Loving Attention in Group Work
Two weeks ago we had been visiting friends in Germany, north of the Lake of Constance. The couple had moved there some years ago. He, profiting from an early retirement, has focused since his attention on networking – on the one hand for building up with other qualified senior professionals a consultancy support cluster with reasonable prices for small and medium businesses, on the other – partly overlapping with this network – an open spiritual network on the basis of the principles of our common spiritual background, the World Teacher Trust. His wife is a strong support in this work, which has beautifully developed.
For the second time my wife and I had been able to participate in a group meeting with about 20 persons. Since our last visit 15 months ago the group has made great progress in terms of interrelatedness, expressing in the quality of exchange and cordiality. The topic of the meeting was – besides an introduction / recapitulation on meditational work, and a group meditation – “spiritual healing”. They were reading and vividly discussing a chapter from “On Healing” by Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar.
From out of this larger group other initiatives have sprung, devoted to healing or other voluntary activities. My friend was not “directing” the group, but working as a “focalizer”, keeping the group dynamics in a field of attention.
Afterwards he told me that also – besides these 3-weekly group meetings – he is focussing a lot on the development of this network. The loving attention enables a growth of an Aquarian network: de-centralized, but connected with the inner centre. This way the different individuals – and there were very (head-) strong ones – can be integrated into a group work, where they can unfold, not for themselves, but for a work dedicated to the well-being of the surrounding.
At the meeting the group expressed plans for their future activities. They agreed on an extra-topic for the next meeting: How to inwardly and outwardly deal wil the global crisis, so as to stand through it and be of help for others? The group does its work in an unpretentious way, no fuss about publicizing nor money making. A very inspiring initiative.
Buddha’s Thoughts Dancing… Picture of a statue in the house of our friends
