Human to Human

Wayne Muller is founder of Bread for the Journey. He is author, speaker, spiritual director, and community builder.

I read one of his blogs this morning on “The Power of Downward Mobility.” A piece of it is excerpted below. The article is worth a read.

What I find with the precepts is that they are particularly good when people, groups of people, are considering what to do next. Realistically, most of us have many choices most of the time. The choices and the prioritizing can be paralyzing, enough to render action impossible. A bit like spending the night considering options for a movie, but running out of time to actually watch it.

To me, his words point to the maturing that is committed to the simple, and, a framework for why that makes perfect sense.

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The threads of continuity that bind us together are woven out of a few simple precepts, ways of working which have stood the test of time. When we began, our precepts were clear, and few:

• Keep it simple.
• Fund people, not projects.
• Trust in authentic relationships, rather than proposals.
• Small is beautiful.
• Start with a strength assessment, not a needs assessment.

• • “Behind every face is a secret, hidden, inner life.” Thanks John O’Donahue, calling for our human perception and presence.
  • The world changes when large numbers of people change the way they think little bit. Thanks Willis Harman, from many years ago.
  • Thx @chriscorrigan: When asked to evaluate Open Space I have each participant complete this sentence: “As a result of this meeting…”
  • Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist: “Physics is like sex. There are practical outcomes, but that isn’t why we do it.”
  • “In the 1980s capitalism triumphed over communism. In the 1990s it triumphed over democracy.” Thanks @dkorten.
  • “Failure is always an option when exploring; but fear is not.” Thanks Charles LaFond: http://www.sjcathedral.org/DailySip/PostID/433 …
  • We’re all ducks on this lake. We can’t have labels or divisions. We’re all connected in the problems and in the solutions. @WaNonprofits
  • Heard through @quanitam this weekend: “Life is out to gift us, not to get us.”
  • “The central silence is the purest element of the soul, the soul’s most exalted place, the core, the essence of the soul.” Meister Eckhart

I arrived at the airport early today, several hours before my flight. I did so to accommodate my son, giving him a few bucks for driving me to the airport (rather than paying it in parking or to a taxi service). I did so to spend a bit of time with him, and it is wonderfully convenient.

It’s easy for me to work at the airport. Wifi. My laptop. My phone. A few files. Today I did, for about three hours.

The table I chose to work at was next to a moving walkway. Sometimes it was heavily occupied. At other times sparsely. Mostly, I was focussed on my work.

However, I couldn’t help but look up each time I heard a child giggling as he or she raced what I assume were parents who were not on the walkway. Moms and Dads walking very quickly. Kids picking up their pace. Each eyeing each other and escalating the speeds. Shouts of caution from the parents — “Watch out for the people in front of you!” “Careful at the end!”

It was a game, in which the adults became kids. I’ve done this enough with my own kids over the years. It was fun to see 8-10 times today.

Joy is like that I suppose. It doesn’t really interrupt the good work I was doing. It enhances it.

Nic Askew is an English filmmaker living in the US. He’s committed to films that show more of human experience. The raw stuff. The simple stuff.

His site contains this premise: “The causes of much of what happens in our lives lie far deeper than we imagine. Yet we seldom look far enough beneath the surface.”

I received a broadcast email from him this week. I got curious. I peeked at the film he was sharing, an introduction to some of his work. I laughed immediately as I watched these beautiful people he featured, well, laughing. And then sharing a few words that debunk some of the many myths of certainty that populate much of western thought.

Oh, how beautiful, I thought. I’m not a film-maker, though I admit there are many days when I wish I was. I’m glad to be in a field, however, that deliberately invokes a depth of humanity, very present human minutes, in service to deliberate and desirable futures.

Give it a peek, on his site, here. Just three minutes.