Engaging Differences

Engaging Differences
As LCWR continues to respond
to the process of the doctrinal
assessment, I have frequently
called to mind Einstein’s assertion
that it is impossible to solve any
problem with the same mindset that
created it. That thought carries a challenge.
First of all, our own mindsets are
usually quite invisible to us. How do
we personally and collectively touch
into and live from a new consciousness
capable of transcending our blind spots?
This moment in history calls us to
stretch in that direction, for the sake of the church and
world. I imagine that you, like I, want to offer the best
of ourselves in response. One thing is clear to me. It is
God who opens new spaces within and among us as we
surrender in contemplation towards gratuitous grace.
What often seems to lead us to that surrender is finding
ourselves really not knowing what to do.
Constance Fitzgerald, OCD, in “Impasse and Dark
Night” says: “The experience of impasse can be a source
of creative growth and transformation if it is fully appropriated
within one’s heart and flesh with consciousness
and consent; if the limitations of one’s humanity
and human condition are squarely faced and the sorrow
of finitude allowed to invade the human spirit with real
existential powerlessness; if the ego does not demand
understanding in the name of control and predictability
but is willing to admit the mystery of its own being
and surrender itself to this mystery; if the path into
the unknown, into the uncontrolled and unpredictable
margins of life, is freely taken when the path of deadly
clarity fades.”
What often seems to lead us to that surrender
is finding ourselves
really not knowing what to do.
What if transformation most frequently happens
when differences come into
uncomfortable contact with each other,
inviting mutual re-shaping?
Personally, I’m quite fond of clarity,
though it seems to be increasingly
elusive these days. Differing viewpoints
and perspectives abound in ways that
often seem to clash and muddy the waters.
But what if muddiness is the most
direct way forward? What if transformation
most frequently happens when
differences come into uncomfortable
contact with each other, inviting mutual
re-shaping? What if the encounters that
disturb and confuse us are privileged
pathways to a new consciousness otherwise
difficult to access?
Margaret Wheatley tells us that “change always starts
with confusion; cherished interpretations must dissolve
to make way for the new… Curiosity is what we need.
We don’t have to let go of what we believe, but we do
need to be curious about what someone else believes.
We do need to acknowledge that their way of interpreting
the world might be essential to our survival.”
I recently had an experience of proposing something to
a group in my congregation, certain that there would be
very broad, if not unanimous agreement. There wasn’t.
I was surprised. However, an important awareness
arose in me as a result. Bumping up against assumptions
about what my colleagues thought led me to a
new curiosity about their ideas and experience. Deeper
conversation resulted, leading to a richly expanded
view of the issue at hand. The affirmation of like-minded
peers is the more comfortable path. But engaging
differences may be the more direct route to bringing
our assumptions and invisible mindsets into awareness,
making them more available for transformation.

The above is from:  https://lcwr.org/publications/february-2013