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[Huby7]

When Scott London asked David Abram, "Do we have any equivalents of medicine people in Western culture, people who perform a similar function?" Abram suggested, "We do have some distant equivalents, such as field biologists who are able to enter into a close rapport with the other species that they are studying."

I'd add that some naturalists qualify as medicine men in Western culture, too.  I think Barry Lopez touches on this rather nicely here:

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/91/

Take care,

Curt

[timeLESS]

what are our stories about?

We make stories. right now. These stories will be the tracks we have left when the turn has come for our children to live. What will they find? Stories of Grief is the first and most powerful story that comes to me when i think of it all. My stories would tell them why we cried until the land would be fertile again. Then a story of anger comes to me. Stories of destruction and ancient wisdom to live as part of the land. Stories of guilt and doubt. Stories of hard choices. Stories to put us in perspective. To share. It is stories we watch and choose to follow or not like tracks in the earth. We are making stories wheter we want to or not but we have to understand one very important thing, that it is each and everyone of us that makes those stories. We all leave our tracks for others to find.  So i will try and ground my stories to the land, where they come from.

Playing stories, enacting them and experiencing them is a great way for us to start to become aware of the tracks we leave. Telling stories makes us aware of the issues that we and our friends are dealing with. We gain greater awareness and understanding of our surroundings because we constantly practise and explore our creativity and empathy. You might say that you become aware of a whole new set of tracks. Tracks and signs that lie hidden behind a persons words, behind a smile that hides hurt and grief. Story tracks, tracks that leave us with ideas to follow or roads to understanding one another better. To speak stories one starts understanding intention, attunement, choices, because stories make us go there and live out these things together.

Story-jamming i love that... to attune to eachother...to listen to each other....to speak to eachother....to appreciate each other. Find your band! play a story. Explore with your friends. Shut down that TV, entertainment need not be meaningless and spoon-fed. Your friends might have great stories that you've never heard, everyday a new premiere!

and this is leading me to a new topic: Jamming as a way of (dis)organizing ....

cheers.

[Willem]

Thanks Paula for your thoughts and feelings! I feel really good knowing the forum provides something like that for you. awesome!

timeless-
i can only chant 'yes! yes! yes!' over and over again. haha.

for the curious-
i have highspeed internet access at the open space gathering. very handy.