Archive for April, 2006

Your dream be dreamed

We too often see “Thy will be done” in Garden of Gethsemane terms: something terrible is about to happen to me, but if it is what you want, sigh, I will submit. Instead, remember the promise, “I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” That is the true story of Gethsemane: for behind the fear was a glorious gift never imagined. So we need to remember the true hearing of this prayer will be more like “Your dream be dreamed among us.”

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 30th, 2006 | No Comments »

Church is no thing

The church is not a noun, it is a verb. It consists in the actions it takes in the world, the flow it keeps flowing. It is not about bricks and boards. It is not about anyone’s power. It is not about protecting us saints from them sinners. It is rather about loving the world as much as G-d loved the world. It is about getting busy.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 30th, 2006 | No Comments »

Money: noun or verb?

Is money a noun or a verb? The better, more fruitful way of thinking of it is as verb. It opens new avenues of thought. Money is a flow, a verb that you use to do things with, not something that you primarily store up. Its true value is in movement, not in standing in place. There is no value to a Dollar bill, there is no value to a hoard of gold, only what can be done with it, or what it does to us.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 30th, 2006 | No Comments »

Reach, touch

Reach out and touch your true self.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 30th, 2006 | No Comments »

Making a difference with what we already have

Let us make a difference with what we already have, with whomever we already find ourselves.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 30th, 2006 | No Comments »

Footprints in the Wind sm # 663

Footprints in the Windsm # 663

You are enough.


Please pass it on.

© c 2006, Learning Works, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Easy reprint permissions: 574/291-0022, or by e-mail to mailto:Doug AT FootprintsInTheWind.com. Back issues available at http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com

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Published in: FootprintsintheWind/sm | on April 30th, 2006 | No Comments »

What you’re here for

People do have resources. These exist most often between people. Resources are arced in these betweens. Putting people together puts them to work. Putting them together to simply be an audience does not generate action; they must be involved. Once both head and heart are entwined in the need or opportunity, things happen. That’s what we’re here for.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

resource-full

In conversation we discover, create and put to work our resources.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

hidden

People need to engage their own resources. Chief among these is the dynamic between persons. I have hidden some things in these sentences.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

someone you need to meet

There will be someone there you need to meet.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

Clearing in the woods

Conversation is a clearing in the woods. Here we have the light and the distance to see more clearly how things fit. We also see more clearly the thicket of complexity that grows in front of us. In this light we see possibility.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

engage best

Conversation is a way for people to engage their highest and best.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

less discussion

What this world needs is less debate and discussion.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

Begin the Between

The answer to “How?” is I will try a few things with you. That is, the responsibility must be accepted by me, then acted upon with others. The answer is not out there, not in someone else to take the sweat away from us. The answer is in meeting, in the between. I begin. With you. Begin the Between.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

An Invitation to Immigration Conversations….

Immigration Conversations South Bend Indiana Invitation

There will be someone there you need to meet.

Please click here to view full-size invitation.

Please click here to see a list of people who will be attending.

Published in: Conversations | on April 26th, 2006 | No Comments »

Footprints in the Wind sm # 662

Footprints in the Windsm # 662

One reason Americans love Spirit is we have always been in love with wide open spaces.


Please pass it on.

© c 2006, Learning Works, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Easy reprint permissions: 574/291-0022, or by e-mail to mailto:Doug AT FootprintsInTheWind.com. Back issues available at http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com

Please publish in your print or electronic periodical, with the above info.
To subscribe, send an e-mail with the word “subscribe” to mailto:Doug AT FootprintsInTheWind.com

Published in: FootprintsintheWind/sm | on April 26th, 2006 | No Comments »

the space we’re in

G*d is the space we’re in.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 26th, 2006 | No Comments »

Challenge–cause to….

In our ordinary thinking, the opposite of challenge is ease. We choose the right path and expect the road to open to us, smooth and quickly traveled. Yet challenge may be a necessary part of our progress. It may help us appreciate the end, true. But its main good is giving us cause to lift our foot for this step.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 26th, 2006 | No Comments »

A todo list for our community

Lietaer and Belgin in their Of Human Wealth set out a list of larger tasks for humanity in this early part of the 21st century. This raises my sights above reading to Grandma in the nursing home, so much that I think it will be a good exercise to see what ought to be on our todo list as a community and as a world community.

Their list (p 236):

“Ecological clean-up and sustainability implementation.
“* Climate change mitigation.

“* Urban restoration.

“* Improving literacy levels globally.

“* Feeding, clothing, sheltering, education, and inspiring billions of humans.

“* Ensuring decent care for the growing percentage (sic) of elderly in our societies.

“* Providing learning and creative opportunities for all.”

Globally and locally, I would add:

* Providing ready opportunities for each person to engage in the work of the community.

* Engaging elders in the larger work of the community.

* Reduce the isolation that people feel from one another in our culture.

* Change the habituated response to conflict from violence to kindness, acceptance, and a mutual exploration.

* Include people more openly in the decisions of local government.

* Develop ways and opportunities to provide food clothing shelter and transportation to people who aid the common good.

* Find ways to put together those with the need with those with the resources.

* Change the mind-set from thinking of money to thinking of the resources themselves.

* Encourage the elders of the tribe to contribute their wisdom and stories and resources to the building up of the community.

* Encourage religious congregations to get active beyond their doors: active in caring for the less fortunate, active in justice work, active in movement within their communities.

* Encourage student and parent involvement in the direction of their schools and education, that is leading out.

* Encourage neighbors to meet and engage each other in conversations that matter.

* Educate politicians away from Machiavellian, dualistic, us-against-them patterns of thought into diverse and multifaceted fitting together pictures.

* Clean up the depressing dirty, broken, sick, and graffiti covered areas of our cities and countryside, making more life-enhancing and nourishing space.

* Find ways to get people meaningful work.

* Get people more involved in recycling.

* Get people to the river.

* Find ways to include ex prisoners into productive, creative society.

* Reduce drug and alcohol abuse in our community.

* Increase the people who take part in the life of their communities.

What would you add for your community? How could we make this list more concrete?

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 25th, 2006 | No Comments »

A personal worry: What is standard police procedure in this case?

To our good friends–

The police officer who was shot Friday died yesterday morning. There is a great deal of eulogizing going on in our community and among the police community, as well as hero-naming. Yet I have a concern, a worry, that all might not be as it is portrayed. The worry is this: the police officer was off duty and apparently on a date. The two of them were approached by someone who had a gun in what was described as a robbery attempt. The rest is unclear; police spokesmen have said the police officer followed police procedure. There was an exchange of gunfire and both the officer and the assailant were hit and hospitalized. The policeman pushed his date out of the way taking three bullets. My specific worry: did the procedure require he pull his weapon to stop a robbery attempt? Did this escalate what could have been a mere loss of a wallet to a loss of life? Was he killed as much by the policy as by the bullets? Could the policy be examined to see if the use of weapons of life destruction can be limited?

Is there anybody out there who could tell us what the “standard” police procedures are in these situations?

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 24th, 2006 | No Comments »

Put our heads together?

What’s going on in your community about which we need to put our heads together? Can we come up with a new direction? What if we put our hearts together, too?

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 24th, 2006 | No Comments »

Move beyond debate

The way we move beyond debate is to look for larger vistas, patterns and rhythms, to open our ears and hearts to other melodies, starting with the people here in this room.

:- Doug.

Published in: Conversations | on April 23rd, 2006 | No Comments »

Footprints in the Wind sm # 661

Footprints in the Windsm # 661

Let me ask you some simple questions: Who organizes the rain drops? What is the geometry to prescribe the changing shapes of a cloud? Who among you assigns what each family brings to a potluck? What human hand planted the forests already ancient when humankind first appeared? What board governed the start of the Internet? Can you direct what will excite and interest each of your friends; would you ever want to?


Please pass it on.

© c 2006, Learning Works, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Easy reprint permissions: 574/291-0022, or by e-mail to mailto:Doug AT FootprintsInTheWind.com. Back issues available at http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com

Please publish in your print or electronic periodical, with the above info.
To subscribe, send an e-mail with the word “subscribe” to mailto:Doug AT FootprintsInTheWind.com

Published in: FootprintsintheWind/sm | on April 22nd, 2006 | No Comments »
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