Lucid Living

I have had a visit from my former self, the self of my youth. He has touched me and bestowed upon me some of his benevolent attributes that have for one reason or another waned a bit in the last few years, his zest for life, his uncompromising idealism, his intuitive sense of Goodness, his trust in Life. He reminded me that I have a dream and a life-purpose. He reminded me that my joy is realizing this dream. He reminded me that he is still very much alive and present now. He playfully mocked my growing older, the solidifying of my thoughts and beliefs, my cherished cynicism and skepticism. He poked at the idea that I was an adult and that I knew something of the world. Ha! We both had to laugh. He told me that it was okay that I had gone away for awhile. He was happy to wait for me and overjoyed at my return.

I am compelled by an ideal, a vision of utopia. I am certain of its possibility. I can sense its existence in our future. The details are obscure but the general impressions, I believe, we can all feel in our hearts, compassion, love, care, fun, excitement, joy, interest, play, further, higher, deeper, wider. The fact that we’re not even close to this utopian vision is irrelevant. The fun is in getting there.

After having just spent a couple weeks living in a version of this utopia I am enthralled with the challenge of creating it, producing it, divining it, downloading it into this bizarre and crazy world in which we live. What does that entail? How do we begin?

It begins, I feel, with a shared vision, some common ground on which we all agree. There is a way of being together that has been evolving amongst many of us which is necessary for the foundation of any utopia, honesty, care, love, the dissolution of the separate self and the realization of the One. As we begin to loosen the hold on our significant relationships and our desires for certain outcomes and as we begin to come together for the sake of the whole we are freed and the utopia of the future is freed, as well, to come rushing toward us at faster rate.

Having just returned from one of my favorite and enlightening experiences, the group in Harbin Hot Springs, I wanted to share a few things that I am feeling particularly passionate about right now.

What strikes me and captivates me about the process of the group is not so much what happens but the potential of what could happen. The possibility that is magically inherent in the way in which we are with each other. There is an aspect of this process that I believe is unique. I have not seen it occur in this certain way in any other group or process in my limited experience.

Those of you who have a connection in some way to the sharing groups may know what I’m talking about. There is a quality to our being together that I have not seen or felt anywhere else and that is because the ethos of the group allows for all aspects of our being to be free. There are no restraints on our emotions, our communication, our sexuality, our intellect, our expression of love and intimacy. Now there is “stuff” around the culture of the group, for sure. But, what I love so much about the process is that built into it is a naturally self-transcending mechanism. That we continually cleanse our individual and collective relationships by simply being honest with each other about what we think and feel is self-transcending. It clears the road so that who we really are is free to emerge and evolve.

And the group itself is emerging and evolving. What we have created is alive. Each time we return to it, each time we tap in to the collective energy of the group it has grown. It grows when one person has a realization about themselves and it is witnessed by the group. When I change, my relationship to you changes and we all reorganize around this new development. If we are tuned in to the field of the group and I have an insight, we all have the insight. It is transmitted instantly.

I have never come across a way of being together quite like it, the honesty, the openness, the love, the caring. When I had the impulse to start this group in London six years ago I just wanted to find a way to support my own newly found shaky realization of this new way of being. I know now that it has become my life no matter what. This way of being is a part of me forever. I see the group as an incredibly precious thing. My passion now is to support the group, as a living entity, to stabilize. In a way it has. And yet, I also see that it is a fragile, newborn thing. It could disintegrate very easily. If a few of us left town it’s over. That’s okay. If it’s over it’s over. But if it continues and continues to grow, it seems to me, that there is an unbelievable potential gift for all of us and the world we live in.

I am writing all of this because I would like to encourage you all to come and contribute to this amazing, precious, living process, an integral piece of our potential utopian world. Come to the groups, for sure, but, more importantly, to make it your life. To make honesty, transparency, love and care your life. Not a hobby. Not a once a week/month/year affair but your life! What we have is subtle and profound. If you recognize that don’t sit on the sidelines! Engage! Be daring! Come and play! Support! Endeavour to create the world you want to live in!

With enormous love!

Ryan