Conversation
from the Heart
“The
moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with
one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.”
James
Baldwin
We humans need to create safe
spaces where we can learn to live together in harmony. You may call that a
foolish notion, but it is not. It is a life-or-death choice to be
made by each of us individually, and all of us collectively. We may
not be able to effect happenings on a grand scale, but we can most
certainly effect them on a small scale. If we want our world to be
different, we must hold one another and not break faith.
There are programs doing
this, of course. Youth Lead is one that brings together young people
of different backgrounds and, over the course of a year, facilitates
their leaning and understanding of divergent cultures and values. A
World of Difference Institute is another such program that encourages
and coordinates diversity education and understanding. But, we don't
have to enroll in a program to bring about change in our communities.
We can simply be open to having civil conversation with people who hold
different views, and commit to listening with the goal of
understanding and not with the goal of debating.
Like any other living thing, the human spirit needs care and tending. We need the
nourishment of communities in which people speak and listen from the
heart. We need circles of respect, in which one's authentic self can
safely show up, and honor both its own life experience and that of
others. We need the essential soul food of conversations that
acknowledge, assist, support and encourage both ourselves and others.
We don't have to join a “cause” if we don't choose to. We can
simply begin with an invitation to have a heart-felt conversation.
Genuine relationship is the glue that holds us together and keeps our
light from going out.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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