On October 8, we’re hosting the second annual Symposia: An Intersection of Conversation & Innovation, a forum in which alumni of The Seattle School present the ongoing work they are pursuing at the intersection of text, soul, and culture. Integrative education does not end at graduation, and our alumni are proof of that. Symposia highlights the ways that Seattle School alumni are continuing to wrestle with big questions and big dreams in theology, psychology, and culture.
This week, we’re featuring a presentation by Lauree Fletcher (MA in Counseling Psychology ‘14) from Symposia 2015, “The Foundations of Wisdom: The ART of Living Fully Present.” Lauree, who serves as Executive Director of a Bellingham-based helping ministry, has worked in education for much of her life and has developed a model for pursuing and cultivating wisdom, summarized as ART: Anticipate, Resonate, Translate.
Lauree points to Proverbs 24 and the idea that wisdom is the beginning of any true learning and understanding. “Wisdom is being willing to posture ourselves in a place of anticipation that God will actually reveal to us what it is that we need to know, what we need to understand, what we need to live, what we need to be in the world.”
The ideas Lauree shares can apply to teaching a class, parenting a child, living in relationship, or sitting with another person therapeutically. With ART as a frame, Lauree introduces seven core questions that she describes as the pillars of wisdom, drawn from years of studying scripture and a variety of wisdom traditions: Where am I? Who am I? Will I show up? Will I choose love? Will I use my voice to call forth life? Will I cast the vision I have been given in a way that will cultivate gratitude? Will I see the image and glory of God in myself and let that grow? As we live into those questions with depth and intentionality, says Lauree, we will begin to cultivate and reflect wisdom in new and beautiful ways.
“You need to make wisdom your very closest sister. She’s got to walk with you every day. You need to go to her, you need to seek her.”
Symposia 2016 is just a few weeks away, on October 8. We hope you’ll join us as we once again witness the bold, thoughtful, creative work of our alumni. Learn more and register here.