[Dialogue] Fwd: Witness- Birthday

Sat Dec 15 11:51:22 PST 2018

Jack, thanks for the reflections. I do want to say how much I appreciated
your Kevin Hancock article and even tried to put parts of it in my witness
but the editors chopped it out. Loved creating an environment where
everyone could lead...an age where people return to personal power..
feeling safe to say what they actually thought.. the world is filled with
great people who care about what they do.. great people are everywhere.
Dick

On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 11:13 PM Jack Gilles via Dialogue <
dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

> Dick, superb witness!
>
> A little reflection on your context on the struggle with an organizations
> core values. An organization is not a conscious entity. It is a creative
> collection of people about something. Its value system is about how it goes
> about doing that task. So its value system is clearly contextual. It may
> value speed, or innovation, or quality, or design, or flexibility,
> simplicity, etc. It is what enables them to do what they do exceptionally
> well. Organizations should have a limited number so that those values
> enable the collective capacity and all can easily speak about the corporate
> culture. I refer to these values by having a small ‘v’.
>
> Individuals also have small ‘v’ values. They usually govern our behavior
> and tend to be related to our priorities in life. Most people put high
> value on their family, health, career, job, and how they are seen as human
> beings. But they may or not be Universal Values. Let me illustrate with my
> own life. For many years I saw myself as having a value of care. I tried to
> be such a person in situations that confronted me. Life became a budgeting
> task as there were many things I cared about. I felt my budget was pretty
> well balanced, but there were occasions where I had to make adjustments,
> mainly regarding family.
>
> I thought I had care, but then Life hit me hard, and I discovered that I
> didn’t have care, *Care* has me. Care (C) is Universal Value, it is just
> the way Life is. And when Care has you, it will take you where you do not
> want to go. I believe there are five Universal Values; Care (we often call
> that Love), Mercy, Justice, Compassion and Truth. The trouble comes when we
> try and define what these mean. They are just words, and words are the
> vehicle of the left brain rational knowing. But Universal Values are the
> domain of the right brain, and that brain is mute. It “knows” and
> communicates in a different way. It is the domain of our relationship to
> the Mystery, TWLI, or G-O-D. Therefore we can never be sure our response
> will be “right”, for we are not GOD, we are the instrument of the Mystery.
> And it is our requirement therefore to act, take responsibility and then
> render the deed to history.
>
> We grow in our understanding of these things, that is what the Journey is
> all about. We grow in our ability to understand what it means to be a child
> of the Mystery and a servant of the Mystery. And sometimes it takes a fall
> on a bike to remind us the Truth of that fact.
>
> Peace brother!
>
> Jack
>
>
>
>
>
> On Dec 13, 2018, at 21:29, Richard Alton via Dialogue <
> dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>
>
> *Oh My God, Life*
> …the things that happen in life are astonishing..being driven to and fro
> by the mystery.. a few recent examples
>
> I attended part of the ICA USA Board meeting last month. We broke up into
> small groups and I was in a group with John Cock II. He and I were in Kenya
> together. I think it was John’s 9th grade trip. I was impressed to hear him
> rattle off the villages he worked in: Kwangware, Kamweleni and
> Mugumwoini...just like he had been there yesterday. John was a great
> addition. Probably, the first Board member literally born into the
> organization- now an urban engineer with a focus on bike trails. Had his
> middle school daughter with him. I wonder when she is going abroad.
>
>
> The afternoon I was there, the Board brainstormed ICA core values- things
> like community development, ToP methods, being a learning organization,
> even poverty, chastity and obedience. I struggled with this question of
> core values. I think the core of the core is the ability to give a
> witness.. to stand present to one’s life and the amazing things revealed or
> that happen to one…the mystery at work in one’s life.
>
>
> Like on Halloween night I was coming home late at night on my bike and ran
> right onto a big pile of leaves- it knocked me off my bike, split my lip
> and banged up my ribs. I made it home but the next day was having trouble
> breathing so went to the hospital. They performed a CT scan. There were no
> broken ribs, but the scan showed that I had spots on my lungs...so this all
> happened to catch my attention about my lungs... and on Halloween (the Day
> of the Dead).
>
>
> The second part of my Halloween leaf event: it seems the leaves grabbed my
> phone- so the day after the fall, I could not find my  phone- that really
> hurt. I went back to all the places I had been including the leaf place but
> no phone. Finally, after I had given up Sally asked me, “doesn’t Apple have
> an app that will help you find a lost phone?” so on my computer I found the
> lost apple link and sure enough on the screen map there was a flashing
> signal. It was about a 100 yards from where I fell. So I follow the map and
> there is my cell on the curb like it had been waiting for me… think those
> leaves put it there. Is this not The Other World in the midst of this
> world…a Visit to the Land of Mystery?
>
> These Visits seem to come in 3s. I work on the One Earth Film Fest through
> which we show environmental movies all over greater Chicago and engage
> people in conversation and action in response to the films. So I received
> an email from a Dexter Watson at St Malachi/Precious Blood Parish about
> showing a movie. I set up a meeting with Dexter on the Westside of Chicago.
> It turns out Dexter is not only the parish coordinator but also the former
> Alderman of the area. And yes, Fifth City is in his former Aldermanic area.
> In fact, one of Dexter’s favorite people and a mentor was the late Verdell
> Trice, the head of the Fifth City Auto Center and board member of the
> Preschool. Dexter even tried to have a street named after Verdell at one
> time. This is the second time I have been driven back to 5th City. You know
> we are going to have a great film fest event there.
>
>
> Dick Alton, introduced to the mystery in December,1968 and working with
> the mystery on the future of planet Earth ever since. Oak Park, Illinois
>
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>

-- 
Richard H. T. Alton
One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF)
Green Community Connections
Interfaith Green Network
T: 773.344.7172
richard.alton at gmail.com
**Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2019, March 1-10*
http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org

Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
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