[Oe List ...] [Dialogue] A Note From Slicker

Sat Dec 12 07:03:03 CST 2009

This feels like we just received a letter from St. Paul to one of his churches.

Randy

--- On Fri, 12/11/09, Gordon Harper <gharper1 at mindspring.com> wrote:

From: Gordon Harper <gharper1 at mindspring.com>
Subject: [Dialogue] A Note From Slicker
To: "Colleague Dialogue" <dialogue at wedgeblade.net>, "Order Ecumenical Community" <oe at wedgeblade.net>
Date: Friday, December 11, 2009, 9:52 PM

Spoke by phone with Joe today.  He was in high spirits, and we discussed the merits of Gin Gimlets and preferred brands of bourbon.  He told stories about running around in his motorized chair (legs not working any more).   

He's asked me to pass on his greetings and this note to all of us.  He's currently working on a second one as a follow up to it.  I tried sending it as an attachment earlier, but it was apparently too large, so I'm inserting it below --

Gordon

-----------------------------------------

Note 1 to the Order
Dear Colleagues:
The Washington meeting is a wonderful plan and happening. It will be a great celebration of Joe Mathews’ work, without which there would have been no Order as we know it. Also it will be a great celebration of the work of all of us that have continued the journey. Honor each one and every happening that has taken place in our individual and collective lives. Celebrate the sacredness of who you/we are. Take it into your heart with joy and gratitude as you fill full our celebration.
Now as you turn to some planning, drop all the past and turn to what, if I remember correctly, Martin Luther King called, ‘The Fierceness of the Now’. It’s the only habitat of the Spirit, Life itself. There is nowhere else to go or live. It is the empty space of the no-longer and the not-yet. That can be our only home and our base of operations. The Now feeds the not-yet, as it carries out the inner dialogue with the next creative moment.
As we begin to understand that the external world for us is only going to change as we change our inner world. We are here to finally clean-up our lives, our separation from ourselves, others, and the All, sometimes, bit by bit. Perhaps for the first time we live in a time that it is seemingly possible to see our living relationship and obligation to love nature or the Kosmos as a whole? 

As you look to the clash of values and the utter ambiguity of every… every situation we can never claim or justify that we are uninvolved or not responsible. The starving, the dispossessed, the injured, the wronged, and the brain-washing of…all of us… by the material myth of the so called ‘American Dream’ or ‘La Dolce Vita’ or striving for our own benefit at the expense of others. The fact that we can be aware of all this is perhaps our first step into living today in the not-yet of the Now of the radical revolution today.The gift to every human is the Being-Becoming pair of opposites. These opposites are eternally attached, they are inseparable. Recall that the Being side is the formless and can only be approached through stillness, emptiness or nothingness, sheer blank empty space. The Becoming side is form, the external, the everyday life. The form is fed by the formless at every moment, every Now. It is the gift of Eternal Life, of
 being Alive, of filled with the Spirit. And still we forsake our calling to be who we are, our sacredness. The Now, the not-yet is the entrance that explodes this moment. Thus to get to, or change what appears as the external, we have to go through the Now, our Being side. 

Close your eyes and look inward. Watch what is going on…not what you may think is going on. Let go of your thinking and feeling as best you can. Let your body relax. Be still outwardly and inwardly. Watch what is going on; Use Contemplative Prayer or Meditation to observe what is taking place in your inner space. Just stay with it. As you do so you will find that your Stillness increases. Over time this Stillness goes into Emptiness and then things begin to really take off in the subtle dimension of the inner realm. As you approach nothingness the whole inner realm lights up and takes off so to speak. Now you are more able to see the depth of your holding on to separateness and are able to embrace increasing wholeness. Wonder of wonders. Look how life has changed. And you look forward to every new moment, for in each you become more whole.
How does this play out in the external world of form. One that struck me was in John Cock's website where he mentions that Bultmann’s commentary on the Gospel of John came to announce to the world at that time that the Logos was for and within everyone. Another item is from my Mentor’s Mentor wherein he said “When God’s love exploded the universe was created. All creation is but a pulsation of love.” Love is Source…Love is Consciousness…Love is Life. Therefore our true nature is love. We are love, we live love and are fulfilled in love. True Love is all there is. We also hear in the dual commandments revealed in the Axial Age in which Christianity coined, “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, Soul, mind and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.” I often hear in myself and others, “Well, how do I respond? Do I believe certain things, feel certain ways, commit myself or surrender to what is. Try this. No matter what
 comes recreate it in yourself exactly as it is, with gratitude and joy and live out of its fullness with love.
Love has become a whipping post for many in that we usually only know conditioned love. But when we experientially know unconditional love then all sorts of things light up anew. Love is compassion, kindness, forgiveness (no grudges or knee-jerk striking back), patient, long suffering, and non-judgmental. (Each of us can experientially add to this list.) Another simple but profound Axial Age gift is the Golden Rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” 
I will leave now for this is getting too long for transmission. Stay tuned for Part 2 wherein points may be spelled out and external responses developed. But one last remark. Do not let your new wisdom be such that you posses it in a separate way. It, like everything, is a gift of grace. You are no closer or further from Life than everything else. Everyone’s life, as well as all things, is sacred, and every one’s experience is valid for him or her. Each is unique with their particular experiences. Honor all; allow them to be who they are. They are sacred and live out their lives as best they see fit. 
I leave with you with a gift I received from another:
Always remember…
“Love is not a need but an ecstasy.
Neither a mouth thirsting, nor an empty hand outstretched forth.
But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enhanced.”
Quotes are from MC Canon’s, ‘Shoebox.’

Joe Slicker

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