[Springboard] Preparation for next Springboard

[marykdsouza at vsnl.com]

Joe,

I agree with you that the greatest gift the Order Ecumenical had was to give us spiritual sensitivity and aliveness and created within us an integrity about the world.  I also agree with you that we are on a totally new terrain.

I have enjoyed Tolle's books and I am watching the Oprah show.  The discipline of staying present to the moment is what I am practically working on.

Thank ou for your note.

My love to you and Anne.
Mary D'Souza



----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph A. Slicker" <joseph.slicker at gmail.com>
Date: Monday, April 7, 2008 7:47 am
Subject: [Springboard] Preparation for next Springboard
To: Springboard Dialogue <springboard at wedgeblade.net>

> Dear Colleagues:
>    We have a wonderful heritage.  Without the 20th Contrary 
> theologians like Bultmann, Tillich, the two Niebuhrs, and 
> Bonhoeffer with their context along with Joe Mathews and others we 
> would not in all probably be spiritually alive today.  We should 
> celebrate their gifts and keep them stored in our memories for 
> periodic checking if and when needed.
>    However, that is not the edge today and constant hovering over 
> them keep us from expending our energy on today's edge.  The 20th 
> Century is gone.  Its enclosure is 'old wine skins'.  Our zooming 
> technology, zeitgeist of modernism-post modernism, and increasing 
> awareness of a 'one-like Gaia', in all of which we and our society 
> swim---however you want to describe it--- is here and now. It is 
> also here to celebrate and self-consciously live in.  
>    We have to get ourselves into the 21st Century to devise our 
> theology, our kerygma, practical applications and solitudes.  It 
> is in this context that I humbly and respectfully urge us to 
> continue to prepare for this by taking two very necessary baby 
> steps.  
> 
>    1.  Each of us begin immediately, and get our house church, 
> guild, sanga, or whoever else you run with, to participate in the 
> Monday night Oprah website presentation of "A New Earth Online 
> Class"  It is a study of Eckhart Tolle's book, "A New Earth: 
> Awakening to Your Life's Purpose."  It is a real gem.  
>    Tolle's book presents nothing but highest spiritual value, and 
> the dialogue of the program is all about authentic being.  I found 
> it overcame the 'Greek' in me that thought it was to mundane or 
> 'foolishness' for me to participate, or the 'Jew' in me which 
> found it a 'stumbling block' to my culture, or sloppy thinking, 
> theologizing or wanting to reduce it to an intellectual argument.  
> Incidentally, Tolle claims no specific heritage, but certainly is 
> privy to the great tradition of both the East and West.
>    Oprah is no slouch herself.  She should be acknowledged for 
> taking a stand for authenticity of being in herself, but should 
> also be acknowledged for taking the same stand for her audience.  
> She guides the dialogue of the program as MC.  Sometimes she 
> answers with her own history and wisdom which always seems to be 
> on target, or clarifies the conversation as Tolle answers the 
> incoming questions.
>    I had read the book in 2005 when it first came out.  I was so 
> struck with it that I sent each member of my family a copy.  In 
> addition, my sister and I had extended conversations on sections 
> of it.  So I was originally reluctant to participate in the 
> program--hadn't I read it already.  How wrong I was.  I follow the 
> dialogue as it goes on, and get caught up in it.  I see myself in 
> each person even though my external situation is different.  My 
> interior awareness is in the dialogue and requires me to respond 
> to the choice that is in question. 
>    The program is on www.oprah.com on Monday nights at 8 PM 
> central time.  There are several questions each week to help our 
> study for the follow week.  It also has exercises for each 
> session.  If you miss a program they are available in video, 
> audio, and transcript, or can be downloaded to your ipod for 
> ongoing use.  There were more than 11 million participants at the 
> end of session three.  It grows in number each session. 
>    Join the online show for its next program, April 7, 2008, 
> beginning the last five chapters of the book.  If you aren't able 
> to get your group together now, then start the process of their 
> deciding to act and get whatever past lessons necessary for their 
> ability to continue the dialogue.  Then setup how this or 
> something like this can be utilized or recreated in the future.
> 
>    2. The Tolle dialogue is an outstanding, but just one of many 
> types of examples of the consciousness revolution that is going on 
> today.  Don't underestimate this revolution.  It hasn't happened 
> in this magnitude in written history before.  It includes both the 
> spiritual and material, intellectual and practical life.  We all 
> can see the externals such as awareness of global interaction, 
> technology expansion that include the internet and cell phones. 
> Small groups can spring up and talk to each other everywhere.  New 
> possibilities have expanded beyond imagination.  On the other 
> hand, the world seems in many respects to have gone crazy.  Hate, 
> and hate and denial groups, expand and destroy peoples' bodies, 
> their hopes and dreams.  
>    What is going on that allows people to become aware of 
> transcendence beyond our immediate hopes and dreams?  Enter the 
> Consciousness Revolution.  I think it is imperative that those who 
> are aware of this transcendence read the recent book, "2012".  My 
> initial reaction was, Naw!  I don't want to get caught up in such 
> mythologies that some groups use as a vehicle for their use of 
> distorted eschatology to fuel their hatred.  Again, I was so 
> wrong.  The book 2012 describes the signs of the consciousness 
> revolution today.  It explains how many great traditions held both 
> the spiritual and material together as they expand toward 
> gathering fullness.  The greatness is that they see how nature---
> the earth---the galaxy---are part of the spiritual/material in the 
> revolution's movement to an apex.
>    The book is made up of series of essays of around 25 different 
> people and many traditions. Thumb through and get a picture of the 
> whole.  Read the first few chapters and then jump to the last one, 
> and then go through and read as your interest guides your 
> selection.  You won't be disappointed.  And remember this is just 
> a tip of the iceberg of this revolution.  Every discipline is 
> breaking loose in some dimension.  It's seeing that whatever you 
> touch is like a fountain bursting loose in its flow.  Enjoy it all.
> 
>                                                                   
>  Joe Slicker
>                                                                   
>  April 2008