Onto the afternoon sessions of Deepening Community Edmonton as brought to us by the Tamarack Institute.
I had the gift of attending Al and Vickie's session entitled Beauty, Hospitality and Community Change. When we walked in the seats were set in a circle. They alerted us that the proper title for this session was a beauty jam. Mark, who heads up Vibrant Communities Canada, started us off by claiming his space as an artist and encouraging us to claim spaces as well. He then shared this amazing poem/spoken word piece called Let's Take a Break from Doing Good. It's a must read for anyone trying to make the world a better place. Great reality check.
Vickie and Al shared that sometimes we forget all that is beautiful and wonderful in the world in our day to day grind and yet it is those moments of beauty that we should raise to the light and shout loudly about. Beauty is a proxy for relationships, dignity, nature, magic and so many other wonderful things that fill us up. Beauty is critical to social change. As Dostoevsky said it will save the world.
One of the participants in the session shared two very profound things. That beauty has woken him up. That he was sleepy and not really living. As he began to reflect on the beauty of his bees that he kept he began to come alive and see more beauty everywhere. He saw the beauty in his neighbour and community that had not been apparent to him before. Aesthetic is the cure to anesthetic and so much of our modern world is trying to anesthetize us.
Al and Vickie wrapped it up with some amazing insight. We spend so much time trying to shift people's minds and often end up in frustration when they just don't get our idea. What if we put as much effort into trying to open up our own and other's hearts in hopes of opening up our minds? Artists have been doing this since the dawn of time. Where are they in our important work?
The day ended with a block party and bbq in the sun overlooking Edmonton's River Valley. Gave us all a chance to take in and savor the beauty around us and reflect on a fulfilling first day. Shout out to The City of Edmonton for simplifying the block party process, including making it free of charge, that enabled us to partake in a truly awesome cap to the day.
Being a Force for Good 