The Space In Between

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the in-between space, the space that isn’t quite one thing, and isn’t quite another. Maybe it’s this murky fall weather. Maybe it’s the work of figuring out how to describe and develop this project of Spirited Social Change, which is in-between and not-quite a whole bunch of things.

I am confident that the space in-between things is important. It’s a relational space, an interactive space, and an anything is possible space. In eco-systems thinking, life forms are described less by a list of innate attributes, and more by the impact and influence they have on the life around them. And surprisingly, this approach doesn’t devalue the uniqueness of each one, but reinforces it, by emphasizing that life needs one another. It’s a creative tension. But the value is in the relationship, in the connections between things.

In a similar way, Spirited Social Change has thus far emerged within the space between things. And it’s been a tricky balance. We’re trying to navigate space between progressive institutional religion and sometimes-soulless capitalist secularism. And we’re trying to nurture space between full-time activist folks, and broader networks of people striving to make a meaningful difference in the world. And I want to say that we haven’t always gotten it right. There’ve been folks who weren’t comfortable coming into a church building, or who felt the music was too religious, and folks who thought a speaker was too anti-religion, and folks for whom the language hasn’t been just right. There’ve been folks who are looking to do more, and folks who are already up to their noses and are looking for a space to decompress.

It’s been great to hear all of this feedback. The space between is murky and messy and our only hope of navigating it well is in navigating it together.

Rabbi Michael Lerner writes eloquently about navigating these particular spaces in-between as the need to develop a Politics of Meaning, a framework and a language that marries our visions of a better world with people longing for meaning and belonging. He argues that we will only be successful in so much as we are able to articulate the relationship between the two. This is what we are striving to do.

And on that note, we’ve been sending around a survey, to gather some feedback on what you’ve enjoyed so far, and what else you think we should be doing. If you haven’t been sent a link to fill it out, and would like to, send an email and we’ll get it to you. We would deeply appreciate the feedback.

For now, thanks for all the ways in which you already navigate tricky waters between identities, communities, values, and material realities. It’s so good to know that we’re in it together.

With love,
Chris