Circles of Trust- Parker J. Palmer...

I've begun re-reading Parker Palmer's book: A Hidden Wholeness. I have to admit that I find I cannot read his writings too frequently, or too many times.

What has occurred to me, just today, is that for any of us who may continue to be interested in the idea of creating on-line "circles of trust", what may be of primary importance right now is for us to keep actively sharing our insights with regard to what a circle of trust is & how it functions. Then later on, when any of us who stick with it feel it is time, we can consider the possibility of actually attempting one ourselves.

With this thought in mind it occurs to me that we might consider, at this point in time, creating a "Circles of Trust" social group... one where membership would be by invitation only... such as various other social groups here on PC are set up. I don't know how this is done. But it obviously can be, since there are other social groups set up in this fashion. Our postings on the topic of circles of trust would be readable by others. However, only members would be able to post. My feeling is, we would not want people who don't know anything about the "circle of trust" concept, throwing their two cents in. This would at best be a distraction, & at worst a disruption.

Having offered that suggestion, I thought I would also offer a few lines from: A Hidden Wholeness that have stood out to me as I have begun re-reading the book:

"Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life... we can use devastation as a seedbed for new life." (Pg. 5) (Pema Chödrön could not have said it better!)

"... the singular intent of a circle of trust: to make it safe for the soul to show up and offer us it's guidance." (Pg. 22)

"... a circle of trust is not defined by numbers; it is defined by the nature of the space it creates between us. (Pgs. 28 & 29)

"A circle of trust can form wherever two or three are gathered-- as long as those two or three know how to create and protect a space for the soul."(Pg. 29) ("... there is love... [?])

"... the two key principles behind (circles of trust): that the soul or true self is real and powerful and that the soul can feel safe only in relationships that possess certain qualities." (Pg. 29)

"Philosophers haggle about what to call this core of our humanity, but I am no stickler for precision. Thomas Merton called it true self. Buddhists call it original nature or big self. Quakers call it the inner teacher or the inner light. Hasidic Jews call it a spark of the divine. Humanists call it identity and integrity. In popular parlance, people often call it the soul." (Pg. 33)

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Please reply!

Me, too, but in April I'll have time to delve into it, and I hope it won't be too late to join at that point. Sounds interesting and some principles I'm already aware of. I've also been to a Quaker-led meeting once, and I thought it was pretty neat.

Thanks for posting this, Skeezyks.

Thanks... I'll need to give all of this some thought!

A scheduling idea, if real time interaction is of importance, which it does seem to be - presence . . .

1/ People post their own times they would like to meet. Here's one free online tool that simplifies a group doing this:

Easy scheduling | Doodle

After people have done that, it should become apparent where the overlaps are, and then decisions can be made as to whether one meeting suffices for everyone, or perhaps 2 or 3 different groups are needed, say each with set participants, perhaps.

2/ Online meeting systems can be used for meetings, with our without webcams. Obviously faces provide rich information when people speak, and equally obviously some people don't want their face or perhaps even voice, shown. Depends how you define "online" for the purposes of your meeting.

Skype, I believe can be used for group meetings, and Google hangout for sure. I gave seen hubby using this for work. He says it's easy, but warns you'll need fake Google+plus account, because Google tracks you and insists on a lot of personal info if you use Google+, so there are issues to consider there.

So, an attempt to provide some technical info that might be relevant to the problem at hand. As I won't be in the group at the start, I have no horse in this race.

Edit: having read the last few posts, I see there is already a time and place for the moment, but I'll leave this here for any future use it might have.