Listening, Reflecting, Dreaming

Recently, members of the Pachamama Alliance of the Rochester Area (PARA) met at the Bhakti Barn to pilot a Collective Listening and Dreaming Circle, the Pachamama Alliance’s New Dream Initiative, whose purpose is “to find ways to accelerate an evolutionary leap that transforms our species’ dominant way of being from human supremacy to sacred reciprocity with Earth, one another, and all life.”

At the event, participants were invited initially to listen, in dyads, to each other’s experiences of the “great unraveling,” acknowledging the pain we feel for what’s happening on the Earth and expressing our grief. Upon the expression and the acknowledgement of grief, our hearts open to connect with each other and the Earth, and to notice what sustains us through these challenging times.

We then went outside to listen to nature/Mother Earth with our hearts, minds, bodies, our whole being, while holding these questions:

• What is most needed of us - right now, in this critical time of Earth’s transformation and evolution?

• What is required for us to truly live from a place of human responsibility and sacred reciprocity–in terms of how we see ourselves and our lives; our values and priorities; and our choices and actions?

After this deep experience of connection with each other and nature, we were asked to reflect on how what we experienced in this Earth Listening circle might impact our ways of being, doing, and relating as we go forward. A key concept here is relationship, the need to listen to each other and reflect on our relationship with each other and with the earth, and how to build “a right relationship.” “Practicing Right Relationship is therefore about aligning ourselves with  ourselves, with others, and with the world in such a way that these  relationships will both create and reflect harmony, kindness, and care. It’s about living our lives according to our true capacity, our true nature, instead of the confusion that so often results in greed and harm.”

As we reflected, both individually and collectively, many of us noticed a call to let go of busyness, distractions, expectations, and to simply be attentive to the present moment. We also noted that listening, reflecting, dreaming all require time—time outside of the time we spend working, building our careers, raising families—time outside of the time we spend cooking, eating, cleaning, washing—a slowing down or pause in the activities of daily living, so that we can remove our blinders and live in astonished awareness of the world around us, in right relationship with each other, and with the earth.

It is in this surrender to stillness and listening, being in sacred reciprocity with all life, that we can create a new way of living. Once we are within this pause, we can listen, reflect, and dream. We can envision what our right relationship will look like. And when we emerge from this pause, we can work with others to develop a right relationship with each other and with nature that will be life affirming, that will recognize that all life is significant, relevant, and in need of our attention, our protection. We can help catalyze The Great Turning towards a life-sustaining society.

As we parted that day from the Collective Listening and Dreaming Circle, many planned to continue the practice of pausing for a solitary quest in nature and listening and reflecting on the ways nature is guiding us. Collectively we are committed to allow that listening to guide us as we discern what is most needed of us in these times. The sacred relationship with all life is becoming a foundation for us as we work together to find our part in helping accelerate this evolutionary leap from human supremacy to the new dream of sacred reciprocity with all life.

If you are interested in learning more about this slowing down and listening way of being – or if you might want to lead your own Earth Listening Circle within your network of family and friends, please join the Launch of this new Pachamama Alliance Initiative on August 1. If you can’t attend the zoom event on that date, you can register and receive the recording afterwards. Or contact Sue Staropoli (suestar1@rochester.rr.com) for more information.