MAGNIFITAS: An Alternative for your Attention

Greetings good friends~

Once again, i find myself thanking my lucky stars for this cosmic current and all of her sneaky synchronicities. I have just returned from Mexico where i was happily steeped in a cultural remembrance of those who have passed. My casa happened to be right around the corner from the town square and to my great luck, i found myself smack dab in the middle of their Day of the Dead celebrations. I ambled around the seemingly infinite number of alters so carefully adorned and constructed. It felt exceptionally rich of heart and soul to be swathed in a culture and a people that hold and revere this inevitable part of existence. I could not help but feel in deep communion with my loved ones gone by, as well as with the vast expansiveness of the mystery. I so appreciate the continued ceremony and overt awareness that weaves another dimension in to day-to-day living.

Today is a special day.

Apparently among other things, it marks the fourth month since i gathered among friends- new and old, to celebrate the life of our friend Kyle. We cast our friend to water and wind off of Austin's Pfluger Pedestrian bridge in the day's final flings of summer sunlight. He was a quiet man- treading lightly on this earth, and there are so many things i can stand to learn, from who and what he was, and from all that he stood for.

In his wake, several of his acquaintances and I spoke to what remains in a very curious and complicated awe.

In and amongst our grief- we also felt something of an opportunity... an odd invitation of sorts in this mysterious transference of life – nature's wild exchange that is so far beyond our piddly mortal minds' grasp at comprehension. In an interest to hold that space, to explore and dissect this curious gift of multiplicity and connection, and also to channel and put purpose to our sorrow, we decided to meet monthly and peer through the lens of memory and missing to feel in to whatever was available to see, feel, and hold. With a soft hand and with the benefit of togetherness, we explored something that we could never do alone- in the company of people we would never have otherwise met.. leapfrogging each others' thoughts and feelings into spaces of yet unexplored and unavailable to the singular trajectory.

Upon returning from Mexico, i've been rummaging through the notes of our gatherings and, given all that is unfolding and transpiring on this day of days, it struck me that i might share some of what we scribbled out at one gathering in particular. It is rough and nonlinear, but such is the nature of meandering minds and probing hearts.

Please enjoy this geyser of thoughts inspired by both our friend and the times that we find ourselves in. We would love to hear any thoughts or notions, and feel free to forward along to any or many.

Here's to having a new and different dialogue, to reaching across the proverbial aisles of division, and to allowing our deepest tenderness to be our greatest opportunity for growth.

Much love to all,

Julia
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MANIFESTO MAGNIFITAS

In this age of polarity we look around and witness an epidemic of people posturing in one of two camps- in various arenas. We see how the more vehemently one clings to her post, the more the other clings to his.

We would posit that it is an act of artistry to find a path that isn’t polarizing. We would like to don our berets pick up our palettes and craft something new and brilliant at every turn.

We chose c or d… q r 921… and above all else we refuse to stay entangled with the perpetually pointed finger and accept the invitation rather, to assume a completely different posture- one of utter and complete

RADICAL RESPONSIBILITY.

We relinquish the need to play for the right team or to lean on the policy of certain structures or politicians, and see where we can step in to our own power and insight the changes we see are needed. We see that the swifter current to change is in not waiting or expecting something out there, but working right here and right now.

We do not blame AND at the same time, we take an unwavering and just stance where there are acts of bullying or violence. For this, we rely on interconnection.

We know that we will need a substantial time of course correcting. We practice patience, persistence, and tenacity.

As we look around, we find that we are confronted with a global

CRISIS OF COMMUNITY

and a

CRISIS of CHARACTER

We see that an infrastructure whose emphasis on profit has distracted us from really taking care of each other. We see where profit based agenda may have skewed the collective psyche and created wayward institutions and practices that are harmful on multiple levels. We see that these practices are an inevitable product of one such metaphorical assembly line and value system. In bringing about correction on this level, we take care not to slip in to the stalemate that is blame and defense.

Having been reared and surrounded by this architecture ourselves, we realize that we too are capable of misguided action, and we humble ourselves to this truth and rely on our conscious community to help us course correct as we move forward. In the midst of habituated behavior, we take a step back, say no to old practices that dont serve or foster division, without alienating, invalidating, or diminishing one's person, thereby allowing space for another choice, for growth, and for generative conversation of the most important sort.

We see too how a love affair with speed may have kept us from seeing where we can fulfill a need. Both for ourselves and others.

We recognize that the tumult of the times is an opportunity of rare occurrence, one of which we are not scared. We understand that this only puts on display some of the social and cultural sores that have existed below the surface for quite some time and we are grateful that things are coming to the fore so that it is made tactile and we can get to work.

We would like not to slough off our civic duties but rather engage in the most powerful politics that we know. The one that is right under our nose.

...In looking at the etymology of the word, we find - "of, for, or relating to citizens”. We feel that the real power comes when we distill it down to its smallest parameters and make that place stronger.

.....And so, we see this opportunity to participate in a radical form of politics, namely, the politics of our domain.

We look at the sphere in which we inhabit and ask what roles we have been born into- friend, father, sister, daughter, neighbor, butcher, baker, candlestick maker… whatever this list might contain for us as individuals- how can we do each of these with more integrity and more care. In the inner-most circles of identity, how can we show up even more?

We aim to cast a wider net where kindnesses are concerned and in our relationships, to dig deeper. We see that the most robust structures rest on foundations or roots that are wide and deep.

We acknowledge that care is contagious.

We understand that by caring for each other in this way- and even through the tiniest of gestures.. a note, a hand squeeze, an understanding eye- we are shifting in the ways that matter most. The plate tectonics of social evolution.

We know that in so doing, we will come in to a new strength and power that we can only come by collectively. With hands held, we know that we will begin to see more clearly some of the bigger issues set in front of us, and rather that going numb, despondent, depressed, or making ourselves other, we see that together we can tackle anything.

We suspect that diving directly in to problem solving mode may prove tricky. We can see that an initial (and then continued) phase of strengthening the fabric of connection is what yearns to be.

We also suspect that part of our move toward connection and wisdom may require an inevitable and inescapable phase of grief- to hold the gravity of the state of affairs with wide clear eyes- to really seeee…. may provoke a LOT of emotion. To really transform, we must really feel. Feel without blame. Of self or other. And we look forward to taking turns holding space for each other to do just that. Because we understand how important this is to a working culture. We would guess that we cannot supersede this step, otherwise our strategies are tainted with something unresolved and loaded.

We hold each other and encourage the fullness of what is.

On the subject of injustice and atonement, we acknowledge that there are innumerable wounds and tendernesses in our people that need healing- that have been years and generations in the making. We lean in to opportunities to represent humankind - to stand in for perpetrators and the collective, and to deeply apologize where injustice was done. And above all else to listen. To listen and listen and then listen some more.. that whatever is bound might unravel and lay to rest.

And we acknowledge that this is a process and that wounds heal over time, and we will keep standing in, because we care.

We would like to challenge ourselves if we find ourselves transfixed in a little bubble of comfort, or see where we have come to unconscious conclusions that it is "not my problem". We understand that what affects the singular affects the whole. When one goes undernourished, so too do all the rest. Perhaps not in exactly the same way, but on some level, there is a loss.

We seek out volunteering or connecting opportunities that are not mere band-aids- (although those certainly serve a purpose), but we look too, to the inception of the dynamic where basic needs have gone unmet, that we might leverage a shift and bring everyone to lasting stable ground.

We love, respect, and include our elderly population, understanding that they are wise, vitally important to the balance of our social fabric, and quite possibly the best resources for love.
We love, respect, and include our children, and understand that they are the best lesson in unfettered joy and truth.

We acknowledge that words are important. We practice, learn, and hone our skills to speak our truth and to compromise- to learn the skills of conflict resolution so that we can collectively air grievances in a way that is generative and so as to eliminate situations where unresolved quibbles build over time and potentially manifest as walls or explosions of violence or illness.

We invite a cultural maturation whereby we can be wildly different from one another or disagree with our friend and neighbor and still find enjoyable ways of connecting and sharing in our humanity.

We want to listen more, advise less and simply bask in the spaces between called togetherness.

We invest according to our values.

We notice that any given product or food has a trail of how well or how detrimental the harvesting of that morsel has been to our planet.

In this time of a scattered extended family, we understand the responsibility to serve as a mentor to our collective children so that we can diminish instances where a child feels alone or that they do not belong. We see how feeling alienated and marginalized is often the seed of violence.

We see where we have shied away from being of service because we were stumped to know what helps. We see that the challenges of the world are COMPLICATED, multi-factorial and years upon years in the making. We re-commit with a little more courage to take some of this on, knowing that we do it together. We see into the truth that it will not be an easy answer but ready ourselves to hold the complexity and to hold on to hope with all that we've got.

We invite and understand the importance of bathing in beauty through music, art, nature and food.

We recognize that if there is a war raging on a global platform or in the political arena, then there is most certainly a war raging within ourselves. We accept this invitation to see where we are contracted against something in our own consciousness and learn and engage practices that befriend those internal orphaned spaces.

We recognize the limitations of technology, and look more often to authentic connection with the one in our midst. Friend or foe, stranger or beloved.

We wonder.

We invite conversation.

We look to inspire an atmosphere of forgiveness and generative problem solving.

And above all else we know that we have no frickin idea.

But we also know that we are here to love.

And if, in fact, love replaces profit as the bottom line, what then???

Other random tenants of potential import:

We would like to engage in more inter-generational gathering and socializing

more toes in grass

more curiosity

more creative collaboration