This is Kyriaki from Greece writing this update during what is considered, by many, an unusually hot summer. One of the unique privileges of a Greek summer is being able to watch some of the ancient tragedies, such as Oedipus Rex or Antigone by Sophocles, being re-enacted in the very same ancient open-air theaters our ancestors used to gather 2500 years ago. It was a form of art that combined education, entertainment, and healing, bringing to life a mythic archetypal story.
One of the most spectacular and sophisticated elements in this early form of drama was the Chorus, a group of actors who comment upon the actions of the protagonists, the heroes and heroines of the play, through song, dance and recitation. They wear masks to indicate the character they are playing (woman, old man) or the emotion they are showing (anger, sadness, joy); they usually offer their opinions and wisdoms to aid the characters, interpreting and commenting upon their words and actions. They emphasize key themes, deliver moral messages and offer insights on the character’s inner thoughts, motivations and decisions; or they embodied the societal and ethical concerns of the period.
What if we could create our own inner chorus, a self-authored group representing the different qualities and values we want to champion in life, including the people we look up to — our parents, teachers, heroes — and deitiessupporting, advising, resisting, entertaining, healing, and guiding us?
Activating the Inner Conclave
In the conversation Activating the Inner Conclave between Aviv Shahar and Jeff Vander Clute, we explore this possibility of creating such an inner chorus; we call it the “Inner Conclave”, and reflect on how this practice can assist us, how the Inner Conclave can help us heal, dissolving our historic ghosts and traumatic experiences — both as individuals and as communities.
“We can choose to cultivate different roles, so you may be a partner, you may be a parent, you may be a gardener, a healer, a teacher, you may be acting in different capacities or roles. When you choose to develop each of those independent of the other, and you cultivate and ground each of those capacities inside some quality that has a permanent custodial property to it, then it lives beyond you,” says Aviv.
Jeff adds that, “When we actually engage with this Inner Conclave, we can’t get it wrong because all of the voices and parts are conspiring to elevate, and awaken, and heal and liberate us. So even the friction, the burnishing, the contrast, even tension and apparent conflict is all in service.”
Maybe this Inner Conclave can help us create the new inner systems and scaffolds to re-structure and put in place new institutions and systems to help the human situation.
Questions are vehicles that can take us to new, undiscovered spaces, and truly open portals to the unknown, bringing us closer to new future possibilities.
So when members of the Portals team were asked to be part of a "chorus" of questioners to explore some of the burning questions inspired from the conversations in the Current Openings series, we could not help but play our part.
The result is Current Openings #17 - Burning Questions, a spontaneous and uncensored conversation where Peter Barry, Lisa Marcus, Patrick Summers, and I (Kyriaki Nikandrou) spoke with David Price Francis and Aviv Shahar, the voices of the Current Openings Series, to pose inquiries into what drew our attention and excited our curiosity.
Current Openings #17 - Burning Questions
Aviv and David opened up a wide range of insights, starters and considerations.
Some of the questions we explored:
If someone has found a purpose and/or a passion in their life, how can they renew and evolve that passion so it does not become stale and stagnant? How can they remain on the cutting edge of their endeavor?
InCurrent Openings #9 – The Emotion Problem, emotions are described as one of the most potent fuels we have. How can we best access the power of these potent fuels to assist us in discovering the deeper meaning in our lives?
From the first days of the Portals project we’ve asked the question: “Where does the future come from?” In Current Openings #13 - How Can We Help the Future?, you describe humans as a conduit for life, as well as co-respondent to the cosmos. What does that mean for us as individuals and for the universe?
Towards the end of the conversation, the roles are reversed; Aviv and David ask the team what it means to them that we have entered a post-guru world? Some compelling crosspollinating threads are interwoven, bringing to life a nuanced and revelatory mosaic.
