Theory

"Praxis" is the result of theory and practice informing each other. The "Spirituality" aspect of praxis is concerned with power and addressing cultural concerns of our day, helping to improve a "quality of life", to produce solutions by dealing with real issues, in real conditions with real responsibility and therefore has an emphasis on context. Spirituality is understood through the lens of praxis, from "where we stand" contextualised in the "here and now". Such understanding has required Holton Lee to move from living out our "spiritual" life in individualistic terms towards one that embraces a wider reality which is concerned with inequality, injustice and exclusion. Of course that has required a change of attitude and perspective both at personal and organisational levels.
Our mission statement is, "to empower and resource people, particularly disabled people and carers, through creativity, environmental awareness and personal growth and spirituality", which requires a holistic non-compartmentalised view of life, with the understanding that every aspect of our lives are connected. As Faith Lees wrote in 1993, Holton Lee's vision was to be a place where people could come to discover new and innovative approaches, both in practical matters and in ways of integrating the spiritual, psychological and physical aspects of their lives. After years of separating out and compartmentalising people, making a division between science and religion, able-bodied and disabled, creative and practical, the belief was that Holton Lee could demonstrate a holistic and therefore healing view of life. That was our vision and our work since then has been an attempt to live out, embody and put flesh to this vision and theory, that is, to live out a spirituality praxis. The idea was to have Four mutually interactive Aspects, The Environment, Art/Creativity, Personal Growth/Spirituality and Disability/Care which were integral to and informed each other, both in theory and practice. 

A holistic spirituality - practice

Putting such theory into practice since then has meant that our resulting praxis has had to be concerned for "what ought to be" rather than settling for "what is". We first had to recognise the existing dominant oppressive relationships and structures within a society which encourages disconnection and dualisms and then challenge and address such practice which continues to separate the sacred and secular or individuals and social, which then results in inequality and discrimination where both humans and our earth home are oppressed and marginalized. We now understand more significantly that both oppressors and the oppressed must change so that a "paradigm of inclusion" can be lived out with relational and shared power "with" others rather than "over" or "under" others. A holistic spirituality stresses that since we live in a divine milieu there is a commitment to work for justice and use the resources of creation in a way that is ecologically and socially responsible. It has also required us to structure our personal and organisational lives so that we can embody, in our corporate life-style, the values, which we profess and write about in our literature. This entails continually making choices and decisions about our resources, finances, organisational structure, relationships, with the result that the praxis within each Aspect as well as various aspects of our lives continue to be integrated in as responsible and coherent a manner as possible. One of the outcomes has been a healing of some of the divisions and dichotomies which continue to separate soul and body, head and heart and instead we increasingly experience an integrated whole where the psychological, physical and spiritual aspects of our lives are more interrelated and integrated. Because Holton Lee embodies a different interest than consumerism our growing understanding of spirituality is that it permeates the personal and political, animating both our thoughts and actions, with the recognition that there are therefore important and on-going ethical, moral and spiritual implications to consider.
Our aim and ethos is "for people not profit", for marginalized and discriminated against people and as we attempt to continue to live out our mission to empower and resource others and ourselves, our undergirding understanding is that our spirituality is embodied within individuals, groups and the organisation, as well as within our wider social context and world. Tony Heaton wrote as one of the co-researchers in the Doctoral Report that, "We don't provide a product for guests to consume but we invite guests to take part in our lives and join our community. What we are doing, therefore, is ground breaking, important and different to existing provision. This is how we establish and embed an informed, authentic, relevant and embodied spirituality within our praxis" He also wrote that this happens by "… simple practical issues like making all our buildings and services as accessible as possible, meeting the individual needs of guests by having open and honest dialogue … simply allowing people to play an active part in their own destiny. Our job is not to control them within the constraints of our organisational structure but to enable them within a flexible structure built around our guiding principles. The paradox is that by working in this way it becomes very difficult to define and categorise Holton Lee … it becomes difficult to try to present Holton Lee in clear marketing terms." He added that " … we continue to work to create a fully inclusive environment so all can have as equal an opportunity as possible to enjoy what we work to provide."

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