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Ireland is full of gatherings in 2013.  They come in many shapes and sizes.  Some may seem frivolous and some may seek to meet deep needs.

Looking back, four of the seemingly diverse gatherings I have been involved in feel like they could turn out to be particularly significant.  What draws them together is, I think, a searching for paths towards a healthier, happier, more sustainable society, what it feels like to me is many paths to the same or a similar place.

..

The Climate Gathering in February (http://www.climategathering.org/) was explicit.  No-one present doubted the seriousness of the threat.  But a lot of the value of the gathering was tacit, bubbling under the surface as people were beginning to see things differently.

A small gathering called ‘Leaders on a Boat’ brought together people concerned with ‘The Leadership we Require for the Future we Desire’ and emerged committed to working on the fostering of values-based leadership in Ireland – a leadership grounded in ethical principles and with a realistic analysis of context – we’ll see where that goes, but the path feels exciting compared to the same old same old.

And in July a gathering gathered (http://www.burrenbeo.com/news-events/burren-news/jun-13-place-based-learning)  dedicated to Place Based Learning.  This is one of the things that I think we can easily and often miss.  We live in places, we go to school and work in places and I suspect any path to a happier, healthier, more sustainable society is going to have to go through places.  It is easy to retreat to the abstract of the global challenge or of theory, rather than real life of people trying to do what they can in real places.

Finally, and most improbably, in the last few days, I have been part of a ‘Tionol’ – a gathering around creative possibilities for the irish language in the current context.  Buried and not so buried in the irish language (and I am sure others) are insights, nuances and ways of being that offer a path that those of us who operate only in english are likely to fail to see.  Lovingly, the obscuring undergrowth is being pulled back and another path revealed.

So, I am learning that there are many paths, that none of us can make these paths on our own and that the best ones are unquestionably intergenerational.

It is a time for gatherings, audacious conversations and navigating new paths.  What shall we do next ?

www.burrencall.org

www.artofnavigation.ie

(and fair play to the now former King of the Redheads – www.alanhayes.ie)