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Trebbe Johnson's
Newsletter
January 2009
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Dear Questers, Friends, and
Seekers of the Beloved,
Happy New Year! As you read
this, I'll be en route with
Sabina Wyss and our twelve
vision questers to
Tamanrasset, a market town
in southern Algeria. We'll
spend the night at a
campsite there, awaken to
the Islamic call to prayer
resonating from loudspeakers
all around town and stunning
you with its compelling
beauty. Later that morning
we'll pile into land rovers
and head into the Sahara
Desert, where we'll meet our
Tuareg guides and camels a
couple of days later.
The theme of this newsletter
is from a phrase in a
Christmas carol that I
suddenly heard as if for the
first time: "the soul felt
its worth." What does that
mean and how can we foster
the soul's worth? In 2009,
may you both receive and
give beauty and joy every
day, in the tough times as
well as the jubilant ones.
May you find new ways to be
happy. May you give more
attention than ever before
to what you truly value. May
your soul feel its worth.
To those who are receiving
this newsletter for the
first time... welcome! Here
you'll find news of upcoming
Vision Arrow
events, reflections,
profiles of extraordinary
people, and stories of
transformation that occur
when we accept, in small,
bold, startling ways the
invitations that the world
is always sending us.
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THE
SOUL FELT ITS WORTH
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Today (Tuesday, December 23)
I was folding clean laundry
and singing a Christmas
carol, "Oh, Holy Night," to
myself when I was powerfully
struck by one of the lines.
The whole stanza goes like
this:
Oh,
holy night, the stars are
brightly shining,
It is the night of our
dear savior's birth.
Long lay the world in
sin and error pining
Till he appeared and the
soul felt its worth.
The soul felt its worth.
I stopped singing. How many
times over my life have I
sung those words and never
thought about them? Today
they seemed exceptionally
beautiful and profound. How,
I wondered, does the soul
feel its worth?
The soul feeling its worth
is different from the ego
feeling its worth. The ego
feels its worth when we're
getting good feedback about
our work, when someone
compliments us on how we
look, when things are going
our way. The soul--and here
I'm defining "soul" as that
most enduring, most
authentic part of who we
are--doesn't need this kind
of frequent reinforcement.
It feels its worth when it
is in the flow with some
higher energy, whether it's
God or nature or your own
creative process. Sometimes,
of course, the soul suffers
along with the ego, for
example, when you've been
out of work for a long time
and feel unable to take care
of your family, when you or
a loved one is seriously
ill, or when you're in the
grip of an addiction.
However, it is often in the
most dire of times that the
soul rises up and asserts
itself in spite of
everything. Think of the
spirituals sung by African
slaves. With music that
moves the body to ecstasy
and lyrics that go way down
deep to find commonality in
the darkness and faith in
the light, this is a music
that asserts the soul's
ongoing worth
despite the
degradation of both the ego
and the community. Then,
too, I remember hearing an
interview with the singer
Melissa Etheridge a couple
of years ago. She said that
when she was suffering
through cancer and the
treatment of it, she was
amazed to feel that her soul
was thriving and as healthy
as ever.
One way to foster the soul's
worth is by consciously
seeking out how we might do
so. We can, for example,
take quiet time to explore
our own definition of soul
and ask how we can better
manifest it. In times of
doubt and trouble, we can
make an extra effort to act
out of generosity and
authenticity, rather than
out of fear and selfishness.
We can reflect on the
places, circumstances, and
preoccupations that make us
feel truly alive and part of
life--and then make more
time to live from that inner
place. And knowing that the
soul can feel its worth even
in times of great stress and
sorrow, we can call it forth
and invite it to sing.
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THE UP-SIDE OF THE DOWNTURN
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 Imagine,
if you will, a conversation
about personal money matters
that is confidential,
engrossing, and
non-judgmental. Imagine a
small group sitting under a
big tree in a peaceful
forest. Through the process,
each person is able to
fundamentally shift her or
his attitudes about this
omnipresent, often
overwhelming force in our
lives.
How, we might ask, can we
free ourselves of fear of
financial insecurity? How
give priority to what we
really value? How manage not
only to survive, but to
thrive in this time of real
economic crisis? And how can
we practice compassion,
creativity, and generosity
despite personal financial
difficulties?
Beginning in January I'll be
offering
The Upside of the Downturn,
a virtual round table under
a tree--in this case a
series of conference calls,
each limited to six people.
In three confidential
sessions (of one hour each
in Level 1, one and a half
hours each plus other
offerings and two individual
sessions with me in Level
2), we'll explore how to
regain balance and find joy
in the economic downturn.
Not a program about making
money or finding new job
opportunities, The Upside of
the Downturn is about
creating practices and tools
to transform fear into
empowerment and anxiety into
opportunity.
I myself have had a
checkered relationship with
money over the years, so
this is a subject I've
pondered a lot. I've been
economically independent
since I was eighteen and my
father suddenly informed me
that he was not going to pay
for my college education
after all. I've been poor,
living on £5 a week but
blissfully happy in a
unheated cottage in England
in the 1970s. And I've
earned a good living in the
1990s--all the while
accumulating some serious
credit card debt. In the
process of becoming
debt-free, I worked in many
ways not only to solve the
problem but also to develop
a new relationship with
money, one that has clarity,
honesty, integrity, and even
a spiritual beauty. Along
the way I've also learned
that if we harbor shame and
fear about money, we are
hindered from living the
kind of free and soulful
life we long to live.
The economic crisis is
inviting us to change and
become more of the person we
long to be. There is much to
learn about who we are, what
we want to do with our
lives, and what's important
to us. I hope you'll join me
as we explore a new and
fascinating path together.
For more information, and to
register, contact me. Note
that from December 31 to
January 19, I'll be in the
Sahara, but you can still
register through
email.
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TEACHING OUTSIDE THE BOX
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 In
the weeks before the
election last November, I
noticed that the one thing
both Democrats and
Republicans on our local
nature preserve stewardship
committee agreed about is
the discouraging state of
public school education in
America. Teachers feel
stymied because there are so
many federal and state rules
to follow and so little
encouragement for good
teachers to think and act
outside the prescribed
educational box. For this
reason I was especially
struck by a story that a
friend of mine, Kate Thorpe,
told recently.
Kate works with special
needs children at a public
elementary school in Johnson
City, New York. One of the
children she works with is a
little boy who has cerebral
palsy and extremely poor
eyesight. When the class was
studying currency, the boy
was unable either to pick up
the coins in his hands or to
examine them, so the lessons
did not make sense to him.
Kate spends a lot of time
thinking about how to bring
creative solutions to each
child, and when her ideas
spring forth, she often has
to take extra time and
effort to implement them.
This time she suddenly
remembered the cardboard
sheets that coin collectors
use, each of which contains
several small frames into
which coins are inserted.
Kate bought some of these,
slipped coins of different
denominations into the
frames, and gave these to
the boy. He was then able to
slide each frame off his
desk, hold it in his hand,
and look closely at the coin
from two sides.
Needless to say, Kate's
students adore her. Years
after they've left school,
they tell her how grateful
they continue to be for her
support and attention. It's
not the gratitude that
inspires her, of course;
it's witnessing this shift
as a frustrating puzzle
suddenly clarifies for a
young student. She has never
lost the conviction that
it's necessary to do
something important, even if
only one person may benefit.
This story shows too how
acts that enable a recipient
soul to feel its worth also
support the worth of the
giver's soul. And it
reinforces an old maxim I
heard long ago: NEVER RESIST
THE TEMPTATION TO PERFORM A
GENEROUS ACT.
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SPEAKING OF FAITH PROGRAM
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For an intelligent,
thought-provoking discussion
of "religion, meaning,
ethics, and ideas," check
out
"Speaking of Faith,"
a weekly National Public
Radio interview program
designed and led by Krista
Tippett. Each one-hour show
features one subject of
inquiry, and the subjects
are always fascinating
perspectives on the ethical
relevance of timely issues.
Tippett herself is more than
an interviewer; she's a
thoughtful person with an
inquiring mind, who knows
how to guide each
conversation into ever
deeper and broader paths.
Recent programs include "An
Architecture of Decency,"
about beautiful and
sustainable homes in poor
neighborhoods; "Hanukkah and
a Rediscovery of Jewish
Customs"; "Repossessing
Virtue," about spiritual
aspects of the economic
crisis; and "The Ethics of
Aid," a young Kenyan's
cautionary perspective on
western attempts to ease
poverty and illness in
Africa. You can listen to
all the archived programs
back to the September 22,
2001 edition, which deals
with religious questions
about the September 11
attacks that had just
occurred.
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BOOK AND
WORKSHOP NEWS
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 February
20-22 I'll be back at
Rowe, the wonderful
center in Rowe, MA, to
present the workshop based
on my book,
The World Is a Waiting Lover.
If you've never been to
Rowe, this would be a great
time to experience it.
Identifying and reclaiming
the dynamic inner energy
that has intuitively and
powerfully guided you all
your life, you gain a new
clarity about the path
you're on and the steps you
need to take next
because your very soul
depends upon it.
Wonderful people attend
programs at Rowe, a small
retreat center amidst
beautiful woods and a
roaring river. The food is
delicious, the housing
options varied and
comfortable. Directors Doug
Wilson and Pru Berry are
active and attentive
presences. My previous two
workshops there have been
high points for both me and
the participants, who have
told me that what they got
that weekend has remained a
permanent part of their
lives.
I myself will be going to
Rowe the previous weekend,
February 13-15, as well, to
attend a workshop called
"Fundraising for Fun and
(Non)Profit," so I can
learn how to attract
financial support for my
newly forming organization,
Radical Joy for Hard Times.
It's an extra expense, but I
know that sometimes you have
to spend money in order to
respond to a deep and
persistent calling. Or, to
put it another way, you need
to choose one thing over
another so that the soul
might feel--and act from a
place of--its worth.
Here's an offer to take
advantage of: because of the
shaky financial situation,
and also because I'm really
interested in creating more
ways for people who know
each other to share in the
benefits of my programs and
to maintain a network of
support afterwards, I'm
offering a special discount:
15% discount off the cost of
any vision quest or
workshop if you bring a
friend (this does not
include the Sahara trip or
the Desire and the Quest for
the Beloved workshop at
Rowe). Check with me for
more details.
For a complete list of 2009
programs offered by Vision
Arrow, see our
website. My website
designer, Kurt Dean, has
almost finished completely
redesigning the site, so
look forward to a grand
unveiling very soon. Also,
early in the new year, I
will be launching my Radical
Joy for Hard Times blog.
Happy New Year to all of
you!
Call 570 727 4272 or
email me if you have
questions or would like to
talk about any of these
programs.
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