29 Aug 10 Years of The (W)hole Point and our Blossoming Community
Dear Members of The Radiance Community,
It has now been 10 years since the first (W)hole Shop and the founding of The (W)hole Point Institute, LLC.
“9-11” happened days before the very first (W)hole Shop, as many of you know, and since then we, individually and as a community, have dared to stand for “All parts welcome,” Unity & Wholeness, Respect & Celebration of differences, as well as truly living this in our daily lives. How radical this is!
As I contemplate the journey we have shared to date… I stand in awe of us all. We have chosen responses so bold, so heart-focused, and Wholeness-driven, as to be a powerful light in a world filled with darkness. Planet-wide, our global structures are based on competition, exclusion-inclusion, goals and commerce, only the outer matters, thoughts without feelings, standards of evaluation and assessment, etc. This is simply how it has been.
We all know about this for it is within this competitive/ judging environment that all our HT experiences have all emerged.
And yet, in spite all this, we as individuals and as a community have stood firm for 10 + years: We have responded to one another with “Curiosity without Judgment,” and we have applied the same to ourselves with unfailing dedication and commitment. In spite of (w)Holes, Curbs, and deep feelings between one another and (W)hole Shops, and in our own lives, we have, as a Whole Expression of Radiance, chosen again and again to “Do whatever it takes to go into our hearts, to speak from our hearts, to drop judgments of all forms & to live what we teach/know/believe.”
WOWOW
I say “Good for us all.”
I must admit, that 11 years ago, I had no idea how or if we would, together, be able to birth a community that actually walks its talk in such practical and real ways. Obviously, this is not something John and I could do alone. It takes a village to birth a community. It takes folks committed to consciously-living and aligned-loving to birth a community. We are all surprising me, most of all, for we, together, are the most wondrous truth I could imagine. Ranging from money to help the “Radiance Kids,” willingness to express our naked heart-felt truths, to Intentional Spiraling in the dead of night, to the risk of asking for support and receiving it as that person chooses to offer it, to risking the most naked act of all- RECEIVING that which we have always longed for beyond our imagination etc etc etc…. we, each of us, has stepped, in our particular and unique ways, into our (W)holeness over and over again.
“How can this actually be happening,” I wondered.
Upon reflection, this is what I have come to: our community, how we respond to one another (as messy (w)holie human beings) and The Wisdom WAY, as a way of living in the world, rests upon quite different values from the world’s values.
First, we assume that we all have (w)Holes. We also assume that we will be (w)Hole Helpers to one another, and we assume we all are doing the best we can with what we know and understand. Radical beyond words, these 3 “givens,” if applied to our planet would in themselves be transformative. And there is more!
Next, consider these samples of the values which we as a community have lived for so long, that we take them for granted.
Some of our Core Values: “all parts welcome,” “everyone is a reflection of an aspect of ourselves”-no matter how much we want to avoid this, “how we treat ‘that one’ is how we are treating that part within ourselves,” “the outer is a reflection of our own inner community/wholeness,” (w)Hole Helpers are appreciated and valued, the Terms of Endearment are our foundation along with the “No Rule Rules”…
I could go on and on, and, of course, that would require me to outline WS 1 through 8! So… enough, I believe I am making my point.
Now, 10 years later, the disastrous earthquake/tsunami in Japan!
Once again I am brought up short. What is happening there is happening to the “MEs over there!”
What is happening here is happening to the “MEs over here.” There are no “NOT MEs” really, just the imagined idea that we can be separate from parts of our own (W)hole Holy selves. We, of this community, know this to be true.
In what way is the Japan Earthquake a CURB, an invitation to you, to me, to us as a community to dare to embrace more of our own (W)holeness? What does this CURB remind you of from your HT? What MM is still running automatic responses in your life?
I invite you to do what we all know to do…be within and expand without…radiating the Holy Presence we are. It really does matter to the (W)hole World, what we do with our (w)Holes! And our (W)holeness.
Now…to one other reflection.
Just as individuals ripen and unveil themselves in a process, unique to each, so too do communities.
We, as a community, are unveiling ourselves, expanding and embracing and expressing ourselves in so many new and surprising ways. From WS 1 through 8, to (W)hole Life Coaching, to PAIRing, to (W)Role Play-Soul Play, to CRMing, to CMRTing, to Divinity Apprenticeship, to The Wisdom Grace Mystery “school”… etc,…etc,…. to the now forming Pastors’ CounSoul, this Radiance Community is blossoming all over the place. AND we as individuals are also blossoming as we live The WAY in our days.
When communities ripen over this long of a time period, another thing that occurs naturally are that “sub groups” form. These sub-groups may be based on interests or common geographic locations or shared training experiences or like minded viewpoints or orientations etc.
This is natural and is a healthy expression of diversity within unity:
“All parts welcome” and “All parts have free will to express their uniqueness” and “All parts respected and valued” and “All differences celebrated as invitations to all, to welcome more of one’s Self home.”
As this progression occurs, it is also not unusual for some distortions and judgments to creep in as the community expands in expressions and numbers. The “older generation” evaluating the “younger ones,” or the “younger generations judging the older ones,” or the “ones who chose to do this training” seeing others as “less for not having done it” or it can happen across gender lines (i.e. the women judging the men and the men judging the women) or it can be simply the seduction of the larger society which encourages and fosters competition/judgment/goal orientation/head vs heart/right vs wrong ways of being etc. This simply happens. The key is what our response to this will be!
What ever the cause, I am now expressing a great call to us all:
Now, more than ever it really does matter what you do with your (w)Holes, your (W)holeness, and your Precious Holy heart! As there are wars between so many countries, and there are so many homeless in so many places and there are many on this planet who suffer from a phenomenon I call “Community Lack.” This means to live without community. (For your information, community, or the lack thereof, actually impacts our health, our hearts, and our life’s satisfaction.)
In a world where so many suffer from Community Lack, I invite you, implore you, ask you to join me in tending to this precious community & to the global community with a boldness of heart and courage, as well as “Bald Naked Truth” and, of course, “Curiosity without Judgment.”
How?
- If you hear yourself express judgment/ blame/ exclusions or evaluations as if you are the expert of the other(s) – stop and ask yourself: “What am I afraid of here?” “What NOT ME is seeking to come home?” “What Big Terror is so big that I am fleeing into my (w)Hole?” “What (w)Hole has been revealed so that I may uncover the ever expanding wondrous truth of me?” etc.
- If you hear judgments – stop and ask the person judging, “How is this about you instead of them?”
- If you hear blame – stop and ask the person blaming, “How is this or that a (w)Hole Helper for you?”
- If you hear exclusion – stop and ask, “What part of yourself are you excluding or feels excluded?”
- If you hear evaluations of others – stop and ask, “What part of yourself are you evaluating?” or “In what ways are you evaluating yourself?” You see…it is always about curiosity without judgment woven with the intent to embrace more of one’s Self! In this way, the (W)hole World awakens again.
I invite us all to really walk this WAY of being into the world for all our sakes.
As we enter the next years for this community, I invite us to be a space, a place and a people who “Celebrate and Elevate” the good in us all, the intent we all have to do the best we can with what we know and understand, to recognize the wonder of US as a community, as a globe and the wonder of us as individuals – together daring to BE PRESENT from our Hearts, rather than absent and only in our Heads.
In closing, thank you!
Thank you for being the greatest Wondrous Truth ever: a living breathing living community, radiating light into all the spaces so hungry for love, hope, and wholeness.
Thank you for your Presence-it matters to the (W)hole World.
Thank you for doing your (w)Hole Work-it matters to everyone of us in this community and in the entire planet’s community.
Thank you.
With all love and blessings,
Alaya, the one most surprised by & grateful for what we have birthed together
Now, take a moment, breath and really take in this amazing community’s presence, which would be less if you were not a part of it.
p.s. AND thank you for sending REIKI to MUM and all those around her. This too is an example of our community in action.
All great gratitude to all.
