July 8, 2000 VS Chicago Meeting Notes

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Jill, Julie, Dave, Don, Lenny, Ross, Dick, Pam, Woody, JR, Lisa, Mark, and Ken welcomed Colin to his first meeting.

After a brief round of introductions, the group listed items for open space discussion:

• Any interest in starting a VS Chicago Intranet?
• Inviting more like-minded souls to join us through more PR in the media (interviews or articles)
• Activities for socializing during the month (mainly free or low-cost)
• How does the cultural belief that humans have domain over the Earth and its creatures affect how we behave on a daily basis?
• Learning how to remain NOT over-committed

Here are some items from the discussions…

• Commitments - develop an ability to say NO, because then you're able to say YES to something else that's more important for you
• Taking away a greater appreciation for and understanding of others in the group, also connecting with others
• Great to share ideas, assess where we're going and what our direction is, explore our own agendas within the Open Space
• Awareness that we accumulate activities and obligations just as we accumulate possessions
• Thinking about questioning our cultural attitudes about dominion/superiority over the earth and how that impacts how we're living - also, that there are others thinking about this topic
• "Less Stuff, More Fun"
• A tree story pointed out that we should all be doing the best we can, even if we aren't personally going to reap the benefits
• The idea of stewardship - that we should really be taking care of the earth and its resources
• That we need to be practicing attitudes of tolerance, gratitude, and connection with others in order to fully live
• Having fun in everything we do promotes excitement and energy, and attracts even more of the same