One of the most influential books in my quest to expand my boundaries has been The Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander. A most helpful aspect of their book is that each chapter is an idea which may expand what we think is possible and a practice that we can try in our daily living. The last chapter of this book is entitled; Telling the WE Story. Basically, they propose the radical idea of there being not only an authentic you and an authentic me but also, an authentic WE. The WE is not a compromise of me and you. The WE is something like the whole being more than the sum of its parts. The WE is something to be discovered as individuals come together to find out how and who they are in and within the WE. Until we write the story of the WE......it doesn't exist.
All of us are going through "growing up" process ...... finding out who we are as individuals is an important process and is vital in finding and telling the story of WE. I feel, in my own journey, I needed a strong sense of "I" before I could even think about joining in the story of WE....... I even had to get sick and tired of my story of ME before I was ready for WE.
Here is the thing I realized today.......Part of the story of WE is that our fellow human beings are all in the process of "growing up" and are all at different points of embracing the WE. Telling the WE story includes all stages and styles of fellow beings....and when I can be in this WE story, accepting everyone exactly as they are, I don't suffer. In this new creation of WE, "I" has faded into the background and isn't here to suffer. For sure, "I" can always come to the foreground and reassert its presence (and I do) but I have noticed that this has become a choice for me.....a conscious choice that I am now aware of and free to make.
Telling the story of WE does not include separation, blame, revenge, etc......The WE is only accessed on a moment to moment basis as an unfolding of what two or more human beings can achieve together as the are both or all willing to let the I-dentities release and the boundaries expand...... How amazing it is when groups come together to expand into the WE but also amazing are the examples of only one person willing to expand and start a movement.......
There are many examples of such individuals we can site spanning the globe and time....Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa and many more... But I am confident that smaller movements have been and are numerous.
About a year ago I was in a workshop and was put on the spot to declare what I really wanted to do in life. I had no time to prepare a reasonable response so I said the first thing that came to mind that felt true to me. I announced to this group that ....
....." I want to end suffering ..... I want to start a movement that ends suffering"
I've decided to explore and spread the WE story ....... as part of it all.
All of us are going through "growing up" process ...... finding out who we are as individuals is an important process and is vital in finding and telling the story of WE. I feel, in my own journey, I needed a strong sense of "I" before I could even think about joining in the story of WE....... I even had to get sick and tired of my story of ME before I was ready for WE.
Here is the thing I realized today.......Part of the story of WE is that our fellow human beings are all in the process of "growing up" and are all at different points of embracing the WE. Telling the WE story includes all stages and styles of fellow beings....and when I can be in this WE story, accepting everyone exactly as they are, I don't suffer. In this new creation of WE, "I" has faded into the background and isn't here to suffer. For sure, "I" can always come to the foreground and reassert its presence (and I do) but I have noticed that this has become a choice for me.....a conscious choice that I am now aware of and free to make.
Telling the story of WE does not include separation, blame, revenge, etc......The WE is only accessed on a moment to moment basis as an unfolding of what two or more human beings can achieve together as the are both or all willing to let the I-dentities release and the boundaries expand...... How amazing it is when groups come together to expand into the WE but also amazing are the examples of only one person willing to expand and start a movement.......
There are many examples of such individuals we can site spanning the globe and time....Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa and many more... But I am confident that smaller movements have been and are numerous.
About a year ago I was in a workshop and was put on the spot to declare what I really wanted to do in life. I had no time to prepare a reasonable response so I said the first thing that came to mind that felt true to me. I announced to this group that ....
....." I want to end suffering ..... I want to start a movement that ends suffering"
I've decided to explore and spread the WE story ....... as part of it all.
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