The
Ultimate Encounter
Peter Whitney at 45, is the son of colleagues Claire
and Ken Whitney, erstwhile of the Order: Ecumenical, the Ecumenical Institute
of Chicago, and the international Institute of Cultural Affairs. He died last week ahead of his parents.
I did not know Peter much save as a young kid when his
parents and I were experimenting together with our being what it meant to be a global responsible persons in the late 20th Century along
the imaginal thoughts of theologs like Bultmann, Tillich, Bonheoffer and the
Niebuhrs, the movemental forces of Christian renewal that followed Vatican II,
as well as the emergence of secular contemplatives following the historic bump
of Thomas Merton and the Dalai Lama.
In the natural response of a father contemplating the incidence of parents presiding over the demise of an offspring, we hit the bottomless abyss
of grief. Though Peter’s 45 would have
just been ripe age in an earlier era (Jesus at 33 was an old man, the average
life expectancy in his time was 33!), he is less than a decade older than my
two eldest daughters who might have met him somewhere in the heyday of my
social (aka, human development) activism. That puts him on the
young side of my ledger.
News of Peter’s death came while we were
listening to Whitney Houston’s One Moment
in Time, a song we appropriated long time ago as ours, with the
one-moment-in-time metaphor now referring to our chosen 86-year journey. We were thinking of using the song to
practice oral English’s listen-repeat sessions.
The diva’s plaintive voice is so much more resonant on this side of her
grave, tragic as her exit was, and it was while listening to her while
describing the wordsmithing “weeping willows along the banks by our polluted school stream
finally full of green tender tears” that we caught our own
teardrops streaming down our cheek.
I am not generally this sentimental, though we noticed
lately that the years seem to trigger the opening of the tear ducts faster than
usual, but our present state of mind was assisted by a mailing we received from
another colleague. Michael May in
Indiana is spending a lot of reflective time on being a story warrior – audiovisually
and literary.
He produced a book from his 35-yr family’s bedtime
rituals as a “story for the time between the myths.” Michael May is a story warrior, and I thought
he might have something I can use in my work of teaching oral English to young
Chinese children and their parents.
So I asked Michael if he can give me a sample of the book
online, not having the wherewithal to get a hardcopy sent to China. He did me one favor better. He sent the book along with a DVD, a
collaborative production of www.storywarrior.net and www.transparentworks.com,
on The Ultimate Encounter, using the relational practice formerly known as
Contemplation as a format.
I did get the chance to review the Children’s Bedtime
Ritual book online, and familiar with the language, some we used with our own
children, there was nothing earthshaking about it save the delight of seeing it
together in one piece with engaging photos.
It was the DVD that pulled the rug from under our feet. The first of a projected decade-long project,
the program promised the use of contemporary clinical language that is clean
and clear, devoid of the heavy poetic metaphors of many traditions. There are no actors or performers. Video images are from ordinary human beings
who have plumbed the depths of their existence to face what ultimately is
described in the language of awe and wonder, of life in ecstasy, destiny and
mystery, and have enough courage to talk about it.
Presented in 12 stations (the Lenten practice of
Stations of the Cross comes to mind, but it is best not to associate the DVD to it since
the demythologizing needed in the RC practice takes more effort before one can
get to its kernel), we discovered the narratives to be painfully unadorned and joyfully direct.
The fact that some of the faces and voices are familiar
forcefully thugs at the heartstring but it is the general message and its
specific parts that got us reminded of the global collegiality that we keep,
not just with fellow wayfarers in the journey that officially ceased in the ritualized
closure of the journey of the Order: Ecumenical, but also with the on-going
parade of prominent historical characters named in Kenneth Boulding’s
“invisible college”, a dynamic of social pioneering present since the Neolithic
period in Brian Stanfield’s reckoning.
The tears that flowed on Peter’s death are both for the grief and joy of
being part of a finite movement with a radically shaken foundation of human
consciousness, and a profound program for sustaining the depth, height, and
breath of its greatness.
May’s Internal Mythos Journeys series shows a
democratization of the secular contemplative practice that he and his
collaborators are promoting, the DVD being just a beginning.
The DVD’s narrator advised us not to take the series
in one sitting. We didn’t but we saw
enough to know that we will be returning to the program again and again.
Can anything good come out of Indiana? The hell, Yes!
j'aime la vie
Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate!
-----Original Message-----
From: Randy Williams <rcwmbw@yahoo.com>
To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>
Cc: Order Ecumenical Community <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Wed, May 8, 2013 10:39 am
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Pope Francis
Marshall, good point. I agree.
Randy
Sent from my iPhone
Instead of complaining about your poor taste in managing to offend a whole lot of sensitive people with one punch line, Jaime, I simply quote Little Richard's original lyrics (according to Wikipedia):
"Tutti Frutti, good booty
If it don't fit, don't force it
You can grease it, make it easy"
This lyric is culturally interesting, but I doubt it would significantly advance global human evolution to distract this listserv with jokes or commentary about these words. We can no longer afford to resort to stereotypes to joke about the imagined sexual activities of any minority groups. Little Richard was both black and gay. So if you have any understanding of how these two groups have suffered historically, you wouldn't resort to humor at their expense. I like watermelon, but I don't make watermelon jokes. Et cetera.
Marshall
From: Jaime R Vergara <svesjaime@aol.com>
To: oe@wedgeblade.net
Sent: Tue, May 7, 2013 5:14:51 PM
Subject: [Oe List ...] Pope Francis
Subject: A Roman Catholic Recognition
Here is the latest from our newly ordained Pope Francis. If you are Catholic, particularly a Filipino Catholic who takes controversial issues to the side of levity, you'll appreciate this.
Pope Francis recently finished his sermon. He
ended it with the Latin phrase, "Tuti Homini" - Blessed be Mankind.
A Woman's Rights Group approached the Pope the next day. They noticed that the Pope blessed all Mankind, but not Womankind.
So the next day, after his sermon, the Pope concluded by saying, "Tuti Homini, et Tuti Femini" - Blessed be Mankind and Womankind.
The day after, a Gay Rights Group approached the Pope. They said that they noticed that he blessed Mankind and Womankind and asked if he could also bless gay people.
The Pope said, "Sure."
The next day the Pope concluded his sermon with, "Tuti Homini, et Tuti Femini, et Tuti Fruiti."
*****
With apologies to those who might receive this as beyond the pale of hilarity.
j'aime la vie
Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate!