The heart wins over the mind
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) Day 2
The morning was taken up with discerning whether we will endorse proposals to merge Meeting for Suffering (MfS) with BYM. MfS is in my head a bit like a national executive with a representative from each area. BYM is as in the name a once a year meeting where any Quaker can attend and be part of discerning the priorities for the year ahead. The proposal is that these two bodies merge which permits any Quaker to attend four meetings a year thereby extending participation to any who chooses to be a part of it.
A challenge for any organisation is a balance between internal business and external business. I see it like this, the purpose any organisation exists is to provide a service of some sort. The balance is ensuring that the functions to provide the service do not consume more time than the service.
The afternoon sessions were in smaller groups which I welcomed. I can be part of a large gathering but it is often in being part of a smaller group that connections are made.
The group I was part of was looking at Truth. We used the Philosophy for Children, Colleges and Communities (P4C) approach to frame our time together.
What I found most enriching was having children as part of the discussion. I can’t remember the last time I was in a discussion which included children.
We used ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ as a way of exploring the issue.
The later session was looking at our personal truth. The facilitator Julia Dover used imagination, movement and sound to bring forth from our hearts our truth rather than from our heads. I found it challenging as it required me to be more creative and more intimate in my interactions with others. It was just what my body needed. The continuing challenge is to engage with issues in ways other than speech.
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