Update From River Town

This post refers to an analogy explained in the book, Through the River; Understanding Your Assumptions About Truth. For a brief explanation of the analogy, read the blog post http://throughtheriverbook.blogspot.com/2009/01/through-riverunderstanding-your.html.

The Valley Dwellers have lived on the far side of the river for some time now. The newness is beginning to fade and they are settling into their role in the community. They act as peacemakers and bridges between people. When a Rock Dweller meets an Island Dweller, there is often misunderstanding and frustration. That is where the Valley Dweller is most useful; to guide the conversation in ways that affirm both people’s beliefs about truth, but challenge them to think differently.

It is a liminal time for River Town, but very exciting as well. People are moving from one place to another trying to adjust to what their new way of thinking means for their everyday lives. Sometimes they may move from one place to another while having a storage unit somewhere else. I have heard one person comment that they brought a suitcase along with them. It’s difficult to change your thinking all at once, but over time and with patience it can be done to some degree.

The changes on the rocky shore and sandy islands are significant. The people living on the rocky shore are becoming more polarized with some people holding more strongly to their convictions and others deciding that things are changing and there isn’t much they can do to stop it. In the sense of the latter, there is more tolerance toward the island dwellers. The former are hoping that holding strong will delay the changes that seem inevitable. The rocky shore is still well-populated, but a great many people are moving into the islands.

As time goes on, many more people are leaving the rocky shore to live on the beaches. The rock dwellers know more and more people who are living on the islands and they are even beginning to have the ability to see the world through their lens at times. There is a growing confidence among the island dwellers that they have found the answer to the dilemma they had on the rocky shore, but some are beginning to have questions.

The valley community is growing as some people are coming from the islands to settle in the valley. There is a lot of room to grow with the land spreading out and rising into the mountains. It’s not a perfect life. Problems arise when an unknown gets in the way of immediate decision-making or when an old way of thinking creeps into what they are doing. The silos of the rocky shore make it difficult for the settlers from there to see life as a whole. For those who came from the islands, allowing logic into the discussion is an obstacle as they have for so long been opposed to that way of thinking. Still, the humble approach to learning helps them to work through these challenges with each other.

In this time of great transition, people’s truth lenses are changing. Maybe you have experienced a change in the way you view truth. If so, take a minute to share your story. We would love to hear it.