On Wednesday, March 26, 6:45 - 8:15, the Ministry of Imagination will gather anew at Good Shepherd Church (directions below). This week we'll investigate the discipline of attending/attuning to vision. I offer the reflections below as a prelude to our inquiry:
"Where there is no vision the people perish." (Proverbs 29:18)
Whenever I come across this proverb I perk up. I sit up straighter. In contemplating this adage over the years I've mused on how to re-phrase it in the positive. My current favorite:
"When we share a vision the people flourish."
And what does sharing a vision of flourishing entail? In the Christian world, we see diverse, even divergent understandings of what it means to live a Christian life, a virtuous life. A universally shared vision/understanding of the Christian way remains elusive.
In my own decades-long journey in the intentional communities movement, I've joined and started many community projects. I've learned that a unifying vision can easily devolve into schism and distrust in times of discouragement or conflict. I now feel that the key to resiliently sharing a vision is not so much about condensing on our ultimate destination. More important is to share an understanding, a vision of HOW we will travel together. What rejuvenating and reconciling practices might we attend and attune to in common? How will we keep our spirits up in difficult times? How navigate life's inevitable setbacks, breakdowns, and misalignments?
As poet Philip Booth wisely asserted: "How you get there is where you'll arrive."
So in this week's MOI we'll explore the art of attuning and attending to a virtuous, visionary "How." We'll consider this attuning as craft, labor, and play in various community contexts: Grace Church, MOI, Impact, Songtuary....
Below are some illuminating perspectives on attuning to a shared vision:
“A shared vision is not an idea. It is not even an important idea such as freedom. It is, rather, a force in people’s hearts, a force of impressive power. It may be inspired by an idea, but once it goes further—if it is compelling enough to acquire the support of more than one person—then it is no longer an abstraction. It is palpable. People begin to see it as if it exists. [It] is the answer to the question, ‘What do we want to create?’ Vision is vital for the learning organization because it provides the focus and energy for learning.... It may simply not be possible to convince human beings rationally to take a long-term view. People do not focus on the long term because they have to, but because they want to.”
-Peter Senge
"A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more."
-Rosabeth Moss
"Vision is a collective activity. The act of perception is not simply an intellectual accomplishment, it is also a psychological choice. What one is willing to see is dependent on what others see. The emotional ability to perceive, know, or eventually imagine is affected by the social atmosphere."
-Susan Griffin, "The Politics of Imagination".
"A vision should be judged by the clarity of its values, not the clarity of its implementation path."
―Donella Meadows
(Consider replacing "values" in this sentence with:
longing
aesthetic
ethics
priorities
aspiration)
All for now. See you Weds!
singcerely
--
Craig
