OUR VIRTUAL CONVERSATION ON PRIMROSE HILL, 23 APRIL 2020
We met in friendship, fellowship and comradeship:
To share, explore and make some sense of our individual and collective experiences and choices in the COVID-19 pandemic; and
To consider what we could now amplify, mobilise and exemplify in pursuing our aspiration to improve civilisation through conversation and collaboration.
The Conversation held a tone of lucidity – mixing clarity and light with tentativeness and exploration. An acuteness, a sharpness. A deep range of thought and emotion. A heightening. Knowing and not knowing.
The conversationalists opened by sharing their individual and collective experiences and choices in the current COVID-19 pandemic:
Some ideas and themes shared included personal and familial health, gains and losses, joy and pain, hope and fear, light and dark, nature and marvelous spring, silence and quiet, the challenge and relentlessness of some work, the suffering of many, the inequality of the impact of the experience, isolation and loneliness, caring , generosity of spirit, compassion, danger and opportunity, potency and openness of the current moment, stepping back, awe, courage, continuing profound internal work, meditation on the present moment, sense of guilt, visceral intent to lead change and shift, thoughts of “what more can I do?,” empty space, beauty, clean air, fearfulness and fearlessness, the privilege of our work, slowing down, moving less, transporting through technology, peace, thinking across the peoples of the world, different contexts, physical and mental health, deeply challenging circumstances for so many of our fellow human beings, new habits, and adjustments.
Cognisant of the group’s torch, and their aspiration to improve civilisation through conversation and collaboration, they each looked appreciatively at all they were noticing in ourselves and the world right now in the throes of this pandemic - and selected motifs that that they wanted to amplify, nurture, mobilise and exemplify in their day to day thinking, conversation and action:
Embrace the stillness and the silence to complete things, to experiment, to play, to think
Support self and others to understand, embody and extol who we really are, our deep underlying sense of purpose, what really matters to us
Lead, shape and transform our consciousness in our conversations with ourselves and others
Stand deeply aware in the ‘fertile void’, keep holding the question, so that our polarities and capacity for bad and good, for harmfulness and helpfulness, resolve and dissolve
Keep diving into, and meditating on, the present moment, again and again; embracing the tremendous stillness; rousing our deepest and best selves to engage in the world with profound generosity of spirit, to help ourselves and others envision and move towards a much better world
Nurture, grow and sustain compassionate communities – sense of caring that is flowering now, looking out for each other – generosity, kindness, compassion – resilient community
Convene opportunities for ourselves and others to explore independence and interdependence, genuinely heard, infused by wisdom
Model active citizenship, embrace political activism, engender political and social change
Celebrate and learn from some wonderful leadership right now across society and politics
Frame our attention around health and well-being, not problems and illness
This post is adapted from a follow up email sent by Primrose Hill Golden Civilization Conversation facilitator Julian Powe.
If you are interested in hosting a Golden Civilization Conversation, please check out this How-To video, narrated by George Kinder, founder of the Golden Civilization Conversation Movement.
