Part 3: The Formal Rhubarb Difference that Makes a Difference
The Connection Between Personal & Social Development
In "The Nordic Secret: A European Story of Beauty and Freedom" (2017) authors Tomas Björkman & Lene Rachel Andersen describe how, from the late 19th Century to beginning of the 20th Century, Norway, Sweden, Denmark (and, later, Finland) went from poor feudal agricultural societies to rich industrial societies with high standards of living in a short time. They implemented structured self-development programs that were available to all citizens and included six month retreats sponsored by the governments. They saw the connection between personal and social development and it worked.
Given that there are lots of web sites and programs that include some aspect of self-development, creativity, and/or making a contribution to others, you might be asking: What's makes Formal Rhubarb any different?
Unlike most of them, Formal Rhubarb finds the signal in all the noise and locates really good maps to follow (what I prefer to call a good compass); this means you won't waste so much time, and it aspires to provide long-lasting results that improve your life AND the lives in your community-if not the world. (Hey, no pressure!)
Formal Rhubarb strives to make the invisible visible. When people become inspired and empowered and start to change their lives for the better:
1) They glimpse something inside themselves that transcends how they typically see things.
2) They often glimpse something outside themselves that transcends how everyone sees things.
To address the psychological and political threats we face today, we need both #1 & #2, and that's what makes the Formal Rhubarb difference make a difference.
I've been asking myself: are the people of the world divided or just disconnected?
It seems to me that integrating #1 & #2 will only happen if enough of us join in to use our creativity to build something personally fulfilling while also collectively creating shared values and purpose. It will take passion and commitment stemming from a basic agreement with foundational perspectives (the links to them are at the end of this page or in the menu above under "Articles").
You don't have to agree with all the details presented here, you just need to be on board with the following:
1) We're all in the middle of an unprecedented fork in the road and that
2) The big question is: will we crash and burn or will enough of us advance together to steer the ship toward a great future for everyone?
If you've read this far, I believe you're part of what many, many people around the world are doing to create that great future. It's all still forming and there's a lot of uncertainty, but that simply shows us there's also lots of opportunity.
For Formal Rhubarb to have vitality and deserve our time and energy, we all have to contribute something and work together to build something new-to plant the seeds and cultivate what is now just emerging.
I promise to contribute and curate ideas, suggestions, and resources that show you how to get unstuck and get the "music" on your inside to the outside so we can all benefit. (Of course, how you define that gift or project is up to you, but I know what I will offer will assist you.) I will publish my perspectives as well as the best of what I find on creative self-expression, personal development, social action or activism. I'm also planning on checking in on my own progress on the same journey including whatever tangible products of my imagination seem worthy of sharing. [Sign up below for regular emails and my pdf "How to Get Unstuck Without Feeling Like a Schmuck".]
Along the way, this should help you understand why things are so messed up in the world. Even if you haven't thought about it that much, applied to your life, you will be better equipped to figure out the difference between what you had no control over and what you did have control over…and still do.
Despite how messed up things are, I will also point out the good stuff, of course-the good stuff in the world, but, more importantly, the good stuff in who you are and what you've been doing.
Personal growth or self-development is at least as old as good ol' Socrates, who stated:
Dear friend, you are an Athenian, citizen of the greatest city, more famous than any other for its knowledge and might. Yet are you not ashamed for devoting all your care to increasing your wealth, reputation, and honors, while not caring for or even considering your reason, truth, and constant improvement of your soul?
Creative self-expression and self-development are major parts of the mission here at Formal Rhubarb. But they do not mean self-coddling or isolation from the world. I believe we all need to make manifest our big creative dreams and keep growing and developing in order for the world to change for the better. In fact, Socrates advised the ambitious to mature ("Know thyself") before entering the public arena. (An approach not unlike the well known "Hero's Journey" myth, made popular by Joseph Campbell)
20th Century radical philosopher, Michael Foucault, advised:
To know the truth we must make an effort; we must not seek to deceive our world. You should pay heed to yourself, apply your mind to yourself, be aware of your qualities. And in this way, you will be able to participate in political life.
While radical writer and poet, Audre Lorde, declared:
"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."
Author, educator, and co-founder of Omega Institute, Elizabeth Lesser, recently stated that, over the past 40+ years, she's always had "one foot firmly in the activist aspect of my nature, but then there's the seeker and the mystic." But because of the baggage of the terms "spiritual" and "mysticism," she coined the term "innervism." Thus, activism concerns going out to change the world, to fight for justice, and innervism is inner work. She states:
"I began to notice that a lot of the people working for peace and justice causes were really angry people, people who had never taken care of themselves and were projecting their own stuff all over their issues. I thought, how are we going to spread peace and justice if we're not working on it in ourselves?
"I want to walk this path in every part of my life, and that involves some kind of inner work. That's why I call it innervism.
"I want to work on my own peace of mind, so I can be a real peacemaker. If we can match up what we want out there with what's going on in ourselves, we will be much better activists."
Spiritual teacher, Jack Kornfield, simply says: "Remember your Buddha nature, and also your Social Security number."
Therefore, let's focus on assisting each other and as many people as possible! Formal Rhubarb is designed to be participatory: I invite all readers to comment, send suggestions, and provide feedback--even write essays on the Formal Rhubarb themes for the web site. If enough people get involved, perhaps we can start an online community-think of it as a private social network where just about everybody is invited ("just about"?! Yup, we would all need to monitor participation and, if necessary, have anyone who is corrosive leave the community.)
Having support and encouragement can assist us in getting started on our personal creative projects and seeing them through. Moreover, I believe personal change and collective social change are two sides of the same coin. (If you want to get technical, the "Agency & Communion" coin, among other names.) One feeds the other. Energy focused on only one side will not get us the change we seek in either.
My country, the USA, puts individualism and individual rights at the forefront, so it should come as no surprise that "the human potential movement" (spawned in the 1970s) has often put too much emphasis on the individual at the expense of the collective. However, we can have personal growth evolve into or include interpersonal connection or interdependence. Therefore, Formal Rhubarb's includes an emphasis on collective action and social activism.
Formal Rhubarb is for you if:
•You now figure that treading water for the rest of your life is worse than trying something and failing.
•You're sick and tired of reading all those "How to be Happy" lists, but you're also sick and tired of your own cynicism. In other words, you've often had the feeling that there's no point to trying, that nobody gives a rip, anyway...but you don't want to stay stuck there.
•You want that sense of being powerful and important back…or you'd like to have it for the first time.
•You don't think being effective and having personal power should take away from others getting the same; in fact, you want to believe that getting ahead in your life will help others along the same path.
•You're tired of professionals like doctors talking down to you or not really listening to you; it often seems to you as though they want to pin you down and make sure you fit into some narrow category.
•You're learning to trust that being addicted to familiarity and predictability in life not only just gets you more of the same but leads to falling behind, and you're starting to become more attracted to making some bold moves to leap ahead. In other words, the idea of living in "permanent whitewater" or "falling down the well with eyes wide open" seems like it's worth a shot. But, like most of us--me included!--you've been scared off from all that more than you'd like to admit.
•You think the world is really messed up and you think we're running out of time to change it.
•You don't want to be full of regrets at the end of your life.
Make no mistake: there are plenty of people and web sites who offer great, comprehensive self-help and tips for self-development.
There are also many wonderful political and activist organizations and web sites to help you contribute to making the world a better place.
Formal Rhubarb will attempt to uniquely combine our passion for creative self-expression with the best ideas and methods of human development with a sincere commitment to social change.
Does this combination sound like a contradiction?
"I'm supposed to focus on myself...and focus on saving the world? Have a great life now and think of future generations?!"
Yup. No black n' white thinking here!
"Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat."--Audre Lorde
We have to accept and embrace life's complexity these days, and Formal Rhubarb will explore the best sources I can find on how to do that (spoiler alert: I've already found quite a few of them!)
The late, great anti-war and social justice activist, Father Daniel Berrigan, once spoke of this difficult combination:
We're trying to discover what it means to be a human being in an inhuman time.
He also said,
Make the connections between all the issues as activists and uncover the spiritual roots of our work for peace and justice.
So, let's help each other keep the work going-work that doesn't fragment our lives so completely between the personal and political. That doesn't apologize for focusing either inward or outward in an effort to balance the two.
One of Dan Kerrigan's friends, Father John Dear, once asked him, "You're the hero for so many people. Who are your heroes?" He replied, "I don't believe in heroes, I believe in community."
There it is-I couldn't have said it better!
Sign up below and become part of the Formal Rhubarb community.
For more on the Formal Rhubarb philosophy and approach, please see:
Part 1: Roll Up for the Magical Mystery Tour of Your Soul
Part 2: When You Get Hit By Life, Ask "What's the Counterpunch?"
Part 4: Bringing Medicine Back to the Tribe
Part 5: No Book Has Just One Chapter: Re-Author Your Life & Make a Difference
