Magical creatures in their village nature, celebrating in a circle of harps

Whenever we share what we love we are invoking our village nature. Even events as simple as a harp gathering at a local city library can be an example of an essential way of being with each other that in the past nurtured the unity and spirit of the community, and often its very survival.  I’d like to suggest that consciously nurturing our Village Nature wherever it might possibly appear nourishes our own spirit–a spirit that can be sadly depleted by the stresses and concerns of day-to-day living in a culture that doesn’t always value its citizens for just who they are and for the unique gifts and dreams-woven-into-one’s-soul that are for each one of us to live.

What is Village Nature?  Allow me to play tour guide, using the Harpers Hall gathering and Peace Hour event as an example, and offering some (I hope) food for thought:

1. The Central Fire

(What?  I hear you think:  “There was no fire at the Harp Gathering, was there?!”  Maybe and maybe not.  Read on!)

For millennia we humans have gathered around fires to share food, warmth, story, song, and community.  Gathering around a fire can be a sacred event, and even today, a simple coming together around a campfire weaves unity among a group, and a sense of peace and reflection.  For peoples through the ages, unity and the ability to return to unity when discord erupted was key to survival.  Preparing the fire, keeping it going, and gathering around it in relatively peaceful, focused fashion served to restore oneness of spirit in restless times (have you ever noticed how hard it is to get a fire going or to keep it going when folks are annoyed with each other or paying attention to ten thousand other things than being together?  Fire has an uncanny way of reflecting back to us who we are in the moment!)

So: at the Peace Hour & Harp Gathering there was no central fire as such.  However, we did all gather in a semi-circle, with the audience completing that circle, and in the center of that circle was … our intent.  We gathered for a specific purpose, to join with other harpers across the globe to play for peace.  For an hour we played for Peace, and we were connected with each other in this intent, and with our audience, and with others all over the world, both in that hour, and in subsequent hours as harpists played at 2PM in their own time zones.  Talk about Unity!  And talk about connecting with something larger than oneself, with something cosmological, if you will.  A Central Fire connects with the spirit fire in our hearts, and with fire in all its forms, including the stars, and with Spirit/the Universe/Mystery/you- name-it-or-not, itself.

Not only that, but I believe that the harps–the archetypal quality, the beauty, resonance, and mythic nature of each one, and the ability of the harp to evoke and invoke tranquility of spirit (even the most rollicking tunes played on a harp can cause a listener to sigh in delight: ‘Oh, how peaceful, how soothing!’  It used to exasperate me to no end!) were like the “flames” of that fire.  Indeed, before 2PM, as we gathered, set up, tuned our harps, made the space ready for our playing, it was a kind of readying of the fire circle and the central fire, of gathering the kindling and preparing for the sustaining nature of a fire dedicated to peace and community.  Verlene Schermer as “fire keeper” set the fire glowing with a few words welcoming everyone to the space, introducing us and our intent.  Then we really got the flames snapping and crackling as Verlene led our group in playing “Dona Nobis Pacem” as a round.   This piece was one of two or three tunes suggested by the Harpists For Peace to be played for the Peace Hour.  And indeed during the piece we came together in a “harmony of harps”, the music sparking and flaring as we settled in with one another and with our particular ‘fire’.

What followed were solos and more group pieces, a continual feeding of the fire of the gathering for the Peace Hour, a fire that included the listeners more and more actively as it progressed.  The fire was banked as “coals” when the Peace Hour ended and we broke for chatting and cookie nibbling, then resumed in a gentle way as we resumed our gathering, this time improvising on simple chord progressions, a melody, and a favorite Harpers Hall piece so that a few children who’d stayed with us could easily join in on playing along too.

At the end, we broke our circle, and restored the room to just how it was before we entered, just as folks would do with a fire, clearing all traces, and leaving the space better than it was.  I’m sure the music and harmony has stayed on, blessing that room!

2. Everyone Is Welcome (A Community Of Belonging)

In Village Nature, every babe, child, youth, young and middle-aged adult, young elder and late elder is welcome and appreciated for just who they are and their unique self and expression they offer.  Since its beginning Harpers Hall has always welcomed harpers and harp afficionados of all ages and all levels.  We aim to create a welcoming space so that everyone can participate in the magic of making music with the harp–even if they’ve never played the harp in their lives!  Just so at the Peace Hour.  Several harpers brought extra harps, and one piece we played was dedicated to inviting the audience to play with us–to take up one of these small harps and pluck the notes we oriented them to that would harmonize with the piece.  This sense of welcome was extended into the informal harp circle after the Peace Hour, during the group improvisations.  I do believe more than one harper was born in the afternoon!

In the Peace Hour, we harpers of all levels had been invited to share solos. I loved hearing my friends and colleagues offering expressions of themselves in the music they chose and played, and what they had to say about the pieces they chose–further expressions of themselves indeed!

So in a simple event we enjoyed Village Nature–engaging consciously or not in something fundamental to our humanity, to a whole spirit, whole nature way of being.  How much more deeply might we go to restoring this nature in our everyday lives if we were to practice glimpsing it in any interaction we have that have with one another that has heart?

3. Finding Village Nature In The Everyday

I’ve only mentioned two Village Nature — or “cultural”– elements here.  Many more simple practices and awarenesses exist that encourage a particular resonance, a oneness of mind, heart, and spirit, an appreciation of each other and a curiosity to get to know each other for who we are the heart of our nature.  As you attend your next meetings, for business or fun, or even just one-on-one, pausing in conversation, I invite you to play with these ideas:

• What is the central fire at the heart of your coming together?  In what way is the ’space’ created for this fire?  How do you ignite it, tend it, sit by it, and end it?  Do you allow it to die away, or do you do something to mindfully extinguish it?  Afterward, do you or someone else ‘clear the space’ in some way, leaving where you were (physically or metaphorically) better than you found it?  You might do this by reflecting on the time that just past–did something positive emerge from it that carries on in some way?

• How are you coming together in a “community of belonging”, welcoming each other as the unique beings we all are with our own “music” to express?  As villagers in this moment, who are you?  Is one of you more experienced, offering some sort of elder wisdom in your exchange?  Is one of you filled with the fire and vision of the youth?  Or are you “mature adults” in a similar place of experience and service, in your stride?  Does everyone involved respect and appreciate where each other is on their journey and in their expression?  Is there someone (or two or three …) who does this especially well?  How does he or she do this?

• In our harp gathering the harps themselves served as flames of the fire.  If you are gathering over something you’re passionate about, how is that thing (sport, hobby, learning, activity …) contributing to the life of the fire, acting as those lively flames?

• Let your imagination run wild!