Beyond all the theories, conflicting approaches,
interventions, and strategies, for me therapeutic companionship is a process of
bearing witness to the life of another as they come to befriend themselves in a
way that was not possible until now. To excavate meaning where there was none,
to find purpose in the core of the purposelessness, breath where there was no
breath to be found.
This befriending is not ordinary or passive, not always
flowing and peaceful. It is fierce, on fire, and an act of revolution. It is
the light shining out of the core of the dark night, the outrageousness of the
human spirit, and the basic goodness of the human heart.
To walk into the dark wood, into the disorienting and
hopeless places, without knowing where the journey will lead, if we will make it
out in one piece, or where new life will be found. Making sense together of
where they have been, who they see themselves to be, and what they are longing
to become. To illuminate what matters most to them and cradle it in our shared
heart. To help them gather the pieces of the broken world.
To proclaim their experience as utterly valid, their
feelings as ragingly honorable and intelligent, that they are worthy of love as
they are. That despite the pain of the present, the traumas of the past, and
the fragmented dreams of the future we will dare to reclaim the aspects, parts,
and pieces of the soul that have been turned from, now longing to return home.
We will assert together that pain is not pathology, that
they need not be "cured" in order for us to stay near, that their
suffering is authentic, that their hopelessness well-founded. Even their doubt
is holy when allowed into the inner sanctum. What they are is not some project
to be improved, but a mystery to be lived.
And then, from that foundation of companionship and bearing
witness to the sacredness of what a human being truly is—including the profound
grief, despair, and moments of great joy—we are able to turn together into the
unknown and bow before its immensity.
It is awesome, in the truest sense of the word, to bear
witness in this way. To fall to the ground in the beholding of God in action,
of the unstoppable wild bravery of the human spirit, and the relentlessness and
creativity of love as it makes its way into form.
Photo credit: James Estrin/ New York Times
The Way of Rest summer retreat – registration open now (we're about 80% sold out as of 27 May)
The Way of Rest summer retreat – registration open now (we're about 80% sold out as of 27 May)
