Intentional Society: Partying and commemorating
Want to join the party? Get involved first! Saturday orientation call January 22nd, 1:00-1:55pm Pacific Standard Time (4pm Eastern, 9pm UTC)
We're having a... party? Intriguingly, I notice a sense of "uh-oh" when I use that word. There's a part of me, age 16 or so, that isn't cool, and knows that "party" parties are held by and for cool people, so obviously it would be a disaster to go fake being cool. Oh, plus there's usually "bad stuff" happening at parties, right (I had a quite a culturally religious upbringing), so that would make me a bad person to be supportive of that stuff...
Feeling the cringe sensation, hah. Anyone else with that kind of word association? I've generally relaxed the fear-of-others parts of me in many contexts, but it's interesting to notice the almost word-specific trigger here. It's not even a required word — we could call this a celebration. But that's such a generic word. More specifically, we're commemorating one year of weekly General Session meetings of Intentional Society. But that feels a little too solemn. We commemorate fallen soldiers, for example. There needs to be some levity, some fun in the word.
What do I want out of this party? I want to delight in the presence of friends. I want to hear what Intentional Society is or means to different people. I want to hear encouraging words from outside allies. I want to hear appreciations of various people flying around. I want to get a little silly, and laugh multiple times.
Every week, we engage in shared experience that's made meaningful by being shared - and a party isn't different in that dimension. Is it about play instead of work? Silliness instead of seriousness? Let's share our joy with each other. That seems worth celebrating.
Cheers,
James
P.S. Let me know if I missed you with an invite and you'd like one!