08.00
Snow in the night: the path between the buildings was covered at 06.50. The breakfast queue has returned.
08.40
Breakfast service has returned to dysfunctional.
Debra sang a song that, while not quite ready to be born, was pushed into active service nevertheless. For this the lights were turned off. Afterwards there was quiet and, as the shutters of the dining room were opened, the emerging light of day & snow whisked into flurries by gusts of wind, I found quite beautiful.
The quiet that Debra's song brought into the dining room continued. This was accepting & accepted. It was not the silence that walks into a Guitar Craft room, the quality of silence that we know well in Guitar Craft. This was quiet. Silence has a different frequency range to quiet. The difference between silence & quiet? The quiet came from the people in the room. It was, in a sense, their quiet from a quiet place in them. This is the beginning of listening.
Tom Hellboy made a mistake: this is wholly appropriate from the person giving classes & personal meetings in Mistakes And How To Make Them. Tom believed he was leaving at 10.00 for his flight back to the States. Instead, he had to leave at 08.00.
11.14
Meetings after breakfast with the Staff & Mentor Buddies and then the Kitchen Team, where we discussed the operation of the right hand. Terror, death, pain, suffering, misery.
Level Two: circulations in C major; then D major ascending; then to B natural minor; then to G natural minor; then to the Emergent Guitar Craft Theme with Debra leading the circle.
A brief meeting at the tea point on the way to my room, discussing the Center For Creative Aspiration in Atlanta & the projected 2006-7 course in England.
12.36
An important meeting with the Mentoring Buddies. We began by looking at the left & right hands, discussing the impulses that inform the actions. Then discussing the work of specialist groups in Guitar Craft, driven by the recognition of necessary work to be done; and being helped to discover one's place. Then to the future of Guitar Craft in the next 3 years, 13 years and 25 years ahead.
Before the meeting: a brief discussion with a Crafty regarding their own near future; and after the meeting a suggestion for their direction: they were "rock ed" by this suggestion, they said. And on the way back to this building an encounter with one who was not a happy boy, dealing with major life issues and wondering how best to proceed.
15.13
My Life In The Mush Of Squerds featuring the Family Gillet is currently underway in the ballroom. Martin met in the ballroom at 14.30, with whoever was interested, to present an exercise e-mailed in by Bill Rieflin, who is participating At-A-Distance. Synchronicity: this is an extended form of the new generation thrakking we have been practicing. Upstairs Hernan has personal meetings.
Several performances at lunchtime, a relatively low-key affair after the high-energy lunches of recent days. The Master Of The (Toilet) Rolls had forcefully expressed his food preferences at the Kitchen Meeting this morning. He was, however, sufficiently persuaded by the food served this lunchtime that he declared he even had seconds. I mentioned that my request for a toilet roll 3 days ago had not yet been answered. He replied that he had heard me ask for a message to be left outside my room. Judge Of The Chambers ruled that what I claimed to have said was what he the Judge had himself heard.
What we hear, rather than what is said, provides a fascinating insight into who & what we are.
17.40
The Second Lifers' meeting was held in the ballroom at 16.30 with several people present who were not at the first. An exercise was presented, to follow the morning relaxation. The Four Pillars of Guitar Craft were presented formally as:
Morning Sitting;
The Job For The Day;
Work In The Circle;
Work In The Kitchen;
acknowledging the developing importance of kitchen work in Guitar Craft, and that sexual energy drives just about everything in life.
19.46
The Emergent Theme continued to emerge during a meeting at 18.00 with Debra introducing it in the Circle, then RF, and with Steve leading the theme from the Lonely Chair.
There has been an emotional eruption within the house & turning points have appeared for several people. The Guitar Craft wheel has turned and some are moving with it.
20.19
Four last minute personal meetings.
23.30
The Final Meeting for this course/s opened with the words: Welcome my friends to the course that never ends.
Many comments. After 55 minutes we opened the windows and stretched our legs before the next batch of comments. As the time for comments properly came to an end, a long & diffuse mental commentary was offered that evaporated much of the atmosphere. The closing comments that I had wished to make were no longer appropriate: too great a tiredness. Had I made them, they might have been along these lines:
If "tomorrow" is the first lie of the Devil perhaps the second lie might be that our own contribution has no value; that we are powerless to make a difference in the world. It is very easy to believe that this is so, seeing clearly our frailties & weaknesses. But this is a lie, nevertheless.
I didn't say this. Instead there were practical comments on transport, and concerns with how the weather may affect our travelling plans.
My closing remarks: transitions. My sense was that several, if not many, of those on this course were involved in life transitions. For some this transition will take place during the next year; for others over two years; and for some the transition is over a three-year period.
This part of the ongoing course was declared completed at 23.27 & 45 seconds.
"To try is to fail."
