Marianna This is my reflection Sarah Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message:
From: "Sarah H. Buss" <shbuss@me.com> Date: December 8, 2014 at 9:56:00 PM CST To: "Sarah H. Buss" <shbuss@mac.com> Subject: ImaginalEducation
One approach is to go back to the original art form methodology: Objective; Reflective; Interpretive. I once heard JWM say he stole it from a professor at UT whose name I forget but who I think died a few years ago. This is among the most important things I cherish from our common memory. It is a part of my very being. The method perpetually changes my life and the images out of which I live. The same can be said of groups I have led or participated in.
Examples in my life where I have used it sometimes strictly or at other times somewhat loosely:
1. Recently in my second book of poetry, Love Letters to a Mirage in the Desert, I used the method for the guided reflection section of the book to give the reader a deeper sense of making the poetry their own and perhaps making a image shift.
2. As State director of Volunteer Services for the Department of Human Resources, I changed the department's image of volunteer services as individualistic and self serving to that of groups of volunteers serving department programs in a project oriented, problem solving manner. The change in the attitude of department heads was dramatic, and allowed them to more effectively use volunteers in achieving their goals.
3. When the executor of my aunt's estate died, it fell to my nephew and I to sort out the mess and settle the estate with 15 heirs who lived all over the USA. His approach was to rely on a typical traditional Texas individualistic process and unilateral decision making. My approach was one of consensus building so that when the time came to sign on the dotted line everyone would agree. The latter approach allowed us to close the estate without splitting the family down the middle. We actually became closer. The image shift from thinking we would vote to that of allowing us to repeatedly develop a consensus is another testament to the effectiveness of our methodologies.
These are illustrations of how Imaginal Education can go way beyond the classroom as well as within it. Hope this doesn't go to far astray from the current discussion.
Sent from my iPhone