An Introduction: An Invitation to Our First Conversation

 


Eden is Burning* is an invitation to a conversation. The phrase "Eden is Burning" is taken from a lyric by Bob Dylan from Changing of the Guards:
"Gentlemen, he said, 
I don’t need your organization, I’ve shined your shoes
I’ve moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning; either brace yourself for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards."

The painting from the poster, The Garden of Eden, is by Nigerian born Jimo Akolo. The Garden of Eden was peaceful, but later became guarded by a flaming sword. Relationships were severed, and the land was cut off.

In our first conversation, we included a film 'meditation' on Beethoven's Nine, specifically the personal story of grief and loss resulting from war between Hamas and Israel. Globally, we have become unable to have conversations because of anger and fear: "I don't know what to hope for." The short excerpt we watched (26:28 to 29:40) captured our themes of politics, homelessness, starvation, capitalism, fear, complexity, difficulty in talking, and personal loss.

These themes are undergirded by common threads. We briefly discussed one of these: hypercapitalism, the idea of living based on greed and not need. More importantly, we searched for the centre, a stable point in the spiral that we are in; that centre is having the "mind of Christ."

The “theme” for our conversation was You -- each of us. We looked at a small but powerful principle to help us deal with potential conflicts between us: always treat each other with Unconditional Positive Regard. This means accepting and respecting the dignity and humanity of the other person, whether you agree with them or not. We need to explore these questions further: how can we listen to someone else's story when we don't agree? Or when we are angered? What principles can guide us to build meaningful relationships? What practices can we add to our personal lives to help us remain centred and grounded?

We then took the opportunity for each of us to introduce ourselves and give others some of our backstory (without any pressure to do so). We also shared those things and people that influenced us in life. We began to walk on sacred ground; our personal stories are this sacred ground. Some of the things we shared were:
  • we are shaped by our past, by how we have spent our lives up until now - it influences how we react today
  • our family of origin was fundamental to who we are; this was both good and bad
  • our church experiences were formative
  • we desire continued change and growth
  • our life stories show that we have changed and grown
  • we saw the importance of grace and nature, including the birds
We then discussed how we are feeling about what seems to be the very turbulent social and political times we are living in. Some of these themes were:
  • disappointed, outraged, confused, resigned, surprised, helpless, untethered, betrayed, upset, or grounded
  • it's complicated, the issues are complex
  • it seems like one wrong is responded to by another wrong
  • we have a polycrisis, multiple crises
  • logic doesn't seem to matter; the old rules of logic don't seem to apply
  • we should do the best we can do, small things in a big world
  • we may be practicing avoidance
  • now is the time to start talking and paying attention
Telling our personal stories, like film-maker Larry Weinstein did, as we also did, helps us to understand the humanity involved in gigantic, global complex 'issues' that dangerously divide us.

Our next conversation contemplates the Food Prices Crisis.



The Nomad Collective.

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