Dear Colleagues, Here's the news from Realistic Living. Gene turned 81 on January 3rd, and is 'back', after overcoming 'a pause' occasioned by recent surgery. Joyce will be 79 on February 19. They founded Realistic Living in 1984, regularly publishing a journal and many books since that time. I much admire there life-time commitments to social activism and recreating Christian practice and theology for the 21st Century. Here in our little village of Sharbot Lake Ontario, Pat and I use Joyce's Ignatian-like solitary on a near daily basis, and weekly we use the format of RL's Christian Resurgence Circle - dance, study and prayer. We are planning our third trip to Bonham for June. Recently, he wrote (with the significant input of four others) The Road From Empire to Eco-Democracy. It is being well reviewed and used as a study book in a variety of contexts. He has just competed a protean work, The Enigma of Consciousness - A Philosophy of Profound Humanness and Religion. Together, these books represent a comprehensive and futuric tour of a new social vehicle and a new religious mode. For me, they provide contemporary screens for discerning where it is that the human community is having, or can have, breakthroughs in creating a new world. As well, they provide an enthralling invitation to deepen ones personal spirit practices and social engagements. The Road can be ordered from Amazon or from: Gene Marshall 3578 N. State Highway 78 Bonham TX 75418 $21 - postage free Gene Marshall <jgmarshall@cableone.net> Enigma can be downloaded free from http://www.RealisticLiving.org/PDF/Enigma/ His latest book is entitled The Love of History and the Future of Christianity - A Manifesto for a Post-Christendom Christianity. Every human community is 'awe-struck'. What is unique and worth forwarding into the future about Christianity? We look forward to its completion. Realistic Living's resources can be found at http://www.realisticliving.org/ Staff member Alan Richard, maintains RL's highly imaginative and spiritually informative Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Realistic-Living/199360680077780 May the spirit of love, trust and freedom enliven us all. Ken Fisher