Open House
Table of contents
Original Face Group Open House
When: September 3, 2012, 10am - 1pm SL time
Where: (to be determined)
Purpose:
To introduce the Original Face group to the wider community of PlayAsBeing, friends, acquaintances, and anyone else who may be interested in joining the group. The group is
Agenda:
We will introduce the group, talk about its history and the main ideas and practices of the group, and then have a representative group meeting, doing what we usually do each week, with visitors invited to participate. Afterwards there will be time for questions or just hanging out.
Preview
History:
In 2010 Calvino Rabeni and Darren Islar had been attending PlayAsBeing for some time. We liked the informal practice that is part of the PlayAsBeing culture, a style of speaking that is both topical and mindful, that can be called contemplative dialogue. We talked about how to create a group that would encourage more consistent depth and trust in this practice. I think we also wanted to create a kind of community of practice with a sense of we-ness and continuity, and to support group members in their everyday lives with whatever kind of spiritual, contemplative, or growth-related activities and practices they were engaged with.
To put it in terms of some of the current talk around PlayAsBeing (July 2012) on "science and consciousness" themes, we felt that for a systematic exploration of consciousness to occur, we needed a well-designed method and "equipment". In a group, that is the design of the group structure and what we do with awareness.
We wanted the group to be "compatible" with PlayAsBeing and what its members already expect, but to have some differences in design and practice. So we had some meetings to discuss goals and design questions about such a group, and consulted with Bruce Mowbray, Eliza Madrigal, and others in PlayAsBeing.
The result was a group - that has been consistently for a year and a half - that has the following basic agreements:
- Confidentiality - the group is a safe zone for personal sharing, and no personal statements are repeated outside the group.
- Group members have some familiarity with a personal spiritual or contemplative practice or experience (but it doesn't matter specifically what).
- The group meets for two hours to allow for more depth, with a group meditation, a personal check-in, and a contemplative dialogue period.
- When we speak in the group, we attempt to stay close to 1st-person (personal) experience, using "I statements", rather than getting into abstract or speculative thinking.
- We practice aware speaking and listening, passing a "talking stick" to take turns and focus attention.
- The dialogue period is initiated by a short "starter" presentation to focus and invoke our contemplation.
If you'd like to read more about the group online, see these wiki pages.
- The Original Face group and its basic ideas and values.
- Questions about the group.
- Theme presentations from some of the meetings.