Silent out loud

Therese Fitzpatrick theresefitz at hotmail.com
Mon Jan 26 09:30:01 PST 2004


I have the fine privilege of being a member of an open space community now
in its sixth year.  We gather four times a year for a weekend.  We open and
close each day with circles.  We open each circle with silence.  We aspire
to call a question as we enter silence. . . sometimes we skip the question.
We never skip the silence.

We just had our winter gathering.  Silence was a big 'topic' this weekend.
In addition to calling for moments of silence, moments of silence began to
emerge in each morning circle and in each evening reflection circle.  Some
of the emergent 'moments' of silence were longer than three minutes.

Silence was up for us.  I had many conversations about silence.

And then I come home to my mailbox and, wow, silence is up for the OS
listserv.  Maybe there really is a collective unconscious. . . in the
silence of my inner reality, the OS listserv was silently discussing silence
at the same time I was being silent out loud in my tribe.

I like having some silence at the opening of any circle.  A symphony
emerges.  One person's moment of prayer is another person's moment of
meditation is another person's inner work is another person's outer work.

When my daughter was an infant, I liked to carry her outside and talk about
everything I could see that was worth talking about:  everything was. I did
this everywhere I went with my child but I went outside to catch the wind.
"Up this way you see trees, sky, leaves. . . down there you see earth grass
flowers. . . over that way is a car moving. . .it is a red car. . . it is
just like daddy's car"  I always finished our walking around the yard ritual
by asking her to notice the touch of the wind on her skin. . . or I might
ask her to think about how the leaves came to move and then I would suggest
the wind moved the leaves and I invited her to think about that. . . "The
wind, Katie, you can feel it but you can't see it.  Life is full of things
you can feel but you can't see.  They are real, my beautiful baby, they are
all real."

Silence is full of real things we cannot see, things we cannot feel on the
physical plane level. . . but they are real.   When we invite moments of
silence into group work, we invite the whole.


>From: "Douglas D. Germann, Sr." <76066.515 at compuserve.com>
>Reply-To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
>To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>Subject: Silence
>Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 09:50:29 -0500
>
>Hi--
>
>What is the role of silence in OST and the Open Space life?
>
>It seems to me silence is rich, full of panoramas of colors and sounds and
>tastes.
>
>How important is silence in your day?
>
>Have you seen it used by any of the groups for whom you've led an OS?
>
>                               :-Doug. Germann
>
>PS: This Tuesday a few of us are gathering for an open telephone
>conversation on this subject.
>
>Would you be so kind as to pass this invitation on to the people who need
>to see it?
>
>Thanks!
>
>                               :-Doug.
>
>----Forwarded Message(s)----
>
>Hi--
>
>Can we make further and deeper use of silence in our work?
>
>       Silence is a delicious thing for our meditation and
>       contemplation; so how can we use silence, and let silence
>       use us, in our work as teachers and nurturers of Spirit?
>
>This is a telephone gathering where each of us can engage all of us, to
>learn how others are using silence, and together to invent new ways.
>
>       If you wish, I will offer my learning from a recent
>       retreat I led for a group of Quakers; also a story
>       of an encounter that sheds some silence on light.
>
>Please join us for this mutual exploration. e-mail me to reserve your space
>and get the number to call.
>
>                               :-Doug. Germann
>                               Doug at FootprintsintheWind.com
>
>PS: There will be someone there with whom you need to speak.
>
>                               :-Doug.
>
>Where and When: Your telephone, this Tuesday, January 27, 2004, 7:00 pm New
>York time, 6:00 pm Chicago time, 4:00 pm Los Angeles time, which is
>Wednesday, January 28, 2004, 12:01 am London time, 11:00 am Sydney time.
>
>Cost: You decide. Hint: a one-hour seminar, with one expert who *might*
>talk on what you need to know, can cost you $15-$30 US. Here you have many
>experts, and you ask what you need to know. Decide and pay after the
>tele-gathering. Or please take 20 pounds of canned goods to your local food
>bank. Or do both.
>
>To pay, simply e-mail the value you decide using Visa, Mastercard, etc. via
>PayPal using this link: http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com/tgpaypal.htm ,
>or send me a check to Learning Works, Incorporated, P.O. Box 2796, South
>Bend, IN 46680-2796.
>
>Questions? Please e-mail, or call me at 800/545-DOUG (3684).
>
>Please pass this on to someone you know who uses silence well.
>
>                               :-Doug.
>
>----End Forwarded Message(s)----
>
>*
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