Replying to LO26335
Winfried writes:
You have contrasted passion with "comfortably numb". This reminds me of
Odysseus... // ...How could he have "both/and," overcoming the necessity
to choose? Well, did he have any choice? Choosing passion would have
distracted him from his goal "home" and would have killed him. Choosing
comfortable numbness would have cost him the strength he needed to draw
his bow at home (in my imagination). What did he do? May I say, he
empowered his men to take care for the goal by making them cunningly
"comfortably numb," while self-listening to the sirens song, safely bound
to the mast?
Surely the tension between passion and comfort has driven many members of
the human race, it may well have shaped human races history. And is still
shaping...
Liebe Gruesse,
Winfried
~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dear Winfried,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. Most recently I have been reading
a lot to avoid doing some writing I know I must get on with. I'm choosing
the comfort of reading (reading is noble -- we all know that -- so I'm
excused, right?) to avoid searching for my passionate voice.
But I indeed was out cold. That self- and organizationally-induced
numbness I talked about. The comfortable numbness (thank-you Pink Floyd)
was because of the myth I was living A self-sealing and dangerous one.
How many of you out there in LO List-Land have been awakened in the last
5-10 years by something seemingly serendipitous, or by someone you feel
you owe your life to? When you woke up, did you marvel that you could
have been so unaware of a less fragmented, more whole way of being?
Do you remember the poem David Whyte included in "The Heart Aroused" by
the woman from AT&T? "Ten years ago, I turned my face for a moment, and
it became my life." And his "Revelation Must Be Terrible With No Time To
Say Good-Bye" gives me chills.
Well, I remember the date I woke up and who awakened me. She has since
said -- "Oh poo, if I hadn't then someone else would have." But just the
same I owe a lot to Diane Cory for having the courage to shake sleeping
people awake.
Since talk of poetry and passion began my contributions, I'll close with
this by Rumi:
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you...
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want...
Don't go back to sleep.
People are moving back and forth across the
doorsill where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open...
Don't go back to sleep.
Thanks,
John
-- John Dicus | CornerStone Consulting Associates -- Leadership -- Systems Thinking -- Team Building -- Open Space -- 2761 Stiegler Road, Valley City, OH 44280 800-773-8017 | 330-725-2728 (2729 fax) mailto:jdicus@ourfuture.com | http://www.ourfuture.comLearning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
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