Monday, July 19, 2010

A letter to me
asking me Questions -
so I thought I would answer here.
I am going to Number 10 and working up to 3 where I left off yesterday.


10 Why do you do everything you do for the YMCA/Youth etc, and what goal do you want to achieve?
I have changed over the years. I change over the days/hours. I believe that a caterpillar looks nothing like a butterfly but one develops from the other.
I believe that all humans can change. I hope this will be for the good.

Some humans don't change for the good. I believe they are trapped in a bubble, only having a small repertoire of options in their life toolbox. They learn from the life models around them as we do. One of my goals is to introduce others to a range of life options that are known to me - me in my deficient stumbling lifestyle. If humans can see other options of how to live, they can decide to take the risk of stepping outside their comfort zones where growth resides.
Some humans lack the confidence. Lacking the confidence to risk change for fear of failure again. They may have a tough hard exterior, lots of hardness, volume and tattoos but they, like you and me, are full of feelings which drive certain behaviour for us.
I believe that liberation must be achieved by the person themselves.
Liberation can not be imposed on a person - otherwise it is not liberation it is just stepping out of one mould to another.

so show/me/how to feel/about being me/so that I can leave my shell/
and shout and jump and kick/until something gets changed/
because the future is mine/and I don't want it to be like/the past/
and I hate/ seeing people starve/in order to give me/cheap trainers.


In my work I work with humans and it is all developmental stuff. I used to believe in instant conversion. Conversion to God and perfection. I don't believe that now. I believe in the journey of change like the butterfly, like a flower from a bud. Like an acorn to an oak tree. I do believe that all of us need to reach out for our God given potential. All that we can become.

I work with people where they are at. That means working with them on the next step in development. Not to achieve wholeness right here right now. But my ultimate objective is to encourage them to develop into wholeness and I use developmental experiences as tools in that pursuit.

I believe in wholeness. Yet I believe we never will be complete until we meet the Divine in an eternal place. As for life, it is a journey into wholeness. The English Bible word 'peace' is translated from the Hebrew word 'Shalom'.This means a lot more than 'peace man' 'chilling out' or 'absence of war'.
It means::
a For the individual - a totally integrated life of health of body, heart and mind, attuned to nature, open to others, in joy with God.
b Between persons - sharing, mutuality and love.
c In community or society - justice, dignity, independence and freedom, harmony and reciprocity, the contentment with 'enough' that all may have 'enough'.
It is the opposite to oppression, violence, and selfishness;
it means man/woman as a caring trustee of creation,
having ended exploitation, indifference and irresponsibility.
The shalom 'which passes all understanding',
the total well-being he wills for man - woman and the cosmos.

I ended my first book 'Gutter Feelings' with this verse::
"Seek the shalom of the city
where I have sent you ...
and pray to the Lord on its behalf;
for in its shalom
you will find your own shalom."



PS
This response is incomplete/imperfection/just like me !
Pip Wilson
www.pipwilson.com