Here’s an idea: throw a party this year of high spiritual intention to celebrate life and higher potential, without expectation and in the spirit of joy.
People want to get together, celebrate life and share joy free of religious dogmas, arbitrary division and expectation. Yet for best results, such events should neither be boundless, nor tightly bound. So many of us are tired of the old B.S. and ready to move on to simple joy for life. As the unitarians who champion high and perpetual civilization, we can facilitate that. Convocation means, simply put, a purposeful calling together of people: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convocation. Convocation evokes a nonspecific holy day that transcends the old concepts of us versus them, “chosen people” versus “unbelievers” (most of us can appreciate the skepticism necessary to reign in the occasional egomaniac and crazy cat person) and the dynamics of competing for access to the attentions of a jealous god. Rather, we set out with the intention of harmonic renewal, bene, which is the simple spirit or morphic pattern of ego loss, natal joy and harmonic fit with the cosmos: intending well for ourselves and others without condition, expectation or egoic strings attached. At Convocation, we deliberately forget that we are at war with ourselves, with duality, with the world and with each other. We put down our mental, emotional and physical weapons and set out to find the place that the universe embraces exactly us, as individuals, in natural harmony. In so doing, we naturally make peace with each other, and new and beneficial harmonies emerge in our relationships. Convocation coincides well with major group events such as weddings, showers, the consecration of community gardens, the announcement or conception of new group plans—and best of all, with the reunion of the estranged and the end of old conflicts.
The Earth achieves a special sync, or cyclic node, with the Sun on each equinox and solstice. These archaeoastronomical nodes are ideal dates for Convocation. In 2011, these dates are as follows:
Vernal Equinox: March 20
Summer Solstice: June 21
Autumnal Equinox: September 23
Winter Solstice: December 21/22
Noetic Jedi spiritual practice, as decreed by democratic feedback contextualized by ancient spiritual tradition, is highly naturalistic, about the marriage of modern science with primitive mystic holism, and is summarized by the following four pillars. Each of these might be expressed at Convocation, or woven into its themes:
1) Meditation. Meditation begins, and might end, the meal and spiritual practice part of Convocation.
2) Communion (storytelling and wisdom exchange). This embodies Convocation as an event.
3) Gardening. Civilization stems from the act of planting a seed into the ground: sowing life’s potential. Plant something in a consecrated Convocation pot. Later, when it blooms, make it a gift to someone who needs hope.
4) Acts of Kindness. Help someone without expectation of reprisal.
- The least of Convocations is a picnic with spiritual friends in the most beautiful setting you can access without difficulty, with whole and natural food you have blessed with highest intention for health, longevity and enlightenment.
- High Convocation, where we come together with the intent of achieving a symphonic resonance of consciousness more complex, thorough and compelling than any we have achieved before with our community of Force-transceivers, could likely be held only at a wilderness retreat or a consecrated Jedi temple. This would require significant planning and commissioned interpretive performance as well as intentional or ritual preparation, such as a day of fasting or dietary purification.
- Somewhere inbetween, we can plan a beautiful party in the guise of an open house that celebrates the higher aspects of our lives: not inebriety, but clarity. Not revelry, but high intention. Not dissonance, but resonance. Having great fun together in compliance with Natural Law, sans ego and materialistic pretense, with the intent of helping each other to find and illuminate our highest potentials, has only been done accidentally on the Earth, here and there, throughout history: it has probably not been the explicit aim of any formalized spiritual path in history until now. Nevertheless, it is an essential event and celebration of high civilization in the cosmos.
One Suggested Outline for a Convocation Event
- Invite only friends who are spiritually aware and interested in brightening themselves as universal transceivers.
- Prepare whole and healthy intentional food or drink, in advance, as a group activity, such as IONS intentional chocolates: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ74EKFFqbE.
- On the morning of Convocation, wake up with an intentional prayer such as, “Bene, bene, bene, today is the best of days, the first of days and the last of days. Today I am fully myself, free of myself. Today I release all grievances, marry the cosmos, and take myself and my friends to joy.” Whatever you come up with, make it bene, of the spirit of harmonic renewal, and infuse the words with your genuine and best intention: and then release them to the day like something you love enough to let go.
- Set a time to initiate Convocation via reading a democratically chosen consecration statement or inspiring quote of approximately one paragraph. This is open source spirituality—the rainbow—so no single person’s perspectives or agenda should dominate. Perhaps a paragraph could be submitted by all members, and then you could take turns drawing them all—or just a small sample—from a hat. The initiation statement should establish or clarify your group intention for this Convocation. Follow this by meditating for 20-30 minutes while listening to either democratically chosen meditation music, or the live performance of spiritual music conceived in love, before beginning fellowship.
- Partake of your intentional food and/or drink and continue the coherency of high mindedness by sharing your best inspirational and kind thoughts: humor is great but avoid dissonant, selfish motives such as the name-dropping and figure-quoting of materialism, the self-aggrandisement of egotism and the boring platitudes of superficiality. Focus on Nature and the benevolent aspects of civilization, and what you plan on doing together to foster positive changes for yourselves, your group and civilization itself in the next few months.
- Engage in spiritual practice during the time after your shared meal, according to your gifts and your calling, bound by the ethics of Natural Law and high civilization: beyond doing no harm, mean each other only well. Spiritual practice includes meditation, intentional healing, divination, inspiring musical performance sanctioned by the group and conducive to group activity, inviting communion with higher consciousness, etc.
- Some time later, end Convocation by reading or passing around the short and simple one sentence statement you have agreed upon during your discussions that summarizes the intention of your event. Record this as the first page of your spiritual community journal, scrapbook or blog, if you don’t yet have one. Join hands, lift them to the sky and pronounce this statement in unison to conclude the Convocation ceremony.
- A post-ceremony Convocation day is best concluded with small group activities of ethical hedonism, such as a trip to a spa, a walk in a park, a bonfire or fun and silly games that do not provoke competitive or adverse intentions.
Find it in yourself to throw a brilliant Convocation party on an upcoming equinox or solstice in 2011. Incite your innate creativity and honor your higher self, and the highest potentials of your good friends, in bene and in joy!
