Key Words

Journey

Journey is a metaphor for life as an ongoing revelation, not a static or fixed script. Journeying asks for an imaginative way of seeing with both the mind and the heart. It reminds us that in every encounter we have an opportunity to reconsider and reimagine our conclusions and understandings. Each day we’re entering a world we’ve not yet visited.

True journeying asks for courage to be vulnerable to uncertainty. Not knowing the end is part of the adventure. It isn’t that we never reach a destination, but the journey is lifelong. We do not have to abandon long-held convictions, but may find them revitalized or enriched by  broader and deeper perspectives.

 

Space

In order to freely journey in life, one needs a safe space. No one is an expert in the uncharted territory of the inner life. The encouragement and perspective of fellow travellers can help us orient ourselves. Space needs to be protected from urgent demands which crowd it out, and from judgmental attitudes that make vulnerability impossible.

A space is safe when each person simply represents him- or herself. As soon as somebody acts on behalf of an opinionated political or religious persuasion, the safety of the space is in jeopardy, which leads to defensive and protective reactions. The stirring of fresh impressions, learnings and articulations is hampered.

 

Story

Life is so complex and dynamic that it continually requires new stories to express how we feel and survive. Stories offer us new images of how the pieces of life might fit together in ways we hadn’t considered. They help us disengage from interpretations of experience that we find no longer credible or helpful.

Stories lend us authentic language and penetrating metaphors for approaching indescribable things — to find honest and concrete expressions for the majesty of nature, the meaning of courage, the redemptive power of love, the depths of loneliness. Compelling mysteries such as love, passion and faith only become accessible to us through story.

 

Beauty

Experiencing beauty is a basic human capacity as well as a basic human need. We are made for it. It fills us with life-giving awe, an enlarging sense of wonder. It counters the pain that life brings and instills hope. It lifts our eyes above present realities and connects us with something pure, complete and infinite deep inside us.

Through encounters with art, and art’s foundations in nature, beauty evokes powerful responses in us, often before the ‘rational’ parts of our brains have caught up and wrapped words around our experience. Beauty may also surprise us in unexpected places — in the small and the strange — if we have eyes to see. Through our senses, it appeals to our whole being, calling our heads, hearts, souls, and guts to awaken.

 

Listening

Listening catches the meanings hidden in story and beauty. As with any skill, it requires rigorous conscious effort, and is developed through practice. But it begins with humility. We must quiet our own inner monologue to pay attention to the world we meet outside ourselves. We choose to prioritize the voices of others, postponing reaction and judgment, so that true connection can occur.

Good listening receives signals and threads of information without distorting them. We integrate this new data into the narratives already inside us, which can then be humbly offered back to the other as the shared context for a deeper conversation. There is something rare and precious about being listened to. Feeling that you have truly been heard transforms both the speaker and the listener.

Connection

The human longing for connection is mysterious. In ways that are often hidden from our conscious awareness, a relational gravity shapes our desires, thoughts and actions. But the fast, transactional nature of the modern world tends to isolate us from one another. Fears of disappointing others or being disappointed by others sometimes causes us to play things safe – we would rather not risk being hurt.

However, when we find the courage to turn towards one another with open-hearted trust, we rediscover that we are better together. It’s good not to be alone with your questions and your problems. The generous presence of true friends in our lives makes individual and collective flourishing actually possible.

Journey

Journey is a metaphor for life as an ongoing revelation, not a static or fixed script. Journeying asks for an imaginative way of seeing with both the mind and the heart. It reminds us that in every encounter we have an opportunity to reconsider and reimagine our conclusions and understandings. Each day we’re entering a world we’ve not yet visited.

True journeying asks for courage to be vulnerable to uncertainty. Not knowing the end is part of the adventure. It isn’t that we never reach a destination, but the journey is lifelong. We do not have to abandon long-held convictions, but may find them revitalized or enriched by  broader and deeper perspectives.

Space

In order to freely journey in life, one needs a safe space. No one is an expert in the uncharted territory of the inner life. The encouragement and perspective of fellow travellers can help us orient ourselves. Space needs to be protected from urgent demands which crowd it out, and from judgmental attitudes that make vulnerability impossible.

A space is safe when each person simply represents him- or herself. As soon as somebody acts on behalf of an opinionated political or religious persuasion, the safety of the space is in jeopardy, which leads to defensive and protective reactions. The stirring of fresh impressions, learnings and articulations is hampered.

Story

Life is so complex and dynamic that it continually requires new stories to express how we feel and survive. Stories offer us new images of how the pieces of life might fit together in ways we hadn’t considered. They help us disengage from interpretations of experience that we find no longer credible or helpful.

Stories lend us authentic language and penetrating metaphors for approaching indescribable things — to find honest and concrete expressions for the majesty of nature, the meaning of courage, the redemptive power of love, the depths of loneliness. Compelling mysteries such as love, passion and faith only become accessible to us through story.

Beauty

Experiencing beauty is a basic human capacity as well as a basic human need. We are made for it. It fills us with life-giving awe, an enlarging sense of wonder. It counters the pain that life brings and instills hope. It lifts our eyes above present realities and connects us with something pure, complete and infinite deep inside us.

Through encounters with art, and art’s foundations in nature, beauty evokes powerful responses in us, often before the ‘rational’ parts of our brains have caught up and wrapped words around our experience. Beauty may also surprise us in unexpected places — in the small and the strange — if we have eyes to see. Through our senses, it appeals to our whole being, calling our heads, hearts, souls, and guts to awaken.

Listening

Listening catches the meanings hidden in story and beauty. As with any skill, it requires rigorous conscious effort, and is developed through practice. But it begins with humility. We must quiet our own inner monologue to pay attention to the world we meet outside ourselves. We choose to prioritize the voices of others, postponing reaction and judgment, so that true connection can occur.

Good listening receives signals and threads of information without distorting them. We integrate this new data into the narratives already inside us, which can then be humbly offered back to the other as the shared context for a deeper conversation. There is something rare and precious about being listened to. Feeling that you have truly been heard transforms both the speaker and the listener.

Connection

The human longing for connection is mysterious. In ways that are often hidden from our conscious awareness, a relational gravity shapes our desires, thoughts and actions. But the fast, transactional nature of the modern world tends to isolate us from one another. Fears of disappointing others or being disappointed by others sometimes causes us to play things safe – we would rather not risk being hurt.

However, when we find the courage to turn towards one another with open-hearted trust, we rediscover that we are better together. It’s good not to be alone with your questions and your problems. The generous presence of true friends in our lives makes individual and collective flourishing actually possible.

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