'Drought Inside Out' prompts our initial creative dive. Subsequent dives will flow from what comes of the initiation.
Here is the post at the ex•tinc•tion wit•ness website. Please also read the introduction to the post, which is linked at 'Inside Out' up top: http://www.extinctionwitness.org/witness/drought-inside-out
NOTE: For ease and clarity of flow, please keep all creative offerings shared via text for this initial dive to this discussion thread. DO NOT initiate a new discussion. IF there is a LOGISTICAL question or concern, please be in touch with Megan directly. Thank you!
Given technological challenges during opening circle, 3.3.2016, the group gathered for follow-up 3.11.2016 at 10:00 AM PST to carry on with member introductions, cover logistics regarding ongoing discussion and regular video/audio meets, and review the practice suggested for our shared creative process. Here is the recording of the 3.11.2016 meet sans introductions.
April 1, 2016 meet recording (in segments) accessible here.
Next video/audio meet: Friday, April 22, 2016 10:00 AM PST
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Photo copyright Terri Laine / Cruel Season Series - Lake Casitas California; shared with permission
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3.11.2016 Mass Extinction Grief & Creativity meet* from Megan Hollingsworth on Vimeo.
Friends,
Here is the recording, minus intros, for the Friday 3.11.2016 meet. Those present were me, Carolyn Kepes, Werner Brandt, Pamela Corcoran, and Sperry Andrews. The next video meet is scheduled for Friday April 1 at 10:00 AM PST. Between now and then, we will exchange by text in this discussion thread. Also, please add any resources you wish to share with the group to the grief resources discussion and introduce yourself to the group in the group introductions discussion. this way, we can respond to one another's intros with direct reply in that discussion group. I will be offline from now until Tuesday March 15 am. Sending love, thank you, megan
https://soundcloud.com/megan-hollingsworth711/3112016-mass-extincti...
Drought – Inside & Out
(from the Cruel Season Series)
The exposed and naked tree (in the Cruel Season photo of drought) cut so sharp an image of severity and vulnerability. It prompted the following dialogue in me.
What is exposed when the cover of the familiar disappears in my life?
> I am forced to look at the starkness of who I am when I am naked and without the certainty of those things I think I need to be safe and warm.
> I am forced to ask myself, what are the things I think I need in order to thrive?
If climate change threatens to dry up a survival resource and exposes my vulnerabilities, I risk reacting in a way that also dries up my joy. So the ultimate question becomes:
> Without the certainty of water and other vitals I have come to trust, where will I look for joy?
I hope that all of you can help me work through my answer to that.
William, the clearest sense i have is that uncertainty is actually the rule. what you, and we all get to, experience is seeing the cruel nature of uncertainty when uncertainty is forgotten or disrespected or dismissed. the best i know to do is to go gently and lovingly and not shut myself off from others. the latter is key as the ecological community struggles. the post 'refuge in community' came to mind as i read you. my joy is in nurturing connection, also known as compassion, and i personally find most challenging right now - given my attention is to the whole planet (everyone) - nurturing connection with those immediate to me. so far, i am able to be there steadily for and with my son, myself, and a couple, really just two, friends in town. i wonder if part of the communal breakdown is an attempt to maintain too many relationships so that no relationships thrive. i know my capacity to truly be in relationship with individuals is limited and, so, i maintain boundaries to protect the relationships i am involved in. also, i am reading through a research article written in graduate school and came across a quote from Greg Brown's 'Billy from the hills' This applies to the fear that comes through in your reflection. Giving into this fear is to embrace the unknown; the mystery. And that's where and how all magic and miracles happen. :)
- Greg Brown, 'Billy from the Hills'
"How many relationships can I honestly maintain with integrity?"
Here is my unfolding answer: I can maintain the relationships that Spirit sends my way. I probably cannot maintain the relationships that my ego thinks I need.
For me, Spirit never gives me more than I can handle. I just need to remember to focus on Spirit.
Thanks for helping me to focus on this question.
And that being said, I think I need to drop out of both the Depth Psychology workshops.
You are doing something important and I appreciate getting a chance to feel what that is.
And at the same time, I am not getting the exchange I would like from the participants and know I need to focus my energy and time where that exchange is happening right now. I am looking forward to looking you in the eyes and being present with you at the conference. We've shared a lot at distance. It is a good time to see each other.
See you on Saturday.
Thank you, William. I'm glad that you thought to engage and have, and will miss your participation. The groups are starting in slow motion. This may be in part due to timing and people's schedules, and also do to the content, which is much. As this is my whole and daily focus, I can be present in response as much as one person can. For others participating, I imagine this conversation is one among many engaged in and these along with other work and responsibilities. I want to encourage you to stay engaged and also to honor your instinct to let the prospect go.
Look forward to seeing you Saturday.
with love, thank you, Megan
What brings you joy, truly?
As drought reveals what has been suppressed or hidden, in my mind, it is no coincidence that the Grief and Creativity group opening circle, March 3rd, coincided with Berta Cáceres' murder. Berta founded and served as General Coordinator of the Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras. She played a pivotal role in stopping the International Finance Corporation's Agua Zarca hydroelectric project on the Gualcarquè River, which threatened the survival of the Lenca people. Berta's murder brings much suppressed anger born of injustice to surface for me.
I wrote 'Famine's Generosity and the Ultimate Creative' in response to Berta's loss. The piece includes a poem, Great Sparrow's Knot, and addresses corporate competition, noting that service or 'non-profit' corporations are as susceptible to greed's trappings as any corporation or person, along with reason to end competition between males and females, as well as between masculine and feminine aspects within each male and female, yielding to the female and feminine now until systems are balanced.
I share 'Famine's Generosity' in advance of tomorrow's call in case you want and are able to read the post before we gather. This comes with invitation to explore what Berta's murder, and/or anything addressed in the post, inspires through you. If you are so led, we can spend time sharing of this during the call.
Looking forward to our time together, with love, megan
Your piece, Famine's Generosity, is full, full, full of "mad."
Mad is a powerful emotion. And there is much to be mad about.
The following line, excerpted from your writing, strikes me particularly.
"One mad woman is just freak. A band of mad women is just the revelatory revolution called for now."
My reaction?
One mad woman is not a freak. She is simply alone. But my experience tells me that when one woman has the integrity within herself to ALLOW the mad on behalf of stopping the madness, she is speaking a truth that the world can hear. And others will likely follow, and then she will not be alone.
Thank you, William. As I read your reaction, I think it is being alone that creates madness of mad, or any emotional state for that matter, in the woman. Perhaps that is true for the man too. There is solitude and peace therein. Then there is isolation brought on by poverty. That is suffering.