November 2023: Pom-pom Making and a World Waiting to be Born

We are living in a time of great divisions and hugely polarised political disagreements. These disagreements are not just about ideology and policies, but also about the facts, including regarding the Global pandemic, climate change and migration with no real debate or conversation. Real and heartfelt conversation includes both listening to self and the other and being open to change. 

During the time of the pandemic many people have found themselves entering more deeply into conversation with others, whilst others have sought only to express strong opinions, often built on misinformation and anxiety and are unable to listen to any view that doesn’t co-incide with their own. In many ways the quality of our lives in recent months has depended on the quality of our conversations and the way in which we connect with others through them. For many, the ability to hold meaningful and connecting conversations with others, in person or online has been a lifesaver. From these conversations I am sensing that there is a real hope for change.

Some time ago I listened to a CD by poet David Whyte, called ‘Life at the Frontier – Leadership Through Courageous Conversation. David Whyte suggests that courageous conversation is necessary for effective leadership. If we find ourselves, or plan to be, on the frontier of change in our own lives or in society then we need to be leaders to ourselves. We can give ourselves self-leadership through stilling ourselves enough to listen to what our hearts are telling us and holding listening and heartfelt conversations with others.

What sort of conversation do I mean? How can a conversation be creative and transforming rather than upholding the status quo or taking us down an oft – repeated track? And what would make it a courageous conversation? David Whyte suggests that it needs to be a courageous conversation.

'Courage' comes from the French word coeur or heart, and 'conversation' has in the roots of it’s meaning; "act of living with”, "to keep company with," literally to "turn about with" and to share intimately. 

So a courageous conversation might be heartfelt, one that is fundamental to the way we feel and think. It often takes courage to uncover what is truly in our hearts, beyond our solely rational, logical opinions. When this heart-led conversation involves others, it means seeing “the other” not as opponents who must be won over, or valued only as recipients of our opinions. Rather they are companions on a voyage of discovery sharing or ‘living intimately with us' in conversation, with a sense of  mutual learning and deep respect. 

When we are courageous but also sensitive in our conversations it can deepen our relationships and improve the whole quality of our lives and connection with others. 

Soon, pandemic permitting, we will be gathering with others, friends, families and colleagues, to celebrate the festive season. I wish you all many heart-warming and transforming conversations!

In the last newsletter I introduced the idea of living for the whole and its importance in creating a just and sustainable future for all life on planet Earth. In many ways "living for the whole" or "life for the whole" is not a completely new idea and has been expressed in many traditions in different terms. The essence of many religious and spiritual traditions and creation narratives is love for your neighbour and care for the earth.  

"Science has proved we are one. All is intermingling energy..."  Jude Curriven  

Today scientific knowledge has expanded our idea of what loving your neighbour and caring for the earth might mean. Best-selling author Lynne Mctaggart points to the “illusion of  separation”. We are all more deeply connected with each other and the whole of creation than the materialist world view, expressed in the quotation below, which has dominated science for centuries allows. 

"I have described the Earth and the whole visible Universe in the manner of a machine." Descartes (Scientist and Philosopher)

This view of Nature as nothing more than a machine has focused on the idea that nothing exists beyond the material world. This has underpinned the commercialisation and commodification of Nature, allowing people to use its resources in thoughtless and destructive ways, leading to our present climate crisis. 

What is sometimes referred to as the New Science presents an alternative view and suggests that we are all parts of one interconnected energy field which extends throughout the known universe.  

At surface level we are separate beings but beneath this we are more deeply connected than is often imagined. Even though we may not recognise it, our decisions, thoughts and actions impact the world around us in ways we don't always understand or realise. 

“You could not remove a single grain of sand from its place without thereby … changing something throughout all parts of the immeasurable whole.”  Fichte, The Vocation of Man 

However small our actions, they can have far reaching effect as in the often quoted phrase: 

“a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can produce a tornado in Texas.” Edward Norton Lorenz 

For Human and Earth flourishing for all, living for the whole needs to become a core value for humanity and in this way huge and urgent change can happen.  

Our choices matter! Especially if we want to follow Gandhi's advice to "Be the change you wish to see". 

Hope springs eternal in the human breast. - Alexander Pope

Hope is the faith that, together we can make things better. - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Much has been written about the power of hope and opinion seems to be divided on its’ usefulness and value. Some see hope as something negative – leading to apathy and inertia.

Others point to ‘false hope’ attributing to it the means of making life bearable, other see in it quite the opposite, the devastating effect when a false hope is revealed as precisely that –false.

More often I believe hope is seen as something positive, it can keep us going and strengthen resolve when times are tough or uncertainty abounds. It can be a motivating and revivifying force.

Episcopal Priest and author, Cynthia Bourgeault points out that sometimes optimism can ensue from hope, ‘In our usual way of looking at things, hope is tied to outcome. We would normally think of it as an optimistic feeling – or at least a willingness to go on – because we sense that things will get better in the future’. However as we shall see below, hope and optimism have different qualities.

However, hope like love, is a quality that is multifaceted and not always easy to put into words.  I would like to consider here a few aspects of hope that I find particularly helpful and are perhaps not so commonly recognised. One aspect is described in the following quotation: Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. -Václav Havel, Disturbing the Peace (1986)

Here we see hope as something which is not connected to outcome but to something which seems right at an inner level. It brings with it a sense that we must be a certain way, or do a certain thing because it has intrinsic value in itself – regardless of the outcome.  It is a quality of being, even a way of life, going beyond positive thinking into positive living.

Today I hear many people expressing a sense of hopelessness about the many huge challenges facing our world, from climate challenges and loss of biodiversity to polarisation and growing inequality.

Havel provides a counter to this despair: even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance.

This is a crucial factor in what I think of as “participatory hope”.  This kind of hope is a quality of the heart. The deep heart which sees all things, connects all things, holds all things together in compassionate love. Hope can be both a call and the fuel for action.

“Hope’s home is at the innermost point in us, and in all things. It is a quality of aliveness. It does not come at the end, as the feeling that results from a happy outcome. Rather, it lies at the beginning, as an impulse of truth that shines forth. When our innermost being is attuned to this impulse it will send us forth in hope, regardless of the physical circumstances of our lives.” - Cynthia Bourgeault

In the words of peace activist, Fr John Dear, ‘to be hopeful, do hopeful things’.
There is a growing emphasis on the daily practice of expressing gratitude and how it can lead to a more fulfilled life, from religious teachings to the evidence- based insights from the field of Positive Psychology. A helpful practice might be to regularly reflect on what hopeful actions one can take no matter what the situation and then going out and doing them!