Category Archives: Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant.

Faith and Spirituality, Humanities, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Third Phase

Follow the Light

March 24, 2014 Charles Leave a comment

Spring Hare Moon

We’re at the mid-point of the workshops, currently in the depth context focus. This was the one that stimulated my desire to attend a journal workshop again. My spiritual life, meditation in particular, but also working with images and dreams had gotten shoved aside as I cranked up the creative side of my life.

This was not a conscious act, just a gradual slipping away, until I had become unaware of its absence. Odd to think of it that way, but it’s what happened. Progoff has a method called process meditation and that’s the focus of the depth context workshop, learning how to engage dreams, imagery and other key sources of meaning in your life.

A mantra developed in my first journal workshop in 1981, I have used ever since. That’s 33 years. Process meditation works and more than met my needs when I engaged it regularly, but, like any discipline, it requires attention and I’ve let mine slip.

The workshop is both reinforcing and its own complete journey. I’m working with an incredible experience I had while in college. Some of you know about it.

I had just finished a class in metaphysics. When I opened the door of the humanities building and began to step out into the quad, a visceral feeling gripped me and I became all interior. My interior in turn became all light rushing out in all directions and receiving light in from all directions. For a brief moment I had a physical experience of my relatedness to everything in the universe.

Then it was over and the sunny fall morning in Muncie, Indiana came back into focus, I stepped out onto the quad and walked away.

I can recall this event very well. We’ll see where the workshop process takes it. I’m interest in its connection to reimagining my faith. This is the sense in which the workshop is its own complete journey.

But it has also reminded of the role and the way meditation and work with dreams and images can reenter my life.

Art and Culture, Bees, Faith and Spirituality, Family, Friends, Garden, Latin, MOOCS, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Third Phase, Translating Metamorphoses, Writing

Now

March 22, 2014 Charles Leave a comment

Spring Hare Moon

The first of three workshops has finished. This one, life context, positions you in the current period of your life. It’s been, as always, a moving and insight producing time. These workshops move below the surface and defy easy summary, but I have had one clear outcome from this one. I’m in a golden moment.

I’m healthy, loved and loving. Kate and I are in a great place and the kids are living their adult lives, not without challenges, but they’re facing those. The dogs are love in a furry form.

The garden and the bees give Kate and me a joint work that is nourishing, enriching and sustainable. We’re doing it in a way that will make our land more healthy rather than less.

The creative projects I’ve got underway: Ovid, Unmaking trilogy, reimagining faith, taking MOOCs, working with the Sierra Club, and my ongoing immersion in the world of art have juice. Still.

I have the good fortune to have good friends in the Woollies and among the docent corps (former and current). Deepening, intensifying, celebrating, enjoying. That’s what’s called for right now.

Faith and Spirituality, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant.

Desert Twilight

March 22, 2014 Charles Leave a comment

Spring Hare Moon

Aware now that the current moment of my life, the now in intensive journal language, began with Kate’s retirement. It’s a hinge time, a door has opened toward the future, one closed toward the past.

Two good metaphors for this time came to me in my journal work yesterday. The first may not be obvious but bear with me. Riding through the desert.

The desert is a stark place, often flat, but occasionally interrupted by bare loaves of rock, pinnacles, towers. It also has a nighttime life style with critters coming out when the air cools down. This is a place in Western culture where spirituality blossoms. A desert spirituality.

Aging, especially as it carries us into the third phase, can strip away work, goals, shave off the barnacles of culture that slowed us down as we passed through life’s most pressured phase. That means the third phase can begin as a ride through the desert, paying special attention to the soul when the forest is gone, the meadows are gone, the fields are gone.

This ride readies us for the twilight zone, that zone where the light from above diminishes, then winks out. I’m not talking about death here, or at least not only about death; I’m talking about our ability, strengthened by our desert spirituality, to walk into the depths of our lives, no Park Ranger by our side.

When we go down through the natural entrance to our inner depths, we can return the same way, finding the twilight zone both ways. These kinds of journeys may well be the signal moments of the third phase.

Faith and Spirituality, Humanities, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant.

Caesura

March 9, 2014 Charles Leave a comment

Imbolc Hare Moon

25 years ago I left the workaday world for home based efforts, but the weekend still has a different, more relaxed feeling. As if things just aren’t quite as urgent. This is thanks to the union movements press for the 40 week combined with early Protestant and Catholic Christianity that tried to reserve Sunday for church.

In a more secular time Sunday has become, for many, a true day of rest with Saturday providing time for the domestic tasks not accomplished during the week.

The notion of a day of rest, a time to pause and consider the week behind and the one ahead, can seem like a luxury, perhaps even irresponsible. The cell phone, e-mail, broadband, and television are available around the clock. In hypercompetitive work settings there is the awful sense that someone might be catching up or that you’ve not done enough. Why not fill up this blank day with that extra effort, the push that might get you ahead.

In music there are rests, the caesura that lets a particular line or run of notes breathe, giving them definition. In winter whole species of animals hibernate and thousands of individuals are doing so right now on this property where I write. Holidays, spread throughout the year, are caesura, as are our vacations, our anniversaries and birthdays. In art, especially sculpture, we learn that negative space defines a work. Without negative space that David would still be a block of granite.

Taoism, perhaps the clearest on this idea, points out that the usefulness of a cup is not its body, but the negative space it contains. Windows. Doors. Rooms. Baskets. Silence.

The effort in our lives is like the cup, the window, the door, it is the body which contains the life, it is not the life itself. Life itself is realized in the negative spaces among our focused efforts. That’s where the laugh comes, or the gentle touch, or the smile, the encouraging word, the hug, the tear.

In my view it behooves us to grant ourselves as much negative space as we can and a day a week does not seem like too much. It is probably too little.

Faith and Spirituality, GeekWorld, Great Work, Humanities, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Science, Sierra Club, US History, Weather +Climate, World History

Kairos

March 7, 2014 Charles Leave a comment

Imbolc Hare Moon

A bit more on an old topic, inspired by thinking about Jenkinson’s remarks that appear below.

The humanities are important as just that, the human forming portion of our educational deposit. Over the millennia, stretching back to the time of gods emerging from the deserts of the Middle East and continuing right through the poetry and literature and painting and sculpture, the movies and television and games, the sports and horticulture and domestic arts of our day, we have had to grow into our lives, into our identity as human beings. It is not easy, but it is the most important task we have and the one which the family, the schools, our societies and cultures exist to engage.

This is not an argument for the humanities over science, technology and mathematics. Far from it. We have needed and will continue to need the valuable insights that come from deep thinking about the atomic structure of things, the hard rock science of the earth, the softer touches of the biological inquiries and the neuroscientific and all the other forms of scientific endeavor with which we humans engage. But consider the difference in importance between raising a boy or a girl and lifting a rocket ship to the moon. Which matters more?

It is not in the theory of evolution or in the biological sciences or in matters astronomical that we find the answer to such a question. Even though we often pretend it is in this insecure age the answer is not in the psychological studies. No, the answer to a question of value, of significance, of which is more than this lies only in the realm of culture.

The most important task of our time is said simply and defined humanistically, but requires the sciences in all their potency to finish: create a sustainable human presence on this earth.

Why is this most important? Because if it is not accomplished, the earth, no matter our scientific prowess, will scour us from her face. She will make the thin layer of our habitation, from maybe 6 inches below the surface of the soil, to maybe 12 miles or so above the earth-the troposphere where most weather occurs-outside the parameters necessary for our existence. That is, as the biologists are found of saying, an extinction level event.

So we are at a moment of kairos, a greek word meaning the opportune time. Paul Tillich a theologian of the last century saw kairotic moments as “…crises in history which create an opportunity for, and indeed demand, an existential decision by the human subject.” Wiki His clearest example from the mid-point of that bloody hundred years was World War II, but even WW II and WW I put together do not equal the crisis we face now, a kairotic moment which, as Tillich said, demands an existential decision by us all.

(damaged relief of the Greek god Kairos of 4 century. BC)

The will and the skill to make that decision, a decision for or against our children and our grandchildren’s future, lies not in the sciences, but in the humanities. It is in our sense of who we are as a species, as a being with a history, that we will find what we need to decide. And, contrary to many, I am now convinced that the biggest barriers confounding our ability to make a non-suicidal decision lie in the realm of governance, a thoroughly humanistic endeavor.

Strip away those disciplines that force us to consider our humanity and we will be left with the calculus of Malthus.

Faith and Spirituality, Family, Feelings, Humanities, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Retirement, Third Phase, Travel

Coming Up in March

March 6, 2014 Charles Leave a comment

Imbolc Hare Moon

Looking down the month toward our 24th anniversary (Monday) and the date I’m wheels on the road for Tucson (the 18th). 24 years with Kate and our relationship improves like fine wine, gaining more nuance and depth, more body with each passing year. This year we return to the Nicollet Island Inn for dinner, the spot from which we launched our honeymoon. As spring rolled forward in March of 1990 those three weeks in Europe were as good a beginning as the marriage itself. Next year we’ll celebrate our 25th anniversary at Mama’s Fish House on Maui.

The Tucson trip grows closer. These rolling retreats, as I like to think of alone time behind the wheel, are really just road trips. Road trips are part of the American way, peregrinatio updated for the age of the internal combustion engine.

This one of course has its focus self discovery, focus, personal deepening so it will have a more spiritual note, but it will also include my usual visits to spots of natural and historic interest. Among the possibilities are Carlsbad Caverns, the Saguaro forests, a state park or two in Arizona, the Sonoran Desert Museum, Mt. Kitt, Chaco Canyon, Joshua Tree National Park (probably not, but it’s within reach) and a second visit to the Arbor Day lodge and farm in Nebraska City, Nebraska.

Faith and Spirituality, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Third Phase

ruthless honesty, a modest bravery and unrelenting persistence

February 24, 2014 Charles Leave a comment

Imbolc Valentine Moon

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” Rumi

This is life’s biggest challenge, paring away the expectations of parents, teachers and friends, paring away the influence of expectations garnered from others who seem successful. Why is this life’s biggest challenge? Because no matter how strong or how sensible expectations of you are, they mean nothing next to the unfolding seed that is your life. Your life.

You are unique, the only constellation of stardust ever created that has your particular biology and your personal history. Even if you shape yourself in dutiful obedience to an outsiders expectations, even if when you do so, you find yourself successful according to some criteria or another, you will have robbed the earth and humankind because you will have hidden the gifts that only you have to offer.

We are so good at hiding our own, powerful self in the cloaks of profession, of achievement, of fame, of obedience, of dogma and ideology that we often hide it from ourselves. Learning who you are and what you are is so easily enmeshed in the web your life weaves; whole schools of philosophy have been devoted to the inscription over the doorway to the Delphic oracle: Know thyself.

Memento Mori mosaic from excavations in the convent of San Gregorio, Via Appia, Rome, Italy. The Greek motto gnōthi sauton (know thyself, nosce te ipsum) combines with the image to convey the famous warning: Respice post te; hominem te esse memento; memento mori. (Look behind; remember that you are mortal; remember death.)

There is no easy formula for taking on this task of paring away, of pruning the branches of your life so that only the strong, self-defining trunk and its branches remain. It requires at least, a ruthless honesty, a modest bravery and unrelenting persistence. The honesty is, I think, self-explanatory. Acting on the learning that honesty brings requires bravery and the action of unfolding your own myth takes a lifetime.

But what a journey.

Dreams, Faith and Spirituality, Health, Humanities, Myth and Story, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Third Phase, Writing

Oh. Yeah. I Remember That.

February 16, 2014 Charles Leave a comment

Imbolc Valentine Moon

A few days back I wrote this post. In it I admitted my yearning for the mystical, the mysterious, the contemplative; but, the metaphysical superstructure for them had been stripped away. (by me. and for the most part happily so.) Those impulses, partly stirred by the long, cold winter and its isolation, welcome, but draining at the same time, have been niggling away at me for some time.

(Progoff)

Then, I remembered. I know how to get those elements back in my life. The Ira Progoff Journal Workshops. I’ve done two of these, the three part series. I’ve included some introductory material on them below. Progoff was a Jungian analyst who worked over his career to develop a means of self-work rooted in Jungian method. His efforts produced the Intensive Journal ,Process Meditation and these workshops.

Here’s what I like. The work is yours, for you and reviewed by no one. It’s a method, which I’ve used off and on, for many years. As some of you know, I was in Jungian analysis, also off and on, for many years. That means the worldview behind Progoff’s method reaches into deep work I’ve already done.

There are no guru’s here, no dogma, no path other than the ancientrail of self-wisdom. There’s no follow up, no encouraging you to do more. Yet, there is a deep passion for the work individuals do on their own through Progoff’s methods. It fits me and I’m glad I remembered it.

In fact, I’m headed off to Tucson, Arizona in late March for a six-day retreat to do all three workshops. There will be, too, side trips to Carlsbad Caverns, Chaco Canyon and grandaughter Ruth just before her 8th–no longer required to ride in the car seat–birthday. Ah.

Introduction to the Intensive Journal Program

Experience a life-changing process to give your life greater direction, vitality and purpose. Developed in 1966 by Dr. Ira Progoff, our nationally-recognized program has helped 175,000 people lead more fulfilling lives. Discover resources and possibilities you could not have imagined. The Intensive Journal method can be your honest friend in the creative process of shaping your life.

Article 1:	The Intensive Journal Process: A Path to Self-Discovery by Kathy Juline
Article 2:	The Write to Fulfilling Life: An Interview with Ira Progoff by The New Times
Article 3:	The Way of the Journal

How can you benefit from this method?

By using an integrated system of writing exercises. It’s much more than a diary.
Gain insights about many different areas including personal relationships, career and special interests, body and health, dreams and imagery, and meaning in life.
Apply fresh approaches to access your creative capacities and untapped possibilities.
Work in total privacy. Neither you nor anyone else will judge or analyze your life.
Use a method that is without dogma. The Intensive Journal method is a process that can be used by people of all different backgrounds, interests and faiths.
Attend workshops at leading centers for reasonable prices.
You do not have to like to write or be a good writer. You are the only one who reads what you write.

Part I: Life Context (LC) Workshop: Gaining a Perspective on Life

Develop an inner perspective on the movement of your unfolding life process. Gain greater awareness of the continuity and direction of your life as it reveals what it is trying to become.

Generate insights about major areas of your life, including personal relationships, career and special interests, and body and health. The dialogue process provides a unique way to gain feedback and momentum as you deepen your understanding of these areas.

Part II: Depth Contact (DC) Workshop: Symbolic Images and Meaning in Life

Deepen your experience as you focus on the exercises in the second half of the Intensive Journal workbook. Learn how to use Progoff’s unique non-analytical method to draw forth messages from you inner symbolic experiences which can provide important leads in your unfolding life process.

Using Process Meditation™ techniques provides specific ways of developing your spiritual process in the context of your entire life. Explore experiences of connection that had significant meaning, gain insights about your ultimate concerns, and explore major themes in your life. Progoff’s advanced meditation techniques provide an avenue for greater reflection.

Part III: Life Integration (LI) Workshop/Journal Feedback™ Process: Integrating the Life Process

Progoff said the Journal Feedback process is the “essence of the Intensive Journal method and one of my main contributions.”

Experience the cumulative dynamic process created from working with material in one workbook section and how it can lead to entries in other related areas. This progressively deepening process generates an inner momentum and energy as you apply Progoff’s non-analytical Journal Feedback techniques. Your workbook becomes an active instrument as you approach situations from different perspectives.

New awareness and growth become possible as you realize connections between diverse areas. You are drawing your unfolding life process forward as you move toward greater wholeness and integration.

Faith and Spirituality, Great Work, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant.

Enough. Almost.

February 10, 2014 Charles Leave a comment

Imbolc Valentine Moon

Reimagining my faith, as I understand now, lies in the synthesis of the work here on the vegetable garden, the orchard, the flowers, the woods, the bees and the Great Work. The work set out by Thomas Berry in his book of that name. The great work for our generation is to create a sustainable path for human presence on the planet. The carbon loading information alone makes this both true and necessary.

Placing my faith in the praxis of work at home and in the political world means it is incarnational and immanent in nature, key for me. Incarnational means the sacred has no meaning apart from the corporal, the material world. Immanent means it is not about the transcendent, but about the here and now.

And that’s enough. Almost. There are though the mystical, the emotional aspects of the life of faith. They were once deeply important for me. And I miss them. Liturgical music, contemplative prayer, the sense of mystery and profound depth. Not transcendence, never a God or a power above, but the calm strength of the Ave Maria or a session of lectio divina or a quiet meditation sinking into the inner chapel. The emotional resonance of these familiar, ancient practices still speak to my soul, but the metaphysical structure which validated them has crumbled and fallen away.

(Thomas Cole, Expulsion From the Garden)

Just noting this, not sure what to do with it, as I have not been for the last 20 some years. Perhaps a new path will open for me that includes these things. Or, perhaps I will have to create one of my own. Might be part of the task of reimagining faith.

Art and Culture, Bees, Faith and Spirituality, Garden, Great Wheel, Great Work, Latin, Our Land and Home, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Translating Metamorphoses

2014 Intentions

December 31, 2013 Charles 1 Comment

Winter New (Seed Catalog) Moon
Having presented a prod toward humility and non-attachment here are some of my intentions and hopes for the New Year:

1. A healthy and joyful family (including the dogs)

2. Sell Missing

3. Have substantial work done on Loki’s Children

4. Translate at least book one and two of Ovid’s Metamorphoses

5. Have a productive garden and orchard, beautiful flowers

6. Host a Beltane and a Samhain bonfire to open and close the growing season

7. Establish a new beeyard and have a decent honey harvest

8. Have a new and consistent way to include art in my life

9. Consider a new blog focused solely on the Great Wheel and the Great Work

10. Feed the autodidact with a few more MOOCs