“All that we are concerned with is turning your attention to the real things outside.” John C. Merriam, 1925
The Yavapai Point Geology Museum is located along the south rim of the Grand Canyon at a point selected to give the visitor the most comprehensive visual understanding of the canyon’s ancient geological lineage.
It is a compelling reminder in its thorough and thoughtful descriptions and exhibits of how necessary it is to ground ourselves in a fundamental understanding of a place if we are to appreciate its depth and meaning. And, it takes pains to remind us that it’s purpose is to equip us to go out and encounter it directly, not to claim our attention, just to borrow it for a little while.
The internal work we do – the work of starting within – we do, not for the purpose of self-satisfaction or self-congratulation. We do it because it allows us to meet the world exactly as it is with greater capacity, composure and confidence.
We do it because we recognize that we are called to both live and lead at a higher level. That there is a yearning from those working within the complex and shifting landscape of the systems we have created, to radically alter their experience of them and perhaps to change them entirely.
Will we respond to that yearning? Will we choose to find new paths out of old stuck places? Will we choose to lead, first ourselves and then, better equipped for having done our own work, turn our attention to the real things outside?
