June 2, 2009: Flower and Roots Metaphor
From SolSeed
Notes from Previous Calls: http://solseed.org/Group_Experiences
Dial-in Number: 1-218-936-4700
Participant Access Code: 815066
Contents |
May 25, 2009 @8pm PST
- Opening Words - 5 mins
- Check in - 10 mins
- Topic 1: The Untethered Soul - 15 mins
- Topic 2: Roots and Flowers?
- Logistics / What's next / homework / assign next call - 10 mins
- Closing Words - 2 mins
Opening Words - (5 mins)
http://solseed.org/SolSeedCreed/CallAndResponse
Boni: We believe that: The Destiny of SolSeed is to take root amongst the stars.
Brandon: Sol, Terra, you, me, we, ALL, are precious SolSeed.
Shelley: As SolSeed's intelligent spark, We are its caretakers, We must fulfill The Destiny.
Ben: We believe that: Our holy duty is to embrace Self Love, cultivate Empathy, and pursue Wisdom,
Brenna: so that our being honors SolSeed, and our striving hastens the fulfillment of The Destiny.
Boni: Self Love is motive. Without Self Love, Empathy and Wisdom are impotent.
Brandon: I pledge to learn to love myself; to become a person I cherish, admire, and care for.
Shelley: Empathy is transcendent. Without Empathy, Self Love and Wisdom are evil.
Ben: I pledge to cultivate empathy in myself and others; to share and demonstrate my concern for others and for the growing life all around me.
Brenna: Wisdom is effective. Without Wisdom, Self Love and Empathy are feeble and capricious.
Boni: I pledge to seek wisdom; to honor my past, to strive for the future, to be open to new ideas and new beliefs, and to share my wisdom with others.
Brandon: Through Self Love, Empathy, and Wisdom we have come to know that:
All: We are SolSeed; Children of the sun, Awakened by starlight, Growing, nurturing, protecting, We bring life!
Shelley: Once or twice
each week
A Gathering of Earthseed (or SolSeed)
is a good and necessary thing.
Ben: It vents emotion, then
quiets the mind.
Brenna: It focuses attention,
strengthens purpose, and
unifies people.
- Octavia Butler, probably Parable of the Talents
Check in and Reflections (10 mins)
Brandon: Monday morning, we found out we are having a boy named Sequoia. We are so excited!
Shelley: I'm bringing life! Really happy to have a healthy baby on the way. Really grateful Boni is here.
Boni: I'm very excited about the new baby I can't wait to see who he is. I'm good ... I bring me :-)
Mark: I bring myself and a joyous expectancy about June and babies and possibilities.
Brenna: I was reflecting on SelfLove we were reading about earlier ... I've been struggling with SelfLove today ... I was kind of a flake this week and I guess I'm gonna bring a new enthusiasm.
Ben: I had a good a meeting with Lion and Leeds today, and so I bring some interesting ideas from that, plus we might be doing an art project ... the three of us. Mural was plan A ... timeline on a website ... perhaps a history of the earth. Explaining how we know various things about natural history.
Shelley: Sounds ambitious. By the way, I've been selfish, wanting to do my own thing, friends have asked me to join them doing their thing but I've resisted. Looking into ways to change this, like volunteering, possibly a project with Kristianne.
Topic 1: The Untethered Soul (15 mins)
Chapters 12-14
Brandon: Shared reading to pave the way for more exhaustive conversations later. There's a lot to discuss, we'll only get through a small part.
Mark: pure, nonjudgmental watching and observing
Brandon: My mind has a lot of problems with it, because it tries to control everything--but it can't, that's not consonant with reality. It's interesting to watch it, and have my primary allegiance with the one who is watching. It's the Ben-mind that has hopes and dreams
Brenna: Is it saying that you move in and out of that state? Your dreams and feelings and thoughts ... if you don't embrace them ... if you just say "whatever happens happens" and don't try to do anything anymore ... I think some sense of control is healthy ... but maybe not allowing that to define or if it doesn't go the way you are trying to make it happen then your whole life isn't over
Shelley: That's kind of how I took it ... "you create this model of the world ... p120 ... everything falls apart, you panic and do whatver you can to hold it together" ... this is offereing an alternative to that panic and holding it all together that consumes a lot of energy ... I'd rather do other things
Brenna: Not having hopes and dreams and having those hopes and dreams come to pass ... your happiness isn't entirely built on having them come to pass
Shelley: yeah, because you are not your hopes and dreams ... your mind is doing that and I'm really happy I have a mind that is doing that ... and I can be happy even when the world doesn't match up with what the mind is creating for me
Ben: Because your mind has those thoughts you're going to go on watching so you might as well sit back and enjoy what is happening ... except that I don't ... i just sit back ... I'm not sure how to sit back and relax at the same time
Mark: You could be involved in thigns (such as talking to friends on the telephone) and sit back and watch it without judgement ... a sort of detachment from what is happening without freaking out about it ... I don't think the state he is describing you can be in all the time or might even want to try to be in
Ben: Can you be in this state while creating a coherent thought?
Mark: Once you get to this state, it will develop a resonance, so it will become easier to get back into it ... that's been my experience. Christian metaphor: Sometimes we stress out because our picture of what should be doesn't match reality. But if God's in charge, and everything's going to be okay, I know who wins in the end, why am I stressing? That gives things a different outlook and allows a devout Christian to relax. Recognizing that we can't be in control, but can just observe.
Brenna: Patient diagnosed with terminal cancer ... wasn't in his plans for the day ... but that's life
Brandon: Some ppl in that situation handle it with amazing grace and dignity. Others are enmeshed in personal drama and not actually accomplishing anything in the world as a result.
Boni: The panic coming from all these people losing their jobs ... they need to let that go to find a way to do what needs to be done, so that bad things happening don't control you
Brandon: A lot of fear attends change, extreme statements like "I'll never X again" ... suffering comes from the fear of all the other things that might happen in the future, even though at this moment, we have all that we need.
Shelley: It's not that simple. I suffer about "is Sequoia going to die too" and it's not easy to just let that go ... takes a lot of effort
Topic 2: Roots and Flowers (15 mins)
Brandon: To frame this: the metaphors that we think in shape how we interact with the world. Framing is very significant. We've chosen to explore this metaphor ... but does it really honor the "roots" enough? Or is it created by the "flower" people who see their side as the true goal? Is there another metaphor that would view the "root" activity as an end in itself?
Brenna: Flowers may have deep or shallow roots
Shelley: People always think they're allergic to the beautiful blossoming flowers, but in reality the non-showy plants are the ones that have to release all the pollen because they can't attract pollinators. Why why not say root and plant instead of root and flower?
Boni: Main goal of the roots are to make the flower happen ... I want what you want to happen, but there are other things along the way that I think are equally important
Ben: What about leaves? In some ways, a plant is two stx coming together to allow it to live -- the roots and the leaves. Could talk about leaves and flowers instead of roots and flowers.
Mark: Clarify.
Ben: Flower is future-focused, aimed at other plants being present someday.
Brandon: It's possible that roots would be seen as a means to the end of the flower. I wonder if we could change the metaphor so that space travel is a secondary focus. How would that sit with others? Or what if we created a different metaphor in which space travel felt "secondary"? For example, the human body, and space travel is oe of the results, like excrement is the natural outcome of being human . . .
Ben: Ugh. Let's not pick a metaphor that belittles what one of us feels is important. Let's try to find one that's more equal.
Mark: I thought the root and flower metaphor was equal. We are the ones who are emphasizing the flower, b/c we have this thing about sex as humans -- but couldn't we just take the root and flower as a whole? Life doesn't place extra value on the flower -- it values the whole plant.
Boni: I never saw a bouquet of roots.
Ben: Metaphors are visualizations, all about how things look, so the metaphor matters.
Brenna: What is the point of the metaphor?
Ben: Ideally, we'd use it to help us see how these two parts of our group are connected -- it might help us find common ground, so that we might be working toward the same thing.
Brenna: Are we choosing a metaphor in order to explain ourselves to others, or is it for us.
Shelley: Metaphor serves to surprise us, we may find things arise that we didn't expect when creating it ... good metaphors have mystery, can show us some things about ourselves by looking at ourselves through a creative poetic lens
Boni: What about a tree, with the trunk, and many branches. One branch is space travel. Other branches can be other things.
Ben: I resist that . . .
Brenna: What about a blueberry? Need more than one type of blueberry to ensure pollination . . . we're all needed.
Brandon: We're different; the things that motivate us are different. Yet, we're all Life, and we're all needed in order to make things happen, whether we're forming relationships or travelling in space.
Ben: Part of the story is that we are a people that adhere to "The Destiny of SolSeed is to take root amongst the stars." If we make the literalist interpretation of that Destiny just one branch, no different from any other, we lose that uniqueness. We're not "just" a community of people.
Brandon: Boni, how would you see the purpose of
Boni: The purpose is to make a better world for future generations.
Brandon: How would we measure that outcome?
Boni: It's hard to measure -- Beach cleanup might have prevented someone from cutting their foot -- but you don't know that!
Brandon: Can we reframe the metaphor of root and flower? A flower is a celebration of the health of the plant and roots that produced it. For me, one way of looking at the metaphor is that the space travel is just a measure of how healthy our group is -- if we can flower in this most ostentatious way we can imagine (Ben-- yet still serving life), then we are VERY healthy.
Boni: The flower is the goal of the plant. Does it feel right to have just one flower, or do we need many.
Brandon: The plant is the goal. Time to conclude this taste of conversation -- please share a word or phrase summary.
Brandon: Earnest
Mark: Growth
Ben: Defensiveness
Shelley: Incomplete
Boni: Frustration
Brenna: Beauty
Logistics / What's next / homework / assign next call (10 mins)
Homework: 3 chapters per week to finish by Sol 2009
- Boni and Shelley: work together to get Bob and Boni signed up on the wiki
- Brenna: get barak and silas to sign up; not done yet but will do that tonight after call.
- Brenna: get Brooke and sydney to sign up; not yet but will speak with Brooke by next week's call.
- Brandon: finish inviting all the folks on my list; not done yet but will work on it tonight.
Next Call
- Next time Untethered Soul Part IV, Chs. 15-16
- Facilitator (Shelley)
- Opening/closing words (Brandon)
- Summary and reminder email (Mark)
- Topic ideas (Brenna)
- Continue metaphor talk?
- Permaculture (sustainable agriculture and life in general)
Closing Words (2 min)
Belief
Initiates and guides action---
Or it does nothing.
- Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower
