Common Fire: Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World

574 Pages·1997·1.36 MB·English

by  Laurent A. Parks Daloz

Common Fire : Leading Lives of
title:
Commitment in a Complex World
author: Daloz, Laurent A.
publisher: Beacon Press
isbn10 | asin: 0807020052
print isbn13: 9780807020050
ebook isbn13: 9780807020081
language: English
Political participation, Social participation,
subject
Social change, Social problems.
publication date: 1997
lcc: HM131.C74276 1996eb
ddc: 302/.14
Political participation, Social participation,
subject:
Social change, Social problems.
Page iii
Common Fire
Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World
Laurent A. Parks Daloz
Cheryl H. Keen
James P. Keen
Sharon Daloz Parks
Page iv
Beacon Press
25 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02108-2892
Beacon Press books are published under the auspices of the Unitarian
Universalist Association of Congregations.
© 1996 by Laurent A. Parks Daloz, Cheryl H. Keen, James P. Keen,
and Sharon Daloz Parks
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
01 00 9 8
Text design by Janis Owens
Book composition by Willow Graphics, Woodstown, New Jersey
Printed on acid-free, recycled paper
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97-73532.
Page v
To our great-grandparents and grandparents,
and to our parents,
L. Albert and Lois Daloz
Harry and Trudy Hollmann
Enid and Robert Keen
Emmett and Eloys Parks,
and to our children
Kate Daloz
Todd Daloz
Justin Hollmann Keen,
the legacy and the promise of commitment
Page vii
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1. Connection and Complexity: 1
The Challenge of the New Commons
2. Community: 20
Becoming at Home in the World
3. Compassion: 55
Living Within and Beyond Tribe
Interlude: 81
For the Hundreds of Years that Come After
4. Conviction: 102
Developing Critical Habits of Mind
5. Courage: 125
A Responsible Imagination
Interlude: 154
Evansburg
6. Confession: 170
The Struggle with Fallibility
7. Commitment: 193
The Power of the Double Negative
Epilogue: 213
Compass Points: The Power of Location and Direction
Page viii
Appendix 243
Notes 248
Index 264
Page ix
Acnowledgments
The creation and publication of this book reflect the interdependent
character of life to which committed lives bear witness. Directly and
indirectly, a host of people have informed and sustained this work.
We owe our deepest gratitude to each of the people we interviewed.
We promised them anonymity but our appreciation must be public.
They were generous with their time, candor, and willingness to reflect
with us on that edge between current knowledge and emergent
awareness that we call learning.
This study has been graced by the intelligence and commitment of
Karen Thorkilsen, our steady and dedicated research associate. Not
only did she painstakingly process mountains of interview material
with a discerning eye and deft computer wizardry, but she allowed the
material to work in her own imagination in a way that contributed
significantly to our understanding. As an artist and poet in her own
right, and as a fifth reader with editorial skills, she brought a finely
tuned aesthetic to the work, keeping us faithful to the data. We are
privileged to be accompanied by such an outstanding colleague.
We are deeply grateful also to Craig Dykstra, Jim Wind and other
colleagues at The Lilly Endowment. They have steadfastly shared the
vision of what this kind of work can bring to our common life, and the
Endowment's material and collegial support has played an essential
role in making this resource-intensive work possible. Most recently
the grant has been ably administered by Annette Wofford at the
National Society for Experiential Education. We are grateful that the
Keens were supported also by the Millicent Fenwick Research
Professorship at Monmouth University. Larry and Sharon are grateful
for supportive and challenging colleagues at Lesley College, Harvard
University, and The Whidbey Institute.
For their strategic presence in the early phase of the project, we thank
Patricia McKernon, Jim Botkin, and Roswitha Botkin. Since then, we
have
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drawn on the insight of several consultants, and a number of
colleagues have read all or portions of the manuscript. These include
Art Levine, Doug Huneke, Joe Maxwell, Mary Watkins, Mary
Belenky, Martha Carmichael, John DeCuevas, Patricia Evans, Nancy
Frommelt, Brita Gill-Austern, Charles Halpern, Carol Leland, Almeda
McKee, C.G. Newsome, Marcia Sharp, and colleagues at the Clinical
Developmental Institute, particularly Ann Fleck Henderson, Gina
O'Connell Higgins, Robert Kegan, and Laura Rogers.
We appreciate also others who provided perspectives useful in
developing particular aspects of the text. These include Fred Abbott,
Arthur Applebaum, Richard Barnet, Ray Bowen, Elizabeth
Christopherson, Sharon Coates, Sally Finestone, Jim Fowler, Zee
Gamson, Herb Green, Bill Hanson, Anita Landa, Larry Leverett,
Marty Linsky, George Lodge, Jack McCullough, Martha McKenna,
Scott McVay, David Mallery, Martha Minow, Mark Murphy, Tom
Ogletree, Linda Powell, George Rupp, Mary Sue Sweeney-Price,
Sandra Schneiders, Michael Seltzer, Ted Sizer, Willa Spicer, and John
Sullivan. In addition, many people in seminars and courses who were
early respondents to the work offered invaluable and challenging
confirmation.
This type of project requires competent clerical support, and we
acknowledge with gratitude the skill and personal commitment of
Kate Marrone, Jackie Rutberg, and Sharon Eastwick, who transcribed
the interviews, and Gwen Swift, Eugenie Moriconi, Kelly Johnson,
and Greg Low, who provided additional forms of assistance.
Because the team lives in two different geographic areas, we are
grateful to people who extended hospitality at the halfway point,
specifically Stephen Knoblauch, Ingrid Roze, Betsy McGregor,
Charles Terry, Irene Seeland, and the wider community of the
International Center for Integrative Studies, who also encouraged us