Return
Description:
Return honors the process of Complete Information with a daylong ceremony, held within each Community’s Lower-Ordered Body Spheres, ideally in groups of between 8–20 participants. For a Community with LOB Spheres either larger or smaller than this range, temporary Spheres may be created for the event. As a Community-based ceremony, those members of standalone Spheres who do not belong to a Community may be invited by any Community to join them, otherwise, the Spheres may attempt the ceremony on their own, with or without the presence of a Sage.
Return begins with reflection over the previous year / decade. Members dig through old memories, albeit photo albums, social media sites, storage boxes, and the like. This both symbolizes the Concert Hall’s return of Earthly information, but also spurs the members to consider the events of the previous year / decade, and who they might wish to reveal some previously unknown information to.
Members of a Community who wish to participate gather to hear a summation of the previous year’s Lunar Quorums. Next, music plays, and members form a circle. In turn, each member jumps into the circle, performs a short dance movement, jumps out, and the entire circle parrots the move. This heart-pounding moment is designed to both create vulnerability, while also loosen members up. The circle cycles, and once complete, the music ends. Each member again enters the circle, and stands at its center. Symbolizing the Novel Universe Model’s function of Quantum Transience, each member relays a positive, negative, and / or neutral short story from their life. These stories are meant to be humorous, touching, uplifting, or otherwise inspiring.
The circle breaks apart, and a buffet / picnic is enjoyed. While games, contests, and other lighthearted activities follow, the ceremony takes a serious turn as members cluster together, and are encouraged to reveal something unknown to each other. There is no limit to how many of these “secrets” are revealed, only that in order to fully complete the ceremony, at minimum, one should be heavy or difficult, while another, light or inspiring. Specially trained Sages are on-hand to assist with the more intense interactions. These revelations represent Return’s core, signifying our Ripples returning to us in the Hall with both harsh and wonderful information unavailable to us on Earth. Along with the Sages, the food and entertainment function to counter the potentially stressful process of releasing and accepting novel information.
Once a member is satiated, played out, and has communicated what they have intended to, they gather a pen, paper, and secret container(s). Returning to the circle, they await the rest of their Sphere. As members slowly rejoin the circle, each sits, writes more secrets they may wish to privately reveal to another, seal each container, then wait in silence for the remaining discussions to finish. Once the last member has returned and sealed their last container, they call the Sphere to stand, eyes closed in silent prayer. When all prayers are completed and eyes reopened, one-by-one, Citizens reenter the circle, comment on things they are willing to share about what they’ve experienced throughout the day, and finish with a single-subject prayer, such as, “Thank you, for my father who, today, recognized and apologized for a traumatic childhood event,” or “Thank you, Love, for my mom who revealed those early doubts and vulnerabilities as a mother, and made me feel more confident with my own children,” or something mundane, like “Thank you, for my sister who reminded me why straightening up after a shower is important to the whole family!”
Lastly, the exchange of written secrets. As the Sphere breaks up, those containers are given to their intended recipients, whether that be the subject of the secret or simply a trusted member they wish to confide in. For those secrets still too sensitive to yet be revealed, the container is either buried or burned, depending on whether the member feels they may one day be ready to reveal it (buried), or may never reveal it (burned). Should the burials be outdoors, those spots are ideally documented by the member / Sage(s), in order that they might one day be dug up; otherwise, the use of safes or lock boxes is encouraged.
Practices:
During the morning of Return, members forgo breakfast, and instead, prepare for the day by digging into their memories, both reminiscences and physical reminders.
Before the sun’s zenith (near noon), the members of each LOB Sphere within the Community join together, each Sphere in their own previously designated spot where each completes the ceremony on its own with its own, custom picnic and activities. At minimum, one Sage (preferably from the Sphere) is present in each Sphere throughout the ceremony, with the size and number of Spheres being adjusted as necessary to accommodate the total number of Sages in any Community.
Once the food is set, the Sphere hears from its most senior Sage, who sets out the day’s itinerary and other relevant information the Sphere might need to know for the day’s activities. A special, Community newsletter, summarizing the previous year’s Lunar Quorums, is then read aloud by the oldest, capable member of the group.
Music begins to play, queuing the members to join in a circle at a designated spot. With the youngest member of the Community going first, each takes a turn, jumping into the circle to perform a dance-move everyone will parrot. The order circles counter-clockwise, in other words, the youngster dances, and the one to their right goes next.
The music ends, and again, each takes their turn stepping into the circle, only this time, at its center, and relays one positive, negative, and / or neutral event from their life that occurred over the last year / decade. The most recently confirmed Sage goes first, and the order circles clockwise, to the Sage’s left side.
The circle breaks up, and the picnic is enjoyed. Games are played while semi-public “group therapy,” or communal exchange of hard truths, takes place in impromptu pairs or clusters– each member relays some unknown information to another member.
One-by-one, members who’ve finished their revelations gather pen, paper, and any number of containers, return to the circle, sit on the ground with shoes off in front of them (as is practical), and begin writing their secrets. The ritualized removal of one’s shoes is intended to symbolize the absence of barriers in the Concert Hall. Members seal each message, setting it in front of their shoes in the circle. With the last one sealed, they sit in silence, signaling to the group that they are done, and wait in mediation for the rest of the group to complete their writings. Those members who did not participate in the open sharing of secrets, but do wish to participate in the written sharing and / or the rest of the ceremony, are encouraged to enter the circle sooner rather than later.
The last member to finish calls the group to stand, eyes closed, in silent prayer.
After all eyes have reopened, members again enter the circle to share special experiences of Return, and give a single-subject prayer. The first to go will be the oldest Sage in the Community, with the order circling counter-clockwise.
With shoes back on, the group breaks up, and works together to clean up the picnic and games. During this time, they privately exchange those written secrets in their sealed containers, or burn / bury the sealed secrets if there is no trusted other to share them with. The seals on these containers may not be broken until the morning after Dancing Day.
Return ends with the cleanup completed.
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