The Peacock Club

This club is a collection of people who are ordinarily viewed as eccentric, odd, or atypical. In reality, we are a unique assembly of beings. We live life from the prospective of being multifarious, heterogeneous, and highly intellectual. Most of us are artists, inventors, musicians, philosophers, writers, and even engineers and businesspeople.

What sets us apart is we are broad based in our reflections, conjectures, and projections. Our existence has many avenues, not just one or two paths such as work, kids, tourism, entertainment, and sports. We have a prospective of living from our hearts, not our fears. We are a relaxed group who does not obsess about what the rest of the world thinks of us. We also do not criticize or condemn or belittle other individuals or groups for not being as we are.

We formed this club because we desire to be with people of like mind. We have decided to be a private restricted organization because we aspire to be in the fullness of our way of life and as such, we wish to be with people of similar aspirations.

Our activities are many and varied and do not necessarily fall within the traditional bounds of social events. Instead, we seek to involve ourselves in discovery, creativity, building, as well as mentoring. Each person can bring with them a bountiful repertoire of experiences. We do not get together to sit, listen, wait, and then leave. Contrarily, our productive participation adds to each other’s enrichment.

Finally, we know our calling is to “think and learn” and as such, we are willing to partake of the knowledge process and we see this as a joyful experience. Though we are not taking physical risks, we are endeavoring to learn about the various aspects of life such as the technical, mathematical, logical, literary, archeological, artistic, philosophical, psychological, culinary, agricultural, horticultural, botanical, zoological, metaphysical, religious, musical, historical, theatrical, and monitory business disciplines.

We are here collectively to enhance our lives together.

The charter of The Peacock Club

1. We are able to hold an intelligent conversation with each other. We discuss ideas in depth, take them to their root or base premise, and ascertain the reasons of these ideas or principles. We can conceptualize ideas and clearly convey them.
    
2. We are able to stimulate new ideas with each other. We are known to have an active imagination and a lively curiously about life.
    
3. We are idea oriented (not event oriented). We discuss past, present, and future events, if the discussion leads to the conceptualization or conveyance of ideas, a better understanding each other, or the conveyance of our feelings.
    
4. We involve ourselves in major and minor projects together and separately, which can be scientific, literary, or artistic endeavors, spiritual growth, political awareness, business ventures, or mental and physical health.
    
5. We have, not necessarily the same interests, but our own that we can share and do not conflict with each other’s interests and values such as our avocations, our vocations, the political viewpoints we have, and our passions in life.
    
6. We have similar preferences in:
   Music - We enjoy quality, non-minimalist, in depth music.
   Sports - We enjoy recreational activities like hiking, swimming, walking, or bicycling. But we are not obsessed with spectator sports nor is it a topic of conversation.
   Travel - We like to visit interesting places. But we are not driven to go somewhere just to say we have been there, nor do we believe that “to be someone special, one must be well traveled.”
    
7. We have similar depths of understanding about life. This understanding comes from our experiences we have had in and our willingness to explore the different aspects of living.
    
8. We have similar values in life such as:
   People - We have close time-tested friends, we understand the role of our extended families, and we have developed an understanding of the people that we are acquainted with.
   Causes - We understand that there are people around us that are sometimes in need of help, and we are willing to help them. We also understand that education is the conveyance of ideas, i.e., there are two ways of fighting for a cause, force, or education.
   Beliefs - Our beliefs are time-tested, and well thought out.
    
9. We have developed similar senses of humor. We have the trust in each other, the confidence in our selves, and the love for ourselves to allow us to be amused at the truly funny things in life. Amusement does not involve hurting each other, other people, or things. This humor is not used to bolster our egos.
    
10. We have a trusting for each other. We have the discipline to respect the other people’s privacy and do not to cross into their personal space or spread rumors. We know that we will always be there for each other and will stay through times of difficulty.
     
11. We confer with each other before making decisions that would involve anyone in the group. We do not volunteer each other, and we do not take on more than we can do alone, assuming that the other people are going to help. But we do ask other people if we want them to do, help do, or to be involved in something, and we are willing to accept a “No” answer.
     
12. We do not try to coerce other people into doing something. Instead, we ask them for what we want. And again, we are willing to accept a “No” answer.
     
13. We are consistent with each other. We are “even tempered,” and we do not create turmoil or uncomfortable situations for ourselves and each other.
     
14. We are empathetic towards each other. We know that if one of us has a problem the other people are not the cause of the problem but are good listeners. We also do not feel that we have to be other people’s problem solver.
     
15. We know to listen to each other. We do not project our own feelings onto another person, and we are not close minded, judgmental, or critical. We are aware of other people’s feelings, and we know that another person cannot think like us, but we try to see things from that person’s perspective.
     
16. We are conscious of each other’s feelings. We know that each of us has feelings and we knowingly do not hurt another person. In developing friendship and empathy for each other, we know not to use this known information against each other for our own self-gain.
     
17. We have the willingness to take time for each other. When another person needs our attention, we will stop what we are doing, and take the time to respond to that person. We also understand and respect the passion that another person feels for what they are doing or involved in while they are doing it.
     
18. We have a high regard for the value of each other’s person. This is an admiration for each other, a respect for each other, and a liking for each other. For example, if I were this other person, they would be the kind of person I would like to be.
     
19. We know and love ourselves. We spent the time and resources to find out who we are and, in doing so, we have made a conscious decision to accept who we are. If there are mental or psychological things about our self that we do not like we take the steps necessary to change these things.
     
20. We know what we want in this life. We have made positive well thought decisions on what we want to do with our lives.
     
21. We are inwardly motivated, (not outwardly motivated). For example, we are not driven by an agenda, by what people might think of us, or by what someone else wants. Instead, we base our decisions on what we believe we need and want and we do not care what most people might think of us.
     
22. We are courteous towards each other. We develop good habits together and separately to enable us to get along together and in life.
     
23. We use “I” statements whenever possible. The word “YOU” is offensive when used in a sentence by itself. Instead, if “YOU” is used in a sentence, it is qualified by an “I” such as “I believe that”. It is, however, OK to use “YOU” in a question. If we need to talk in generalities the word “ONE” or “WE” is used in place of “YOU.”
     
24. We own our negative feelings. If we are confronted with a negative feeling because of what another person does, and we do not immediately confront then, we become the owner of it. We cannot get angry at a person at a later date.
     
25. We have made a promise to ourselves, that when we get stuck on a problem in life and we cannot solve it by ourselves, we will seek out help, professional or otherwise.
     
26. We are “relaxed” with our selves and each other. We know that we will be here for each other, and we know that no “thing” in life is more important than each other, other people and God. We are happy and at peace with ourselves as we are with each other.
     
27. We are best friends. We take the time to get to know each other. We know that real kinship, and friendship, takes time and willingness to form.
     

We hold these truths near and dear to our hearts, for we know life is all of us living, and life should be more than just lived.

‘Think’

1989