[Oe List ...] [Dialogue] The old Order passing away

[Jaime R Vergara]

Jon and the listserv,


On knowing brothers and sisters in the Order.


The singular and plural form of the word "Chinese" in real Chinese, is Zhongguoren.  The individual and the corporate are one.  It is the stance rather than the number that the word is meant to define, "Zhong" being "middle", thus, the person/people who stand at the middle.  Those familiar with the Taiji will recall that the pivot point is at once the most serene and turbulent point on which to stand.  Zhongguoren is exactly that, the people of the middle.  (The image of the pugua - eight directional characters with the yin-yang in the middle is slowly coming back after being shelved during the 1949 ascendancy of the CPC.)


I say, real Chinese in that the word "China" is not really used by the Chinese to refer to themselves.  Historically, the Persians used it to call the folks on the Silk Road as being from Qin.  It became Sina in Latin, from where the word Sino comes from.  The folks actually referred themselves as people of the Han, the Huaxia people along the Huanghe (Yellow River).  Marco Polo popularized the Qin reference back in Europe, the French spelled it as Chine, and the English, China.  Google the word and you get "Zhongguo", erroneously translated as the Middle Kingdom



The dichotomy between the individual and the social, deeply rooted in the contradictional dialectic of Europe, makes us think of the separate definition of one against the other.  The separation is as with the dichotomy of the yin-yang, one cannot exist without the other.


j'aime la vie



-----Original Message-----
From: jonzondo <jonzondo at juno.com>
To: oe <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Mon, Oct 1, 2012 11:25 pm
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] The old Order passing away


One of things I have learned in my joureny with Native peoples is the power of the unique selves in any community.  I don't think that many of us in the Order took the time to "get to know" our brothers and sisters on the journey.  Yes, sometimes it happened, but there is a power in creating rituals and forums where we dive into the individual stories of survival, of uniqueness and of power.  There stories can be powerful teaching for all who listen and stand as witness.  Sometimes these stories, indeed, came out during daily office when one was the 5th litergist.  Overall, individuality was often suppressed for the "good of the whole/good of the Order"... except for all the times it wasn't.  That pattern created a large shadow of resentment.  A shadow some of us are still dancing with today.
Anyway, now, in this time, I think we as humans are continuing to learn the balance between honoring the self and honoring the whole.  I think we have many more skills now, 2012, then we did 20 to 40 years ago.  And so shall it be with our journeys... we seem to keep learning and that gives me great hope for our grandchildren.
Aho and Amen.
Jon Mark
 

---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Herman Greene" <hfgreene at mindspring.com>
To: "'Order Ecumenical Community'" <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] The old Order passing away
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2012 09:50:38 -0400



I didn’t know any of this about your mother Jon. How interesting.
 
Herman
 



From: oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of jonzondo at juno.com
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 3:41 PM
To: oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] The old Order passing away

 
My mother, her parents, and her 2 sisters were in the Philippines when WWII broke out.  They hid in the jungles there for over 2 years.  sometimes they were betrayed and had to leave their hideouts with very little warning.  the were also befriended by many.  Hence the title of my Grandfather's book, "Betrayed and Befriended" by James F. McKinley.  Yes, they were rescued by the Narwhal, a submarine, and were all taken to Australia.  After WWII, they returned to the Philippines where my grandparents continued their missionary work with United Church of Christ.  I think that Debra and I have extra copies in storage.  I will try to find out how many we still have... I still have one in my room. 
It is heartening and joyful to hear these stories about my mother.  I did not know her the way that others did.  She did not tell stories about herself very often (except for historical ones)... so some of her actions are only known by those that received them.
We are setting up her memorial service on Sunday October 21st in The Woodlands, TX at the Presbyterian Church.
Thank you to everyone for your reflections.  Again, they are appreciated.
Love, 
Jon Mark, son of Ellery

---------- Original Message ----------
From: LAURELCG at aol.com
To: oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] The old Order passing away
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:39:12 -0400 (EDT)

In the San Francisco House, 1970-71, Ellery acquired some bamboo poles and taught the kids a Philippino game kind of like jump rope, but jumping between the poles as they were clapped together in rhythm. She was very good at it.

 

I believe she and her parents didn't get  evacuated for 2 or 3 years after the war broke out. They were hidden from the occupying Japanese army by local folks in the crawl space under the house until smuggled out on a submarine and taken to Ayers Rock (?) in Australia. Maybe Jon can elaborate. I believe her father wrote a book about it.

 

I feel privileged to have been acquainted with these two heroines.

 

Jann McGuire  

 


In a message dated 9/26/2012 8:02:44 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, dpat23 at msn.com writes:


I remember Ellery's talking about having lived in the Philippines as a high school girl. (Her dad was a missionary and they were evacuated when WWII broke out.)  When she  was assigned to Manila, she thought the Tagalog language she had been fluent in would come back to her fairly easily. She was very frustrated to find that it was gone and not coming back. About 6 months in to her assignment, she had been doing development in Manila and was exhausted. She got on the bus to go home and wanted nothing much more than a good nap. But the women just behind her would not let that happen. They kept yammering away about the most stupid and trivial things: their kids and their squabbles, the troubles in their marriages, and other nonsense. Ellery was furious; why couldn't these women shut up and let her sleep? 

Suddenly, she realized that the women were speaking Tagalog and she was understanding every word.  She was so tired that she had lost all her inhibitions and the Tagalog that lay just beneath her conscious mind came out. So from then on, she both understood and spoke Tagalog fluently.

She had a great time telling this story  on herself.

Pat



From: sunwalker at comcast.net
To: dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net; oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:49:46 -0600
Subject: [Dialogue] The old Order passing away

First, a reflection on Ellery – as a young and inexperienced Global Prior, Ellery was one of the ones who was gracious enough to let me learn from my mistakes without rancor and yet with continued nourishing support. Just her face was a human support mechanism. She spiritually nourished me and we rarely even spoke. And with mortality on my mind as so many saints are called home, knowing you have gone with God, I will let go a bit of the anticipation of my own return.
 
For Carol, while there are many, many memories: one that popped to the top was the time we were at the IERD in Delhi and had boarded the VERY tiny elevator on the top floor (about the 22nd as I recall) of the hotel where we were housed. We pushed the button for the ground floor and about a third of the way down, the elevator shuddered to a stop and the door opened…on a brick wall. Well, I was a little claustrophobic and unaware that Carol was extremely claustrophobic. That hour waiting to be rescued (it could have been 15 minutes, but seemed like SEVERAL hours) was revealing of the wondrous woman of steel (Superman move over) who kept us breathing and laughing to avoid injuring ourselves in the mad panic of fear that sets in when you MUST get OUT and you cannot. Clearly our circumstances were not our problem. While in “Heaven,� do a few cartwheels for me, my dear, as I know we both would enjoy them.
 
Sunny
 
Sunny Walker 
SunWalker Enterprises
303-587-3017 (cell)
303-671-0704 (home/office)
sunwalker at comcast.net
Aurora, CO
 
No mattter how far you've gone down the wrong road, turn back. ~ Turkish Proverb
 


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