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I always enjoy and am inspired by doing the Serum discussions at Greenbelt. If I describe what we do it does not sound like much in terms of ‘putting on an event’ – we welcome everyone,  explain some simple ground rules, have someone give a very brief ‘thought for the day’ and ask a question which is then handed over to the small groups sitting around the tables to discuss and explore before feeding back at the end – yet I am always surprised by how such a simple formula can produce so profound an experience, “humbling and powerful” in the words of the journalist from the Guardian who attended last year.   On reflecting why this is the case I think it is a combination of tackling some of the biggest questions you can ask in an environment of respectful listening, where you are not out to win the argument but to share and learn from different perspectives and  experiences and in so doing start to find commonality as well as difference with others. This year we asked three different questions on the three occasions serum took place: how do our beliefs (whatever these happen to be) relate to and shape the way we actually behave?; do we only really search for god when we are desperate rather than comfortable?; is life all about winning and death all about losing?  In the process of discussing these questions you raise others which go deeper into the issue.

Re. life and death/winning and losing, my group asked how can we fully live in the reality of death which comes to us all, what does a ‘good life’ look like? what does a ‘good death’ look like? How can we process grief and loss?  Would the practice of wakes help us to come to terms with the reality of death by being in the presence of a dead body – how this can offer a strange comfort in that the person is no longer present, it is just the body that is left?

My experience of this discussion was that with the help of the others in my group we were able to look at something we don’t often look at together, a topic that is often avoided and can make us feel uncomfortable.  Serum provided us with some parameters in which to undertake this exploration, to take part in a considered and respectful reflection where the challenge of different perspectives and experiences can be heard in a non-defensive, non-confrontational manner.  At its best this is a process that I find converting in that it causes me to go back and question the way I see things.  It also provides a space in which I begin to find some common ground with others, that by sharing individual experience and thoughts it starts to become possible to share meanings and interpretations of that experience that translate across the divide.

For those interested in these kinds of discussions serum is happening every other Wednesday starting next week – see link for more details.

POSTED 04.09.10 BY: Vanessa | Comments (3)

At this year’s Greenbelt festival, the Moot Community contributed three contemplative eco-spirituality services, Ian Mobsby gave one talk and facilitated a discussion on the emerging church, whilst Sarah Edwards gave a talk and contributed to a panel discussion.  This year, we played host to Mike Angell, and Ordinand involved in a neo-monastic type initiative in San Diego, Karen Ward, the Episcopal Priest and Abbess of the Church of the Apostles, Jon Myers Ordinand with the Bekon collective in Seattle and Eliacin Rosario-Cruz, new monastic also from Seattle.  It was a great success, packed out services and talks all round.  So well done Greenbelt and Moot.  To integrate all our resources at Greenbelt, see the links below.

If you liked what you saw of the Moot Community at Greenbelt – then do make contact and come along to one of our events or gatherings.

1. Information on the music we used at Greenbelt compiled by Jonny Spoor our music master at Greenbelt.

2. Photographs of Mooters at Greenbelt – please add in photos if you have any others to share.

3. Information exchanges going on in our Facebook Moot Group.

4. Information for new people interested in attending moot events or participating in the community – register on this site and see our info for new people

5. Interested in participating in our WEDNESDAY MEDITATIONS, SERUM discussion group or ENNEAGRAM training see here for details

6. Interested in our service liturgies, contemplative and meditative resources – see our mootique.

7. Need more info? click on the contacts for Ian Mobsby for general information, or Jonny our communications person

POSTED 02.09.10 BY: ianmobsby | No Comments

Thinking again of the detail within the virtues spiritual practices and postures document, I am struck by how I and others I know struggle with the false self.  This is the projection of who we want to be, rather than who we are, which we strive to make real which results in us being very hard on ourselves and others because it is centred on our ego – on our must prove ourselves to achieve in life.  This is because of a very deep lie – that we need to achieve for God to love us – conditional love – where to the contrary God is the unconditional love that helps us to change, where we are awakened to a change that is about being more of our real self, and getting away from our false self. Our struggles of countering the construction of a false-self are very difficult – because of our our cultures obsession with consumption, competition and conditional love is all about nurturing a false-self – existing at the surface of the now (the title of my talk at Greenbelt this year).

In his book New Seeds of Contemplation page 34-5,  Thomas Merton said this:

Everyone of us is shadowed by an illusory personal false-self. This is the man I want to be but cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him, and to be unknown by God, is altogether too much privacy.  My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside of God’s will and God’s love, outside of reality and outside of life, and such a self cannot help but be an illusion.  We are not very good at recognising illusions, least of all the ones we cherish about ourselves. The ones we are born with and which speeds the roots of sin.  All sin starts from the assumption that my false self – the self that exists only in my own egocentric desires – is the fundamental reality of life to which everything else in the universe is ordered.  Thus I use up my life in the desire for pleasures and the thirst for experiences for power, honour, knowledge and love, to clothe this false-self  and construct its nothingness into something objectively real.  I wind experiences around myself and cover myself with pleasures and glory like bandages in order to make myself perceptible to myself and to the world  – as if I were an invisible body that only became visible when something visible covered its surface.  But there is o substance under the things of which I am clothed.  I am hollow, and my structures of pleasures and ambitions has no foundation.  I am objectified in them, but they are all destined by their very contingency to be destroyed – and when they are gone – there will be nothing left of me but my own nakedness and emptiness and hollowness to tell me I am my own mistake.  The secret of my identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God, for what ever is in God is really identical with God for God’s infinite simplicity admits no division and no distinction.  Therefore, I cannot hope to find myself anywhere expect in God. Ultimately the only way I can be myself is to become identified with God in whom is hidden the reason and the fulfillment of my existence.

I think Merton names here our very real struggle, and by implications, shows why it is crucial that Christianity needs to be about inner freedom of the self alongside outer freedom.  This is why we need spiritual practices, virtues and postures that help us maintain an inner freedom – because even our churches of late – neglect this need for inner discipleship.  To face the false self, we need to seek for God who speaks to us from within as much as we should be seeking for God’s presence in the world and outside of ourselves.  To finish I love this quote from John Finley:

Spiritual practices are a commitment to a daily rendezvous with God where there is no agenda but love to transform our hearts and awaken us.

POSTED 16.08.10 BY: ianmobsby | Comments (7)

I’ve been listening to a lot of Iain Archer lately, in anticipation of his upcoming gig with us at Big Pearly Gates in a couple of weeks.

If you haven’t heard of Iain Archer, then a) play the video at the top of this blog, and b) You haven’t heard of Iain Archer?! Seriously?!?

You can have a listen on Last.fm, or Spotify, or iTunes to get a sense of his work if you’re not familiar with it.

To fill you in on some background: Iain is someone who has been around for quite some time, knocking out brilliant singer-song-writer-y tunes since the 90s. I have some good memories of him – I can remember seeing him floating around Greenbelt when he first started out, and I have the dubious honour of once ending up drinking cocktails with him on a boat at 2 o’clock in the morning in Thames Ditton (maybe if I ever get as drunk as I did then, I’ll tell you the whole story).

Anyway, he disappears off the radar every now and then, and next thing you know he’ll be jamming with Snow Patrol, or writing songs with Peter Buck from REM. Yes, really. He’s that good.

So good in fact, that he was awarded an Ivor Novello for songwriting duties on Snow Patrol’s “Final Straw” album, as well as having his songs pop up on shows like Grey’s Anatomy.

He’s playing Big Pearly Gates, which is a new moot event. If you like what you’re hearing, it’s going to be a fantastic intimate little gig, with tons of atmosphere, right in the middle of London. Tickets are selling pretty fast already, so make sure you get in now before they all go.

Also playing are Lovers Electric and The Social Services who are also very good, and I’ll be blogging about them next week.

POSTED 15.07.10 BY: artbizness | No Comments

With James Vincent departing us in the summer, we have an opportunity for others to take on what James was doing.  James – we will miss you as you have contributed a lot over the last 6-months. This role will be to join a small part-time consultant team to help shape up the Arts Cafe Lounge vision and to assist with Moot’s development.  See advert below.

POSTED 27.06.10 BY: ianmobsby | No Comments

Moot is not quite there yet, but surely, at some point in time the question of community finance will be raised. By this I don’t mean just tithing. Rather, here I’m more concerned with how moot and mooters could constitute economic agents, an economic microcosm and an economic entity, and how financial relationships and transactions could be functioning between them and with external agents. These thoughts stem from different conversations with mooters and some personal reading, and are by no means either comprehensive or complete. But here a few of them – for discussion purposes only (i.e. don’t try this at home quite yet):

1)      Self-sufficiency

As a community, moot should strive for self-sufficiency but not get to a state of autarky. This would mean recognising that while it would make sense for people to share capital and human resources within the community to ensure lower costs and higher utility for everyone, reliance on external services is inevitable. Moot, both materially and spiritually, is to live with and from exchanges with “the outside world”.

2)      Ownership and use

Usually, monastic communities require people joining to give up all their possessions to the community, i.e. give up ownership of what they possess. This is unlikely to be feasible here for several reasons: (a) people do not stay for their entire life with moot, (b) giving up one’s possessions would require such a level of trust between mooters that I personally believe it is unreasonable to expect that, (c) it is actually impractical, mostly because people are scattered in different places. An alternative, though, is that people do not give up ownership but allow others to use some of what they possess. An even weaker alternative, and perhaps a first step, is the ability for people to lease their possessions for use, provided they don’t make a (significant) profit (see point 4) out of the transaction.

3)      Freedom of contract

This is more a theoretical point, perhaps, but important nevertheless. People should be free to enter financial transactions as they see fit, provided they abide to certain rules, which should protect both parties against potential economic adversity. I personally think this is a preferable approach to restricting contracts to a list of authorised transactions. In effect, this means that mooters can agree to enter any financial transaction and are not restricted in their use of financial instruments (e.g. it is possible to give a loan to another mooter and charge interest rates). This, provided all transactions remain in line with some precepts which remain to be defined.

4)      Profit making

This one ought not to be misunderstood. Moot, and mooters, should be able to make a profit. By this, I don’t mean that they should enrich themselves on the back of others, whether these are part of the community or not. But, people need to realise that if they lend money or give access to some of their possessions for use by other mooters, they should not simply charge the amortising rate, but expect to earn a certain profit on this as well. This would apply to community initiatives as well, such as the art café. The rationale is that people need to be able to make use of their capital and reinvest it to ensure self-sufficiency on the long-term. For instance, and as a theoretical example, if a family were to work in the art café, not only their current costs of living should be covered, but also, let’s say, the savings necessary for the children’s education. This said, people should not overcharge others (greediness). If an extra profit is made, which should still be possible in certain circumstance and for whatever reason, a fund for moot should be created to allow these profits to be reinvested in goods and services useful to the entire community.

5)      Relationship to the external financial and economic world

Christian financial precepts, contrarily to what is the case for instance in Islamic Finance, do not require a fundamental change in the prevailing economic system. Rather, they much more concentrate on relationships between members of a community than between individuals and an overarching system. A Christian community should be able to function in a similar way whether it is living in a free market or planned economy. While some activism for a positive change in how a particular economic system functions may be welcome, this should be pursued because that system is unjust, rather than because we are looking to overhaul the entire economic system. This is because the Bible, contrarily to the Qur’an, does not really provide any hints as to what kind of macroeconomic system is to be preferred by Christians.

All this said, two words of caution here: (1) financial transactions could potentially be the source of much discord between community members and a lot of caution has to be taken before making any steps in the directions described above, (2) my thinking tends to be influenced by free market economic theories – any alternative thoughts are welcome…

POSTED 20.06.10 BY: Nicolas | Comments (7)

Some more poetry for you lot. Missing all you guys. It gets fairly boring when you are the only one left at University.

Here’s the poem:

Highlights and Brightlights

Superficial

It takes time for these wounds to heal,

the scars of love

the kiss of poison.

This is no generation anthem

because fuck it! I can’t help ‘em

No words that I could say would help them

today.

The law says make them pay,

because the binge drinking law went down in two glugs,

along with the drugs.

Let’s put it this way,

we look back and recognise what is seen,

not what could have been.

Mistakes and half-baked schemes,

hitting the bars in teams.

Let us not look at the bad,

because bloody hell it can get awful sad.

Remember the highlights and brightlights of that far away town.

POSTED 05.06.10 BY: Definition_1990 | Comments (1)

Here’s a bit of poetry that I came up with the other day. I just started playing with words and within the space of an hour I had two poems. I’m gonna save the other one for another post/time, but here’s the first one I wrote, entitled: One foot in the grave, one foot on your head

Would be interesting to know people’s opinions.

One foot in the grave, one foot on your head

Limericks so lucidly lie,

When it comes to black hearts and bomb battalions

One for the heroes and fallen.

An evil,

Not necessarily, but I say verily

We are the custodians of the wounded

Profits and policy.

Whitehall and wankers,

Bravado and Bullshit.

Yet we cry,

Another way surely?

Motivate yourself,

take a long hard look, because for this remedy there is no book.

Tell me why?

This dove,

A symbol of love so misplaced,

An empty symbol of flesh and feathers,

or is it the hope inside that weathers?

Humans are a complicated sort,

especially when it comes to cruelty for sport.

Sometimes when silence is about

All you want to do is scream and shout, but…

We do not realise we are the ointment,

because If we were made in the image of a deity

We are a serious disappointment!

POSTED 27.05.10 BY: Definition_1990 | Comments (6)

Finding Happiness is Abbot Jamison’s follow up to Finding Sanctuary. In this book he contrasts happiness as defined by society, with how it is understood by the monastic. In so doing Abbot Jamison examines the limiting ‘8 Thoughts’ identified by the desert fathers and the necessary virtues we are called to practice in their place. These being: Spiritual Carelessness – Spiritual Awareness; Gluttony – Sufficiency; Lust – Chaste Love; Greed – Generosity, Anger -Patience; Sadness – Hope; Vanity – Magnanimity; Pride – Humility.

As with Finding Sanctuary, the Abbot challenges his reader with a wise, non-judgemental insight into the human condition, and provides powerful tools for the pursuit of interior freedom and peace.

Currently in Moot we are in the process of developing postures and practices based on the virtues Abbot Jamison has outlined. Ian has therefore purchased several copies of Finding Happiness which are presently doing the rounds in the community. I therefore recommend that you either contact info@moot.uk.net to track one of these down, or buy your own copy (following this link generates 10% income for Moot) click here for UK and here for US

POSTED 26.05.10 BY: ianmobsby | Comments (9)

From the beginning of May, we will be exploring and seeking to implement some virtues, spiritual practices and postures in our weekly wednesday and sunday activities. Aaron has written a comprehensive proposal for this which will be available in the community section of this website. There are also a number of books we recommend, including Abbot Jamison’s Finding Happiness which digs deep with the whole area of virtues and spiritual practices. We highly recommend those leading worship services or weds evening activities getting your own copy. To get your own copy of this book, we will be selling a few copies through the bookstall at sunday services, and through the mootique.  For those leading services, we have bought two books for you to use – so please let Raewyn know if you need them.

For those involved in the community, who have not got a copy of the proposal, or want to comment on it, go to the community section of this site and click on the community forum (make sure you have logged in), where you can download a copy and make comments.

POSTED 25.04.10 BY: ianmobsby | No Comments