Human Transcendence - Going Beyond: the Freedom to Choose

Have you ever had one of those days when everything seemed to go wrong?  (Maybe I shouldn't ask that question at the beginning of the week... sorry!)

My brother emailed me a photo of a 50-lane Beijing traffic jam, which quickly put my situation back into focus:  Okay, maybe my day wasn't THAT bad!

Beijing Motorway (50 lanes): now this is a traffic jam!

But, what about those times when I think "lightning can't strike twice."  I always wonder, "But maybe it can strike twice... or maybe the situation can get worse!"  (I wonder if I have a pessimistic side that anticipates problems?)

Lightning and Golden Gate Bridge (Darvin Atkeson)

I also recall times when I felt so trapped in my own arguments and patterns of thinking that I couldn't find a way out!  Though nautilus shells are pretty from the outside, can you imagine being confined to one of the earlier or smaller chambers and never seeing future possibilities, never experiencing enough room to grow?  I assume that you have lived within these human or societal limitations as well.

There have been times when life has been so challenging that it seemed "the world" was against my every thought and action.  In fact, five years ago this week I left a former employer because options were limited and nothing was "going my way."

Are you trapped in your chambers of thinking and seeing?

Dialogue work has allowed me a chance to ask a different set of questions and to seek other answers.  Being in dialogue with you helps draw forth curiosity about one another and our varied experiences. 

Instead of focusing so much on me and my situation, I am beginning to see a wider view of life:

• What are you experiencing and thinking, and why?
• How are you seeing the situation?
• What are your struggles and choices?

Hoping to see beyond the boundaries and limits!

Humanity has a remarkable ability to adapt; that is, when we choose to see beyond the moment and into a more transcendent view of life, choice, and future.

In other words, I can choose to notice others and be curious about their life experiences.  Through this awareness, I can become more compassionate towards myself and others.  I can see and accept that we impact one another and are interdependent.  We can experience creative freedom by listening to and understanding other ideas, viewpoints, and worldviews.  Dialogue transforms You and Me into We.

 

Dynamic Dialogue: Ways of Being (courtesy of Bread of Life Center)

The steps that have enabled glimpses of this change:

• Slowing down, and noticing how I react: my autopilot initial reaction.
• Slowing down, and checking out assumptions and meanings I have attached to another person.
• Slowing down, and checking out other opportunities - with you!
• Choosing to be in relationship and responding in a new way!

Double Loop Learning: pausing and creating a Choice-Point

   
This internal self-reflection and self-engagement with long held beliefs and this external engagement and reflection with others poses a new question for us this week:

Wouldn't we rather do this internal/external work than sit in another 50-lane traffic jam or be hit by lightning again? 

Möbius Strip: infinitely working internal and external

We know how these stories go!  This week let's choose to learn a new way to engage and be present!

Here's hoping that we have fewer jams, strikes, and confining chambers!  Let's choose to go beyond!

Larry Gardepie