I spent what for me were an amazing two days in
I am finding a yearning to tell our story and bring some of
it forward. More particularly I miss working with people who were formed out of
the same fire as I was. I work with activists, truly “Those Who Care,”
but something is missing for me. It’s primarily an interior aspect—that
“die on the march” aspect, that “live the mystery”
aspect, that “the past is approved and the future is open (to be created)”
aspect, that “we can get anything down that is necessary” aspect,
that “we can drop everything and focus . . . and sacrifice” aspect,”
that “we can leave all our possessions behind” if need be aspect.
One could argue that the Marines also create this kind of
interior steel and discipline, but it is different. (Actually the Marines might
excel in honor of country and even willingness to die, but it is still
different.)
I have only experienced this in the Order. I know this has
made me much of what I am and I have a yearning to pass it on to others,
especially as I realize my own age, 67, and see so many colleagues passing
away.
So while a part of me thinks its silly for grownups to be
filing all the town meeting 76 event folders (and all the work that goes into
that), another part of me also claws back to recover that past . . . for the
future.
What we were as the Order has passed away (I mean in terms
of being able to re-create it as it was again), and all of those magnificent
moments and events we created have passed away. Yet there is an echo in the
hallway that will not stop.
I will go into this more later, but what past it is that I
want to pass on is difficult to grasp. Is it the Order, RSI, EI,
The “we” I am talking about is those of us who
carry a memory back of 50-55 years (other may have a different time span) when
it seems to me the really creative breakthroughs occurred. I’m at the
younger end of those who experienced that as adults (I was 21 when I joined the
Order in 1967). Now some may have joined in 1972 or later and still have “gotten
it,” but what I am talking about is something that was gotten or it was
not, back then.
So we are a dying cohort and the question has arisen for me
whether there is something we still need to do together? My answer is I think
that if there is something that we still need to do together it is to transmit
that legacy as a living legacy for present and future generations. Part of this
is transmitting facts, part the interior narrative, but most of all it is
transmitting the timeless spiritual reality we came to know and which has
shaped our lives but this is not easy because it is not a simple thing. It’s
much more than just coming out of an RS-1, or any other short even, inspired
I had many important moments of understanding this past week
in Chicago and felt tremendous gratitude for what Marge Philbrook and colleagues
have done on the archives, and for the work Jack has done in thinking through
how this can be a living legacy. I
In brief Jack and those who workshopped with him, realized
that its not just a matter of preserving the past by putting facts in file
cabinets and waiting for someone to want it, but it is giving people a way of
understanding what’s in the collection (Jack uses the term “curation”
like a museum curator) and applying that material to the cutting edge issues of
our time. What I especially appreciated though was the attached chart in three
formats, because it gave me a way to grasp the entirety of what it is that we
were/are/may need in some fashion to pass on.
In a certain sense the attached chart overwhelms me because
I thought there were a few key things like “contextual ethics” and
the RS-1 dynamic and a few other things that might “really need to be”
passed on . . . just a few key things. But now I see it was “all of it”—a
giant spiritual event and happening that unfolded over many years and took many
forms all of which were a single event. To recreate this would require
thousands of people in summer assemblies and a new order and that is not going
to happen. Yet I think there is something we can do and need to do and which no
one else can do.
So, in conclusion, I believe there is something we still
need to do together and that is to pass on a living legacy. By distinguishing
legacy from living legacy I meant this: “Legacy” is preserving the
past for its own sake. “Living legacy” is recovering the past so
that it might continue to transform the future.
The attached Accessions chart is just a beginning. I know
that Jack would like to receive your suggestions.
More soon,
Herman
_____________________________________________
Herman Greene
919-929-4116 (h)
919-624-0579 (c)
919-942-4358 (f)
Skype: hgreene-nc