Yesterday was Dia da Liberdade (Freedom Day) here, a day when people celebrate the end of the dictatorship which happened on this day in 1974.
The revolution, known as Revolução dos Cravos (Carnation Revolution), marked the end of dictatorship in the country.
Unlike many revolutions elsewhere over time and space, Portugal’s Revolução dos Cravos was very peaceful, with few shots fired. Carnations were placed in the muzzles of guns as a symbol of peace.
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A potent time to reflect upon the role that authority plays in our life. Who do we give authority to and why?
I think it is safe to say that we surrender much of our own authority, consciously and unconsciously, to others. Too often and easily that then gets manipulated for people to gain and retain power. People in positions of power should always be there to serve – the communities, the land, the potential of life. How far it seems we stray from this. Now we live in a world where people seek power for powers’ sake – to control over, rather than to serve. We all need to ask ourselves why that is. And perhaps rather than use most of our energy seeking to replace those in power we could give more energy and attention to different ways of being and doing.
You never change anything by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete”
Buckminster Fuller
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Practice has enormous potential. We come together and practice and have an opportunity to be together outside of the normal social constructs. Being quiet together, connecting through the language of the body, sharing the space of meditation. We can see and hold space for one another, with the felt resonance of everyone’s heart potential; raising our energy individually and collectively. Shifts can happen both on an individual and a group level. The practices we do help us to feel back into the fullness of being human, of being a human being. We know how to be like this together but it gets covered over and forgotten by the way we are cultured to be in the world.