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There were several points in the Rowe seminar that stuck with me and capture something essential about the weekend.
One was at 9:30 at night on Saturday, after a long day of full-on seminar. Everybody should have been wiped out. But we broke into small groups to discuss our personal self-assessment worksheets and the room was filled with excited conversation. The moment came when Alejandro, in his booming voice, announced that it was time to end the conversation and form back into the larger group. I was scanning the crowd with wide-angle eyes and saw that nobody budged. Not one person even turned to look at him. The energy for the current conversations was simply too high at that moment. And again, nobody so much as shifted at his second booming call. Jandro and I glanced at each other, shared a smile and let things run for a while.
The second was having the Rowe staff inform me on my way to breakfast on Sunday morning that a group of around 10 people had been up since about 5:00 that morning talking excitedly.
Here's how I summarized the workshop to someone today:
The weekend seminar at Rowe we just did was powerful and instructive. We (the presenters) learned something very important about how to transform the darkness of the message into true light. In brief, whether we each wish it or not, we are all leaving the comfort of home. Nobody gets to stay behind on this one. In this hero’s journey, everybody leaves the village.
This means the choice is not about whether we wish to expose our minds to the troubling prospect of massive change, but whether we will default our way into a shitty future, or consciously choose a path of our own making. In this view, there is now a fork in the road and on one side is a future filled with promise and abundance (based on a radical alteration of how we interact with the whole of the natural world and live within basic resource constraints) and the other path consists of a turbulent slide into fear and scarcity. If we again fail to heed the lessons from this crisis and opt to head down the default path of growth, there will be no more exits in the future, only choices between “bad outcomes” and “worse outcomes.”
Thus, the work I’ve long been doing, which has been received by many as “doom and gloom,” is really a positive message – indeed, understanding our true condition is the positive message, and it is the “status quo” defenders who are the sirens of destruction.
This work isn’t about cutting off options and choices, it’s about expanding those very things. Judo flip! We can now expand our message into the crowd that requires a positive message. This is going to be big.
I am extremely proud of how the conference went and have brought much back with me to ponder. I know that the conference will be even better next time from a delivery and flow standpoint, but the crowd is always the wildcard, and this time we drew the ace of spades.
The excitement and energy between and among the participants was palpable and powerful. I'll let them speak for themselves here, but what I saw was confirmation of the importance of spending time with people who can speak your language and share your thoughts.
And here's what the center director wrote us (and he's not overly prone to hyperbole, as those who met him will attest):
Dear Becca and Chris,
I am extremely impressed with the work you just finished doing. I have considered seeing if I could get in the Guinness Book of World Records for having attended more workshops than anyone on planet earth. (Actually, I have never done anything to make this happen). So I know what is good and you are very good. It is clear that you have worked it out, yet you have flexibility. The way you turn a big pile of information into a real workshop, beautifully presented, is a work of art.
I am excited to read more from the participants themselves. Post away!
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Chris -
You get a few weeks off, then you need to come on out to Virginia Beach for Workshop 2.0.
Congrats for the huge success at Rowe and the home run tonight on WGBY.
"There is no off position on the genius switch."
Peace - DIAP "Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away."
Your life is an experiment and you live in your laboratory. Have fun, but clean up after yourself.
Most of us seemed to have come from places of isolation in our communities, even some with strongly disagreeing spouses, so the sense of community created by having conversations with many people with many perspectives on this material and what it suggests was very powerful. I didn't know anyone at the start of the weekend but felt many friendships begin to form and look forward to developing them in the future. I left the seminar with a clearer sense of what I needed to do personally and what I wanted to do to help my community face the challenges ahead.
This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. --Ralph Waldo Emerson
I was a participant also. For me, I think the greatest power was a shift in my own outlook on the future. Before, I saw closing doors and limited options. I had lost the sense that there were any exits left on this highway of destruction. After the conference, I feel much more secure with the actions I have taken, and much more resolved with the actions I will take. One of the most powerful things for me was to hear Chris and Becca's personal account of the stages they went through on their personal journey, and then realizing that I'm going through the same ones. There's something powerful in knowing that you're not alone.
And my outlook on the future is much brighter than before. Massive change is upon us. There will be pitfalls and opportunities, that is a fact. But now I actually feel much more excited about opportunities than I am fearful of the pitfalls.
Also, I like to be able to help and lead others, and I think the conference clarified for me the direction that this should go in. There's a bit of a difference between simply instructing others and then taking action with others.
Finally, one of the most powerful, but perhaps less recognized aspects of the conference was the Rowe center. There is no way the the message could have been half as powerful if this was done at a large urban convention center. In order for the conference to really "work" you have to be able to completely remove yourself from the oh-so-tempting lifestyle of consumption and entertainment. The natural beauty and peaceful atmosphere of Rowe greatly amplified the message.
I'm all for getting Chris down to VA, Dogs, but I think Albemarle county or (yes I'll admit) somewhere near Blacksburg might make more sense. Let's find an appropriate venue, and if Chris has the time, I know I could pull a number of people from Northern Virginia. In fact, I wish some of them had been with me at Rowe - then I wouldn't get crazy looks anymore for the intense fear I felt last fall...
Cheers!
Mike
-formerly StudentOfJefferson, reporting live from the Washington D.C. Metro Area
I am so glad that my life serendipiously lined up for me to attend at the last moment as my husband had just had emergency surgery and he has made a miraculous recovery so with family support I could slip away for some rest LOL or so I thought.
Rowe was a great energy boost thou left me with more questions than answers yet connected to these amazing people who inspired and challenged me to think from a reality based position without distraction.
I am now trying to work out how to find a community in New Zealand - any suggestions will be so welcome!
How, choosing where, making links ...
Michelle
best regards MstJane
I will let someone else post a lengthy description of the Rowe conference. It was great to meet Chris, Becca, and Alejando. Their presentations and description of how the CC came in being, as well as how they made major life changes, were inspiring. Perhaps the best part for me was being able to interact with, and get to know to some degree, intelligent, thoughtful, self-reliant but community-oriented people who I would wish I could live near in a community.
Enough from me.
SG
Chris & Becca,
Would it be possible (or let's say I would greatly appreciate) a short synopsis of your story since I could not attend Rowe (hoping "ya'll" will come to Virginia). Would love to hear the thought process of your decision to completely change your life with leaving your job, large home, etc. What steps did you take to get where you are, if there is anything you would change, etc.
After reading your post, trying to change my attitude of "doom and gloom" to being positive and taking action without feeling so overwhelmed.
Thank you both for everything you do! Teresa
Two comments: First, it didn't surprise me to hear of your great success at Rowe. Outstanding teachers/presenters always get that kind of response. And you are among the very best.
Secondly, there are lots of very bright and open minded people in the Great Northwest. A seminar in/around Seattle would be worth us driving 100 miles to attend. Do you have any interest? If so, do you have any contacts out this way who could arrange it for you?
We'd be glad to assist in the logistics of the actual seminar, if needed. Thanks.