Well, this article is certainly an eye opener and a half.

How is a group its own worst enemy?

So, Part One. The best explanation I have found for the ways in which this pattern establishes itself, the group is its own worst enemy, comes from a book by W.R. Bion called "Experiences in Groups," written in the middle of the last century.

Bion was a psychologist who was doing group therapy with groups of neurotics. (Drawing parallels between that and the Internet is left as an exercise for the reader.) The thing that Bion discovered was that the neurotics in his care were, as a group, conspiring to defeat therapy.

There was no overt communication or coordination. But he could see that whenever he would try to do anything that was meant to have an effect, the group would somehow quash it. And he was driving himself crazy, in the colloquial sense of the term, trying to figure out whether or not he should be looking at the situation as: Are these individuals taking action on their own? Or is this a coordinated group?

He could never resolve the question, and so he decided that the unresolvability of the question was the answer. To the question: Do you view groups of people as aggregations of individuals or as a cohesive group, his answer was: "Hopelessly committed to both."

From a talk given in 2003 by Clay Shinky A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy

All good stuff to be aware of for those working towards building community on-line.

Well! I remarked to the young chap behind the counter, It's one thing to buy postcards, and quite another to write and send them. He said in all seriousness, It's good to keep up the epistolary arts. I said, The what!? So kindly he explained. Wrote down what it meant on a piece of paper, and here I am doing what I said I'd do. Write. But the postcards are yet to have the epistolary arts applied. Tomorrow?

That's Berkeley for you. Educated everybody. Especially on Telegraph Avenue, in Moe's Books (which is where the above exchange took place. A huge bookstore close to the University of California Campus. Apparently with connections back to those turbulent times in Berkeley in the 1960's. I know at least one reader who was there at the time....

Moe's Books was founded in 1959 by Moe Moskowitz and his wife Barbara, the original site of the store was a small shop on Shattuck just north of University Avenue. As the early 60s dawned, Moe moved his expanding operation to Telegraph Avenue, closer in to the hub of the UC campus. By that time UC Berkeley was about to explode into the national limelight as the focal point of the burgeoning Free Speech Movement. As the decade lunged forward and the Viet Nam War raged on, Moe's Books found itself at the center of numerous confrontations with the Berkeley police and the National Guard. When local authorities called for city-wide curfews, Moe refused to close his doors, asserting that people should be free to walk the streets. When an occasional tear gas canister would roll down the sidewalk, many protesters sought refuge in Moe's Books--one of the few safe havens willing to remain open during a time fraught with imminent danger. Clearly this was a revolutionary period in our history that defied comparison, and Moe's Books under the fearless leadership of Moe Moskowitz, led by shining example.

Epistolary means: Written in the form of or carried on by letters or correspondence. Who would have thought buying a few postcards would lead to such and interesting word, a charming encounter and a hugely historic bookshop.

That was not the half of our shopping trip by any means. Berkeley Hats just down Telegraph from Moe's is a hat fanciers heaven.

Berkeley Hats, Telegraph Avenue Berkeley - from a moving car.

Now there's a hat to write home about!

Simon after grooming session
He appears in the kitchen at just before four in the afternoon. It's clear that now is an OK to get out the FURminator and have at it. This little gadget is so good at getting out the undercoat of cats and dogs that shed I just have to give it a mention.

Long time readers may remember the post Cat and Moose in which Simon featured. He is still the happy cat he was two years ago, and remarkably non-vocal too.

Photo note: To get a sharp image of a cat after, or during, a grooming session is almost impossible. This is the best I could do.

Fungi is the taxonomic kingdom including yeast, moulds, smuts, mushrooms, and toadstools; distinct from the green plants. From WordWeb.

Captured during the canal boat trip back in August.

Held by the chap who I became difficult with...on the canal boat, on the boat trip, in August.

Found by a follow monastic at the bottom of a garden he tends. They just popped up this morning, he said.

I like to think my interest in yeasts, moulds, smuts, mushrooms and toadstools are part of what helps us keep connected, Jade readers connected anyway. Certainly these photographs, the stories behind them, trace connections with a whole bunch of people, most read here. And if I were to go into the learned department, which I'm not, I suspect fungi is responsible for keeping the earth habitable.

Perhaps Walter in Singapore has something to say on the matter.

I'm so delighted to point you to the work of a Dutch artist, a practicing member of the OBC community in The Netherlands, who has created a wonderful contemplative space in a nursing home in Delfshaven. The site has just recently been translated into both English and German and is, in turn, the work of another Dutch woman artist in our congregation. What talent! I've known them both for many years, I can't say enough good things about them. And here is a link to the home page of the site I'm referring to. Great poem from Basho on there

'There is little place for reflection in our society, so what I had in mind was to literally and figuratively make room for quiet contemplation here, in the middle of a busy nursing home in multicultural Delfshaven Rotterdam.' Meulendijks decided not to place a work of art in the space, but to make the space itself into a work of art. The goal was to create a place that excludes no one due to religious affiliation or physical challenges. First, she constructed a detailed model to adapt the existing space to these purposes. She altered the structure and layout and employed motifs from religious architecture to create a visually subdued, serene experience for visitors. Her choice to use circle and dome patterns, as universal spiritual symbols, places the emphasis not on our differences but on the shared human experience of an inner life. All the same, Meulendijks designed mobile furniture and liturgical objects to allow different religious groups to temporarily tailor the chapel to their specific needs. In addition to traditional craftsmanship and handwork, the artist and her team also made use of anachronistic details in the chapel – not in an attempt to resurrect the past, but rather to make all sense of time disappear.

The result is a public space that gives visitors the seclusion they need to listen to the silence.

From The Zorg Compas Chapel, Rotterdam.

See more of Ingeborg's work and schedule of exhibitions on her web site.

Andrew Taylor-Browne | Read

Andrew with carving
Following a variety of related careers as an academic, a management consultant and a director of an international law firm, Andrew now spends most of his time tending the various animals, gardens, wildlife, woodland and numerous visitors at his and Julie’s 65 acre farm in Cornwall.

He has been practicing in the tradition of the OBC for nearly 20 years and has been a Lay Minister with the Order for 16 years.

He has a particular enthusiasm for the issues of sustainable living, deep ecology and all things to do with wood, trees and woodland.