Wednesday 27 June 2007, 11:11

This new thing on the blog where people can make comments, I like it. I'm glad to have set this up. It's wonderful to see what people have to say and to hear from loved ones with such loving and interesting messages.

This flu, which I have learned is going around, has seriously kicked my ass for a week now, and I am starting to feel it lifting. Whew! Periodically I do get these high fever sweat-it-out sicknesses, and this one has been a real winner. I will be so glad when I can focus more on other things.

In that vein, it's sunny out and I think I will go to the store in a while...that'll be nice.

So much has happened since I started this blog, since I came to Europe in February even. I considered writing a post about my reactions to the news etc., as I used to do quite often, but it doesn't feel right. Somehow, I want to honor and acknowledge the changes I've experienced by doing something different.

This weekend I am fortunate to have three interesting events to be part of. The first is a meeting with a group who wants to start a ritual circle, and has asked if I would be willing to sit with them while we discuss how to do that. The second event is a day-long workshop in Concensus, and the thirds is another day-long workshop, this one Magical Activism. I was wondering if this flu was going to knock me out of attending, but the flu is winding down. Yay!

Concensus is, in my mind anyway, a much misunderstood word. To me, concensus is an organic process of transformation, much like fire. Fire isn't a thing, it's a process of transforming matter from one state into others. Concensus does the same thing with people by making space for each person in the group to be heard and seen, to be grokked really, without any foregone conclusions as to where this will lead. By making space for everyone, what eventually emerges is a recognizable organic sense of the values, directions, and actions of the group. Sounds simple, and it can be. It can also be time consuming and slow, which some personalities respond to with more patience than others. In other words, concensus process tends to bring out one's learning edges.

Magical Activism is a really fun set of exercises for a group to assist them in clarifying values and discussing value differences, envisioning viable and desireable futures, and fostering creative approaches to being a person actively engaged in creating solutions. This workshop is one of those "the more the merrier" events and I'm really glad that a bunch of folks are coming.

After the workshops I'll have a brief visit on Monday with a friend from Canada, then head off for a weeklong housesit where I can hopefully sit in the sun, be quiet, get my strength back some more, and do somemore brainstorming.

Rereading the comments from Shakti and deborah oak in the context of what I just wrote is interesting. This great discussion that we're all part of is an ongoing concensus meeting. It's happening globally. We're all participating in it all the time.