Harmony in Maine

Some notes from a recent gathering with Cynthia Bourgeault

Just now back from what Cynthia B calls a Wisdom School, an ingathering of sorts which takes place once or twice a year in Rockland, Maine, where she lives. This time 24 people, 8 x 3, tucked into the brilliant rocky coast with its crispy sunshine and bobbing sails.

As a body-oriented on-the-move kind of guy, I find the format of these gatherings can be somewhat challenging (we spend a lot of time spent sitting in an upper room), but one of the reasons I find myself returning again and again is the substantial value of working with a group of people who all share the same interior aim, a common Ideal. It’s like any coordinated body: a complex team coming together to film a scene for a movie; an orchestra; a tree removal—experiencing the joy of becoming part of a larger effort, each part trusting the others to pull their weight and giving selflessly to a stated goal. Teamwork makes the dream work, or so they say. Out there in the wild, this kind of harmony is rare. There’s a heap of ego waiting behind every camera, violin and chainsaw. We’ve all run into it and watched shit hit the rails. We’ve all brought it, and as often as not, justified our behavior or blamed someone else while the discord got big.

In a setting where everyone is aware of those natural catastrophes, where there is an agreement to decontract the constant tensions caused by the ego, something more is possible. I was tasked with some of the Inner Exercise work for this week. So on the first day I asked for the group to form 3 groups (chains) of 8 people each, who then worked for the first three days with the task of remembering their group’s larger body; that they were part of a larger coordinated whole. Each part sent their good wish to the other parts, following an order of rotation. This went on throughout each day, as an inner work task. (I sometimes refer to this as tattooing — the other people in my group need to be imprinted in one’s own body, so that the head remains free and clear, not having to work to remember each person. (Ie. I cannot forget this is my own right arm, and I don’t need to think which one is which, the way I did when I first learned right and left as a small child. It must be the same with these group exercises.) Late in the week I gave a sitting for all three groups at once, following a practice of intentionally connecting and strengthening the different parts of each body, and overlapping the groups of 8 in a larger energetic field.

We did this at about 10 in the morning and the strongest Living Energy came. I’ve been thinking about why this happened, and I am sure that it has to do with calling on a specific, shared Ideal by Name, which opens a kind of door. While not beyond bearing, it was an enormous intensity. Our Common Ideal both increased the possibility and the strength of Presence and also seemed to be a shield of some kind, like epithelial tissue, lining the channel through which it flowed, strengthening and protecting it at once—the only reason anyone could bear it. I had never before had the chance to work with 3 chains at once. We had contact with a higher order of Real. And why? The practical work session that followed in the kitchen team I was a part of shared an effortless joy and order. The narrow house, jammed with people navigating tight hallways and stairwells, cleaning, repairing, painting and cooking was in a gorgeous choreography. The Whole, operating under an Organizing principle, a Will many orders of magnitude stronger, a Harmony. This was what I could see. But beyond the local results, I am hope-sure that such a concentration, brought down to dwell amongst and through us, did and will find its own way further out, to where it’s needed, to be of service.

Listen to me, writing away in the morning about things so lofty. The poplar leaves are poppin’ and Merlin ID insists that I’ve got 15 different birds (2 raptors) this morning. The land is due for a God-blessed 5 days of rain starting later today. And I’m remembering with gratitude, especially this morning, that every one of us stands on the shoulders of those who have come before.