Portraits: What is Missing?

I enjoy viewing the public artwork in my city and while traveling.  To display creativity and beauty invites or encourages us to do the same: be creative in our thoughts; search for beauty in others.  We try to connect, to recognize something familiar.

While on a recent trip, I was stopped by several forms of artwork: pieces of tile arranged to reveal a Dutch nobleman; people dressed in black and red to silhouette the face of Marilyn Monroe; and a figure seated in a Sukhasana pose.

What makes up who we are?

Each of these art objects draw upon individuals (tiles, people, strips of metal) to form the whole.  Similar to a jigsaw puzzle, a missing piece would cause the image to be unfinished, incomplete, not whole. Remember what it was like to get to the end of the puzzle and discover one piece was missing?!

Is that what it is like when a loved one dies, moves away, or leaves us when there is a disagreement?  We feel separated, unfinished, incomplete, not whole.

Can we look beyond our first impressions?
(See what makes up the black and red marks,
click on image to enlarge)

I wonder if that is also true when we do not explore our assumptions about others, our conclusions about their intentions, or how we no longer see how they have changed?  We remain unfinished, incomplete, not whole.

If we focus only on the individual tiles or people in the Dutchman and Marilyn portraits, we lose the ability to see the image that is created when we come together.  Or, maybe we are locked inside the shell of what we believe: a hollow cavern that imprisons us by our thoughts.

Is there more to us than our outer shell?

This doesn't mean that we must give up our values and what is important to us.  Instead, we are invited to share what makes us unique -- while at the same time, listen and accept what is important and unique about the other person.  What binds us together is the Spirit that created and infused us with beauty.  Our goal is to seek the Both-And of the unique individuals we are and the beauty created when we come together.

May we seek out what or who is missing is our lives and learn to cherish our ability to see the whole.
 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

Gone Too Far?

Isn't life interesting?  We learn.  We strive for our goals.  We achieve... or keep trying.  But there are times when we come to a dead end, a challenge too great, or the edge of a precipice.  At each interval of learning, goal setting, and arrival, we have choices:

• What do we want to accomplish?
  
• Will our values inform our decisions?
  
• How shall we proceed... individually and collectively?

I don't know about you, but recent events have brought me to my edge!

Questions to consider as we look down and outward: What are we noticing? What are we learning about ourselves?  Have we gone too far?  Do we want to take this next step?

What do you do when there is no place to go?
(Photo credit:  Higher Education on the Precipice, AACSB)

Media outlets have reported that some are comparing our current situation to the American Revolution or Civil War: fighting against tyranny or an ideology that is abhorred.  The violence at the US Capitol on January 6: is it the beginning of more division, violence, and hate -- OR -- is there a choice not yet seen?

 

As a country, have we forgotten the death and destruction resulting from earlier choices?  Are we ready to experience these forces again in our society?

Are you prepared for the death of dialogue?
(Photo credit: Then and Now Pictures of the Battlefield, Gettsyberg, NPS.gov)

I remembered this quote from Wendell Berry (Standing by Words, 1983) a few days ago:

"It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings."

 

I wonder:  what is impeding the stream of our dialogue?  Can we focus on that obstruction and allow it to "sing" to us?  Maybe the choice is in listening... together... to that impediment.

When is it time to come together?
(Natural Bridge, Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Canada)

Though we must stand by the words, values and commitments that are dear to us, can we take a long loving look at the other person?  Can we sit in our surety... and uncertainty... as we seek ways to bridge our differences?  (This doesn't mean the differences will disappear.  The emphasis is on the bridge!)

If our answer to these questions is "No," I wonder again about the precipice before us.  I am afraid of the next step!

 

May we notice the impeded streams in our lives this week... and the song they are singing to us.  May we notice the impediments... and choose wisely our next steps.

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)