Impressions from the BC meeting in Davao – March 23rd to 25th, 2012
As one of the younger MISSION members (since February 2012) I had the
chance to attend the MISSION Birthing Center meeting in Davao as the
nodal representative of the newly formed global node.
Coming to the Philippines in order to get to know MISSION, its
structure and its ways of operating I can say that I learned a lot
during nearly two months of interning, visiting different nodes and
getting to know their individuals with their initiatives. Still I was
surprised how much more I understood through my participation in the
meeting of the BC.
In the following I want to give some glimpses into this meeting by sharing a few of my impressions.
Having learned that food is central to the Philippine culture it
didn’t make me wonder anymore that a delicious lunch was the first thing
to share when I came to the location of the meeting in the Agri-Aqua
P.O. Complex in Davao on Friday afternoon. It was a get together of BC
members and those of the Davao node before visiting GAP Farm and
Crocodile Park on this afternoon. Together we investigated those two big
parks to sense into them and see if they might be useful locations for
the upcoming Liwanag festival in January 2013. Back at the P.O. (our
conference hall and shelter for most of us) we shared our impressions
and talked about the pros and cons of both places.
After dinner most of the Davao node members left and only the BC
representatives stayed for the first proper BC session. The theme for
this evening was spiritual mastery: Together we did a thinking exercise
around a simple manmade object, shared our experiences and talked a bit
about the importance of those exercises for everyday life, enhancing our
self-awareness and strengthening the presence of our creative self.
>>Are we actually thinking or just thoughting?<< Do we think
new thoughts through engaging the imaginal self or are those thoughts
old ones, just repeated by our programmed thinking?
The thinking exercise we did was the following: After focusing our
attention on a simple manmade object (e.g. ball pen, chop sticks, spoon,
etc.) we closed our eyes and recreated it in front of our mind’s eye.
Then we contemplated the process of its becoming (how is the object
produced? What are all the necessary circumstances?) and finally
pondered on its purpose (why was it developed in the first place? What
is it good for?).
We could experience ourselves: Focused attention leads to
concentration which can become contemplation and meditation, wherein our
consciousness might become aware of the archetype of the object.
The next day we started with the nodal updates and the simultaneous
sensing of the movement. Twelve nodes where represented (Cebu, Baguio,
Manila, Iloilo, Bayawan, Gen Santos, Dumaguete, Koronadal, Cagayan de
Oro, Iligan, Davao and the global node) by an own member, Laguna de Bay
and Zamboanga, both new, by a representative of another city. They all
shared about their nodal life and their initiatives, workshops, new
members and whatever else was important for the national level of
MISSION.
Reflecting on what we heard we realized that the intention of
MISSION, which is the creation of a sustainable society, isn’t just an
aim far away in the future. Through all the shared experiences we could
hear that a conscious cooperation between politics, businesses and civil
society already started to happen and is happening right now.
For me personally that is so exciting to witness. Back in Germany
where I come from I heard people talking about the so badly needed
paradigm shift and newspapers write about the big crisis in all kinds of
spheres a lot, too. But it seems that they don’t know what that
actually means. They don’t know what this change is about. Coming to the
Philippines I do not only learn more about what that means but I can
even observe the change. MISSION, as far as I am concerned, is globally
the only organization providing a framework for social transformation
and implementing it through the means of social threefolding (conscious
cooperation between the cultural/civil, the political and the economic
sector). It became very clear to me that networking plays a major role
in that. Currently the movement starts to develop a life of its own –
the dynamics of growth becomes unforeseeable since it is tapping into
more and more networks, some being quite big themselves.
Talking about it we understood that there is a danger to it. As every
tree risks falling once his branches reach faster towards the sky than
its roots grow deep down into the earth, MISSION might lose its power
and eventually fall apart if its smaller parts are not deeply connected
with each other and thus with the whole. I could really see how
important it is that the members on an individual basis really care for
their relationships, their connections with other imaginals, the nodal
life and understand the movement as a whole. We can’t work effectively
and fully committed on our own initiative without being aware of the
bigger picture, without knowing what the MISSION is (the carrying bones
are articulated in the MODE) and what is going on in the other parts. In
order to serve this essential necessity an e-group is actually already
existent.
Another realization we had was concerning the nodal life and how much
it actually mirrors the societal whole on a micro level. We saw that it
is such a beautiful opportunity to understand oneself as an initiative
in the context of the node as much as our initiatives and events are the
equivalent to it in the context of society at large. If we continue
that thought we can even see every single day as an initiative in
consciously placing it into the context of our higher aspirations. That
showed me once more how much potential is hidden in every moment and how
easily I just pass by without recognizing and using it if I am not
practicing being conscious in the presence.
The next day was Sunday, the Liwanag day of the week. In the BC
meeting we continued working on the topics of our long agenda which we
came up with the day before. We got exiting news about a freshly formed
group of passionate people who took a creative writing workshop
beginning March, helping the MISSION magazine into manifestation. Its
task is to spread good news about initiatives and positive change
towards sustainable societies from all over the world.
Then the nodes where encouraged to reflect upon their first
experiences with the MISSION Volunteer Program (MVP) which created the
possibility for international volunteers to get to know the different
concepts and parts of the movement “from the inside” and in “real time”
and simultaneously contribute to what is going on with heads, hearts and
hands. Together with Louisa (D), Mirka (D), Corinna (CH), Pete (AUS)
and Philip (USA) I had the chance to be part of the first batch
volunteering for mostly a months time. It was decided to collect the
written feed backs in the BC and evaluate the nodal situation towards
more internees. In the future they shouldn’t just come from abroad.
Instead we talked about national volunteers as well. Knowing that the
colleges hold a lot of students having to write a thesis each or PhDs,
we thought that many of them might be interested to do that with one or
several of the MISSION initiatives. Further down the line that could
eventually even form a MISSION university in the future.
Another theme that came up was the readiness of MISSION to engage in
political debates as a movement. From the very beginning it was part of
the idea that it would take responsibility on a broad scale and engage
in national activities. The question which immerged quite clearly was:
“Is MISSION ready for that? Is the movement solidly enough rooted into a
carrying ground? Are the relationships between the individuals strong
enough to form the interconnected structures to really BE MISSION?”
In a way this kind of engagement was targeted in the past with the
anti-noise discussion which happened on a national level. But now
MISSION as a whole was also asked to take a stand for MLC (Movement for a
Livable Cebu) and maybe even for the case around Cocoy Tulawie, who
seems to be one of the current folk heroes in his fearless fight for
justice and human rights in the islands of Sulu. MISSION being a
movement of individuals implies that it can just take a stand as a
whole, if every individual, which is part of it, takes this stand
individually as well. The consequence is that every node has to evaluate
first, if all members agree. Then they could take a stand as a node. If
then all existing nodes reach this agreement, then MISSION as a whole
could take a stand for a certain case/opinion.
Once more, that made me realize how much MISSION depends on its
Imaginals, because it can only exist if the whole is much more than the
total sum of its parts (the individuals). MISSION is really the
formation of a higher collective, made up by smaller collectives being
formed by even smaller collectives again or individuals. That is really
what being a “Cultural Creative 2.0” is about: Not anymore believing
that one is alone in seeing a better world and calling oneself an
idealist (as it was with more than 140 million people in USA and Europe
according to scientific research in the year 2000 with a strong growing
tendency) but actually engaging with others, organizing higher
collectives and really doing the work, manifesting the change that wants
to emerge.
The last hours before lunch and afterwards until 3.00pm the BC
members talked about the upcoming MISSION Liwanag: the Global Festival
on Creativity and Sustainability. Together we had a brainstorming on the
daily schedule and redesigned the opening day into a real Fiesta. For
the rest of the afternoon we again were joined by many Davao node
members and looked into different venue possibilities in down town
itself. The reason was that we decided to not use GAP Farm and Crocodile
Park anymore as the main venues. The main reason was that this way we
could more consciously celebrate Davao down town as a real time example
of a sustainable city and thus showcasing a future reality we want to
live in. This way it might happen that the inhabitants realize: “Wait!
Didn't the daily shopping work during the Liwanag Festival without all
the plastic bags? Why don't we continue to use only paper bags or
backpacks?” or “Actually the proper waste separation wasn't such a big
deal. Why don't we do that all the time?” or “I really liked the silent
solar powered Jeepneys. Can't we get them back?”, etc.
The brainstorming transformed into “heartstorming” when we realized
that Liwanag isn’t only a festival on creativity and sustainability but
it will actually inherit those imaginal qualities throughout the whole
planning process. It will be an initiative in itself going through the
whole lemniscate process several times. Therefore it will be a holy
endeavor for those who decide to fully commit – it will change their
lives. Through the deep sharing of some participants concerning their
own life and its connection to this festival we all became very humble
by grasping the deeper meaning and importance of Liwanag for Mindanao,
the Philippines and our time in history as humanity. It really will be
the first broad scale manifestation of MISSION’s aspirations.
Profoundly moved inside we preceded to watching a movie after some
moments of quality silence. It was “Journey of the Universe”, an epic
story of cosmic, earth and human transformation written by Brian Swimme
and Mary Evelyn Tucker. It touched me how vivid one can tell the story
of evolution and I wish that every student gets to see this documentary.
It filled me with awe and wonder – just what good science is supposed
to do. The main message of the movie was (as we know it also from our
MISSION Workshop Courage): Behind evolution (or: world creative process)
lays some kind of directionality, purpose or divine
intention/intelligence in which we humans are just one of many species
the earth gave birth to.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in those three
days of BC meeting and I hope it will not be the last one for me. Thanks
to all of you who were there, for your resounding laughter, profound
depth and your sparkling ideas.
Greetings from my heart, your first MISSION Volunteer
Christian (D)
