Fear resonates. It is easy. We broadcast it in our media and policies without any real connection.

In contrast, compassion, empathy and love tend to be spread when there is a connection between a small number of people. I've talked about how Lovers Grove will work to directly create those connections with lovers who want to grow. I briefly introduced the concept of sharing those journies with the world and the importance of messengers as well as lovers in the grove.

Now, I'd like to explore the messengers. We want to organically spread compassion, strength and facing fear. We may never broadcast it in the same way that fear is spread, but as people connect with more stories of compassion and connect with the tools of the lover that make those stories possible, they can grow to create their own compassion.

Also, we can show people that they are not alone. We can show people that their desires are shared. We can help them when they find stories of others who had these desires. When they connect with a success, they can gain confidence in believing in their needs and striving for what they want.

However, the stories of challenges and stories where people didn't find what they are looking for may prove more important. We can show people that they are not alone in their fears. I do not want to imply that since a fear is common, it is easy to face. Instead, I hope that by helping people connect with stories of people facing fear, they can see that facing the fears that stand in the way of personal growth is one of the hardest things we will ever do. You aren't finding it challenging because you're bad at growing or self actualization. It's hard because it's hard. I hope people will draw strength from that. I also hope they will see the valuable growth that happens even when people don't manage to meet a challenge or when they realize that their desires were not what they expected them to be.

As I was writing, "Testify to Love" played on shuffle. That song captures an essential aspect of the Sacred Messenger of the Grove better than I'll ever manage. Listening, I'm struck with an essential part of love bursting to be shared, appreciated, spread. We're trying to plant that seed, create an space and culture where we're comfortable witnessing and honoring people as they grow in love. Listening, I get this wonderful vision of the joy and wonder that results as the walls preventing one person from learning and gaining strength from anothers' journey crumble away. That's what we're about.

Writing and Talking

This blog, the writing at loversgrove.org, and Chuck's blogs over at the Hermes site are part of that. I know that some of my posts have challenged people to think about things differently. I know that people have gained the skills and desire to crumble away some of those walls based in part on things I've done and written about here.

Another part of it is being open and building understanding when people ask respectful questions. Sometimes I'll be in a social gathering and I'll have an opportunity to discuss my family and work. Often when that happens someone ends up thinking and examining something about their needs or love. Most of the time, they reach conclusions very different than mine. However, they grow.

We're going to be open about what we do at Lovers Grove. We'll talk to people who want to write about us, be out there in social media, be advocates for love. However, ultimately, we need to share the stories of those we work with.

The Big Ask

We're offering to meet people openly as lovers, trust them, and really try to help them grow. We're offering something valuable and challenging.

We'll be asking a lot in return. We plan to video our interactions amongst each other as well as our interactions with those who would work with us. We will share these videos on the Internet.

That's huge. We're asking people to be open about their desire to grow as lovers. Facing that for the first few people who work with us is going to be really challenging. As we build up a body of stories and videos, we hope to be able to help people understand the value. We also expect to gain a lot of experience working through the fear of being that open.

However that sort of radical openness will never be easy. Even if someone just wants to talk about their desire for connection, sharing that vulnerability with the entire world will be an ordeal. And yes, I do mean that with all the spiritual connitations: once you get past that ordeal, you'll be the kind of person who takes really challenging, life-changing steps to grow as a lover. That alone will be a significant transformational milestone.

While I certainly hope that when people have a desire to grow sexually, they will feel comfortable exploring that with us, I realize that's even more challenging. I suspect that we'll get very used to working with people to realize that it's OK if they discover they are not interested in exploring things sexually on-camera. Accepting and facing that will be its own sort of important growth.

Over time, we hope to have a lot to share with the world. We hope some of it is really hot and we're all for an erotic connection with what we do. However, throughout everything we do will be the work of connection, trust building, exploration of needs, and empathy that form the basis of the lover's work. If the porn ropes people into thinking about connection, that's great. If someone never connects beyond an erotic level, that's fine too.

No Faking, no Playing to the Camera

Yes, we do plan to produce videos. Yes, if we have the resources we'll work on doing a good job of editing to better present a clear and accurate story. However, the point of the videos is to share the interaction happening between the people in the room. That interaction is its own goal, and I do not support sacrificing that interaction for the video. So, yeah, that will affect the "porn value" of our production.

Next up in this series, the really radical part of what we're considering