Spirituality of Scale
By Rev. Christine Ng, Executive Director (Interim)
Photo by Natalia-Gasiorowska via Unsplash
Dear Stillpoint Friends,
I hear it all the time as people engage in Stillpoint’s programs: “I’ve found my tribe.” I heard it most recently during our Spiritual Journey week at Ghost Ranch in May. People come, drawn by curiosity and a sense of wanting something more in their lives. They leave having experienced what they may not have known they needed: connection, wonder, a glimpse of the Holy in the eyes of another. As the staff holds space for them, they listen and explore their lives and their relationship to the Divine. In the process, a group of strangers become a new community; the threads of their lives and souls weaving together before our eyes. It’s intimate, miraculous, transformative and a privilege to witness. Three weeks later, I am still wearing the thread bracelet we tied on each other’s wrists as a reminder of the experience we had together and to “never let go of the thread” (in the words of William Stafford).
I also came away from this last May week reminded, yet again, that our work matters. There are so few spaces in the world where this kind of experience is possible. Yet this is what Stillpoint offers in its programs of spiritual direction formation and contemplative living.
I have become convinced that an important aspect of this almost alchemical process is a kind of spirituality of scale. You’ve probably heard of “economy of scale”; the higher the level of production the less the cost to produce each item. My concept of “spirituality of scale” recognizes a different dynamic: the larger the group, the harder it is to develop relationships within the group that can lead to rich, transformational insights and experiences. This is not to say that large programs cannot be transformative—the Spirit has no limits. But I believe that smaller, more intimate programs facilitate the process, and enable even deeper experience. “Where two or three gather in my name, I am with them.” (Matthew 18:20)
Yet, the small size of a group does not necessarily reflect the impact on the wider community. There is another aspect to this spirituality of scale: It is fractal. Writer adrienne maree brown describes this in her book Emergent Strategy. Fractals are patterns that replicate across different scales. “The same spirals on sea shells can be found in the shape of galaxies.” For her, this observation of how the universe works suggests “that what we practice at a small scale reverberates to the largest scale.” We effect change in the wider systems and communities of our world, one small group at a time.
““What we practice at a small scale can reverberate to the largest scale.””
This is an important insight at a time when the challenges we face on Earth are so large and seemingly intractable that it is easy to fall into despair and inaction; when we wonder whether our small contribution makes a difference. Yet ripples of change expand outward from each drop into the ocean. “How we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale.” What we do matters. It is this conviction that guides me in my work for Stillpoint, in my own spiritual direction practice, and in my doctoral work.
Stillpoint’s programs are intimate and relational, small groups with a high ratio of staff to participants. With each program, more people join the Stillpoint community, become part of this tribe of contemplatives, and the ripples of change grow incrementally larger. But to operate using the spirituality of scale, instead of the economy of scale, we need your help.
In June, we reach out to the Stillpoint community and beyond for the financial support we need to continue to offer our rich, intimate, transformative programs. Your participation in Stillpoint programs, your donations to this organization, and your commitment to our continuing work of nurturing pathways to wholeness make Stillpoint’s work possible.
There is a link below to make a donation to our annual fund drive. Please give as generously as you can and know that whatever you contribute matters and is greatly appreciated.
However you found Stillpoint—by taking a program, by seeing one of our posts shared on Instagram, by word of mouth from a friend, or by chance in an internet search—something in what Stillpoint does spoke to you. You are now part of our tribe.
Poet Alberto Rios says it well, so I leave you with his words:
“We Are of a Tribe” – Alberto Rios
We plant seeds in the ground
And dreams in the sky.
Hoping that, someday, the roots of one
Will meet the upstretched limbs of the other.
It has not happened yet.
We share the sky, all of us, the whole world.
Together we are a tribe of eyes that look upward,
Even as we stand on uncertain ground.
The earth beneath us moves, quiet and wild,
Its boundaries shifting, its muscles wavering.
The dream of sky is indifferent to all this.
Impervious to borders, fences, reservations.
The sky is our common home, the place we all live.
There we are in the world together.
The dream of sky requires no passport.
Blue will not be fenced. Blue will not be a crime.
Look up. Stay awhile. Let your breathing slow.
Know that you always have a home here.
Blessings for the journey,
Chris Ng
Rev. Chris Ng is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, church pastor, chaplain, spiritual director, a retired appellate lawyer, and serving as the current Interim Executive Director of Stillpoint. She serves on the Ghost Ranch faculty of Stillpoint and is the Stillpoint at Ghost Ranch program administrator. She holds a Master of Divinity, Juris Doctor, and Bachelor of Arts degrees and did her spiritual direction training through Stillpoint. She also studied the Taoist arts for more than 30 years. Having previously served churches in Southern Florida and Texas, Chris is currently called to pastor First United Church of Christ and Conference Center, Second Life, the only fully authorized church of a recognized Christian denomination that exists only in virtual reality. She lives in Northern New Mexico and also serves as chaplain and EMT with the Abiquiu Volunteer Fire Department.