What is an underlying question that gives form
to your work or interest in this field?
“What constructive work and risked relationships
will sustain an expressive delight, able to companion the suffering
of self and others while new life unfolds?"
What is your personal experience of collective
wisdom in groups?
My experience of collective wisdom in groups comes in
the contexts of religious leadership formation—peer groups, circle
communities, spiritual direction, etc.
What is it about the work in this field that excites
you and connects you to your own deepest self?
The primarily relational context within which wisdom
disrupts expectations and resolves hidden difficulties is what (who)
continues to excite me about this field, to connect me with my deepest
self.
Please provide a brief storyline or snapshot of
what brought you to this work.
A young woman startles to find herself driving an 18-wheeler
semi. She becomes aware of driving safely, soundly, though she has no
recollection of ever training to drive a semi. This is precisely what
she seems to be doing. Receptive, she drives through tree-lined streets
of a sleepy neighborhood, intermittently turning left, then right, as
guided by the street map on the cracked-leather seat beside her. She
turns onto a winding cobblestone driveway, slowly approaching a stately
colonial mansion with bright red brick, white trim, window flower-boxes.
She smiles at the spacious lawns and her eyes are drawn to the flowing
but steep decline of freshly cut grass off to the right side. In the
distance, she can see immaculate hedges, acres of botanical gardens,
weathered wooden benches like islands in the sunlight. The semi slows
as the cab circles around the front entrance, grinding the goods to
a halt. The engine stalls. Behind her is the labyrinthine driveway,
lined with ancient elm trees. In front, a garden fountain and neat sidewalks
to the mansion. With beginning alarm, she realizes she cannot move forward
or backward. There is no way to drive the goods down such a steep slope
either. The semi would tip. Anger begins to arise in her throat as she
finally wonders about the map. “I have been betrayed,” she
says, to no one in particular. Rarely do I awake with a felt-dream like
this one, but it stayed with me enough for me to work with its imagery.
I am more and more convinced that the 'street map' I have inherited
needs to be replaced or revised by a global view or listening, perhaps
the kind of seeing that Google-Earth stimulates. It is really difficult
to find a new listening-map, however. 'Collective wisdom' seems to promise
more in this direction.
How would you like to be available to others in
this field?
I am available via e-mail, though after an initial inquiry
or connection, can learn/discern more quickly by phone interaction about
potential shared directions. I listen for one’s sense of clarity
and grounded practice whereby mutuality and challenge may be discovered
by both (all) participants in the conversation.
Links to this site or others:
United
Seminary profile
LinkedIn
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