Resource Type: Going Forth

(2 to 5 minutes per person) For a circle of participants to express their appreciation and good wishes to each other is a fitting conclusion to a Workshop That Reconnects.  We have found two main ways to hold a Circle of Blessings.  In the first each participant speaks before being blessed, and in the other… Read more

By now each of us in the workshop is in touch with our sincere desire to take part in the Great Turning. In the days and years ahead, however, there will be so many distractions and demands on us that we yearn for a practice to help us stay faithful to this intention of our… Read more

Study circles are one of the greatest social inventions of our time. Engrossing and fun, they elicit our innate curiosity, raise our sights, and widen our horizons, while offering an immediately rewarding experience of community. They uncover our capacity to think cogently about big issues of common concern–a capacity that we may not have suspected… Read more

(15 – 20 minutes) As we go forth in the Great Turning, there are systems and institutions that we will and must challenge. The men and women who serve these structures may appear as our opponents, but they are likely in bondage to our true opponents: organized forms of greed, hatred, and delusion.  Here is… Read more

(45 to 60 minutes) In Buddhism, there is a hand gesture called the bhumisparsa mudra, which means gesture of touching the Earth. It is features in the story of when Gautama, soon to become the Buddha, sat down under the bodhi tree. We can imagine him saying, in effect, “I am not going to get… Read more

The Clearness Committee is a venerable Quaker practice for seeking clarity in important decisions, such as marriage. This method of discernment is based on a two-fold conviction: (1) that each of us has access to inner wisdom; and (2) that this inner light can become clear when a group gives its caring, undivided attention, and… Read more

(45 to 60 min) The Work That Reconnects recognizes the intrinsic organizing power of intention. Even in an uncertain world, we can still choose, by and large, where we put our minds and how we respond to circumstances and events. Justine and Michael Thoms describe “the genius of intention”: When you are clear about your… Read more

(60 minutes) As a follow-on to the above exercise, people meet in four-person consultations to “get real” with their visions and plans.  These groups provide feedback and advice and often suggestions about contacts and resources.   Method Each pair from the “Callings and Resources” practice now joins with another pair to make a group of… Read more

(1 to 1-1/2 hours) This practice helps us clarify their part in the Great Turning, and to focus on a specific path or project.  It brings to light the many and often unsuspected resources available, and identifies immediate steps to take.  Because it is done in pairs, it also creates a strong sense of mutual… Read more

(30 minutes) T.H. White, in the Sword in the Stone, tells us the story of King Arthur as a boy. Joanna has recounted this in workshops because it portrays the dimensions of power available to us as open interconnected systems. The wizard Merlin, as Arthur’s tutor, schooled the boy in wisdom by turning him into… Read more