The task of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Crack-Up”

It isn’t necessarily easy to get the knack of simultaneously trying to change a situation and opening compassionate awareness to it exactly as it is.
Kim Boykin, Zen for Christians

One of the great gifts of the spiritual life – the transformation of contradiction into paradox.
Parker Palmer, The Promise of Paradox

For those not necessarily into “churchy” stuff, the first couple of paragraphs may be a little slow, but I hope you’ll read anyway.

I often think about change and leadership these days. I am a pastor in a mainline/old-line denominational church and that denomination has been losing members for some time now. I was a judicatory person in my denomination for seven years prior to returning to pastoral ministry. We cannot continue to do what we’ve always been doing and expect different results. One area in which change seems needed is in the way pastors function. We need to figure out how to be transformational leaders, at least that’s what I often hear, and I believe it. There is wonderful literature on leadership available, along with a fair amount of drek. I particularly appreciate the work of Edwin Friedman, Ron Heifetz, Anthony Robinson, James MacGregor Burns (who I first encountered while doing Ph.D. work in Christian ethics and democratic political theory), Daniel Goleman (emotional and social intelligence), and work on appreciative inquiry. Next week I want to write about one of my favorite essays on leadership, written by a theologian!

But I am often struck by the decibel level of anxiety in many of the conversations I hear about leadership and change - - - ironic, especially when there is much to be said for leadership theories which extol a model of a leader as a non-anxious presence. Consultant Edgar Schein is convinced that change does not happen in organizations unless there is some measure of anxiety - - - enough anxiety to overcome the natural inertia of organizational life. But Schein goes on to say that the best strategy for transformative change is to lower learning anxiety rather than increasing anxiety about what may happen in the absence of change. Ron Heifetz argues that there is a productive range of distress in organizations and life - - - too much and people become immobilized or frantic, too little and the energy for change is gone.

Which brings me back to where I began. I recently finished Kim Boykin’s book Zen for Christians. I would recommend it if for no other reason than its telling of Boykin’s own compelling spiritual journey. One line from the book that grabbed my attention was the one about simultaneously working for change while being fully open in compassionate awareness. Both are needed in organizations and individuals. Being compassionately open to one’s life, or being compassionately open to the church as it is, matters. Ron Heifetz talks about the need for leaders to “get on the balcony,” to see what is going on. Appreciative Inquiry theory argues that in every organization something works. In my life I need a deep sense of radical acceptance, along with energy to make needed changes.

Pondering Boykin’s idea made me think of the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote. I came across it many years ago and wrote it down in my notebook of quotes - - - I started this before I even heard of Bartlett’s. Perhaps it’s not simply a first-rate intelligence that needs to be able to hold two ideas in the mind simultaneously while still being able to function. Maybe it is also a deep spirituality that allows that, a spirituality needed for leadership and for life.

Then I remembered the title of a book on my shelf, an early work by an author I have grown to appreciate profoundly – Parker Palmer - - - The Promise of Paradox. Maybe the ability to contain paradox is another way to talk about what Boykin and Fitzgerald point to. Maybe this gift of the spiritual life is required for transformative spiritual leadership. Maybe this gift is a necessary part of a mature Christian spirituality for our day and time.

With Faith and With Feathers,

David