[OSList] How much Silence at beginning?

[Harold Shinsato via OSList]

Dear Harrison,

I love your response in many ways. It's very confrontational towards 
this need in me to have a formula of a specific amount of clock time, 
and laughing it off.

In many ways, Anne's invocation of the trans-finite seems to invite this 
kind of meditation. Thank you Anne for such an invocation of going 
beyond the finite. How much time do you need for a deep silence? It 
reminds me of the opening stanza to the William Blake poem, Auguries of 
Innocence:


To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.


A deep satisfying silence of 10 seconds could be much more impactful in 
certain circles than forcing an 8 minute meditation on them. For myself, 
I have noticed many times my own butt beginning to wiggle considerably 
even just thinking about having to sit still from a command from the 
facilitator to sit in silence. During the retrospective meeting 
yesterday with most of the organizing team and some of the participants 
(everyone was invited), it was quite interesting to contemplate this 
question of silence. Some balked at the idea of an elongated silence. In 
fact one of the organizers hypothesized the opening was already too "woo 
woo" for some of her University friends, and they walked out after the 
opening circle.

And then again - I suspect for many circles - perhaps 8 minutes of 
silence would have only whet their palette for what they needed for a 
deep comtemplative journey together. Maybe they might need 15 minutes 
before the session genereation. Or 30 minutes. Imagine an hour of 
sitting in a circle together for an hour?!? Speak about eternity. I 
wonder if such a circle might be empowered to solve the most difficult 
of planetary questions.

Alas - I suspect there is no need for agreement here - or a final 
answer. Just a question and a wondering.

How long a silence in the opening? How many breaths is a deep silence? 
How does one sense when there's been enough?

Thanks to all who have engaged with this question!

     Harold


On 6/19/15 3:02 PM, Harrison wrote:
>
> Harold said... “Would 8 minutes of grounding silence after the welcome 
> and logistics opened enough space for participants so they didn't need 
> silent reflection time with their papers and markers to gather their 
> thoughts? Do you offer anything before letting the participants make 
> their offerings to help invite in the "transfinite"?
>
> I love your intensity. But I do have to ask. “8 Minutes?” .... On 
> which planet, what galaxy? And who cares? Deep silence makes its own 
> time. My experience.
>
> ho
>
>

-- 
Harold Shinsato
harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
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