The Flowering of Human Consciousness

This Sunday I will be showing a DVD of Echart Tolle's "The Flowering of Human Consciousness - Everyone's Life Purpose". I have not reviewed it, but as I like Tolle's stuff, I expect to enjoy this. It is a DVD of a lecture - he is a very slow, deliberate talker, so don't come expecting an action film - it is much more on the meditative/philosophical side.

From the Tolle website:

"In The Flowering of Human Consciousness, you will come face to face with Eckhart Tolle, for a transformational meeting with this respected teacher and influential author. In clear language, Eckhart explains the process of entering the "miraculous" state of presence that is always available to us. We are lost, he says, in the maze of our own compulsive thoughts. Only by ceasing this "mental noise" can we dissolve our egos, and enable the "flowering of a new consciousness" to proceed - a transformation that cannot be understood with the mind. From guidance about stress and career to insights into the nature of the ego and the delusion of time, here is a far-reaching session that documents the vision of this modern spiritual teacher, and the truth he brings."

I have a 21" screen, which is sufficient for a small group - if anyone has a larger one they would be willing to bring for the occasion, please let me know.

Annual Leaf Pile Jumping Party

Due to wet weather most of this week, I'm postponing the party in the hopes that we will have some dry days producing that nice large pile of leaves we are hoping for. So I am postponing the party one week to Saturday, the 24th. All other details as before. I apologize for the change in schedule, and hope you all can still make it.

If you forwarded the original notice to someone, please let them know of the change of date also. Thanks.The Seventh Annual Autumn Leaf Pile Jumping Party is happening on Saturday, November 24th, 2007, 3:00 PM - 12:00 PM

You are enthusiastically invited to the Annual Autumn Leaf Pile
Jumping Party, taking place at my home in Vienna, Virginia. This
is an open invitation - you are welcome to invite your friends and
post to other lists. Kids are especially welcome!

When is the last time you jumped into a large pile of leaves?
Has it been years? Well, here's your chance. I am collecting
leaves from the entire neighborhood, and you are invited to come
and jump, roll, play and frolic. We might even allow the kids to
play too! We will also have hot spiced cider, hot chocolate, and
some other traditional fall things.

Very approximate schedule:

3:00 leaf pile jumping, hot cider
5:00 potluck dinner
7:00 autumn ritual
8:00 chatting, hot tub

You are welcome to come to part or all of the event.

LEAF PILE
A chance for everyone to get loose and silly, and have a lot of
fun. A note from the experienced: sweaters can gather a lot of
leaf fragments that are hard to get out. You may want to wear
something less porous.

POT LUCK
Bring a dish to feed 5 people - main/side dishes especially
welcome. Please email/call me with what you want to bring, so
we don't wind up with 30 pumpkin pies!

AUTUMN RITUAL
This time of year is traditionally the final harvest celebration
of the agricultural year. As the plants began to die and the
weather turned colder it was natural to become introspective. It
is also the first holiday of the Celts, who believed that the
veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead
was thinnest at this time of year.

We will have a simple ceremony where we reflect on the necessity
to let go of things in our lives that have passed on, and to
look at our own impermanence, preparing us to let go of the old
before we welcome the new at the turning of the year. You are
welcome to join us for this moment of introspection.

HOT TUB
After the ritual will be a time of socializing, and we will open
the hot tub, which is clothing-optional. Towels are provided.

PLEASE RSVP TO gene@freeheart.net, or phone 703-255-1009, and let me
know what you would like to bring for the hot tub. In case of bad
weather, please call before you come.

Hope to see you there!

Gene

Next Gathering

This date could change - please stay posted.

Gathering - Polyamory and other Alternative Lifestyles

Many people in our area have experimented with polyamory (having multiple intimate relationships) and other alternative lifestyles - we will discuss the lifestyle and its advantages and disadvantages. Whether you are poly-experienced, poly-curious, or poly-sceptical, this should prove to be an interesting meeting for all.

Our discussion will be focused more on actual experience, and less on theory or opinion. The evening will include a "fishbowl discussion", where those with questions can anonymously ask those with experience what they want to know. And as with the last few meetings, we will take some time for our coffeehouse format, where you can discuss the topic in smaller informal groups. Please bring some tasty snacks or drinks to share during the discussion. I hope you will join us.

Gathering - Sex and Community

Continuing on a topic we discussed several weeks ago, this meeting
will be focusing on several aspects of sex and community. One is the
phenomena of several groups and communities that have formed in the DC
area over the last few years, who seek to integrate sexuality into
their group as an integral part of what they are about. Another
aspect is sexual relationships within a community, their role, and
their effect on bonding or splitting within the community.

We will be using the coffeehouse format again for this gathering - we
will have time to mill, chat, group and regroup, casually exploring
questions and learning from other people's experiences. Bring some
snacks or food to share with the group. I hope you will join us.

Gathering - Do We Have What We Need?

Do we have what we need to live an abundant life? Many struggle with their lives - they struggle with loneliness, with their own demons and fears, with finding satisfying relationships or making the ones they have work, with finding purpose in life. Is this the way it was meant to be?

For most of human history, community largely fulfilled many of these needs. Has the cult of individualism and the values of our society made real community inaccessible to us? Can community that satisfies our needs still be created in the modern world?

This Sunday, we will talk about the personal needs we find unfulfilled in our lives, and what would be necessary to have those needs met in community. Come join us and share your needs and your thoughts about community.

Awareness meeting

A few years back, I created an Awareness Group that focused on becoming more aware - not only of the external world, but expecially of our internal world, the world of others, and how we interact. This Sunday's meeting will have a similar focus - we will look at personal awareness, the role of our shadow in preventing awareness, and gaining awareness through intuition.

Gathering - Autonomy, Relationship, and Community

This Sunday we will discuss the differing dymanics between our autonomy and freedom as individuals, the dynamic sharing that happens in relationships, and belonging/identifying to a community. We live in a society where much of community has been lost, the family has gone nuclear, and individual freedom has become a cult. But where is the healthy balance? So many long for community, yet we are terrified to give up our autonomy and freedom. Must we? Is there a way to have both?

Come and join in discussing this topic of passion for many of us. I will also share more of my vision of Intimate Community as part of the evening.

We meet at 7 PM. Several people also like to come around 6:30 to do some contact improv, a simple and beautiful form of movement that you can learn in a few minutes - you're welcome to join us for that as well.

Gathering - Cycle of Life

This Sunday, we will have a gathering with a simple exercise I am calling Cycles of Life. I picked this up from a medicine wheel located at Seven Oaks near Roanoke. We will have a chance to look at the cycle of life and intuit where we are in the cycle.

This week we will preceed our meeting with some contact improv, for those interested - a free-form group movement that is easy to learn, yet very meditative. The contact improv will start at 6:30. We may then have a short time of dancing to free our bodies and minds before we begin the meeting at 7 PM. I hope you will join us.

Gathering: Community and Sexuality

Many small groups and communities today are much more open about sexuality than groups seemed to be in the past. Our community is very body friendly; hugs, cuddles, hot tubbing, and massage are common, and sexuality is an open subject.

There are many other groups and communities that may have some overlap, but which deal with sexuality in different ways - from simple body-friendly groups like CuddleBuddies, Cuddle Party, Esalen massage, nudist groups, to groups that deal with sexual energy and tantra, to alternative lifestyle groups such as polyamory, swingers, GLBT, BDSM, to groups that engage in sacred sexuality and ritual. Phenomena like "The Vagina Monologs", which one of our community members performs in, would have been unthinkable a generation ago. The list is very long.

What does this all mean? Freedom from the old morality? A slide into decadence? Honesty in facing our sexuality? Using sex as a distraction from deeper life issues? Integration of a part of us that is often treated with shame?

This Sunday, we will open up this "hot" topic for discussion. What part of the current trend bothers you? What has gotten you curious? What has enhanced your life in some way? We will talk about our own reactions and feelings to what we have seen and experienced in other groups, as well as in our own, in an atmosphere of honesty and non-judgmentalism.

Gathering - Welcoming the Light and the Shadow

We will learn a simple meditation focused on helping us be aware and accepting of what we find in ourselves, both what we perceive as "good" as well as what we perceive as "bad", as well as what we see in others. The evening will also include a simple introduction and practice of tonglen, a Tibetian "giving and receiving" meditation that can expand the heart and engender compassion for ourselves and for others.

Gathering - Significant Lessons

We will have a Gathering this Sunday to catch up with each other and reconnect. We will take some time to reflect on significant lessons we have learned in our lives. Some questions you may think about are:

- What is something significant you have learned in your life which is totally different than what you knew or understood when you were
20?

- Is there a teacher/mentor/guide who has been significant in your life and why?

- What is something you would like to ask group participants here tonight which you have never directly asked before?

- At this stage in your life, what is your most heart-felt desire for what you want in your life?

We will start with our usual dancing to warm up, then gather to share from our lives. Please join us.