God and the Devil Share the Details

The View From the Sanctuary

There’s one thing I want to make sure my profs know: it takes a hell of a lot of time to organize an experiential lab. You know all those pages I should have had written? And those blog posts I missed? Well, I was calling venues… tracking down participants… planning meals… buying supplies… scrounging coffee makers and mugs…designing the decor… making lists and checking them trice…

They say the devil is in the details, and it sure felt that way at times. But I know god is hiding in there, too. What I mean is this: the details are crucial for inspiring the kinds of experiences I intended to conjure in the Wild Genius Lab.

To bring the natural world inside, I gathered natural materials – from rocks to herbs, bark to branches – to fill the room. Organic and fresh food was the day’s

All Souls Interfaith Gathering

fuel. Yet, the most important element was the venue. Believing that the feel of the space and the beauty of the land could do much of the heavy lifting, I kept looking until I found the right place – a space I could afford on a student’s budget without compromising the “genius of place.”

Choosing to track down the right venue when I should have been cracking the books and churning out the papers was a risk but it seems to have paid off: the lab participants shared that the beauty of the land and the buildings were inspiring and allowed their imaginations to soar.