Replying to LO30361 --
Hello Dan and At,
Dan, that's a beautiful story -- entering the Sundogs. I felt like I
experienced it with you. And knew, somehow beyond language, what you
mean.
(A lot of Andrew's writing comes to mind).
A few days ago Diane Cory sent along one of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems,
called "Moving Forward:"
The deep parts of my life pour onward,
as if the river shores were opening out.
It seems that things are more like me now,
that I can see further into paintings.
I feel closer to what language can't reach.
With my senses, as with birds, I climb
into the windy heaven, out of the oak.
And in the ponds broken off from the sky,
my feeling sinks, as if standing on fishes.
"You become responsible for what you tame" (Dan). I've been having the
feeling for years now, that many folks are more interested in finding out
something new to the exclusion of doing something with the stuff they're
learning. I've been thinking about your piece At, about finding the
inspiration to become an LO. Dan, your story inspires me to become an LO.
Or actually, to live as though I'm in (or part of) an LO. And At, even
your story about inspiration inspires me.
Once upon a time, I was inspired to be part of an LO -- to help an
organization continuously strive to become one. That inspiration has
never faded, rather it has grown stronger and brighter. It took me a long
time to read much of what's in the "5th Discipline." I don't think I've
read it all (I read from the middles out). I was inspired by a dream.
I'm inherently hopeful, and I saw a way to manifest that hope through
people who were excited by LO concepts. About ten years ago, I had the
pleasure of being in a workshop (sounds like the wrong word for the
experience) with Peter Senge. What has stayed with me has not been five
disciplines, but what he exudes -- his gentleness, the way he thinks, his
passion for what can be, his patient inclusiveness, his way of helping a
group of people discover together. Maybe it's that he lives what he
believes. With Peter, as with many others who write, debates ensue over
whether a certain man or woman "has it right." So often there is more
common ground than people imagine. What people hardly ever get to see is
the authors as they live out what they believe.
I want to remember who I am and know who I'm becoming. Voices inside me
seem to be screaming to know what to do now -- what to do next. And
somehow I feel that more stuff is not what's being called for. Rather
maybe it's how to make sense of all the stuff stuffed inside. I'm called
to be with groups of people who are making simple sense of how to live the
stuff we already know. To hear the stories. To have conversations. To
listen. To imagine. To Dream. To live it.
Thanks for the memories and the hope.
John
--John Dicus | CornerStone Consulting Associates Bringing Systems Thinking To Life 2761 Stiegler Road, Valley City, OH 44280 800-773-8017 | 330-725-2728 (2729 fax) mailto:jdicus@ourfuture.com | http://www.ourfuture.com
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