Bristol Listening Circle

Another evening at 30+ degrees, another La Ruca Listening Circle with fresh faces bringing fresh ideas and novel approaches to avoiding the glare from the sun. This topic, ‘What does progress look like?’ , was our most ambitious yet, and (happily) we ended up with no firm answers and nothing like a consensus, just more questions and perspectives that will fester and ferment.    “When any real progress is made, we unlearn and learn anew what we thought we knew before.” — Henry David Thoreau “Stick your progress where the sun don't shine Keep your big mess away from me and mine If you leave us alone, well, we'd all be just fine Stick your progress where the sun don't shine” — John Rich Before everyone’s thoughts became intertwined in the conversation, the initial round revealed two main levels at which to engage: collective/political progress and individual/personal progress. While they are inevitably correlated, some parallels became apparent in both categories. What followe...

Somehow a conversation about excess turned into a conversation about community and it made sense. The second Listening Circle (held again on the hottest day of the week but in a much cooler room) was a gradual transition from reflections on excessive and addictive tendencies, to an exploration of some of the reasons and context surrounding and underlying those patterns: being overwhelmed with choice, surrounded by messaging of what we could have and could do, and untethered from community. Rather than narrate it to you, here is a breakdown of the points that guided the discussion so you can go back whenever you want and let your mind fill the gaps with your own thoughts, experiences and perspectives. Balancing extremes, from excess to cutting things out Excess of substances, excess of work, excess of time alone, excess of socialising, excess of going out… Digital media and the multiple possible experiences, lives, professions, opportunities, trips, partners we could have, live, embody,...