draftingaprojectof)piaristcommunity life)1" " draftingaprojectof)piaristcommunity life)...

13
1 Drafting a Project of Piarist Community Life Madrid, 3 rd April 2013 Dedicated to Pedro Lasheras Introduction There is a beautiful passage at the beginning of the tale Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne. The passage is at the beginning of the book where the reader is introduced to the main character. It reads as follows: “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn’t. Anyhow, here he is at the bottom, and ready to be introduced to you. WinniethePooh.” I think that these words of Edward Bear are applicable to our basic life experience. There are lots of situations where at back of our minds we somehow suspect that perhaps there could be better ways for us to do things but we usually give up. We suffer, but we don’t have the time, the energy, or the right circumstances for reflection that would be necessary to change the way things are. In my opinion, this is true of us, Piarists as well. It is true of the communities we live in, our schools we work in, and our parishes or the churches we serve in. So if I had to give a quick answer to the question what I think community projects are good for, I would say: they provide us with the opportunity to stop bumping for a moment and think of why we are doing what we are doing.

Upload: others

Post on 04-Jul-2020

4 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

1    

Drafting  a  Project  of  Piarist  Community  Life  Madrid,  3rd  April  2013               Dedicated  to  Pedro  Lasheras  

Introduction  There  is  a  beautiful  passage  at  the  beginning  of  the  tale  Winnie  the  Pooh  by  A.  A.  Milne.  The  passage  is  at  the  beginning  of  the  book  where  the  reader  is  introduced  to  the  main  character.  It  reads  as  follows:    

“Here  is  Edward  Bear,  coming  downstairs  now,  bump,  bump,  bump,  on  the  back  of  his  head,  behind  Christopher  Robin.  It  is,  as  far  as  he  knows,  the  only  way  of  coming  downstairs,  but  sometimes  he  feels  that  there  really  is  another  way,  if  only  he  could  stop  bumping  for  a  moment  and  think  of  it.  And  then  he  feels  that  perhaps  there  isn’t.  Anyhow,  here  he  is  at  the  bottom,  and  ready  to  be  introduced  to  you.  Winnie-­‐the-­‐Pooh.”  

I  think  that  these  words  of  Edward  Bear  are  applicable  to  our  basic  life  experience.  There  are  lots  of  situations  where  at  back  of  our  minds  we  somehow  suspect  that  perhaps  there  could  be  better  ways  for  us  to  do  things  but  we  usually  give  up.  We  suffer,  but  we  don’t  have  the  time,  the  

energy,  or  the  right  circumstances  for  reflection  that  would  be  necessary  to  change  the  way  things  are.  In  my  opinion,  this  is  true  of  us,  Piarists  as  well.  It  is  true  of  the  communities  we  live  in,  our  schools  we  work  in,  and  our  parishes  or  the  churches  we  serve  in.    

So  if  I  had  to  give  a  quick  answer  to  the  question  what  I  think  community  projects  are  good  for,  I  would  say:  they  provide  us  with  the  opportunity  to  stop  bumping  for  a  moment  and  think  of  why  we  are  doing  what  we  are  doing.    

Page 2: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

2    

In  this  short  presentation,  I  don’t  want  to  talk  about  technicalities.  Rather,  what  I  set  before  me  is  to  expand  on  this  a  little  bit.  So  I  want  to  say  a  few  words  about  why  we  need  community  projects.  What  are  community  projects  good  for?    

Starting  with  WHY  In  this  part  of  the  lecture  I  heavily  rely  on  Simon  Sinek’s  great  ideas  in  his  lecture  and  book  Start  With  Why?  How  Great  Leaders  Inspire  Action.  His  ideas  are  summed  up  in  the  model  he  calls  The  Golden  Circle.  Let  me  show  it  to  you.    

This  is  what  Sinek  says.    

“WHAT:  Every  single  company  and  organization  on  the  planet  knows  WHAT  they  do.    WHATs  are  easy  to  identify.”  (43)  

Perhaps  in  our  case  we  could  say  the  WHAT  of  the  Piarist  Order  is  to  run  schools.  Our  WHAT  are  schools  or  education.      

“HOW:  Some  companies  and  people  know  HOW  they  do  WHAT  they  do.    HOWs  are  often  given  to  explain  how  something  is  different  or  better.  Not  as  obvious  as  WHATs,  many  think  these  are  the  differentiating  or  motivating  factors  in  a  decision.”  (43)  

I  think  when  we  Piarists  speak  about  our  style,  or  the  Calasanctian  style,  or  the  way  Calasanctius  did  things,  we  refer  to  this  how.  Also  when  we  want  to  differentiate  ourselves  from  other  teaching  orders,  we  enumerate  elements  that  belong  here.  Sometimes  I  have  the  impression  that  we  give  answers  too  quickly.  We  give  readymade  answers.  We  already  know  what  the  community  is  like.  We  already  know  what  our  mission  is.  We  know  all  too  well  what  a  superior  should  be  like,  or  what  a  religious  should  be  like.  My  question  is:  do  we  not  give  answers  too  soon?  Do  we  dare  to  ask  questions,  and  to  question  things,  for  the  sake  of  getting  deeper;  for  the  sake  of  freeing  our  deepest  desires,  our  deepest  calling?    

But  let’s  go  on  to  the  very  center  of  Sinek’s  model.    

“WHY:  Very  few  people  or  companies  can  clearly  articulate  WHY  they  do  WHAT  they  do.    By  WHY  I  mean  what  is  your  purpose,  cause  or  belief?  WHY  does  your  company  exist?  WHY  do  you  get  out  of  bed  every  morning?  I  think  Sinek  is  absolutely  right  in  saying  that  it  is  this  WHY  that  should  be  at  the  focus  of  every  company  or  

Page 3: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

3    

organization,  every  individual.  And  I  also  think  that  the  clarification  of  this  WHY  is  the  objective  of  what  are  called  community  projects.    

Why  do  we  exist?  What  is  our  purpose?  What  is  the  cause  that  we  want  to  pursue,  the  cause  that  gives  us  strength  and  energy  every  day  to  get  up  in  the  morning  and  continue  the  whole  day?  Why  do  we  exist  in  the  first  place?    What  inspires  us  as  a  community  and  as  members  of  this  community?  These  are  the  questions  that  community  projects  answer.    

Two  kinds  of  HOWs  Sinek  says  there  are  two  kinds  of  HOW’s.  One  is  accessed  from  WHAT,  the  other  from  WHY.    

The  first  type  of  HOW  is  the  one  that  is  accessed  from  outside,  in  other  words  from  the  WHAT.  This  kind  of  HOW  emphasizes  the  differences  from  other  organizations.  And  it  can  also  emphasize  in  what  way  they  are  better,  bigger,  nicer,  and  so  on.  This  HOW  defines  the  company  or  the  organization  by  WHAT  it  does.  The  greatest  problem  with  it  is  that  the  company  will  get  stuck  in  this  WHAT.  It  won’t  be  able  to  do  anything  outside  it.  It  will  not  have  the  freedom  to  do  anything  else.  And  when  it  wants  to  justify  its  existence,  it  will  have  to  emphasize  its  difference  from  others.  Basically  it  will  have  to  convince  people  why  it  is  better  than  others.    

On  the  other  hand,  the  HOW  in  the  WHY  à  HOW  à  WHAT  sequence  is  different.  This  kind  of  HOW  is  in  a  sense  the  inner  structure  of  the  WHY.  It  spells  out  the  WHY  of  the  organization.  It  even  allows  it  to  realize  itself  in  several  different  ways.  It  won’t  be  fixed  to  a  definite  way  of  doing  things.  Using  theological  terms,  we  could  perhaps  say  it  will  allow  individual  and  personal  incarnations  of  the  same  purpose,  of  the  same  WHY.  

It  will  also  free  you  from  the  constraint  of  proving  that  you’re  the  best,  or  at  least  better  than  others.  You  don’t  have  to  be  the  best.  You  have  to  be  good.  Best  and  better  are  relative  terms,  and  so  they  take  your  freedom.  Comparing  yourself  to  others  is  always  a  dangerous  and  self-­‐destructing  thing  to  do.    

So  if  you  know  your  WHY,  others  can  join  you  and  your  cause.  The  WHY,  a  clear  WHY,  makes  it  possible  to  join  forces  around  a  cause.  A  clear  WHY  makes  it  possible  to  create  community  around  a  cause  or  belief.  A  community  where  each  member  is  

Page 4: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

4    

free,  and  even  is  called  to,  give  life  to  that  WHY.  Each  member  will  be  fully  responsible  and  not  just  some  kind  of  a  secondary  citizen,  or  a  simple  executor.    

Clarity  of  WHY  creates  community,  because  it  makes  possible  a  personal  and  responsible  participation.    

 

Come  back  to  your  original  WHY  As  time  goes  by,  it  is  quite  frequent  that  the  original  WHY  of  a  company  or  community  loses  its  colour  and  flavour.  The  original  WHY  is  no  longer  clear,  and  so  the  WHAT  is  no  longer  consistent  with  it.  This  is  what  Sinek  says:  

“A  WHY  is  just  a  belief.  That's  all  it  is.  HOWs  are  the  actions  you  take  to  realize  that  belief.  And  WHATs  are  the  results  of  those  actions  The  only  way  people  will  know  what  you  believe  is  by  the  things  you  say  and  do,  and  if  you're  not  consistent  in  the  things  you  say  and  do,  no  one  will  know  what  you  believe.    It  is  at  the  WHAT  level  that  authenticity  happens."  (73-­‐74)  

So  Sinek  essentially  says  that  your  WHY  becomes  incarnate  through  your  actions,  your  HOWs,  in  your  WHATs.  And  WHAT  you  do  must  be  consistent  with  what  you  believe.  He  also  says  that  after  clarity  of  WHY  you  need  discipline  to  be  consistent  and  authentic.  You  need  discipline  for  this,  in  other  words  you  always  have  to  go  back  and  start  again  from  your  WHY.  You  have  to  be  sure  that  your  HOWs  and  WHATs  actually  come  from  your  WHY.    

When  we  speak  about  community  projects,  this  is  another  reason  for  doing  them.  You  have  to  come  back  to  your  original  WHY,  time  and  again.  I  would  say  that,  in  our  context,  this  is  one  of  the  principal  tasks  of  provincial  and  local  chapters.  One  of  the  main  tasks  lying  before  a  province  and  local  communities  during  a  chapter  is  to  gain  a  fresh  look  at  our  WHY.  And  an  important  part  of  it  is  to  question  what  we  take  for  granted.    

Page 5: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

5    

Question  what  you  take  for  granted  Why  is  it  important  to  question  what  we  take  for  granted?  For  two  reasons,  as  Sir  Ken  Robinson,  an  education  expert,  says1.  And  these  two  reasons  are:  habits  and  habitats.    

The  way  we  do  things  in  our  everyday  life,  the  routines  that  we  follow,  i.e.  our  habits,  shape  our  way  of  thinking  and  our  way  of  seeing  things.  And  as  time  goes  by,  we  lose  contact  with  reality.    

The  second  is  habitats,  that  is,  the  environments  we  live  in  or  work  in.  As  Churchill  once  said:  “We  shape  our  dwellings,  and  afterwards  our  dwellings  shape  us.”  Structures  are  not  neutral.  As  Cass  R.  Sunstein  and  Richard  H.  Thaler  say  in  their  book  Nudge  [Spanish:  dar  un  codazo;  Italiano:  Spingere,  Esortare;  French:  Pousser]  :  Improving  Decisions  About  Health,  Wealth,  and  Happiness  –  where  they  propose  libertarian  paternalism,  for  me  a  very  Piarist  thing:    

“[…T]here  is  no  such  thing  as  a  ‘neutral’  design.  […]  A  good  building  is  not  merely  attractive;  it  also  ‘works’.”  (3)  

I  think  it  is  true  of  our  religious  life,  personally,  at  a  community  level,  and  at  the  level  of  our  organizations.  The  structures  that  we  have  constantly  need  revisions.    

How  can  you  step  outside  yourself?  It  is  not  very  easy  to  revise  the  structures  that  you  have.  Because  our  habits  and  habitats  belong  to  the  things  that  we  take  for  granted.  And  it  is  very  difficult  to  see  what  you  take  for  granted,  precisely  because  you  take  them  for  granted.  You  need  to  step  out  of  yourself  and  your  structures,  which  are  also  parts  of  you.  You  are  in  a  way  expected  to  do  what  Baron  Munchausen  did  in  the  famous  story,  where  he  pulled  himself  out  of  a  swamp  by  his  hair  –  as  we  can  see  in  this  picture.  

Paradigms  Paradigms  are  our  mental  structures,  our  way  of  seeing  things.  We  do  not  simply  perceive  reality  as  it  is.  We  create  reality  according  to  our  paradigms.  

But  how  can  we  recognize  our  paradigms?                                                                                                    1  Radio  interview  with  Sir  Ken  Robinson.  http://podcasts.personallifemedia.com/podcasts/232-­‐dishymix/episodes/3066-­‐sir-­‐ken-­‐robinson-­‐creativity-­‐innovatio  

Page 6: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

6    

I  think  this  figure  can  help  us.  

   

It  shows  that  the  way  we  behave  and  the  way  we  speak  are  related  to  the  way  we  see  things.    

So  if  we  want  to  understand  better,  and  to  learn  more  about  our  paradigms,  we  can  examine  our  behavior  and  also  our  language.    

Let  me  give  you  a  simple  example.    

How  much  do  you  talk  about  people  who  are  not  present?  And  how  do  you  talk  about  them?  Could  they  be  present?  Would  you  speak  the  same  way  if  they  were  there?    

Stephen  Covey,  the  great  American  thinker,  that  I  am  going  to  quote  later  as  well,  speaks  about  six  metastasizing  cancers,  that  is,  six  cancerous  behaviors  that  are  verbal  behaviors.  They  are:  criticizing,  complaining,  comparing,  competing,  contending,  and  cynicism.    

Feedback,  correctio  fraterna  In  trying  to  be  able  to  look  at  ourselves  and  our  structures,  it  is  also  helpful  to  ask  feedback  from  those  around  us.  This  is  also  true  personally  and  at  a  community  level.  Feedback  from  the  other  members  in  your  particular  community,  or  in  more  traditional  terms,  correctio  fraterna,  can  be  especially  beneficial  for  the  creation  of  trust  within  the  community.    

Feedback  however  should  not  be  used  for  finding  your  individual  WHY  or  purpose,  or  that  of  the  community.    

Page 7: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

7    

A  joke  about  feedback  There  is  a  joke,  where  someone  is  driving  a  car  in  a  divided  highway  (autopista  in  Spanish),  and  as  he  is  driving  he  is  listening  to  the  traffic  news  in  the  radio.  And  the  radio  says:  “Attention.  Attention.  There  is  a  car  heading  in  the  opposite  direction  in  the  highway.”  And  our  man  asks  himself:  “Only  one?  All  of  them  are  driving  in  the  opposite  direction!”  

It  is  not  for  people  outside  to  tell  us  what  our  purpose  is.  It  is  only  a  kind  of  assistance  that  helps  us  to  step  outside  us  in  order  to  see  what  we  don’t  see.  People  can  tell  you  that  you  are  heading  in  the  wrong  direction.  But  if  you  want  to  go  in  the  opposite  direction,  then  you’d  better  not  follow  their  advice.  If  this  is  your  purpose,  don’t  change  course.    

Horizons  So  how  can  we  step  outside  our  structures?  How  can  we  see  and  question  what  we  take  for  granted?    

We  need  vantage  points  to  do  this.  We  somehow  need  to  be  able  to  look  at  ourselves  and  our  structures  from  outside  and  from  above.    

The  high-­‐altitude  points  can  be  provided  by  looking  far  ahead  and  looking  deep  inside  at  the  same  time.  When  I  say  looking  far  ahead  I  don’t  mean  simply  that  we  need  long  term  goals.  Rather  than  specific  goals,  we  need  horizons  that  are  wide  enough.  Horizons  extending  in  space  and  time,  and  in  this  sense  we  could  say  long  term  goals.  We  need  these  horizons  in  order  to  free  our  deepest  desires.    

Covey:  the  Hedgehog  Concept  I  like  very  much  the  ideas  in  this  regard  by  Stephen  Covey.  In  his  book  The  8th  Habit:    he  speaks  about  what  could  be  called  an  extended  version  of  the  Hedgehog  Concept  .  Covey    has  four  questions:    

-­‐ What  are  you  really  good  at,  maybe  the  best  in  the  world?  -­‐ What  are  you  deeply  passionate  about?  -­‐ What  will  people  pay  for?  In  other  words,  what  are  the  human  needs  and  

wants  being  met  that  would  drive  your  economic  engine?    -­‐ What  does  your  conscience  counsel?    

Page 8: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

8    

Covey  says:  “The  overlapping  of  all  four  areas  is  where  your  voice  is  to  be  found.”  And  adds:  “[…T]his  approach  would  apply  for  an  individual  finding  his  or  her  voice,  as  well  as  to  an  organization  finding  its  voice.”  (220)    

What  Covey  calls  voice,  is  in  my  opinion  the  same  as  what  in  theological  terms  is  called  vocation.    

What  are  your  strengths?  I  would  like  to  add  two  points  here,  in  order  to  refine  things  a  little  bit.    

We  usually  speak  about  a  person’s  strengths,  and  what  we  mean  by  this  are  the  things  he  or  she  does  well.  We  have  just  seen  Covey’s  first  question:  What  are  you  really  good  at?  I  have  recently  come  across  a  book  by  Marcus  Buckingham  who  presents  a  slightly  but  significantly  different  definition  of  a  person’s  strength.  He  defines  strength  this  way:    

“[…C]onsistent  near  perfect  performance  in  an  activity.  “  (Now,  Discover  Your  Strengths.  How  to  Develop  Your  Talents  and  Those  of  the  People  You  Manage,  20)  

And  in  an  interview  he  said  this2:    

“A  strength  is  an  activity  that  makes  you  feel  strong—it's  an  activity  that  strengthens  you.  that  invigorate  you,  that  you  have  an  appetite  for,  that  cause  you  to  practice  more  […].    ”  

So  according  to  this  definition  your  strength  is  what  strengthens  you.  And  if  that’s  the  case,  it  is  you  who  can  know  what  your  strengths  are.  But  it  does  not  mean  that  to  see  our  strengths  comes  easily.  We  have  to  make  efforts  to  see  them.  Buckingham  says  we  have  to  “keep  our  eyes  peeled”  for  the  signs  of  it.  

He  says:  

“  the  two  most  obvious  signs  of  a  strength  that  you  could    give  your  full  attention  to,  is  firstly, what  do  you  find  yourself  positively  anticipating,  actively  looking  forward  to? And  then  rapid  learning: What  do  you  pick  up  quickly?  What  do  you  find  that  you  get  so  involved  in,  that  you  lose  track  of  time?”  

                                                                                               2  http://www.vistage.com/content-­‐and-­‐connectivity/vistage-­‐library/5-­‐questions-­‐with-­‐marcus-­‐buckingham.aspx    

Page 9: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

9    

I  think  these  ideas  are  especially  helpful.  And  the  activities  that  he  suggests,  which  are  basically  paying  attention  to  the  signs  of  our  strengths,  can  be  made  part  of  our  prayer  life,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word.  Paying  attention  can  happen  in  personal  prayer,  in  a  conversation  with  one’s  spiritual  accompanier,  in  personal  meetings  with  friends  and  brothers,  in  a  dialogue  with  your  superior.  The  question  in  all  these  situations  can  be:  what  gives  you  strength?  How  can  you  experience  and  really  see  what  your  strengths  are?    

What  do  your  feelings  say?  The  second  point  that  I  would  like  to  add  concern  our  emotions.  As  you  know  emotions  are  especially  important  because  they  report  from  our  deepest  being.  They  report  what  our  reactions  are,  but  they  also  give  information  about  our  deepest  needs  and  desires,  our  beliefs  and  attitudes.    

As  emotions  and  feelings  have  such  a  weight,  it  is  very  important  to  be  clear  about  them.  In  his  book  Being  Genuine:  Stop  Being  Nice,  Start  Being  Real  Canadian  author  Thomas  D’Ansembourg  distinguishes  two  kinds  of  feelings:  genuine  feelings  and  feelings  that  are  tainted  with  judgment  and  interpretation.  In  the  Hungarian  edition  of  his  book  there  is  a  whole  list  of  feelings  that  belong  among  this  second  type.  The  list  includes  such  feelings  as  manipulated,  abandoned,  betrayed,  not  understood,  humiliated,  etc.  The  important  thing  with  these  feelings  is  that  they  are  not  feelings,  rather  they  are  judgments.  They  put  others  in  boxes,  they  create  separations,  and  instead  of  putting  you  into  contact  with  reality  they  mislead  you.    

So  it  is  really  important  to  learn  the  language  of  feelings,  to  be  able  to  give  names  to  what  you  feel  so  that  you  can  become  aware  of  what  you  are  truly  experiencing.    

How  do  personal  projects  relate  to  the  community  project?    As  we  saw  earlier,  the  same  method  applies  for  an  individual  finding  his  or  her  voice,  or  vocation,  and  a  community  finding  its  voice,  or  vocation.  So  just  for  fun,  not  entirely  seriously,  let  me  comment  briefly  on  the  relationship  between  personal  projects  and  community  projects.  What  I  mean  by  personal  project  is  the  same  as  what  Covey  meant  by  finding  your  voice.    

Page 10: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

10    

Is  the  community  project  of  a  given  community  the  sum  of  the  personal  projects  of  its  members?  Or  is  it  the  other  way  round?  In  other  words,  are  the  personal  projects  subordinate  to  the  community  project?    

If  personal  projects  are  these  (cf.  figure)  that  you  can  see  now,

 

 

is  the  project  of  the  community  a  minimal  overlap  (cf.  figure)?  

     

And  if  it  is  a  minimal  overlap,  does  it  work  like  color  addition  or  color  subtraction  (cf.  

figure)?    

If  it  is  like  additive  color  combination,  then  the  project  of  the  community  is  added  up  by  all  the  members.  If  it  is  like  subtractive  color  combination,  then  the  members  have  to  give  up  something  for  the  sake  of  the  community.    

Page 11: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

11    

Or  is  it  what  I  would  call  an  extended  overlap  (cf.  figure),  

 

where  each  member  contributes  to  the  whole,  the  same  way  as  in  the  case  of  additive  color  combination,  and  where  the  whole  community  and  each  member  is  called  and  able  to  participate  in  the  particular  relationships  between  two  members.    

I  am  not  sure  about  the  answer,  and  probably  the  models  I  use  impose  their  limits  on  what  we  can  say.  But  I  have  a  quite  strong  opinion  about  two  points.  

First,  it  is  not  like  color  subtraction.  It  cannot  be,  it  mustn’t  be.  If  community  extinguishes  what  its  members  have,  if  community  can  only  be  achieved  by  the  members  giving  up  their  own  color,  their  own  voice,  then  either  community  is  not  worth  creating  it,  or  it  is  not  community  but  a  commune  combined  with  some  kind  of  slavery.    

Second,  community  cannot  simply  be  a  minimal  project.  Even  if  the  members  don’t  have  to  give  up  their  voice,  their  color,  what  they  have  in  common  is  not  able  to  create  community,  or  at  least  not  a  religious  community.  It  is  too  weak,  too  superficial,  and  too  accidental.  

There  could  be  perhaps  another  sort  of  relationship,  which  I  could  illustrate  with  this  

figure  (cf.  figure).  

What  I  think  is  important  here  is  that  each  member  is  called  to  relate  to  the  voice  or  calling  of  each  other  member.  And  for  me  it  is  also  important  what  I  mentioned  in  

Page 12: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

12    

the  “extended  version”.  Namely,  community  “happens”  in  the  particular  relationships  between  two  members  as  well.    

What  can  be  said  independently  of  the  models  I  have  presented  is  that  there  must  be  a  dialogue  between  a  member  and  the  community.  This  dialogue  is  an  ongoing  one  and  it  must  be  honest,  open,  and  transparent.  This  dialogue  necessitates  an  atmosphere  of  confidence.    

The  importance  of  trust  I  would  like  to  finish  with  a  few  words  about  confidence.    

Trust  must  be  there  beforehand.  It  is  a  prerequisite  for  the  whole  process  of  community  project.  But  it  is  also  the  result  of  the  experience  that  our  WHYs,  our  purposes,  our  beliefs  are  similar  or  the  same.    

Trust  is  a  prerequisite  in  the  sense  that  you  have  to  make  yourself  vulnerable  if  you  want  to  create  trust.  Trust  is  not  something  that  must  be  earned  (cf.  Marcus  Buckingham:  First,  Break  All  the  Rules.  p.  116).  If  you  think  so,  you  in  fact  have  mistrust.  You  have  to  run  the  risk  of  making  yourself  vulnerable  to  others  in  the  community.    

And  trust  is  also  the  result  of  realizing  that  our  values  and  beliefs  are  the  same.  This  is  where  the  individual  WHYs  meet  and  where  they  meet  the  community’s  WHY.  If  this  meeting  does  not  happen,  there  cannot  be  community.    

In  practice,  we  usually  take  for  granted  that  our  WHYs  and  the  community’s  WHY  coincide.  And  it  is  exactly  the  point  where  I  set  off.  It  is  this  where  we  should  start  our  community  and  personal  projects.    

We  have  to  question  what  we  take  for  granted  in  order  to  create  an  environment  of  trust  and  confidence.  Where  we  can  discover  our  vocation,  our  WHYs  individually  and  communally.  Where  we  can  flourish  and  develop  our  full  potential.  Where  we  can  become  what  we  are  called  to  be.    

Summary  Let  me  sum  up  the  theses  that  I  wanted  to  make.  

Page 13: DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life)1" " DraftingaProjectof)PiaristCommunity Life) Madrid,"3rd"April"2013""" " " " "Dedicated(to(Pedro(Lasheras" Introduction* There"is"abeautiful"passage"at"the

13    

1. Structures  can  become  habits,  they  tend  to  fossilize.  Structures  are  not  neutral,  they  convey  a  message,  they  shape  the  way  we  think  and  see.    

2. We  have  to  try  and  get  outside  of  ourselves  and  our  existing  structures.  We  have  to  question  what  we  take  for  granted  in  our  communities,  in  the  order,  and  in  our  personal  lives.    

3. We  need  to  come  back  to  the  WHY  of  our  existence,  because  we  usually  get  stuck  with  the  WHAT  and  the  HOW,  and  adopt  a  “from  the  outside  in”  approach.  

4. The  WHY  comes  from  your  heart  and  from  the  heart  of  the  community.    5. It  needs  honesty  with  your  feelings,  and  trust.    6. It  also  creates  trust  if  we  share  the  same  beliefs  and  principles.  7. The  personal  projects  of  the  members  of  a  community  and  the  community  

project  are  internally  related.  There  must  be  a  constant  dialogue  between  them.    

A  few  books  that  I  consulted  and  find  important:  -­‐ Ilarduia,  Juan  Mari,  Proyecto  comunitario.  Camino  de  encuentro  y  comunion,  

Coleccion:  Fronter  Hegian  14,  Frontera  2004.  -­‐ Ilarduia,  Juan  Mari,  El  Proyecto  Personal  Como  Voluntad  De  Autenticidad,  

Coleccion:  Frontera  Hegian  6,  Frontera  2010.  -­‐ Covey,  Stephen  R.,  The  8th  Habit:  From  Effectiveness  to  Greatness.  Free  Press  

2004.    -­‐ Simon  Sinek,    Start  with  Why.  How  Great  Leaders  Inspire  Action,  Portfolio  

2009.  o Also  his  TED  lecture,  with  the  same  title.  

-­‐ Buckingham,  Marcus,  Now,  Discover  Your  Strengths.  How  to  Develop  Your  Talents  and  Those  of  the  People  You  Manage.  Pocket  Books  2004.  

-­‐ Robinson,  Sir  Ken,  The  Element.  How  Finding  Your  Passion  Changes  Evertything,  Penguin  Books  2009  

-­‐ Thaler,  Richard  –  Sunstein,  Cass  R.,  Nudge:  Improving  Decisions  About  Health,  Wealth,  and  Happiness,  Penguin  Books  2009.  

-­‐ D’Ansembourg,  Thomas:  Being  Genuine:  Stop  Being  Nice,  Start  Being  Real,  Puddledancer  Press  2007.