Character Renovation Part 2 (Second Half)

From: Convergence Teaching by CJ on Jan 18 2007

Character Renovation Part 2

Dallas Willard model tells us that in order to change our character we must bombard ourselves with symbols of the trait we wish to grow in us. So then when faces with a decison we hope those images will have worked themsleves into our ethos enought that we will choose the option that is more 'right'.

Some would say this method is a little simple and perhaps it is possible to work on the 'experience' of making the decison vs. simply drownings ourselves with reminders of better decisons to make.
Intentional Character Formative Experience


Just like Bombardment this models requires intentionality.

When faced with a situation in life we receive Input.

Input: It is the event of cognitive understanding of a truth which the individual believes is likely to be objective, or at least a truth that holds consequences for the individual.

This is the new information you are reading right now.

Align: The The new information rubs up against the old information, this usually involves degrees of rejection and acceptance of new the information. It is helpful to think of Alignment in terms of “alignment with who we are” as the Input rubs up against our character. This is where you decide what of the new information you are reading will be accepted or rejected.

Awaken: Resulting from your alignment, you discover that you are capable of new thought, behaviour, ideas. Awakening is where possibilities are created by the individual, by exercise of the will. The Awakened possibility Aligned with the new Input leads to opportunity to experience an Output.

This is what you believe now that you “can” or “should” do with the information you have just received.

Output: The Output event provides space for testing, for experimenting in the physical world with meta-physical ideas and possibilities that have effects on our character.

So perhaps you put up a picture of Jesus in your house to try and bombard yourself with his image, or you forgive someone now that you know yourself to be unforgiving.

Dream: The results of Output are then filtered by Dream into memory. Here we decide which parts of the Output we will incorporate into ourselves. We take the evidence of our output experience into our character to produce a filtered memory, a dream, something humans do naturally. The memory then becomes a part of our character, and leads us into Processing.

You forgive someone, and they tell you they hate you and slap you on the face, then you decide based on that output experience what you will remember, having been rejected, or having been obedient and forgiving, or both, those things through memory become a part of your character.

Align: The new information, now in the form of filtered memory, rubs up against your old information again, affecting character change.

How does your memory of being slapped in the face relate to what you believed about yourself? About God? About that other person?

Processing: Processing is cognitive meditation (thinking) on the ongoing cycle of orchestrated experience and character development. It happens as often as Inputs and Outputs, though we are often not as intentional about this element. Processing is where we sort out through thought/meditation, the effects of ongoing experiences on our character.

Who are you now that you have put into practice the information you received?

Awakening: Those effects then pass through an Awakening, as we see our character more clearly in light of the process, the experience as a whole, the memory, the information, everything in play together. This Awakening to who we are then passes again through Dream to produce vision.

Have I learned anything, how does this experience comment on who I am?

Dream: Dream in this direction is not the creation of a past memory, but the creation of a future memory; it is our epistemic access to what may happen as a result of who we are becoming.

Who am I capable of becoming?

Input: What do I need to learn in order to become who I have envision myself to be?

This is how teaching this looks like with this model.

Original Material by CJ