Values

"We may believe very strongly in certain values, but it is only as we inhabit an environment that encourages those values, an environment that also 'believes' in those values, that we are able to engage in lasting change."

Peter Rollins

I've left that quote on the "weekly quote" section for a few weeks now. Partly because I'm lazy, but partly because I find it to be such an exposing statement. And also, in part, because before I took it down I wanted to say a few things about it.

First - We all have certain values. They may have come to reside with us through a powerful life experience, perhaps something our parents taught us, or maybe just some bit of truth that we have come to identify with and can't seem to let go of. Whatever it is, when we are within an environment that contradicts or is separate from these values it can cause what I will call: internal turmoil.  Robert Pirsig explains this further considering the value of progress:

"... a civilization that kills multitudes in mass warfare, that pollutes the land and oceans with ever larger quantities of debris, that destroys the dignity of individuals by subjecting them to a forced mechanized existence can hardly be called an advance..."  (From Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)

That might seem a little extreme, but is it? Take to mind that it was written nearly 35 years ago.  How many of those things have happened since 1974 in one way or another. So I must ask: are we progressing as a culture? And, is  progress a value that we (you or I) hold dear.  And if it isn't, now what?

Obviously, progress is good right? We have eradicated certain diseases and contained many others. I didn't have to make a fire to cook my dinner last night. But still I ask, are getting somewhere? It seems to be a question I am not yet able to answer.

Second: Being encouraged in our values: When I hear the word encouraged, I like to break it down even further thanks to a friend who once told me to encourage is to "impart courage." To give it. To create it where it did not exist before. I'm fortunate to say that on occasion I have been given courage. I've probably received more than I've given. (I hope that changes). However, in those moments when some one reaches out and gives you hope or courage in an area of your life that you really long to have it, a window to a whole new world opens up. And that world is the place where we actually get to engage in lasting change.

Third: Engaging in lasting change: In some senses it can be hard to separate that statement from the idea of progress. It seems they have become entwined. To change something is to move it forward, to affect it. Or so we've been told. But lasting change seems to be so much simpler than affecting the future outcome. I guess what I'm saying is in effect, change is not so much a course correction, as it is a mode of transportation. Its not where you go, its how you go about getting there. Its how you see things when you're on a walk versus on a run. On a motorcycle versus in a car.

So for reasons such as these, the quote from Peter Rollins is important and I don't want to forget it.