May, 2001 Volume XXI, Number 5
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We will hold our Day of recollection on Saturday, May 19th from 10 AM to 3 PM. Our meeting place will be Ann and Michael’s farm, as Paschal may be out of town that weekend. I have attached directions and a map on the back page. Our theme for the day will be “Experiencing the Beauty of Nature”. At our meeting on Earth Day in April, we all noted that being in the natural world has a profound effect on us. It allows us to connect to the Mystery beyond ourselves in ways that we are not ordinarily able to explore. The human world often limits our access; we close down in response to too much noise, hurry, or commercialism. In the same way that a church offers sanctuary and respite, an invitation to be open and reconnect to our spiritual base, so too the natural world can offer us an entrance to inner quietude and resonance with the flow of the universe. We will share readings, a drumming circle, and a walk. As always, lunch is potluck, weather permitting we may have a fire outside to roast marshmallows. Please be aware that we live in the countryside, so dress appropriately, e.g. shoes are much better than sandals, when walking in the woods as they protect one from briars and poison ivy.
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The Jesus Seminar discussion group held their regular Saturday meeting at Paschal’s home. They will be meeting on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. We have an open invitation to join in the discussions of this ongoing group.
The discussion centered on questions concerning the fourth chapter of the book The Gospel of Jesus. This book is primarily a compilation of the scripture in the Gospels that received a red or pink rating by the seminar, indicating that it was very likely that the material came from the ministry of Jesus rather than later editors. The order in which it is presented is stated as that of the present editors and they invite the readers to think about alternative sequences and headings. The fourth chapter deals with scripture that the editors titled “Teaching with Authority”, and “Reversal of Expectations”.
We talked about the setting of Jesus’ teaching. It most probably took place in a laypersons’ assembly and was outside the sanctioned Temple religion in Jerusalem. This is often the way that change enters into a system where the structure itself has become part of the problem. Grassroots groups began to step in to fill needs that are left unmet by a larger system, and to challenge the paradigm that binds us together. The group saw parallels to the present development of small groups meeting apart from the organized Church to address aspects of spirituality that are either untouched by or counter to the prevailing system. It was noted that twelve step groups often help when organized religion does not. It was also noted that material from the Jesus Seminar is often deemed too controversial to review in many churches, by the minister, the congregation, or both.
The scripture says that Jesus taught with authority. We considered how that authority differed from that of the ‘scholars’; that it was in some way based on personal experience rather than position or intellectual acuity. It was noted that those who experience religious calling are often held in high regard by others, in part because they validate an experience of God that is not common. The experience of spiritual connection is one many would like to have.
The discussion of the section on the reversal of expectations included two aphorisms and two companion parables. Each was free of its editorial interpretations, letting the reader ask his own questions. We discussed the way in which the parables were social commentary, critical of the status quo in which the poor are powerless in an oppressive system that emphasizes the arrogance of ownership. The two parables look at capitalism and the agricultural labor situation. Were they presented to raise awareness and move listeners to change both their personal viewpoints and how they lived their lives? We will probably never know, but looking at this core material from many different directions, especially unorthodox ones, enhances one’s appreciation of its depth. This dialog may also vitalize our own spiritual process.
The discussion was lively, full of personal experience and sharing, as well as a willingness to look at scripture from a varied and different point of view. No one felt that there was one correct answer or interpretation to the puzzles inherent in these teachings. In this context the scripture acts more like a seed, growing into a wholesome plant as we tend it with our attention. Or, perhaps, in Eastern metaphor, the scripture is like a Zen koan that we use in our meditations to produce a change in consciousness. A.S.
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Ken Wilber is the premier philosopher today of spirit and its relation to all the diverse fields of knowledge and experience that make up our reality. The following excerpt is the concluding message of his grand opus: Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, which I strongly recommend to all seekers of truth. For more from/about Ken Wilber, go to www.shambala.com/wilber.
M.K.
From Lexington, take I-64 East to the Mountain Parkway. Turn on the Mountain Parkway. Take Exit 16, (the first one), turn left off the ramp and then right at the stop light on Highway 82. Traveling toward Irvine on HW 82, you will tee with HW 89. There is a blinking light, turn left on to HW 89. Go one and a half miles to HW 794, turn left. Go ¼ mile to the top of the hill. Turn left onto the road. There is a large Camp Burnamwood sign. This is a single lane paved road. Go ½ mile and turn left on the only gravel road. If you pass it you will wind up at the camp, turn around and come back, you can see an old house at that turn coming from the camp. Once you are on this gravel road, (called Sugarloaf Lane), you follow it on back, across the creek, through the gate and up the hill. The road ends at our house.