On the 11th February as the world celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, I travelled north to Dromantine for a day on Living Systems. Earlier in the year, we received an article on “Religious life for a world in transition” by Paula Downey. I was energised by reading such phrases as “the organisation that serves contemporary and emerging needs is the organisation that will endure” “deep change is about experimenting and learning” and “change is about a diverse group with a stake in a shared future creating that future together, as equals”.
This day was part of our fallow time, as we nurture ourselves anew. In her opening address, Nellie reminded us that we are certainly aware of change, brokenness and transformation. We were gathered today “to waken from the illusion of our separateness” (Tich Naht Hahn) and to discover what we wanted to do with our “one wild and precious life” (Mary Oliver)
Frances O’Kane led us gently in meditation in the morning and early afternoon. She reminded us that as we breathe in and out our breath flows through our heart. If our heart is on fire, we are on fire, mercy is on fire and the world is on fire. We centred on our energy and passed it on to others.
Paula reminded us that we do not have to have a PhD in physics to appreciate and understand Living Systems. How true! She continued some of the themes mentioned in her article “Religious life for a world in transition”. Systems (our congregation is a system) are nested inside each other like Russian dolls. The components make each other, change each other and co-evolve in relationship with each other. They work when boundaries are fluid and everything is connected, shaped by everything else. They make each other by referring to their story. So for us Mercy Sisters, our clear shared story is The Key as it is diverse and it holds the system in place. Information organises the system and new information helps it to evolve. So for us in Religious life, newness is critical as it disturbs the system and leads to change. Systems that respond to changes in their environment survive. If we don’t adapt we die!
We then began to wonder “Well, how do we adapt?” Breakthrough and adaptation depend on our choices, namely a willingness to learn, responding to feedback and then changing. It was uplifting to hear again from Paula that in living systems the intelligence is in the whole. We all have lots to offer to the whole, to the congregation and to life! We all have a piece of the wisdom. We are free to take risks, make mistakes and in embracing the “failure”, we learn. I find myself saying “so consoling.” Yet this is easier to write about and to hear than to experience. Very few of us like to deal with “failure” regardless of how much we have learned from our experiences.
In a Navajo rug there is always one clear imperfection woven into the pattern. Interestingly enough, this is precisely where the Spirit moves in and out of the rug. We continue our journey in faith! The type of feedback that is crucial is positive feedback as it amplifies disturbance. Negative feedback only dampens disturbance and keeps it within limits. Paula brought us away from our old ways of living and thinking in saying that life is unpredictable. We need to let go of order, top down control and our thinking that there in only one way of doing things. Impositions don’t work. Like nature we grow from the bottom up when the conditions are right. Nothing in nature is static or linear. Life in nature changes all the time. Mercy is not a thing or a place. It is a pattern of relationships that we embody. Like nature it is not static. It is constantly alive, complex, dynamic, relational and participative. She quoted John Scharr, “The future is a place that is created first in the mind and will and then created in activity”.
During the day we put a lot of this approach into operation. We worked in groups of four, all contributing from our wisdom, listening, connecting ideas, writing and /or drawing. We each wrote what we wanted to write – ideas, notions and anything that was meaningful for us. The wisdom of the group was then harvested in responding to the question “what is our key insight or discovery?”
Srs. Dolores McCann, Dolores Carroll, Kathleen McGarrigle & Eleanor Murphy
One person then stayed at the table and the other three moved to a table of their choice. This expressed chaos and order – all part of living systems! The learning was certainly in the process. There was movement, change, transition. We were not going round in circles – a thought which can often cause disillusionment among membership! We were connecting with others and deciding to do things differently. We learned our way into the future by experimenting instead of planning.
Srs. Carmel Bracken, Mary Carroll & Camillus Buckley
The value of freedom was modelled simply throughout the day as we went for a “cuppa” whenever we wanted one. For many of us change is hard until we decide to do it. When we do change, things often open up for us. Paula encouraged us to let go of the rope that holds us down! She outlined five doors to help us – insight, direction, values, relationships and renewal. Another key learning is that we share ownership and responsibility by radical participation, not consultation.
Leaders are to be gardeners, not engineers! They are to cultivate the conditions that help change to happen.
The organising committee is to be congratulated for this day. They planned and worked in this model and the harvest from today will influence future decisions. All of us present took a symbolic step. We encountered possibilities on our own behalf, on behalf of the province, the congregation and life! We were also greatly nourished by a delicious meal provided by the staff in Dromantine, the surroundings on a glorious bright spring day and the meeting of the “sisterhood”.
Sr. Marie Cox with Paula Downey
As I travelled home, the sun was beginning to set and I thought “yes” this is what I want to do with my “one wild and precious life” – to keep learning, adapting and growing! Later that night as I marked a date on my calendar, I noticed a quote from Emerson “our life is an apprenticeship to the truth, that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on mid-moon and under every deep a lower deep opens”
Cecilia Cadogan rsm
Northern Province
