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| Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves Bonder |
This was the message of the introductory portion of a workshop by Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves Bonder that I attended last weekend. Saniel is founder of the Waking Down personal growth process, and Linda is his full partner in that work. The workshop was co-sponsored by my Meetup, DC Integral Emergence.
One of the participants, Barbara, commented that "purpose" means something different to her as she ages. I resonated with that. In my case, purpose feels more about process than outcome. In fact, I spent much of the evening musing on the hunger that arose in me during a recent trip to a quirky small town in the desert near Las Vegas. It arose in me as a hunger for geographic community--not just having it, but the process of creating it. I've been fantasizing the many ways a person can help build community in a place where everyone crosses paths once a week to check their mailbox at the post office.
The town is Chloride, Arizona. It's an old wild west mining town now inhabited by retirees who re-enact gunfights for tourists on weekends. With 250 residents and two saloon-style restaurants, it's just the right scale for knowing one's neighbors. Chloride reminded me of another town that's held my heart for decades--Cicely, Alaska, locale of the old TV series Northern Exposure.
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| Downtown Chloride, Arizona with post office at left. (Links to a 360 photo at Google maps) |
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| Doctor's office in Cicely, Alaska, locale of "Northern Exposure" filmed in Roslyn, WA |
In the best episode of the best TV show of all time, we flash back to the founding of Cicely in its days as a wild west mining camp. Two women, Cicely and Roslyn, undertake to bring culture and upliftment to the lawless spot. In the short term, it doesn't end well, as seen in the quick video clip below. But in the long term, the town shines.
What is seeking to shine through you? That is the question the Bonders led us in pondering.
[Note: I'll be adding my trip reports about Chloride to those at Trip Advisor. If anyone is tempted to co-host a retreat there one day, please get in touch with me.]
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