The ARC way is about:
Forming partnerships
Approaching tasks as pilgrims, not as
missionaries
Asking questions rather than coming in with
answers
Relating our beliefs to the way we live our
lives
Relating our beliefs to how we invest our
money
Taking time, rather than expecting instant
success
Taking time to pray or however we describe
moments of calm reflection
Thinking about what strengths come from
difference
ARC has drawn together
Seven Stages of Pilgrimage
from the experiences of all the major faiths.
Forming partnerships
We need to ask not simply “what can I
do?” but “what can we do?”
Religious life is as much about the community as
about the individual, and at ARC we work only with
groups, not with individuals. Individuals can have
wonderful ideas, and tremendous energy but we find
that by working with groups and teams and
partnerships, projects are more likely not only to
be completed but also continued. If you have an
idea then the first thing is to find people who
agree with you and share your “belief”
in that idea. The next thing is to work out how to
make it happen – together.
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Approaching tasks as
pilgrims, not as missionaries
This is one of the most important ideas for ARC,
and is based on how the founders of the major
religions spoke about the spiritual life as being
a “journey” or a
“pilgrimage”. Think of the Hajj in
Islam, which every able-bodied Muslim should
undertake at least once in his or her life. By
insisting that everyone dress the same and walk
together, the Hajj emphasizes everyone’s
equal standing before God.
The new missionary movements of the secular world
– including environmental agencies, the
United Nations and the development community
– tend to talk about “going on
mission” when they go overseas for a
project. But what if they talked in the language
of pilgrimage instead? What if they thought of
every business meeting and foreign or domestic
trip as something that is special, something
potentially transformational? What a psychological
difference that would make – and it is a
psychological difference that we could all make,
whether we rethink our approach to meetings,
project plans or classes, valuing each of them.
Read the
Seven Stages of Pilgrimage.
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Asking questions rather
than coming in with answers
It is easy to think that we have the answers. Yet
many ARC projects have happened because of
listening more than talking. If there is a project
that you wish to engage with, then start by
listening to the people who are close to it, and
hear what they say.
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Relating our beliefs to the
way we live our lives
One of the reasons for founding ARC is that many
people want to relate their beliefs –
whether about God or about the environment or
anything else – to their daily life and
decision-making. But sometimes they are not sure
how they can achieve that. Many people are
embarrassed to discuss their personal reasons for
being involved in charity work or development
work. However through ARC we encourage people to
write down their beliefs (privately, if they
prefer), and then plan how they can bring these
beliefs into their daily lives. This could involve
setting up a project, becoming more active in your
faith community if you have one, looking at your
company’s relationship with the environment,
setting up an environmental audit, introducing
educational initiatives, or simply talking to your
friends about the issues.
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Relating our beliefs to how we
invest our money
Do you know how your money is invested? If it is
in shares, then how have the companies been
selected? Many faiths are now turning to ethical
and pro-active investments for their own money
either on their own or through a new organisation
called
3iG. Think about whether you would like to join them
– and make “good investments” in
every sense.
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Taking time, rather than
expecting instant success
Some of the best projects cannot happen
immediately. Cathedrals took many generations to
build, and projects sometimes require patience as
much as any other asset.
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Taking time to pray or however
we describe moments of calm reflection
Every great religion has prayer at its heart.
Whatever your own beliefs, take time to pause or
pray or meditate before you start something new.
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Thinking about what
strengths come from difference
Ask yourself what is distinctive about your own
faith’s way of doing things that makes it
important for the environment? For example,
Judaism has an annual festival of trees;
Christianity has its harvest festivals; almost
every religion has its own stories and parables
about trees or rivers, and many provide strong
links to a local area with all its traditions and
history.
ARC has never wanted to unify religions or suggest
they are “all the same underneath”, or
put together a statement that is common to
everyone. Instead it celebrates the differences;
because often it is in those differences that
religions are the most powerful forces – for
good and for change.
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Seven Stages of Pilgrimage
ARC has drawn together seven separate stages of
pilgrimage, from the experiences of all the major
faiths. These are ideas, not rules, and explore
how any journey can become a pilgrimage.
1. Think about being a pilgrim rather than just
travelling from A to B.
2. Recognise that journeys are entities in
themselves and they can—if you allow
them—take on a life of their own. They are
not just a means to an end.
3. Become aware of the people with whom you are
travelling and of why you are together,
discovering what each of you brings as well as
being honest about some of the tensions.
4. Understand the story that has brought you
there: your story.
5. Lose your role as an observer and become part
of the landscape and part of somebody else’s
story.
6. Look at what you are passing through.
7. Recognize that at the end of the journey you
should be different from the person who set out.
If every business meeting, every overseas trip,
and every project were to use these ideas they
would be so much more effective and enjoyable.
These were first published in
Sacred Britain
the official guide to the
Sacred Land
project.
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