Seedlings

The Dream Box

“The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream…in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs.  Dreams are the seedlings of realities.” — James Allen

 

It was a parochial school near the center of Denver, Colorado.  98% of the second grade students in this classroom were “school lunch eligible”, meaning their family’s income falls below the poverty line.  I was an observer in the classroom as the teacher delivered a lesson on “setting goals”.  The teacher finished and invited the five adults in the back of the classroom to mingle with the students and to admire their Dream Boxes.

I had noticed a Hispanic boy a few rows in front of me.  He had raised his hand enthusiastically each time the teacher had asked a question but never been called upon.  I approached his desk and said, “I’m Mr. Warnick, what is your name?”  Jose grinned shyly as he uttered his name.

“Jose,” I asked, “what is this box on your desk?”

“That’s my Dream Box,” he replied, slowly opening the box to reveal a variety of rocks and other stuff.  The sides of the box, top and bottom were covered with pictures cut from magazines and other material and then pasted on as a collage of dreams and goals.

“Looks to me like you like rocks, Jose”.  “Yeah,” he smiled, “I want to be one of those rock scientists when I grow up.”  “A rock scientist….do you mean a geologist?” I inquired.  “That’s it….I want to be a geologist.”  Our conversation turned easily to a short discussion of what he would have to do to become a rock scientist.  He was going to have to study hard, get good grades, so he could get into college and study for five or six years more to become a geologist.  I was amazed at the clarity he had and how his teacher had helped him discover the steps he would need to take to reach his goal.

How did a seven or eight year old gain this clarity and set such an audacious goal? 

It started with a shoe box.  Each student brought a shoe box to the second grade classroom.

Next, his teacher brought magazines, Sunday newspaper advertising inserts, and anything else she could find that was full of colorful images.  The students were asked to dream about what they wanted to become when they grew up, to think about things they wanted to do, places they wanted to visit or see, or people they wanted to meet someday.  Finally, they were asked to cut out pictures from the magazines and advertising materials which could tell a story about what they were fascinated by, what they wanted to learn more about, the places they wanted to visit, and things they wanted to see or do.

So Jose’s box was adorned with pictures of mountains (“they are full of rocks” he told me) but it also included a soccer ball (“I want to play soccer…maybe if I’m good enough I can get paid to play soccer in college”), pictures of Disneyland and Disney World, and a picture of the Pope and the President. 

And, inside of box were at least ten different rocks that Jose had collected since the start of second grade.  He could tell me if this rock was igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary and where it came from.

This summer I’m going to pull my eight and nine year old grandchildren together for cousin camp.  I’m going to either bring shoe boxes or perhaps we’ll go buy some shoes they’ll need for school this coming fall.  But with those shoe boxes I’m going to ask them to dream…dream big…dream about the things they want to do, the places they want to visit, the people they want to meet, and what they want to become.

I believe these dream boxes are the seeds of future greatness.  They are a powerful visual reminder of the freedom we enjoy to dream and achieve.  Everyone should have a Dream Box, not just second graders.  What would your Dream Box look like?  And how might it influence the next five, twenty-five or fifty years of your life?

The Pillars of Purposeful Philanthropy

In March 2010 my friend Geoff Davis, co-founder and former CEO of Unitus, asked me how I thought Purposeful Planning would influence the world of philanthropy.  I reflected for several hours late that night and what emerged is what I've called the Five Pillars of Purposeful Philanthropy.  

Recently, I shared those pillars with some of my collaborators within the LinkedIn world.  What resulted was a flood of appreciation and powerful suggestions on expanding the universality and impact of the pillars. Over the last couple of days I've contemplated what I've learned from those who reached out to me, as well as from my client experiences over the last three years, and this has led to deepening the Pillars as well as shifting my vision of their purpose.

The pillars are not intended to replace but rather guide and support the processes, strategies, tactics, meetings and effort which an individual or family generates through their philanthropic journey.  The pillars are the "Being" which manifests itself in the "Doing: of giving and service.  Here are the Six Pillars of Purposeful Philanthropy.  Please let me know if you feel there is still something missing from this list.

 

VISION:  Until I know myself, the blinders of the past obscure the pathways to significance. To clearly see the needs of others as well our opportunities to make the world a better place, I must first know myself.  To know who I am, I must first ask who am I…..and then who am I not to be. 

 

ABUNDANCE AND GRATITUDE: We give and share with love so that gratitude can unlock the fullness of life.  We trust in the paradox of the law of abundance -- by sharing and giving our lives are made richer.  There are two keys to the treasure chest of generosity.  With one key we impart freely of both material resources and spiritual plenty.  With the other we gratefully accept all that comes back.

 

PURPOSE AND FOCUS:  Vision and purpose are keys to our philanthropic journey--a journey which takes us from mere givers of money to impactful and purposeful philanthropists.  We focus our strategies and leverage our efforts to make our philanthropic vision real and congruent with our family’s shared purpose(s).

 

COMPASSION: We enhance and empower our fellowmen through purposeful gifts.  We resist any impulse which would demean or create dependency.

 

LEGACY: As stewards of our family’s wealth, we gratefully acknowledge all we have received from the prior generations as well as the wealth we are “borrowing” from the future generations of our family.  We repay both debts through service and example. We trust this shared philanthropic journey will create compassion, resiliency and purposeful self-sufficiency in the next generations of our family. 

 

COMMITMENT AND PASSION: Our philanthropic passion for the causes we embrace creates the enthusiasm and devotion which will ultimately change lives and make the world a better place. We marvel at the interconnectedness of mankind and the interrelatedness of all cultures and communities. There can be no peace and joy for us until we see peace and joy for you too

 

 

Good people treat others as they would like to be treated.   Generous people treat others better than they would like to be treated   Wise people do not indulge in being either good or generous.  Instead, they treat people as they need to be treated – Sufi Proverb

 

Vision and Sight – Watch With Both Eyes

 

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye”— Antoine de Saint-Exupery  “Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens”—Carl Jung

Seeing and vision are as different as hearing and listening.  

For vision we need both eyes….our physical eyes and our spiritual eye.  What matters most is invisible to our physical eyes.

John Gardner, at the beginning of his 1978 essay On Moral Fiction, tells a story about Thor circling Middle Earth each year to beat back the enemies of order.  As Thor aged, he got slower and the circle occupied by Gods and men grew smaller.  Woden, the wisdom God, was concerned the world would eventually plunge into chaos.  He went to the King of the Trolls, got him in an armlock, and demanded to know how order might triumph over chaos:

“Give me your left eye,” said the troll, “and I’ll tell you.” 

Without hesitation, the God of Wisdom gave up his left eye.  “Now tell me,” Woden demanded.

The King of the Trolls said, “The secret is, Watch with both eyes!”

Giving up our left eye is akin to looking at just one prong of an issue, one facet of a personality, one branch of a family or one source of a problem. 

I just acquired a pair of prescription reading glasses.  While I paid a lot more for them than the generic pair from Walgreens which they replaced, they were specifically tailored (by Dr. Taylor) to allow me to read comfortably for hours.  But they only function well when I’m holding something about eight to fourteen inches from my eyes.  They aren’t effective when I’m driving or needing long-range vision.  I need more than one lens to be able to see everything I need to.

Our vision improves dramatically when we look through the lens of others’ viewpoint.  Nothing serves as a more powerful reminder of the dangers of relying solely on my own experiences and expertise than the fable of the Six Blind Men of Indostan.  I wrote about that fable in  The Dangers of Personal Observation -- The Advantages of Collaborative Vision.  Recently, a friend shared another version of that fable by the Sufi philosopher, Rumi, in which he describes what happened in a Hindu village one night when an elephant was brought into a dark room where no one had previously seen such a beast:

One by one, we go in the dark and come out 
saying how we experience the animal.
One of us happens to touch the trunk.
A water-pipe kind of creature.

Another, the ear. A strong, always moving
back and forth, fan-animal. Another, the leg.
I find it still, like a column on a temple.

Another touches the curve back.
A leathery throne. Another, the cleverest,
feels the tusk. A rounded sword made of porcelain.
He is proud of his description.

Each of us touches one place
and understands the whole in that way.
The palm and the fingers feeling in the dark
are how the senses explore the reality of the elephant.

If each of us held a candle there,
and if we went in together, we could see it.”--Rumi

So the next time you approach a new problem, please consider asking others to hold up a candle for you.  What have they’ve seen and experienced which will help you better see and respond to your new challenge.  Are you using both of your eyes—physical and spiritual?

 May we all be willing—whether within the sacred space of family, the workplace, or our communities—to hold up a candle for each other.   Through collective vision we will see the whole picture.  And by watching through both eyes—physical and spiritual—we can bring harmony and joy to whatever corner of the world we occupy. 

 

"If I have seen farther than othes, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants."--Sir Isaac Newton