I have a wonderful group, but we had a group identity to start with because we all came out of the same mindset of TOAG: Training Ordinary Apprentices to Go. I do miss teaching all of that, by the way. It was so much time though. I loved all the people though. So there is that. Either you have people who are ALL on board or you don't. We have had it for almost ten years now, and I am SO grateful!
But I digress.
I just wonder how idealistic this book is if you group a bunch of people together from all different backgrounds. How do you force a "group identity" on them? The chapter on narcissism is very idealistic. Have they really seen narcissists change in their midst. The actual author of the book, Michel seemed very new to the whole concept of this type of group.
This is what I wrote in my other journal. It repeats a bit.
Bottom line:
I love the ideology behind it though. So, I was glad to read it again. I am thankful that I do have a community here that is real community. So I guess it does work, but they have never read the book before, and we just have done it pretty naturally.
I just wonder how to idealistic this all is. I know two families (they didn't know each other) who moved to a church that had incorporated all these principles. I should ask them how it went. I didn't hear rave reviews about the experience though.
I did take the class that went along with the book the first time I read through this, and it was very helpful. I should go and look at the notes from that class again! I did incorporate a lot of the exercises we did in that class into my spiritual direction sessions (both group and individual), and it has been really helpful.
My favorite one is the "Joy Activation" Exercise. It is so fun to hear people's memories of joy. I adapted it to be more spiritual direction oriented though.
I do recommend this book. I am thinking about giving it to our elders to read and dialogue .
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