Being able to connect with others through cyberspace is a wonderful thing.
Especially for those who live in a local area where it might be difficult
to find likeminded people. Through the Internet we might realize that we're
certainly not alone, although we previously might have thought so.
But then, meeting face-to-face with people, in small groups or one on one,
can add a whole other dimension, a more pervasive sense of community.
On a personal note, after I started organizing New Civilization Salons in
Los Angeles last year, I find that I meet friends wherever I go. Several
times a week I seem to find myself in a spontaneous circle of people I
resonate with. For example, yesterday I went to the Whole Life Expo here.
I've gone there for years and I always meet a handful of people I know. But
this time I met at least 30 people I know. It feels like there's a rapidly
growing network of good people that I will keep running into without even
trying.
You might say that that's just Los Angeles, or that's just California, but
it's not just that simple. There are about 8 million people in this city,
it is spread over a large area, and people here aren't particularly known
for close personal connections, so statistically the odds should be against
such an experience of apparently "knowing everybody" wherever I go.
Rather, I think it is something that can be created anywhere, simply by
organizing some kind of gatherings that can serve as focal point for a
local network.
The concept of a "salon" is very conducive to that, I think. "Salon" is
from French, and it is "a meeting place", or "a regular gathering of people
who engage in stimulating discussion, music, art, food and/or merriment".
Salons have become popular again in recent years, particularly after some
articles a few years ago in the Utne Reader magazine.
http://www.utne.com/facetoface/joinnsa.html
A salon can take many forms. It can be a discussion group, meeting
regularly to talk about different themes. Many salons manifest as about a
dozen people who would meet on a certain day every month or every week. Or,
it can be a place where people read poetry to each other, present art,
listen to music.
The New Civilization Salon here in L.A. is probably bigger than most
salons. There is typically 50-100 people there. It happens about once per
month, in different locations, usually somebody's house. People network,
there's potluck food, we do a group sharing where people can talk about
what they do, there's usually some kind of entertainment, and people bring
things to show, like art or interesting inventions.
This salon simply started by being announced, people showing up, and it
instantly gaining momentum. I've learned a lot of things about what is
involved along the way. For example, people who you only know through
e-mail are not as likely to show up as somebody you've met personally. So
this gathering is based not just on an e-mail list, but on several expert
face-to-face networkers who will invite people. Invitations do go out on an
e-mail list, having about 50 people on it, and I make a flier that I send
out in the mail, to a mailing list that is now about 200 people. It started
at nothing, but from the sign-in sheets at each event, more and more people
end up on the list.
For any of you in the Los Angeles area, there is a web page at
http://www.worldtrans.org/ncn/lasalon.html, and, if you aren't already on
the event announcement list, you can subscribe by writing to
majordomo@newciv.org with the message "subscribe ncnsalons-la-L".
I would encourage anybody who is so inspired to start a salon-like
gathering in your local area. You might do it by just inviting a group of
people you know into your living room, you might locate NCN members who
live close to you, or you might do a more public gathering in a local
bookstore or community center. It might be just that you get 5 people
together to talk about positive solutions, or about what they do in life.
It doesn't have to be big. A small group gives more opportunity for
in-depth sharing. A bigger group might create more widespread excitement,
but the interaction won't be as deep.
A similar type of gathering is a Dialogue group. A dialogue group would
tend to be a certain group of people who meet regularly do have deep
coversations, without any pre-set agenda. It would more be about suspending
one's assumptions about life and inquiring into the unknown together. I go
to a monthly dialogue group in L.A., which I find very invigorating. See
for example http://thunder.sonic.net/dialogroup/.
Several of you already have gatherings in your area. Lisa Lewis
<lewis03@sisna.com> runs a salon in a bookstore in Wyoming. Len & Libby
Traubman <ltraubman@igc.org> have a Jewish-Palestenian Living Room Dialogue
Group in the San Francisco Bay area
http://www.igc.org/traubman/dg-tlart.htm. Nicholas Albery
<rhino@dial.pipex.com> organizes the "Saturday Walkers Club" in London,
England. Tim Rowe <trowe@globalnet.co.uk> has had salon events in England
recently. And I'm sure many more of you have events going on in your area.
For discussion of salons, questions on how to get started, experiences with
events, there is an NCN salon mailing list. Write to majordomo@newciv.org
with the message "subscribe ncnsalons-L".
Right now, Spencer Spratley <lilbooba@netinc.ca> in Burlington, Ontario,
Canada. is interested in starting a monthly salon, so anybody in Southern
Ontario, eg. Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, drop him a note.
Muriel Chen <muriel@senet.com.au> in Adelaide, Australia, is interested in
starting a salon.
Larry Schuster <76710.1011@compuserve.com> runs the Greater Washington D.C.
Salon Network, with a number of salons. http://www.utne.com/salons/dc Not
directly NCN related, but there's a "Utopian Salon", for example.
Other people who've responded earlier, expressing interest in salons in
their area:
Michael Whitehead <mtwhite@cpis.net>, South Carolina.
Julie Vaughan <jvaughan@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu>, Austin, Texas.
Bonnie Canal <bcanal@accesscom.net>, New Orleans.
Rick Fromme <merton@tuna.net>, New York.
Lawry de Bivort <debivort@umd5.umd.edu>, Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia
area.
Willard Van De Bogart <portal@netcom.com> in San Francisco has facilities
available. http://www.earthportals.com/gaia.html
Fred Cook <fcook@pop.igc.apc.org> in San Francisco is active with various
kinds of groups already.
There is an NCN Salon/Dialogue group web page at
http://www.worldtrans.org/ncn/salondialogue.html. There's not much on it
yet, but I'll put up any links or information about any of your salon
oriented activities.
If there's anything I can do, to give suggestions on how to proceed, or to
share what we've learned from the L.A. salons, just let me know.
- Flemming
o o
/ \------------------ Flemming A. Funch ------------------/ \
/ * \ World Transformation/New Civilization/Whole Systems / * \
/ * * \ ffunch@newciv.org / * * \
o-------o----------- http://www.worldtrans.org/ ----------o-------o
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