Ben Mates and Craig Caviezel of the Hemingway Foundation hosted a conversation today that I was happy to participate in. They gathered together eight people to continue a dialogue on community resillience. What is resillience? What is a systemic view that helps move the Salt Lake Valley into a healthy and thriving community? It was a group of lovely open thinkers that impressed me for many reasons, including the overall spirit of “what if” questions that were being asked.
I love the clarity that was spoken by Ed Firmage, one of the participants: “So much of our challenge is imagining.” And this clarity from Craig, “You can’t have resillent community without participation.”
Imagine what might change if we were to start with these to statements alone, and then welcome in imagination and processes to awaken imagination and participation.
Looking forward to meeting with this group again in early January to imagine further. I particularly like Ben and Craig’s commitment to working at a level of energy and metaphysics. It shows not only in their language but in their being. This for me is the work of our times that feels so compelling. “Practical metaphysics.” I don’t think I want to end there but it is a good place to start.