“IT’S ALL FAKE” . . . except when it’s not!

And it’s decidedly not in the invisible bubble that I, for one, apparently live inside of. Because as I go around the world in my daily life, on walks, and otherwise encountering other all-too-human beings, our common life feels even more real, i.e., palpable, sensuous, connected, than ever before!

Does this mean that the “fake” aspect of life is 3D and the “authentic” aspect of life is  5D? That so-called “Ascension” is actually measuring the increasing split between 3D and 5D?  Perhaps. Thinking multidimensionally does seem to help me navigate through my moment by moment, breath by breath, embodied voyage here, “on Earth” (feels so weird to say that; as if “on Earth” were merely one of of “my” — and “our”? — parallel locations).

Case in point: The contrast between what appears to be the overall social media takedown of whatever institutions (whether “brick and mortar,” or virtual), whatever human “constructions” — as not what they have “presented themselves to be” (for decades, centuries, millennia?) but instead, exposed as skewed, riddled with holes, torquing, morphing, twerking, fading, shimmering into nothingness — as we humans, apparently, descend into chaos.

Okay, that’s the “bigger picture,” supposedly. I would suggest that an even bigger picture lies just beyond the horizon of the usual technologically mediated awareness, and that is of humans who surprisingly discover that they have much more in common than not. That in fact, “common sense” is something real, palpable, resonating through our rhythmic beating hearts, our rhythmic breathing, our collective dreaming of a world wherein humans feel their connectedness.

Case in point:

Yesterday evening, I attended a second “listening session” that the Bloomington City Council and various city departments partnered to set in motion as a way of “getting input” on what should be done here about the increasingly difficult and expensive housing situation. Like other smallish cities home large universities, the problem of adequate affordable housing of various kinds is not new; it is ancient. Of course! Is there really anything new under the sun? Humans are always working with the dichotomy of scarcity/abundance; and the way we view this polarity depends in part on our own attitude of scarcity or abundance, some, but not all of which, can be attributed to personal economic, material conditions.

Most meetings the City Council holds, feature the nine Council members sitting in a row, raised slightly above, and beyond their audience — the few community members who choose to attend any regular meeting, usually with some pet grievance in mind that the Council is due to take up that evening.

Which means, CC meetings, just by the physical set up, tend towards antagonistic.

Last night, however, at the second “listening session” (I also attended the first one, a few weeks ago, and found it interesting and productive enough to draw me back to the second and final one), I was blown away by just how powerfully the atmosphere changed, and changed again, to the point where it felt like the entire crowd, both officials of various kinds and those who came (usually, again, with particular grievances) had entered another dimension!

As David Hittle, the first speaker and Director of Planning and Transportation (he and I had walked my Green Acres neighborhood together a few months ago) —  said to me afterwards, this meeting was civic! Civic! Nobody was mad at each other.” He used the word “civic” so deliberately that I wonder if he’s familiar with Alexandra Hudson’s book, The Soul of Civility, and/or the Project Civility Conference I had attended in September and wrote up here, afterwards.

Project Civility: Verb or Noun?

I urged him to do it again. To suggest to the City gov and City Council that these kinds of meetings happen on a regular basis, not just for the pressing issue of housing.

How did this seeming miracle happen? Well, in part, it had to do with the way the meeting was organized: First, a half hour power point talk from a city official (first one, David Hittle), then a 1/2 hour session with everyone seated together in circles of 6-8 people (eight circles altogether), both officials and the public instructed to converse personally, after first going around our circles introducing ourselves and why we are here, to address several perplexing questions or issues, for example: “When you stop growing you start dying” (Attributed to William Burroughs).

The point is, this entire get-together was addressing the dynamic polarity between growth and decay, what we all face as individuals our life long, and what any human group faces as well. It’s never one or the other. The meaning and purpose of each depends on its relationship with the other.

We did this twice, with first an official speaking briefly, powerpoint presentation on all four walls, and then a listening/discussion session in small groups.

The meeting began at 6:30, and by 8:30, that main part of the meeting was done. I needed to get home and to bed, so did not stay for the conclusion.

But let me tell you; as I looked around the crowd prior to the start of the session, I saw a lot of disgruntled, weary faces, with, I imagined, an attitude of “Well yeah, they say they are going to listen, but they will just do what they want anyway.”

But then, as we were asked to decide which circle of chairs we wanted to be a part of the in the first listening session, with people, mostly strangers to one another, hesitantly moving into one or another of them, the atmosphere got more and more intense, more and more energized, as one person after another spilled out what was bothering him or her, to the empathic ears of the others in their own circle, at least one of whom was likely facing exactly the same reality in life.

As I said, we did the entire round, speaker, and then circle listening sessions, twice, with the “officials” in each circle taking notes, and adding their own personal concerns. By the second time around, the eagerness to continue to participate, and to deepen what was already turning into an incredibly engaging, thoughtful, evening, was both palpable and exciting.

Throughout the evening, people (some of them officials) whom I have known only tangentially for all these years I’ve been in Bloomington (24 and counting) came up to me, greeting me enthusiastically, and usually our encounters turned into very authentic, welcoming hugs. I felt seen, heard, and empathically connected to all others in the room.

FAKE. No. Not. Not at all.

As long as we “stay with what we have in common,” our shared local reality, we encounter our own capacity for the mysterious all-pervasive Love that feeds and fuels the universe, no matter who we are, no matter what our material situation in life, no matter what our ideologies.

It’s obvious! Common-sense!

SENSING, IN COMMON.