Agenda
- Check in
- Opening Blessing
- Review WWWs
- Weekly event logistics
- Year Plan
- Spring Equinox
- May Day
- Review agenda
- Shawn's spiritual experience
- Evaluations
- Closing Blessing
Next business call
- Foundation
- Year Plan
- Unconference
- Create Meetup invitation
- SolSeed Creed
Check-in
- Shawn … in the car with his friend coming back from Ashland … had a very powerful, enlightening, beautiful, ineffable experience yesterday.
- Ben … Still feeling exhausted after participating in a confrontation yesterday between left-wing groups and right-wing groups at a right-wing rally… some people got shoved around, but I’m ok. Right-wing was provoking, but left-wing was doing the shoving… people were being highly reactive, while others were quite calm. Still processing...
Opening Blessing
Our lives sometimes take remarkable turns when we step into living our values. As a community of practice, we can encourage each other to make those leaps and share our experiences to give a sense of being on a shared journey. May we continue to grow in the direction of the people we want to be. --Blessed Be
WW(W)s from last time
- Brandon … ask Shelley if she'll put together the Imbolc ceremony … by today
- Brandon … talk to Shelley about dates for the unconference that would work for her … by today
- Brandon … freeze my fossils … by Saturday
- <s>Ben … freeze my fossils … by Saturday</s>
- Eric ... freeze my fossils ... today! Or by Saturday.
WW(W)s
- Ben … research whether we could plant trees or otherwise volunteer in a park in Seattle … by next call
- Ben … finish a draft of the newsletter … by next call
Weekly Events Logistics
Service rotation: Eric, Ben, Shawn, Brandon, (Rico), Shelley
- Feb 17th Service: 8:30 AM PST / 11:30 EST … Shawn
- Feb 18th Business Call: 8:30 AM PST / 11:30 EST
Year Plan
- Unconference timing is still up in the air
- Shawn's schedule is busy in March, open in May
- Normal celebration for the Spring Equinox (Tuesday March 20th, 9:15am PDT / 12:15 EDT)
- Each write a story beforehand that takes place sometime after the Cambrian explosion
- We read stories together and also go out to a sushi restaurant (Sanders eat seaweed)
- Usually takes place in Seattle, but Portland might make more sense this time
- Shawn's timing: Could maybe do Sunday the 25th (will be in Hood River on the evening of Saturday the 24th)
- Ben’s timing: Have Star Trek meetup on the morning of the 24th, would rather travel and have celebration on the 25th, if it's in Portland.
- May Day Celebration - possibly in Seattle
- Tree planting or work in a park.
- Possible unConference
Shawn's spiritual experience with 5-MEO-DMT
- Shawn's disclaimer: I take full responsibility for my actions
- The most important thing about any psychedelic experience is having the right setting and mindset going in, hence the rituals held by the group … it's otherwise not really religious
- The rituals felt very Pagan and kind of playful
- They talk a lot about the classical Greek four elements symbology, but also Hindu and Buddhist … it doesn't really matter which tradition(s) are referenced
- The mat you sit on during the experience is called the Launching Pad
- After inhaling the vaporized chemical, you lie back and blow it out
- They play music that imitates beta, alpha, and delta waves … they gave me a CD of it
- What I felt
- The experience of my ego dissolving felt like dying, but I told myself to surrender
- Part of the purpose of these experiences is to "practice death"
- Experiencing the world without the process of dividing it up, knowing what's right and wrong, etc
- I felt peace, joy, love for everyone, everything made sense, but also I knew that I knew nothing
- I found clarity that my message is important, and that we need focused action without striving to create something beautiful and lasting
- Similar to Buddhist insights about meditation or Kung Fu insights about how to do a move: the more you try to force yourself into it, the less it works, because your energy goes into the tension of forcing yourself … instead, relax into it
- The experience lasted about 25 minutes
- Having had this experience, I'm now considered an initiated member
- I don't expect people who haven't had this experience to fully understand what I'm talking about
- I can forward you the materials on it, for what it's worth
Evaluation
- Shawn … I'm appreciative that you've been a sounding board for my ramblings … also feeling apologetic because I want to hear more about what you experienced at the rally
- Ben … I'm glad we're getting closer to clarity on what we're doing for the next couple of events … I'm also glad that I can learn something about a chemically-induced spiritual experience without having to risk it myself … I'll be interested to hear how you'll feel different or approach things differently on an ongoing basis as a result of having this experience
Closing Blessing
I'm grateful to be able to connect and grateful to share this experience, and I'm looking forward to every experience after this one, and all the meetings and all the events we're going to create together. --Blessed Be