Vision

August 27th, 2005 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tom and I have been talking about this trip nonstop. So much so that many people who know us have heard about it, and we’ve been getting mixed reactions. Some believe in us and our vision and believe that we can make it happen. Others, however, think that it is just a dream that will never be realized.

Here’s the thing - vision in and of itself is not contageous. It is vision fueled by passion that is truly contageous; it cannot be ignored. Because Tom and I believe in this vision, I think that whatever faculty we talk with will become infected with our passion. Tom also mentioned the other day the idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy, which is a “prediction that, in being made, actually causes itself to come true.” In other words, if we believe in this vision enough, if we pour our hearts, souls, and unbridled imagination into it, it will inevitably come true.

Since the original post, we have thrown around several ideas. The first deals with the theme and organization of the journey. The idea of community and (1) where one finds indivudual vocation within community and (2) how community affects vocation has become, more or less, the central theme. Because of the community aspect, we have thought about beginning our journey by attending Passion ‘06 in Nashville, Tenessee from January 2-5. Passion is a national conference for Christian college students that has speakers, worship, and community group time. We think it would be an awesome way to begin the trip, and also a great way to begin to analyze vocation in community. We would then, maybe (and this is all a big “maybe”), head up through Pennsylvania, where we would stop at one or more Amish communities. Following this, we would then drive to Maine and the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village. Beyond that, we don’t really have much planned.

Although it may seem like an overtly religious trip - there are undoubtedly religious themes and questions - we are not limiting our search of self and vocation to religion alone. We’d like to vist with non-religious communities as well and investigate vocation with them. The tentative title, then, has been changed. Instead of Traveling the American Frontier: In Search of Self and Vocation, it would be [insert creative title]: An Exploration of Self and Vocation in America’s Communal Heritage.

In questioning how to make the journey more presentable as an academic endeavour and not a month-long vacation, we have come up with several ideas. We would, as I have already mentioned, journal our experiences and insights from the trip daily and compile them into a thesis-length paper after the completion of the journey. We would also put together a presentation that we would present for faculty members and students, and anyone to whom the Sense of Vocation Program would have us speak. This would be good for us because it organizes what we learned from the trip, and it is also good promotion for Luther and its programs. As with nearly any other academic class, we have a required reading list. We’ve been researching the topic and the two texts we have decided to read thus far are:

The first is written by a man who spent 10 years in a Quaker community in Pennsylvania (we could go there…), and the second is a more theological piece. Having required reading, which we plan to have already read before the journey, again, makes our vision more presentable as an academic endeavour.

We also hope to play disc golf in every state through which we pass.