"When we come together to play and be,
we are truly ourselves.
When we are truly ourselves it is wonderful.
And when we act collectively in that wonder,
we do transformative work for our community and our world."

Brad Colby, 11-20-98, Inaugural Komo gathering

Komo Collective -- Seeds of Vision

The term "Komo" comes from Mali and was a School of Initiation to help people make direct contact with God. It suggests the journey that each of us makes, as we learn to trust our own journey toward Godde/Spirit. A journey that we cannot make alone.

We are a community of lovers, educators, and healers in ministry together as we play and work towards home. "Home" for us is an intricate and dynamic place -- where we find ourselves; where we find one another; where it is safe to "be." It is rich and varied. It can be anywhere. It is everywhere. And yet, it must be nurtured with loving intentionality.

• "Home" is a supportive and intimate community. Family. Tribe. It is where we belong. In the safety and embrace of one another's presence, we come more fully into ourbodyselves.

• "Home" is sacred space and sacred time. Physical places where we return again and again. As we invest our energy and spirit in shared land, we put down our own roots, recieve nourishment, and organically ground our lives in Mother Earth. Sacred time set aside to remember and re-member ourselves.

• "Home" is dynamic programmatic education. As our spirits break forth in joy, we are compelled to reach out to others -- seeking to facilitate home within diverse people, communities and places through programs, ritual, advocacy, and resources that will invite others to a similar journey.

"I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you. Then even death, where you're going no matter how you live, cannot you part. Seize it and let it seize you up aloft even, till your eyes burn out and drop; let your musky flesh fall off in shreds, and let your very bones unhinge and scatter, loosened over fields, over fields and woods, lightly, thoughtless, from any height at all, from as high as eagles."

Excerpted from "Living Like Weasels" in Teaching a Stone to Talk by Anne Dillard

The Gathering

We come as a people of the Crossroads. The Other Wise. The In-Between. The Both-And. A people of transition-places and journey-making. It is precisely because we often find ourselves pushing boundaries, exploring new frontiers, and taking steps of faith not knowing where we will land, that we feel that finding places to come home to are so important.

This weekend, we committed to be home for one another. To welcome one another where we are. To support each other as we are able. This will include intentional time when we can physically be together on a regular basis, as well as communication and support with each other in the interim periods.

We claim a process which is fluid and dynamic, open to change. A process that welcomes pauses, silences, rest. A process that nurtures play and playfulness. A process that is gentle. A process which does not demand tomorrow's answers today. A process that allows us to creatively live into questions with body, mind and spirit. We believe that it is in these patient openings that dreams are born, visions percolate, seeds sprout, and flowers blossom.

We are a people in relationship with the land -- welcoming stones, trees, animals, fire, water, and air into our circle as elders, friends and cocreators. Recognizing that we are actually guests; children learning about life from our earth-elders. Together, we are nurturing a nascent vision which embraces the physicality of our spirits; and the spirituality of our bodies. At this intersection, we are exploring what it means to be whole. What it means to be home in the fullness of our bodyselves.

We believe that, in time, this commitment will lead to the creation/development of a specific physical place. A safe space where we can welcome others, share together, and grow together.

We affirm that this play/work must not be done in isolation. Home is something to be shared. Our commitment embraces the outreach and visioning which already exists as our play/work individually and collectively and then looks to expand that programming in creative and innovative ways.

We seek to welcome and nurture diversity in all its forms, recognizing that there is much to be learned through our differences. Much to be gained for the variety of gifts. We strive to meet people where they are, with an invitation to be fully who they are.

We seek to be a truth-telling body. Speaking not only to ourselves, but working in the world for healing and reconciliation when we find brokenness. Confronting injustice with loving, joyful honesty as best we are able.

We seek to be a listening body. Komo is not the vision of any one person. Indeed, we affirm that something beyond ourselves has called us forth. We will seek to trust the leadings which come from beyond our limited understandings -- both individually and collectively. Knowing that what we are building is already complete in the fullness of time.

We give thanks for all those who have come before us. Warriors. Teachers. Lovers. Healers. We remember that we stand on the tears and lessons and lives of elders and ancestors who have gone before us -- even as we open ourselves to fresh visions.

We acknowledge that we are survivors. But we choose not to let our struggles define our lives. Instead, we seek to claim and manifest our wholeness through creativity, love, laughter, play, rest, and joyful embodied living.

"Today, like every other day,
we wake up empty and frightened.
Don't open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground."

Rumi

"Komo Collective -- Seeds of Vision" by Chris Paige; https://www.angelfire.com/on/otherwise/komo.html

Visit: Chris Paige

Email: Chris Paige

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