plane, etc. Though they usually only last an hour or so. There
are some at Gathering who will meet in "formal" extended worship.
The event I have been talking about is the annual North American Gathering
for "unprogrammed" Quakers. Unprogrammed Quaker meetings are a type of
spiritual open space. I've longed to go to Findhorn since I first learned
about it 30 years ago. I have suggested to the conference planners, (I am
not one of them), that Open Space be used as a way to add an additional
location and allow more attendees to the week-long Gathering.
Jimmy
At 07:46 AM 3/10/2006, Ralph Copleman wrote:
Hi,
When we respond to Jimmy's question (what's the longest OD event you have
ever heard of?) with the answer, "Life" we may be shutting down the
conversation a little.
It's true enough, I suppose, unless one considers the afterlife.
I was once in an open space event that lasted eight days. After about day
number four, it didn't feel like "life" at all. Things just got deeper and
deeper. The 24 of us entered some sort of eerie zone where pre-cognition
was an every-hour event, and rich, trusting connection on the spiritual
plane seemed to be the only interpersonal currency. It was out of "control"
by any conventional standards, and it was wonderful. It was punctuated, if
that's the right by long, spontaneous, meditative silences. And songs would
just break out. I'm sure none of us will ever have a time like that again.
It took place at Findhorn, Scotland, in May, 1990.
Ralph Copleman
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