“Impasse is a visceral thing” as Simone Campbell, SSS, puts it in her chapter, “Resisting the Isolating Allure of Impasse” (pp 67-79).

Do you feel that ache in your gut with every passing day we keep the war going in Iraq – wreaking pain, death, and destruction on the people of Iraq; disability and death on US forces and the pain of loss on their families?

“Impasse is the product of fear and grasping” … “it is its essence,” Simone reflects further.

Is it the anguish you feel in your heart when you realize that children are being deprived of healthcare in the wealthiest nation the world has ever known? Is it greed that denies our children? What keeps our leaders from overriding a veto – what exactly do they fear?

We are afraid we will be changed and so each side holds on to its own views. We don’t let go, we do not listen. We remain isolated from one another.

And the war continues and the children are denied.

Later in her chapter, Simone asks “what might encourage us to engage?” not in battle or even in the verbal sparring that goes on constantly among leaders and among members of the media – but in real listening and deepening conversations.

Such engagements might even satisfy “the hunger for community and communing” that Simone believes to be more powerful than the allure of isolation that mires us – our world – in impasse.

Imagine what might happen if such engagements took place – on the international and national levels – in our local communities – in our own families and households.

Take this imagining into your deep contemplative moments … into your conversations.

And, listen to the other’s imaginings.

If you wish you may send your reflection to circles@engagingimpasse.org. If you give us permission, a part of your reflection may be incorporated into a future Book Club entry.

Written by Mary Jo Klick

© Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue 2003-2008
Reprint with permission circles@engagingimpasse.org

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