All these world leaders gathered at the Pope’s funeral, and a bout of handshaking and politeness breaks out causing the spin doctors to go into overdrive.

Far from seeing this as a sad indictment on the state of international relations, I actually smiled broadly after reading this piece. It shows that when two humans meet, they tend toward the cordial. Even if they lead countries that are at war with one another or one denies the existence of the other, it’s impossible not to respond like a human to the presence of another.

My friend Jeff and I were talking yesterday about flow states, what they feel like, why they are important.

As a musician I live for the flow state that we call “groove.” But it’s really heard to describe what that feels like. Saying that it’s a shared emotional space into which you let go and trust in the collective outcome doesn’t quite capture it.

I think this video, which was posted up at MetaFilter, captures flow states exactly. Here are a bunch a young guys making incredible basketball shots which they could only make if they simply relaxed and let go into them. I’m willing to bet that as this shoot went on they actually made more and more of these attempts on the first or second try. What a thing to watch, especially the one where the guy bats the ball into the basket with his skateboard.

Lisa Gerrard makes music on her own and formerly with Dead Can Dance.

Can someone tell me why, in the last week I have been flooded with Gmail spam that is not getting filtered? And can anyone tell me if there is an end in sight?

Thank you.

Nipun and Guri are on a pilgrimage. They are keeping a blog.

As they walk around northern India, they are looking for God, for compassion for giving and receiving. I think this is the most important weblog on the internet at the moment. I have been reading every single post, reading them out to others, reading and re-reading their accounts of engaged service. It continues to inspire me, in ways that pop out all over the place, like in this recent podcast of a conversation I had with Jack Ricchiuto and George Nemeth.

Lately I have found myself actually physically responding to Nipun’s writing and his stories. Today he writes about a barber and the huge pleasure each takes from giving freely to one another. I can feel that rising in me, the will to give and contribute. The feeling one gets sticking a day’s worth of pay through the door of a closed shop is palpable. It inspires, it makes me want to go and do something, something small.

I have been entranced with giving since the Giving Conference in Chicago last summer. I have been orbiting around some very interesting philanthropy conversations and seeing how giving is showing up in my own life. I have been donating time and energy to Aboriginal youth, to conference and workshop designs and to others, like Ashley and Christy who are planning a very neat Giving Conference of their own.

My business model has long incorporated a giving aspect to it. I donate time and knowledge to people who want it but who cannot afford to pay. Everything I have learned about the work I do has been gifted to me and I feel a strong obligation to pay that forward. People do hire me to “train” them in Open Space for example, but I have never turned anyone away if they are sincere about learning about the process. Thomas Arthur, who is an artist of immense original creativity was discussing this with me the other night and I think we agreed that our roles in the world were all about making contributions. We react strongly if people steal what we have – in Thomas’s case, a juggling routine – but if you ask for it, it’s yours.

My work is about creating things and releasing them into the world. Unleashing teachings that I have received, sharing stories of my experience, giving where I can and receiving gratefully and with a promise to use learning, which is the greatest gift you can give a teacher. Nipun is such an inspiration in this respect, and his presence on the web is greatly appreciated by me. You should read his work to and see what it inspires you to do.