Using Stories to Process Spiritual/Emotional Issues

[FierFlye]

First...I'm a bit confused. Do you all want to work through the book as really doing the exercises and rituals or do you want to use the content as a jump-off-point for discussion?

I'm asking because the book offers a lot of personality development and inner work, which might work better in a private group where people are able to built some trust and talk about how they react to the exercises and story material in a closed environment.

We do want to work through the exercises and rituals. I can see how some private discussion might be useful. Hmm. I know there was a bit of talk about setting this discussion up as a group, but we didn't want to continue to drag discussions away from the forum. Plus the groups feel a bit clunky to me.

I can see the need for different threads to make the discussions easier to follow and participate in. I don't know that we each need our own thread though. We can use blogs for that.

If participants aren't concerned about the discussions being private, maybe a '12 Wild Swans' subfolder in the special discussions folder would be a good way to go? Then we could post new threads on different bits of the work but they'd all be in the same place, and easier to navigate than a group.

Thoughts?

[Sperran]

First...I'm a bit confused. Do you all want to work through the book as really doing the exercises and rituals or do you want to use the content as a jump-off-point for discussion?

I'm a bit confused as well. Since this discussion will really be an interfaith group, I am a bit hesitant to request that everyone do all the rituals. Rather, I imagined that we would discuss the main issues raised by each chapter and then talk about our own activities that we are using to deal with those issues. If someone uses those exercises and rituals, that would be cool. If someone adapted them, or created their own, that would be cool. And if someone used a mundane method to deal with the issues, that would be cool as well.

That being said, I'm not wedded to that style. What I would like to do with this book is to establish a sort of template that we can use with other stories and myths, and would be useful for the diversity of faiths that we have here at TC. Essentially, I hope that we will be finding our way for organization with this first book and if interest holds, we will eventually create a sig using this format.

Sperran

[Sperran]

We do want to work through the exercises and rituals. I can see how some private discussion might be useful. Hmm. I know there was a bit of talk about setting this discussion up as a group, but we didn't want to continue to drag discussions away from the forum. Plus the groups feel a bit clunky to me.

I can see the need for different threads to make the discussions easier to follow and participate in. I don't know that we each need our own thread though. We can use blogs for that.

If participants aren't concerned about the discussions being private, maybe a '12 Wild Swans' subfolder in the special discussions folder would be a good way to go? Then we could post new threads on different bits of the work but they'd all be in the same place, and easier to navigate than a group.

Thoughts?

I definitely agree with the need for different threads within the discussions. The folder might be a good idea.

[FierFlye]

I'm a bit confused as well. Since this discussion will really be an interfaith group, I am a bit hesitant to request that everyone do all the rituals.

I hope it didn't sound like that was what I was suggesting we do. However I was under the impression that people actually were going to work through the book, in whatever path or paths interested them, doing the rituals and exercises that appealed to them, and substituting their own where appropriate.

So, actually working, rather than just having a book club style discussion.

However, I do like your idea of setting up a template to use with other stories.

So...now I'm confused as well.

[Sperran]

I hope it didn't sound like that was what I was suggesting we do. However I was under the impression that people actually were going to work through the book, in whatever path or paths interested them, doing the rituals and exercises that appealed to them, and substituting their own where appropriate.

So, actually working, rather than just having a book club style discussion.

However, I do like your idea of setting up a template to use with other stories.

So...now I'm confused as well.

I'm totally fine with you suggesting what to do. We sort of talked about this in chat, but we never nailed down any specifics. I think we are essentially talking about the same thing; I just maybe emphasized flexibility a little more since I'm probably the only JCI God follower and that's sort of in the forefront of my brain.

In conclusion: exercises good, work good, template good. I don't see why we can't hash that all out as we go along. I don't see why we can't work out specifics of how to proceed here in the next few days and then keep fine-tuning as we go along.

[Waldhexe]

I'm a bit confused as well. Since this discussion will really be an interfaith group, I am a bit hesitant to request that everyone do all the rituals. Rather, I imagined that we would discuss the main issues raised by each chapter and then talk about our own activities that we are using to deal with those issues. If someone uses those exercises and rituals, that would be cool. If someone adapted them, or created their own, that would be cool. And if someone used a mundane method to deal with the issues, that would be cool as well.

That being said, I'm not wedded to that style. What I would like to do with this book is to establish a sort of template that we can use with other stories and myths, and would be useful for the diversity of faiths that we have here at TC. Essentially, I hope that we will be finding our way for organization with this first book and if interest holds, we will eventually create a sig using this format.

Your idea sounds terrific! I'm not sure how to proceed, but I've wondered a time ago if I could create something like the exercises in 12 swans with another story. I think this could also work for stories from the Torah or bible or myths inside other frames of faith (or other fairy tales or self-written stories).

I'm not sure how one could go about it. I think I'd select a story and then break it down into segments like the chapters in the book (although maybe in a different number of segments and with different content) and then interpret it personally: look which emotional and biographical questions the segment raises for me. Then I would try to find exercises addressing those issues.

But that's also very different from working through the book with the 12 swans-story or having a book club discussion. It's creating an own structure based on a different story using the book just as a rough template to access the self-chosen story. You know what I mean? F.ex. if I remember correctly chapter 3 adresses the subjects fire and anger, but this wouldn't necessarily fit to the third segment of any other story.

I know in Reclaiming they construct paths and exercises based on different stories for witchcamps, but I have no idea how they do it and I haven't worked with another story than the 12 swans, so I'm just guessing around. (I know we're not a Reclaiming group, I'm just mentioning this in case it should lead to further inspirations - maybe it would be interesting to look how different traditions work with stories?)

I really hope we find a way to make this work, because I have the feeling we are on to something creative and interesting...

[veggiewolf]

I definitely agree with the need for different threads within the discussions. The folder might be a good idea.

I love the idea of a separate sub-folder.

I've not yet decided if I am doing the inner or outer path, but will before the discussions start!

[Sperran]

I love the idea of a separate sub-folder.

I've not yet decided if I am doing the inner or outer path, but will before the discussions start!

Randall will be setting up a subfolder for us soon. (Despite my cape and tights, I can't always figure out my staffy superpowers.)

[Marilyn/Absentminded]

Randall will be setting up a subfolder for us soon. (Despite my cape and tights, I can't always figure out my staffy superpowers.)

You got a cape and tights? All I got was paperclips and string.

Oh, wait - that was weapons, because all the Vorpal Swords, Banhammers, and Flamethrowers were gone.

Somebody owes me a uniform.

Absent

[Sperran]

It occurs to me that we never announced where the discussion went. We ended up deciding a SIG would work best. Please join the discussion at Stories of the Spirit:

http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/forum...the-Spirit-SIG