Ordinary magic

Douglas D. Germann, Sr. 76066.515 at compuserve.com
Fri Mar 18 07:54:54 PST 2005


Hi--

Here is my developing understanding of the ordinary magic we see in OS and
what we saw in particular at the Doers Conference.



It is very similar to The Holy Intimacy of Strangers (also the title of a
book by Sarah York) which I have noticed and conversed about with Joelle:
people who are strangers in an intimate workshop setting, talking about
spiritual or other higher matters, sharing things they may never have
shared with their families or closest friends, may never have even had guts
to share in their prayers.



What is going on? It seems in this light to be aided by the gathering
question: it announces we are going to talk about something serious,
important, urgent even, and outside the normal realm of day to day. It is
for this very reason that taking it back to the office on Monday is
difficult and maybe not even to be sought: here we are deciding large
things; there we cannot and do not wish to sustain that high level of
effort and passion and thought: there is a place for grunt level work. (Our
hope for Monday might be better placed in having the high-level
conversations inform the grunt-level work.)



It is also aided by the circle setting which says there are no higher nor
lower and therefore all have high dignity of the possibility of developing
useful insights from time to time during our days.



It is aided as well by stating the law of Two Feet which gives another set
of words to remind people of their dignity and respect.



The same message is given by Whoever comes....



We are in effect, by our ritual and words setting a stage of respect and of
high, out of the norm expectations.



It is aided as well by Whatever happens... because this communicates a
heightened sense of getting off our agendas and opening our minds and
hearts to the possibility of transforming ourselves.



This may be the magic we see.



So what I am seeing is that by setting up this (open, equal, respectful)
format and the inviting question about a matter beyond the everyday we are
setting the stage for ordinary magic: transformation (metanoia, turning,
conversing) of persons. It is willing suspension of ego in the pursuit of
mutual discovery.



Or so I think this brightening, warming morning.


                              :-Doug. Germann
                              Seeking people making community change.

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