Meeting 10th July

Today's meeting was the last of the "year"; there will be a break in August and the Celebration of Life will resume on September 11th.

The theme for today was Community.  We began with a reading of Peter's poem "Welcome to the gathering".  Then we repeated the Rahde Bo dance we did at the end of last month's session.  We sang a song in a round:

Good friends when gathered together
Sing for the joy of singing
No matter what the weather
Good friends are happy together.

Then Peter read one of the poems we had formed as a community, Instructions to the Sleeping Self (13th March), and we then took turns to read a line each.

We then shared our thoughts and readings on Community.

Judy read "God's dream" by Charles Peguy:

I myself will dream a dream within you,
Good dreaming comes from me, you know.
My dreams seem impossible,
not too practical nor for the cautious man or woman;
a little risky sometimes,
a trifle brash perhaps.
Some of my friends prefer to rest more comfortably
in sounder sleep with visionless eyes.
But from those who share my dreams
I ask a little patience,
a little humor,
some small courage,
and a listening heart – I will do the rest.
Then they will risk and wonder at their daring;
run, and marvel at their speed;
build, and stand in awe
at the beauty of their building.
You will meet me often
as you work in your companions who share the risk,
in your friends who believe in you
enough to lend their own dreams,
their own hands,
their own hearts,
to your building.
In the people who will stand in your doorway,
stay awhile
And walk away knowing that they too can find a dream.
There will be sun-filled days
And sometimes a little rain –
a little variety both come from me.
So come now, be content.
It is my dream you dream,
my house you build,
my caring you witness;
my love you share
And this is the heart of the matter.

Beth read:
If one head could hold the knowledge of a thousand decades past,
If one pair of hands could master every trade and every craft,
If one mind could so inspire itself to never cease to grow,
If one heart could be so close to God it never felt alone,
Perhaps then, just perhaps, there would no longer be
A need for this thing we call community.

Carol read a quote by J.S. Bach comparing community to the process of making music in a group:

"In the architecture of my music I want to demonstrate to the world the architecture of a new and beautiful social commonwealth.  The secret of my harmony?  I alone know it.  Each instrument is counterpoint and as many contrapuntal parts as there are instruments.  It is the enlightening self-discipline of the various parts, each voluntarily imposing on itself the limits of its individual freedom for the wellbeing of the community.  This is my message.  Not the autocracy of a single stubborn melody on the one hand.  Or the anarchy of unchecked noise on the other.  No, a delicate balance between the two: an enlightened freedom.  The harmony of the stars in the heavens, the yearning for brotherhood in the heart of man.  This is the secret of my music."
Johann Sebastian Bach.


Jehanne read her poem "No Reference Points":

Along with those, so many now,
whose letting go unravels their age
in a sudden burst of birth,
old memories are leaving,
rising from their comfortable armchairs,
no longer needing their structures,
books, potted plants,
their things,
moments fixed in black, white and sepia.
Old memories are passng through a curtain
of fine rain,
over a threshold
into light.
Even yesterday dissolves
beyond recall.

Who are you, am I, are we,
without them?
Shapeless, immaterial, unmortal,
a consciousness without reference points?

We are nothing special,
forerunners perhaps,
trailing songs like ribbons in the wind?

Thrown from our familiar mounts,
bruised, open, becoming incipient points of shine,
we meet a portal into an unborn world,
a glow, a warmth, no material boundaries,
we are one to one, one into one,
no separation …
heralds of the sun?

Heart to heart here,
unbelievably, first time,
we are one another.

Jehanne 23.06.2011.


In her absence, Jane sent an invitation to experience the community of Springhill Cohousing ( see www.cohousing.org.uk/springhill-cohousing or www.therightplace.net/coco/public/ to find out more).

Then Neesa led another dance:

I am with you that I might heal,
You are with me that you might heal.
We are together that we might heal,
We are healing that we might love.

Jehanne and Rob played the beautiful "This Place" (see 9th January) while we gathered around the central candle.  We finished by singing This Little Heart of Mine.