Occupy Cafe

OCCUPY OCCUPY CAFE

After founding and running Occupy Cafe for a year and a half, Jitendra and Ben have moved on to other projects.

HOWEVER, we still see new members pop up here and there.  The conversations and the concerns have not gone away.

IF you feel inspired to take up the charge and reinvigorate activity here at the cafe, let us know by way of a forum post that you're interested. 

We may not get back to you instantly because we're not checking that often, but you will get a response.

Meanwhile, any member here is free to post a blog or start a forum thread if the spirit moves you. 

Peace, Justice and Freedom to All

We are being called to a place of courage.  As we contemplate the state of the world at the beginning of 2013, there are so many dimensions that are deeply troubling.  Fear is rampant in our country, our communities and our own hearts.

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers."  As this aphorism suggests, courage is not the absence of fear, but going beyond it.  Chogyam Trungpa talks about this concept in Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior:

In order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience fear.  The essence of cowardice is not acknowledging the reality of fear... Going beyond fear begins when we examine our fear: our anxiety, nervousness, concern, and restlessness.  If we look into our fear, if we look beneath its veneer, the first thing we find is sadness, beneath the nervousness.  Nervousness is cranking up, vibrating, all the time.  When we slow down, when we relax with our fear, we find sadness, which is calm and gentle.  Sadness hits you in your heart, and your body produces a tear... That is the first tip of fearlessness, and the first sign of real warriorship. (pp.47-9)

Let us encourage one another in our dialogue this week.   Let us embrace our fears and go beyond them together. As Meg Wheatley urges us in So Far from Home, let us:

• discover our right work and be happy to be engaged in it
• refrain from adding to the aggression, fear and confusion of this time
• stay present to the world as it is, with open minds and hearts, knowing this nourishes our gentleness, decency and bravery.

As always, our conversation takes place on the Occupy Cafe forum as well as our three Cafe Calls this Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (times and registration links on the right side of this page).   You are invited to start NOW on the forum by sharing a story about a time when you acknowledged and went beyond your fears.

We are in mourning.  Shock, grief and anger wash over us in waves.  For many, the media (old and new) has become the place we turn in order to deal with such an event.   In traditional societies, we would have physically gathered together as a community to process our pain.  Closing out the year, Occupy Cafe will attempt this virtually on behalf of its members, including founding steward Ben Roberts, who is a Newtown resident.

How do we respond to this tragedy in ways that serve life?

Please join our online gathering here.  Cafe Calls are complete for this year.  Here is a link to the podcast of our call from Monday, Dec. 17th.

What is the climate conversation we most need to have now?

Our podcast is now up for the Monday Cafe Call

A lot has been happening recently on the climate front.  Hurricane Sandy put the issue front and center after it was virtually ignored during the elections.  Echoing the anti-apartheid efforts of the 1980's, 350.org has started the new Go Fossil Free campaign, which calls on students to demand that university endowment funds divest from the coal, oil and gas industries.  And the COP18 talks just finished up with another round of failed negotiations, highlighted by a tearful delegate from the storm-ravaged Philippines pleading for action on behalf of the seven billion people on this planet.

Join us this week in the Cafe for a conversation on the varied dimensions of this crisis.  What is moving in the world?  How might this online community participate? What are the personal challenges this subject brings up for you?  Explore these questions together here on our forum, and on each of the three Cafe Calls we will be hosting.  Monday's Vital Conversation will start us off with an overview, Connect2012 on Tuesday will focus on what this community might do and Thursday's Occupy Heart will address the inner struggles a crisis like this evokes.  See the schedule on the right side of this page for times and registration links. 

We will be testing out MaestroConference's new "social webinar" feature this week, which allows you to see who else is in your breakouts with you.  Click here to access this feature once you are on a Cafe Call (note: you will need your call-in and PIN handy to sign up).