15Jul21 Community Call

8:59PM Jul 15, 2021

Speakers:

Jeff Barnum

Louisa Barnum

Lorraine Smith

Betsy Morris

Sue Barnum

Mary

Nathan Heintz

Keren Flavell

Keywords:

projects

nature

thinking

people

kidney beans

seeds

jeff

bit

potential

feel

building

culture

community

module

phenomena

world

grow

development

nathan

karen

After

recording, the call remind remind me to record the call. But like, for example, when Nathan got on, he talked about meeting with Jared, because I've talked with him and Jared about being doing some culture work together, which is like, out of this school, building community building relationships, and being able to do projects together, that are either art projects, or maybe client focused projects, or maybe land development projects, like whatever the school community is into. We've designed for that. And although we're not growing as fast as we will, as soon as the curriculum is done, because the curriculum is taking me longer than I hoped it would. This is all sort of building, this is all sort of coming, getting the curriculum done, growing the school, changing the school, doing projects together, building a more intentional community around doing work together in the world. And all of this is sort of bubbling in the background, I guess, as what I just want to signal here to you. So those of those of us who have been showing up week after week on these calls, are the people that we're going to be looking to, to gauge your interest in doing projects together and doing things together as a school community. And we're going to be forum form, formalizing some of these relationships. So there'll be some sort of formal relationship between magenta studios, LLC, for example, and Rios partners Europe, which allows Rios in magenta to work together on social sculpture projects, and bring in their team or other people into these projects. So we have a community aspect. And we also have kind of the, the more formal, governing contract relationship aspect as well.

Yeah, and just to build on on that were in the process of developing these, these strategic partnerships and memorandums of understanding with with real therapists, the first one, but there's a few others that are also coming up the pipeline. So and to be honest, Jeff, and I don't really want to run, we don't really want to be consultants, we want to stay in our wheelhouse and do what we love, and do best. And we want other people to run projects. And, but we want to help, we want to advise, we want to train the capacities. We also want to be the research and development arm for these projects. So that's kind of how we're positioning. But we are really happy to convene the community that comes together who wants to run social sculpture type projects, through these strategic partnerships, through these friendships, and so forth. And we're going through a big website rewrite, that's almost complete. And we're setting up the conditions for that convening. So just so you will know, and we will, we'll be talking about this semi regularly to update and to make sure that everybody hears the invitation and has an opportunity to respond with their own needs and dreams and desires. Yeah. Sounds green.

To me, then I have just written an article that we've submitted to the Stanford Social Innovation review, and they want to publish it. Awesome. It's about the culture as a third sphere, and culture as as a place where we can identify both the root causes and the the seeds of solutions for tough social challenges. And they responded enthusiastically. They wanted it to be longer, they wanted more stories, they want to put it in their print edition. And so we are doing that. And in the background, kind of formulating some ideas around how do we do social sculpture work together? magenta is not Rios, we're not going to be Rios. We're not a consultancy. So we're now envisioning Okay, what would it look like for Community inside the school people who are really active to bring their gifts on to social sculpture projects. Whether that's capacity building and coaching, or mentorship, or, you know, doing what you do Mary or Nathan, or the rain or Karen, you know, there, were envisioning kind of a vibrant, vibrant learning and acting Learning and Action space in this community. So anyway, that's just a bit of an announcement. We can we can talk about that, I'd love to hear your ideas and thoughts about that. Or we can we can just dive into today's work.

Yeah, why don't we just spend a little time hearing what's coming up in you guys? Because that is helpful to us. Just real quick, and then we can get into Jeff's Jeff's fascinating presentation. He's got really

no problem, no problem on the eating and getting.

Yeah, um,

I mean, one thing is that, I guess that I would say is like, in my work, I've kind of like, like I do, what I would call innovation, consulting, or social innovation. And oftentimes, that looks like helping people do creative problem solving, or collaborative process, or facilitating dialogue that's generative, being situations that feel a little bit sticky. And so what I do definitely overlaps with and intersects with culture, but I've never actually called what I do culture change work, or, you know, like, explicitly offered to help people shift their culture, or put myself out there that way. And I've kind of done some thinking and some exploration about what that could look like, if I were to kind of put out a culture change shingle, so to speak. And I've done some thinking about what, how would I approach the problem of culture change in organizations, if I was really trying to, like, pinpoint that as a entry point. But yeah, all of that to say that culture has absolutely been a core thread and a challenge and kind of a bottleneck in the work that I do. So all the time, when I go into organizations and work with them, the culture that they have in the organization either makes or breaks the project, organizations that have a creative and open and listening culture and are warm with each other and able to work together as human beings and really respect each other. And communication is out front. And it's kind of safe to be in that space together, and work and it's safe to taste, take risks and fail and all that those organizations are a pleasure to work with, and are able to do innovation work in a way that's just like, bam, they're off and running, and other organizations where things are sticky and unsafe, or there's weird power dynamics, or like really toxic cultural dynamics, they end up like projects like that crash and burn and do not, you know, do well. So I'm carrying all that to say I'm carrying that practice in and as a part of my practice, and I'm keen to continue to work on that. And it's a personal, it's a personal thing. I'm like in there every day, so. So yeah, I'm interested in continuing to pursue that. And I appreciate you sharing, sharing that. And I also want to support you guys to do what you do best, because I know you're really well. I'm so pleased that you're finally like just sticking to Yeah. Cool. Thank you, Nathan.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'll piggyback on that. First of all, I can totally relate to the you don't want to do the consulting as a consultant who is trying to do less and less consulting, I can really relate to that. And I think it's sometimes just a reframing of the verb like, in a way you guys by hosting the school and hosting this conversation, for example, your consulting in the sense that we all consult with one another to do this. But I think what you're saying is you don't want to, like project manage and do the things that happen in the real sense of the world. So I fully feel that in my own heart, and I applaud that, and I my ears really perked up when Jeff you were describing sort of what you're going through and what you're looking ahead towards including some tactical logistical things. But also how we work together. And I don't know what that means, but I just like, I just see so many possibilities of Confluence with myself and my own work and what you all are doing and then and then with others that I've had a chance to talk to you so it all feels good. Yeah, another eater. Hey, Sue. Um, and then I guess the the thing that was also going through my mind, Jeff, when you said you don't want to consult but you are open to holding the space or, you know, being the convener. I had this sudden realization, I saw I walk a lot besides the St. Lawrence River. I live in Montreal, I spend a lot of time in different parts along the river. And I feel like the river is such a great teacher and I suddenly found myself asking who convenes the river? Like, how does the river know where it's going. And actually, no one convenes the river, but people Damn it, pollute it, you know, stare at it swim in it, can analyze it like building canals to try to reshape and reorient it. So people do a lot of things that take the river off track. But actually, the best convener of the river are those who get out of the way and let the river be a river. So I feel like in some ways, you guys are like the headwaters you are flowing knowledge, energy, insight, capacity to flow and be. And that's like the ultimate

gift,

I think, to what we're trying to do. So just thought I'd offer that from

the sandbox. Oh, that's awesome. What a lovely, what a lovely analogy. Yeah, thank you, Lorraine.

Thank you guys.

Yeah, I'd rather be a hidden river, the hidden hidden waters, then project management personally.

Project Managers build canals, right.

I shouldn't say that. But sometimes it's very linear. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, someone needs to be the, you know, the conductor, though, I see the project management, or some sort of, you know, role of the conductor of keeping everything on flow. That's true,

you have a really great piece of music to conduct, steeped in the wisdom of Bach and Beethoven.

I mean, basically, we're, we're tilting our brand more and more towards social sculpture, this idea that society is the sculpture we all create together, as an antidote to distant authorities and power structures, and 1% ism, and the whole thing. And as we do that, we are going to find people who want to do that kind of, at an industrial scale or in organizations. And so we're thinking about how to take advantage of those opportunities. As a community. And so we're imagining halfway form between us or bridge between, say, a school and a company, where instead of taking on the overhead of, you know, areos, growing a global consultancy, blah, blah, blah, how can we create a forum where we could say yes to significant projects, and then self organize as practitioners and friends and, you know, a team on a project by project basis, and that might evolve. But we're going to try this, I think we'd like we'd like to try this in the context of the boson group project, with which I'm working with Steve Atkinson, primarily, but I'm going to start to bring in some other people to think with us about it in the background. And then as as Neela. As Rios Europe and magenta studios LLC start to form a strategic partnership, we're going to be looking at projects that they're doing, where social sculpture methodologies can be very interesting to the clients. If a client has a problem, a social problem that they can really ground in culture, then we can take some of the ideas and concepts and tools and methods out of the school and apply them in the field. But how would we do that, you know, we don't want to necessarily have to grow a global consultancy to do that. So anyway, this this idea of a community of understanding formal and informal is our sort of holding pattern for that. But I also see that it will, it will eventually that same model can bear fruit for, for art projects for land projects for other kinds of projects. So anyway,

stay tuned land project.

A land project is where, you know, there's a piece of land and there's a group of people who want to do something with that piece of land above and beyond just private ownership. It can be shared ownership and things like that, like what Karen flavelle does, in your work, Karen, and you know, kind of thing that me how I was trying to do years back with cultural centers. So so how can a community it's how can a community, steward a piece of land for community outputs for the public good. It's not necessarily served by a private ownership model all the time. So those are that's what I mean by land projects.

I think sort of next step is a way for us to know more about each other, from my experience, if people know what each other are doing. self organizing sort of grows from that or more connections that lead to self organizing. And June Holly's, says that self organizing is the most transformative part of networks, which I find I think that's really true. So I guess I'm partly here related to the Institute for Social renewal and next steps with that, that haven't quite come to me yet. But I trust that that will happen through some of this work. Cool.

Yeah. Well, all this is boiling. I don't know if we need to take it further now. But it will be, it will be boiling, and y'all will all be kept in the loop. And we're thinking of all of you, as we, you know, develop these ideas and see the potential and have these more strategic and contractual conversations in the background. You are the folks with a few people who are also on these normal calls. Who were who were thinking about when we when we think about this sort of first order of this larger community. Yeah.

So right. I'm totally teasing.

You know how the frog doesn't know that it's being boiled, like you put it in the pot, and then it keeps boiling. And then

anyway, I know the metaphor. But this

is a good version, where the boiling frogs are actually being cooked into really good, happy, happy frogs.

Speaking of boiling and cooking, I want to jump into our other work, can I do that. And we can come back to this anytime I just did prepare a little something, and it builds on from last week.

So

we now have the writing finished for 2.4. So when I say that, I mean module two, video four, 2.526 3.1, and 3.2. And we're almost done with 3.3. And I think three or four will be quite quick. Module Three, mapping the higher self. As I said, last time, builds on this idea of, and this discernment, and this will just catch you up a bit Nathan, between a way of thinking that we've all been taught in school that we've inherited in our industrial culture, but that is really suited only to the realm of death machines. And in the course, we call that by various names. And it's a very powerful way of thinking because you get you know, Cartesian clarity, but it has the effect of, but because you get this clarity and you form such a static idea, such a finished idea. In that clarity and in that fixed and stable form. There's a cost The cost is the fullness of the phenomena that you're studying or contemplating, or in partnership or in connection with. So as soon as you fix a concept into absolutes, the the living, unfinished, still emergent, hidden aspects of that phenomena, or last year. So rather than saying, well, that's bad, what we did last time is we, we simply kind of put a border around that way of thinking, and said that this, say, cold intellectuality, this instrumental rationality, it goes by a lot of names, is very, very good for certain things. However, when we apply it to everything, we get into trouble, we start to dam the river and canal, the river and look at nature as a matte, vast machine, of which we're the ultimate beneficiary, nature and each other. And that's, that's reductionism. That's colonialism. Alright, so we've talked a lot about that. And then in Module Three, we're in Module Two, in Module Three, we're looking at more of the whole picture, a whole, the phenomenal world, including organisms, and beings and life. And we're seeing that when we develop our awareness and our perception and our language to stay in the phenomenal world, we lose at first, some of the fixed and static nature of our concepts. But we don't have to lose the clarity, and the precision of our ideas and our perceptions and our thinking, we have to change our thinking to remain clear, in, in a world of phenomena that's continuously metamorphosing, and growing and changing where things are not fixed, where things are not broken down into their parts in order to understand them where there are holes with a W. And that's phenomenology. And then when we turn that to the inner life, to the study of consciousness, we we start to expand experience, not only the shadow, which we've really worked through in Module Two, and we're going to keep working with that. But also then this question of what is potential in our souls? What potentials are we given by dint of human nature, that it's up to us to activate. And so we've often spoken here about how, you know, there's a picture of the human as a physical being, but also an inner being. And that nature and nature's wisdom. what we think of as nature, which is an important little distinction,

produces the body, we don't have to do that, but and produces the potential and gives you the seat of consciousness, but kind of hands the reins to the operator, and says, okay, you're a human, what are you going to make of yourself? And what are you guys going to make of your societies. And, on the one hand, that gives a human a lot of creative possibility and a lot of potential and freedom. On the other hand, it introduces the possibility of error, which the plants and animals and minerals don't have to contend with in their own lives, they have to contend with human error, like cannibalization of waters. Or you can say the error part of that would be the externalities part of that. stuff that doesn't make it to the balance sheet, but everyone suffers from so. Right? So then, in this work, and doing the inner work, you kind of train yourself to see these invisible, invisible phenomena by seeing your shadow because there's so glaring But now we're turning our same attentiveness and our same perception towards the potentials that were given in our thinking, our feeling and our will, specifically potentials that were given the we don't have to invent these potentials they're given to us. But they lie dormant unless we activate them. Does that make sense. And in order to activate them, they're, they're like, they're like seeds in the soil. And in order to activate them, we need a container, like a greenhouse, with little soil Chase, where those seeds are going to get some special love. So that they don't just disappear into the chaos and maelstrom of life. But we can set aside a space in our minds and souls, where we cultivate those latent potentials. And it's a bit tricky, right? Because we don't want to be arbitrary. The one hand we, on the one hand, we don't want to be arbitrary and just cultivate anything. But on the other hand, we don't want to constrain ourselves to the teaching of a guru or an authority. And this is a very interesting little place in modern soul development. Where if you do it all yourself, imagine learning mathematics for yourself, you take 3000 years, right? You end up learning all of math, just figuring it out yourself. You really Accelerate Your Progress when you learn from those who have gone before. But in spiritual questions, it's it's often the case that you want to Well, what we're trying to do here is learn from those who have gone before, but but not give away our own authority and our own sovereignty. And so we're gonna look at this like, like math, or music or anything else, where you learn from those who have gone before, but you're integrating it for yourself. You're, you're rebirthing, that understanding in yourself, not just believing, but my understanding, and trying and seeing those phenomenon testing and re birthing this same understanding that I might tell you, or that you might read, or someone else who might tell you. But now you, you take this, and you work with it, and you give it your understanding. And that's how you master mathematics, or music or art, or anything, that's what we're doing. So in what's to come, we're going to revive to be working on this. And I wanted to introduce you to this notion of building the hut, which we'll we'll talk about that. It's just one way of talking about sort of the inner greenhouse, in the mind and soul that you are going to be, you know, at your discretion, but we're going to invite you in this module to

cultivate in your own mind and soul, a space, in quotes, were the latent potentials of thinking feeling, and the will, can start to reveal themselves, they can start to poke through the soil, and show themselves as little, you know, little sprouts, where you practice in such a way that you're allowing the phenomena to reveal themselves. But you're also setting up the conditions where they can do that. Because in the maelstrom of daily life, and all the business, the seeds tend to just sort of stay underground and not reveal themselves very much, or they work but you never see them work. And so the faculties that we're going to really go into are always there, but you don't notice that they're there. by noticing them, they can grow and they can reveal themselves to you. And you can go wow, what is this? And that's when you start to have what one of my favorite philosophers, calls the fundamental experience of the Spirit, where you see an experience in your own first person experience, spiritual reality. That you know what it is, and you see it. And you know, it's not in the physical world, but you also know you're not making it up. And everyone has these moments of experience, but mostly we don't know what they are, give them language, give them time and space, give them the greenhouse that they need to reveal themselves, and then grow. And so that's the approach that we're taking to growing our capacities in Module Three. And so when we get to module four, creativity, five, relationship and communication, you will continue to practice in the background, your shadow transformation, and your your capacity development, your spiritual work, your your inner phenomenology. And that brings juice that brings a lot of freedom and energy and potential to the creative work, or the relationship building and the team leadership and the project work. So the hut is like your inner greenhouse that you're going to be building. And it's made of daily practice. Know and I, we talked a little bit about daily practice. And, you know, Marlene was like daily practice, you know, but, because she, you know, nobody wants to be told what to do. But, you know, to Lorraine's point, you brush your teeth every day, maybe at least twice, if not three times. And that's not something you begrudge anybody, you just do it. And so we're going to be, we're going to be systematically or the invitation is to start systematically, doing the daily practice building the hut, doing the exercises that slowly and steadily allow the phenomena latent, given to you, but latent, to reveal themselves, that is capacity development in this school. So let me pause there. And let's talk about it, I just want, it's really crucial that you understand, transparently understand what we're doing, we're gonna spell it out these videos that we're writing, because understanding is, is part of that sovereignty is part of you having your hand on the tiller, knowing what you're doing, and getting these concepts and living with them, they'll take a while to, you know, bear fruit. But let me stop there and just just get your thoughts and reflections. And let's just have a bit of a dialogue about what I've just offered.

I wouldn't mind charming, and I think I can really resonate with that sense of recognizing spirit, like, you know, when something has happened, and you've been assisted in it, or it's just felt so crazily, right. And, and I think that what you're talking about in the I love the metaphor of the planting, by the way, that's really powerful. But it's getting out of the way for that natural thing to occur. It's assisting, you know, like in permaculture, you know, it's not talking about going and transforming the landscape, it's actually doing the things that help nature, just do what it's going to do, what it wants to do, what it's ripe to do. And that you, you there to assist it. So it feels like there's this, there's a similarity there around that that's what we're trying to deal with what can really come from our thinking feeling, and, and, and we'll see if that's, if I've got that right.

Yeah, can I just chime in here? I, I like that you framed it in that way. It's like, it's already inherently there. And how to to you know, and dam the river. Right. And there's but there's another layer. I want to I want to add to that, that that Jeff didn't he's, he's implying in the emphasis on your sovereignty, that this is not always understood very well. In in different practices that try and tap into these esoteric realms, that this sovereignty of your free will your free thinking your free feeling like it's up to you. This is this is so important, and we will I think, Jeff, you're going to touch in on why it's so important, and why it's really at the heart and foundation of everything that Jeff and I Try to do is leave you free. So there's a there's a profound moral

imperative

in when we So on one hand it is the natural unfolding, but it's also an unnatural work that we take on when we cultivate ourselves in these ways. And it's what makes us truly human is that we can, and that it's up to us to

choose to or not. So when we say Why do you call that unnatural?

Because it's not a process of development that is given to us by nature, in the infinite wisdom of, for instance, the realm of instincts, like you'll find in animals. This is something that we can do on our own. And the, you know, the spiritual reality behind. Yeah, maybe extra natural is a better way to put it. You won't find freewill in nature. You will do

things to say nature's wise but not free. Yeah. And say that Dennis used to say that nature is wise but not free. But But nature has. Another friend of mine said to me a long time ago, God created God could not create a free being. And he was being a little bit euphemistic and you know, God, but God created God could not create a free being could only create a being who could make itself free. So there's this wide latitude given to the human being, to say, look, take all this creativity that manifests in the world around you as nature. And now we're going to take all that nature and bring it indoors as Owen Barfield said, meaning all the creativity of nature is now given over to the operator into the human being. So, this this work is about not remaining at the not just remaining

at the level of the given what's been given to us, but activating the seeds that are also given to us. Because if we don't we go into diseased consciousness, all those potentials spoil and become disease consciousness and disease culture.

So extra natural, fits perfectly. I get that. That's, that's, I love that nature is wise, but not free. And we're created to make ourselves free.

Next, and that's humans, in partnership with the earth and nature and the spiritual reality is, you know, big deal. Yes, going forward.

I find myself just just so anxious for the next video. You know, I want to I want to go out and wash cars or raise money or something.

So we can get out on you. We're holding out on you.

I know, I know. You're not holding out on this. But I just I just find myself when we're talking like this. I just, I want I want the videos that you're talking about.

Can I weigh in here? Yeah, yeah. So you Me too. I want those videos. Karen, when you were saying how this resonates because it feels like we're assisting what's meant to happen that was really shining internally. And I like I'm surrounded by greenery. And I've got these little seed experiments on my counter and it was all just sort of falling into place. But there's two things that feel like they're sort of swirling around unresolved for me and and I think it's good that they're unresolved. Like, I think they're not supposed to be resolved. One is okay, so if you give me some, let's say, give me some kidney bean seeds, you're and I can see because I recognize kidney beans. I've seen them before, and I plant them. If I create the conditions and other conditions come together. I'm going to get kidney beans. So I knew when you hit it those seats that they had that code already in them kidney beans, and maybe with variations. If I'm really savvy, I can adapt those kidney beans over time, but they're gonna be kidney beans, not pumpkins. So that feels like jr will like, will I or won't I plant these kidney beans? And if I do, I'll get kidney beans. I definitely won't get pumpkins. But I feel like what we're talking about here is like, senior will or more sophisticated will, which is like, I got these seeds in my pocket. They're round. They're hard. I've never seen them before. I'm not even sure how to plant them. Like, do they like dry soil? Do they like sandy soil? Are they tropical? Are they temperate? Are they still alive? Are they all the same seed. And I think they can grow into something but I don't know what they are. And that brings me to I think it was Step four, Jeff of your seven steps that sort of intentional, unknowing or sort of stepping into unknowing, and then the receptivity. The last part, like just being receptive to like, I don't know how to grow these, maybe I'm going to grow some and tropical conditions, some and temperate, maybe I'm just going to trust, wherever I plant them, they're going to grow. So I feel like there's like this is a layer of will, that's like, I think these are seeds. And I think they're going to going to be something, they're definitely not going to be kidney beans or pumpkins are going to be something that I've never tasted before. So I sense an unknown newness that feels like I'm not supposed to know, if I knew then those would just be kidney bean seeds, and I could have my lunch. So that was one thing. And then the other thing that I want to argue and this probably isn't the day to do it, but I'll just plant it as a potential, you know, one day when we all get to hang out. I disagree with the premise that nature doesn't make mistakes, and that humans are uniquely positioned to apply our will. I feel like that's actually humans getting confused again, about what those seeds are that we don't quite understand. And I heard like I could have sworn I heard my tomato plants kind of snicker when you said that, like. That's our understanding of what a mistake is. And I think there's a lot I don't know, but my sense is, there's a level of will, beyond what we understand to be will. And nature is us. And we're it so we're no different. It's just my gut really wants to argue with that. But maybe it's not worth arguing, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.

I think the horses and horses would snugger along with your tomato plant. They definitely. You know, this, there's this, I think the picture is overly simplistic because of the time. But there's a lot of depth and layer to this question. And it's one that I'm in constant dialogue with the horses about in the ways that one can dialogue with animals. Because what we're wrestling with is what is the nature of the horse human relationship? What is it? And when we're dialoguing with the horses? Who are we dialoguing with? Is it a individual horse? Or is it the horse being? And how does a horse start? What is what is the dialogue between a horse and a human? And there's all these layers and complexity that are absolutely fascinating. So I think one of the things that is that you will come to understand more and more, especially with Module Three, is that the truth actually lies and paradox. And there's just no way around that. So you can say your part. And Jeff can say his part and I can say my part and you're going to have everyone's right. Even if we're contradicting each other.

Jeff wants to contradict that. He's like no nice. It's a question I have.

For me, it's a question of sufficiently experiencing

the temporary condition of the separate self. What is what is it about? So there's this interesting develop Man in the human of what used to be called sin. But there's a profound idea behind the concept of sin, which is more like something that is done that is no longer in that that pushes against the established order the established potentials. Right? So this is a deep mystery. I agree, it's one to contemplate. So it'd be worth contemplating, like, how, for example, in the ancestral images of the creation of the world, humans fell. You know, what is the fall? What, what is that all about? And what is the image of the trickster about these, this complication that humans got themselves into? And in which were the were the sort of protagonist, but I'll leave it there, because these are big, big and interesting questions. I think the question of the seeds is that, you know, you you, what we're going to be doing in this module is simply finding phenomena that we already experience, but we don't experience consciously.

So I was once at a workshop with Marco Pugach, Nick, who's a bit of a sear, he sees beings of nature. And he's quite remarkable to hang out with, because when you, when you go on a workshop with him, he'll take you into a landscape, wherever you are. And he'll show you something. And he can speak to you in such a way that you can see what he's seeing. And then all of a sudden, one can realize, wait a minute, I was already seeing that. But I was ignoring it. I was like, it was like it wanted to be seen, but I was just avoiding seeing it. Why because of the habitual way that I construct my consciousness. So I like have these sort of blinders on and just see that much of the world. And then talking to Marco is like me, oh, I'm actually already seeing that, too. But I didn't give it any attention. So I was seeing it, but I wasn't seeing it. And that's what we're going to be doing inwardly. Yeah, with our thinking, we're going to, we're going to discover that there's something in our thinking that's always present, but we have never seen it before. We've not given it sufficient attentiveness. And once we do, it can grow. And the same for our feeling and the same for will. And with that approach to what to this work of development, you won't go off, you won't go astray. I'm hoping, you know, we won't find ourselves fishing for stuff that isn't there, or drawn into fantasy or speculation, or magical thinking. It's always like, Can we observe this?

This movement, or this reality? that's already there, but we're not seeing it yet. And so this is not to argue any of your points. Lorraine, this is just to clarify. Yeah.

And can I say something? Yeah. Oh, sorry. I think Karen goes Nathan, first thing, Karen. Yeah, I really,

really appreciate this. Lately, I've been feeling kind of stressed. And and then up and looking inside at that feeling of stress and kind of unpacking it and deconstructing it and composting it and finding the fertile ground underneath. That's open and clear. And then spending time in that kind of more gentle space? And and then I've been noticing like, what are the things in the world that make me stressed again? Or like When do I get stressed again? And this question of the fall. And the trickster and also this kind of cultivation of the space, the greenhouse for the potential, the unexpressed potential? I don't know, I feel like there's a whole host of different images in my life practically that are kind of around that. Practice. And

yeah,

I just appreciate the like, I feel like there's these pieces. And I, again, like named like, it's almost like the process of naming it, you don't want to kill it with the, with the finished idea, right. But I can feel and experience what it is that you're talking about, and how to practically navigate that in my own life. And, and I just appreciate the I don't know, helping me like steward that a little bit. It's a helpful discussion in that way. Practically.

Cool. Karen?

Yeah, I was, I was just going to, to see if we can draw a parallel between, you know, those friends that walk around and like, everything's a sign, like, you know, you, they've just, they're just zero in there so attentive to noticing the things that then fit into the pitch. Do you guys have friends like that? Yeah, they see everything in his eye. Oh, you know, and because they noticed, I noticed that they're noticing, and I think, Wow, they're seeing so much more than me. And I wonder whether there's a parallel between what you're suggesting we're doing without thoughts or the just that in a world noticing? Is that a similar thing?

Do you think I really only if you are able to take out the projection? The projection will turn it into magical thinking, you see what I'm saying?

Right. Yeah, totally. Yeah, like that. Thank you saying that those people are projecting the ones that are then

not necessarily. They might mean. Yeah, that is?

This is a good, good question. Yeah, I think certain people, you know how there are certain people who are more inclined when they get triggered to get angry, and there are others who shut down. And there's a spectrum there. And there's other responses to right, nobody get angry. That's me how many shut down, but it's me.

Other responses.

And I think there's also there's also a tendency to either lock out these senses, these perceptions, and there's a tendency to inflate them. And also in the, in the body, you know, some people when they get sick, they get sclerotic, or they get inflamed. So there's always these very interesting directions that different people go. And one of the things that we want to really just have in our dialogue, I think is that that very grounded, space of perceiving, but not projecting, being rigorous, but not pre determined and fixed. And always finding a bit to Nathan's point, you know, the, the and what you said earlier about that middle space of negative capability. We, in my opinion, do need to grow ourselves spiritually. Like look at what's happening in the world, right? Where's the future associate the healthy future can only come from humans who work on themselves who transform themselves. And this is why we put shadow transformation first, before the higher development. If you do it the other way around. A lot of people go towards higher development and get seduced in full But don't ground themselves in humility in you know, taking back that projection to Louise's point, transforming their compulsions, and their egos. This is an incredibly important terrain here to find equipoise, equanimity and balance. Where we're going to direct you the reason I keep mentioning COVID, this guy is that he put his life work into that very small point, that very small point at that fulcrum of being really rigorous, but really open. And he's just brilliant in that regard. So we're kind of following on some of his work. I'll mention him frequently in Module Three, because there's so much richness in seeing these phenomena, precisely. And sufficiently, you know, if you see them sufficiently, they disclose themselves to you, they reveal themselves to you, and you're like, Oh, my gosh, that is miraculous. You know, I want to know more about that. And you're not seduced, and you're not shut down.

We are at the top of the hour. So let's, let's keep going next week. Oh, wait. Jeff and I are going to go on vacation from the 24th. To the 29th. I need to put the heavener Yeah, I haven't looked at in the calendar call. I don't know with next week falls into that. Does that fall within that timeframe?

This time? Because the 22nd Oh, right

there. We'll see you next week. For sure. And any questions or any any? Yeah, please fire them away on the community platform. But I think we will keep going next week with this topic. Because that right, Jeff? But at least one more session? That seems to me.

Yeah. So next week is a little bit ambiguous for me because of the Burning Man thing, Burning Man on boats. Okay, I'm kind of invited to go to this thing called ephemeral. And just for business development purposes. I don't know my schedule yet. Okay, if I'm not here, you can run the call.

Yeah, yeah. It will not be at that natural sciences. If it's me, and the goal. Okay. Cool. Can we just do a real quick checkout couple of feeling words, always good to make you practice your feelings. here who would like to start 50.

Grateful, grateful. grateful. It's excited by the challenge that this always gives me in my brain. But grateful for the challenge. also grateful for the unfolding that I see occurring. Thank you, Betsy.

I'm also grateful for the challenge. I feel like other people understand that a little bit better than I do. But I'm certainly open and willing and available.

Thanks, Sue. I would say expansive and relaxed. Thanks, Ray. Thank you. I feel balanced and content because this morning was a little bit shaky, and I just feel really grounded being in this group and pursuing this.

So super balanced. Awesome. Thank you, Karen. Checking out with openness and attentiveness. tentativeness attentiveness

Thank you, Nathan. Mary.

I'm feeling Curious and I've been thinking about the heart. And it also evokes a sense of protection as well as creating time and space.

Nice. Nice. Nicely seen. Yeah. Thank you Mary. Check out word. Yeah. Okay. I feel grounded too. And, and and provoked in a good way inspired. Yeah. I always am by these conversations that such great restaurants coming from you guys. Yes, yeah, I

feel grateful. And I feel excited. And I feel grateful for the foundation that we've created in this community. And I'm excited about its growth and development. So thank you all very much for showing up today.

Good. Yeah. Thank you.

We'll see you next week. Everyone.

Can you stay on a minute