 Okay. If you bump into anybody who does, we're seeking one. All right. Perfect. Am I starting in the clock? You're going to start in the clock? Aren't they sitting in ready? Ah, am I sitting in ready? Okay. Well, I mean, like, just, like, who starts the clock? Because I know, um... I can start it. Yeah, I know, yeah. I know Pat likes to just do it. Okay. It's the first time. So I guess we'll do it. All right. All right. All right, Martha, you've got your microphone on? Not yet. I'm coming at it. All right. You want to, maybe, before you do the microphone, do you want to sing the headset so that we don't... I love the way it sort of bounces up my double chin. I noticed that as I was watching last time, too. Oh, there's a headflap there. Of course you did. So does that work in terms of the microphone? Really? Like, right now? Because it's past two. Oh. Well then. Ready? Sure. Why not? Is that it? Go. Am I looking at that camera right now? Yes. Good afternoon. Welcome to Living Mosaic. My name is Martha Holden. I am a member of the Spark of Humanity Network. Living Mosaic is conceived as a conversation. Those of you who may be muted or held in the Zoom corral, the conversation will include you eventually. It's a conversation based in about the concept that there is a solution to the pain and so many aspects of our global experience. We could frame it also as a solution to the sustainability of the human enterprise on planet Earth. Or however we think about it, there is a solution here. And we at the Spark of Humanity Network have found developing the conviction that there is a solution to it. And that the way that we are seeing to suggest, to offer, make it easy to visualize and engage in, is that the solution may be seen as a living mosaic. Living and therefore evolving mosaic, of which we are each an essential part. We are each unique. We are each essential for the solution to the pain, to the difficulties, to the issues of sustainability, to emerge and become known and become realized. So this program is offered in hopes of developing a conversation around this concept so that we may discover what we need to be doing or what we might be doing in order to be guided or drawn into our niche within the mosaic, which may of course require letting go of a lot of stuff, a lot of old ideas, a lot of comfort zone. Who knows what it may involve holding on to other things, but I suspect from my personal experience that what it involves mostly is letting go and holding on to the hope, the hope that there is a solution and that by my letting go of my old ideas, my self-will, that there is in a sense to terribly anthropomorphize it, the mosaic being alive may be breathing and it may inhale me into my own unique niche. It's my unique niche. I've spent much of my life as perhaps some of you have and think I wanted to be in that niche over there and it wasn't that, you know, I mean, they're a piece of broken mirror. They're much cooler than me. I'm just a pebble. So, you know, I want to be over there. I want to tag along with them. Can't I be in the niche next to them? But no, maybe not in my control. It depends how and when I'm drawn into the mosaic and to the life of the mosaic. So that's, the conversation is around that. Now last couple of weeks ago we did a pilot show. We're checking the tech here. And after I left the show, I realized that I had made a statement or done a line of discourse that I wanted to clear up before we start the general conversation here. And that was, I was talking about something about, you know, not worrying about the other person and how they are not focusing on them, focusing on letting go of what I need to let go of in order to be drawn into my niche in the mosaic. And I realized that that sounded a little cold-hearted and a little cold-blooded. And so I wanted to talk just a little bit before I open up the Zoom, but from my look at the monitor, there's nobody in Zoom waiting, so that makes things simpler. Although sadder, of course, that how do I, how do we, how does one who's trying to let go of everything that they need to let go of in order to be drawn into their niche in the mosaic to find it, to finally have that feeling of security and nestedness of belonging, of belonging to the whole creation, all orders of being, all dimensions of being. When we're in the process of doing that and trying to allow that process to be alive in our lives, to welcome it, to receive all as grace, as some people say, how do we deal with that person over there who we think really, you know, needs to find their way into their niche in the mosaic, or they are intruding on us. That's what we're dealing with the others in this process. And I only got to the point of my thinking of knowing that I needed to talk about this today. I didn't get to the point of thinking about what the answer was to the question I just raised. This is sort of, this is where the spark of humanity network work can come in, it does for me, and I think it does for others, whether you're aware of my spark of humanity, or if you're tired of anthropocentrism, my germ of true, that is within each created being, getting in touch with that and realizing that that other person or that other creature has that same spark or germ and connecting, not through my mind, my spark of humanity, or my germ of true, with that place and the other, and knowing that by doing that, we are, I am, you are, we are strengthening that place and the other, which makes them more available to being drawn into the mosaic, into the niche that they belong in. That process as we've discovered in doing the spark work, our website will be at the end of the program, I think, that when we do that, when we connect with that place from our place, from our place, connect to that place in another person or being that we strengthen that place in them. We strengthen that place in us too, which at times can be a little scary, I'm fine just the way I am, but we strengthen that spark, that place in them, their spark, their germ, and what that tends to do, it seems, we've noticed, working with this for a while, that that tends to erode the defenses, clarify the bafflement, because usually defenses come because we're baffled and distorted and release the distortions. So that begins the process, which supports the other person, the other being, in moving closer to their niche. And that's, that internally and without words and without our face-to-face confrontation at great distances can help them, it's what we can do to facilitate their movement into their, they're becoming the unique person, the unique being that they are to be drawn into their place in the mosaic. Because that's what we want to be doing. Ideally, we want everyone to be in their unique place in the mosaic because they are essential. But we don't want to be doing it from our trying to make it happen because then we're losing touch with our own essential, unique character, which is not, we are not in charge of the mosaic, we do not design it, we do not make it happen. So it's that process, we open them up to it on an external person-to-person level, if we happen to have any contact with them personally, just remembering and holding them in, I often think of, did any of you take biology in school? Growing something in a Petri dish, the agar, the growth medium, that you put this little bit of tissue, this little pathogen, this little whatever in this Petri dish and you put it in some nice, warm, safe place and eventually over time something grows and you find out what it truly is. It may have looked like that, but once it's been allowed to germinate and develop, you see, oh, is it hibiscus? I thought it was a pumpkin. So that general attitude of what I can do besides connecting through my spark or my germ with the spark or germ and the other, what I can do is I can, in my behavior, in my mind, in my relationships with this other person, I can practice being agar and just being something, being in an environment that helps them become who they truly are because that's the mosaic is made up of these little individual pieces, each one of us, unique who we truly are. It's not made up of who we think we should be. It's not made up of who our parents thought we would probably be. It's not, trust me, made up of who we do most comfortable with. It's made up of who we truly are, our essential, unique being, and that is essential to the mosaic. So do I see a hand? No, I don't see a hand. Nobody's zoomed. Nobody's called that I know of. I trust Jen to let me know if I'm wrong, she's waving. So I will just keep on prattling until somebody comes on board or calls in. And if you want to call in, the phone number is going to be shown on the screen any minute now. And if you want to zoom in, here's the zoom link any minute now. And meanwhile, I will just keep carrying on because, oh, and another thing, if you're watching this and you want to participate in this conversation, so it's not just a monologue, if you don't like what I'm saying or if you like it or if you have a question or if you wish I'd talk about X, Y, or Z, you may email us at Living Mosaic, all one word, LivingMosaic2024 at gmail.com and I think that email will be at the tag end of this process. So, okay, I'm going to have a little silence here to see if anything comes up for me to talk further about how we came up with this idea. That's a good question. For me, in me, it grew from, for quite a period of time, I've thought that if, there's a lot of pain in the world. There's a lot of distress. There's a lot of unfairness. And often we see it, we become aware of it and we feel the pain and we feel the distress or we see it. And we don't know what to do about it and we don't know what we can do about it. And so often for many of us, we just don't look anymore. We go and it's too painful, it's too difficult. I won't read the newspaper, I won't watch the news, I won't go out of the house. We just protect ourselves from it because we don't know what to do or we go and denial. We just don't see it, we don't recognize it. I think of those as the two majors, there are lots of words you can put on them, but there are only two of them, but they both start with D, so it makes it simple for me. So I began thinking that if, this is me, others came to the same conclusion, but different roots, that if we all had, if we all were, if we had an image or a vision that was available to all of us that we could all come together with and have enough faith in, I suppose is a word, or hope, maybe it was just hope, that we were willing to get out of our own old ideas about what the solution is. There used to be a workshop given a couple of times in the state discovering the peaceful solution. And the premise was that if you have people who are in conflict or there's a situation that's difficult and people have different ideas about what the solution is, my idea, my idea, my idea, our idea, that if everybody, if they were able to let go of their attachment to their personal idea, everybody should be doing this. Nobody should be doing that. They, they, they should be doing whatever, that, and then just be together, physically together I think works best, but we're going to, we've got this electronic medium so we're giving it a try. Just to be aware that there is a solution and allowing it to emerge in the silence, through the silence, from the silence, the way I experience it myself is that it sort of bubbles up. It sort of, maybe not bubble, it's more like mist coming up and hmm, oh, I sort of see this, oh, maybe this, and I, if there's a group of, say, five of us, I may have a little different perspective here. I suggest this, maybe it's like this and somebody said, well, it may be like that too. And that a solution would emerge. It was, the title of the workshop was Discovering, like it was covered up, and then it was discovered, it emerged. And from that, sort of, I think it was from that, sort of leading on from that, the idea that, well, that could be expanded. As far as it needs to be expanded. That if we give up the blaming and the they shoulds, and why did this happen, sometimes for our own peace of mind we need to have an idea about how did this situation come about and be open to seeing how it came about and understanding how perhaps our attitudes had a part in it coming about. Maybe never spoken, but there's a lot of subtle energy going on here that affects the global, the galactic scene. And so doing that, that perhaps if we could have a vision, an idea that if enough people could believe could know that there is a solution and be willing to let go of their ideas about what it had to look like and what part they needed to play in it or not play in it, that the solution could emerge. So that idea was sort of, festering is not a good word. It was germinating in me. It was in the Petrie dish for a number of years. And then, I don't know, I was out in the district of San Francisco where there are some wonderful wall murals. I think this had part to do with it. And in the murals we know all sorts of things. You know, blue glass, red glass, mirror, pebbles, shells. And I think somehow that all came together. And I realized that of course the solution is living. It's not static. Which means that as we approach and hopefully eventually find our niche within the mosaic, we also need to be living. We cannot be static. We need to be responsible. We need to be paying attention. We need to be willing to go deeper. I think the only way perhaps to get bounced out of our niche in the mosaic, the only way not to get bounced out of our niche in the mosaic as it continues to live, is by going deeper into our niche, whatever deeper is for us. And we can, if we're willing to go deeper because willingness is a key, as many of us are aware. So, and the living, the mosaic is because it's living, it's also evolving. So, next week, next year, next century, it may not look like it does now. And because we are part and essential, essential part of the mosaic, we too need to be willing not just to be living and alive, but also to be evolving. And letting go of whatever gets in the way of our evolution. Some people, famous, well-known people, write about and talk about the evolution of consciousness. They were now undergoing on this planet in humanity and beyond. So, okay, how do we become willing to evolve? Because we can't make ourselves evolve. Can't do that. My suspicion is, my sense is that I'm more likely to become willing to evolve, to change, to become whatever I'm needed to be, to be part of the solution, if I have the sense of essential safety. That's a big thing for me, and I suspect for many of us, is how do I feel safe? What do I need in order to feel safe? And my experience so far is that it seems to be getting deeper, so I think it's true. My experience is that my safety is in my niche in the mosaic. That's where I feel safe, is when I recognize myself as being where I am needed, where I belong, within the vast mosaic of being. We can limit it to the planet or we can extend it to the solar system or the galaxy or however big you want it, and multidimensional and every evolving. But the more I am able to experience myself, the more that I'm able to be, and experience myself as I am being, where I belong in the mosaic, the essential, little, tiny, minuscule part that's unique that I'm needed to be, the safer I feel. Because in a sense I am home, or maybe not just in a sense, I am home in a way that maybe home has been for many of us, but I know that for some of us, home has never felt that safe, all around safe of being right where I belong, right where I need to be, right where I'm my true self, who I really, really, really, really am, genuinely, authentically, beneath the layers of nicey-nice, beneath the layers of rebellion, beneath the layers of defiance, beneath the layers of all that stuff, beneath all those layers, where I am truly, truly, truly me, my own self, which is very strange to me, but we're all getting equated to it, hopefully. When I'm that, then I'm in my niche in the mosaic, I get into it, I'm able to be in my niche in the mosaic, or being in my niche helps me discover that deeper, then I am safe, and I feel safe, and I experience a sense of safety. Ah, this is where I belong. This is where I am doing what's needed to be done by me in this situation, right here, right now. This is where I am. This is where I truly am. This is where I truly am participating in the solution. This is where I am part of the life of this mosaic. So when I have that feeling, that security, that safety, then I am willing to evolve, this is all theoretical at this point. Let's see if it happens. But it seems, it feels right to me, that when I have that sense of belonging, that sense of home, that then I am willing, as the mosaic evolves, as it inevitably will, it must, because it's alive, that I am willing to accept and participate in the life, the evolution of the mosaic. So that's another step, isn't it, from finding our niche in the mosaic. But it's an incentive, I think, to find ourselves, to experience ourselves, to recognize ourselves as truly in life, truly in the flow of life. Sometimes I think of it as a river and it's flowing. And regardless of how bumpy the riverbed is, it's flowing and it's going where it's going. And I get to participate in it. And I get to let go of whatever rock I'm clinging to, dump or tree branch I'm clinging to, and allow myself to become part of that flow of life that is wanting to move, is doing what it can to move towards the solution. And although the flow is there and a dimension that I don't have any words for, it's like it's, here we are doing our stuff and here's the flow. And it's trying to catch us up to bring us along with it so that we're participating in this flow of life. We are moving towards the solution. We are becoming part of the solution. We're able to let go of everything. We're willing, because this feels like life, big old life, the way we would want it, the way it truly is. None of our defenses, none of our attachments, none of our distortions, none of our bafflements, we are truly participating in the flow of life. And when we're doing that, that's what we want. And we probably, if you're me, want more of it. So we're willing to let go more because there's always more to let go of I have discovered in this life and in this journey. And I'm going to be silent for a little bit and see whether anything happens. And then, if nothing happens, there'll probably be more Martha talking. And remember, if you have comments or questions, you can email them to LivingMosaic2024 at gmail.com. Those of you who have my personal email may be tempted to email me personally. And I can't tell you that, but I can tell you that it's works a lot better if you send it to LivingMosaic because I will just be forwarding it to LivingMosaic. And then, if it needs to come back to me, it will. So, but I'm glad you're paying attention, glad you're watching, glad you're part of this. And we'll be back in a couple weeks live and in person. And right here at Orca Media. Thank you.