“They tried to bury us, but they did not know that we were seeds.” Mexican proverb
It’s in the Bones – Wisdom at the Heart of URI Organizing
By Sally Mahé
United Religions Initiative (URI) enlivens people to create cultures of peace, justice and healing through interfaith cooperation. Boldly, both in vision and in organizational design, URI embraces transformational principles. Over the years as URI put these principles into practice, seven core actions have emerged. These core actions are life-giving and provide the DNA for URI. They call forth the best in people. URI provides the conditions where people find meaning and where humanity evolves. URI draws upon natural human capacities. These ways of being are not new knowledge for people, but wisdom already in our bones.
This series describes seven actions at the heart of URI’s organizing. One action summary will be posted each week that includes inquiry questions. Feel free to share this information and use it to engage your community. The entire series can be found here.
Renewable Joy
Renewable joy has little to do with things money can buy. It is the greatest untapped human resource on the planet. People whose passion fuels their work renew their joy. People who fulfill their aspirations to make positive change and lift up others to do the same renew their joy. People who live for a greater purpose than themselves renew their joy. People who want the best for others, and for the planet, as well as for themselves, renew their joy. URI inspires people to act from their dreams and yearnings. Cooperation Circle members discover that they enjoy animating others and creating the conditions for learning and growth to happen. URI is not really creating anything new – we are just seeing with new eyes. We are seeing innate capacities within the human spirit; we are participating in planetary evolution; and, we are inviting people to experience new ways of being in relationship to themselves, to their work, to the extraordinary power and beauty of being human.
Inquiry
- When do you experience joy? Is it possible to feel joy alongside negative feelings?
- Share different synonyms for joy. "When I feel joyful, I feel…"
- Do you think that joy is an essential ingredient for resilient citizen action that results in positive change?