Silent out loud
Chris Corrigan
chris at chriscorrigan.com
Mon Jan 26 10:17:40 PST 2004
Therese's note on silence at Spirited Work reminds me of how I felt at
the Practice of Peace gathering in November at that same facility on
Whidbey Island. Each morning I was awestruck by the five minute
silences. Instead of closing my eyes, I took the opportunity to look at
every person in the room for a few seconds, really focusing on what they
were doing in the silence. I dawned on me, profoundly, that THIS was
the practice of peace - 125 people in a room with each other and a
complete absence of malice, fear, anger, mistrust and conflict. For
those five minutes we were simply in each other's presence, trusting,
quiet and sharing our breath and space with one another.
What could be a more profound expression of peace?
Chris
---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Bowen Island, BC, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com
(604) 947-9236
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Therese
> Fitzpatrick
> Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 9:30 AM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Silent out loud
>
> 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)----
> >
> >*
> >*
> >==========================================================
> >OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
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> >
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>
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>From Mon Jan 26 16:56:19 2004
Message-Id: <MON.26.JAN.2004.165619.0400.>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 16:56:19 -0400
Reply-To: judir at accesswave.ca
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Judi Richardson <judir at accesswave.ca>
Subject: Re: a question for advice -- how it went
In-Reply-To: <NFBBLJCEHLNCBGFLPOPHKEDLCIAA.c.pfaehler at bluewin.ch>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Doris -- this is priceless -- thank you for taking the time to share your
story.
Doris wrote:
At IAS (the program) silence
played a big role, particularly because of the methods used in the program
people wait to look within themselves before they speak, and when people
speak it is with a great deal of awareness and thought about what they want
to say.
warm wishes,
Judi
Judith Richardson, M.A.
www.ponoconsultants.com
www.emergentfeminine.com
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
(902) 434-6695
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>From Mon Jan 26 16:27:58 2004
Message-Id: <MON.26.JAN.2004.162758.0800.>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 16:27:58 -0800
Reply-To: ashcooper at earthlink.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Ashley Cooper <ashcooper at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Silence
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
thanks Mik and Chris. it helped me to think in terms of meditation verses
just prayer. it doesn't seem like prayer automatically fits into that
equation for me.
warm regards,
Ashley
> From: Chris Corrigan <chris at CHRISCORRIGAN.COM>
> To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
> Date: 1/25/2004 4:38:49 PM
> Subject: Re: Silence
>
> Ashley and Artur...what Mik said.
>
> Basically prayer (or maybe more precisely meditation) is the exercise
> whereby we focus ourselves on a silent spot within and then open
> ourselves to fully and truly experience the world as it really is. That
> means all the sounds and sensations that envelop us: we experience them
> acutely as we become more and more aware of our connection to the
> greater whole, which is what prayer and meditation is about for me.
> Also, when someone is leading a prayer, I find myself very focused on
> that person's words, sounds which are obviously "out there."
>
> Reflection on the other hand is what happens when we turn the spotlight
> inwards, and as Mik said, we concentrate deeply on our own internal
> sounds and images and find ourselves blocking out the world from our
> minds.
>
> Both are good and important forms of silence in my life.
>
> Chris
>
> ---
> CHRIS CORRIGAN
> Bowen Island, BC, Canada
> http://www.chriscorrigan.com
> chris at chriscorrigan.com
>
> (604) 947-9236
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Artur
> > Ferreira da Silva
> > Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2004 11:45 AM
> > To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> > Subject: Re: Silence
> >
> > At 13:59 23-01-2004 -0800, Chris Corrigan wrote:
> >
> > >So, to conclude, in terms Artur might appreciate:
> > >
> > >Prayer = IS + EN
> > >Reflection = IN + ES
> > >
> > >Where IS=internal silence, IN=internal noise, ES=external silence and
> > >EN=external noise.
> >
> > Sorry, Chris, but I share Ashley's doubts. And I am not able to
> appreciate
> > what I am unable to understand :-(
> >
> > Best regards
> >
> > Artur
> >
> > *
> > *
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> > OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
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> >
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>
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