Circles
People standing in a line are able to meet the folks standing next to them. And if they are in line long enough they may become friends.
People standing in a circle get to see every one. And if they are in a circle long enough they may do great things.
Standing in a circle with a group of people reminds me of two distinct and memorable experiences. The first experience was during a Sufi workshop. There were about 60 or maybe 80 people standing in a large circle. The presenter asked us to collapse the circle into the shape of a crescent moon. So that each individual stood directly in front of another. The next instruction was to look deeply into the other person’s eyes for a few moments. And then close your eyes and drop into your heart. What this experience did was to introduce each other to one another’s soul and light. Then we were instructed to open our eyes and look at one another. The person in front of me and myself, we were just beaming and smiling at each other. The next instruction was for each person to merely take a step sideways to the left. And then repeat looking deeply into next person’s eyes and again dropping into our hearts and so forth until we had met every single person in the circle. At the end, we then expand from a crescent formation back into a circle. This exercise took a little while but the experience was a seamless moment of endless time where you got to meet each soul and bask in their light.
The second experience occurred 4 or 5 times during the late 1970s and early 80s at events called “Rainbow Peace Gatherings.” These gatherings happen the first week of July in a national forests or public lands. The centerpiece of these gatherings was on July 4th at about 11am to noon. Most everyone at the gathering, which numbered from a few thousand to 10,000 folks would gather in a large meadow, formed a circle and held hands. A conch would sound signaling the beginning of one hour of silence, for meditation or prayer or just standing there smiling at each other. The extraordinary thing that happened was that there was always a rainbow that appeared and often more than one rainbow appeared. There were times that it would be overcast and cloudy. However, during that one hour, a hole formed or a break in the clouds, sunlight shone and rainbows would appear. At the end of an hour the conch would again sound signaling the end of silence. I attended four or five of these Rainbow Gatherings and was astounded how a community could just appear and work with very little planning or infrastructure. These gatherings enlightened me to the potential of a relatively small tribe of people who gathered for peace.
Despite these experiences happening over 40 years ago, they have continued to remind me of the power and influence that people process and the potential that we all have to address the needs that we are currently facing on this planet. I wonder how we might use this human being or soul technology to bring light into places of darkness that occur on the planet. For example I wonder what would happen if a group or community of people quietly surrounded and encircled a place that had some dark aspect to it. Blew a conch to begin a time of silence, prayer and meditation. Inviting those who had been in this dark place to come out and join in a circle of light. Then with the conch sounding a second time to announce healing and light has occurred. I believe we can do this!
For the past couple of months have been listening to this Youtube channel “Giving Voice to the Wisdon of the Ages,” great stuff. Yesterday writing this “circles” post and today while getting some sun in the hammock, I stumbled across this video and thought it was appropriate for this time.
Peace, love and light!
Tim
3/5/2022