Belonging and obedience

I had a long conversation with one of our inquirers today. He has been staying at the monastery for a few days and exploring his own reactions to the life here. One of the themes we talked about was that of belonging, of finding intimacy and purpose in community. Another theme was that of living into our religious vows; how are we obedient to God through our vows.

Tonight, I started reading a magazine I subscribed to for our Guesthouse, Ode Magazine, "a magazine for Intelligent Optimists". I had wanted to find intelligent, upbeat reading for our guests and decided to try the magazine for a year to see whether it stands up to its tag line.

My jury will be out until I've read more issues; but one article caught my attention and I looked up connected information on-line. It talks about Nelsa Libertad Curbelo, an ex-nun and teacher who works with gang members in Guyaquil, Ecuador.

What struck me in the magazine article and the on-line video was the theme of belonging, of depending on a community for purpose and mutual support instead of our strenuous individualism.

Curbelo also talks eloquently of:
- diverse types of power (positive and negative ones)
- the difference between obedience (willingly complying with something that is understood) and submission (blindly complying with something regardless of understading),
- and the power of love.

I link two versions of a great video on Curbelo's work with the gang kids of Guayaquil; the first one is a 9 minute version but what she has to say really make it worth to watch the second 17 minute version. Subtitles are in English by default. Pour les francophones, vous pouvez selectionner des sous-titres francais a partir du site de GlobalOneness.