AW: SACRED CIRCLES

Mon Jan 12 02:52:26 PST 2004

Dear Peter and Esther

I’m terribly behind with my readings in the list, but I love your essay on
Sacred Circles. I forward it to Christine, a church woman in my town, to see
if something is meant to happen, as well as to her predecessor Helen, who
left her job to start development work in Guatemala. Open Space is a sacred
circle in itself to me
 Thank you for sharing this with us!

Liebe Christine und Helen, wenn Ihr mehr wissen möchtet über Open Space,
bitte zurückmailen – ich erkläre Euch die Regeln gerne und kann Euch auch
mehr Quellen nennen.

Much love and good developmends with your and many more sacred circle(s)

Catherine

Catherine Pfaehler
Kellersriedweg 8
CH - 2503 Biel
T/F/B ++41 - (0)32 - 365 68 41

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]Im Auftrag von Peter or
Esther
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 31. Dezember 2003 17:23
An: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Betreff: SACRED CIRCLES

To the OS list:

Here is an in-process draft of a write-up on "Sacred Circles" that came out
of Open Space. Any comments and/or changes to improve it would be greatly
appreciated.

Happy 2004!

Peter & Esther Fisher
Asheville, NC

SACRED CIRCLES

The Asheville, North Carolina Sacred Circle came together in October 2003
out of an Open Space event. We consider ourselves "spiritual pioneers” as we
explore spirit together and continue to evolve our Sacred Circle. But as we
note below, it is not for everyone.

Our Sacred Circle is a process of deep expression, listening and hearing by
every member of the Circle, as we consider each other’s responses. We are
open to quiet, to song, to toning, to talking, to acting and to expressing
and just to be or do “whatever”. We are respectful of each other’s
expression and there is a goodly amount of “space” between our
participations so that no one feels hurried, pushed or cut off. We watch and
listen closely for threads of commonality and diversity. Both are desirable.
We evolve and spiral -- in usually about two hours -- through layers of our
personal and group spiritual awakening and reawakening. We often come to an
“ideal” vision or situation -- for the moment -- and are then always quite
ready for the next outworking -- to yet another ever more new reality. It is
an exciting and deeply satisfying process of love outworking.

We believe that Sacred Circles inform the next step in humanity’s conscious
evolution. It just might be incumbent on some pioneering wise, spiritual and
thinking people to experience these new ways of being, of participation and
of self-organization. It can jump start our conscious evolution toward more
profound understandings of our new world -- that seem quite necessary in our
world today, for the New Millennium.
Some say we are similar to the Friends (Quaker) religion, and we do not mind
that comparison, however we have absolutely no creed, no hierarchy, no
history, no expectations, no fixed beliefs  -- and we are simply not part of
any official religious connection nor denomination. We do not have
ministers, assistants or hierarchy of any sort.
We all participate and it is heart warming to feel the Circle come alive
each time with that participation. (As John Stewart, of The Daily Show said
on the Larry King program recently: "we don't need anyone to interpret God
for us!") Those of us who participate in the Circle have a direct connection
to whatever we each sense God to be. We consider ourselves wise, spiritual
God beings having a human experience. We know we have absolute CHOICE in our
lives! Something beautiful and sustaining happens as we “do whatever we do."
Sacred Circles are creative, self-organizing, non-hierarchal and
participative. In our Sacred Circle we assume that all participants are both
learners and teachers, both students and ministers, and that each and all
bring valuable wisdom, knowledge and life perspective to the Sacred Circle.
Our Sacred Circle is collaborative and transformative, resulting in many
altered states of being, individually and collectively. Sometimes we go
beyond BEING to DOING -- with personal or collective action -- spiritual,
social, cultural or otherwise. We endeavor to always be in the NOW!

Sacred Circles have several precursors. Open Space, developed by Harrison
Owen, is primary. Open Space is a group dialogue “technology” and more
importantly a way of life --much as Sacred Circles. Except Open Space events
are usually held for hundreds, even thousands of people at the same time
(over 1 to 3 days) with techniques to break into smaller groups. As we
implied above, our Sacred Circle was sparked by and evolved out of an Open
Space event.

The Open Space phenomenon is an organic approach to facilitation of groups
of people and a style of living. It enables a very natural process of
self-organization found everywhere in nature. Open space works by creating a
simple structure through the application of a few simple rules and allows
for a free flow of communication between all its parts. Inside this process,
groups unfold in a seemingly random fashion, but in truth, its participants
interact guided by their passions and natural attractions. Thus was our
Sacred Circle created.

We also found the Sacred Circle approach written about by James Redfield in
his “Celestine Prophecy” where he said: “Part of the Eighth Insight is
learning to interact consciously.” This entire approach, however,  also
harks back to the 60’s when George Leonard, then a Look magazine editor and
a New Age proponent, wrote a small book entitled “Education and Ecstasy”
that was about a possible new state of being. It was about all of us having
been brought up to sit quietly in rows in school as small children, about
having been required to be attentive to the pronouncements of others as
youths and about sitting in audiences, churches and seminars as adults even
today -- listening to others talk AT US. The old idea was that others knew
more than we did.

We are changing that! Some of us have discovered that we have a very strong
passion to explore our spiritual wisdom together in Sacred Circles.

Sacred Circles are not for everyone, however. One almost has to feel
restlessness with his or her current spiritual practices. Those who seem to
take to the Circles most have that passion to express their wisdom in
interaction and participation with others. These Circles require a profound
level of presence and awareness.

If one is still very comfortable and content with others taking the primary
responsibility for one’s religious or spiritual sustenance and
consideration, then the Circle is probably not right yet. If one can accept
a temporarily greater degree of uncertainty and looseness they may wish to
meditate on their motives for attendance at their current religious or
spiritual practices.

If one has any degree of passion or restlessness toward greater
participation, they may wish to attend a Sacred Circle. If you do decide to
attend a Circle, please give it a good try, and participate fully three or
four times until it “feels” comfortable. There is always a time of angst in
“leaving” old familiar friends, practices and expectations. At any rate one
can soon find a new community of friends and caring fellow seekers in a
Spiritual Circle that will be most supportive, loving and caring -- if you
simply give it a chance.

We would love to have you join with us or help you get started where you
are! Please call or contact us if you are interested in any way.

With love,
The Asheville Sacred Circle
Asheville, North Carolina
828-298-5800
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