Hi everyone,
After much contemplation and review of all the work we have done on the Mission statement so far and based on recent one-on-one conversations or exchanges with some of you, I've finally managed to put together a potential statement that seeks to combine the concepts we all have provided and voted on in recent months. Here's some insight in the process and the results:
FIRST, while some of the language we have been using included the concepts of "education," "interaction," and "connection," you'll find these concepts articulated a little differently in this potential Mission Statement.
"Exploration" is slightly broader and more nuanced that "education," alluding to the opportunity to try and understand more as one does through "education," but also evoking a philosophical or salon-type aspect that includes not only courses and teleseminars we hope to offer but also the capacity for any one individual to deepen his or her understanding through a more hermeneutic process even by reading existing posts, watching a video, or participating in a discussion thread.
"Exchange" is quite similar to "interaction" but also feels a bit more active to me, connotating "value" that occurs between any participating parties when they engage in dialogue, offer information, tips or resources, share their latest work, etc. I also like that it starts with "E" to complement "Exploration."
"Exposure" refers not only to easy access for connection to other members and to new ideas and potentialities, but also alludes to our increasing focus on reaching out to organizations who may benefit from exposure to a growing community of individuals who may be interested in joining or supporting them, and also to authors, educators or presenters who are looking for exposure for their ideas, books, materials, or events. Right now, I think this is a cutting edge opportunity for the Alliance to both attract those who have something to offer as well as to draw new members who are looking for resources aggregated in one place. There are a growing number of posts on the Internet for depth psychology resources (thank goodness!) but no one site I can think of really that attempts to bring them all together in one place.
NEXT, after struggling to include ALL our ideas, I suddenly had the insight that not all of our ideas necessarily fit a MISSION statement but might rather be elements of a VISION statement. I found a great web site that articulates the difference: They suggest that to understand the difference, think of the words "Visionary" and "Missionary." A Visionary imagines possible futures. A Missionary does the work under the guidance of the greater vision, and asks: What do we do? For whom do we do it? What is the impact?
FINALLY, the topic came up in conversation with James and our new incoming board member, Linda Ravenswood, and they both made contributions which helped this iteration congeal for me. Linda sent us the Core Values of Pacifica which resonate with her and that's what helped me make the leap to carve out our (sometimes lofty but that's good!) ideas into a Values/Vision statement and let the Mission statement be more grounded. When I mentioned how I feel the Alliance has a life and will of its own and wants to have a voice in its future, James made the very poignant (for me at least) suggestion that maybe we could find a way to include that in the Mission statement or the process of creating it. In the end, I believe the VISION statement also fulfilled that need. While it doesn't ARTICULATE outright that the Alliance has a voice, the VISION statement feels like it IS the voice of the Alliance: it's what IT wants overall. It's what IT envisions for its future. HOW we carry it out is more up to us. (I'd love to hear your thoughts on this...)
SO--having said all that, here are the two statements for your contemplation. I'd like to OPEN DISCUSSION on these for a few days in case anyone is really opposed or if someone feels strongly about changing something around the wording or order. If you have thoughts, please respond using the comments below no later than Wednesday, July 24, or if you're happy with them, please articulate that you are. Remember, these don't have to be set in stone--we can always change them if our vision or goals change as we go, but it will be very helpful for us to have something in place, even provisional, which will in turn guide our next steps for the four initiatives our our planned upcoming events. By Wednesday, if the majority of us agree, I think we can move forward.
Thank you all!
OUR VISION
To help make depth psychology more accessible to all, to foster deeper dialogue and more understanding and insight into the human psyche and the collective soul of the world, and to serve as a source of warmth, replenishment, and interconnectivity in the ongoing process of tending psyche
OUR MISSION
Depth Psychology Alliance aims to in serve all individuals and organizations who are passionate about the power of depth psychology by cultivating a dynamic global gathering place for Exploration, Exchange, and Exposure to 1) depth psychology ideas, principles and practices; 2) to new and existing resources and organizations, and 3) to opportunities to connect and dialogue with likeminded others.
Replies
Hi Friends, Just wanted to let you know that I am happy to be with the group and will carefully read the Charter asap ... it looks beautiful at first reading ! Thank you so much !
Thanks, Linda. Great to have your voice here. Just FYI for everyone, we have 7 votes back on the Vision and Mission Statements with tomorrow being the cut off date to vote. One person has suggested we change the words "depth psychology" to "Depth Psychologies"...which I actually appreciate and agree with. We'll wait until the survey closes and see if there are any other specific suggestions or comments, then make final finessing decisions if needed.
As a first order of business for our expanded board, please take a few moments to "vote" for our newly crafted Vision and Mission statements. As most of you know, the previous members of the board have had significant input on this final version over the past few months and these are crafted from an long-term aggregate of their comments, input and wordcrafting.
If you're new to the Board and haven't been part of the creative process, you're still welcome to offer your vote of support. However, unless you have very serious reservations about either statement, I think we might all agree we don't want to have to go backward in the process. so if you do have those reservations for any reason, please withhold your vote and reach out to me directly so we can address it.
We'll go for a majority vote from the group. Once adopted, we'll announce to the community and use these statements as a foundation for some of our upcoming initiatives.
Thank you all. It should take about 60 seconds to vote at this link: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e7wq85j4hjneyz1v/start Please vote by Wednesday, July 31.
Bonnie, hi:
I love your new mission statement! I particularly like the idea of adding a vision statement, and that we revisit the mission statement periodically to see if it is still serving our vision. I like the spirit and content of both as you've written them, although, having read them over many times, I would like to suggest some tweaking. In general, there are many grammatical problems with both. I think this mainly comes from both being a little too busy and complicated. I would like to see if we could think about simplifying them. Below are my versions of what I hope are generally the same ideas. I’ve tried to correct the grammatical problems, as well as simplify them, without losing the core spirit and message that you’ve so beautifully captured.
Our vision is to make Depth Psychology universally accessible and to foster meaningful insight into the human psyche and the collective soul. Integral to this vision is the spirit of service. We aspire to serve as a source of warmth, replenishment, and interconnectivity in the ongoing process of tending to soul.
Our mission is to serve all individuals and organizations who are passionate about the power of Depth Psychology. Our intention is to cultivate a dynamic global gathering place for exposure to as well as the exploration and exchange of 1) depth psychology ideas, principles and practices, 2) new and existing resources, while at the same time 3) encouraging opportunities to connect and dialogue with like minded others.
You will notice that I've replaced the word 'psyche' with the word 'soul' at the end of the vision statement. Personally, I prefer the word psyche, but since we are hoping to reach people who know nothing about Depth Psychology (and may know nothing about the word psyche) I'm suggesting thinking about the change. In any case, I am happy with any variety of options on this and the other suggestions I've made here. Please let me know if any of these suggestions are a direction that you would like to explore.
All the best,
James
James: Thanks so much for your careful contemplation. I really like what your suggesting: I think it creates an additional level of simplicity. I also always have preferred word "soul" to "psyche" so for me, that's a given.
Peronally, I am ready and willing to adopt your suggested changes. If anyone else wants to weigh in--new boardmembers reading this inlcuded— please do it by Friday at latest. Then I'll send out a poll for your votes to adopt and we can announce it to the community asap.
Hi Folks, I am in the middle of a family move from one rental to another here in Boulder. Will try to respond to this thread and others around the edges of the boxes in which we are buried in the next day or two. Great news about the new board members!
Mark