Meeting 1. - City of my heart¶
Goal¶
Explaining the concept of the city and the purpose of its construction, becoming aware of the hierarchy of values in our life, what amazes and fascinates us.
Prayer¶
Led by the animator, a request for openness of heart and mind.
Introduction¶
Today, at the beginning of this retreat time, we want to reflect on our passions, on what amazes us, what distinguishes us from the crowd. Building a city will help us with this, which will be one of the important places of the retreat.
The city is…¶
What does the city remind you of?
Do you all live in a city?
Do you have experiences of a different life?
A city is primarily created by people. They decide about its life, about the rhythm in which life flows in it. A city is events that take place in it, which are public or quite private. A city is also places - places we strive for, where we are, work, rest. Usually it is associated - especially compared to the countryside - with haste, noise, fast pace of life, many unknown people passing by, traffic jams… At the same time, the city opens up greater perspectives for its inhabitants - better access to schools, universities, work, better communication (buses), greater development opportunities (from the countryside to university only those who really care will commute; the desire to learn can develop in those from the city who, due to “herd instinct”, will go to university only in the 2nd or 3rd year, people from the countryside would then be “at a loss” (because e.g. parents said that if they don’t want to study now, they won’t go at all, but will work), which does not mean they cannot have their own passions or don’t need them - they need them even more!), a kind of “easier start”. This also imposes a certain obligation - so as not to go completely crazy, passions are needed, things that allow us to forget about all this running around.
My city is…¶
The city - as a space of dwelling - is an area of struggle with the quality of one’s own life. To think city… is among other things: to think about distinguished places, nooks, quiet corners of first and next loves (that is, also to ask about the presence and maturity of love in our life); to think about the repeatedly traveled road to school (that is, to ask about the timeliness and depth of one’s own knowledge, the ability to understand what is happening around); to think about paths traveled to friends (that is, to ask about one’s own openness and ability to maintain relationships with others); to see the daily route to work (thus to ask about one’s vocation, about the meaning of toil, about the attitude of service); to also think one’s home (so to reflect on the baggage with which one goes through life, to consider the meaning hidden in everyday details and meetings that build the home); to think one’s own or city library (that is, to ask about windows to the world, about the quantity and quality of one’s spiritual journeys); to think the temple (thus to ask about the source of the meaning of life, about one’s own sensitivity to the sacred); to think shops (that is, to ask about one’s own hungers, about resistance to manipulation, about participation in the chochol dance of the consumer lifestyle); to also think cafes, parks, cinemas (that is, to ask about the level of one’s free time). To think city is to think labyrinths and the transience of one’s existence embedded in a collective context.
—Krzysztof Maliszewski – Pedagogically man dwells
Note
Prepare copies of the above fragment for each participant in advance
Each of us has our own city. It is created by people, places, events particularly important to us, our passions, interests, desires…
Visualizing this truth will be building the city - we will place houses there representing everything that is important to us.
What is important to me in the context of what I read?
What is important to me and at the same time characteristic, distinguishing from others, such “only mine”? Arrange these things from the article according to your hierarchy, write 1 next to what is most important to you, etc.
Why exactly is this important to me? Share your order.
It is worth reflecting on these questions. The answers to them determine our identity, make us who we are, distinguish us from others. They give flavor to our life. This sentence probably applies most to our fascinations, what makes us feel that we are living fully, that we are happy. Let’s separate them from our everyday life. Today let’s focus only on them.
Do you have any passions, fascinations? Special places?
Let’s write them on cards-houses, so we can use them later when building the city - places, people, events, etc., that determine who we really are.
I in my city¶
What do you think, what place, what position do you occupy in your city? How does it affect you?
Can you give specific examples where you had a conflict of values and a more important value influenced the decision?
People usually know what is most important in their life. Let’s see how students answered the question “What is most important to you in life”:
love - 47%,
health - 19%,
work, money - 11%,
hard to choose - 9%,
faith - 6%,
passion - 6%,
don’t know - 2%,
Note
[source: http://student.interia.pl/tylko-u-nas/ankiety/co-jest-dla-ciebie-najwazniejsze-w-zyciu/wyniki,2588,8 ]
The answers “don’t know” and “hard to choose” constitute 11%. Knowing this most important thing can have a decisive influence on the awareness of our identity, our behaviors, what place we occupy in our city.
Where your heart is, there will be your treasure.
—Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also
—Mt 6,21
Our most important values, as well as passions and things characteristic only of us, make us live life to the fullest, enable us to self-realize and feel good about ourselves. Look again at those cards you chose earlier. Draw a heart on them. This will be a real sign that you are aware of what is currently most important to you, the others are also important, but they are like roads leading to the market square. If you want to change, you can. It is important that there is only one heart.
Did anyone change? Why? Did such visualization help you, make you aware of something?
Let’s read
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
—Prov 4,23
The footnote says: Due to ignorance of reward and punishment after death, prosperity was assessed as the main reward for a good life.
We already know (more or less) the punishment and reward we can receive after death, which does not exclude that God, giving us desires, allowing us to develop our passions, makes life grow in us, that thanks to these things we are joyful, full of energy and zeal. He encourages us to develop these passions in ourselves and guard them (e.g. in the parable of the talents). God knows what is most important for us and in us: But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Sam 16,7). So if our heart were the “market square” - what we can be proud of, and above all rejoice in.
Summary¶
In a moment we will translate theory into practice - we will build together a city of the most important matters for the participants of these retreats. Some may repeat, as in the survey, others will remain only ours. However, we will not lose our identity even when we repeat, because of the “house” in which our heart dwells.
In a short prayer, let’s thank God for this time and for allowing us to know our priorities, our hearts, and let’s ask that we may see ourselves as He sees us.