Through tears, never did a man see his way through the dark. However, in the circle, even the most “wrong comment comes out “right.” In the circle there is no wrong way. In the circle there is just “your” way. Even more, in the circle one does not talk about what one does not know. No one feels much confidence in discussing ideas about which one is ignorant or crazy. Anyone can talk—and talk intelligently—about what he or she is interested in because one is an expert on that. One can talk about the chores one has to do at the house because one is an expert on that. One can talk about what one like to play because one is an expert on that. One knows one’s own name better than anyone else. One can be secure in saying what one knows. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 10

As one can say what one knows, one begins to experience a little more life space. And as one has more life space. And as one has more life space, one can allow others more life space. Collaboration replaces competition; inclusiveness takes over from exclusiveness. With more life space, each and all can begin to explore more of the unknown together and do it with excitement. If your destiny leads you to public life, and public station, you must expect to be subjected to temptations which other people are free from. Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of Earth, overlaying our hard hearts. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 10

However, involvement is never enough. In intense experiencing, the World can become irrational. We all love to instruct, though we can teach only what is not worth knowing. We may be flooded by too many stimuli from outside as well as from inside. Then we are overwhelmed, unable to make sense of what we see and feel, incapable of acting on what we want and need. Catharsis has limited value. Getting feelings out is seldom enough. That may be only a first step in gathering up oneself, for contacting undifferentiated data activates primarily the right hemisphere—the receptive side. To own that experience and to utilize that data we equally need the left hemisphere—the active side.  #RyanPhillippe 3 of 10

Circle discussions emphasize critical thinking. They work on developing cognitive structure. Senior citizens are pressed to make discrimination and distinctions, to take stands on the basis of reasons and evidence, to figure out how to move into an unknown based on what one know of a known. One day Justin, the brightest senior citizen in the class, declared in a discussion on “superheroes” that “a superhero is one that can fly, that is strong, and does good.” The rest of the group went along with this definition, all, that is, except Jimmy, the brain-damaged senior citizen. He leaned forward in his chair. His forearms resting on his thighs, his eyes intently centering on Justin across the circle, and reacted: “I disagree. Ironman is s superhero and he does not fly.”  #RyanPhillippe 4 of 10

Justin sat back in his chair, stunned. After a moment or two of reflecting, he replied, “You are right, I was wrong.” What Justin meant was not that he-as-a-person was wrong, but that his thinking had not been critical enough so that his definition was inadequate. Frustration with an immediate impasse need not be the end of a situation. Jimmy, so often reduced to feelings of being “dumb” and “ugly,” found that others had similar problems and that shared solutions could be found. Marty, so often exploding in important frustration and rage because of too heavy demands on his fragile ego structure, found he could gain recognition in ways that proved more satisfying both to himself and others. He also found that he had ideas that he wanted to talk about in the circle and that others were willing to talk about them with him. Quite unexpectedly, in the thirteenth week, Mrs. Kolk remarked “Why, Marty’s thinking!” #RyanPhillippe 5 of 10

Senior citizen learn that they can shape their World and not simply be molded by an environment. They can be active agents and not only receptive subjects. Beyond a minimum of factual information, what is really needed to make it in the World is a great capacity to imagine, to try out, to evaluate, to venture, to create, to collaborate. Problems confronting us are so complex that we need many vantage points and many alternatives and many values.  Life without failure does not mean that no one every experiences limits and limitations. That would be cause for despair. Rather, it means there is no point at which one finds oneself boxed in a corner without options. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 10

In educational jargon, life without failure expresses the theological experiences of Exodus and Easter—liberation from whatever binds us to the past and terrifies us about the future. Somehow resources can be rearranged to enable people to recover breathing space. There are other ways; there are unimagined-at-the0moment alternatives; there are untapped resources within people and in settings. There is a “beyond” in the midst of the “building,” if we can see in other ways.  #RyanPhillippe 7 of 10

The value of the circle discussion is seldom in any single meeting. Rarely does an issue or a problem or an idea stand out all by itself, unsupported by a gathering flow of events and experiences. The cumulative effect of sitting down, eye to eye, on an equal basis, talking about things one is interested in, thinking about ideas that are intriguing, pays off. People become more genuinely who they truly are. #RyanPhillippe 8 of 10

Significant involvement (being loved and loving) and satisfying behavior (self-respect and self-worth) transform human pain into human joy. That approach applies in the house and in an organization and in the community and around the World as well as in the building. It is adaptable to both a smaller setting and larger realm. I have given you a glimpse of a sequence of events that served as a turning point in my understanding of the task confronting those of us who would respond to human pain.  In that senior citizen facility, with a dedicated yet demoralized teacher and a group of ordinary and anxious antiquated people, I discovered how too much stand and not enough maids and mops can be reconstructed in way that make for life. #RyanPhillippe 9 of 10

I guess if you killed someone’s family member and took their money, you would try to conceal that anyway you would. Based on that building and drawing upon similar experiences, let me set down explicitly what I regard as a different way to see and a different way of seeing this situation. You all are attacking and bullying someone to cover up a murder and have no idea what you are involved in. Sure, calling someone a dog, girl, and spreading vicious rumors about his heir might be fun, but maybe you should obey the law and really think about what you are now involved in. It might be a fun game to you, but your actions are pure evil. They killed a veteran to get his money, and are attacking his family to cover it up, did you know that? #RyanPhillippe 10 of 10