By Living and Listening in Community, We Image Gently
“Relationship is not a project; it is a grace.”—Thomas Moore, Soul Mates: Honoring the Mysteries of Love and Relationship (HarperCollins, 1994), p. 256.
My friend, Marilyn Goske, also a pediatric radiologist, spearheaded the Image Gently campaign to reduce radiation exposure to children in diagnostic radiology. The organization encourages physicians to use the minimum necessary radiation when performing tests on children. This guidance applies to conventional X-rays, fluoroscopy, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, computed tomography, dentistry, cardiac imaging, and imaging in the setting of minor head trauma.
In addition, the organization aims to educate physicians, technologists, and nurses about the amount of radiation used and the importance of reassuring parents about their concerns. This educational program involves communication with all those directly involved in these studies and with all medical organizations that support them. It has achieved overwhelming success, with more than 1.9 million participants pledging to the program.
Marilyn shows us how to change the world by communicating and dialoguing with all people who share a particular interest. It involves trying to solve a problem, working together, celebrating when answers come, and honoring those who bring the vision to life. In this way, we see the power of community.
I realize how important this could be to our spiritual lives. We find more answers to our spiritual questions in community, whereas we often cannot understand our concerns on our own.
I remember meeting with my spiritual director, who helped me understand a dream that had baffled me for days. Each morning, I return to the dream and uncover another insight, as though she and all those who have taught me about dreamwork are still guiding me.
We also have many aspects of ourselves: the inner masculine, the inner feminine, the child within, and many more. They reveal answers when we see them as helpful voices rather than unwanted adversaries, especially when they come from our weaker parts. It is in our weakness and vulnerability, especially in community, that God the Holy Spirit creeps in and helps us discern a path where before we saw only a jungle.
In community, we image gently.
Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/