Open Letter to Father M

 

Hi Father! Ondrea is a pen pal of mine and she asked me to send the enclosed Heart Box (HB). She also suggested I pass along "a little note so you might understand my 'hearts' work through Christ". Quite a challenge! First, because I'm quite incapable, as you will soon see, of writing a little anything. Secondly, because I'm not exactly sure I can say where i stand these days. In truth, I suppose, somewhere between the cloud of forgetting and the cloud of unknowing. The good news is "knowing that I don't know" is bothering me a lot less these days. After further contemplation of Ondrea's words, however, I find that the understanding she suggests is revealed in her own words, since it is only "through Christ" that anyone can understand our "Hearts" work. Still and all, and admitting an innate state of "not-knowing" as my present ground, I do relish the opportunity to see where 25 years has brought me.

 

Before I start, perhaps a little background is in order. I'm a retired Air Force pilot (Major type) who spent 4 years flying with Pan Am before they went down, one year on the street, and am now back in the air with another major airline (a miracle of the first order). Although I was raised a Christian, I pretty much put God on the back burner while I chased His partial reflection in Truth. Doing so was not so much a conscious decision on my part, but rather the natural outcome of a deeply rooted intellectual predisposition. Although a direct approach to God --the optimal path for one naturally predisposed to faith and self-surrender -- would have born fruit much sooner, I guess I needed the additional time to accustom my darkened vision to increasing degrees of God's Light. Guess I wasn't moving fast enough though, as the good Lord saw fit to give me a major "boot in the pants" in 1970, by way of a near death experience (NDE) in Vietnam.

 

The NDE occurred during an emergency bailout in which I had the following significantly expanded perceptions of reality: (1) Seeing in slow motion; (2) Me watching me; (3) Total life recall; and (4) A conscious choice to live or die. Surviving the ordeal, and with these mysteriously altered states of mind as food for thought, I realized these alternative ways of experiencing life had serious religious and philosophical implications. First, the egocentric way I had been taught to relate to reality, as well as the vision of life it projected, was a very circumscribed, partial and incomplete view. Not only that, but this potentially flawed vision might actually be the root source of our misery and suffering. Secondly, the self-image that spontaneously arose from that now suspect vision might not be the real me. Perhaps, I was more truly the second or higher sense of myself that I had experienced during the bailout. Thirdly, if a premise of finite existence, as the highest expression of human consciousness, is not ultimately true, then any world-view that flows from it is flawed from inception . Perhaps I was more then a flesh encapsulated ego condemned to the mortality of my body, and life really did have ultimate meaning or purpose beyond my self-centered vision.

Of course, philosophically speaking, life must make sense in the final analysis, must be intelligent and purposeful in the end. Why? (Watch it, it's a trick question!) Simply because if you conclude that life isn't meaningful, neither can you be as a part of it, nor can your conclusion to that effect. Yet if life's ultimate purposefulness is logically unavoidable, why doesn't it appear to be true from our present perspective? Perhaps, because the self-centered attitude we hold relative to it projects the seeming nonsense of our present position into virtual reality? Perhaps, because we are looking through a "mental glass darkly" and projecting our dark inner vision on an otherwise perfect creation. Concluding that this was a very real possibility, I began searching for a alternative pair of mental lenses.

 

In search of such glasses, I soon began exploring world views other than those traditionally embraced by Western culture. You name it -- self-help, psychology, mysticism, new thought, mental science -- I probably looked into it. My primary effort, however, involved a correlative study of Eastern philosophy and world religion. I also did an extensive study of metaphysical systems I thought might explain the extraordinary states of consciousness I had experienced during the NDE. My constant guide in this eclectic search was an unwavering belief that no system, model, or world view could encompass the whole truth. That each such view could offer only a partial reflection of the one truth underlying all religious, cultural or historical perspectives -- that the truth is one and only the ways we look are be many.

 

Thus did I seek truth as a common thread running through a seemingly endless number of philosophical, theological, psychological and metaphysical systems. An approach which eventually lead to what I call an eye for the truth, or, more traditionally, a degree of spiritual discernment. A gift which uses the discriminating faculty of mind to see similarities instead of differences, to unify rather then fragment and so recognize the whole reflected in a multitude of seemingly unrelated parts.

 

Well, 10 years into my search, somewhere in the 1977 time-frame, the light dawned. While praying that I might see the truth and reading a Bible passage, it hit me right between the eyes! It all seemed so simple. It had taken me nearly 10 years to learn to see the obvious, the oneness of God and all creation. In that moment I was graced with a degree of the intellectual enlightenment and/or discernment that made me quite ecstatic at the time. When I came down from being “drunk in the spirit”, however, I soon found that living up to the implications of my understanding was quite another matter. For seeing the truth was one thing, living truly was another. Fact is, I think God made a definite exception to his rule about "new wine in old bottles".

Though my intellectual understanding was expanding geometrically, expansion of my heart did not kept pace. My efforts to actualize this growing awareness through a real change of heart were half-hearted at best. I was simply too busy trying to capture my insights in words to act upon their implications. The temptation of trying to capture lightening in a jar -- to express boundless truth in finite words -- was simply too great for me. I had to try, fools erran or not. For as some love art and music, I truly loved words and ideas. I also discovered early on that once a particular insight or revelation occurred, that it was usually accompanied by an overwhelming compulsion to share it with others. I discovered that the pure joy of discovery is very nearly exceeded by the magnified joy of sharing it with ones brothers. That a joyful shout of Eureka! is not truly for one man's ears, but intended to announce that some long lost family treasure has be unearthed and recovered.

 

In this regard, intuitive writing began pouring out of me like a river. It was almost as if God had graced me with a special access code to some kind of collective consciousness, perhaps something similar to Yung's universal subconscious. All I had to do was ask a question, focus all my attention on the region of my physical heart (almost as an object of meditation) and a veritable gusher of information would flow forth. This was not some kind of automatic writing, as there was absolutely no sense of any otherness about the process. I was conscious, and I was there, but I had somehow managed to turn off the left side of my forebrain --the judgmental, editorial, conscious part of my mind. My inner critic or censor was simply out to lunch during the process.

 

Neither would I ever characterize this process as hearing some kind of voice, God's or any other. I've tried many times to do just that, without success. The answers I got simply flowed from my heart as water from a natural spring. More pragmatically, I would very much compare the process to the way one answers essay exams in college. Not having sufficient time to engage the forebrain, all you could really do was data dump and have faith in the process. As an aside, any extremely short time-horizon (re: my bail out experiences) similarly seems to force the left-brain reflector to trust the right-brain seer. This because the left brain thinking faculty, without time to function, will normally fail- safe off and defer to right-brain intuition. Unless, of course, this natural switch-over is not overridden by left-brain panic. Returning to a more spiritual perspective about the writing, I would have to acknowledge that what I was probably listening to in my heart was then and remains the "still small voice" of Spirit responding to my heartfelt desire for Truth. Summing it up, and marrying the spirit and the flesh, the whole process could be characterized as a kind of "spiritual dictation".

 

In retrospect, and as wondrous as the gift I received was, I eventually realized that I should have asked for more then God's reflected image as Truth. That I should have asked for God Himself, to see and know him "face to face...even as also I AM known". For no matter how clear my abstract understanding became, its concrete impact on my mental and emotional reaction to everyday life was very limited. As such, I retained a fundamental sense of being incomplete, unfulfilled and frustrated. I had expanded my intellectual understanding, but it had not given me the peace of mind (and never would with thought, since mind is mental movement and peace mental stillness) I had expected. Something was still missing.

 

Somewhere along the way it became obvious that relative mind alone never would provide absolute fulfillment. I could know the truth reflectively and indirectly. I could see the truth through a plate-glass window, but I could never actually eat the goodies on the other side. I could know about (which is always almost or approximate) truth with self- reflective consciousness, but I could never "know that I know that I know", wholly and completely, without single-minded and whole-hearted submission to it. Well, it took a while (something like 25 years), but I finally recognized the mental slight of hand trick my head had been playing on my heart -- Alan Watt's would have called it a head trip and it literally was.

 

The name of the game was keep seeking and you'll never have to find (or change). Always keep looking, searching, reading, moving. The next "This is it!" book will be the one that finally does it. (Would you believe I have a "This is it!" quote file nearly 10 pages long, going back nearly10 years). The next program, practice, method, technique, or discipline will do it for you.. The next philosophy or model of the universe will be the one. Sure, go through the motions of practice and prayer. Allow your mind to play with the mental toys it makes of them. There's no real risk of getting burned by the spiritual fire they were designed to start. Stay on the surface and don't get too deep into anything. It's safer that way -- for the ego at least! Dig a lot of 3 foot wells, but for heaven's sake don't give your complete and undivided attention (heart) to God through any one system. Because if you do, you might have to face the self-centeredness that presently infects, constricts and hardens your heart; see and know the dark stains (RE: "Life, like a dome of many colored glass, stains the white radiance of Eternity." – Shelley (1) and inner poverty of your heart.

 

Never once did I catch on to this little mind-game I was playing with myself. That my mind was taking my heart for a ride -- a fun trip, but never to my desired destination (or was a nice, safe spiritual holding pattern the exact destination I preferred?) For, irrespective any new spiritual technique I tried along the way, it was always the same "I" who had to do it, to make the effort to surrender my self-will. The same I who was not prepared to make that self-same effort, sacrifice and struggle. The spiritual scenery was changing rapidly, but I, as the traveler, was changing very little. Not because the techniques weren't effective, but because my rushed, busy, half-hearted efforts were not.

 

In this regard, I can honestly say that what it takes to lose physical weight (having lost 50 pounds 5 or 6 times) is identical to that required to lose egocentric weight. The secret, and it's really no secret at all, is the same in both cases -- stop eating (feeding your ego worldly sweets) and do your exercises (pray, meditate, trust in the Lord and stay upon God). The problem in both cases is that very few have sufficient desire to exert the mental, emotional and physical discipline necessary to achieve results. Truth is, if you want to lose physical weight badly enough you will. Same thing if you want to find God bad enough. It's simply a matter of having the necessary desire and commitment, exerting the required will and discipline, and making the required sacrifice. How bad you want it determines how soon you get it. Unfortunately, it's takes considerably less energy and effort to follow egocentric habit patterns than to crucify and thus transcend them.

 

For years I played this game, swinging back and forth between Mystical Christianity and Oriental Philosophy, forever caught on the seeming horns of an East-West dilemma. I dearly loved the intimate reflection of Truth as Divine Love made manifest and incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ -- although I did preferred the gospel of Christ, to a religion about His unique personification in the person of Jesus. Even so, I also loved the Truth reflected in the pure, pristine logic of the Vedanta Philosophy of non-duality and pure consciousness. Eastern philosophy satisfied my intellect, but not my heart; Christianity my heart, but not my mind.

 

Although Judaism professed the absolute nature of God -- "Hear Oh Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord" (2) -- and did allow that man was created in His image and likeness, it would broach no oneness (other than the mystical view expressed by the Cabbalists) with God – conscious union or otherwise. Man could get very close to God, but man could not be in God or God be in man. Clearly, such a view is an innately dualistic vision of reality that conceives man as substantially other than God and so actually worships its own projected image of the fragmented God it begets. Obviously, their actions witnessed an interpretation of one to mean only rather than absolute. Jesus remedied this problem by actually demonstrating and living the real good news of God's Absolute Oneness, of "Christ in you, the hope of glory." But the moment he confessed that "I and the Father are One" (the only true relation any creature can have with an absolute creator) they crucified Him. This for saying that the Spirit of God not only dwelled in Him, but in those who condemned Him ("Have I not said ye are Gods"(3).)

 

My difficulty with the Vedas, on the other hand, was their lack of any deep warmth or intimacy. While they did afforded a beautiful intellectual skeleton, I felt no warm flesh, hot blood and very little heart (other then the love they engendered in me for such profound ideas). They also blurred any real distinction between God and man. While I loved the logic, I disliked their impersonal nature. It was also much to easy to kid myself. Much to easy to absorb such rarefied concepts into an egocentric belief structure and thereby delay implications for self-surrender indefinitely. A simple case of burying a self- transcending idea in the crystal vault where it can't do any real damage.

 

Well what was the answer? Would this spiritual pendulum I was oscillation on ever stop? Was there no way to break out of this vicious cycle and/or circle I seemed trapped in? Was their no middle ground? Was their no common ground between these polar extremes? Of course, I had known for a long time what the answer was (just like the answer to loosing weight is well known). The ultimate conclusion of both Christianity and the Vedas was the same -- surrender and sacrifice of self-will and consciousness; and so dying completely to egocentricity thought, sense and feeling. But how to do so, in some manner more substantial then verbal and mental ascent, was the question; how to take an intellectual abstraction and make it concrete in ones daily life. How to realize and so actualize the principle? Was there nothing that would allow a marriage of my head (West) and my heart (East) in their original unison and harmony? What was the missing peace of the puzzle?

Well, I discovered this missing piece quite recently in a book entitled “Lost Christianity” (highly recommended reading) by Jacob Needleman (4). His premise -- more truly that of a Father Sylvan whose manuscript makes up a large part of the book -- was that Christianity had lost its middle, experiential ground. That Christianity, in most cases, had become a simple matter of believing in Jesus Christ (as a kind of fire insurance) with mind alone (instead of all your heart, soul, mind and strength -- 100% of your being) and conveniently ignoring the requirement to keep his commandments. That one could through mental ascent alone became a joint-heir with Christ. That salvation could be bought for the price of a belief in Jesus and no accompanying radical change of heart (re: repentance/purification/wedding dress) was required to meet the entrance requirements of some future heaven. Further, that some level of belief less then absolute, less then single- minded, whole-hearted faith witnessed in works, is sufficient to be classified as saved.

 

Professor Needleman's own words in this regard, while referring to Western churches in general, perfectly defined the causative principle behind the East-West pendulum I was swinging on:

 

"Americans...had long been part of a culture in which religion was only a matter of words, exhortations, and philosophy, rather than a matter of practical guidance for experiencing directly the truth of the teachings. Methods, exercises, brought the possibility of experience, something that had been largely the province of that very suspect group called "mystics". pg. 37

 

Due to this historical fact, the sacred response of faith, which emanates from a higher level than the ego in man, became confused with belief, only one of the numerous egoistic mechanism within the mind that seem designed solely for the purpose of making people feel they are in the right and that everything is going to be all right. pg. 37

 

"My thoughts kept turning around the word "observing", the "Fathers observing what had happened to them...in a state of prayer." This statement, if approached from a certain angle completely undercut the distinction between faith and reason that has bedeviled peoples' understanding of Christianity over the centuries. The real division, the real choice, is not between "faith" and "reason". The important distinction is between consciousness of one's own states and the unconscious reactions of both thought and emotion. To choose between thought and emotion, reason and faith, is to miss the point. Self-attention is the point; it is this that brings both real knowledge and real faith, which are in no way opposed to each other pg. 37

 

"As long as my emotional life remains as it is, all the right thinking in the world will not change my essential nature, my intimate self, my very being. pg. 37

 

"The hope of the mind, the wish for a relationship to Truth and Being, to God, does not lie in developing a part of the mind. pg. 39

 

Philosophically, this marriage of East and West, of these "two horns" I have been impaled on for so long, is equally well reflected in Needleman's following quote from Merton's Zen and The Bird's of Appetite:

"Christianity is a manifestation of the Incarnation of God, whereas Zen is intensive, inward enlightening of the divine being which the Japanese has apprehended as Nothing, and which must be supplemented, uplifted and completed by means of the manifestation of the Incarnation -- Toshimitsu Masumi (Zen and the Birds of Appetite, p.92, Merton)

 

As Professor Needleman's words suggest, it may be that Western Christianity has missed a step on the middle rung of its spiritual ladder -- an intermediate stage he also refers to as the "lost doctrine of the soul". The lost step being the self-sacrificial work required, not to improve or develop God like qualities, but rather to empower the soul to rise above its egocentric identification by surrendering to grace. Those missing rungs being the spiritual discipline and practice required for "self-naughting" (adding by subtracting) as the mystics call it. More specifically, the collective rungs of purification, recollection, and silence that come between the first rung of awakening or conversion (to the Christ idea) and the last rung of contemplative grace (union with God through Christ). All stages each soul must go though, abet with varying degrees of rapidity, if it is to know God face to face, even as I AM known. (6)

 

While God's grace is necessary and must be depended upon during all phases of this process, it only becomes fully manifest in a self-emptied soul whose face (full, undivided, whole-hearted, single-minded attention) is turned towards God. This infilling of the Spirit of God's Son occurs by grace while the soul sits in still silence, by faith, before God's overshadowing Presence. Whereas, any belief in grace apart from such whole-hearted submission to God effectively forestalls the entry of true grace by avoiding the necessary surrender Scripture presupposes. For in truth, no man may know God face to face without first offering his heart as a living sacrificing as Jesus did, and thus crucifying his ‘natural or carnal nature.”

 

And just how might this lost of salvation's necessary prepatory ground have occurred? Perhaps, because, in the face of the schism between science and religion, the intellect and the heart, and ever advancing materialism, it became increasingly hard to maintain the church without offering the "cheap grace" of mental assent. Even though such salvation is self-deluding, if ones heart is not first purged and purified of self-will and love thru spiritual practice of some form. This, even though man continues to kid himself into believing that "Jesus Saves" solely by accepting Him as the only begotten Son of God, without also picking up our/his cross daily and following Him as Jesus himself proscribed.

 

Irregardless of the cause, this idea of a missing rung in Christianity resurrected my reverent hope for a true wedding of Eastern Philosophy and Western Religion; because it held out the very real possibility that the still and silent state of pure consciousness that the East speaks of as the ultimate reality might not be in direct competition with the incarnation of God in man through Christ. Rather that this void or state of "no-thing- ness" might simply be an intermediate stage (as the Merton quote suggested above) in the soul's transition from relative consciousness to God Consciousness. Though I had always felt that Christ -- the I AM Consciousness -- was the One way that included all ways, I had never considered the linear hierarchical relationship Professor Needleman suggested.

​

The following Lost Christianity quotes gave me the last pieces of an intellectual puzzle that finally allowed me to "de-side" my mind and really give myself, for the first time, to God in heart-felt spiritual practice. I finally had the peace of mind necessary to do so because it seemed I had covered all the mental bases and there was really nothing left to do with my mind but head for Home. That is, to turn inward towards my soul, as a center of conscious awareness and attention, as a growing locus of divine consciousness. To return to my essential nothingness as an empty vessel, a window of opportunity, a seed potential, an open space, vessel or void in which God might indwell, and, thereby, fully participate in His Divine Vision as God incarnate and living in the Heart of His own Creation. For seen in this light, as a soul (hole?), as a gathered and re-collected center of conscious attention, I am nothing more than an empty cup, but, in the grand scheme of things, a cup with a glorious potential to become a Holy Grail. Full of myself, of my own self-consciousness, I simply have no room for God. In this regard, my real value to God accrues from a God given ability to become void in myself. For I as I am, as a field of pure consciousness, as a field of awareness, as limitless space, as boundless nothingness, have a simultaneous potential to be absolutely full of God. As such, I am the middle ground, the mid-point between spirit and flesh, heaven and earth; God's man in the middle. Of myself, I am nothing; in God my own nothingness, or essential voidness, provides adequate space for All Creation to be.

 

Father Sylvan Notes:

 

"(1) The soul is the intermediate principle in human nature, occupying the place between the Spirit and the body. The former term, "Spirit", Father Sylvan defines variously as "the movement toward Godhead", "the Uncreated", "Absolute Origin", and "Eternal Mind". The term "body" is also defined in a variety of ways, including but not limited to the physical body. Father Sylvan considers "thoughts" as part of the physical body. pg. 167

​

"(2) The power or function of the soul is attention; the development of attention is therefore approximately equivalent to the development and growth of the soul. But the soul also has several components, each with its own power of attention. All components must participate in the perfection of the soul. The principle power of the soul, which defines its real nature, is a gathered attention that is directed simultaneously toward the Spirit and the body. This is "attention of the heart". And this is the principle mediating, harmonizing power of the soul. pg. 167

​

"Lost Christianity is the lost or forgotten power of man to extract the pure energy of the soul from the experiences that make up his life. This possibility is distinct only in the most vivid or painful moments of our ordinary lives, but it can be discovered in all experiences if one knows how to seek it. Certain powerful experiences -- such as the encounter with death or deep, deep disappointment -- are accompanied by the sensation of presence: an attention appears that is simultaneously open to a higher, freer mind (Spirit) and to all the perceptions, sensations and emotions that constitute our ordinary self. One feels both separate and engaged in a new and extraordinary way. One experiences "I AM". This is the soul (in inception) pg. 176 (7)

​

[Note 1: I concluded long ago that the degree of conscious attention and awareness I brought to each moment determined my sense of "livingness"; that there was a vertical dimension to ones life that could be expanded geometrically if one "paid more conscious attention" to life here and now, in the present moment; that the more mindful I was of each moment, the more vital, alive and real I felt; that pure attention is a way of bringing our mind to rest, to a state of silent stillness, and our awareness to a pure, unitary state; that the fundamental lesson that life was intended to teach us was to pay attention, and the primary error it was intended to correct was absent-mindedness].

​

[Note 2: The two-way, multi-directional attention and sensation of higher presence or self Father Sylvan speaks of is exactly what I experienced during the aforementioned bailout (as well as several times since during spiritual practice). The explanation of this phenomena is really fairly simple. When all mental movement comes to a momentary stop, when consciousness becomes silent and still, mind becomes one-pointed and consciousness ceases to be dual (double-minded). As such, awareness becomes unitary and non-linear, and thus perfectly capable of "multi-directional/dimensional awareness. ]

​

As to where I am specifically "in my Heart's work with Christ", though I still dearly love Truth -- God expressed in thoughts, words and ideas -- I finally realized I would never know the whole truth (God Himself) without putting my mind to rest and opening my heart. This as a prerequisite to establishing a personal and intimate -- direct, non- reflective, heart-felt -- relationship with God through the "...Silent Presence of the Spirit of His Son.1" To quote Steven, "It may be said that God cannot be known in the mind but only experienced in the heart." (8) This is the path I travel now -- a process of giving my mind to my heart and my heart to God. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the specific practice I am immersing myself in is called the Prayer of the Heart. In the mystical tradition it has been called Contemplation. Jeanne Guyon, in her book of the same name, refers to it as "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ.” More recently Father Keating and Pennington (it would seem that the Catholic Church is starting rediscover and embrace its lost roots, at least) have refined it for a modern audience and calling it Centering Prayer.

​

For myself at least, this process of heart-felt surrender I am embarked upon is threefold: (1) Entering into God's Presence by faith; (2) Sitting in silence stillness; and (3) Waiting upon the Lord grace. "Be still and know that I AM God." and "Listening to the Living Word of God in your heart 2" are two other excellent characterizations. From the perspective of will or heartfelt desire, the author of the Cloud of Unknowing, calls it "... a naked intention directed to God for His sake only." Biblically, it is "Loving the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength" (i.e.. giving God your whole-hearted, single-minded, undivided attention; your full and complete awareness; and, thereby, sacrificing or crucifying yourself as a center of conscious attention and awareness).

​

Well, it's been a long ride (not to mention an extremely long letter), but it was worth it. The President does "State of the Union" addresses and I do "State of My Mental Union" addresses. This has been what my friend's call a "data dump" (your price for the Heart Box, I guess). As the enclosed background indicates, the HB (formally titled The Perfect Gift ) was rather miraculously conceived. I claim little more than being it's mid-wife, for in no way did I consciously plan what it became. I simply had an insight that a box is a self-enfolded cross and attempted to translate that seed-thought into concrete form. This, as a tangible reminder to "keep my heart open" and so crucify "self-conscious will and thought" on the cross of "here and now" (time and space). What this seed-idea became as it flowered forth sacred imagery was only revealed as I assembled it for the first time. Almost a year and a half later, I am still amazed at its profundity.

​

The imagery that evolved -- the near-human physiology of the open box; the tomb opened and heart revealed, the stone rolled away; the "I" dropped to become a foot stool of the Lord; the praise position of a man on his knees with arms outstretched in love to embrace God and all Creation; the capital "I" formed on the front of the self-entombed ego-box; not to mention all the other scripturally related imagery indicated in the enclosed photo sequence (Attach 1) -- out of a kind of self-creative process of which I only provided an open heart and willing hands. Of course, seeing all this does require a deep love of visual imagery and a certain degree of spiritual discernment. Nevertheless, seeing alone doesn't create a material reality (or does it?) Even so, the images I came to discern came to light after the fact of the Box's creation and not as the result of any foreknowledge or conscious design.

​

Enclosed as well are a number of quotes I feel may further enliven the box for you, the aforementioned photo sequence originally put together to illustrate the Heart Boxes’ scriptural nature and a number of other tidbits. I've also included a bit of poetry you may find interesting (dated, but timeless -- at least for me). You might also be interested in knowing that the original title for “Conceive In Truth” poem was “Our Father” and intended as a poetic synopsis (or the state of my mental union as of 1979). I've also included a few copies of Keating and Pennington articles taken from a magazine entitled Union Life, as I'm not sure how familiar you are with their present work in resurrecting "Lost Christianity".

​

In closing, may The Perfect Gift (the Ark of the New Covenant) serve as an ever present reminder of "Christ in You, the hope and Glory", and bless you as much as my sharing it with you and others has blessed me.

In God's Name -- By God's Grace -- To God's Glory!

Yours In Christ,

​

PS 1: Feedback is welcome but not obligatory (though I'm always interested in new "pen pals"). If I haven't scared you off with this salvo, and you have the time or inclination, I'd be happy to put together a sampler (a real data dump like the one Ondrea got two years ago). I also have a friend I stay with in Brooklyn when I'm flying out of Kennedy, so there's always a possibility for some face time, if you like. If not, hopefully I'll get to meet you when Ondrea and Stephen come to NY this year.

​

PS 2: As a final aside, knots I've tried to untie for years seem to be unraveling by themselves. Take God's will for instance. Should I do this or that? What is God's will? Which does he want you to do? Its a trap -- nonsense question similar to the one about the "Chicken or the Egg.” Its an attempt of the mind to bring God down to the level of it's own relativity. God is too pure to behold such darkness. His will for you is quite simple. He wants you to love him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less. That is His one and only will for you. He wants you to love Him. Stated reciprically, it may also be said that Love is God's nature and that His will for you is that His nature be fully expressed, fulfilled and made manifest in and through you. That he wants you to love Him as He love's you, unconditionally and absolutely, so that he may love His Creation through you. Why God Himself, and not some less or reflection of Him? Simply because only the Love of an Absolute Being can evoke Absolute love, and so fulfill your God-given nature and destiny absolutely.

 

Copyright, RFHay, 1994