The United States of America—a dream of freedom and connection

Jun 03, 2017

(In hosting a Circling weekend preceding the July 4th celebration of the birth of the USA, Jordan reflects on the parallels between Circling and the spirit of the USA as he sees them/it).

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The United States of America—a dream of freedom and connection. Our nation lives a stunning paradox: we recognize that the independence to determine our own fates comes only in connection to a larger whole—our interdependent, self-organizing structure of states and nation.

Circling Parallels the Spirit of Interdependence

On this holiday weekend we will celebrate by immersing ourselves in the spirit of this American experiment of embracing autonomy and communion, individual and collective, leadership and surrender, independence and in-dependence. I think our play will inevitably be representing the macro systems of our nation, the meso systems of our group, and the micro-systems of our moment-to-moment phenomenological experience.

I’d like to invite us to bring more awareness to the parallels of what we’re doing in Circling with the spirit of our nation:

As we Circle we attempt to welcome every expression and see how it contributes to/as the whole, while simultaneously honoring its impact on other individuals. Where we focus our attention, and where our attention is drawn, guide us (individual and collective) to a more conscious engagement with life; ever-refining the moment’s expression & reception toward a greater wholeness.

This seems very similar to the country’s attempt to welcome every person’s individual liberties; while we’re constantly falling short (like the unconscious expressions in a Circle) we continuously course-correct—abolishing slavery, honoring the rights women—recognizing that these corrections actually deepen our dream of freedom rather than impinging upon it.

Revolutionaries in Relationship

And if we discover this is no longer the case, we must work in relationship with the existing reality (even a revolution is in relationship by contrast); we must connect deeply with our conviction and find the truth off our being to lead others; inviting an inquiry that will reveal more truth to us, the other, or both—as the perspectives must encounter the resistance of the other and meet it without losing itself.

In this way we not only co-create and update our own Circling culture—in the weekend, and at large (as a result of the weekend)—we automatically do so with our national and global culture. And we enhance our capacity to effect and lead these changes consciously (not just automatically), in Circling and globally. We remember more frequently that our own identities are always in relationship with the whole of life, until our identities open to always include this remembrance.

An Invitation to Freedom through Surrender

This is the grand experiment of Circling—because through the presence orientation we come to recognize that every action in every moment contributes to this world.

There’s no escaping our co-creation; there’s only accepting (surrendering to) or resisting it. Ironically, surrendering to this reality of our always-impacting nature allows us more power to influence and therefore more freedom to create a world we want; whereas resisting—pretending we could ever be isolated—shackles us to live in the past, or a constant struggle to avoid the truth of present connection. And our inquiry is not just about “what’s true for me/us?” in this moment, but also “what kind of world do I/we want to live in, and how is where I choose to focus my/our awareness creating this?”

I suppose this is all an invitation to participate, to join us in the experiment consciously, whether or not you’re America, or coming to this Circling weekend, or anything else. Happy 4th of July; happy Independence Day. :)

by Jordan Myska Allen

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