[Springboard] [Dialogue] The Emerging Shape of the New Pedagogy and a reference to David Whyte

Wed Sep 22 16:53:42 CDT 2010

I'm teaching with this poem and finding it very powerful.  Thanks for sharing.

Blessings,
--
Pat Webb, Executive Director
The Silence Foundation, Inc.
Oklahoma City
(405)209-7117
www.silencefoundation.org

In an artful way ...bringing more silence, reflection, and community-building into our world.

---- pschrijnen at aol.com wrote: 
> Here is a fine example of David Whyte's poetry, which challenges us to 
a interact powerfully with others. Maybe he is even inviting us to 
participate in a new pedagogy.

START CLOSE IN

Start close in,
don't take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step you don't want to take.

Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way of starting
the conversation.

Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people's questions,
don't let them
smother something
simple.

To find
another's voice
follow
your own voice,

wait until
that voice
becomes a
private ear
listening
to another.

Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don't follow
someone else's
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don't mistake
that other
for your own.

Start close in,
don't take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step you don't want to take.

~ David Whyte ~

-----Original Message-----
From: David Dunn <dmdunn1 at gmail.com>
To: OECommunity Community <oe at wedgeblade.net>; Dialogue' Listserv 
<dialogue at wedgeblade.net>; Springboard Listserv 
<springboard at wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:09
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] The Emerging Shape of the New Pedagogy and a 
reference to David Whyte

On Sep 19, 2010, Bill Parker wrote about our changing times and the 
changing nature of our calling:

There is no new pedagogy nor new pedagogue without embodying that which 
is being disclosed in the style of the pedagogy. RSI changed our 
lives because the pedagogues were living their pedagogy! That reality 
was the methodology. We, too, are called to be that embodiment 
regardless of whether we say yes or no to what history is asking us to 
do.

Pat Webb and I had an email exchange recently that fits into this 
conversation. I wrote to Pat:

My quest has been revealed to me in a rather more clear light recently. 
I introduced myself with the expression "post-Christian secular 
religious" for the first time in public a few weeks ago and surprised 
myself by giving a name for what I've been reaching for for some years. 
It's a puzzlement to find myself in but not off the church, in and not 
of the world — both of which seem to equate to "in but not of my own 
symbol system." There are surely a myriad conversations to be had about 
one's calling when the calling seems to transcend the faith tradition 
that gave us heart to recognize and ears to hear the call. It all seems 
a bit torturous. 

To which Pat replied:

I think these words describe very accurately the human journey of our 
times.  We are asked to be grounded and expanded at the same time, 
reaching out and including more and more in our little image 
baskets because the Earth is desperate for that.

…and then added a provocative reference: 

People who are aware of this process and consciously cooperating with 
it are developing what David Whyte calls "True Presence" and a 
"Conversational Identity".  If you haven't gotten his Live in San 
Francisco DVD, you and Burna would just love it!  I think I ordered it 
for $15 on his website DavidWhyte. com  ???? You might want to check it 
out.  Good spirit nurture.

Regards to all.

David

David Dunn
740 S Alton Way 9B
Denver, CO 80247
--
dmdunn1 at gmail.com
720-221-4661

=

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