Building Bridges!

Guess I'm taking the easy way on this post as I'm just going to reproduce a note I recently received from Richard Rohr's Center for Action and Contemplation. It addresses the efficacy of building bridges instead of the historical path of walls.

"You and I are witnessing something transformational occurring in our own time. Do you percieve it?

I believe there is a deep shift in consciousness occuring in our day. You and I can be inspired by many prophetic voices not only describing, but also participating in this work and calling it forth.

They describe the magnitude of this shift in terms like "The Work that Reconnects" (Joanna Macy), "The Great Turning" (David Korten), "The Work" (Byron Katie), "The Dream of the Earth" (Thomas Berry), or "Integral Consciousness" (Ken Wilber).

And yet, other voices cry out even louder, it seems, in opposition to any shift away from the old, outmoded and destructive way of seeing and being in the world. We see evidence of this daily in the angry and uncivil public conversation in the media. The absolute unwillingness to compromise and work for the common good characterizes liberals and conservatives alike on almost every political, social, and church issue.

Now is the time for a wholly different mind to emerge. A mind and perspective that moves beyond the dualism of us versus them, beyond the partisanship of Left and Right, beyond the polarization of conservative or liberal. This painful moment cries out for transformation made possible only through what you and I have come to know as "contemplation."

For us, contemplation with action is the primary experiential form of re-education--of mind, emotions, and heart --and therefore of everything else! Contemplation opens us up to this shift in consciousness and sends us into creative action!

This is "the work" of the CAC both domestically and internationally in the area of Emerging Church, eco-spirituality, action and contemplation, two halves of life work, male and female spirituality, and non-dualistic or third way politics.

I believe this is the work of the Holy Spirit outpoured in our time. Let us pray and work in cooperation with this emerging Christianity, this shift in consciousness, and build bridges through the work of the Center for Action and Contemplation."