The art of transformative living
the dance of life - being and becoming
Finding our way home, again and again
Our innate desire to experience belonging compels us to search for a place of belonging, or shelter, in our world. When we find our place, we feel at home. When we feel at home, we live with integrity and authenticity. Are we locked into a particular home? No, we may experience numerous homes over our lifetime. How do we find our way to a new home? The art of transformative living guides our way through an ongoing dance of being and becoming. This dance ushers us through a personal sacred adventure of naming and claiming our home in the present. For more on this topic see the Resources page/Finding our way home: being and becoming
In a nutshell: The art of transformative living lies not in seeking transformation per se’. Rather, it involves seeking authenticity in daily life. Authenticity here means an experience of personal inner freedom in response to living by our values. As we seek to live authentically, transformative shifts will emerge within our view, as and when necessary.
the vibrant colours of our uniqueness
Authenticity in daily life
The rock image symbolises something of what authenticity looks like. The colours are vibrant, well defined, and actually draw out the unique shape of the rock. Similarly, when we engage in the art of transformative living, the unique colours of our selfhood are not refined into one wish-washy, murky lifeless state. Rather, the vibrant colours of our unique being remain, drawing out the overall shape of our individuality. Thus, authenticity is not about conforming to a predetermined set of ideas. It's about naming and claiming our individuality at any given time.
Four elements within the art of transformative living
1. Being and becoming ~ the dance of life
Transformative living turns on a personal dance of being and becoming. An alternative expression for the dance is a process of formation and transformation. Without formation, there can be no trans-formation. They are in rhythm with each other. We embrace our current formation, or the experience of being, when it provides a home of authentic identity, purpose, and values. Conversely, we embrace transformation, or the process of becoming, when our home ceases to support authentic living.
What is formation?
Formation refers to our distinct perspective of self within our environment. Formation is like going about our usual business of life with a clear understanding of who we are, why we are here, and how we are to live. Furthermore, authentic formation fosters an experience of belonging because we feel at home in our world.
Our formation is determined by our current scope of understanding, or horizon of meaning. According to Lonergan, our horizon:
“filters all that we see and hear and know and what does not fit into our horizon will not be seen or heard, or if it is, it will be viewed as irrelevant.”
Our personal horizon thus includes both the limits of our vision and the perspective through which we view ourselves in our world.
Personal horizons do not form in a vacuum. They are both formed and limited by the norms, knowledge, beliefs, and values of our families of origin, our local communities, our cultures, and religious/spiritual traditions. Furthermore, our personality types, traits, and ongoing lived experiences also shape our horizon of meaning. Such elements are rarely spoken, so we are unaware that we are interpreting our lives through a particular horizon. We simply go about our daily lives. And yet, our horizon of meaning is always operating within us; filtering all that we see, hear, and know.
In line with the above understanding, we do not passively receive meaning through our lived experience. Rather, we give meaning to our lived experience through the interpretive framework of our current personal horizon. Without a personal horizon, there is no foundation from which to live meaningfully. When our formation is coherent with our current understanding of life, it offers meaning. Conversely, when our formation no longer aligns with our understanding of life we cease to live with authenticity.
What is transformation?
“Transformation is an intrinsic, ongoing dynamic within human consciousness.”
Trans-formation entails going beyond, or breaking through and transcending, the limitations of our current formation. Transformation is not to be confused with personal development, which according to Anne Hillman, "is like changing clothes." Transformation, on the other hand, cuts to the very core of our being. It is, as poet, David Whyte described, "the opening of eyes," whereby our inner vision allows us to recognise and integrate changes in our perception of self. What prompts the changes? Again, in the words of Whyte, we change in response to the "revelations of the world." Whyte’s phrase signifies the continuous unfolding of our life experience. As such, personal transformation draws from and flows back into daily life. The term given to such an experience of transformation is self-transcendence.
According to Lonergan, transformation is intrinsic to human consciousness and thus is available to all. At the same time, because we are unique beings in our own right, we will each experience transformation in our own time and in our unique way. That said, transformation can manifest as a broadening of our self-perception through adopting a new viewpoint. Additionally, there can be pivotal moments in the process of becoming that restructure the entire concept of our identity. When such a restructuring occurs, it is as if we are seeing with new eyes; seeing a completely new view. While such pivotal moments may seem like ends in themselves, they are also beginnings; the beginnings of re-formation, as new view is integrated into daily life. Such integration then becomes the basis of our current formation. So continues the ongoing process of formation and transformation, of the dance of being and becoming.
the light of transformative shifts breaking into our awareness
Photo by Robert & Dianne Tyzzer
2. Transformation is beyond our control
Even though we choose to engage in the practice of personal transformation, we cannot control or force the process. We simply choose to remain open to the possibility of a shift in our view of Selfhood; we remain open to the invitation, if and when it arises within us.
How do we remain open? Firstly with an attitude of innocence. Whyte writes of such innocence this way:
“innocence is not a state which is meant to be replaced by experience. Rather a kind of faculty, a way of paying attention whereby the revelations of the world are allowed to be heard in their own voice and we are allowed to be transformed by them. It is the ability to be found by the world.”
Secondly, we remain open by paying attention to and reflecting upon our present moment lived experience. Such a practice is in line with Bernard Lonergan's method of intentional consciousness which encompasses the following:
being attentive ~ to our experience of reality
being intelligent ~ seeking understanding
being reasonable ~ making sound judgments
being responsible ~ making decisions and acting responsibly in our world from a place of inner freedom
We engage in such a practice with the intention of waiting patiently for inner wisdom's revelation; revelation which is usually perceived like a whisper. To perceive such a primordial whisper we need to be quiet, still and metaphorically lean in towards it.
So we cannot control personal transformation, we simply remain open to the invitation.
3. The pathless path
The art of transformative living takes us on an inner adventure. On such an adventure there is no predetermined path, for we each create our own unique pathway. Therefore, personal transformation is known through the metaphor of the pathless path. When we consciously engage in the art of transformative living, we cannot see the path ahead. We can however, see where the path has led. We can see the path in the rear view.
there is no predetermined path
How can we find our way?
How do we find our way on the pathless path? Fortunately, many have travelled this way before. What they have found is that engaging in contemplative practices which assist us to continue to grow in compassionate self-knowledge is, in the words of Anne Hillman:
“like a lamp that lights the way.”
Or in the words of Bernard Lonergan:
“like the internal compass that orientates our inner being.”
So within the imagery of the pathless path, growing in compassionate self knowledge in response to everyday living is the path of transformative living.
4. Embrace and surrender
Two distinct qualities enable us to participate in the art of transformative living: the capacity to embrace and the ability to surrender. Embrace refers to undertaking the sacred work of naming and claiming an authentic home of belonging. Surrender involves letting go of attachment to a permanent home. Embrace and surrender are connected to the ego, but perhaps not in the manner one might expect. Formerly, ego and egolessness were viewed as dualistic opposites. Within such a framework, transformation required an individual to metaphorically beat their ego into submission through self-denial. At the same time, the individual would try to embrace egolessness. Contrary to the former dualistic view, the art of transformative living no longer seeks to erase the ego, i.e., our unique being. The intention of surrender is not to disappear. Rather, the intention is to relinquish attachment to, and protection of, a wholly separate, solid, non-changing, fixed identity.
The qualities of embrace and surrender allow us to figuratively stand in our own ground, openheartedly. We can name and claim our current home of belonging yet hold it lightly. Such a spiritual practice is not so much about finding the balance between embrace and surrender. Rather it is about recognising which season we are in:
Are we in a season where our current formation holds true? We feel at home in our world, experiencing personal wholeness and the inner freedom to live authentically. If so, we embrace that. We truly live it.
Are we in a season where cracks are appearing? Perhaps some new life experience is clashing with a long-held belief, giving rise to a certain disharmony with our selfhood. If so, with an attitude of innocence and compassionate curiosity, we may ask ourselves the open ended question: "am I being invited to surrender some attachment?"
Are we in a season where our selfhood has broken apart, giving rise to inner disorientation, or a crisis of meaning? Such a season is not one for surrender or embrace. Rather, this is a season to rename and reclaim our unique selfhood.
Therefore, in the art of transformative living we do not strive to find a balance between embrace and surrender. We simply seek to recognize which season we are in.
Cultivating our inner ground
At the heart of the practice of transformative living is our capacity to pose open-ended questions within the light of our current lived experience and present moment affective experience. We then allow the questions to work their way through us to completion . . . for now. According to Lonergan our affective experience is the "drive and power" behind authentic self-knowledge and open-ended questions are the crux of transformation. For more on this practice see: Contemplative practices/Contemplative Self enquiry
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
Resources
Anne Hillman, Awakening the Energies of Love: discovering fire for the second time
Bernard Lonergan, Method in Theology
Kaye Twining, A Beginners Guide to Bernard Lonergan's Method in Theology
Rosemary Haughton, Transformation of Man: a Study of Conversion and Community
David Whyte, CD: A Great Invitation: the Path of Risk and Revelation
Susan P. Plummer, Ph,D., Deep Change: Befriending the Unknown
Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Lovingkindness