Saturday, May 16, 2009

Co-Creating Change

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: 5
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.

Í say móre: the just man justices;
Kéeps gráce: thát keeps all his goings graces; 10
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is—
Chríst—for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

--Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918.

Dear Friends,

Shortly after 9/11, it came to me that we needed to do two things: (1) start a global dialogue on conflict resolution, and (2) co-create new solutions to the challenges we face as a global community (poverty, violence, militarism, materialism, and environmental degradation, for starters). I'd never been much of an activist before, the task seemed overwhelming, and I had no idea where to start.

Somehow, my life since that time has constellated itself around those two endeavors. With much trial and error--not to mention the support, example, and camaraderie of activists and visionaries I've met along the way--I've found myself "making the path by walking."

My own journey has taken me from the wrenching horror of 9/11 to shock and outrage over the violence and injustice that have followed from that; through seven years of peace-building efforts and issues-oriented activism; to sustainability-conscious living off the grid, in community, and on a working farm; to a renewed appreciation of our sheer aliveness in a rare and precious world. I find myself longing now to slow down and embrace that aliveness in some new way that can help us move forward together in a spirit of adventure and joy.

I'm starting my blog with these verses from Hopkins because I believe each of us brings something to the world out of our own uniqueness--something essential and irreplaceable, even sacred, that's needed by the collective if we hope to craft new solutions in this time of challenge and change. The more I myself try to live mindfully and sustainably, the more I realize that everything I do affects someone else and that my own well-being is inextricably linked to the well-being of all life on this planet. The more troubled I am by violence in the world, the more I see that peace begins with me. The more I seek solutions, the more I understand my need for companions and colleagues to lift my spirits, expand my thinking, and teach me skills I haven't yet mastered.

While I have no idea what this blog will encompass or where it will lead, I see it as an experiment in co-creation--an open-ended process of sharing and discovery that can build new connections and seed new possibilities. I welcome your offerings and your comments, I hope our exchanges can be heartfelt, and I look forward to seeing where the conversation takes us.

Yours in change,
Deb

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Some initial questions to consider:

1. What sort of change have you found most challenging in your own life? How have you experienced that, and where has it taken you?

2. How do you feel about change--change that's voluntary versus change that's imposed on you by outside circumstances?

3. How would you describe your growing edge in embracing change?

4. Do you see larger patterns of change in the world? If so, how would you describe them and what do you make of them?


7 comments:

  1. Good luck on your journey, Deb. You have always inspired me toward a deeper contemplation of issues of our humanity.

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  2. Deb, Yours is a wonderful, unique and much needed approach for a blog. I will come back often looking for your insights, and plan to offer some of my own. Today I discovered http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/
    which undoubtedly you already know about. Seems as though it is trying laboriously to structure some of the communitas you envision. Stu

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  3. Deb, I think it is our connections to one another that truly sustain us as we choose and/or are forced to contemplate change. What we can do together we might never accomplish alone. Thank you for sharing your insights, energy and deep commitment to a finer world with all of us! Barbara

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  4. Hi Deb,
    My thoughts on change:
    We are pretty good as a society pretending that there are so many predicatable solid things in our lives. Then came 9/11- such a kick in the butt on every level as so many of our illusions shattered.
    Those we love and cherish do sustain and nourish us when we are experiencing change. But then when we experience the death of a loved one we question the very meaning of life. The death of six of my family members the year after 9/11 shook me to my core and I wondered what was the point of anything. The way out of that black hole for me was to ask what gave me joy and to point myself in that direction. My joy is growing plants, so I did that. I found that the natural world, the changing seasons, the growing cycles are dynamic flows that also nourish me. I watch myself mourn each fall as the growing season ends and I want to grab for the past warmth and life. I watch my humorous attempts to beat the first frost and extend a few more days of life just like my humorous attempts to hold on to the past. I keep stuff that reminds me of my past until it becomes such a burden that it is a relief to let it go, then wonder why I held on for so long.
    Faith in the cycles of nature have sustained mankind since we began. What happens to that faith as we stress our environment to the point that nature is swinging to extremes? I guess that I choose to hold on to that faith anyway and believe that spring will come, as will summer and fall and winter and spring again. It is easier for me to remember "to act as if the God in all life matters" in nature than in my fellow man sometimes. In spite of dire predictions about climate change, I choose to believe in a friendly and abundant universe. Through our self-created climate crisis, I believe we will find a way to do it better. The economic changes force us to find new ways of financial survival. I grow food for my neighbors and find that now I know them and am connected to them. The earth changes force us to find new less destructive ways and I believe we need the kick in the butt to wake up! Wake up and do it in a more sustainable way. And if we look for the joy in change, I believe we can find it. My joy is in growing things-So I garden. I am not running from imposed change- I am running toward the joy of living life more connected to the cycles of nature, the joy of growing food for my neighbors, the joy of just seeing everything growing and changing constantly, the joy of learning from the garden.
    Carol

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  5. Hi Deb -
    I've been walking with Angaangaq, an Inuit Elder & Shaman, for a while now. As we all know, the Big Ice in Greenland is melting & Angaangaq teaches people that it is time to melt the ice in our hearts, so that we can work together in the times to come. Trees are growing again there - prophecy is becoming reality. This July 2009 there is a ceremony in Greenland welcoming home the sacred fire. You're welcome to participate in this event with your community. For details, visit www.icewisdom.com
    There is unity in community.
    Patty

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  6. Deb,

    So enjoyed reading all that you've written here! I now know even more clearly why I've long felt a connection to you--so many similarities in our thoughts, questions, journeys!

    Much love to you! Mitch

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  7. Dear Deb,
    I have finally taken the opportunity to spend some time with your blog - very well spent time, indeed! I am struck by how well you have articulated many of the things I feel from day to day but do not have words for, or at least coherent words.
    I love these lines from your Hopkins poem:
    "for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
    Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his..."
    because they cut through the duality of God on the one hand and us on the other and mix it all up in the only way that I can "believe" it, i.e. that we are not separate from the "ground of our being."

    One would think that believing that would be the only thing needed for the CHANGE that you talk about,but, alas, it doesn't seem to follow, at least for me. When I look back 30 years, I see the same plodding, anxious, grim(ish) self.... pretty much my set character. Perhaps the biggest fairly recent change is that I don't really think I will ever change in a measurable way so now I'm not trying to. That is a BIG relief and gives me a lot of "free time.

    The river that runs by our house is a constant reminder that whatever we do or don't do, it's all constantly changing anyway, the only task being to let go of the bank and go with the flow. I liked Carol's comments (above)- her faith in nature's cycles and her joy in growing plants. I have a community garden this year - 3 feet by 18 feet -a manageable size, which I have have measured off by string into 54 square feet. Each square foot gets a different vegetable - it's starting to come up now, miracle of miracles, and has the look of a patchwork quilt. I get to deal with only one square foot at a time so it does not feel, as past gardens always have, overwhelming. Maybe this garden will be my new metaphor for change...just one square foot at a time. Who couldn't manage that?

    I welcome the opportunity to travel this path with you, Deb, and I look forward to what else you might write and others might say in response. Here's my favorite line in the Hopkins poem."...What I do is me: for that I came..."
    The peonies are about to bloom: for that they came. We are blooming, or about to bloom, too: -for that we came (though I hear Joby's voice saying,"yeah, blooming idiots." Well, that too.

    Thanks for daring to start a blog. I look forward to seeing more.
    Love,
    Annie

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