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behaviors, compromise, consensus, curiousity, extremes, hulility, Luke, Meg Wheatley, middle, perseverance, polarities, strong emotions, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
one caucasian family father mother daughter dispute screaming in silhouette studio isolated on white background
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance. (See LK 8:15)
Good advice from this gospel acclamation for today sent me on a search that was quickly satisfied. Not being otherwise inspired by the Scriptures for the day, I turned toward my reference shelf located just beside the chair I’m sitting in. My eye fell (of course) on the perfect answer, Meg Wheatley’s book Perseverance! I opened to a page called “Middle.” It rang enough bells in the six short paragraphs to make me want to send out the whole thing – but maybe snippets will suffice.
We live in a world of extremes and polarities. People take positions at the far edge of an issue and then scream across the distance they created…Living at the extreme consumes enormous resources. We spend energy on justifying our position, on attacking our enemy, on defending our ground, on protecting our position… Somewhere in all the furor and drama, we’ve lost sight of the middle. Yet it’s in the middle where the possibilities reside. Some call the middle “compromise” or “consensus” – terms which have come to mean failure, mediocrity and loss. We don’t remember meeting in the middle as anything but negative.
Perhaps because we’re so addicted to strong emotions and loud noises to motivate us, we no longer seek the quiet space of center. But all spiritual traditions speak of moderation, harmony, balance – the middle way.
One way to rediscover middle is to notice your everyday behaviors. Notice where you’re positioned on an issue important to you. Are you sitting out on one side, justifying your behavior, assuming you’re right and others are wrong? Or are you open to the possibility that you can’t see very well from where you’re sitting, that you don’t know all the facts in the case?
Humility and curiosity are what shift us to center. Just by being curious we move toward the middle ground, with its fertile promise of new ideas and new relationships.
Unable to be comfortable leaving out more than a few sentences of the page, I hope it is something that’s helpful for all of us as we seek to move toward common ground. Remember perseverance!
Yesterday I was able to meet with my monthly “spiritual practices circle” for the first time this year. It was a lovely way to spend a slice of the day and a renewal of my conviction about the importance of deep listening and conversation. I was taken back to that privileged time this morning as I read some of Meg Wheatley’s comments in her book, Turning to One Another. Her point is something to remember in the complex and tumultuous times in which we live. I offer her words as a reflection that may open us in new ways in our interactions with others today – or any day.
My “homecoming” this past Sunday was truly refreshing. Being able to sleep for a continuous 12 hours (!) and then walk outside around our land in the morning breathing the good country air and catching up with my housemates on the events I missed while I was away felt very, very good. It only lasted for 48 hours, however, as on Tuesday afternoon I was back in the car on my way to Albany to help with a CSJ Community retreat. Today is Thursday and although working and praying with the Sisters is a special privilege I am happy to be heading home again late this afternoon. This time I plan to stay awhile.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 