Here’s the video harvest shown at the closing ceremony:
Shambhala Summer Institute 2009 from ALIA on Vimeo.
Music by Akira Kosemura.
Video by Woven Essence.
Let
Let the world come to you. Let it guide your own discovery.
Let the language of the earth fill in the blanks of your curiosity.
Let the movement of the bodies and the vibration of the voices give birth to the next step.
Let the question of the question be the guest of uninvited freedom.
Let the power of the racquet, and the ball, and the court, unfold in a symphony of perfection.
Let the roar of 55,000, whistle the greatness of oblivion.
Let the aroma of your country be the nectar of your sweetness.
Let the illusion of your knowledge be the panacea of your surrender.
Let the questions of the children feed the dance of exploration.
It is a let? did it touch the net?
Heaven, Earth, Human, and Let.
The Virtual Café
Images from the Virtual Cafe harvest.
Including “Mission Control” Michael Chender!
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Facing the Blade
Embodied leaders closing:
Surprising teachers
are no longer gurus
Nature, people
active in community
Translation to advocation
Self organization
Listening for somatic
imprints
Facing the blade, the threat
with appreciation
standing with danger
through passages
Convergence time
Day 5! Wrapping up with our modules and closing the loops for tonight’s party.
What did we learn? What was our collective insights? What will we send to the world? What is our responsibility? What is needed from us?
This word cloud shows the words used in this blog throughout the week. The biggest ones have been written more frequently.
What do we see emerging from this picture?
Harvest from the blog - www.wordle.net
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Day five notes: answers and giving.
We begin day five with thick sea fog raised above the ground, and the promise of rain to break the humidity.
…
In the Art of Hosting module yesterday, we were talking about questions and Tim Merry had a great line about answers. He said “the world is moving too fast for answers. As soon as we discover an answer it’s already out of date. The only way to stay grounded is in questions.” Indeed that seems to be the only way to stay together around a centre. What will we constantly become?
…
Last night the Institute made a request around a need they have to rise some money. They (we?) launched a campaign to explore what ALIA 2.0 might look like and to raise the funds to make a transitional leap from this model to that one. So one of the questions that is in the air is what do you think ALIA 2.0 could look like and what would you be willing to contribute to it>
Taking our cue from the way The World Cafe Foundation works, my partner and I, as faculty, have decided to donate a percentage of the fees from any work we do as a result of being here at Shambhala. Other faculty have decided to do the same thing, and we make a friendly challenge to faculty past and present to join us. Something about the energetics of that feels right to me, as a way to support and nurture the wonderful relationships that exist here, that contribute so much to our learning and that give us the beautiful opportunity to share a little of what we have discovered along the way.
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Experience of the Virtual Café: Katharine Weinmann
Today I had the thrill, delight and honour to have been part of an inspired
use of technology – participating in a World Cafe with my community of
practice – ALIA – during our annual summer institute in Halifax, while
sitting in my home office in Alberta, Canada.
To hear with fondness the familiar voices of Sera – thank you, dear one, for
such a warm welcome; Chris in London – I remember my first experience in
World Cafe at our King’s University gathering, watching and listening to
you challenge us to bring our best, most courageous selves to the fore; and
to Michael for your ever thoughtful, patient, humourous and wise
hosting…with the new voices, ideas, passions and questions made for a full
heart.
And true to my east coast ALIA tradition, I met one of my “Halifax sisters”,
Donna Scotten, after the Cafe. I picked up the lobsters she brought me for
dinner this evening. How perfect!
A deep bow of gratitude for the idea, support, and invitation.
Namaste,
Katharine Weinmann
Virtual Café Learnings from Carolyn Baldwin
Bow to the whole of our community.
Rules of the Road
1. Create redundancy in all things.
2. Do a dry run contact with the groups you will be hosting to assure ease
of contact before the day of the event.
3. In some ways the virtual environment creates a real time “world as café”
with complexity. With all the bumps and creative ideas needed in the
flow of the experience.
4. Count on your café community to step in when you can not with grace and
generosity and offer the same back when you can.
5. Human conversation no matter what medium is our most powerful path to
sustainability in all things and meaningful change
6. When we shift our conversations we are able to shift our minds and
actions.
Reflection:
Great quote from O. Scharmer:
Observe, Observe, Observe, Retreat and Reflect, Act in an Instant.
Peace and Joy to All,
Carolyn Baldwin
Bow.
The Deliciousness of Not-Knowing
One thread that continues to unfold is the one that speaks of the delicate balance between wanting something to show up (our expectations, desires, intentions, etc) and the reality of the present moment as it is. The art of holding our attention in this gap and the relaxation of our experience in this space of the unknown requires courage, discipline, and patience. Some benefits are: experiencing a sense of vibrant aliveness, being able to engage with others without needing to manipulate their experience, generate conversations that include and sustain interest, walking our talk, and systems that have the potential to yield sustained high performance and flow.
In the creative session with Steve Clorfeine today, we were allowing different sounds of music to move us (which involves not knowing and surprise) and noticing how we may have the tendency to move to the music which is a different experience (still good but different). Then, at the end he mentioned the richness of losing one self in one’s self! The emergence of life from this space of ‘not- knowing is delicious and humbling.
Ruben Perczek
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ALIA Café and mini-Innovation Lab followup
We had a cafe on Thursday at the Mount ,and simultaneously with 12 people each on Skype and in Second Life. The topic was the ideas each of us saw that had leverage and that called forth our courage to act. The “harvest” was done in the usual way, with people asked to make comments from their tables after the three rounds of conversation on what struck them. The Skype comments were included in the visual harvest; the Second Life comments came later. The conversations turned out to be both about what individuals saw in their work and organizational lives, and ideas for how ALIA could be of more service.
Each participant on site was then invited to write down their own areas of inspiration. These were then clustered into topics, preparatory to further work the next day.
On Friday each of the topics and associated ideas were transferred to sheets of paper on the ground in a large circle. Groups gathered at the ones they were particularly interested in, then went off to explore their area, and their possible actions further. These resulted in a number of groups that plan to continue their conversations on the ALIA community site.
The topic areas and ideas, with further additions, were then posted in the dining room. More detailed minutes of the discussions may be posted within some of the groups on the community site.