FootprintsintheWind.com

I’m a PhD of ecology: I know things you don’t. I’m a carpenter: I see things you don’t. Conversation gets us beyond fearing that what we know is not enough.

:- Doug.

What are the strengths of conversation? Until you go deeply into each other, you don’t get these.
1. diverse experiences—which allows us to address issues more completely
2. many angles of view—nothing escapes us
3. manifold connections with other people—our actions are effective
4. more physical resources—many hands get the job done
5. multiplied computing power—no one person can address all the complexity
6. expanded memory banks—better histories inform better futures
7. creativity playing off creativity—many minds make light

:- Doug.

We are made of each other
We already are community
Before I was born, We
Before my mother and my father
came together, We

:- Doug.

Picture a next-generation Cray supercomputer in a brightly lit university laboratory somewhere. Now picture 37 of these supercomputers networked, working on a complex interwoven problem. That’s the power of conversation—a power we have yet to develop the technology to fully use.

:- Doug.

In our times we have a picture of conversation as a weakling beside the single brain in a control tower. We need to see it with the strength it has—strength of many backgrounds and skills, strength of larger purpose, strength of story and hearth, of factory and plains and woodlands, strength of brawn and heart and book. The truth is that there is power in collected minds and hearts, power which we can consciously tap. We must choose, and choose the stronger, life, if we are to survive.

:- Doug.

If you’re sitting there
and not hearing G*d
try sitting there
while G*d is hearing you

:- Doug.

Open space: Thinking out together our future.

:- Doug.

He would not play their game
did not matter to him their power over
his separate ego was to him no object
’twas good being enfolded back into all in all
in that no-logic he showed real fulfilling
If you fear merging back into the sea
becoming nothing ever more
reflect on what he did, take into you
him who would not play their game

:- Doug.

The eye through which I look for G*d is the eye through which G*d looks for me.

:- Doug.

Sometimes—
The sight you see is that
through which G*d sees you
The sound you hear is that
through which G*d hears you

:- Doug.

Sometimes embraced
satisfies more
than grasping

:- Doug.

Footprints in the Wind^sm # 1040

We need to take in, yes. We also need to percolate, and then to pour out till we are heard, and hear ourselves.

Please pass it on.

© c 2010, Learning Works, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Easy reprint permissions: 574/291-0022, or by e-mail to mailto:Doug AT FootprintsInTheWind.com. Back issues available at http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com

How many arms does it take
to reach around the world?
How many minds to make sense of it all?
How many hearts to embrace us all?

:- Doug.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: what does that mean to me? What does that mean to You?

The generator; the living one like us, always with us; the breath, the life, the spirit of the all there is. Generating, mothering; living and loving and being with; challenging creation to live and love and be with.

In the vibrations, in the light, in the sound, in the love, in the embracing.

:- Doug.

The whole of open space is of a special character: it is not aimed at forcing those in power to do for us; it is not aimed at getting out information about what we are already doing; it is not rallying the troops. It is about working heart in heart to a higher place. And doing this as a way of being in community.

:- Doug.

Engage people where they are. If they simply want less graffiti and trash, that is great. If they want to move to a fuel supply that is not running out, great again. If they want to take part in their community, this is the greatest thing.

:- Doug.

What are the issues and opportunities for a sustainable Michiana? How soon can we get there? Is that soon enough?

:- Doug.

Work higher
work better
work together

:- Doug.

What the world is about is doing
& what the world is doing is moving
& that moving and interacting
in largest terms is conversing

:- Doug.

The world is made out of
the world
We are unfolded from it
& enfold in time
We are each
& together
essential
& together
between and among
& together
It is my role
to make the world better
& that is love

:- Doug.

The role of community is to act as the between and among where we can consecrate ourselves to something larger than just our little wallets and stomachs. It is about carrying us outside ourselves, above and beyond ourselves. It is about getting beyond our little outsides and into our vast insides and in betweens.

:- Doug.

People get inspired in twos and threes. It is much easier to gather friends than to excite the masses, if you are after long-term deep commitment.

:- Doug.

I’m an owl—
Who
Who
Who has a Why?

:- Doug.