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TimestampNameEmailWhat was the source for these reflections?If these reflections came out of one of the Now What?! "Engagement Streams," please indicate which oneJewel #1Jewel #2Jewel #3Jewel #4Brief description of your conversation groupWhen did this conversation take place?Link to video harvestLink to notes or a written storyAre there any other reflections about this conversation you wish to share?Are there any reflections on the process for this edition of Now What?! that you would like to share?
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3/25/2020 16:19:04AerinEngagement Stream Zoom callThe Prophecy of the Great BrighteningThe power of the story-listener is potent... as is the call and response which unites tellers/listeners/embodiment of characters. We can engage in creating new universes and magical lands online...This sculpture on my desk... i has a sense that this is an image of the budding princess in the prophecy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PWk5s9PsBD-GDE3QAzzcmq5HLqi3jcx-/view?usp=drivesdkIt was our lived experience of The Prophecy of the Great Brightening..3/24/2020
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4/6/2020 14:48:03Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comEngagement Stream Zoom callThe Fine Art of Bridge BuildingHow do we create fields of connection and empathy online, especially to build bridges between us and towards a more just and sustainable future? Noticing patterns of men leading groups, being chosen as the speakers to groups (even by groups of women), and asking women to be their assistants rather than assisting them or being equal partners with them. Finding ways to appreciate and use our different styles of communication is part of the way we can move beyond this. There is beauty in our differences when we find ways to collaborate as equals.Have difficult conversations with empathy, communicating strength and confidence. The INTENTION to engage and truly attune in this way is what is key to activating empathy (e.g. mirror neurons). Women are often in a good position to do this, and know how to do this in an organic way, based on experience raising children and other forms of care.Making space for grief is crucial, especially before leaping into action, Being is the ground for doing. Prioritizing somatic awareness, with empathy for oneself and others, creates the power to shift the energy of the status quo in the room and to invite resilience and transformation (what this time is all about--going into the next place even though it is not fully defined..4/6/2020
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4/6/2020 15:48:24Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comEngagement Stream Zoom callThe Fine Art of Bridge BuildingMany bridges are already there, and we simply needs to discover or notice them.Safe, sacred containers for expressing deep emotions and being fully human require trust. When that is present, it sparks creativity. We are activating the noosphere via our virtual connections and our shared evolution towards compassion and an understanding of our interdependence as one human family, embedded in and dependent on the more-than-human world.What are the collective practices that help us activate COLLECTIVE courage? The presence of trauma everywhere offers a chance to take risks and be fully who I am in order to open sacred space. It's less about getting other people to change and more about enhancing the relational spaces we are in."Live the story you want to tell about this time of momentous change. Think about the story you would like to tell 9 months from now about this time and then live it." Daveed Benjamin4/6/2020
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4/6/2020 23:36:22Dounia dsaeme@gmail.comEngagement Stream Zoom callThe Fine Art of Bridge Building
the feminine leadership to have the courage to prioritize presence and being in contact with oneself gives us the power to change the energy in the room, the status quo. To invite resilience and transformation! having the difficult conversations with empathy, communicate with strength and confidence so the challenge is met 
What are the collective practices that help us activate COLLECTIVE courage? The presence of trauma everywhere offers a chance to take risks and be fully who I am in order to open sacred space. It's less about getting other people to change and more about enhancing the relational spaces we are in.Alchemizing failure into new learningI learned about women leadership as much from the the spoken words as from the energy with which they were delivered! Such a beautiful group of bold, compassionate women who aren't afraid to be vulnerable and make courage! Leading by example indeed!4/6/2020This was my first experience at Now What 2020 !? It felt like a dream. Gratitude and blessings for being a part of this.Who knew we could build such strong fields through video calls!!!
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4/7/2020 7:57:48Dounia Saemedsaeme@gmail.comNow What?! Partner/Member open Zoom callCentering women is not as much about women work, it's really about a functioning healthy society"Artifical permanence"- push death away and deny itidentity is contextualDual-process of decolonizing and re-indigenizing - in physical processes and digital processesWe got to meet each other as a group (at least i did as it was my first time on the Beyond Education call). We touched on the meaning of feminism, the emergent identity layer of the internet, decolonization and re-indgenizing. We brainstormed what we could do for earth day which is coming up.4/6/2020
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4/16/2020 14:30:13Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comEngagement Stream Zoom callIndigenous VoicesWhat if people talked about "waking" versus being "woke?"Indigenous people are still here, in this century and this moment, and they are as diverse and contemporary as anyone else.It takes privilege to be able to participate in conversations in the environmental movement about policy at events like the COP meetings. It has been a struggle to be at the table versus being on the menu.Indigenous people have ancient knowledge of the land and the creatures on it--all our relatives-- that needs to be a part of climate mitigation and action plans.The first of three sessions for listening to indigenous voices4/16/2020
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4/16/2020 14:34:42Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comEngagement Stream Zoom callIndigenous VoicesToday we are using communications tech to share our perspectives: not only human and natural rights violations, but also the celebration of our languages and cutlures The government in Brazil right now is openly anti-indigenous. We have a responsibility to be good ancestors now. To never forget where we can from. To have the courage, education, and discipline to receive the lessons and memory of our grandparents and to pass them on, and to be in good dialogue with other nations.The world has ended many times and we know how to survive that. 4/16/2020
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4/16/2020 14:42:47Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comEngagement Stream Zoom callIndigenous VoicesWe are not magical fairies who have the answers to everything based on our ancient knowledgeFor nations, even the idea of thought is different. Our thoughts are alive, and can transform reality. Our world is larger than the physics and metaphysics of the West. we understand time and unman nature differently.In France people are talking about "effrondrement," i.e. collapse. We have a story about the crumbling of the sky. Medicine men "hold the sky" when they can pay attention to all the subtle energies of the cosmos. This is scientific and civilized knowledge.We are not worried about the end of the economy. We are worried about the continuation of our culture and our existence and our thought. 4/16/2020
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4/16/2020 14:50:25Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comEngagement Stream Zoom callIndigenous VoicesIt's not about "being connected with nature," but about understanding that we ARE nature.Did you know that it was illegal until 1978 for Native Americans to practice their religions? Or that the US government paid people for collecting native scalps? We have layers of history against us just for BEING.It is a privilege to be a California native women, living on the land of my ancestors, watching indigenous practices being carried out. This is very uncommon. Profit-seeking is a primitive, short-sighted way of making decisions.4/16/2020
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4/16/2020 14:59:47Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comEngagement Stream Zoom callIndigenous VoicesNative Americans practiced traditional ecological knowledge. They are much more than "hunter/gatherers." And these practices are still continuing.This work is what we are supposed to be doing. It is exhausting. And I am blessed to be doing it and to be among others who are doing it with me.It is painful to be surrounded by white settler culture and the constant micro-aggressions that come out of that mindset."Ohlone" did not exist as a term before the 1800s. As a result of colonization, we have lost much of what was known. The term "shaman" is also a product of colonization.
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4/16/2020 15:31:41Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comEngagement Stream Zoom callIndigenous VoicesOur traditional knowledge is on the brink of extinction, especially as traditional languages are being lost. The average indigenous lexicon includes 3000+ words that are from Western languages. What does it mean to speak our "native language" if that is the case?There were a million buffalo east of the Mississippi before European settlers arrived.We are put into a victim/hero happenstance role, as we have all the answers. Diversity in nature with different cultures and perspectives (including many indigenous perspectives) are needed in the conversation.4/16/2020
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4/20/2020 13:57:24Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comEngagement Stream Zoom callIndigenous VoicesIt may be that the way that the dominant culture/white people are approaching the problem of fossil fuel extraction will not solve it. There was a co-opting of Standing Rock, for example, with a lot of "allies" parachuting in. By the end, it was 70% white. A lot of native people had left.Allies can offer support by being willing to be arrested for civil disobedience. Many Native people have a much harder time with the criminal justice system, so a good use of privilege is to be on the front lines as someone who is less likely to experience serious consequences if they are arrested.Story of working at COP 15 climate conference where indigenous leaders had been invited to participate but were not being given any meaningful role. They protested, and appealed to Great Thunberg for support. she was sympathetic to using her status to give indigenous people a voice, though it is not clear from the story that she was successful.It's really hard to speak about alliances. There are many traps. The Amazon Fund and carbon credits, for example, offer very small amounts of money compared to the need/damage. Then they impose lots of conditions. 4/20/2020
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4/20/2020 14:14:46Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comEngagement Stream Zoom callIndigenous VoicesThere is this weird crazy power-porn fetishism about the indigenous peoples of the Amazon. "Oooh! Look at their beautiful body decorations," etc. etc. For us, every place is a "forest." The beach, the desert, etc. are all full of life too. A man was set on fire just yesterday, simply for being indigenous. We are under assault by the State. So this talk of "alliances" is very hard. Our flesh, our spirit, and our memory is under assault, even by well-meaning people when they do not understand the depths of the racism and genocide we are still experiencing to this day. We do not have our own status as political and social agents and so we are forced to work with NGOs. Our transformation goes through sharing our values and our perception of the world. To offer the medicine of words, and feelings. Of our hearts and minds. To show the spiritual illness that is at the root of oppression, racism, and a power over mentality.

We are not afraid of death. Death is part of our family--we respect it. White people are terrified of death.		4/20/2020
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4/20/2020 17:04:59Michael Sillionlordsillion@gmail.comEngagement Stream Zoom callEducationCommitment is always an act of caring. And commitment and caring are always identity forming processes. The best way to find out who I am is not to do some sort of romantic introspective act, it's to pay careful attention to what I systematically care about.
- John Vervaeke

Beyond Education4/20/2020
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4/21/2020 15:30:49Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comNow What?! Partner/Member open Zoom callCCC: The Power of the Gift of Unity: Indigenous Teachings at the Time of the Pandemic Thus little virus has brought us back to a focus on our internal climate.Cry for the loss of our elders, who hold the wisdom.What is this about "comfort?" In prior generations, this was not given high value. Forgiving the unforgiveable doesn't mean condoning what was done, but freeing yourself from its grasp.4/21/2020
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4/21/2020 15:53:44Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comNow What?! Partner/Member open Zoom callCCC: The Power of the Gift of Unity: Indigenous Teachings at the Time of the PandemicHealing is an ongoing process and gift every dayGet into positive action. Make new patterns. Keep moving forward. Maslow had it wrong--it's a circle, not a hierarchy!Hope is an energy source. You’re pushed by pain until you are pulled by vision. And we won't get to this until we also forgive the unforgivable.
Lakota elder: COVID-19 is not a punishment! It is a sacred disruption that is bringing alignment with the Universe. We need to be in ceremony. Remember your own sacredness and find o=your own ceremonial place in your heart and soul. Sit quietly and it will come. Lead from your hear and bring your mind along.4/21/2020
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4/21/2020 16:41:49Ben Robertsben@conversationcollaborative.comNow What?! Partner/Member open Zoom callCCC: The Power of the Gift of Unity: Indigenous Teachings at the Time of the PandemicIndigenous leaders are telling us that we ALL are of the Earth and have the capacity to know this. Use all five senses and your spirit to know this, even with something as simple as taking a drink of water. We can hold and endure the suffering and also be part of the realignment into wholeness we are being called to by Mother Earth.
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