CSE – Community Supported Enlightenment Posts & Subpages:
Community-of-Practice Democratizes “Esoteric” Quaker Mysticism
Supports to Practice: Relevant Quaker Resources
Small Practice Group Dynamics
Accurate guidance comes only from within while in conscious unity with the undifferentiated field of unified intelligence —light, spirit.
Group Process Agreements
NOTE TAKING IS ESSENTIAL because:
I. The very act of writing integrates both brain functioning and subjective experience. Writing our insights with a utensil other than a keyboard during small group sessions is, in and of itself part of a balancing, healing, awareness-expanding process.
II. Practices are incessantly evolving and emerge from community-of-practice participants’ direct personal experiences. Practices will therefore not be published inasmuch as, to do so would be to offer a static snapshot which became inaccurate a nanosecond after it was captured. The kaleidoscope of experience will have already have shifted the impermanent image.
Small Group Dynamics
- Observe complete confidentiality about everything that is shared among us.
- Choose to share fully or to offer just enough content for others to get the gist of how some aspect of how the practice unfolded.
- Neither facilitator, nor participants electronically record practice conversations.
- Listen deeply.
- Fully respect and be deeply sensitive to everyone.
- Speak up if you feel that respect and sensitivity have not been demonstrated in some way.
- The culture of the community of practice creates a positive, upbeat safe space in which everyone shares: That is…. Everyone is invited to speak —as many times as needed with the following behavioral and self-mastery provisos:
- Share only from your own, personal direct experience. We refrain from philosophizing, conceptualizing, mindreading, or lecturing.
- Say everything that needs to be said yet be mindful not to speak for an inordinately long period of time.
- As we speak we do not directly reference, comment on, or give advice on another Friend’s statement or experience.
- After a someone speaks, we simply listen deeply take in what has been offered for our information and edification rather than assess, compare, or verbally do anything with that information.
Facilitator Role:
- Reflect back information,
- Clarify nuances of a practice and the origins or science behind it,
- Offer enhanced practices for subsequent meetings.
Reality is an illusion, albeit a persistent one. —Albert Einstein—