In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in a dark wood where the true way was wholly lost. - Dante's Divine Comedy   It happens to all of us, somewhere in the middle of our lives. We awake to the realization of lostness. We sense that we've been playacting in a drama written by a hand other than our own, and the script no longer works. Things we were striving for - status, promotions, wealth, security - begin to look hollow and small, someone else's notion of what we're here for. Other questions, other concerns - these ones deeper, darker, more personal yet more universal - trouble our sleep and distract us from our daily routines: Who am I? What am I really looking for? Am I on the right path? What is my heart's desire? What is the world calling forth from me? Where do I fit? Questions without answers. What the moment requires is a journey. Like Dante, we must leave the surface of our lives and descend into our interiors, in search of the story-thread that will lead us home to ourselves once again. Private Paths, Common Ground is a guide for that journey. It is a rite of passage for adults, to usher us through the particular threshold that appears only in the middle of our lives, when we awaken to the calling of our deeper natures, and an urgency to build our lives from that center. As the name implies, Private Paths, Common Ground leads us into a tension and a paradox. Each of us is utterly unique, walking our own private path through life. The first level of this inner journey is the discovery and expression of that unique path. But the farther we proceed into the core of ourselves, the closer we come to others walking their own paths! All private paths lead to a common ground. And once we find that place, the sharing of our individual journeys is a sacred celebration. So Private Paths, Common Ground is both a practical guidebook for self-discovery and an occasion for some of the most profound interpersonal sharing you will ever experience. Private Paths, Common Ground is a journey of three parts: Redeeming The Past Honoring The Present Revisioning The Future These are "regions" of our lives we are compelled to explore and align if we are to clear ourselves of our habituated frames of reference and realize our calling, our destiny. We travel through these regions on the wings of imagination, for it alone is both strong and wise enough to navigate our inner reaches. In the course of this journey, your imagination will be tickled and teased in myriad ways to bring forth the symbols and metaphors and story-threads in which your life is grounded. Included in the array of exercises and experiences: Six Guided Fantasy Journey Audio Tapes: "Creation Myths"; "The Calling Forth"; "In the Time Tunnel"; "At the Gate"; "Joining the Caravan"; and "Private Paths, Common Ground." Each journey, set to beautifully evocative musical motifs, was created to elicit an important facet of your hidden life story, and bring it to the light of consciousness. The Map of Your Life: an opportunity to draw your life path as though it were a map your have been following. You create the context within which the events of your life become meaningful. (Mapping the future is part of the fun!). A Set of Sixteen Original Fortune Telling Cards allow you to weave past, present and future into a personal myth Mask Making exercises teach you how to look deeply into the template of your physical features for inspiration and insight into the person you have become Improvisational Games play on the genius of spontaneous action to show us the lighter side of our true natures Exercises of Creative Self Reflection: "Your Personal Fairy Tale," "Shadowplay," "Leavings and Grievings," "Spectrums" and many more help you unearth surprising gifts and age-old burdens for you to re-examine against the backdrop of your adult yearnings. Private Paths, Common Ground was designed to be used by self-directed individuals and groups. Each activity has been written in two parts: Reflection gives you a background and framework to the exercise and its intentions; Excursion provides step-by-step instructions for guiding yourself (or your group) through the experience. There is no "one" path through the book; each exercise stands on its own, and can be experienced before or after any other exercise. Your intuition will guide you as you find your own "private path" through the maze! Written in 1991, Private Paths, Common Ground is a beautifully designed "toolbox" for self-discovery. It comes in a binder complete with six thirty-minute guided fantasy audio tapes; the 200 page guidebook/workbook in which to record the writings and drawings of your self-discovery; a fold-out Map of Your Life; and a packaged set of sixteen beautifully drawn fortune telling cards. (The images of some of these cards have been used as illustrations of on each section of this website). Enjoy the journey home!