Much of the stress and emptiness that haunts us can be traced back to our lack of attention to beauty. Internally, the mind becomes coarse and dull if it remains unvisited by images and thoughts which hold the radiance of beauty.*
(John O’Donohue)

The only essential is this: the gift must always move.**
(Lewis Hyde)

When we slow down enough to notice, we can stagger at the beauty of nature.

Anyone who has every attempted to offer some commentary of nature knows how inadequate words are and how more fitting are silence and awe.

When we look closer, we see a great struggle, even pain involved in producing the sights that cause us to gasp.

I take away the lesson that there is no easy path to beauty, that we must keep moving in the direction of what we believe in and hope for, to show up, to do the hard work, to give.

Perhaps something beautiful will result.

*From John O’Donohue’s Divine Beauty.
**From Lewis Hyde’s The Gift.)

To hope is to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born, and yet not become desperate if there is not birth in our lifetime.*
(Erich Fromm)

Erich Fromm contemplates the nature of hope following Eugene McCarthy’s presidential election loss to Richard Nixon in 1967. Fromm had hoped for a change in American policy through a man who was a professor, poet and philosopher. It wasn’t to be.

Though published in 1970, Fromm’s words are more than relevant for today, describing, as they do a spectre, unseen by many, walking among us:

It is a new spectre: a completely mechanised society, devoted to maximal material output and consumption, directed by computers: and in this social process, man himself is being transformed into a part of the total machine, well fed and entertained yet passive, unalive and with little feeling. With the victory of the new society, individualism and privacy will have disappeared; feelings toward others will be engineered by psychological conditioning and other devices, or drugs which also serve a new ind of introspective experience.*

So begins his argument for a revolution of hope that is

neither passive waiting nor is it unrealistic forcing of circumstances*.

Rather, persons of hope

see and cherish all signs of new life and are ready at every moment to help the birth of that which is ready to be born.*

Many more hope than are aware, Fromm describing in 1970’s-ese those who are unconsciously hoping:

Our social pattern is such that the successful man is not supposed to be afraid or bored or lonely. He must find this world the best of all worlds; in order to have the best chance for promotion he must repress fear as well as doubt, depression, boredom or hopelessness.*

I was reading Fromm alongside Rohit Bhargava’s curating habits – included in my blog of a couple of days ago – which offer skills for the hopeful person who wants to

see and cherish all signs of new life and are ready at every moment to help the birth of that which is ready to be born*.

Bhargava’s habits are curiosity, observation, fickleness, reflection and elegance.**

In this context, I read these as finding what you’re curious about and widening this out – everything is attached to everything else; take a longer look at what began with a curious glance – what it is, what it’s doing, where it’s heading; don’t get hung up on one or two things but stay curious and observant – everything is attached to everything else; build deep reflection in – journal, walk, talk with others, read; move with and give aid to what is wanting to be born, in collaboration wherever possible.

Perhaps then, to use Richard Rohr’s words, we might be ‘seers of alternatives’ who ‘move forward by influencing events and inspiring people’ who know that ‘wisdom is the art of the possible’.^

*From Erich Fromm’s The Revolution of Hope;
**From Rohit Bhargava’s Non Obvious 2019;
^From Richard Rohr’s Eager to Love.

A gracious approach is the key that unlocks the treasure of encounter. […] When we approach with reverence great things decide to approach us.*
(John O’Donohue)

I do not want to let what I now get in the way of what I do not know.

I look forward to learning what you know. Perhaps a conversation sometime.

*From John O’Donohue’s Divine Beauty.

What you love to do will grow with you, so long as you stay true to who you are and allow yourself to change and develop freely.*
(Hugh Macleod)

Pay attention to the world, and train yourself to notice the details that others miss.**
(Rohit Bhargava)

For each of us there is a path that bears our name.

Hidden to others, it must not become hidden to us for in the complexity of life it helps us to maintain our direction and purpose, to see our big picture.

We find the path by listening.

By paying deep attention, we stay connected with the fullness of our lives.

Following the path shapes the path – it is not predetermined – and is why we must pay it deep attention.

Rohit Bhargava’s five habits of curation work well for detailing this attention. It is curious, observant, fickle, thoughtful and elegant.

From these I deduce that I must notice what I am most fascinated by but in such a way as not to get stuck on certain things whilst missing others, turning my mind and heart towards all that stands out the most, and out of these crafting beautiful things, ideas, relationships.

*From gapingvoid’s blog: Life without dissonance;
**From Rohit Bhargava’s Non Obvious 2019.

Humility allows us to change our mind, change our heart and change our actions.

To put it another way, humility allows us:

To detach from our limiting stories which are often rigid and not open to the unknown and unfamiliar;
See our True Self as a result rather than our False Self;
Accept the painful things in our lives rather than hiding from them or denying them;
Be present to now and all it contains rather than escaping to the past or future;
Live out our values as journeys open to exploration and adventure; and,
Committing to action and therefore to keep on changing.

If you come, we can build this together.*
(Bernadette Jiwa)

Calling is a human experience.

Everyone has at least one calling in their lifetime.

They can be heard, missed or ignored.

Last year I placed these two texts side by side, one about explanation, the other enlightenment:

Explanation is an antagonistic encounter that succeeds by defeating an opponent. It possesses the same dynamic of resentment found in other finite play. I will press my explanations on you because I need to show that do to life in the error that I think others think I do.**

It should be obvious that those who live enlightenment lives have demonstrated a unique ability to lear from everyone and everything.^

Over the years of dreamwhispering I’ve noticed that those who gain the most co-create their experience with me – we are both enlightened, an infinite game. Not “Let me do that for you,” but “Let’s create this together.”

*From Bernadette Jiwa’s Hunch;
**From James Carse’s Finite and Infinite Games;
^From Erwin McManus’ Uprising.

I’m just doing my job. But what if you weren’t? What if you replaced “doing” with “improving” or “reinventing” or “transforming”?*
(Seth Godin)

A caret is a v-shaped grapheme (usually inverted and extended) used to indicate where a word or three need(s) inserting into a line of text. I often use ⁁ but hadn’t known what it was called.

I disturb a line with “⁁” and add the additional words above or below the line. It looks messy but the line makes more sense when all the words are present.

My dreamwhispering work with many people has shown me how life also comes with the possibility of using a caret when we discern that there’s something missing.

Most of the things missing will only cost us in terms of time. Even those we may need to pay for end up being ridiculously low-priced relative to how important they are.

The messiness is real cost, though, and it can be too much for some to pay – wanting our lives always to appear tidy in front of others can be a higher price to pay.

*From Seth Godin’s blog: I’m just doing my job.

In addition, we humans can influence our evolution by the environments we construct and the choices we make; our evolution is not just a matter of chance.*
(Steven Hawes)

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.**
(Jesus of Nazareth)

Meekness is not a condition or status forced upon us because of what we lack but is an evolutionary choice we make to relate to all things and all people.

Ours is a universe of abundance rather than a world of scarcity, a place to live in awe and gratitude with kindness and generosity.

*From Steven Hawes’ A Liberated Mind;
**Matthew 5:5.

The way I choose to put the messages of my life together into a picture is related to all I have ever seen through the eyes of other picture makers and through a constant kind of looking I do myself. What is my own is the constancy of observation of forms and the investigations of ideas and feelings as they combine into the final object to which I sign my name and for which I assume responsibility.*
(Corita Kent)

The path forward is about curiosity, generosity and connection. These are the three foundations of art.**
(Seth Godin)

My reading and journaling today has taken me back to where my dreamwhispering^ began, although I had no idea this is what would emerge at the time.

It’s more than twenty-five years ago I was a presbyter in the Methodist Church wondering about what it was that I did best and should give more time to. I have no recollection of where this thought came from. It was possibly that I’d uncovered a desire to grow and develop, but I am not sure. What I do remember is shaping a list of activities and handing these to people I thought would be honest and critical about what they saw in me.

It was a limited thing because the list only included what I was already doing, but it turned out to be the beginning of something that would grow and grow.

After my own attempt to identify what I did best through the help of others, when I came across some help for identifying people’s gifts, I embraced it both for myself and others. In a voluntary organisation there can be more roles than people. Up until then I had counted a successful meeting as filling as many of these appointments as possible regardless of a person’s abilities, but commitment doesn’t always come with passion, but passion does comes with commitment.

A few years later I was to discover thinking around talents and strengths that was to change my world. It altered the way I see everyone and I began inviting people to explore theirs – I’ve lost count of how many, but perhaps it’s pushing towards a thousand now.

And through each conversation,^^ uncovering the gifts that are in everyone for living towards others, I’ve been learning and developing, both for the sake of others and for myself:

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.*^

Corita Kent’s opening words caught my eye because thinking from many places are part of dreamwhispering – from artists like Joseph Campbell, Scott Peck, Otto Scharmer, brothers Alex and Erwin McManus, Seth Godin, Lewis Hyde, James Carse, enhanced by the imagination and thinking of Maria Popova, Elle Luna, Brené Brown, Ursula Franklin and many more, towards “the final object to which I sign my name and for which I assume responsibility.”

In around two months I will be “asking permission to sit down,” a Methodist euphemism for retirement, and I’ll be given the opportunity to reflect on my work and ministry. I stepped outside of church work five years ago so that I might focus on dreamwhispering, although, looking back, this had been the direction I’d been moving in for some years before this.

Why am I telling you this?

Perhaps I am rehearsing some of what I might be sharing on the 23rd April when I ask permission to “sit down.”^*

But I think it’s really about reconnecting with what matters to me most of all which I hold out as a gift from my life to yours, to help you identify and know and do what you must do.

What I am is a thin silence, a whisper; what you do is the most important thing.

*From Corita Kent and Jan Snowden’s Learning by Heart.
**From Seth Godin’s The Practice.
^Dreamwhispering is my name for the work of listening to what a person’s life is telling them around their values, talents and energies, towards creating a story or narrative they want to develop every day of their lives for the benefit of others. In reality, dreamwhispering is what happens when two people enter into a deep, creative conversation.
^^Conversation is the natural space for dreamwhispering. It is not a programme or course and never will be.
*^From Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.
(^*Dreamwhisperers don’t really retire.)

Beauty is not to be captured or controlled for there is something intrinsically elusive in its nature.*
(John O’Donohue)

Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.**
(Older Testament Proverb)

When we come upon beauty life makes both more sense and is more mysterious – a starry night, an elegant idea, two people connecting in a transcendent way, a movement of life. John O’Donohue continues:

Beauty cannot be forced. It alone decides when it will come and sometimes in the last thing we expect and the very last thing to arrive. Creative artists know this well. Great skill and inspiration set the context or scene where beauty might emerge. But it is not the mind of the artist alone that can determine whether beauty will arrive or not.*

What an exciting thought. Not only are we receivers of beauty but, somehow, we are able to produce beauty.

Perhaps if we seek knowledge and desire wisdom then beauty will be more likely to arrive:

There is no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the soul.^

Wisdom is a particular way of expressing what we “know,” the culmination of humility, gratitude, faithfulness, integrity, wholeness, perseverance, courage and generosity

*From John O’Donohue’s Divine Beauty.
**Proverbs 3:13-14.
*Arnold Bennett, quoted in Jay Cross’ Informal Learning.