[Springboard] Contextual Recommendations (Second Try)

M. George Walters m.george.walters at verizon.net
Thu Nov 22 10:17:43 EST 2007


Thank you, Joe.

I believe you have given us the framework for our Order Charter-21. What Joy
to be able to start a century together! Cock's reminder regarding
Melchizedek describes all who would be the nobodies of history - the
untraceable influences that alter its course.

George
 
4240 Sandy Shores Dr
Lutz, FL 33558
USA
Tel: 813-948-7267
Mob: 913-505-9041
Fax: 813-948-4167
Em: m.george.walters at verizon.net
 
-----Original Message-----
From: springboard-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:springboard-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Joseph A. Slicker
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 23:11
To: Springboard Dialogue
Subject: [Springboard] Contextual Recommendations (Second Try)

Contextual Recommendations

Junaluska Conference, 2007



            You have me extremely excited about the upcoming Junaluska 
conference:  the fresh visions of possibility, the hoped for results, and 
the excitement and energy generated by all of you.  I wish you well in every

respect.  I cannot attend, but will follow your planning with great 
anticipations.  Listed below are contextual recommendations I humbly and 
respectfully submit to all of you on List Serve.



First.  Celebrate and honor yourself and all you have done and are still 
doing.

            Pick out symbolically a few items to indicate the whole of your 
work, such as the curriculum development that which helped fuel the 
religious and cultural development of the twentieth century; the structural 
renewal and development of society symbolized by Fifth City and Human 
Development Projects around the world; the designing of a life together 
model and rule of disciple and spiritual practices that was a practical and 
symbolic cohesive of common life together across racial, sexual orientation 
and religious and cultural boundaries; and the designing and implementing of

a global spirit movement across the globe.  (Maybe you could squeeze in 
"Life is a Cabaret' happenings we had several times.)

            Celebrate and honor those who nurtured you and guided you 
throughout, your colleagues and fellow travelers who from time to time aided

as well as discouraged you, and all those who have harmed you and those who 
you have harmed you in the past, for without all of these experiences you 
would not be the greatness that you are.



Second.  Now take a deep breath.  Forget it all. Drop it.  It is all vanity 
of vanities. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  When we face the 
incomprehensible mystery there is nothing to hang on to.  All our great 
deeds, services, thoughts, creeds, beliefs, hopes and dreams are emptiness, 
nothingness.......... But miracle of miracles we are free to accept 
ourselves as we are, and the world as it is.  Thus we are free let go of the

forms of the past to face the future.  It is wide open, no guilt or strings 
tied to it.  It is all Good.

            The heart of planning is to start at the same point.  You are 
dumb-founded.  You have been struck deaf, dumb, and blind before the 
incomprehensible mystery to which one can only point to as emptiness, 
stillness, silence.  Our only response to such a strike, which we later 
called Grace, is accepting our acceptance.

            Wonder of wonders, this nothingness, this emptiness is the 
originating point of all form.  In letting go of all the past and facing the

future we see the bursting into becoming the form of the whole universe in 
all its majesty, it aliveness and vibrancy. It is all good, we are free. 
!!Halleluiah!!

            Thus planning is a time of singing, dancing, enjoying ourselves 
and our task.  Junaluska can be a 'lark', a time of great fun and awe.

            The 21st Century is as different from the Twentieth as it was 
from the Nineteenth if not greatly more so.  If we try to pour new wine of 
21st Century articulation of the gospel and radical renewal into the wine 
skins of the Twentieth we are playing to the past.  The world we live in 
today, the world the Incomprehensible Mystery has given us, is as it is, 
like it or not.  It is here and now where we stand, live and respond with 
articulation and forms that must meet the deep longings of the heart as well

of deep skepticism of anything that doesn't meet the reality of the world 
that people innately know they live in.



Third:  Tools for response.  (Not beliefs, ideologies, etc. to agree with or

not, but model building tools that enable a genuine response in the 21st 
Century.)

            Ours is a time of radical revolution of consciousness.  You can 
see it everywhere in every discipline and all walks of life.  Never in 
history has such acceleration taken place.  Many have picked upon this and 
have used tools of the great traditions to announce that an apex in this 
revolution will take place in year 2012.  Of course perversions also occur 
such as the rapture of the second coming.  Such perversions are seen in many

publications such as "Left Behind" etc.  I am not referring to any of these,

but want to point to the revolution of transcendent spirit in each of us and

the awareness of such an accelerating taking place.  What the response of 
the world's activities will be is exciting, however, and I look forward to 
watching the proposed culmination in the next six years.

            Now back to the revolution of the transcendent spirit.  All of 
us are familiar with this when we experienced the Christ happening grounded 
in accepting our acceptance.  It catalyzed us out of the old being into the 
new.  This is a once and for all happening, but takes place over and over 
again.  In other words, transcendence takes place again and again.  As this 
accelerates we began to be aware that every moment is a new transcendence, a

new beginning.  (This sometimes was called the Second Coming.  In other 
words the second coming is always taking place again and again in very 
moment. We saw a new expressions of this in the early 20th century 
theologians who named the second coming as "realized eschatology").

            Traditionally this awareness of the progression of transcendence

was named 'body, mind and spirit', and sometimes expressed as body, mind, 
soul and spirit.  Each of these has subdivisions.  Expanding it to body, 
mind, subtle, casual, spirit makes it is easier to see the arising of the 
tool of awareness or witnessing consciousness at the Subtle level as well as

giving us tools for understanding the Casual and Extra Casual level.  Most 
of us are at the subtle level if not beyond.  We began to be aware of our 
awareness, conscious of our consciousness.  We began to see reality as inner

and outer, subjective and objective.  Worldview wise we are pluralistic and 
globally oriented.

            Please note the two attached 'PDF' depicting the stages of this 
awareness.  The first is "Figure 14. Some Major Development Lines" in the 
book by Ken Wilber entitled, The Integral Vision.  Kindly note the far right

division of Tiers.  The second to note is the upper left quadrant on inside 
of the back page titled "The Four Quadrant in Human Beings" from a booklet 
"Introducing The AQAL Framework" A guide to integral Theory and Practice" by

Ken Wilber.  I would say most of us already are at the jumping off point 
from the 'First Tier' to the 'Second Tier' in our awareness or have already 
taken the leap.  Or again, we are at a point where continued transcendence 
of awareness can take place each moment, as our consciousness expands unto 
uncharted territory of evolutionary wholeness.  Another way of articulating 
it is that we have moved toward being the Christ happening constantly.

            As mentioned, we are in a time of radical revolution of 
consciousness. The following are three organizations who are or at the edge 
of articulating this revolution.  There are, of course, many more that are 
worthy to be included.  Each of these three offer weekly online presentation

of edge materials, and offer additional publications of various varieties 
for a starter of $10.00 per month.

1.  Integral Institute, 11701 East 53rd Ave., Denver, CO 80239; Telep. 
866-663-9456; email,  www.integralinstitute.org.  Highlight: Monday morning 
½ hour dialogue with Ken Wilber or staff and some cutting edge figure. 
Publications, online teleseminars and CD's are available.

2.  EnlightmentNext and its premier quarterly publication "What Is 
Enlightenment?" (WIE), PO Box 9010 Maple Shade, NJ 08052-9710; Telep. 
800-376-3210; email, www.wie.org.  This publication takes some major issue 
and comes at it from many different perspectives.  Also, there are many 
weekly email specialties.

3.  Institute of Noetic Sciences, 101 San Antonio Rd., Petaluma, CA 9952; 
Telep. 877-769-4667, and its 'Shift in Action', www.shiftinaction.com.  An 
annual report summarizing major 'shifts' in evolutionary thought and action;

weekly emails offering online teleseminars and complementary gifts of books 
and CDs.

            I think the following two books can give much needed contextual 
orientation for planning.  The first is "Big Mind - Big Heart:  Finding your

Way" by Zen Master Denis Genpo Merzel.  Genpo Roshi had an awakening 1971 
within the Zen tradition.  He went on to become a Zen Master.  He could see 
that Zen was a way to access this awareness.  The traditional training just 
seemed to take forever, and yet Zen is known as the 'Sudden School' of 
Buddhism.  He said that there had to be a direct and sudden way to awaken 
this Big Mind which is to finally realize who we truly are.  Then around the

turn of the century he had a series of breakthroughs that achieved the goals

of his long journey.  This book is the culmination of that journey.

            I greatly sympathize with him.  I began meditation in 1979. 
Although it was a hit & miss type of journey I stayed with it off and on, 
but it was not until the last 10 years that I have been able to accomplish 
what he has laid out.   Today such a journey is available right now.  This 
is clearly laid out the CD accompanying the book in his taking a person who 
has not had formal training by going through the process in a sort length of

time to arrive at Big Mind.

            Go through the book with first priority of experientially going 
through the process.  Intellectual awareness will accompany this.  If you 
just sit down to read it without the former then you are in danger of what 
is derogatorily regarded as the cit chat of intellectual enlightenment. 
Going through this process my be supplemented by the getting the DVD or 
going to a three day seminar.

            This leaves almost every one without excuse to dwell behind in 
the evolution in consciousness today.  If a person is already at the Big 
Mind level, however he got there, that is fine.  No need to be the elder 
brother.  Be glad for a fellow traveler.

            The second book is "Integral Vision" by Ken Wilber.  This small 
book is packed with integral wisdom.  Don't let its thoroughness overwhelm 
you.  Go at it slowly and get the big picture as you would any book.  Read 
it over and over.  Wilber's thesis is inclusiveness for all data and its 
evolution.  He continually says 'transcend and include'.  Everything has a 
role or place.  Notice the relation of religion to spiritual.  You will find

it exciting.

            Ours is a time of a postmodern world, a self-conscious global 
world, and an information revolution that results in ambiguity even in the 
smallest of contextual decisions.  In what way do we observe, judge, 
weigh-up and decide today?  This is an almost overwhelming task.  This book 
can be a great help in seeing what to consider in charting new roadmaps and 
plans for uncharted fields.



            The last tool for planning is deciding on where and how to make 
stands, draw a line in the sand, or throw down the gauntlet so to speak. 
Here is a beginning attempt:

            a.  Honor all people where they are and who they are.  This is 
true no matter how despicable their actions may seem.  This would include 
the worst of enemies, terrorists or political figures.  In other words, 
honor the person not necessarily their actions.  Love your enemies.

            b.  Honor all forms of creation and the interrelatedness of all 
life.

            c.  Honor all races, sexes, cultural and political forms of 
social life.

            d.  Stand with and support the harmed, disadvantaged, poor, 
lonely, uneducated, etc.

            e.  Oppose all forms of injustice and oppression.

            f.  Oppose all forms of fundamentalism: biblical, cultural, 
intellectual .any type of -ism.

            g.  Oppose biblical literalism.  Scriptures are not about 
historical facts, but how to respond to the mysteries and ambiguities of 
life.  Treat them as art forms.

            h.  Oppose anything that demeans life no matter how small. 
(Illustration. One time in the Order days I was taking to woman colleague 
about her work.  She interrupted me and said, "Don't speak to me in that 
tone of voice."  I was bowled over. I didn't even realize what I was doing.)

Say 'No!' to 'put downs' whether verbal, facial expressions or other body 
language.  When you cuss people out for what they are doing, watch that you 
don't demean them as a person.  (You may for other purposes not say anything

if you are attacked or left out.)



            Lastly keep your eye on the goal.  You are moving from the first

to second tier and into the third tier in your continuous transformation of 
consciousness.   This is an explosion into new awareness of love that the 
incomprehensible mystery has for all its creation.  (The genius of Genpo 
Roshi's book is his movement from the Big Mind to the Big Heart.  Many older

expressions end at the point of the Big Mind.) You see Love now continuously

in everything that is happening.  Transformation is not dry theology or 
attempts of articulating or acting, but awareness of being loved in every 
aspect of life and death that creation gives to you.  This is the 'New 
Heaven'.  Your response in being that awareness is the building of the 'New 
Earth'.        (There is a fine 1 min. Video in Shift where Marianne 
Williamson articulates that only 11% of society is needed for such change to

take effect.)




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