Weaving new connections as we journey together, locally and globally

Between October 21 and 27, 2021, an experimental multi-local event took place, online and in several places around the world: the Deep Live Gathering. Initiated and organised by a team of DAF volunteers, this event involved gatherings convened in-person, as well as online workshops and spaces for connection.

Last week, a few of us who were involved in this project reconvened, to reflect on what we had experienced and what we may have learned from this experiment. Here is an attempt at distilling some of the things we shared on that call.

Our degree of participation in the project varied widely: some of us were project initiators, others online facilitators, and others still, local gathering conveners. As for the local events, their length and format also ranged widely: while some only brought together a handful of people for a few hours (in California, New York and Berlin), others lasted several days (as in the case of the Isle of Man open house), and some were continuous community or retreat experiences attended by over a dozen people for a week or more (in Montenegro and Russia).

But in spite of the diversity of our lived experiences, the Deep Live Gathering seems to have been an overwhelmingly positive experience for those of us who were on the call.

Several of us mentioned that the gathering was an important learning experience in alternative ways of working: holding plans lightly, having just enough structure, and being open to emergence and serendipity… But still journeying towards a same direction and staying connected by common practices – e.g. the act of beauty that each group was invited to perform on the same day as part of an Earth Ceremony. This drove home the importance of trusting relationships as the bedrock on which to build anything. For some of us, deep connections happened on several dimensions simultaneously – in the physical, emotional, as well as spiritual realms. Astonishing coincidences took place.

We agreed that future events of the sort would benefit from more lead time to prepare, and perhaps from focusing on a particular theme. More peer support would be useful for first-time organisers, as hosting an event isn’t always a bed of roses; and dedicated fundraising would enable wider participation.

Learnings also emerged for us on the topic of technology, particularly around the integration of physical meetings and online workshops. Some of us had powerful experiences during the online sessions – including during the Grief Circle offered by Terry LePage, or listening to Andrew McMillion’s talk; for others, the blending of online and offline spaces was occasionally a source of discomfort.

Perhaps one of the most important outcomes of this event has been the fruitful collaboration between DAF and networks, groups, or individuals who so far haven’t been so involved with our network, and with whom we found a lot of common ground and potential synergies – for example, the Russian Natural Beekepers’ Association (see this video), or Spring Cheng of the Resonance Path Institute. In the future, partnerships could also be explored locally, be it with retreat centers or other supportive organisations.

See the following videos for a few glimpses into some of the beautiful online activities or film screenings that were programmed as part of the Deep Live Gathering:

• The sharing session which took place following the Earth Ceremony, hosted by Sasha Daucus and initiated in partnership with the Radical Joy for Hard Times network;
• “The Practice of Living Tradition and Spiritual Forests Initiation,” an event featuring Antonina Kulyaseva, researcher and living tradition holder from the Russian North, and Konkankoh Joshua, holder of spiritual forests initiation tradition and founder of Better World Cameroon.
• “Ecological Insanity,” a talk in which Andrew McMillion (of the Norwegian Seed Savers) tells the story of how he abandoned the field of tech to deeply immerse himself into permaculture, the study of ecosystems, and the vital practice of seed-saving and plant adaptation on his farm.
• “The Point of Return,” a documentary about the practices developed by Russian natural beekeepers for the preservation of local bee species (English subtitles available).
• “Voices of Immersion,” a documentary produced during the Seeds of Action retreat in Russian, in 2020 (English subtitles available).

If you would like to stay informed about future gatherings, please join the DAF Slack workspace (you can apply here), and keep an eye on this channel: #4-community-building!