Dialogue with Events
Events can be anything that aren’t persons. They can be actual events like a party, an accident, an achievement, or a failure. Events can be abstract concepts, too, like emotions or truth or justice. Circumstances that exert a real influence on us are no longer fixed and opaque. They become accessible to us as persons with whom we can communicate.
To dialogue with events:
- Write a focusing statement. This could be a brief description of an event or situation, or it could be a working definition. (Often I use a dictionary definition as a starting point and add my own parts to it to complete what I mean by the word or event.)
- Do steppingstones of its life. If it is a real situation, record the events leading to its occurrence. If it’s an abstract concept, record your experiences of this concept as the event’s steppingstones.
- Sit in silence. When the steppingstones are finished, sit in silence drifting to the level of twilight imagery. Let the images come and record them.
- Read the steppingstones again allowing them to present the event to you as a person.
- In stillness feel the presence of the person and speak to that person.
- Sit in silence again. When the dialogue is finished, sit in silence becoming calm again.
- Reread the script. Compare feelings while rereading it to feelings while writing. Record both.
- Let the dialogue sit. Then come back to it several days later to reread it and extend it if necessary. Record your reactions to this rereading along with the date.