The Field: Seeking Common Ground

[CSummer]

Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing
There is a field.
I will meet you there.

From a poem by Rumi

The first step to creating what we want is, I believe, coming to consensus on what it is we actually want.
What kind of a world do we want to live in and leave to those who will be here when we're gone?

With your help, I'd like to explore this possibility here.

Reading some of the threads here, I am reminded of reading in one of Carlos Casteneda's books where
Don Juan talked about "clinging to your arguments."

I'm also reminded of the second stage of "community building" as the process was described by
M. Scott Peck in his book, The Different Drum: Community-Making and Peace. That stage is called
"chaos," and is characterized by people trying to fix, convert or straighten each other out.
Judgments and criticisms may also be flying about. Peck was describing what happens at "Community
Building Workshops," in which there is some shared sense of what the group is seeking: a real sense of community or connectedness that goes to a deeper level. I wonder if anyone else here might be seeking
that kind of community.

Up to a point, chaos can be a great distraction. It's also a way to keep us separate from each other - to
maintain the illusion of separateness by focusing on our differences. Given enough time in the intensive
environment of a rather unstructured 2-3 day workshop, people become bored and frustrated and may
eventually go to the next stage: emptiness. This is where we realize that our usual ways of relating are not
getting us where we want to go, and we don't know what to do. If at this point of not-knowing, someone
takes the risk of sharing from a deeper level - e.g., from a heart or feeling level, the group atmosphere
shifts, and others may begin sharing from that level. This opens the possiblity for the group to advance
to the fourth stage: true community.

You may wonder why I think building community is more valuable than keeping ourselves distracted and
separate with concept-level discussions. It is because I believe on some level we all want to have the
power to create a world that is peaceful, just and humane; one in which power is not abused and people
are not controlled by means of deception and violence. If we are to begin creating such a world, we
need to come together around what we really want. Carl Rogers, the renowned psychologist, said:
"What is most personal is most general." To me, this means that we connect on the heart level where
our deepest needs, feelings and aspirations reside, because on that level, we all share essentially the
same kinds of experiences.

They - the "1%" - appear to have a plan or agenda and to be well-organized around that, which greatly
increases their power. We need to do the same, but around a plan and agenda that arises from our
humanity - not from a need to control others or around the divisive messages fed to us by the 1%
as a way of keeping us in conflict.

I feel a sense of urgency, perhaps part of the aging process, but also because things seem to be coming
to a head or heating up - not just climate-wise, but also politically and economically. It seems to me
we are at a time when we need to move beyond our arguing and our differences and begin seriously
looking at what kind of a world we want to create and how we can begin to do that. Part of our cultural
conditioning tends to keep us stuck in feeling powerless to make change happen, and spending time and
energy debating and focusing on our differences can reinforce that.

I invite you to join in an exploration starting with the question: What kind of world do you want to live in?
If you'd like to explore this with me, I ask that we seek to move completely outside the existing political,
economic and cultural boxes and focus on what we really want.

CSummer

[CSummer]

Here are my proposed answers to the question:
What kind of world do we want to live in and leave future generations?

A just society based on mutual caring and support and on sharing of resources, responsibility and power.

Community-based planning and decision-making; working together cooperatively to fulfill our
plans and choices.

Ensure that everyone has access to the resources that are required to meet real human needs.

Peace: the absence of war and other forms of violence

Technologies that are ecologically sustainable, benign or restorative.

Compassionate treatment for all creatures.

There comes a time when the only thing that makes sense
is to go for what we really want.

If not now, when? If not us, who?

CSummer