VisionWorks 2021

 VisionWorks is an evolving document that articulates West Hill’s core values.  We use it to inspire, affirm, and guide us as individuals in community.

Grounded in life 

Life: connections

With a deep sense of awe and wonder, we acknowledge life, in all its diversity and complexity, as an interconnected web of relationships beyond our full comprehension. 

Life: experience 

We recognize our place within this web of life: we are each affected by natural forces and human choices, and, in turn, have an impact on the natural world and the human community, helping or harming by our actions and inactions.  

Life as source 

From these realities, we draw our sense of identity and belonging, and form our views on humanity, meaning, and morality. 

While we are aware of our limited perspectives and fallibility, we are also eager to discover, understand, and experience life.  

 Guided by love 

 Love in action: choice 

In light of our interconnectedness in life, we choose love as our highest value and guide.  

We take love to mean actions that embody justice, compassion, honesty, openness, integrity, courage, kindness, forgiveness…for self, others, and the planet. 

Love in action: advocacy 

Our choice of love leads us to acknowledge the worth of all beings, and therefore their right to be treated with dignity and respect. 

We seek to increase our awareness of the places of hurt in the world and our sense of responsibility for the consequences of our actions and inactions. 

We strive to promote justice, resist injustice, and bring about reconciliation. 

 Love in action: decisions

As we encounter ethical complexity, cultural diversity, and conflicting worldviews, we acknowledge inevitable uncertainty, seek a comprehensive understanding, and support one another in making choices in line with our values.  

Love in action: interpersonal relationships 

We strive to interact with one another in a caring, honest manner, expressing views respectfully, listening attentively, and responding with empathy.  

We work toward consensus and creative conflict resolution, and in times of broken trust, seek mutual understanding, forgiveness, and healing. 

We meet to experience and contribute to community: we celebrate and commemorate life events, share joys, express concerns, develop relationships, study and challenge, engage in self-reflection, and commit to action.

 Growing in wisdom 

 The pursuit of wisdom

In light of our interconnectedness in life and our choice of love as our guide, we strive to grow in wisdom for living.

We seek knowledge and insight that will deepen our understanding of our values and strengthen our commitment to them so that we may effectively apply them personally, locally, and globally.

 Sources of wisdom

We seek wisdom in all historical eras, diverse cultures and traditions, and varied forms of expression, including word, music, art, dance, symbols, and silence.

No source is assumed to be inherently authoritative or to contain absolute or universal truth, nor is any source accorded a privileged status based on claims for its supernatural or transcendent origin.  Love alone is our guide for discerning wisdom in any source. 

We encourage one another to seek, interpret, and create meaning for ourselves, valuing exploration and questioning over the pursuit of certainty. 

Sharing wisdom

We gain insight for living out our core values as we share diverse views, experiences, interpretations, and resources, and consider them together in light of love for self, others, and the planet. 

Conclusion 

 As we strive to live in these ways as individuals in community, we often soar and often stumble; yet in joy and sorrow, in certainty and doubt, we travel together in a spirit of love.