I\u2019d say that what these experiences call for is a sort of passive activism. We have a tendency, especially in an achievement-oriented culture, to want to solve problems and repair brokenness \u2014 to propose, plan, fix, interpret, explain and solve. But what seems to be needed here is the art of presence \u2014 to perform tasks without trying to control or alter the elemental situation. Allow nature to take its course. Grant the sufferers the dignity of their own process. Let them define meaning. Sit simply through moments of pain and uncomfortable darkness. Be practical, mundane, simple and direct.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I am most thankful for the people in my life who practiced the art of presence when I grieved for my daughter. \u00a0Do take the time to read this piece. \u00a0It isn\u2019t long, but it is excellent.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Art of Presence is a fantastic piece by David Brooks. \u00a0Brooks compiles the collective wisdom of a family that has suffered great trauma. \u00a0He summarizes their thoughts on how those of us outside the zone of a traumatic situation can reach those within. \u00a0In summary, he writes\u2013 I\u2019d say that what these experiences call […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Art of Presence<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Art of Presence is a fantastic piece by David Brooks. \u00a0Brooks compiles the collective wisdom of a family that has suffered great trauma. \u00a0He\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Art of Presence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Art of Presence is a fantastic piece by David Brooks. \u00a0Brooks compiles the collective wisdom of a family that has suffered great trauma. \u00a0He\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Building Cathedrals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-24T02:15:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-24T02:31:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kellie "Red"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kellie \"Red\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Presence\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-24T02:15:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-24T02:31:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/#\/schema\/person\/4b61ac985b62fcf2e8428c6434087de6\"},\"description\":\"The Art of Presence is a fantastic piece by David Brooks. \u00a0Brooks compiles the collective wisdom of a family that has suffered great trauma. \u00a0He\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Art of Presence\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/\",\"name\":\"Building Cathedrals\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/#\/schema\/person\/4b61ac985b62fcf2e8428c6434087de6\",\"name\":\"Kellie \\\"Red\\\"\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2d88222b6c8f2a9c8bfcd162aebedd7b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2d88222b6c8f2a9c8bfcd162aebedd7b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kellie \\\"Red\\\"\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/author\/rightsaidred\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Art of Presence","description":"The Art of Presence is a fantastic piece by David Brooks. \u00a0Brooks compiles the collective wisdom of a family that has suffered great trauma. \u00a0He","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Art of Presence","og_description":"The Art of Presence is a fantastic piece by David Brooks. \u00a0Brooks compiles the collective wisdom of a family that has suffered great trauma. \u00a0He","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/","og_site_name":"Building Cathedrals","article_published_time":"2014-01-24T02:15:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-01-24T02:31:01+00:00","author":"Kellie \"Red\"","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kellie \"Red\"","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/","name":"The Art of Presence","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-24T02:15:53+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-24T02:31:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/#\/schema\/person\/4b61ac985b62fcf2e8428c6434087de6"},"description":"The Art of Presence is a fantastic piece by David Brooks. \u00a0Brooks compiles the collective wisdom of a family that has suffered great trauma. \u00a0He","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/2014\/01\/the-art-of-presence\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Art of Presence"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/","name":"Building Cathedrals","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/#\/schema\/person\/4b61ac985b62fcf2e8428c6434087de6","name":"Kellie \"Red\"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2d88222b6c8f2a9c8bfcd162aebedd7b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2d88222b6c8f2a9c8bfcd162aebedd7b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Kellie \"Red\""},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/author\/rightsaidred\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/734"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/buildingcathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}