The Poor Suffer Our Untransformed Shadows
I was privileged to hear Vie Thorgren the executive director of Center for Spirituality At Work, from Denver Colorado, present at the Spiritual Director’s International Conference at the end of March.
Center For Spirituality At Work
Spiritual Directors International
Don’t let the name of Vie’s organization fool you. The core of her work is about training spiritual directors in the context of working with persons who find themselves on the margins of society. It is the only program in the country that does this, that I can find. The distinction is that City House takes spiritual directors who are already trained and places them in relationships on the margins. Vie actually trains them there.
At any rate, Vie made statements that I had never heard before, and yet struck me as totally true as soon as I heard them. She defined “the marginalized” of society as: problems that we think need to be dealt with or fixed; objects of our concern; and yet who are not at the table when decisions are being made about them.
She also said (and this struck me as so true when I heard it), “The energy from the stuff we don’t want to deal with as a society goes to those that are marginalized who suffer it on our behalf. They carry our individual and collective wounded souls and they will reveal it to us. If we allow them, they will pull our faces off and show us to ourselves. They will cut through our persona.”
Vie went on to say, “Our time with marginalized folks fosters contemplative awareness and interior freedom. They move us into liminal space - that space where the imagined veil covering the sacred is very thin.”
For Vie, and for me, “There is nothing like being accepted by someone on the margins to reduce one’s own need to find acceptance and esteem from those in power in society.” Such paradox and so true.
I felt blessed to be present during her presentation.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:34 am
you write: “They carry our individual and collective wounded souls and they will reveal it to us.” I wish I had attended Vie’s presentation and I appreciate your sharing. It reminds me of my story and desire to pay attention to our lives.
being present to the marginalized, poor, excluded . . . allows each individual to understand the grand reality - ‘that could be me or better yet, that is me.” We are all connected, everything belongs, and every wound we witness in another is an invitation to turn within and ask ourselves…’when did I feel that way and how can I be a part of the healing?’
My 49 year old brother is an alcoholic and began that journey with drugs in alcohol in middle school. In witnessesing his journey as an alcoholic - addiction was not a choice, but a release from the educational system that failed him as early as 8 years old. Being a year younger than him, I always asked myself….’why can I succeed and he can’t?’ I knew at a very early age, ‘that could be me’.
My brother carries the collective wounds of an educational system that could not accomadate his learning styles. His own son carries the wounds of his father that overflowed into his life as the child of an alcoholic…and the distructive cycle continues.
Instead of blaming the system or my brother, I have to ask myself everyday, ‘how can I be a part of the healing?’ I can not heal my brother or his son, or my mother’s grief. I can only remind myself to offer compassion to what presents itself for love.