Intimacy
Dear Friends
The story is told of an Oil Executive who attended a management seminar which he feared would be too ‘touchy feely’ for his comfort. As a spoiler he warned the facilitator that ‘his head was filled with cement’. The Consultant responded that it was OK, since his heart was obviously working! ‘That’s a pump’ responded the oil man.
Some of us expressed similar inclinations before our recent exposure to small groups in the office. In the end most of it was quite fun, or at least it felt that way in the circles in which I moved. (The hilarity bubble is regrettably never far from my experience – no matter how grave.) Vulnerability to emotional experience seems not to be desired in our attempt to control our virtual environment.
We have become so functional, that we have become most comfortable communicating with, and through machines, at the expense of being comfortable with the intimacy of presence. Peter Block – one of the most insightful authors that I have come across recently comments as follows:
“Like our idealism, intimacy is needed to keep acting on what matters. We have to make a special effort to deepen our direct participation in the world. This is not an argument against technology, only that it is not a substitute for direct contact. The final cost of virtual connection is that it experientially isolates us and leaves us dependant on a reality constructed by others. It reduces our willingness to show up and invest in the realization of our desires. Our desires are given life by their demand for touch, vulnerability, disclosure, surprise and raw feeling. Not great conditions for bottom line bargaining in an instrumental culture. Intimacy is more than relationship. It is the wonder and connection to the earth, to humanity at large… something that is not knowable or manageable. It must be chosen for the sheer experience – or it loses its quality. This is what acting on our deeper purpose entails…”
Life beyond mere existence is the noble goal of our outreach program; our efforts are directed at connecting people with each other and our Lord.
May God help us as we pursue that city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God.
Yours truly,
Victor