a joined up meeting

bluebells in north wales

a visit to tiratanaloka on sunday, to talk about my proposal for a 'joined up meeting'. 

in the last few years, there have been a lot of structural changes in the order and movement. the general direction of them has been towards decentralisation and local autonomy, of centres and of ordination training. this was something we set in motion in the early 2000s, the intention of which subhuti summed up as 'broadening the movement; deepening the order'.  

a lot of the more central, co-ordinating structures were revised or removed: the preceptors college drew its brief more narrowly, the preceptors' college council was dissolved, and the mitra study programme shared by all centres allowed for more variation and adaptation to local circumstances.

but on top of that planned opening up, came the period of questioning and soul searching of the last few years, and the result was that this necessary decentralisation was never balanced by new ways of co-ordinating, to replace the job that bodies like the pcc had done.

one modest step that i've suggested is a meeting that brings together people from the preceptors college, the chairs meeting, the order convenors and the men and women mitra convenors. most of those have already agreed to take part in the meeting, and i've been waiting for the women mitra convenors to meet, to invite them to participate. on sunday they agreed, and i'll now go ahead and try to set up the first meeting.

we're planning to meet for three or four days twice in the next year. 

the idea is to share the experience and perspectives of each body, first of all to try to get a bigger perspective on the order and movement, and to get a higher level of agreement about what the next spiritual and organisational steps might be.

the brecon beacons, where tiratanaloka is, is glorious in this early spring weather. one hillside was covered in the most bluebells i have ever seen in one place. 

click the pictures to enlarge them...