CONSCIOUS TRIBES & POLYAMORY

"Are Conscious Tribes polyamorous?" I was asked.

So firstly: what are Conscious Tribes? Conscious Tribes are groups of twenty to thirty people who are responding to the current global civilisational crisis by co-creating a new social structure in their local area. This social structure, the Conscious Tribe, is larger than the biological family. And it has a purpose that most modern biological families do not have: the Conscious Tribe is committed to the path of individual consciousness, to conscious relating, and to conscious action.

What do I mean by "consciousness"? The closer we get to our experience (which is only ever of the present moment) - and which can only ever be felt (we can´t ´think our experience´) - the more aware we become that we are inside of, and part of, A Great Mystery - a mystery beyond our intellectual and even spiritual comprehension - a mystery of which each of us only ever has their own, unique, subjective, limited knowing. This is what I mean by individual consciousness.

And by ´conscious relating´ I mean the art of relating to each other in this awareness - of relating to each other as unique expressions of The Great Mystery. And by ´conscious action´ I mean the art of relating to our world, or worlds, in this awareness - of sensing the indefinable nature of the reality we inhabit, and then interacting with it with appreciation and care.

However, largely speaking, we have not been educated in consciousness, nor are we practiced in conscious relating or action. This is why I began by saying that Conscious Tribes are committed to a shared path.

II

"Yes, but surely polyamory is the obvious, natural, flowing way in which the members of a Conscious Tribe would relate to each other!"

If by ´poly + amor´ we mean ´many + love´, then - yes, of course. If by ´polyamory´ we mean that everyone is sexually open to everyone else in the Tribe - then perhaps. Or perhaps not.

Whether everyone in a Conscious Tribe lives together, whether the Tribe works together on a common project, whether the Tribe cares for each other´s biological children - and whether the Tribe is divided monogamously, is totally polyamorous, or a mixture of the two - all of this is up to each Conscious Tribe to decide for itself. But a word of warning...

If we are not in love with our own, unique present moment, if we are not seeing everyone (whether we are sexually attracted to them or not) as beautiful, unique, sacred expressions of The Great Mystery - then our polyamory will not be part of our co-creation of a new, alternative, conscious social structure. It will be the perpetuation of the unconsciousness we say we seek to go beyond - a titillating, even thrilling unconsciousness perhaps - a liberation even, perhaps, or a healing - but it will not, in any direct sense, be the co-creation of a new social structure. So first things first...

Question One: "am I feeling myself inside The Great Mystery in this moment?" No? Then what do I need to do to return to feeling the beauty of my belonging?"

Question Two: "now, in conversation with this person - am I feeling the mystery of their uniqueness, and am I feeling my own?" No? Then what do I need to do to once again feel our sameness - the oneness within our differences?

Question Three: "now, in this moment, do I sense the divine mystery of every physical thing - not only of such-and-such a person´s body?" If not, then what do I need to do to enter conscious, honouring relationship with the physical world around me?

These are the primary questions. These are the questions we need to focus on if we want to co-create a qualitatively different culture. There is nothing ´wrong´ about polyamory. But there is nothing ´right´ about it either. In and of itself it can be as conscious or unconscious as monogamy. The issue is not with how many people we can or can´t relate sexually - but how consciously we relate with everyone - in whatever way we are relating.

III

To form a Conscious Tribe is a noble endeavour. It is a whole-hearted, all-in commitment to shaping a new culture for ourselves and our descendants. It is to truly walk our talk. And I offer my deepest respects to everyone who takes up the endeavour. Let us form Tribes - and meet regularly, and explore and practice all of this together. Then we can link Tribes and form communities. And then link communities and form a new Culture, or Cultures...

But we need to be humble, and recognise that we still stumble. We find it difficult to appreciate the sacred flow of existence because we are addicted to thought, and have been conditioned into the fear of the unknown. We find it difficult to relate from uniqueness to uniqueness because we get triggered in our woundings, and contract into constricted identifications. And we find it difficult to continuously sense the sacredness of the material world because we have been taught to objectify it, and use it, as if matter was something mundane.

So there is a path to be walked - together. This is where we need to focus. Not on who has sex with whom. Let that be as it may. And if so-and-so and so-and-so want to commit ´to death us do part´ - let that be as it may too. Let us not be seduced by reactivity to the restrictions of the past. As the global megacrisis intensifies, and the disastrous, self-destructive consequences of our unconsciousness become ever more evident, some of us need to be co-creating new, conscious social structures...

The Conscious Tribe is a social structure that honours existence without confining us in dogma (commitment to individual consciousness). It is a small, local, intimate, real social structure that honours our uniqueness and equality, without the need for imposed, external religious or secular authority (commitment to conscious relating) - and it is naturally, effortlessly, automatically ecological because it loves the world (commitment to conscious action).

The industrial era began the disruption of the extended family. By the end of the twentieth century the production-line, nuclear family was in tatters, and individualism enthroned. Today the not only unconscious, but anti-conscious, transhumanist forces that seek to direct the world are dismembering even the concept of the individual. The Conscious Tribe is a simple, profound and actionable alternative. It won´t stop wars. It won´t stop genetic modification and geoengineering. It isn´t the complete solution. Of course it isn´t. But the Conscious Tribe is a qualitatively new social structure with which to weave qualitatively new communities - a conscious social structure with which to weave a conscious culture.

Mark the Mystic Activist, Catalunya, Spring 2023. www.markthemysticactivist.com