ARTICLES
All
the Petals of the Rose Part II(Seminar Event)
What’s
Your Number?
June
2002 Events
Connections
& KVNF: Community Voices
Friday
Night Forum: The Earth, Energy and Us
All the Petals of the Rose Part II
by Joshua Hayward
This month’s interview with Dr. Judith Boice is the second
of a two-part series presenting an upcoming event of
imperative importance, sponsored by the Whole Life Network.
Last month we visited with Evan Hodkins, Director of the
School of Alchemy in Paonia, Co. Along with Hodkins, Dr,
Judith Boice will be co-facilitating, “All the Petals of the
Rose”, an event with a loving intention of touching the
essence of the Western Slope Community with healing, wholeness
and unity. This ‘joining of hearts and minds’ seeks to foster
joyous participation, song and meditation, with deep inner
searching, will highlight this powerful, uplifting event. “All
the Petals of the Rose” will address our need to align with
the changes we are going through, individually, in local
community, and in the greater community of the planet Earth.
I have had the privilege of working with Dr. Boice on the
KVNF radio show, “Connections”, and on our live show in
Montrose, “The Friday Night Forum”. What impresses me the most
about her is her broad, integrative view of life that pays
remarkable attention to detail. Boice is articulate and
compassionate, as well as informed and worldly. She is
voyager, activist, and mother.
Since “All the Petals of the Rose” will be an important
community-oriented event, how appropriate it is that Dr. Boice
would have so much experience in that area. She has lived in
several ‘intentional communities’ and ancient communities,
such as Findhorn; Scotland, the Bear Tribe, the Shawnee Tribe,
the Aborigines of the western desert of Australia, and Oberlin
College; Ohio, the first college ever to adopt a co-op
structure. Of the six books Boice has authored, “At One with
All Life”, tells about her wealth of experience gained from
living with people in a different context than most of us are
used to.
Dr. Boice moved here to Colorado about a year ago from
Portland, Oregon, and she has set up both her home and her
practice in Montrose, Co. An acupuncturist and a naturopath,
Boice authors a column on health advice in Transitional Times
and lectures on various health topics, including menopause.
She also has a degree in music and currently plays in a local
musical group called the “Farmers’ Daughters”.
What background do you bring to this vital event?
If you want to look at all the different components and
pieces that will contribute to the event, one is I have a
background as a musician. I think that helps me sensitize to
healing on lots of different levels. Listening. I’m hoping the
part of the event will address is attunement and the ability
to listen very, very deeply. To look within for guidance. The
aim is to reach what I call ‘right relationship’. Living in
right relationship with others, and more than just other human
beings.
As well as being a musician, I have a long, strong
background of working with the environment. From a political
viewpoint, and also from a spiritual aspect.
You authored a book about the environment, from those
earlier, political days?
Yes. “The Art of Daily
Activism”, which was my way of reframing activism. A lot of
what I heard from proponents of advocacy, or activism, was
trying to pass legislation to get ‘someone else’ to do the
work, or someone else to do the regulations. But I was looking
for a more fundamental shift that people focus on creating the
kind of world they wanted to live in, instead of being
reactive. Most environmental and advocacy groups in general
react to legislation, or react to proposed changes. So, for
example, the Sierra Club reacts to the damming of the valley
where Yosemite is, or reacts to uranium mining in the Grand
Canyon.
So these groups are reacting to what they see is wrong,
externally, and you propose instead to focus on creating what
is desirable?
To focus energy on creating, rather than
enforcing stopgap measures. That does not mean that the
stopgap measures are not important. It is absolutely important
that people are doing that part.
You are just coming from a different perspective.
Right. And ideally, I would like to see us coming from a
larger framework, for that larger framework says you choose
your own battles. And in addition, you focus daily activities
so that in your day to day choices you support the kind of
world you want to live in.
You have said that the kind of world we might want
includes a community much larger than one consisting of only
human beings?
Prejudice is understood in a much more
limited sense than it will be. Now we understand racial and
sexual prejudice, but we don’t have a handle on the prejudice
of anthropocentrism. When people think about community, they
are usually focusing only on human inhabitants, but actually
all elements of creation are important members of the
community, and if we get to an important principle of
‘attunement’, that would be to listen very deeply. It is my
perspective that if people listen deeply, practice attunement,
it means listening to all aspects of life.
How does one listen deeply?
One of the important
aspects is the ongoing surrender of the “personal’ desire.
Usually the first answer that comes back (when listening) is
the superficiality of personality desire. So listen at that
level and let that level go. Usually the first answer that
comes back is a very self-serving level. There is a process of
letting the first answer go, and then deepening and quieting
even more and listening again. And maybe four or five times
more. Each cycle of letting go brings a deeper level of wisdom
to come forward.
A part of what you are talking about is attaining to a
level of patience most people in Western Civilization is not
used to?
No, but some are. I’ll give you an example.
This was when I lived with the Bear Tribe. When the community
started they spent six months living on the land in tents in
quiet listening, in sweat lodges and pipe ceremonies. They did
a lot of listening before they did anything on the land.
Before they started constructing anything. That kind of
listening leads to a much different (kind of) development of
the land, and it leads to different kind of interaction among
the people.
Let’s move on to the event itself.
The thing we
haven’t mentioned yet that relates to the event is that there
are ways of building human community. Another piece of what is
happening globally is that with all the shift and changes
happening internationally, around the planet, there is a
polarization of the older order and the newer order, between
the materialistic, greedy, power-hungry culture, and the other
pole is this new form of community that is trying to birth. It
is more focussed on human interaction and sharing at the level
of ceremony, at the level of art, singing and dancing, and
literally in their physical bodies bringing harmony through
their actions. Physically expressing harmony. Also a sharing
of resources. There is no reason ten people need to have ten
lawnmowers when they all could share one, for instance. Now,
another thing for this sort of community that goes beyond the
idea of ‘like-mindedness’, or even ‘like-spiritual’. That
community would ideally include people of different social,
spiritual, and political backgrounds, different ages and life
orientation. There seems to be an epidemic of loneliness.
There are a lot of people, many who are single, who feel
isolated and are awaiting others to invite them to do things.
This is an extension of our culture’s (tendency toward)
individualism. So if we go too far into individualism, we end
up feeling lonely. What is coming is a culture that still
allows individualism with collectivism.
What you are talking about is ‘unity in diversity’
instead of ‘unity in sameness’. The Dali Lama and others have
been speaking of this.
Such a culture, or community,
would require respect and tolerance, and not just surrounding
yourself with people who share your specific beliefs, ideas,
and socio-spiritual background. Its easy to talk about unity
in diversity, but it is challenging to be inclusive. When you
live and work in community, it is a microcosm of the world.
You are not suddenly insulated from the difficulties of the
wider world. They are suddenly right there in your face, in
‘microcosm’. The power and strength in community is in
commitment to work through things and to continue respecting
and working with these people.
Patience and tolerance.
And developing some
skills to work through conflict. Also, if there can be a
common spiritual practice that helps greatly in getting
through things.
About the event, how are you going to create the
atmosphere of community?
We are going to use music,
meditation, attunement exercises, and we are hoping to
culminate with an optional ceremony Saturday night, so some of
the things we do Saturday during the day will lead into
ceremony to begin working together on a spiritual basis. There
will be self-reflective times and there will be group
interactive times, music, and I imagine, Sufi dancing.
End Part 2
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What’s Your Number?
by Linda Frazee
When was the last time you felt fully alive? When you walk
into a room filled with strangers, where do you focus your
attention? These are just two of some fifty sample interview
questions asked by an Enneagram teacher to determine your
Enneagram point or number.
Few people can answer all of the questions, although there
are no right or wrong answers. That’s because few people have
thought about themselves, their behavior, and motivation in
quite the same way as the Enneagram reveals.
The titles of the nine Enneagram points are as follows:
#1-Perfectionist, #2-Helper, #3-Performer, #4-Tragic Romantic
Artist, #5-Observer, #6-Trooper, #7-Adventurer, #8-Boss and
#9-Mediator.
At first glance this system looks just like another
typology method. However, the real gift of this system is
delivered by observing yourself more deeply, both your moment
by moment thoughts and discovering your “fixations,” as they
are called in Enneagram language.
Our fixations constitute our habitual way of looking at the
world and relating to other people. The point of studying our
personality type is to recognize our habitual perceptual and
relationship strategies and learn we can grow beyond them. It
is generally agreed we cannot change or fully transcend our
personality type during our lifetime, but we can become less
limited by our type’s fixed constellation of traits. The
experience of our own personalities can be transformed from a
lifelong trap to a loose fitting style that allows us to try
on other perspectives and ways of learning.
In addition, the Enneagram of personality teaches us to see
beyond the limitations to the unrealized spiritual potential
within. Every number has a virtue as well as a fixation or
vice. For instance, the #6 fixation is fear and the virtue is
courage. Improved meditations, prayers and a deeper sense of
peace are outcomes from the application of this sacred
psychology.
The Enneagram was introduced to the West by the mystic G.
I. Gurdjieff who had the symbol painted on the floor of his
institute for the harmonious development of man. Strictly
speaking, the Enneagram is a nine pointed star, a symbol of
ancient and uncertain origins, that may have once served as a
mathematical map of cosmic reality. Most scholars trace it
back at least 2,500 years to the secret Sufi society known as
the Sarmouni Brotherhood.
Some of the earliest American students of the Enneagram
were Jesuit Priests who sparked a rapid dissemination of the
knowledge in the Jesuit community. The first American book on
the Enneagram was published in 1984 and titled “A Journey of
Self-Discovery.” It was authored by a Roman Catholic teacher,
Maria Beesing. Currently there are many Enneagram teachers
throughout the United States.
Mainstream applications for the Enneagram are: Psychology,
education, business, communication, healing arts, medicine,
and spiritual awareness. Since the 1994 Stanford Enneagram
Conference attended by 1,700 people from 14 different
countries, the Enneagram has spread worldwide.
There are many benefits of pursuing self-discovery through
the Enneagram. The most important is understanding your own
motivation: Not just your behavior, but your motivation. Why
you do what you do is underlying all of your feelings, inner
thought processes, and ultimately your behavior. What might
happen if we could really touch into our motivation and work
with the underlying forces that move and have their being in
the deeper parts of our psyche? The Enneagram can provide that
knowledge.
The Enneagram
An Introduction & Workshop by
Linda Frazee
Introduction to The Enneagram
Friday, July 12,
2002 - 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. - $10
The Center for
Religious Science - 658 Howard St., Delta
To register or
for further info, call Sheila 249-1535
The Enneagram allows us to identify the central motivation
of our character, our own biases, blind spots, & the
intentions of others. These fundamental insights can initiate
high levels of compassion for others & bring into
awareness the parts of our personality that stand in the way
of our enlightenment. Enneagram suggests a technology that
allows us to use our fixations as a bridge to higher
consciousness. This introductory evening will give an overview
of all nine points of the Enneagram, the general philosophy
behind the system, & present a panel of a specific
Enneagram type speaking about their perceptions of the world.
The Enneagram Workshop
Saturday, July 13, 2002 -
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
$60 pre-registration or $65.00 at the
door
The Center for Religious Science - 658 Howard St.,
Delta
To register or for further info, call Sheila
249-1535
This workshop promotes development of a deeper compassion
& understanding of self & others. Each Enneagram type
will be represented by panels of individuals who will share
how their particular “view of the human condition” affects
their lives. There will also be a focus on what has helped
them grow personally & in their relationship with the
Divine. This method of listening to others is called the “oral
tradition.” Participants will have an opportunity to be a part
of the panels with which they resonate, or be a part of the
audience.
Linda Frazee is an international professional speaker,
consultant and workshop facilitator. She has been presenting
workshops on spirituality and self-growth for fifteen years.
She is a specialist in using transpersonal psychology to
assist in enhancing intuition, accessing their deepest gifts
and staying connected to Essence in everyday living. Linda is
a certified Enneagram teacher.
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June Events!
*June 21 @ 1 PM, Rocky Mountain Dowers Assn. monthly
meet, For information call Polly 240-4442.
*June 27 @ 12 Noon Chris Holstrom of the Tomten
Institute, a non-profit organization near Telluride, will be
featured on Whole Life Connections KVNF with hosts Arlyn
Macdonald and Joshua Hayward.
*June 28 @ 7:30 p.m. The Earth, Energy and Us will
be the topic of the next WLN Friday Night Forum at the Delta
Montrose Electric Association Community Room, 63.00 Road in
Montrose. A donation of $5.00, $4.00 for Whole Life Network
members, is requested at the door. For more info call
325-1545.
*July 1 @ 6:30 Monthly WLN Board of Directors
meeting at WLN office meeting room.
*July 12 @ 6:30 Introduction to the Enneagram at The
Center for Religious Science, 658 Howard St, Delta. For more
info call 249-1535. A WLN Co-Sponsored Event
*July 13 @ 9 am The Enneagram Workshop at The Center
for Religious Science, 658 Howard St, Delta. For more info
call 249-1535. A WLN Co-Sponsored Event
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Connections & KVNF: Community Voices
Sensitivity to our environment is now vital to our well
being. A better relationship with our planet can lead to
healthier relationships with people and happier lives.
Join co-hosts Arlyn Macdonald and Joshua Hayward at noon on
KVNF’s midday edition, Thursday, June 27, 2002, when they
interview Chris Holstrom of the Tomten Institute, a non-profit
organization near Telluride.
Tomten educates people about organic gardening, recycling,
and permaculture techniques, offering classes in these and
other related subjects. In the show, Chris, will be telling us
about Tomten’s new restaurant recycling program, and she will
also discuss how educating children in Earth-friendly matters
is both rewarding and vital to our development as a culture.
Be sure to tune in to KVNF on Thursday, June 27, to stay
‘connected’!
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Friday Night Forum: The Earth, Energy and Us
by Joshua Hayward
We live in a time when technology is advancing almost
faster than we can breathe and current events seem to be
spinning out of control. Is our world accelerating past our
ability to comprehend, or keep up with? What are the
implications such vast change upon our environment, and hence
our lives?
Our situation on Planet Earth is perhaps not as complicated
as it seems. When we look at our relationship with our
environment, the key factors are energy and resources. It has
become evident there is a vital need to stay in balance with
our environment, the Earth. Responsible, economically viable,
approaches to the world problems of energy and resources are
necessary not only to our quality of life, but to our
survival.
On June 28, 2002, at 7:30PM, the Friday Night Forum will be
presenting a diverse panel who will demonstrate and discuss
various methods and means of developing and utilizing energy
and resources. From ‘voluntary simplicity’ to geothermal
technology and bio-fuel; from new, innovative, community
recycling to environmentally friendly housing; from techniques
in ‘permaculture’ to more consciousness in our interpersonal
relationships, the Friday Night Forum will fill you with
scintillating ideas on how to achieve a better state of
sustainable living on our Planet Earth.
Representing the Tomten Institute, a non-profit
organization near Telluride, Chris Holstrom will be on hand to
discuss organic gardening, recycling with a new twist,
permaculture, and how informed children can make a difference.
Ken Hodges, a wholistic dentist in Telluride who is building
an ‘Earthship’, will be presenting his work in developing
‘bio-fuel’. Founder of Smart Shelter, Gary Duncan, who has
amassed an amazing wealth of information, will open your eyes
to alternative housing and other vital environmental concepts.
Representing the Delta Montrose Electric Association, Nikki
Schmalz will make a presentation on Geothermal Energy. It will
be both interesting and beneficial to see how a large
corporation is responsibly developing energy resources. Also
on hand will be Nancy Jacques, environmental author of
‘Heartcore Alternative’, from Durango. Jacques has also been a
therapist and counselor for many years, and she will discuss a
very personal approach to living consciously on our planet.
I will be present to guide the evening to a high level of
information and entertainment. A lively discussion between
panelists will ensue, and questions and comments from audience
members will punctuate the evening’s ceremonies. Please don’t
miss this uplifting show at the DMEA on Friday, June 28, 2002,
starting at 7:30 PM and ending at 9:30 PM. Find out how we can
create a better, healthier world!
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