[Oe List ...] Synchronicity

[John-Rupert Barnes]

I participated (tho w great reluctance & sorrow )
in the great ceremony in Mexico in 1988 where those
present called the OE out of being. I am also aware,
like Tim & many others, that despite that event the
Order though formally dead still lives in those of us
who still embody the spirit which inspired us on our
journey together.

John-Rupert Barnes


--- Tim Casswell
<timcasswell at creativeconnection.co.uk> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues.
> 
> Some synchronicity.  I was telling my life story to
> a friend this week and
> talked about the Order and how some people had
> called it out of being.  My
> story was that I left the ICA which still exists,
> because it no longer
> engaged me in ways that were meaningful.  The body,
> the Order which no
> longer exists, I decided to continue to be.  I had,
> prior to my decision to
> leave the ICA, proposed radical ideas about
> dispersing from our ICA Offices,
> to Religious Houses in every Area, District, etc. 
> going as ones or twos,
> without power, wihout strategy, without aims and
> targets, without a brand,
> with nothing but presence. Discovering the community
> of the Way that was
> already there.  No reason to be anything do anything
> or tell anything.
> Simply recognising those who are on the way,
> engaging with them, encouraging
> them, eliciting them wherever they may be.  An
> enabling invisible role. One
> without purpose, or mission, or certainty.  Those on
> the way may take
> decisions, steps, and initiatives.  Energy and
> passion is sacred force to be
> cherished and enabled. Not ours to decide where or
> how this energy should be
> directed  all will be accepted.
> 
> I decided that this is what I would be.  I continued
> to wear my order ring.
> I never participated in calling the Order out of
> being. The Order was about
> facilitating spirit and I was a facilitator.
> 
> So this initiative to re-cognise the Order... Will
> we be building a
> tabernacle? Will will be building an institution? I
> am interested and
> intrigued, perhaps we meet again.
> 
> My first question of this new opportunity to be us
> is will we be secular?  I
> find religious poetry increasingly disagreeable and
> not just because Bush,
> Blair and Bin Laden wallow in it.  I listen with
> increasing impatience to
> fundamentalists.  It is enough to put me off if we
> are going to continue to
> be Christian in our mythology. I know ecumenical is
> not a christian word but
> it has become closely associated with it.  The
> congolese cross is not
> christian either, I believe, but it is hard to avoid
> the christian
> connotations.  In fact I am worried by all symbols.
> Even the ring can draw
> attention. In these days of branding we are in
> danger of thinking that we
> belong to something, that we are something. Let us
> have the rigor and
> discipline to explore other poetry.  Let us explore
> and speak in new
> tongues.  In this world of fixed positions and
> certainty, image, mission,
> and corporate style, let us explore not-being,
> not-knowing, not-doing,
> insignificance, invisibility, from this position we
> can perhaps look for
> being,  look for wisdom, look for significance in
> others. I have seen the
> spirit movement and it was verily not us. In a
> strange way we can never be
> the movement, as soon as we become the movement we
> lose the ability to serve
> the movement.  Perhaps the most profound act of our
> spiritual servanthood
> was the decision to call the Order out of being.  Is
> this initiative is a
> nostalgia for our community.  If we satisfy the
> longing within our our old
> network of ourselves we may lose the sense that the
> community is out there
> not in here.  The community of the spirit is there
> if we listen to it, if we
> look for and see it. It is not here on this
> listserve. It is not amongst us
> who were the Order.  But I am a part of this list
> serve and still part of
> this community.  
> 
> Interested in exploring this with you.
> 
> Tim Casswell
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > From: David Dunn <icadunn at igc.org>
> > Reply-To: Order Ecumenical Community
> <oe at wedgeblade.net>
> > Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 02:15:45 -0600
> > To: OE Community <OE at wedgeblade.net>
> > Subject: [Oe List ...] a talking paper on being an
> order of secular religious
> > in 2006
> > 
> >  
> > SURRENDER
> > 
> > As they say, ³sometimes the magic works and
> sometimes it doesn¹t.² As we
> > used to say, sometimes grace strikes and sometimes
> it doesn¹t. I find myself
> > saying, ³The wind has perturbed the waters and I¹m
> ready to pick up my tired
> > pallet and walk.²
> > 
> > Half way through my 64th year, I walked with Jesus
> along the shore of the
> > Sea of Galilee. I have thought about Jesus for
> many years. I have even
> > addressed him in prayer. But I have never spent so
> much as a moment at his
> > side like I did late one afternoon just about two
> months ago.
> > 
> > The occasion for the encounter was a visit with a
> young man who sees me in
> > my new role of spiritual director. I sometimes ask
> him to begin our session
> > with a sort of dialogue prayer. That afternoon,
> after he prayed, I prayed,
> > and then he remained silent just long enough for
> me to have to decide
> > whether I was going to be uncomfortable and
> impatient, or whether I was
> > going to surrender to the moment. I chose
> surrender and found myself walking
> > at Jesus¹ side.
> > 
> > I was startled, deeply moved, and aware that
> something of mysterious
> > significance had just happened. Surrender to the
> moment was a surprising
> > opening to a deep well of Holy Mystery.
> > 
> > My young companion offered his concluding prayer,
> I returned to this world,
> > and we proceeded with our session.
> > 
> > Just for the record, I have also been blessed
> recently to spend time with
> > another fisherman, Thich Nhat Hanh, by way of the
> dharma talks given by
> > Larry Ward with Peggy Rowe, under the aegis of
> David McCleskey and Pat Webb
> > and their Prairie Wind Sangha in Oklahoma City. I
> mention this as a way of
> > acknowledging that I am surrounded by blessings in
> a myriad of forms and a
> > flood of inflections. If Buddhist mindfulness
> practices had been my path, or
> > praying five times a day with a Muslim faith
> community, I would be reporting
> > a walk on another shore with quite another savior
> than the itinerant Jewish
> > holy man of Galilee.
> > 
> > Fast forward.
> > 
> > A couple of weeks ago, Burna and I saw a stunning
> movie, ŒWater,¹ the story
> > by Indian writer and director Deepa Mehta, set in
> pre-independence India. A
> > new law graduate is smitten with a beautiful
> 20-something widow, Kalyani,
> > kept against her will as a prostitute in a
> so-called Œwidows¹ house.¹ She
> > risks imagining her own freedom, he promises to
> spirit her away, and
> > suddenly she discovers that she has unwittingly
> stepped into an impossible
> > situation from which she cannot escape. When she
> surrenders her life,
> > others, including the young lawyer, discover their
> own power to do
> > surprising things with their lives.
> > 
> > One person¹s surrender radically alters other
> persons¹ images of
> > possibility.
> > 
> > What about the spirit journey, the journey to the
> center, the journey to the
> > east, the journey to Ixtlan? What is the nature
> and 
=== message truncated ===>
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