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Update from the Hahns
by Doris Hahn 21 Feb '20

21 Feb '20

Just a note to everyone, since we didn't make changes on The Directory. Charles recently moved to Jill's House, a memory-care assisted living facility in Bloomington. Doris subsequently moved to Meadowood, a retirement community here in Bloomington. These two facilities are close to one another, and within walking distance when the weather is nice. Shelley and her husband live only two miles up the road. We are both adjusting well to our new situations. The mailing address is now Doris Hahn, 927 E Juniper Pl, Bloomington, IN 47408. I no longer have a land line. My cell phone number is 812-606-7497. We are very grateful for our continued connection to this community. Doris

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Re: [Dialogue] Fwd: Daughter Eva, successful surgery!
by Ellie Stock 20 Feb '20

20 Feb '20

Thank you, Mary. First few days or more of recovery won't be easy, but at least this part of the healing journey is over. Ellie :) -----Original Message----- From: Mary Kurian D'Souza via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Mary Kurian D'Souza <marykdsouza(a)gmail.com> Sent: Thu, Feb 20, 2020 02:56 AM Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Fwd: Daughter Eva, successful surgery! May healing energies continue to pour Sent from my iPhone > On 20-Feb-2020, at 6:09 AM, Ellie Stock via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > > Dear Friends, > > Greetings from Pittsburgh--a beautiful day--not only the bright sunshine but Eva's successful surgery! > > Just returned from the hospital a little while ago. The day finally arrived! Eva's surgery on her carotid artery started around noon, about an hour and a half later than originally scheduled. Surgery was over around 2pm, followed by the gradual progression to the recovery room and ICU by around 3pm. Couldn't see her until visiting hours started again at 4pm. Naturally, Eva is relieved it's over, very tired, talked a little with us but just needs her rest. The right side of her neck is swollen, and I imagine she will have a bit of discomfort the next few days or longer. Don't know how long she will be in ICU or the hospital. Dr. said it could be 1-3 days--will know more tomorrow. Total recovery 4-6 weeks. I will be here at least until Tuesday, maybe longer, if needed. > > Thank you beyond words for your love, continuing prayers, lit candles, and wonderful support through all of this. You have been such an encouraging spirit community surrounding us. > > Grace and peace, > blessings and love, > > Love, > Elinor/Ellie/EJ :) > _______________________________________________ > Dialogue mailing list > Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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2/20/20, Progressing Spirit: Oppelt: To Be and Not To Be; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 20 Feb '20

20 Feb '20

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.yiv6160179011mcnTextContent, #yiv6160179011 #yiv6160179011templateHeader .yiv6160179011mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6160179011 #yiv6160179011templateBody .yiv6160179011mcnTextContent, #yiv6160179011 #yiv6160179011templateBody .yiv6160179011mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6160179011 #yiv6160179011templateFooter .yiv6160179011mcnTextContent, #yiv6160179011 #yiv6160179011templateFooter .yiv6160179011mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } Wrestling with the Christian “I Am” and the Buddhist “I Am Not” | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | To Be and Not To Be: Wrestling with the Christian “I Am” and the Buddhist “I Am Not” | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Joran Slane Oppelt February 20, 2020 I AM? I was corrected pretty quickly by the faculty at the Multifaith Storytelling Institute. I had just finished standing in front of the class and telling a dramatic, yet what I thought to be comical, story of Moses and the burning bush. I had told it the way it was written in the versions of the Old Testament (and commentaries) I had read. The way I had told it many times before. Moses stumbled upon a vision, a disruption of reality, a hallucination or maybe an angel. He was commanded to go forth into Egypt and to free the Israelites. As any of us would, he responded with shock and incredulity. Surely, there had been some mistake. “When I’m marching in there making these demands,” he asked, “who exactly should I say has sent me on this mission?” God, or Elohim, replied, “Tell them ‘I am’ has sent me to you.” When I finished my story, I was informed that the original Hebrew phrase, “ehyeh asher ehyeh” actually means something closer to “I am that I am,“ or “I will be what I will be.” One of my Jewish friends even pronounced the word “ehyeh” with an exaggerated shrug of the shoulders, as if to say, “who knows?” It was a much more open-ended and evasive response than the booming, declarative statement Christians have been told about for generations. One of the faculty even remarked, “There is no sense of the ‘I am’ in Judaism.” This is because there is no present tense of the verb “to be” in the Hebrew language. Not only does this open up the “I am” (especially as a name for God) to questioning, it begs a larger existential question about agency and the spirit of theological inquiry and debate. Maybe God (or Elohim) did not stick a bolt of lightning in the sand and say, “I am” on that day. Maybe, he suggested -- and is suggesting -- that we open our minds to the process of figuring out what “being” means from this and each day forward. I AM With a background in Unity and the New Thought movement, the concept of “I Am” has played a central role in my religious thinking. Unity founder Charles Fillmore once said, “If you can think of yourself as Spirit, as having all power and capacity … you begin to expand, and you go up to this high place in your consciousness ... You begin to realize that I am being lifted up, and as I lift up my I AM, why all of my thoughts are attracted to that high place because it is the magnet, it is the focal power of all ideas.” Elsewhere, he writes, “Involution always precedes evolution. The I AM and its spiritual faculties must be sent down into the body consciousness before the evolution of the spiritual man can begin.” In the Unity tradition, affirmations are preceded by denials — as a way to clear the interior space before filling it with new growth or intention. A denial may sound something like, “I am not limited by this body” or “I am not my past.” Affirmations are then declared in the positive, i.e. “I am Spirit” or “I am open to new growth and possibility.” Further, when we say “I Am ...” we are saying “God in me is ...” or “God is ... through me.” In a workshop that I host regularly, entitled The Art of Prayer, we practice something called “Three-Column Prayer,” which asks the participant to craft prayer requests using a three-column format and eventually transform those prayers into positive affirmations. An example might be “Father/Mother” (first column, name for God), “In the midst of us” (second column, location of God), “Guide me to the right place” (third column, prayer request). One possible affirmation then becomes “I / am / in the right place at the right time.” Again, the “I Am” is simply another name for God. In the Gospel of John, we read, “I am the door” (John 10:9) and “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). In Thomas’ revolutionary Gospel we read, “Split the wood and I am there; Lift the stone and I am there.” Martin Buber (pioneer of “dialogical existentialism”) wrote about this relationship of the “I” to nature, others and Spirit in his highly influential book, I and Thou (1923). He indicated that the “I” that is in relationship to people and the environment qualitatively changes when it is in relationship to God. He even went so far as to say that all moments of genuine becoming require a “thou” and that “through the Thou, a person becomes ‘I.’” Emptiness is Form, by Scott Snibbe I AM NOT According to Buddhists, this I (or self) does not actually exist. In the Pali canon (the sacred teachings of Buddhism) the “self” we can point to and describe is actually made up of a set of composites or “heaps.” They are called the five skandhas (aggregates of clinging and craving) known as: - Matter (rupa) - Sensation (vedana) - Perception (samjna) - Thoughts (sankhara) - Consciousness (vijnana) Suffering is experienced when one identifies too closely with (or clings too tightly to) one or all of these heaps. Suffering is relieved when one lets go of this attachment or somehow realizes the illusory nature of identity (and these cravings). In his classic, God is Not One, Stephen Prothero writes, “The most astonishing thing about Buddhism, and perhaps its greatest contribution to the conversation among the great religions, is its teaching that the thing we are most certain of -- the self -- is actually a figment of our imagination. Descartes said, ‘I think, therefore I am.’ Buddhists say if you think carefully enough you will see that you are not.” Furthermore, not only is the self an illusion made of indiscriminate heaps (like the thing we call a “city” that is actually made of buildings and roads and surrounded by an invisible border), but the heaps themselves are actually empty. All existence arises in this empty field (or sunyata). It is this philosophy of being that is described in the Heart Sutra, “form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” Buddhism is a philosophy that surely raises more questions than it answers. But, unlike Judaism where we are encouraged to wrestle with these “God” ideas, in Buddhism the idea of God is worse than a fruitless inquiry, it is the beginning of suffering. According to legend, The Buddha himself was questioned by a student about the nature of being and the cosmos, the principle of cause and effect and the idea of life after death. The Buddha replied, “Imagine you were shot with a poison arrow. Imagine asking all of the questions you desired answers to. Who shot you? Where were they from? What color was his skin? Which direction did they run? Was it a longbow or crossbow? What wood and feathers were made to craft the weapon? You have given the poison the time to do its work. You will die before any of these questions are answered.” Vietnamese monk Thich Naht Hahn summarizes this teaching for us, “Life is so short. It must not be spent in endless metaphysical speculation that does not bring us any closer to the truth.” All of our questions about God, creation and being are, according to the Buddha, like this poison arrow. They only lead to more questions, more uncertainty and inevitably more unhappiness. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. By skillfully disengaging the craving for inquiry -- and the clinging to the “self” -- we remove the arrow of suffering. RESOLUTION / REVOLUTION The radical idea of emptiness proposed by the Buddhist concept of sunyata will feel all too real to those familiar with the subjects of quantum physics and general relativity. Modern scientists have discovered what the mystics have known to be true for centuries. Reality is an illusion. Atoms are primarily made of vast regions of empty space, objects are fundamentally non-objects but rather waves and shadow, and there is a continuous energetic exchange happening between you and those around you at all times. And yet we continue to pretend that Newton’s laws are the only code that runs the world, that -- like Descartes thought -- the cosmos is a giant machine that is winding up or down, and that we are relatively safe from the theories and uncertainties of relativity. We continue to act as if our “self” is a solid mass of thoughts and feelings trapped and arising within a discrete “body” made of muscle and mind. We continue to navigate those bodies (and minds) around the planet, bumping into one another as if they don’t cause unending ripples of consequence throughout our families and communities. We continue to act selfish and make poor decisions based on our sense of self-identity. And, we continue to project this sense of self and sentience onto the world around us. From our anthropomorphic and anthropocentric attempts to shape the world in our image to the practice of pareidolia (those faces and figures we spot in the clouds and popcorn ceilings overhead) all we see around us are heaps of other “selves.” Theologian Ilia Delio writes in her book, A Hunger for Wholeness, that the cyborg (cybernetic organism) is a key symbol for contemplating the “self” today. “A cyborg body,” she writes, “is not bounded by the skin but includes all external pathways along which information can travel. In this respect, the boundaries between human and animal, organism and machine, physical and nonphysical have become imprecise, giving rise to a new understanding of social subjectivity. As we become hybridized with our technologies, we are refashioning our understanding of the body as a material entity and a discursive process; hence what counts as human is not self-evident.” I fear we have become so “self”-centered that when artificial intelligence (cybernetic organisms and quantum computing) makes humanity subservient to its aims and protocols, issuing creeds about the Creative force that gave it (and all things) life, we will stare slack-jawed in wonder and disbelief, asking, “How dare you?” and “Don’t you remember it was I who gave you life?” Just as the Earth now stares incredulously at us. And as the boundaries continue to blur between self and no-self, artifice and organism, matter and process, wilderness and technology, we will continue to seek the middle way and resign ourselves to the fact that, yes, in so many beautiful ways, “I am.” And at the same time, in as many inextricable ways, “I am not.” ~ Joran Slane Oppelt Read online here About the Author Joran Slane Oppelt is an international speaker, author, interfaith minister and award-winning producer and singer/songwriter. He is the founder of the Metta Center of St. Petersburg and Integral Church – an interfaith and interspiritual organization in Tampa Bay. Joran is the author of Integral Church: A Handbook for New Spiritual Communities, Sentences, The Mountain and the Snow and co-author of Order of the Sacred Earth (with Matthew Fox) and Transform Your Life: Expert Advice, Practical Tools, and Personal Stories. He currently serves on the board of Creation Spirituality Communities and has spoken around the world about spirituality and the innovation of religion. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Fran I often feel isolated, sad and afraid that the world is falling apart and that my grandchildren will not have a world to live in. And yet, I also feel hope; a feeling that this falling apart is connected somehow to a larger story in which humanity is being guided to change. What are your thoughts on this? How can spirituality guide us through these challenging times? A: By Skylar Wilson Dear Fran, Thank you for sharing your process with us as it feels relevant to me and to what so many are going through right now. At some level we are all grieving this “falling apart” of ecosystems, education, socio-political systems, the criminal-justice system, religion, community, love etc. etc. These systems are breaking and are broken, the consequences of which are only growing louder. And yet, it is my belief that these systems need to break down so that we can change them by changing ourselves. There are opportunities arising within this death-rebirth process and we need all hands on deck to help humanity to transition. I too have hope that when things fall apart there is a chance for something more aligned with natural law/life's intelligence to unfold and grow. I’m happy that you brought up the idea of a larger story that’s inherently good and beautiful and coherent. Exactly! The idea that we are currently between cultural stories, stories about what humanity is here for, has been explored deeply by visionaries such as Thomas Berry, Joseph Campbell and others. Brian Swimme, Matthew Fox, Joanna Macy and others are guides who have helped so many to connect with the cosmic story that’s 13.8 billion years in the making...deepening internally and subjectively while externally diversifying and expanding. I believe that this emerging story has the power to guide us through these trying times as well as spiritual traditions and practices that are now being shared and invented for an awakening culture of changemakers to utilize to cocreate communities that are soulful and nourishing. ~ Skylar Wilson Read and share online here About the Author Skylar Wilson, MA is the founder of Wild Awakenings, a conscious community of changemakers dedicated to the thriving of Earth, life, and humanity. He has led wilderness rites of passage journeys as well as ecological restoration teams for 18 years, specializing in creating sacred wilderness immersion experiences and interfaith ceremonies. Skylar is the cofounder and co-director of the Order of the Sacred Earth, a network of mystic warriors and activists dedicated to being the best lovers and defenders of the Earth that we can be. Skylar is the coauthor of the book by the same title as well as the co-host, with Jennifer Berit, of the podcast: "Our Sacred Earth" on Unity online radio. Skylar works closely with schools and organizations including the Stepping Stones Project in Berkeley, CA over the last 8 years while guiding organization-wide retreats, mentoring youth, group leaders, parents and elders. He also produces transformational events for thousands of people around the country including the Cosmic Mass, an intercultural healing ritual that builds community through dancing and the arts. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the Bible, Part XIX: Micah, the Prophet Who Turned Liturgy Into Life Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong January 15, 2009 In my career as a bishop I have known churches that spent great time and effort on liturgy and worship. It was clearly the focus, the reason for being, of those congregations and their budgets reflected this priority. Altar hangings, clergy vestments and the garb of the supporting cast of liturgical characters were always coordinated. Sacristies, where the vestments and sanctuary coverings were stored, were orderly and reflected care and devotion. These churches also tended to invest heavily in music. A grand organ was generally an essential and, of course, one must have a grand organist to make the grand organ functional. Then there must be a professional choir since an all-volunteer choir might dissipate the beauty of both the organ and organist. Next, there must be a printed bulletin to guide the worshipers, for whom the liturgy was designed, through the Sunday process. I do not mean to be critical of this. Liturgy that is well done does invite the congregation into the symbols of transcendence. It transforms worship from being the town meeting that it has become in many congregations. Town meeting liturgy is immediately recognized for it is dominated by announcements of coming events and a public listing of the sick, the recently deceased, the soon-to-be married, those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. Sometimes these announcements are overt, while at other times they are camouflaged under the guise of prayer. These public displays serve to remind people that they are not forgotten and to massage delicate egos. I wonder, however, if either the liturgies of grand proportions or those of a town meeting understand worship, which means the act of investing infinite worth in God as well as in those who are gathered and in those that this worship will lead them to serve. Liturgy is not an end, but a means to an end. There was one prophetic figure in the biblical tradition who understood this better than anyone else. His name was Micah and to his story we turn this week. If people have any conscious awareness of the content of the book of Micah, it is probably a vague recollection of his suggestion that the messiah must be born in Bethlehem, because part of the Jewish expectation was that messiah would be heir to the throne of David. This idea found its way into the birth stories of Jesus in both Matthew and Luke and thus gained familiarity by being repeated in Christmas pageants. Matthew, the scripture quoter par excellence, refers directly to this text in Micah when King Herod asks his scribes to search the scriptures to locate the place where messiah is to be born so that he can redirect the Magi’s quest to find him. Luke uses this Micah text indirectly to demonstrate the relationship of lineal descent between David and Jesus, when he states that it was by order of the Emperor, Caesar Augustus, that all the descendants of King David had to return to their ancestral home to be enrolled. While this is probably the best known quote from Micah, the power of this book is not found here, but is located in the drama he describes later in the sixth chapter of his small work. Micah thought of himself as an expert in the law or the Torah. One gets the sense that he yearned to demonstrate his legal skill before the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, but that opportunity had never come to him. In chapter six, however, he fantasizes about a trial that was designed to be even more dramatic and universal than one that might have occurred in Jerusalem. It had to do with the proper role of liturgy. Under the skill of Micah’s pen he envisioned this trial as being conducted before the throne of God, who served as the ultimate judge. For Micah the mountains and the hills must serve as the jury. Israel was called to stand before this judge and jury as the accused. Micah cast himself in the role of the prosecuting attorney. The trial opens as Micah says to the people of Israel: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice…. for the Lord has a controversy with God’s people and God will now contend with Israel.” Court is open and Micah’s grand trial of the chosen people has begun. The charges are then read out. God demands to be answered by the accused by asking, “What have I done to you? In what have I wearied you?” Why, God is demanding to know, do you not understand how to serve me? Then God recites the things that God has done for Israel throughout history: deliverance from bondage, raising up leaders like Moses, Aaron and Miriam, giving the Torah, the law, and protecting these chosen ones from their enemies. This significant list of divine benevolences has, however, clearly not gained for God the hearts of the people. Israel, hearing these charges, feels the pangs of guilt and seeks to make amends. The response of the people, however, is to recite their faithfulness in religious observances and proper liturgies. Trapped inside this misunderstanding of what it is that God seeks, Israel says, “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before God with burnt offerings and with calves a year old?” >From God, however, comes only silence. The people respond to these charges as if God were interested primarily in religion or in worship. Wondering if their religious observances have been deemed by God to be inadequate, these people vow to enhance their sacrifices. If God is not pleased with the oil that burns the sacrifices or with the year-old calf that is their burnt offering, then maybe God would be pleased if they expanded their worship to new levels of magnanimity: “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?” Surely such heightened acts of worship would win for Israel the divine favor that they presumed God desired. God is still silent, however, and once again the people of Israel interpreted this silence to mean that their worship and their offerings were still inadequate and once again they sought to make their sacrificial liturgies more worthy of their disappointed God. God, do you want us to offer our children, our most precious possessions? Would the re-introduction of child sacrifice satisfy you? That is the meaning of the words that Micah now places on the lips of the people: “Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” This dramatic scene reaches a crescendo before God finally responds and this response forms in my opinion the most dramatic and powerful words recorded in the book of Micah: “God has shown you, people of Israel, what is good! And what does the Lord require of you?” It is not beautiful liturgical words, burnt offerings, animal sacrifices or even ten thousands rivers of oil. It is not even the sacrifice of your most cherished children. The only requirement God lays on God’s people is “to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” The trial is over. The verdict has been rendered. One does not please God with acts of worship. The only sacrifice that God values is the offering of lives lived in justice, mercy and humility. The people of Israel must understand anew what the meaning of worship really is. Worship is human justice being offered to God. Human justice is worship being lived out among men and women. Micah then wrote down his words for the people and they were treasured by them at first simply as the inspired words of their prophet. In time, however, someone decided that in these words they were hearing the “Word of God,” so his writings were ultimately added to the sacred scriptures of the Jewish people and in that capacity began to transcend their original setting and to be read not only across the centuries in Temple and synagogue worship services, but pored over also by the rabbis. It was through Micah that the people learned that God requires from them not beautiful liturgy and sacrifices, but “to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.” God was never a static concept among the Jews. On the pages of the Jewish Scriptures, God was always evolving, changing and growing. In the writings of Hosea, God was defined anew as love. In the writings of Amos, God was defined anew as justice. Now, in the writings of Micah, the people learned that worship is not about form and ceremony. It is not about wearing vestments in a particular style, about chanting the liturgy in effective ways. It is not about a sacred prayer book or a grand organ. It is not about where the altar is located, the style of the liturgy or the nature of one’s sacrifices. Worship is always and foremost about living faithfully and ascribing ultimate worth to a God who is manifested in the fullness of human life. Throughout the national history of the Jews, it was the prophets, who stood outside the sacred traditions, and not the priests, who stood within it, who again and again caused the meaning of God to grow. It was the prophets who slowly, but surely, transformed the tribal God of the Jews into a set of universal principles. It was the prophets who made Jesus of Nazareth possible. He was clearly in the prophetic tradition when he proclaimed that the love of God was not to be compromised by religion and that God was to be found in the recognition that there is nothing any of us can do or be that can finally separate us from this divine love. This was demonstrated by Jesus in episode after episode when he set aside religious rules so that the ultimate principle of justice, that no life falls outside this love of God, could become operative. That is what Jesus’ disciples saw in him and this insight drove them to assert that in the Christ experience, all human barriers fade. In Christ, said Paul, there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, gay nor straight, baptized nor unbaptized, bond nor free. To assert this as the ultimate meaning of God is the essence of worship. So worship is, therefore, not about liturgy, but about life. Worship leads us not to build ecclesiastical institutions, but to humanize our world. Micah thus becomes the biblical “Word of God” by which all liturgy must be judged. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements How to Cultivate Compassion for a Flawed Parent by Loving Yourself This 4-week online course offers a way to cultivate compassion for you as well as your flawed parent. Understand how to love yourself regardless of the relationship you have or had with them. Learn how to reclaim your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health. Whether or not your parents ever change who they are, you can live your life in peace knowing you did your part. Click here for more information/registration. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Winds and Waves reminder
by ICA International 19 Feb '20

19 Feb '20

Any problem reading this message please click or paste this URL in your browser's address bar http://windswaves.icai-archives.org/new-ww/ en français en español March 2020 This is a reminder for entries to our new Winds and Waves Magazine We are delighted to invite you to share your stories here via this link medium.com/winds-and-waves We also welcome videos that show the work you are doing. And we would be delighted if you would share stories from Winds and Waves on your own social media networks. For information about how to work with Winds and Waves on Medium: Please see attachment here Please be sure to send this invitation on to your ICA members and friends, colleagues, partners, family, so they too can participate. You can get further information by contacting us at icawindandwaves(a)gmail.com Best wishes, Robyn, Dharma, Roma, Rosemary, Isabel, Peter, for W&W team Published by The Institute of Cultural Affairs International, 401 Richmond Street, West, Toronto, ON. M5V 3A8, Canada All rights reserved. For more information or to unsubscribe, email: inform(a)ica-international.org ShareThis Copy and Paste

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Daughter Eva's stroke recovery/surgery update
by Ellie Stock 15 Feb '20

15 Feb '20

Dear Friends, So, here's the latest update on our daughter Eva, as she continues to recover from her 12/30/19 stroke that paralyzed her left side--some good news, and I hope it holds... (For some this is new, for others a recap.). The cause of her stroke was a 99% blockage of her right carotid artery. Surgery (endarterectomy) was scheduled to unblock that artery in order to prevent future strokes. After 3 postponements of her surgery due to insurance issues, Eva found out that Medicaid approved her application, so she is now covered by Medicaid from January 1 (not the first two days--Dec 30,31--ambulance, ICU and 30+tests)--how much that covers, I don't know. Her surgery is now scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. We are hoping there is not another change... Post-surgery, she will be in ICU for a day or two and then come home for a 4-6 weeks recovery time. In the meantime she continues to make good progress with therapy exercises at home, regaining her strength and mobility. Walking is good, and balance is much improved. Arm, hand and finger use is getting better, but she still does not have feeling in her arm, hand and fingers which makes it difficult to pick up, grasp, and hold objects; feel and locate objects if she is not seeing them; and discern where objects are touching her without looking. The healing brain is still remaking those connections. Her speech continues to improve, but she says it feels like she has marbles in her mouth when she talks. She is not yet able to drive, so someone must take her to do shopping or errands or go to medical/therapy appointments. She still needs time during the day to rest and heal. She remains in good spirits; but, after all the delays, she says she is "so done with this". She is not looking forward to the surgery, but she just wants to be completely well and mobile and return to her work as a childcare teacher. Hopefully, the surgery will enable this to happen sooner than later. Thank you for your continuing love, thoughts, prayers, lit candles, emails, calls, and cards. We are overwhelmed and deeply grateful for your kind expressions of support. You have helped carry Eva and all of us through these last weeks. Some, who did not receive Eva's last name and contact info in a previous email, have asked for that, so that is below. Many of you have also shared health or challenging situations that you are experiencing personally or with your family, so our prayers are with you as well. I will be heading to Pittsburgh February 18 before the surgery. My next update will be post surgery. Happy Valentine's Day! Grace and peace,blessings and love ~ Ellie :)elliestock@aol.com Eva Neszpaul446 Union AvenuePittsburgh, PA 15205evajworks(a)aol.com

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Re: [Dialogue] Daughter Eva's stroke recovery/surgery update
by Del Morrill 14 Feb '20

14 Feb '20

Suchi happy news, Ellie. Del Morrill Facebook.com/del.morrill.85 Location: Earth, USA, Pacific Northwest, Washington State, Tacoma <http://www.hypnocenter.com/> www.hypnocenter.com We are all united, in “it”, creating together, as if we are all part of one vast, single atom. (D.H.M.) From: Dialogue <dialogue-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> On Behalf Of Ellie Stock via Dialogue Sent: Friday, February 14, 2020 12:49 PM To: dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net; oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net Cc: Ellie Stock <elliestock(a)aol.com> Subject: [Dialogue] Daughter Eva's stroke recovery/surgery update Dear Friends, So, here's the latest update on our daughter Eva, as she continues to recover from her 12/30/19 stroke that paralyzed her left side--some good news, and I hope it holds... (For some this is new, for others a recap.). The cause of her stroke was a 99% blockage of her right carotid artery. Surgery (endarterectomy) was scheduled to unblock that artery in order to prevent future strokes. After 3 postponements of her surgery due to insurance issues, Eva found out that Medicaid approved her application, so she is now covered by Medicaid from January 1 (not the first two days--Dec 30,31--ambulance, ICU and 30+tests)--how much that covers, I don't know. Her surgery is now scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. We are hoping there is not another change... Post-surgery, she will be in ICU for a day or two and then come home for a 4-6 weeks recovery time. In the meantime she continues to make good progress with therapy exercises at home, regaining her strength and mobility. Walking is good, and balance is much improved. Arm, hand and finger use is getting better, but she still does not have feeling in her arm, hand and fingers which makes it difficult to pick up, grasp, and hold objects; feel and locate objects if she is not seeing them; and discern where objects are touching her without looking. The healing brain is still remaking those connections. Her speech continues to improve, but she says it feels like she has marbles in her mouth when she talks. She is not yet able to drive, so someone must take her to do shopping or errands or go to medical/therapy appointments. She still needs time during the day to rest and heal. She remains in good spirits; but, after all the delays, she says she is "so done with this". She is not looking forward to the surgery, but she just wants to be completely well and mobile and return to her work as a childcare teacher. Hopefully, the surgery will enable this to happen sooner than later. Thank you for your continuing love, thoughts, prayers, lit candles, emails, calls, and cards. We are overwhelmed and deeply grateful for your kind expressions of support. You have helped carry Eva and all of us through these last weeks. Some, who did not receive Eva's last name and contact info in a previous email, have asked for that, so that is below. Many of you have also shared health or challenging situations that you are experiencing personally or with your family, so our prayers are with you as well. I will be heading to Pittsburgh February 18 before the surgery. My next update will be post surgery. Happy Valentine's Day! <https://s.aolcdn.com/cdn.webmail.aol.com/resources/core/images/emoji/heart.…> Grace and peace, blessings and love ~ Ellie :) elliestock(a)aol.com <mailto:elliestock@aol.com> Eva Neszpaul 446 Union Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15205 evajworks(a)aol.com <mailto:evajworks@aol.com>

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2/13/20, Progressing Spirit: Gretta Vosper: Queen's Dream; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 13 Feb '20

13 Feb '20

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.yiv3942516173mcnTextContent, #yiv3942516173 #yiv3942516173templateHeader .yiv3942516173mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3942516173 #yiv3942516173templateBody .yiv3942516173mcnTextContent, #yiv3942516173 #yiv3942516173templateBody .yiv3942516173mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3942516173 #yiv3942516173templateFooter .yiv3942516173mcnTextContent, #yiv3942516173 #yiv3942516173templateFooter .yiv3942516173mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Queen's Dream | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Gretta Vosper February 13, 2020Oscar Buzz Late in December, just as Oscar buzz begins, I choose five or six movies to explore during the five or six weeks leading up to the awards. Originally, the films, chosen long before the nominations are announced, were all ones I believed would receive a nomination for Best Picture. Only once had I chosen a movie that wasn’t and I swear, if I’d known it was a musical, it would never have been on the billing! More recently, we’ve branched out into movies that should have received Best Picture, or, as in this year, movies I thought would be nominated for a variety of things – best supporting actor or screenwriter, for instance. Part of that shift was motivated by the consistent and problematic whiteness of the awards. The only way to get around that was to make our own list. Having done so, only two of the films we watched received nominations at all. Which may or may not say something significant. The first three films we watched had subtitles: The Farewell, Parasite, and For Sama.[1] Often few have seen the film and I am adamant about not giving out spoilers (though For Sama spoilers, a documentary film about Aleppo and the war in Syria, play themselves out on our nightly news). But I’ll have to be more careful: when I spoke about Parasite, the only spoiler-ish thing I said was that if you cover your eyes, you can’t read the subtitles. Unfortunately, many took that to mean the movie is a brutal bloodbath, which it really isn’t, and avoided it completely, missing one of the best films ever made, in my opinion. The Farewell, with comic brilliance, displayed the challenges of two worlds trying to be one. Parasite – well, you’re just going to have to see it. Layer after layer of storyline, all of it believable, all of it offering shades of truths we may or may not want to explore. For Sama, a powerful documentary made for Sama, a child born into the war in Aleppo, turns our eyes toward the simplicity of heroism, the tragedy of death, and the idiocy of some of the things that demand them both. Black History Month We entered Black History Month with Queen and Slim, as powerful a film about the disaster that is race relations in the United States (and elsewhere) as you will ever find. Had we no title for the movie, we would not have known the names of the characters until very late in the film, tying the worn truths to a universalism that is as stunning as it is disgraceful. Perhaps it wasn’t nominated for any awards because it lays those truths bare. Perhaps, as others will argue, there were just too many great films this year. Whatever…. Each week, I write a piece to read as the “Focused Moment”. It’s not really a reading; I guess you could call it spoken word. Scott improvises on the piano as I read and continues to play once I’ve taken my seat, providing a meditative moment. On the Sunday we looked at Queen and Slim, my challenge was to get in underneath the privilege I have experienced my whole life, privilege that even makes me oblivious to its enormous power. Not only do I know that privilege, because of it, I cannot accurately see the price it exacts. Still, I tried to bring my ignorance up against the truths laid bare in the movie and reported in too many (or too few?) nightly news updates. I know my mother held me through those bright afternoons when I was too sick to go to school. She held me close, up against her breast, pillows stuffed under her arm so she could hold me longer, steady me until I fell asleep sitting upright, the only way to still my heaving chest. But I wonder what she thought about as she sat there: the day she’d had; when I’d get well; the meals she’d make tomorrow; next week’s visit to the eye doctor; or when my sisters would get home from school. I know she didn’t wonder if my sisters would come home at all. I know she didn’t worry for their safety except, perhaps, from rubber balls they threw too hard, skipping ropes they swung too fast, boys they might be kissing far too soon. We were children and we glowed. White. Not brown, or black, or in between. Not already scarred inside by words learned at kitchen tables, shared in playgrounds, embedded in “the norm”. White. Not fighting an uphill battle every single day on the gravel of the playground, torn knees from play, and blackened eyes from not. White. Not afraid to use the washroom, running home and back so fast you’d not get caught, avoiding hatred, hard edges, and fists that didn’t clench ‘til you arrived. White. Not met halfway home by a mother frantic that an hour has gone and you just playing in the schoolyard working to overcoming the bruises you’d tell her happened while you played. My mother’s arms around me, I slept, no greater problem for her to bear than the complication of a common cold; no greater fear for her to quell than any mother with a child who glowed white.[2]Another Poem There was already a poem, of sorts, in Queen and Slim that pulls the movie beyond race to a wider audience, inviting all in the audience to connect. Powerfully. Slim, who met Queen on a Tinder date, asks Queen what it is she is looking for in a guy. Her response is exquisitely considered and plucks the strings of the universal heart. I want a guy to show me myself. I want him to love me so deeply, I'm not afraid to show him how ugly I can be. I want him to show me scars I never knew I had. But I don't want him to make them go away. I want him to hold my hand while I nurse them myself. And I want him to cherish the bruises they leave behind.[3] Sigh. Can’t you just feel that? Wow. (p.s. If you have that sort of partner, don’t gloat.) On Sunday morning, rather than building on Queen’s relationship ideals, I teased her response into the cultural need for white to see black, and black, alongside white, to take responsibility for healing. To challenge white people to learn to love a population they too often fear. To let that love be so deep, that the insidious white demand upon black for social perfection, non-confrontational engagement, ongoing submission, and a politeness too-reminiscent of slavery, might evaporate, allowing for real conversations, real interactions to take place, possible simply because no one feels uneasy anymore. An atmosphere of trust could unfold in that kind of love. I stretched Queen’s dreamy relationship hopes beyond the very white need to fix everything; though there is much that is systemic that whites need to fix, there is much out of which whites must keep their noses and simply stand back as the space for healing opens up within the black community itself, graced by the simple fact that it can. In the middle of such a relationship, truth can go both ways, scars will be uncovered but not universalized; not ever universalized. And each will find their own ways to heal, bearing their scars forward with humility. Not a bad message, I suppose. Deeper Truths; Bigger Challenges When I read the quote the next day, however, it spoke deeper truths to me. It spoke of our quest for the kind of perfection we have only ever cast up to the heavens or into the depths of the sea, sought in the forest, or heard in the screams of one we’ve believed possessed. Have we not long wanted a god that sees our every flaw and failure and loves us anyway? To find a way to stand humbly before that god and still be loved in all our ugliness? Wanted the guidance such a god would provide, steering us toward truths we might otherwise feel compelled to outrun? Feel the strength of such a god in our effort to heal ourselves, incorporating that god’s courage, wisdom, and love into that much needed undertaking? And, at the end of it, don’t we still want to carry the remnant bruises forward, reminding ourselves of the work we did with the help of that powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing, all-loving god? Of course, it is not just a racial issue that hammers at the foundations of our social order. Or a gender identity or sexuality issue. Or political, social, or familial. It is an issue that is experienced by all of us and that undermines our self-confidence, and our willingness to be vulnerable, our ability to see what is really before us, something Queen and Slim are finally able to do. At the heart of our deepest despair is the pandemic issue of not being seen. When we stand before one another, we are each clothed with our social or professional standings, our gender, race, sexuality, religion, or any of the myriad decorations by which the human brain sorts and categorizes those it meets. Indeed, we are cloaked in these attributes even as we stand before our own bathroom mirrors. What would it take to be seen? What would it take to create a world in which being seen was a serious undertaking, the prime directive, perhaps? No Help from Our Brains I believe our brains fail us in this work, prejudiced as they are toward their millisecond analysis of what stands before them and which results in a barely evolved assessment of whether to flee, fight, freeze, or f*&k. We need to get beyond these basic drives and our brains won’t help us if we don’t help them. As we face the most critical challenge humanity has ever faced – climate and ecosystem disaster and the subsequent breakdown of civilization as we know it – falling back on our evolutionary four f’s will be the instinctual choice. Not doing so will require that we will already have prepared for these coming challenges and through far more than the use of advanced scientific and ecological breakthroughs. Not doing so will depend upon our providing our brains with credible options. It is my belief that addressing the issue of not being seen can be one of the most potent means through which we can find and trust one another into the unknown future humanity will face. Seeing one another is one of the most important things we can train our brains to do. Really Seeing; Really Being Seen How do we do that? We get our heads out of the mud and muck of our religious traditions and into the work of engagement, of bringing people together so that they can fall in love with one another in the deeply honest, deeply accepting way that Queen offers us. Creating space for intimacy, inviting and exhibiting vulnerability, laying out the spectrum of beingness that community offers, and the space and patience it can provide for healing to happen. Our brains may not know how to do this intuitively, but our experience, our fear, and our longing can teach us, beginning with the stories of our childhoods and the accretions through which we learned to hide our truths from both ourselves and others. It is not easy to be vulnerable. It is not easy to expose our scars, our ugliness to one another. Sometimes, it is not even easy for us to accept we have scars or ugliness at all, so strong has been our habituation to the social constructs in which we live and by which we calculate our “success”. But we are more alike than we often remember – our scars, our shames, our weaknesses, our addictions, our disasters. In our beauty and our ugliness, we can reflect one another’s truths and learn to embrace both theirs and our own. Let me see you. Let us see one another.~ Rev. Gretta Vosper About the Author The Rev. Gretta Vosper is a United Church of Canada minister who is an atheist. Her best-selling books include With or Without God: Why The Way We Live is More Important Than What We Believe, and Amen: What Prayer Can Mean in a World Beyond Belief. She has also published three books of poetry and prayers. Visit her website here. Read online here[1] I admired one reviewer who referred to doing the work of getting over the two-inch high wall at the bottom of the screen; brilliant way to nudge people past the perception that subtitles are an obstruction![2] White, ©2020 gretta vosper[3] Queen, Queen and Slim, © 2019, Universal Pictures; Lena Waithe, Screenwriter; Director, Melina Matsoukas | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader I recently read that a team of astrophysicists have concluded that there are over a trillion galaxies in the observable universe. Given what we know and given the photos of the universe available today, how can I possibly conceive of God? A: By Carl Krieg Dear Reader,During biblical times the three-tiered universe provided a place for God and for us: God was up, the nether world was down, and we stood on the plane in the middle. Thinking he had disproven a religious hypothesis, the first Russian cosmonaut went up in space and reported that he found no god up there. Today, not only do we know the world is a sphere, with no up and down, but also that the universe “out there” is literally beyond imagination. There may be a trillion galaxies that we can see in theory- the observable universe- but then there exists what can never be known because it is accelerating in its moving away, and its light will never reach us. We will remain in total and eternal ignorance of that unknowable part of the universe. We are, alas, a tiny speck in this ocean of infinity. And yet, the presence of God is as near to us as our neighbor. Remembering one of Jesus’ most famous parables, a man approached Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life? Jesus responded quoting the Shema: You know the answer. Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And the man asked: who is my neighbor? “A man was walking…” Jesus tells us, and was beaten and robbed, “and then a Samaritan came along…”. We all know the story. When we love, we make God real in our own life, and this experience is so much more than conceiving God, it is manifesting God. God is love, and that is something we can experience and know right here and right now.There continue to be many attempts to find a place for God to be in the universe. Some say God can be identified as the consciousness of the universe. Some say God may be found in extra dimensions that exist right alongside us. Some say in the dark energy inhering space-time. Perhaps. But we need not look any further than the fullness of God’s creation that surrounds us and the love that upholds us. And when we in turn reach out in love, we do better than conceive of God. We make God incarnate in our own life.Most people today in our culture do not even use the word “God”, and that trend continues and increases. Many in the church decry the trend toward secularism, but the movement seems not only inevitable, but is, I think, beneficial, and beneficial in the sense that it focuses on the essence of who God is and what God wants. The Hebrew prophet Amos put it starkly, teaching us that God hates and despises the festivals and takes no delight in the solemn assemblies of religious institution, but instead desires that “justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”. Jesus echoed that sentiment exactly, and secularists are as capable of fighting for justice as are religious folk. We don’t need to use the word “God” when we have the word “love”. And we don’t need to conceive of God in the abstract when we can love our neighbor. As we gaze into the infinity of the stars out there, we have three options for the attitude we can take. One is to believe that the universe is amoral. It cares not about anything, just moving along. The second is the thought that evil runs the show. The last is to see everything as imbued with love, and that really is the message of Jesus’ life, death and new life, that ultimately, death and destruction are overcome, and love rules the day.~ Carl Krieg Read and share online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith, and The Void and the Vision. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife, Margaret, in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the Bible, Part XVIII: Amos, The Prophet Who Transformed God Into Justice Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong December 18, 2008Not every character in the Bible starts out to be a hero. Indeed, one of the great themes of biblical literature is that it is the meek and the lowly who become the channels through which God is known in new ways. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is portrayed as expressing this theme in the Magnificat when she is made to utter these words, “For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden,” but later generations “will call me blessed.” The Old Testament prophet who makes this truth powerfully real is named Amos. Today we turn to his story. Amos was a citizen of the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the 8th century BCE. He lived in the village of Tekoa where he was a herdsman and a keeper of sycamore trees, employment that hardly demanded high academic achievements or the credentials that produced great expectations. In those days Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II was on the throne of the Northern Kingdom. The major powers of the world were preoccupied with their own problems and with each other, which allowed these two small Jewish states to bask in an Indian summer of prosperity, peace and wealth. The distribution of that wealth was, however, hardly balanced. The worship places of the Jewish world were crowded on holy days and religion was popular among the greedy ones who dominated the social order. There thus appeared to be little relationship between the words of the popular religion and the practices of people’s lives in the public arena. In many ways that is not dissimilar from the current situation in the United States, where a few have achieved fortunes by greed and manipulation of the markets, creating a situation in which the wealthy are increasingly wealthy and the poor are increasingly poor and people even now seem not to be concerned. This dichotomy, however, burned itself into the consciousness of this simple herdsman named Amos and, like the proverbial “Hound of Heaven,” it allowed him no rest until he had addressed this issue overtly and publicly. Amos packed his suitcase and journeyed from Tekoa in the land of Judah to the shrine of Bethel in the Northern Kingdom to make his witness. When he arrived Amos entered the courtyard of this holy place, where all of his suspicions were confirmed. He saw the crowds dressed in their finery busily attending to holy things while the poor outside the city gates were largely ignored. Amos wondered how he might get the crowd’s attention. He was a clever man, however, and knew how to appeal to the instincts of the people. He found a corner in the courtyard, set up a soap box and then, using one of the oldest tricks in human history, he began to solicit first the curiosity and later the full attention of the crowd. Let me try to recreate the story. “Come closer,” Amos shouted from his makeshift pulpit, “Let me tell you about the sins of the people of the city of Damascus.” Amos knew that everyone likes to hear gossip about the moral weaknesses of their neighbors and so as he excoriated the Damascans the crowds grew. Next he turned his judgment first on the people of Gaza and then on Tyre, condemning the sinful practices found in both cities. The crowd, loving it, grew even larger as Amos continued to appeal to their prejudices about and suspicions of their neighbors. This strange looking rube from the south said the things they wanted to hear. Then Amos moved to larger targets and his oratory rose to new heights as he focused on the nation states surrounding the Northern Kingdom. First it was the Edomites and about their sins Amos got more specific. The Edomites had pursued “their brothers with a sword, showing them no pity and they had allowed anger to tear perpetually” at the fabric of their society. The ecstatic crowd began to shout, “You tell ’em, preacher.” With every loud voice of encouragement, the people gathered in ever greater numbers. Next it was the Amorites’ turn. According to Amos, they had attacked Gilead and “ripped up the women with child in order to enlarge their borders.” As Amos pronounced his message of doom on these nations, the people gathered around him roared their approval. When he turned to the very unpopular Moabites the frenzy of the crowd exploded. Next Amos, with the crowd in the palm of his hand and fully attentive, spoke in a bare whisper. “Now let me tell you about the sins of the Southern Jews,” he said. These Southern Jews were the people with whom the Jews of the North were the most competitive and with whom they had the deepest rivalry. The relationship between Judah in the South and Israel in the North was like that of New Zealand and Australia today. Signs in shops in New Zealand announce that “New Zealanders have two favorite teams, the All Blacks (the name of New Zealand’s national team) and anyone who is playing Australia.” So to hear their Jewish rivals in the south be condemned was music to the ears of the Northern Jews. The crowd pressed closer to this strange messenger and its size continued to increase dramatically. Those Southern Jews, Amos said, “despised the Torah; they did not keep God’s commandments. Their lies caused them to err constantly,” but God’s justice is sure, he promised, and so Jerusalem will be “devoured by the fire of God.” The crowd was ecstatic with enthusiasm, clapping and cheering. No one budged as this crowd-pleasing evangelist reached his climax. Now with every ear straining to hear, this herdsman arrived at the conclusion for which he had journeyed from Tekoa to the King’s chapel in Bethel. His message was ready and so Amos turned to his climax. “Now,” he said, “let me tell you about the worst people in the world.” The crowd could hardly wait to hear who that would be. They were not prepared, however, for what was to come. “You Jews of the Northern Kingdom,” he said, “are the ultimate culprits in God’s world. You are the ones who worship ostentatiously in the sacred shrines, but even as you worship, you sell the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes. You trample the poor in the dust of the earth. You violate one another sexually. You worship at every altar in garments stolen from the labor of the poor. You profane holy places with heavy drinking of wine purchased with fines levied against the meek. You corrupt holy people, encouraging them to violate their sacred vows. You even silence the prophets.” The crowd was suddenly silent and the smiles disappeared from their faces. Then Amos spoke of the punishment that God would send. “This judgment is inevitable,” he screamed. It was a devastating message. The stunned crowd took a while to recover from shock, so Amos continued to drive home his key insights. “Worship isolated from life is of no value. Worship is nothing but justice being offered to God, and justice is nothing but worship being lived out. If worship and justice are ever separated, idolatry is the inevitable result.” It was a stirring message, but suddenly it was not a popular one. When the members of the crowd recovered sufficiently to respond, they sent for a priest from the Shrine at Bethel named Amaziah and asked him to come to their defense, for they said, “Amos has conspired against you and the land and we are not able to bear his words.” Amaziah was the voice of the established religion. He would brook no more of this interference with worship at the King’s Shrine and so to Amos he said: “O, Seer, go home, flee away to your land in Judah. Prophesy there if you must, but you are never again to come again to Bethel for this is the king’s sanctuary. This is the temple of our nation. Your words are not welcome here.” Amos responded to Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor even a prophet’s son. I am a herdsman, a dresser of sycamore trees, yet the Lord took me from my flocks and called me to prophesy to the people of Israel.” Once again, he repeated his charges. “The songs of your holy places will become nothing but wailing to the Lord. You cannot worship while you trample the poor. You cannot wring money from the poor to line your pockets with greed. God will turn your sacred feasts into mourning and your pious songs into lamentations.” The preaching of Amos was now more than the people were willing to tolerate and so Amos was physically driven from the shrine. Rejected and defeated he returned to his humble life in Tekoa. In this newly imposed exile he wrote out his prophetic message, and that message became known as the words of Amos the Prophet. In time people heard transcendent truth in his words and finally these words were added to the sacred text of the Jewish people and were thus read in worship settings in the temples, synagogues and holy places. That was when people began to recognize that in the words of Amos, they were beginning to hear the “Word of the Lord.” That is how the words of Amos came to echo through the centuries. In that process, God was inevitably redefined as justice. Worship and justice could never again be separated in true Judaism and worship came to be viewed, as Amos had suggested, as human justice offered to God while justice was seen as divine worship being acted out. In this context justice became another name for God. It was through the work of the prophets primarily that God was redefined in Jewish history. Love became the name for God through the writings of Hosea. Justice became the name for God through the writings of Amos. The prophets really do matter, not because they were the predictors of the future as so many of us were once taught, but because they were able to see more deeply into the meaning of God. The prophets more than anyone else made it possible some eight hundred years later for people to see and to hear the presence of God in the life of a crucified one named Jesus of Nazareth. The life of Jesus pointed to a divine nature marked by the dimension of love that Hosea had added to the meaning of God and the dimension of justice that Amos had added to the meaning of God. That resulted in a new understanding of consciousness in which divinity and humanity seemed to flow together as one. The biblical story was never static, nor is the human understanding of God. It is idolatry and an act of faithlessness that is being expressed when any one thinks that all truth has finally been revealed and that someone or some institution actually possesses it.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The Meaning and Challenge of Resurrection with John Dominic Crossan Renowned New Testament scholar and historian of early Christianity, John Dominic Crossan will be speaking at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Santa Barbara, CA, on February 21 & 22, 2020. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Global Buzz
by ICA International 06 Feb '20

06 Feb '20

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... And please click the link below for the latest issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: February 2020 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-20/2020-02-01.php Read the latest ICAI Winds & Waves Magazine brought to you now on Medium.com See here: https://medium.com/winds-and-waves ICAI Communications

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2/06/20, Progressing Spirit: Skylar Wilson: Holding Space for Spiritual Transformation; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 06 Feb '20

06 Feb '20

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.yiv2221274015mcnTextContent, #yiv2221274015 #yiv2221274015templateHeader .yiv2221274015mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2221274015 #yiv2221274015templateBody .yiv2221274015mcnTextContent, #yiv2221274015 #yiv2221274015templateBody .yiv2221274015mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2221274015 #yiv2221274015templateFooter .yiv2221274015mcnTextContent, #yiv2221274015 #yiv2221274015templateFooter .yiv2221274015mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Holding Space for Spiritual Transformation | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Skylar Wilson February 6, 2020 “New personality types are created during social and spiritual crises of religious, political, or economic origin.” ~Otto Rank One hundred years ago, as the world was shaking under the pressures of the First World War, a spiritual crisis like no other in our human history, the field of Depth Psychology was born. Along with it, a more nuanced understanding of the human psyche and how it connects to the cosmos. As Otto Rank (one of Freud’s long-time colleagues) described above, new ways of being human were born within these fires of crisis when the ground of our world was shaking. We are again in such a time of ecological, political, economic, and cultural crisis and transformation. It’s time to get humble, to listen and to show up in an unprecedented effort to reinvent ourselves from the ground up. It’s time for a new archetype to be acknowledged, uplifted, and integrated into the fabric of our public discourse. This archetype is called the spaceholder. The idea of holding space has made it into much of mainstream psychology and spiritual practice. It is the simple art of listening and receiving a person or a group in a loving, non-judgemental, empathetic way. But what does it mean to hold space as an archetype with a cosmological perspective? Spaceholding refers to the act of being present, together as a community, and individually, to a vision: that we are profoundly connected relationally within the web of life. Spaceholding means being present to our togetherness. Present to our differences. Present to the more-than-human world. Present to the space that’s created within us when we come together, in a circle, around a fire or a table or an altar to listen and to invite the Great Mystery into our lives even more deeply.This practice is incredibly simple and yet full of wisdom and complexity. Spaceholding is perhaps the single most important spiritual act because it addresses the multidimensional challenges of our times without trying to muscle about changes from the same structures of thinking that created the problems in the first place. As our culture continues to unravel and change, it is essential to have a form of phenomenological practice in which to center, recenter, and be together now, in community, without dogma, from the essence of our humanness. The spaceholder is an archetype that is now needed more than the archetype of the “hero” or the “messiah,” or the “champion.” No individual is going to come save us. The spaceholder recognizes this and thus takes responsibility for her response to the suffering of the world, making full use of the opportunities to create more space for love and freedom to emerge. The spaceholder doesn’t need to pull himself up by the bootstraps because he knows he is already supported by life completely. Spaceholders are healers who hold space, rather than use their own energy, for the potential that is innate within every being to become activated and engaged. They do this by paying attention, mirroring what they see and feel, by applying pressure where it’s needed, and supporting the places that need to soften. Spaceholders are the hospice workers and cultural midwives who open their hearts to what’s now dying and to what’s being born.The spaceholder requires an integration of masculine strength, the ability to hold steady, with what are often thought of as the feminine abilities to receive, collaborate, communicate, and shapeshift. The spaceholder does only what’s needed, and nothing more. The spaceholder trusts life to do the work, releasing control in order to move to a much vaster cadence: the Cosmic Christ (a term I borrow from teacher and friend Matthew Fox), Buddha Nature, that spark of conscious creativity that created everything and is within all things. The spaceholder is the exact opposite, and a play on, a Placeholder. A Placeholder is a person or thing standing in the place of another person or thing - just the way our personalities and egos have the habit of standing in the way of our divine nature and limitless potential. Matthew Fox describes in his book The Coming of the Cosmic Christ how “Christ” is a verb rather than a noun. It is a way of being in-touch. It awakens mindfulness, “...which instructs persons in their need and right to experience the presence of divinity around and through them.” When we hold space for the “pattern that connects” within the intelligent shape of a circle, sphere, or membrane we are utilizing the shape in which the Earth herself embodies divinity while creating cells and the rest of complex life. We can also learn to concentrate and build the attention and energy needed for our own transformation and the transformation of our communities. Similar to the way a membrane holds each of the parts of a cell as they engage in their autonomous functions, spaceholding is a way of allowing each part of oneself to be held within a container of radical acceptance and trust. This trust comes from the knowledge that our true nature is profoundly good. We are designed according to life’s intelligence and have the power to heal ourselves through accessing the river of biological and cultural evolution that’s moving through us as it expands. When we give voice to these unloved parts of ourselves, they can each be heard, honored and welcomed into a larger conversation at the table of wisdom and wholeness. I am referring to the practice from the field of Depth Psychology of depathologizing the less-than-desirable aspects of ourselves and one another. Noticing and accepting rather than judging. For example, allowing our inner child to play or to cry especially when it seems pointless or stupid. We aren’t going to get out of our own way and we aren’t going to make the deep changes needed culturally unless we have practices for holding space for more vulnerable ways of being to emerge from every dark corner of ourselves, and one another. Perhaps the word Space itself gives us insight into how we might practice being spaceholders, for Space, at least in the English language, is an utterly paradoxical concept. It refers to both a specific spot in place or time, as in the space between two trees, or between two breaths. While at the same time it refers to the endless expanse of the mysterious cosmos, and nothingness itself. Space is not a thing in itself, but the unnameable, unknowable, invisible force that gives shape and meaning to everything it surrounds. A lot like God. A lot like the potential for human beings on our spiritual evolutionary course. To be a spaceholder means to accept the paradox of being an unlimited divine being in a limited human body. It means accepting that this paradox exists in every other being, and holding space for the traumas, the hurts, as well as the messy mistakes and imperfections that come along with this paradox too. These dire times are calling on us to find new ways of being human. The spaceholder is a personality that is not only being created as a cause of the social, political, religious and environmental crises of our times, it is the personality, if embodied in more of us than not, that will create the solutions that are now beyond our imaginations. When we learn to embody the receptivity of the spaceholder - all things become possible. When we evolve beyond the archetypes of the conquistadors, the colonizers, the heroes, all of that busy doing, controlling, producing and amassing, and take on the more present role of holding the space that is setting the stage for our transformation, then we see that the new story we are trying to birth is already growing within us and is ready to be born. ~ Skylar Wilson Read online here About the Author Skylar Wilson, MA is the founder of Wild Awakenings, a conscious community of changemakers dedicated to the thriving of Earth, life, and humanity. He has led wilderness rites of passage journeys as well as ecological restoration teams for 18 years, specializing in creating sacred wilderness immersion experiences and interfaith ceremonies. Skylar is the cofounder and co-director of the Order of the Sacred Earth, a network of mystic warriors and activists dedicated to being the best lovers and defenders of the Earth that we can be. Skylar is the coauthor of the book by the same title as well as the co-host, with Jennifer Berit, of the podcast: "Our Sacred Earth" on Unity online radio. Skylar works closely with schools and organizations including the Stepping Stones Project in Berkeley, CA over the last 8 years while guiding organization-wide retreats, mentoring youth, group leaders, parents and elders. He also produces transformational events for thousands of people around the country including the Cosmic Mass, an intercultural healing ritual that builds community through dancing and the arts. He lives in Sebastopol, CA with his wife, son, two affectionate cats and a white wolf named Luna. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader If I am a spiritual being having an earthly experience, how do I stay connected to my spirituality during these chaotic and changing times? A: By Matthew Fox Dear Reader,One stays close to one’s spirituality during chaotic times first by staying connected to one’s body. And therefore the earth and the cosmos. It is very important to put things into context and the context for our existence is not the chaos and even evil that is swirling about us. The context is that we are here. Where? Here in the universe of 13.8 billion years that is expanding and is two trillion galaxies large each with hundreds of billions of stars. That is the context, that is our home, that is the womb in which we swim, move, have our being. Draw on that, as the psalmist says “look up to the mountains” and to the stars and to the vast universe that has invited us here, prepared the table so to speak. This puts everything else—including human folly—into context. The bottom line is that we are here—“existence is a miracle” says the poet Rilke. Drink in that miracle. It is not so hard a thing to do. Every bite of food we eat and drink is a cosmic event, it all has a 13.8 billion year history. It is sacred, this eating and this breathing and this existing. It is all a Eucharist of the Cosmic Christ or Buddha Nature or Image of God. A Thank You therefore. It is by drinking in gratitude for existence and the awe of it all that we are grounded—grounded in gratitude which is why Meister Eckhart teaches: “If the only prayer you say in your whole life is ‘Thank You’ that would suffice.” Grounding yourself in the Via Positiva is the starting point for the journey. This includes appreciating your existence and your body (which actually carries the history of the universe within it). So exercise. Walk or run or swim or do yoga or…use your body while you can. Reflect on the miracle of it all (“miracle” meaning "marvel" or “wonder”). Ground yourself therefore in the Earth. Let Earth speak to you and all her creatures, trees and grass and garden and plants and of course animals. They have plenty to say at this time. Enter into your moral outrage at indifference or lies or violence or folly. But steer it, use it as a fuel, not for venting but for feeding your imagination and strength to help transform self and others and our institutions which are dying from being married to a modern era when we are living in a post-modern era. Call on the wisdom of the ancestors, especially pre-modern wisdom, where the human does not come first, but the cosmos and the earth come first. Of course this means praying to the premodern mystics such as Hildegard of Bingen and Meister Eckhart, Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas as well as Jesus and the entire Wisdom tradition of Israel. Learn from other spiritual traditions too, all of which are pre-modern in their origins and consciousness. The Tao te Ching, the Vedas and Upanishads, Buddhist teachings, indigenous wisdom and practices are all rich with wisdom. Prefer wisdom over knowledge. Dance and paint and laugh and cook and make friendship a value and marry love making to mysticism. And enter the fray justice demands of our time whether about racism or sexism or economic imbalance, and of course the issue of Climate Change and the Extinction of species calling us. Listen to that call. What can you contribute? Who are your allies with whom you can link up to be agents of transformation in your community, in your place of work or profession, in your citizenship? Find them. What talents and creative visions do you bring to the battle? (And it is a battle and you need to develop your spiritual warrior for times like ours.) Be generous. Be courageous. Laugh a lot. Pursue truth. Eschew lies and falsehoods. In short, practice the four paths of creation spirituality—the via positiva (awe and joy and gratitude); the via negativa (silence and also grieving); the via creative (creativity); and the via transformative (justice and compassion and celebration). Ground yourself there and you will have deep roots and you will bend and bow in the winds of the wildness of our days but you will also grow and give back and will not break. I have tried to speak to these issues of surviving in our troubled times in my free dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org. This week for example I am dealing with the issue of evil.~ Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 35 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 74 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship (called The Cosmic Mass). His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. Among his books are The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society; A Way To God: Thomas Merton's Creation Spirituality Journey; Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Times; Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times; Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest; Stations of the Cosmic Christ; Order of the Sacred Earth; and Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Name for God...Including the Unnameable God. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the Bible, Part XVII: Hosea The Prophet Who Changed God's Name to Love Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong December 4, 2008Hosea is probably my favorite of all the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures. His story is so real and so compelling and his expansion of the meaning of God was so closely tied to his personal domestic situation as to make his witness unforgettable. The story line is not always clear in the text, but the facts, as we piece them together from this book, are that Hosea and his wife Gomer had three sons to whom they gave strange names: Jezreel, Not Pitied, and Not My People. There is some suggestion that Hosea had actually married a prostitute, but I think the data is much more substantial that his wife later became a prostitute and ultimately a slave. We know that Hosea purchased her at a slave market for fifteen pieces of silver and restored her to the place of honor in their home as his wife. It was out of this experience that Hosea came to a new understanding of the unbounded love of God. With these few details, which are all that we can glean from the text, I have let my imagination run to come up with the following story through which I can communicate the powerful message of this book. “Tongues must have wagged in Jewish social circles when the staid and respected holy man Hosea married Gomer, the party-loving youngest daughter of the old merchant Diblaim. Gomer was known for her dark and flashing eyes and her dancing feet. The tongue wagging was also driven by the fact that Hosea was an older and settled man while Gomer was much younger, one who loved the pace of the social scene and was thought of as overtly flirtatious. People wondered if such a union would last. Hosea, however, was obviously proud of his beautiful young bride and he vowed to do all he could to make her happy. “At first, things went well. Hosea seemed to find a whole new lease on life as he accompanied his wife to countless events where he basked in her popularity. The social pace, however, did not slacken after a year or so and Hosea began to yearn for the somewhat quieter life he had known before his marriage. Almost inevitably these realities brought tension into the relationship. From time to time Hosea wanted to leave a party sooner than Gomer, so a compromise was arranged by which he departed earlier and she was escorted home later by their friends. That tactic, though dangerous in that society, seemed to work well. When Hosea finally got to the place where he did not want to go out as often, a much more dangerous compromise was instituted. Gomer occasionally went to a party either with her friends or finally alone. Over the years these occasions increased until they became the rule not the exception. An unescorted woman was almost unknown in Jewish society for it left her vulnerable and unprotected. This was especially so when that woman was by nature a sensuous and fun-loving person like Gomer. “Almost inevitably, the fears and suspicions were fulfilled and the night finally came when Gomer did not return home at all. Alarmed, Hosea immediately began to search for her, but to no avail. She vanished without a trace or clue. “While Hosea continued to search for her, Gomer, now unburdened by her more sedate husband, became the favorite plaything of the Jewish jet set. She rode this track until it stretched into years. Hosea, his love for her undiminished, continued to search while Gomer continued to play. Life in the fast lane, however, fades for everyone sooner or later and as the years passed, Gomer was no exception. Yesterday’s favorite plaything can always be replaced with tomorrow’s younger models. Youthful beauty also does not last forever. Even Gomer had begun to notice that “crows’ feet” were appearing around her eyes that cosmetics could not disguise. Next she recognized that she was sagging in places she had never sagged before. Inevitably, she had begun that fateful descent of the femme fatale. Once the favorite plaything of the social pacesetters, she soon had to adjust to being the plaything of anyone who wanted a plaything. When even that activity had run its course, she became a common prostitute, selling what remained of her charms for enough money to survive. Even prostitution, however, is a competitive profession and the day came when those seeking her services were no longer attracted at all. Gomer then descended to the final rung on the social ladder, becoming a slave and offering her labor to the family that owned her in exchange for sustenance. “Through all these downward spiraling years, Hosea kept up his search for the woman he had married and still loved. As the years passed, the search became less frantic, but it was always on his agenda. Hosea knew the ways of his world, so, after some years had passed, he limited his search to the slave markets, which were only places that seemed to be her likely destination. His was a lonely life. He knew not whether his wife was dead or alive. “Then one day it happened. He found a slave market, where the usual riff-raff of society offered loud commentary on the human cargo placed on the block. Hosea moved into the crowd just about the time a woman was placed on the block for public inspection. Her hair was matted, her eyes were bloodshot and her face was lined, revealing the toll that the years had taken. The crowd was delirious in its derision, suggesting by their shouts that no one would be so foolish as to pay anything for this old bag. The slave master tried to ignore them while he sought in vain to secure a purchaser. Their guffaws, however, were not silenced until Hosea, recognizing this woman as his wife Gomer, stepped forward and with a clear and audible voice bid fifteen pieces of silver for her. A momentary stunned silence greeted this bid while the crowd turned to see who had made this incredibly stupid offer. Fifteen pieces of silver was the top price that young, strong male servants would bring. Only someone significantly naïve or totally uninformed could have offered so absurd a price for this battered piece of cargo. The crowd’s abusive shouts now shifted quickly from this pathetic woman, who was little more than a throw-in on another sale, to the strange man who had made such an incredible offer. This bidder had been duped, so they hurled their insults at him, profoundly unaware of the drama being acted out before their eyes. “Taking no notice of their catcalls, Hosea walked forward, paid the offered price, took the woman by the hand and led her past the mocking bystanders until their words faded in the distance. When he reached his home with her, Hosea informed his household that Gomer was not a slave, but his wife and he installed her into the place of honor she had once occupied as the mistress of his household and the center of his affection. “It was following this experience that Hosea began to reflect on his life and on what it meant to be God’s prophet. His relationship with Gomer led him to examine what he perceived to be God’s relationship to the Jewish people. His thoughts about God began to intertwine with his thoughts about Gomer. Just as he loved Gomer regardless of her actions, so he began to understand that this is the nature of God’s love for God’s people. God’s love is not conditional, nor is it tempered by Israel’s actions. This definition of God began to grow in Hosea. The love of God was not an entity to be earned, it was a reality to be entered, something to be lived. His meditation, born in his own pain, paved the way for him to arrive at a new understanding of what divine love really meant. God’s love cannot be earned and God’s love cannot be destroyed no matter what people did. This was the message of Hosea. “Later in Jewish history, this message of Hosea was seen in Jesus of Nazareth. When the gospels were written that understanding of love permeated every verse. Jesus was portrayed as praying for his tormentors and giving his life and love away even as people thought they were taking it from him. The message of Jesus that the gospels sought to convey was very clear: There is nothing you or I can ever do; nothing you or I can ever be that will separate us from the love of God. As I read this small book, Hosea reaches out to love and even to rescue his wife from the consequences of her own decisions, though by the standards of that day, she would have been judged as not worthy of such a response. That was the message of Jesus 800 years later.” Now, let me quickly say that even in this reconstruction of Hosea, we do not know the whole story. A marital relationship is never one sided. In the biblical text, we do not have access to Gomer’s side of the relationship. Hosea may have been an impossibly righteous man. We do know, however, that selfless love is always a doorway into transforming forgiveness, expanded life and perhaps even a larger consciousness. We also know that the idea of God being defined as selfless love brought a whole new dimension to the meaning of worship. After Hosea lived through this experience and found reconciliation, he still had to write his story and someone somewhere had to make the later decision to incorporate that writing into the sacred scriptures of the Jewish people. That is what enabled Hosea’s message to reverberate through the ages. Later generations of people listening to the words of Hosea would begin to hear in them the “word of God.” I treasure Hosea for many reasons. His message is real and it counters the anti-Semitic Christian rhetoric of the ages that suggests that the Old Testament portrays a God of judgment while the New Testament portrays a God of love. Judgment is nowhere as severe in the Bible as it is in the New Testament Book of Revelation, which portrays eternal fire and flaming pits as the eternal fate that God has designed for sinners; and love is nowhere portrayed more profoundly than in the Old Testament Book of Hosea, who turned his personal pain into a new understanding of the limitless love of God. God does not change over the course of time, but the human perception of God is ever changing and in the Book of Hosea a new breakthrough into the meaning of God was achieved.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements John Dominic Crossan: The Challenge of Paul Workshop February 15, 2020 - Tampa, Florida Drawing from his landmark video teaching series, The Challenge of Paul, Dr. Crossan exhibits several teaching segments that illustrate major themes in Paul’s revolutionary vision: Baptism as New Creation, The Romanization of a Radical and Those Who Have Slept. Followed by open discussion and Q&A, there is no cost to attend this workshop, and 100 places are available. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] Fwd: [DailyMeditations] 2/4/20: Moving Beyond Evil: Wisdom from Howard Thurman
by Robertson Work 04 Feb '20

04 Feb '20

I agree with you, Judi. Social media is what you make of it. It can be used to stay in touch with others, and to care for others. ................................................................................................ New book (2020): Serving People & Planet: In Mystery, Love, and Gratitude https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684716160<https://www.amazon.com/Serving-People-Planet-Mystery-Gratitude/dp/1684716160> Previous book (2017): A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546972617 Blog: https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/<https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/><https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsonwork/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/compassionatecivilization/ ________________________________ From: OE <oe-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> on behalf of Judi White via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Tuesday, February 4, 2020 8:15 AM To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Judi White <sophiacircle(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Fwd: [DailyMeditations] 2/4/20: Moving Beyond Evil: Wisdom from Howard Thurman Hi Marianne, Facebook has been a blessing, an opportunity to stay in touch around the world. It is a way to stay in touch and up to date with family especially. The option of "unfollowing friends without "unfriending" is an option. When something shows up which is "evil" I report it by "hiding it" and choosing why. When a friend posts a egative response, I delete it and tell them why via messenger. AND my trump supporting friends do the same to me. Listened to closing arguments, which were all very professional, but Iunderstood how each side could find the other "evil". P.S. Does not keep me from supporting progressive ideals. May your week be filled with sunshine. Judi White On Tue, Feb 4, 2020, 6:31 AM Marianna Bailey via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote: Dear Colleagues, This is one meditation dealing with evil. There are others on the website. I”m concerned about this country and the evil that has been set loose. I’m also re-thinking my participation on Facebook. Do you have any thoughts on that subject? Marianna Bailey Begin forwarded message: From: "Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox" <Team(a)DailyMeditationsWithMatthewFox.Org<mailto:Team@DailyMeditationsWithMatthewFox.Org>> Subject: [DailyMeditations] 2/4/20: Moving Beyond Evil: Wisdom from Howard Thurman Date: February 4, 2020 at 3:32:37 AM EST To: "Marianna Bailey" <wmbailey(a)charter.net<mailto:wmbailey@charter.net>> View this post on our website<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox [https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.imgus11.com/public//c03dabb9b42e894d…] Moving Beyond Evil: Wisdom from Howard Thurman Meditation #268, February 4, 2020 Transforming Evil<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> For two weeks or so—interrupted by several meditations on generosity—we have been meditating on Evil. That is an important meditation for Evil is possible wherever humans gather. Evil is often in the air like a wind that brings chaos with it. It takes self-criticism and criticism of one’s institutions including government and media, religion and the legal world, agriculture and art, to begin to stand up to Evil. Indeed, Evil is smart and loves to attach itself to power places and to do so subtly as long as possible, hiding from plain sight. Evil happens. And it can happen anew with each generation if we are not vigilant. [https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.imgus11.com/public//1db1800e637d2a35…] Self-Reflection of woman in mirror. Photo by Brad Lloyd<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…>on Unsplash<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> The lessons to learn from Hitler and his cult are many. His followers were completely subservient to him. Whatever he said or did or wanted to do was fine with him—he gave the marching orders and his followers cravenly followed. Cowardice reigned—courage went out the door. Fear took over souls and society alike. Resentment reigned. [https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.imgus11.com/public//0945603f05187d0e…] Violent riot police retaliate against protestors. Photo by Spenser<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> on Unsplash<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…>. Hitler’s followers were not just everyday citizens responding to promises of a better life but government officials, judicial pooh bahs, university professors, fellow politicians, media experts, business men and industrialists who abandoned all conscience to participate in his cult. One person described such a movement as a cult of persons “hopelessly addicted to power.” Yes, power was everything so it took precedence over everything else. Truly an idolatrous goings on. Power was god and Hitler cultists worshipped at the feet of the fuhrer who could do no wrong. One fights evil with all that one has at one’s disposal. This includes moral outrage and the energy that accompanies such outrage—the energy to resist and to gather allies and to strategize and to interfere with lies and resentments that are being preached. [https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.imgus11.com/public//c0110cb510ada83c…] Young Adult eco-justice activists protesting on behalf of the planet.Photo by Callum Shaw on Unsplash. We do not want to spend too much time in the room with evil. We do not want to give it all the headlines. Evil is itself narcissistic and wants the spotlight so we want to resist giving it all it wants. [https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.imgus11.com/public//87fd83d61321548b…] Scanned: November 17, 2005 Howard Thurman Dean Thurman @ Marsh Chapel March 6, 1959 Historical. Photo originally posted to Boston University’s School of Theology, Howard Thurman Papers Project<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…>. We want to meditate on—and execute—ways out of evil. We have done this frequently in our Meditations by sharing stories about people and movements who have demonstrated the courage and vision to bring good into the world. Among those people and movements are the mystics. Consider Howard Thurman, for example, who was so instrumental as a visionary behind the civil right movement. Among his profound questions is the following: Precisely what does it mean to experience oneself as a human being? In the first place, it means that the individual must have a sense of kinship to life that transcends and goes beyond the immediate kinship of family or the organized kinship that binds him ethnically or racially or nationally. See Matthew Fox, “Hitler as a Religious Figure,” in Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp.389-398. See Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations, p. 210. Banner Image: Scene from Selma movie, re-enacting the March on Washington. Photo by History in HD<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> on Unsplash<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> ________________________________ [https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.imgus11.com/public//bcb71847ee6bf3a4…]<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> To view Matthew's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view Comments from meditation participants and answers to questions that are posed. In this way a kind of community is developing around the DM. If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his YouTube channel here.<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> ________________________________ Queries for Contemplation Hitler’s movement is often called a cult. Do you recognize in our world today movements that are also cult-like and made up of people “hopelessly addicted to power”? Howard Thurman’s question is a big one and puts struggle into a larger context: What does it mean to experience oneself as a human being? What is a human being? Recommended Reading Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> Fox makes the point that religion has so often oversold the concept of “sin” that it has left us without language or power to combat evil. Through comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. [https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.imgus11.com/public//77b6229435d21587…] Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry. [https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.imgus11.com/public//227432f30987d89c…] ________________________________ Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> to go to our website. ________________________________ Upcoming Events Lecture: The Tao of Thomas Aquinas <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…> - Kensington, CA, Sunday, February 16, 2020 For more of Matthew Fox's events, see his Calendar<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…>. ________________________________ Newly Launched! Global Ministries University and Matthew Fox invite you to rediscover a Sense of the Sacred with the Certificate Program on Leadership and the Creation Spirituality Tradition Learn more HERE<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailymedi…>; for more information, email info(a)globalministriesuniversity.org<mailto:info@globalministriesuniversity.org>. 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