LivingInTruth

ISSUE: Living in Truth and Wisdom Centered Philanthrophy

CONVENER(S): ChrisCorrigan and JulieEvansCaldwell

PARTICIPANTS: There must have been 20 people in the circle. GerryGleason

SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION, KEY POINTS, CONCLUSIONS, ACTIONS:

We went around the circle talking about what living in truth meant to each of us. Speaking for myself (Gerry), this was a transforming dialog sourced from the heart. I hope many of the people who were there will come by and add something here not necessarily to say again what we remember of what we each said in the circle, but maybe something about how you feel transformed by it.

For me, it's all about the integrity that comes from living in a way consistent with my highest values, not from fear of having to suffer through payback, bad karma, or hell fires, but because living a virtuous life makes the worlds we dream of living to see possible. What I heard over and over in this circle were acts of taking ownership of what we say constitutes virtue. Maybe we can connect this with the AlternativesToCentrism session where we discussed De-Nationalizing Community where virtue rises from the bottom up in local socially connected contexts rather than from Washington or Rome for that matter.

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ChrisCorrigan here. I'd lilke to take up Gerry's invitation and write personally about this session as it did have that interior quality to it that can only really be caputured by a multiplicity of voices in one place. I'll start with some of the highlights I heard.

I convened this session to hear what people had to say about living in truth, the act of doing the day to day things on behalf of oneself and ones community that sustain the health of society. These daily acts can lead to revolutionary changes, such as those initiated by Vaclav Havel, Adam Michnik, Gandhi and others or they can provide the esstntial service to society of keeping the institutions of free and democratic people alive.

As a Canadian, I shared what was to me a startling observation. This is the first time I have heard Americans in their own country talking about resigning the democratic system that they have cherished since 1776. I have met and heard from friends and others that they have lost faith in the political system and that the institutions of community are so far gone that there seems to be very little hope left. I wish I was exagerrating. This session for me was full of stories both of this despair but also of the hope that is being kindled.

MichaelYacavone told a wonderful story about the amount of creative energy he has expended over the years creating an audio invention and starting a business around it. He talked about how much creative enegery is expended in the world in general in pursuits that create distrations for people and steer them away from the work of building community and maintaining the institutions of democracy. What struck me about this comment was the fact that there is so much creative energy being expended on a daily basis and Michael's devotion to co-ops was an example for putting that savvy to work for the greater good.

DebbieGleason reminded us what it means to live in truth on a personal level when she said that it comes down to the accountability one has to the face in the mirror. A fine personal marker.

CliffAdams left me with an excerpt from Thomas Merton's letter to a young activist (http://www.nd.edu/~mbaxter/cpf/sopI2/sop11.htm) that talks about working without expectation of results.

My emerging sense of living in truth has a few more hooks to hang on.