INTERFAITH - MOVING THE BOULDER
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From: Bruce S.
Date: Friday, August 4, 2006, 7:20 PM
Subject: Interfaith - moving the boulder
Reply to: 256096
ID: 253671

Well -- there is so much to say. Maybe there is a spirit of urgency abroad in the land. I feel that injury in the Mideast, and I feel compelled to act. So, even if it is "too many messages" -- maybe this one has to be sent "anyway".

*

I work in the "interfaith" movement -- so these questions that have been coming up here -- about how we relate a "progressive Christianity" (or even a "resonant Christianity", or a completely inclusive universalism) to something more traditional, or even "Fundamentalist" -- is an old and familiar issue for me -- something I have thought about for years...

In the past few days, I have been very active on the networks of the "United Religions Initiative" (http://uri.org). I have known those people for almost ten years now, and today, with this crisis in the Mideast, they are struggling a bit. They bring together so many passionate voices, from so many places. And their network, their organization -- is somewhat like the women's movement -- in that it is organized through "Circles".

They call their local groups "Cooperation Circles". And the URI has something like 250 Cooperation Circles ("CCs") around the world.

And they, too, it seems to me -- need to learn and teach this fine art -- of "the law of the circle" -- the law of love and trust and resonance that emerges from the center of the circle when it is guarded in sacred integrity. And I think they are struggling for similar reasons: how can anybody in leadership "impose a particular view on such a diverse group." This issue alone -- tends to freeze their voice. How can they act as a collective spiritual and moral force -- when they have Israelis and Palestinians and Lebanese in their network -- each one with a personal story of blood and injury and outrage?

So, we are in a process of collective discovery. We must "honor diversity". And we must find a way to be empowered in the spirit.

We have to do both of these things. And for me, as these things are appearing today -- this "law of the circle" seems to open the way forward. We are finding answers -- we are finding a way forward, that builds bridges over these ancient divisions -- that gives us a way to find a common voice, even if we are so very different in so many other ways....

So, today, one of the first things I did this morning -- was send a long message to a URI discussion group, quoting from Martin Luther King in 1967, as he addressed the activist group "Clergy and Laity Concerned" at the Riverside church in New York. And his theme -- was "A Time to Break Silence".

Sometimes, finding our voice in a collective and diverse context can be very difficult. We simply don't see a way to pull our minds together into a common resolve.

But the situation then, and the situation today -- demands a kind of "breakthrough". We simply must do better, we must find a way. And something within us -- gives us a way to do that. We find a way -- and it seems that way is guided by love. If we can make that leap of faith -- across this chasm of diversity -- we can find friends, very unlike ourselves in some ways, and very deeply bonded to us in others. We have to open the way to that bonding....

So, here is a message that I wrote today, exploring how it is that this religious and politically diverse international group could seek and find a common voice, and a common empowerment.

Actually -- I think it's going to work. And to tell you the truth -- I'd say GTW and PeaceXPeace are hand in hand with the URI...

Margie Coles is in the URI, an interfaith leader in the Seattle area, and she created a petition regarding things in the Mideast. So, I signed that petition, and sent it back to her.

And PS, White Feather -- your comments are SO appropriate....

*****

As I said to Margie -- "I can feel something"

Could it be real? There is this sense -- that maybe something is moving -- starting to move....

(??)

It's like this huge boulder, that is so heavy. And all of us are standing around it, with poles and sticks and shovels -- and we're trying to get it to move. And we're sweating, and the poles break, and the sun is too hot, and flies are buzzing, and people keep thinking of new ideas...

And then suddenly -- something happens -- wow! Did it move???

A look of joy and amazement goes around the circle.....

Maybe it's only an inch. Maybe it fell right back where it was. But hey -- We Did That! Us!

Hmm. Let's catch our breath, have a little lunch, find a few bigger poles, maybe dig out a little dirt over there -- and we'll do this again....

*

I can hardly believe this, and Who Knows, and You Never Can Tell --

but when I get on my knees, and I ask God what is next

what happens for me is

I get this picture of a circle

This circle that surrounds me

and contains me

and -- has so many smiling faces

faces from everywhere

innocent and hopeful friends, from everywhere -- of every age group, and every skill and background and language and dream and culture

and all of these people are saying

hey

we can do this. We can make this work.

We can move this boulder.

We can put it anywhere we want.

Do we want a happy planet? Do we want to fix some of this stuff? Do we want to be friends? Do we want to be talking to each other? Do we want to be listening?

Wouldn't that be a lot of fun? Wouldn't it be really interesting??

Couldn't we do that??

Hmm. Maybe -- we CAN do that....

Let's give this a little thought. Thanks to those beautiful ladies who are serving that delicious lemonade, and those guys who dragged over some chairs and some big umbrellas...

Don't we have a heck of a lot of smart and nice people on this planet? Don't we have a ton of ways to be talking to each other these days? I mean -- like an AMAZING number of ways?

The answer is yes -- we do.

So -- how about -- we start calling everybody up -- and starting hooking all of this stuff together....

Shouldn't we be talking?

Shouldn't we be in a big circle?

Shouldn't we be figuring this out, and coming up with creative solutions that work for everybody?

Can't we start healing these injuries? And stop creating new ones?

Of course we can...

*

So, maybe this petition will move the boulder 1/2 of an inch. And maybe the "fast" that Barbara H and some others are talking about will move it along a little bit.

And maybe -- we'll all start throwing these really interesting creative ideas into the center of our expanding circle -- and we'll start coming up with all these neat things we can do...

And our friends will show up, and they will have ideas too.

And we'll all look around, and we'll say -- hey, we are all in the URI -- and we really love everybody here. You are all so beautiful, and it is so wonderful that you got here, that you showed up, that you joined a CC, that you expressed your voice and your opinion and your love...

And the energy of trust will flash around that circle. And everybody will say -- wow! This works! We can do this....

All we have to do -- is listen to each other. That makes us -- a big pool of incredible God-energy -- that can fix anything....

You got a part, and she's got a part, and he's got a part, and I've got a part...

That's a lot of stuff...

And it's barely the beginning. This is a real friendly place, and everybody wants to be here, and everybody has something to bring...

We start thinking like this -- we can put that boulder anywhere we want, and when we get tired of moving boulders, we will build schools and hospitals and art museums and institutes of dance and have poetry contests and spelling bees and picnics on the grass....

------ On 8/4/06, White Feather wrote ------

Dear Bruce,

Yes...Yes...Yes...

I share your vision of GTW being a circle. It will be most helpful to all to approach it as such. All circles are Sacred Space.

One lesson my teacher gave me, that was the hardest to accept , was this...

If I want to be whole and truly free, I must see all humanity as standing within one great circle of light. If I notice anyone standing "outside", I must reach out and draw them in. They may resist and even refuse to step in to that sacred hoop of golden light. Their choice is not my business. What is my most urgent concern, is that "I Do Not Exclude Them". We can lovingly hold everyone in that light until they are ready to receive the gift. To hold them in the light is not a distancing act. We hold them in the very heart center of our being. We surrender all that we might have invested in remaining separate. Self and Other are One. This is not an annihilation of the individual...it is a realization of our depth and majesty.

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