Dialogue is not simply an exchange of ideas
Ut Unum Sint, John Paul II
The capacity for ‘dialogue’ is rooted in the nature of the person and human dignity….we cannot ‘fully find ourselves except through a sincere gift of ourselves….Dialogue is not simply an exchange of ideas. In some ways it is always an exchange of gifts’.
Ut Unum Sint, John Paul II
Image: Fiona Morley, One to One
John Paul II, as early as 1969 (going beyond Descartes’ ‘I think, therefore I am’) wrote: ‘I am in the world, therefore I am related to all people and all things’. This was central to his understanding of solidarity – ‘bearing one another’s burdens’. Other people are not rivals he would say – they always enrich us by their very presence.
Image: Fiona Morley, The never ending conversation
It is easy to think of close friends as gifts
but what about the stranger, or even the enemy?
Perhaps when we see the enemy outside us – and keep her there –
it is an invitation to locate the stranger or the enemy within –
the one we so often ignore or even despise.
What might happen if we give her some space and listen to her?
The images in this post are of works by Fiona Morley, an artist who works in a range of media, including making wire sculptures that create a fragile and ephemeral image.
I spend a lot of time reflecting on our consciousness, psychology and spirituality, in particular the concept of non-duality, that is, the inter-connectedness or the One nature of all things.
This inner life is mirrored in our outer lives and environment. By intertwining creatures and plants within the human form, it’s a reminder of our own connectedness to all of life, where, especially in these times, we tend to separate our human selves from nature to our detriment. Source: About Fiona Morley
For a printable PDF of the text of this meditation please click on the link below.
