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Second Journey is among a number of emerging organizations
within the United States helping birth this new vision of the rich
possibilities of later life. Our series of regional VISIONING
COUNCILS on the topic Creating Community in Later Life
— held over the past two years at
venues across the country — have
sparked creative, innovative thinking. Additionally, they have led to
the emergence of a national network of activists committed “to
collectively dreaming the myths and creating the models that will
galvanize social change” (From Age-ing to Sage-ing).
In mid-November,
Second Journey took an initial step toward organizing the energy and
inviting new leadership into our expanding circle when we held our first
strategic planning retreat at Kirkridge Retreat Center in the
Pocono Mountains
of eastern Pennsylvania. From that retreat, a more expansive
vision of our work emerged; it is reflected in the mission statement
below:
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THE
MISSION
OF SECOND
JOURNEY
is to foster the emerging movement of individuals, organizations
and communities committed to creating
a new vision of aging,
new models of community for the second half of life, and
a just and sustainable world now and for future generations.
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The megaliths among the late
autumn woods at Kirkridge |
Task force teams are now meeting to carry forward many new ideas in
preparation for a second planning retreat which will take place on
May 4-7 at Colorado Chautauqua in Boulder among an expanded
circle of colleagues. Planning also goes forward for a
July 13-16
Visioning Council at the Whidbey Institute north
of Seattle and for
our first
international Visioning Council in Berlin.
This is your invitation, then, to become our partner in this work, to
join with others “who are not afraid to be insecure” in dreaming a new
dream for the world.
The words of Wayne Muller, which we have used to close a number of our
Councils, are appropriate encouragement now: “The family of the earth
aches for your gifts. We all need what you have. We cannot survive
unless you join our circle and bring who you are to our gathering. Do
not be afraid. This is the phrase used more often than any other in
the Bible: Be not afraid. A kind life, a life of spirit, is
fundamentally a life of courage—the courage simply to bring what you
have, to bring who you are.” |
