I just returned from a leadership retreat on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. There were corporate leaders and spiritual elders from several nations and countries; Ojibwa, Oneida, Mohawk, Netherlands, US, Germany & UK.
What was so wonderful about it, besides the pristine natural beauty, the wild moose, kayaking at night, fire ceremonies, talking circles & sweat lodges (oh yeah, and gifting circles, laughter, freezing cold dips in the lake (55 degrees!) and tons and tons of gorp) was the equinimity with which we built community together.
All Chiefs, all humble and all with the intent to share and collaborate. We followed Native traditions in the ceremonies, yet were flexible with them. Free from dogma, free from the rigid norms of our differing cultures and traditional ways, we were simply a group of humans in the woods together.
How simple, how delightful. Our diversity enriches us, and freed from the patterns of doing it right, we created from nothing. Nothing special, nothing dramatic, nothing normal.
It was delicious.
The saying “Too many cooks/chiefs” aptly aplies when our cultural patterns collide. Freed of patterns, the magic of the present is our recipe, the passion of now our appetite.
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