Living from the Inside Out

How do we keep from choking on the world’s despair and cynicism and instead serve as agents of hope and healing? One way is by trying to live "from the inside out", continually reflecting on and sharing who we are and what we believe, knowing what and who sustains our inner strength. From that place of perspective and hope, we can do practical things that contribute to the common good, putting together our unique desire to make a difference with that of others.

As meaning-making people, we need transcendent connections and a sense of purpose. That requires spiritual disciplines that nurture our inner lives and connect us to a generative source that calls us beyond our fears and failures. And it requires communities from which we can learn, draw courage and recognize that our individual effort is leveraged and exalted when put together with others.

The best learning, and living, happens from the inside out for both individuals and institutions. We learn most powerfully when education begins with what’s inside — with our questions, innate talents, personal ways of seeing — rather than with pre-programmed ‘expert’ answers to someone else’s questions. Our lives have integrity when decisions flow from our values and not from what others expect from us. Action is most effective when we take time to reflect before we act. We enrich public life when we create images of hope and possibility rather than consume pre-packaged media images of violence and despair. Living from the "inside out" also suggests that we must act to really learn. To validate what we believe, we need to experiment with what works, take risks, to learn for ourselves. Spiritual introversion has to give way to living the values we have chosen, being accountable to the hope that is in us. We have to take who we are and get involved with what’s around us, without taking on issues and responsibilities that rightly belong to others. When we operate from wholeness and hope, our lives radiate outward. They become sources of healing and inspiration to others. We learn to trust people to take responsibility for their own issues and resources, to do our share but not more than our share, to encourage everyone to play their part in a way that gives life to the whole. Imagine Chicago is a project born of faith, that lives out of an imagination about human life and community that says everyone’s gifts are necessary to our common life; we cannot live without each other and thrive.

What will make enough of a difference? All of our continuing to listen to what impresses our hearts and speak the truth of that… all of our sharing with each other the questions we are living… all of our taking the risk of acting and learning from our mistakes… all of our hearing and sharing with each other stories of how ordinary people continually are able to make an extraordinary difference. Every voice is important. So is space for reflection. It is up to everyone to create the way forward.