[Dialogue] Report on Realistic Living’s 2011 Training School and Symposium by Ken Fisher

Tue Sep 6 17:33:21 EDT 2011

Report on Realistic Living’s 2011 Training School and Symposium by Ken Fisher

Taking place August 19-24, and led by Gene & Joyce Marshall and Alan Richard, Realistic Living held its annual Training School and Symposium at the Briarwood Lutheran Camp, north of Dallas.  There were twenty of us from three countries.  Five had experience with the Christian Faith and Life Community, five were 30-45 and were relatively new to Realistic Living and the EI heritage, two were completely new, and the rest had experience in the O:E or the Spirit Movement.  Ben Ball and the Reverend Don Sinclair were amazing in their long-time stamina, memory and passion.  My friend Jaime Vergara was there too.  New staff member, Alan Richard is a gem.

For the week, the weather was a sunny, 103°F.  We were surrounded by drought, with hardly a bird, an insect or a squirrel to be seen.  The facilities were modern, spacious and air-conditioned, with a large swimming pool for refreshing afternoon breaks.  For institutional food, it was excellent.

Since leaving the Order in the fall of ’83, this was the first time I felt I was in a social setting that intended to be globally comprehensive and inclusive.

This year’s theme was post-patriarchal religion and Christian practices.  One big dividing line was the difference between being in one’s head and ego - versus being in one’s body, invoking the ever-present awesomeness.

To that end the supporting spirit methods for this week were outstanding and led by Joyce.  As I recall, the mornings began with Buddhist-inspired silences, time for written prayers and sharing, Qi-Gong, a Tai Chi like practice.  For example, during the day sessions were broken up by Inter-Play activities such as three times, dance a part of your day then share it with words (D-Tx3), be operatic and share your experiences with Chinese food, share your sorrow musically using only the syllable ‘oh’, etc., etc.  The fun in this was extraordinary.  There was also circle dancing, awesome singing, (the acoustics were terrific) crazy skits and a fine movie – Antonia’s Line.  Many other spirit methods were also enthusiastically shared.  Imagine performing a dance with one hand!

Pat Webb came and led a meditation, which coincidentally, fell on the second anniversary of the death of her husband, David McCleskey.  And how could we sing without Ellie Stock?

My wife Pat was equally enjoying the fun of all this with me and since returning home have re-started our daily practice using The Practice of Prayer – A 30-Day Solitary Manual.  This begins with 20 minutes of silence and then the writing of a prayer.  Joyce provides a context for each part each day.

For intellectual content, Gene, Joyce and Alan were articulate, passionate and well prepared.  Gene’s review of JWM’s theology was riveting and Joyce’s review of pre-patriarchal and patriarchal religion was most refreshing. So much more must be said and experienced about this.  The expression of monotheism originated in a patriarchal context but is not synonymous with it.  What would we be reading if we use post-patriarchal metaphor and analogy?  What if ‘the sword’ was replaced with ‘the chalice’?  There was no shortage of contemporary examples of sexism.

In Gene’s re-visiting “The Recovery of the Other World” (page 164 of Bending History), I was startled all over with Joe’s originality of thought and expression.  For transparency “You grasp yourself living on one plane … to think of it as holding a match underneath a paper and first seeing little streak come out.”  As Gene said, “This talk is about the new basic metaphor (or Religious Mode) that takes the place of the old two-story metaphor (gods and goddesses, angels and devils) in which Christian scriptures & classical tradition were originally expressed.”  This time, I grasped anew the universality of this for all humanity, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Shintoist, and so on.

Back to Joe, “There is nothing supernatural about the Other World.  It is as ordinary as any mundane activity that I could engage in.  It has to do with and explosion of consciousness that has taken place in our day, in and through which the radicality of humanness became clear as never before in history.  Therefore, I would anticipate that what happens from the disclosure of this Other World to people in our century may be more colossal that those other great moments of history, when this same Other World made its presence powerfully known.  But you must be clear, when you talk about the Other World, that you are dealing with the ordinary secular consciousness of people.”  What a relief and what a challenge!

Realistic Living’s approach to bringing substance to a new religious mode (to undergird a new social vehicle) is the creation of Christian Resurgence Circles.  Within the ‘People of God’ in the tip of the wedge-blade, what can be expressed by the dot that is Christian?

A definition of this is:

A CRC is a small group of women and men who come together to create a new container for the gifts of Christian practice, including: perpetual revolution, saying “yes” to this world & the body, honoring the dishonored, loving the unloved, and cultivating honesty and acceptance.

Through shared leadership without professional clergy roles, we:

·      Provide intimate spirit care for one another

·      Honor and respectfully experiment with methods and practices from a variety of traditions; and

·      Support each other’s efforts to identify realistic ways each of us can respond to the needs of our time.

One of the most lively parts of the Symposium was a demonstration of a Christian Resurgence Circle.  Using leadership roles of ‘guide’, ‘bible’ and ‘study’ and moments for singing and sharing of ones individual life and societal challenges, there was a real sense of vital and caring structure for a small group of people.  There are half a dozen of these CRCs in various states of development.

Lastly there is ‘the book’.  Over the past four years, five members of Realistic Living have given hundreds of hours to the writing of a book entitled, “Road from Empire to Eco-Democracy”.  It is on the verge of finding a Californian publisher.  (I hope the inserted .Pdf is visible.  It won’t show at all if you print this email.)  This book expresses years of conversation and research on the part of the members of Realistic Living.  I would hope all who read this will contribute to its distribution when it is published online and in paperback.

While I have a lively email connection with Gene and Joyce, I was deeply energized to be with them in person.  Pat and I had a truly marvellous time, and, as a consequence, have significantly expanded the context of the mission of our marriage.

Edwin Waters and John Howell.

John 3:16   “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

For the way it is so benevolently loves the earth that the lives of the beloved trusting ones are poured out as gifts to us all.  If we take their trusting example to heart, we shall live in the eternal now.  Joyce

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