ROOTS groups were a pilot project of the Spark of Humanity Network to see whether such groups could be useful in other settings; they held a dual purpose:
1. To offer a setting to support people in accessing the stability, wisdom, and community we need as agents of transformation, envisioning our access to these
qualities as roots, which we deepen, extend, and strengthen together.
2. To engage and focus human energies for the benefit of the community in an ideologically neutral setting.
In late 2016 and early 2017, the divisions in civic life in the US became too obvious to deny or ignore. Being aware of the distress of many who had been awakened into what felt like a nightmare earthquake, Spark network members wanted to offer a setting for people to strengthen and deepen their root systems, to reconnect with whatever grounds and stabilizes them.
Over the next months, some emerged from the shock and found an energy and sense of commitment of a magnitude equivalent to the distress that had prevailed a few weeks earlier. “But what to do with it?” a friend of the Network asked; “Where and how to engage and focus this energy, this sense of commitment?” Again, the Roots concept suggested itself.
Through their Spark work, network members have come to understand that each person has a unique answer to these questions. Just as every human being has a spark of humanity, and all sparks are made of the same stuff, so each spark has its unique access, its own root system, to draw in the wisdom and nourishment, the guidance and strength, to drive its own personal focus and purposes. One precept for these groups was to leave ideologies at the door: “No ‘isms,” as one person commented. Regardless of a person’s personal, professional, or political situation, the work of the ROOTS groups supports and helps them find stability and effective paths of engagement.
In the pilot project, the format included silent meditation, check-ins, reading the SPARK booklet, conversation, and guided meditation. Altogether it lasts no longer than an hour and a half.
As of the Autumn of 2020, we are available to support those interested in starting a Roots group of their own, in person, by teleconference, or some video medium. Please let us know at sparkofhumanitydotnet@gmail.com. Currently, the sessions we offer semi-monthly (see our Events page) are similar to the Roots Groups with a slightly different format. Feel free to join us to try it out.
Feel free to join us to try it out, and/or e-mail us at sparkofhumanitydotnet@gmail.com
Meditations:
Roots Meditation
You can listen to further meditations here.