STORY SHARING -- 1

+ It has to happen. You can be a Christian but you’ve got to be a Buddhist too … and a Hindu … and a Jew …and a Muslim … and a Shaman … and a Taoist … and a Wicca … and a Sikh … and an agnostic … and an atheist … and a scientist … and (add your own possibilities).  I call this mutual conversion. 

+ Humanity is at a crossroads.  We have come a long, long way in our million years since we evolved from something pre-human.  But we have a long way to go if we are going to stop killing each other and killing far too many animals and plants. 

+ How are we going to do that?  I don’t know but I want to urge us on somehow.  I have a few ideas … well maybe even a lot of ideas that I want to share.  They are not original ideas.  Maybe one or 2 are, I don’t know. They are ideas I have discovered over the years as I have sought wisdom and guidance from many sources. I don’t pretend to speak to the whole human race. But I have your attention and maybe I can keep your attention long enough to influence you in a positive way so that you can contribute even more effectively to a future of compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance. I believe we can create such a future if we can learn how to radically embrace and own the stories of others, one story at a time.

+ It is urgent that we begin to affirm the stories of others as much as we affirm our own stories. So urgent.

+ I have a story.  It’s a good one.  It is not better than your story.  But my story is a good story and I want you to embrace it, to own it, yes, to make it your own.  You don’t have to claim all of the details but I want you, I need you, to embrace and own my story as much as you possibly can.  And my promise to you is that I will embrace and own your story as much as I possibly can. 

+ Some of my story may be easy for you to embrace and own because you and I surely share some common themes.  I am going to call these themes “gifts.”  As you look over the contents of this book I hope you can identify some gifts you have received with the same titles that I use. But, on the other hand, there may be some gifts in my story which you will not find easy to embrace and own.  That’s the challenge I put before you and me. I need to move out of my comfort zone and radically embrace some gifts which are not familiar to me, which threaten me, which scare me, which confuse me.  I believe we all need to do that. I believe our journey will become more and more amazing, fantastic, wonderful as we discover, explore, experiment, create a new and greater story by giving and receiving new and different gifts.  What do you think?