The necessity of being lost

There are at least two things that make conversation special from everyday chit-chat: first, it is conversation at the level of no shells nor shields, vulnerable, open, presence, essence to essence, truth to truth, exploring, not trying to protect one’s position or persona, so that real work gets done, people and situations and worlds are changed; second, a sense of the possible emerges and grows, things look new.

Another way of saying the first is perhaps the conversations that matter of Juanita Brown and The World Cafe. It is a good phrase and worthy of promotion. It does seed the thought, but does not get to the profundity of it. What is the notion, then? I want to get beyond truth to truth, essence to essence. I have written about lostness and mystery, vulnerability and openness, connection and relation. What are its hallmarks? Searching our depths. Working. Sharing our questionings. Exploring. Not knowing. Open to whatever shows up. Comfortable with being uncomfortable. Emergence. Turning. Metanoia. Indra’s Web. Surprise. Persons flashing in and out of existence. Bursting through past thinking and history to what might be. Examining from as many angles as we can think of. All this around questions that matter, and then that goes almost without saying, for we do not experience lostness, mystery, openness, connection, turning and bursting through in nonsense. We must engage, and so that is what this matter speaks to.

This then is the answer to “news to use:” it is news that matters, something that you do not use, but which meets you. News that meets, that confronts, that holds you in its presence, with its gaze that is from G-d.

Matters then is Meets? Perhaps.

Lostness is central. With it, we can see what is really there, not what we presumed was there, or guessed, or hoped. Especially, with lostness we can meet: each other, and the eternal Thou in which all lines of relation meet.

We will openness and vulnerability; we are graced with surprise and presence and meeting.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on September 12th, 2005 | No Comments »

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