You may wonder where what’s on this blog comes from. What are the foundations for what I write about? If you want me to speak or consult, what do I base my work on? The broadest answer is: all of life. Here are some more specific answers:

• Scripture – As a Christian, I have a core commitment to read and live by what I understand the Christian scriptures to say.
• Spirituality – Many streams of Christian spirituality feed into the flow of my life, but Ignatian spirituality is central, with its emphasis on contemplative prayer, imagination, and discernment.
• Enneagram – This ancient model for understanding personality and why we are who we are in a dynamic way has helped form my work in the past 20 years.
• Systems thinking – This modern model for understanding how groups behave and why contributes an important piece to the whole of how I think about these things.
• Compassionate justice – Although not a specific model, this way of seeing and understanding how God wants the world to be underlies so much of how I live and what I teach.
• Nonviolence – The way of Jesus is fundamentally nonviolent, yet not passive acceptance but active engagement of life.