At the conclusion of a recent program we asked for some feedback from participants.
"The presenter seemed a little insular at times. She should probably watch that," caught my attention.
I had noticed the same quality in the presenter, but I wasn't sure what to call it.
As I read the feedback comment, I also wasn't sure what insular meant.
Insular- ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one's own experience : a stubbornly insular farming people.
The comment then took on new meaning because I came to understand exactly what the participant had hit upon with his feedback.
All through the planning of the program, the presenter seemed incapable of implementing any ideas about the program other than her own.
The general thought was that the program was about "us" and how we could get more people who weren't "us" to be "us".
And that unspoken yet prevalent theme was what was in danger of killing the program if we "didn't watch it."
It gave me pause for the insular nature of my own ministry.
We would all seem to be at risk of insularity to one degree or another. We are after all, "us".
Maybe there is an insularity test that would show whether or not I am at dangerous levels of insularity.
Maybe question one would be:
Given a choice, when was the last time you successfully implemented an idea that wasn't your own?
Hummm. I'll have to think about that one.
2 comments:
A metric worth considering may be tension.
Does tension exist? What kinds of tensions exist?
And, most importantly, did the tensions draw out serendipity and unlikely beauty?
It seems "insular" describes arriving at pre-defined result. Bulldozing, in other words.
Beauty and transcendence come from jazz, fluidity, rhythm and harmony. At least, they do in my book.
Certainly acknowledging there is another way of thinking about things opens the door and invites tension right in.
So I have to get over the fact that I am afraid or have had bad experiences with tension because in the past I was maybe subdued by tension and shame started to creep in.
Shooting for tension is not natural but maybe the key to being remarkable.
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