Blogs Harvests & Musings

[Tenneson Woolf]

Beginning -- Some hopes and anticipation of what can happen together.

Day 2 -- Feeling the underlying thread of this gathering.

Day 3 -- Emerging clarity.

[Ria Baeck]

Blog post - report on the first afternoon
Collages from a walk and presence exercise in nature - day 2
“Is it not possible that a place could have a huge affection for th... - Reading from "Beauty - The Invisble Embrace" by John O’Donohue - shared by Edveeje

[Tenneson Woolf]

Circle Harvest -- Humans Repatterning: Perspectives and Practices

[Ria Baeck]

Blog about the Open Space session on What is the relationship between Citizens, Economy and Politics? - using systemic constellation work; which turned out to be about the relationship between the old and the new...

Nuggets of learning shared at the end of our inspiring day three, at the fire place.

[Tenneson Woolf]

12 Principles for Creating Healthy Community Change -- Harvest poem from the kit and the conversation used in an Open Space session.

[Edveeje Fairchild]

Tenneson ... I wasn't in this open space session, but the poem you harvested is amazing. So much said in so few words. Just reading it brings the energy of the retreat back with radiance and joy. Thank you for being the harvest.

Tenneson Woolf said:

12 Principles for Creating Healthy Community Change -- Harvest poem from the kit and the conversation used in an Open Space session.

[Suzanne M. Hoenig]

beautifully done.
Thank you, all. Y'all.

[Rita Wuebbeler]

Thanks so much, Tenneson, for the poem and art work you posted! And thank you ALL for being there this past weekend and co-creating this wonderful experience! Having returned to a very sunny and warm Nova Scotia, I feel immensely grateful for having had the opportunity to be part of this gathering. AND: when I stepped out of my condo building last night to go for a walk, I saw two of my neighbors busily weeding the front lawn and flower section of our building. And they said: JOIN IN!! It never occurred to me that I could satisfy my gardening urges by simply starting at the front of my own building!!!! Sometimes the answer is sooo close!
Also, I want to officially "rename" the umbrella under which we met to "The Art of Harvesting" (half joking, of course)... I have been so impressed and inspired by the practice of harvesting in this AoH community, that I am committing to starting harvesting more myself - after all, it IS part of gardening, no?

Tenneson Woolf said:

12 Principles for Creating Healthy Community Change -- Harvest poem from the kit and the conversation used in an Open Space session.

[Tenneson Woolf]

Catch the bug Rita. An important part of this. Even better when done in the spirit of offerings. Not the whole story or the whole truth. Just some as we remember it. :)

[Suzanne M. Hoenig]

Antevasin

Though I resisted for a few years, I finally read Eat Pray Love. Actually, I listened to it while I drove. As almost always happens with books, she was just what I needed.

I'd like to share one piece that really resonated, especially after our magical time together.

I'll give the brief excerpt and then follow with the whole for context -- in case you're one of the remaining two dozen who haven't read it yet. (Also, the emphasis below is mine.)

"You can still live on that shimmering line between your old thinking and your new understanding, always in a state of learning. In the figurative sense, this is a border that is always moving -- as you advance forward in your studies and realizations, that mysterious forest of the unknown always stays a few feet ahead of you, so you have to travel light in order to keep following it. You have to stay mobile, movable, supple. Slippery, even."

-------------------

By the way, I found my word.

I found it in the library, of course, bookworm that I am. I'd been wondering about my word ever since that afternoon back in Rome when my Italian friend Giulio had told me that Rome's word is SEX, and had asked me what mine was. I didn't know the answer then, but kind of figured my word would show up eventually, and that I'd recognize it when I saw it.

So I saw it during my last week at the Ashram. I was reading through an old text about Yoga, when I found a description of ancient spiritual seekers. A Sanskrit word appeared in the paragraph: ANTEVASIN. It means "one who lives at the border." In ancient times this was a literal description. It indicated a person who had left the bustling center of worldly life to go live at the edge of the forest where the spiritual masters dwelled. The antevasin was not one of the villagers anymore -- not a householder with a conventional life. But neither was he yet a transcendent -- not one of those sages who live deep in the unexplored woods, fully realized. The antevasin was an in-betweener. He was a border dweller. He lived in sight of both worlds, but he looked toward the unknown. And he was a scholar.

When I read this description of the antevasin, I got so excited I gave a little bark of recognition. That's my word, baby! In the modern age, of course, that image of an unexplored forest would have to be figurative, and the border would have to be figurative, too. But you can still live there. You can still live on that shimmering line between your old thinking and your new understanding, always in a state of learning. In the figurative sense, this is a border that is always moving -- as you advance forward in your studies and realizations, that mysterious forest of the unknown always stays a few feet ahead of you, so you have to travel light in order to keep following it. You have to stay mobile, movable, supple. Slippery, even. ...

... I'm just a slippery antevasin -- betwixt and between -- a student on the ever-shifting border near the wonderful, scary forest of the new.

Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

Elizabeth Gilbert
Chapter 69
Or the 69th japa mala bead

[Peggy Wolfe Dunn]

I have a copy of EAT PRAY LOVE on my unread pile, but haven't yet gotten to it - Maybe I will before the summer is over - but I am one of the remaining few - but then again, maybe I'll just go see the movie!

Suzanne M. Hoenig said:

Antevasin

Though I resisted for a few years, I finally read Eat Pray Love. Actually, I listened to it while I drove. As almost always happens with books, she was just what I needed.

I'd like to share one piece that really resonated, especially after our magical time together.

I'll give the brief excerpt and then follow with the whole for context -- in case you're one of the remaining two dozen who haven't read it yet. (Also, the emphasis below is mine.)

"You can still live on that shimmering line between your old thinking and your new understanding, always in a state of learning. In the figurative sense, this is a border that is always moving -- as you advance forward in your studies and realizations, that mysterious forest of the unknown always stays a few feet ahead of you, so you have to travel light in order to keep following it. You have to stay mobile, movable, supple. Slippery, even."

-------------------

By the way, I found my word.

I found it in the library, of course, bookworm that I am. I'd been wondering about my word ever since that afternoon back in Rome when my Italian friend Giulio had told me that Rome's word is SEX, and had asked me what mine was. I didn't know the answer then, but kind of figured my word would show up eventually, and that I'd recognize it when I saw it.

So I saw it during my last week at the Ashram. I was reading through an old text about Yoga, when I found a description of ancient spiritual seekers. A Sanskrit word appeared in the paragraph: ANTEVASIN. It means "one who lives at the border." In ancient times this was a literal description. It indicated a person who had left the bustling center of worldly life to go live at the edge of the forest where the spiritual masters dwelled. The antevasin was not one of the villagers anymore -- not a householder with a conventional life. But neither was he yet a transcendent -- not one of those sages who live deep in the unexplored woods, fully realized. The antevasin was an in-betweener. He was a border dweller. He lived in sight of both worlds, but he looked toward the unknown. And he was a scholar.

When I read this description of the antevasin, I got so excited I gave a little bark of recognition. That's my word, baby! In the modern age, of course, that image of an unexplored forest would have to be figurative, and the border would have to be figurative, too. But you can still live there. You can still live on that shimmering line between your old thinking and your new understanding, always in a state of learning. In the figurative sense, this is a border that is always moving -- as you advance forward in your studies and realizations, that mysterious forest of the unknown always stays a few feet ahead of you, so you have to travel light in order to keep following it. You have to stay mobile, movable, supple. Slippery, even. ...

... I'm just a slippery antevasin -- betwixt and between -- a student on the ever-shifting border near the wonderful, scary forest of the new.

Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

Elizabeth Gilbert
Chapter 69
Or the 69th japa mala bead

[Suzanne M. Hoenig]

Attached please find our tweet book. I do hope y'all enjoy it!

[Judy Wallace]

Looking at the larger patterns through the Gates of the Future. How are we living the New Story?

The Gates of the Future