Fireside I
It is to the Village Square that the townspeople come to exchange views and thoughts on their beloved spiritual philosophy, learning from each other in kindness and wisdom. Then when their minds have been filled, they retire to the tavern on the western side of the square where they share in social discussion, learning of each other’s events and challenges, happinesses and sometimes sadnesses, too. With a mug or glass in hand, they collect in front of the great Fireplace that dominates the long wall. Benches and chairs are often filled on market day with those who have come from farther away, bringing news of events and views the local people delight in hearing.
If you are feeling disoriented by all the philosophical talk by the fountain in the Village Square, then come sit down on the bench here with us for a while just to soothe your mind and share a mug of tea or coffee. Let’s all make sure the conversation is quiet and simple, caring and thougtful, exactly the kind of talk you might have around a warm hearth, the only light filling the room coming from the fireplace.
Thanks again Bernard to make all this possible, and thanks to all of you for making it so wonderful, so rich. The Golden Thread of Hope was felt all along the meeting, even within the sound failures.
Lots of hugs, have a great Sunday.
Lisi
Yes, Lisi…I loved that we prevailed in spite of the sound failures. And
also, too, that we laughed about them and considered them symbols of ego.
What a great group!
Hugs!
Agree, Lisi – hearing each of your voices was such a rich experience.
(Words on the page, by contrast, are so flat – i hear them in my own voice, and cannot escape my in-built biases when i read each of your comments). But when I hear you, then something magicial happens. (and for us Course students, we may or may not like that word “magic” – i use it however, in the best possible sense of the word)
Hours after the call, even with the intervening period of sleep, something magical reverberates for me from our Call.
For one, the richness of tone and life behind each of your different voices is something i cannot forget, and the only word that really comes to mind is that it was/is a healing experience. i could be still, and listen, and a whole new world opened up to me.
Another was the excitement and joy of having so many of us in the same place, at the same time. Having a conversation in simultaneous time, rather than the long gaps that (must) exist between our posts, (and every moment our context continues to shift), but when we’re together in the Village, at the same time, then for me, something else opened up, which I struggle to articulate here. But it was most definitely there !! (:
Bernard, the choice of Lesson 305 stayed with me too. I went back and re-read it this morning. It was like reading it for the first time (even though I have supposedly been through the Course a couple(?) of times already (: – i must have sleep-read it through more likely (: on the previous occasions.
Nina, by the time I figured out which skype name was yours, i think you were gone. i’m sorry i was not able to write you a skype message – which at first, while overwhelming, is a feature that is really quite useful, especially when the “alien” sounds (: – (Michele, love your free-flowing wit) came over the airwaves.
Annie – we missed you. i missed you. but your message of nail-painting, skpye talking dreams (: did come through – thank you for sending that message through Bernard.
Whatever happens with these Skype gatherings in the future, I do hope they continue (without any pressure on Bernard), and look forward to joining as many of them as i can.
happy 42nd week of the year to all (:
love,
a
Hello everyone. I am so sorry to have had to miss Skype day today!!! As Bernard knows, I am working on the weekends for the next few months so I won’t be able to participate in our group meetings–which makes me very sad. It all happened very suddenly. And I had just purchased a headset with mic so that I would be clearer, too. But I will still be visiting the Village and listening in and participating in the ponderings so all is not lost. Love, love, love to all, D.
Wow, Bernard, that was spectacular this morning. I’m sorry I had to disappear at the end, but my connection kept breaking and I was to the point of calling back repeatedly to say good-bye, so I finally sent my fare thee wells via the spirit ethers. Thank you so much for all you did to organize it and keep us flowing easily. Please know that our cries for more often that monthly was just our grateful exuberance. I am sure we all want to go with a schedule that is most accommodating for you!! So, if monthly works best with your schedule, I bet I’m speaking for everyone that that is what is best for us.
Anil, I recognized your hearing that joy in discovering the near-familiar voices that we experienced last time. The first hearing of each one’s voice is so heartwarming, as the written notes come alive with sound and intonation and just the human life that makes us all alive and the sam. I can’t wait to hear your voice when you tell us about your son’s birth and the beauty on Shobha’s face when she first holds him.
It was absolutely grand to hear Pam and Cory and Laura have a good connection and so much to share. Lisi and Michele were their glorious brilliant lights. We could feel Nina’s presence, and missed Annie and Donna so much. But I could feel you there in love. Hopefully, lots more of us will make it next time.
Joyfully, katrina
Thanks for all the great words about Sunday. Yeah, it really was great. Still taking it in.
I’ve been chatting with an (ACIM) friend and her daughter is back at college and it made me think that I would also love to be back at school. Then I realized:
‘Oh – I AM at school! The Jesus University, the College of the Holy Spirit, taking Forgiveness 151. You and I are sitting in the back row giggling when the prof isn’t looking. Then when he looks back he sees only these beatific little faces. “Who, US?!! We didn’t do nuttin’!”
Then he looks at us so calmy and joyously and says, “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you the whole semester!” ‘
Er, I’m humbled. Truly humbled. I’ve put up Anil’s post on the home page. Just read it, just do it. I won’t say anymore.
I usually can move heaven and earth to get my way (doesn’t ego just sound so nauseating) …but I allowed a greater force to move through me or more accurately silence me. I have reached the point of surrender.
I so wanted to be there with all of you yesterday for the skype session. My husband even went out for breakfast so I could have the bedroom all to myself and chat away. When he returned and found me sleeping he couldn’t believe it. Heck, I couldn’t believe it. How I even wrote that one line to Bernard just prior to 7 am I still don’t know.
Mostly, I regret not singing a Happy Birthday tune to you Michele. I’m confident you had a brilliant day. Then to hear Anil was there, aww shucks…the sound of your voice will have to be my Halloween Treat (:
I totally forgot that Michele and Ruth-Anne share a birthday! So yes! Happy Birthday to you too Ruth-Anne.
Hugs to each and everyone one of you!
Annie
Annie, I am so certain that that sleeping meant that you were connecting on a higher level – just as we some times fall asleep when we meditate, and wake up knowing that something wonderful happened in that sleep.
One
{{{Annie}}} We are here for you. Take care of yourself as is best. Allow the shift to happen.
Annie, I love thinking of you all curled up and slumbering away. It was very close to happening to me. I woke at 6:30 and thought I can just close my eyes for a second, and get up to make coffee at 6:45, and Skype at 7. Next moment, my eyes opened and it was 7:01. My first thought was ‘oh, I’m too late’. But started the rote turning on the computer and putting one finger in front of the other, and Bernard enfolded me into the group about 7:05.
Anyway, I’m happy to know you stored up the fortification of extra sleep.
Big hugs to you Annie dear…
Oh Katrina isnt it a lovely thing to have a personal smile from Ken…{sighs happily}…
Anil it was lovely to read your review of the Skype session. I could feel through your words just how much it moved you and meant to you……
I just read your post on the Home page Anil… what an excellent post, not only wonderfully eloquent but flowing beautifully out of an open heart….big big hugs to you !
Dear Anil, Wow!! Thanks so much for your post, I was enchanted on Sunday to hear your voice, and feel all of you so closed. It was a wonderful meeting and as you, I still have it with me.
But now to your post again, loved it. I already have this on a card next to my laptop: “It is a labor of love to keep the mirror clean. To remove the dust and debris keep falling, but I will keep cleaning the mirror.”
Lots of hugs and much love,
Lisi
Annie, we missed you yesterday a lot, but waiting for the 31st. to have you again at the Village live.
Lots of hugs, much love, Lisi
a ~
Sitting with your submit choice post and reading your other one reflecting on our skype session, i’m realizing the depths I feel in the true comfort,trust and beautifully developing sense of appreciation i experience getting to know you and your various ways of communication. Your often silent presence during our skype, and there was the companion to your silence in your fun happily written bursts.
Your mirror post “To remove the dust and debris as best I can, with no hint of upset” has hit such a tuning fork cord in all of us. The unattached observer practice we’re all experiencing in our process. Love you a…lot
Bernard ~Wow! What beautiful pictures you chose, you always choose and loved these most recent for a’s home page post. Thank you for all the loving kindness and effort you continually give to make this home and our skype workshop selections and hrs together within it such a rich experience.
Much Gratitude and Love,
Michele
Bernard ~
PS Love your Jesus University post and it’s punchline.
Katrina ~ Thank you Thank you Thank you!
FANTABULOSO contribution you’ve provided the untold many who check in at the Song for Ken’s notes. You did a beautiful beautiful job with them and i loved getting to read them and it felt like insider trading of the best kind to know just who “anonymous” is.
Missed you very much DonnaD xoxoxMichele
Donna, miss you, too, very much on Sunday, but very happy we will have you at the Village frequently.
Hugs, and much love,
Lisi
I’ve made some updates to the home page, nothing dramatic but it just reflects a little better what has been happening here lately. I can’t yet get the ‘here’ button to work at the top of the page linking to the Village Bulletin Board – it’s a coding glitch I have to work out.
Thanks, Michele, for your kind words. I sometimes just happen to find the right photos, which is nice.
Big, big hugs, Annie. You know we’re all with you, darlin’.
Bernard, dear Mayor, just finish my reading of the updates at the home page. Really liked them. They give a more accurate description of all that happens here, that is a lot! and it is wonderful.
We love you too, and thank you, too, from the bottom of our hearts.
Much love and tons of hugs,
Lisi
hello, hello (:
where do i begin, dear friends ? (:
i read through each of your lovely thoughts, they were deeply felt in my heart, in depths i had never experienced before – each thought, sparkly and clear, and as i read, and re-read them, each of you became more deeply a part of my expanding heart.
you know what, i don’t think it was a co-incidence that such a post came through me the night after the call.
as Michele said, for much of the call i was silent, as Winnie observed, it was a most healing call for me, meaningful in ways i cannot express, and it was almost like Pam says – the tears welled up within me, – at one point, i stopped speaking, for sure, if i had carried on in that moment, “the tears would have rolled out all the way down to the corners of my smile” (: [thank you, Pam, for that precious loving, heart-expanding image]
i wanted to express something deep within me, did not know how, wrote down my perceptions of the Call, there was still more within me waiting for expression.
and so, i sat down, and wrote that letter to Bernard, kind, gracious, Bernard – the builder of our Home here, for whom i feel an unfathomably deep sentiment of gratitude and appreciation.
24 hours after that post, Nina (you’re right – it felt like it came from some place far away, yet so near), the thought came to me this morning of what i wanted to do –
and it was to love each of you, fully, unconditionally, with no trace of demand, obligation, regret or expectation – like i want to love my unborn son, like i feel when i see his nursery that his loving mother has decorated with so much care, like the lightening of my heart when i see his little baby bathtub, and feel my stresses melt away, like a fresh, fragrant breeze that soothes, energizes and enchants.
Lisi, you speak of being enchanted by my voice – my friend, i was so enamored of your rich, loving tones, from the first words, they will stay with me now, everytime i read your posts, until the next call when we meet again.
Katrina, dear Katrina, so nice to hear your voice, you are right, dear one, the door to my heart is opening each day, and i am most grateful that you have helped me get here.
And finally, for Annie, of the oh-so-clear “Submit”, “Submit”, “by all means Submit” (: – how you manage to make me smile even as you awaken deeper and deeper experiences of Love within me, i cannot imagine –
there was a time, Annie, when Love first took me by storm – in 2001, and i spoke and spoke and sang and danced, the words, the poems, the songs came pouring out, until all my friends and family feared for my sanity (: – but i had been overtaken by something larger than myself, and i didn’t want to contain it.
Today, a deeper love moves me, and i find myself stuck for words – i can only resort to the simple, and oft-misunderstood – i love you, Annie – and leave it at that. I am waiting to hear you on Halloween, and if perchance one (or both) of us gets lost in a different dream-state (:, i will most certainly await the next call after that, until such time as you and i are finally on the same call !! (:
take care, dear ones –
love and more love,
a
“The miracle but calls your ancient name, which you will recognize because the the truth is in your memory.****To use the power that God has given you as He would have it used is natural. It is not arrogant to be as He created you,….****Abide in peace, where God would have you be.****Your ancient name belongs to everyone, as theirs to you. Call on your brother’s name and God will answer, for on Him you call.****A miracle can make no change at all. But it can make what always has been true be recognized by those who knew it not;….”
I don’t know why just seemed like the thing to do. Excerpts out of the last four paragraphs of “The Laws Of Healing” section of text.
Oh Anil … another beautiful and overflowing- with -love post ! It is like poetry…. the tangible joy a gift to all of us…
Katrina it is wonderful to read your notes …Thank you so much for taking them….
“We are always reliving the one sinful action, and the way out is to make it about them. Keep going deeper inside to reach that loving space. Each bad feeling you find as you go in is just another ego story. See it, identify that, and throw it out because it was only made up to keep the love away. Go down another layer, the most loving space is there………………, you’re not at the most loving space yet. Keep going, when you reach the most loving space, the action — or no action — will be the Holy Spirit’s decision. All you have to do is keep the thought process going until you are in that loving space.”
{ leaves some cinnamon and apple muffins freshly baked from the Village Bakehouse, and a nice big pot of Peppermint tea}
Hey, we better watch out for Anil or he’s gonna go ‘Poof!’ before we know it!
Anil, lovely stuff, my friend. Many thanks for your open heart that is treating us to such wonders. You are uplifting us all. And you are most welcome for the building of this great hall. You all make it a joy.
Thanks, Winnie, for the wise words from Katrina (bless her for her notes) and o’ course for the muffins (my favorite combo).
Pam, I loved the words you chose. They ring a deep place in me.
Anil, thanks again for your words and love for all of us and for the Village, really delightful reading your posts and remembering about your voice.
Winnie, dear, just my favorite muffins, mmmm… apple and cinnamon, I am filling and extra-big mug with the peppermint tea, love it.
Pam, I think this line is the heart of the course: “A miracle can make no change at all. But it can make what always has been true be recognized by those who knew it not…”
Tons of hugs to all,
Lisi
Oh, I forgot to say that Hedda wrote me and told me she is following along with all of us very closely and sends all her love and big hugs. She has been having ‘fun times’ on our crazy planet recently and is learning a lot from all of us.
And not long ago I was in touch with Zenbear who is going through a quiet time. He is no longer on the road but housed and cosy for the winter (cold in Boston). His life is moving along peacefully and richly. He sends all his love and will be in touch when the time is right.
Party’s in two days, folks. Headin’ on over to the birthday room… (Sings to himself…”Pretty ballerina…)
I sent out a little newsletter to some of the people who came to the Village in previous times. I have word back from Sarah and Gail. Both regret not having enough time to come by the Village more often, and both think very fondly of this place and send us all their love. The informal newsletter just mentioned the recent developments here. If anyone wants an email copy, just ask.
oh yes Lisi ..thank you for zeroing in on that sentence from Pam`s post. I didnt take it properly in, but you are right – it is the heart and and soul of the Course. I dont recall ever reading that line – what a treat…i really love it.
I tend to gloss over some of the flowery bits in the Course. I guess I`m just not grown up enough yet {slips a whoopee cushion under Bernard just before he sits down }…
Big hugs to Hedda and Zenbear and all the wonderful folk here xoxox
Good morning, friends,
I was touched to receive an e-mail from Bernard who inquired about my absence. It is true that I have allowed myself to become distracted by chaos and other illusions. Not surprisingly, I have even found myself thinking that I am in control of things! Imagine! But I have read through some recent posts, and I appreciate the gentle reminders of forgiveness and at-one-ment. What a lovely way to begin this day. I am feeling centered again.
Hugs to you {{{murrill}}} I did wonder where you went and how you have been. Just write blah blah blah no need for great detail we understand. Just love feeling your presence.
Again Hugs to you and the Entire Village…envision gumby arms 🙂
{{{Murril}}} good to “see” you again. I wonder about others also. Al and Jimi-Zac, Others that we haven’t seen since the monastery. the other Ann in New Mexico, Donna McG, revie bluejean, Gabrielius,……
hi winnie –
one of the nice things here at our Village is that someone will emphasize a particular phrase, paragraph and quote, and that causes us to re-look, re-visit what might have just slipped by..
you know, like you were thanking our dear Lisi for zeroing on the “Miracle” phrase, and it got me to re-read that, and then you, re-quoted that section on “going through the ‘spaces” of ‘bad feeling'” from dear Katrina’s notes, and that really came home for a second time with so much more vividness…
soo… (:
thank you, dear (:
and happiness for all here… (it’s certainly happiness for me, as i go to bed after a long day – eyelids closing (: —
love,
a
nighty-night a and sweet dreams to you…
I like the way our little village makes a mockery of time with a going to bed and murrill wishing us good morning – it`s good fun..
It`s early morning for me too, my favourite time of day. I love to go for a walk at this time and just tell Jesus everything that`s on my mind. I`m lucky to live in the country because i like to do this out loud.
Yesterday an acquaintance who knew i was into the Course, just happened to come over and give me a huge pile of cd`s of the Course on audio, which she didnt want…..lucky me !
She also had a book. I have never seen a green edition before. { i dont trust anything non-Wapnickian}..turns out it was printed in Britain by Penguin.
I know there is an Australian “version” but that`s another story…
a great big gumby group hug to all here xoxoxo
Winnie, I was reading your post and laughing because I am just like you, “I don´t trust anything non-Wapnickian”.
Hi Murril, welcome, good to see you again at the Village.
Lots and lots of love to all, Lisi
haha Winnie, >I have the green Course and it is exactly as the blue one, just smaller and thicker. Completely wapnickian, but without the introduction – i got it before that was written. I juts got the Norwegian translation – lovely BUT the green Course is the REAL Course for me 🙂
natti everyone, even Winnie ( sends her a little sweet grey bird that will turn up in your vicinity very soon. Say hello to it from me.)
am thinking of getting Ken’s permission to publish a Yellow version of the book – it’s going to be called the “The Phone Directory” 🙂 – just kidding, dear friends (:
hope no one is offended with that “joke” – like Annie and i once discussed, humor is tricky, in written form, (and also in spoken form, eh ?) and among friends who have largely never actually spent any “physical” time together – so i’d rather err on the side of sounding geeky and explaining my “poor” jokes (as my wife refers to them (; –
anyways, all those colorful thoughts aside, it’s a slow morning in Asia now – first day all week that i could sleep in, didn’t have to get up before 9 am, and boy, do i love sleeping in, the lazy SoG that I am (:
time to head over to the birthday room – technically, that will be the first “correct” birthday greeting Nina gets, because it’s the East that sees the 22nd first (at least the way we’ve structured this little emerald ball we call earth)…
greetings everyone – may happiness awaken in all our minds today.
a
Snicker, snicker, Yellow version, giggle. Thanks for the humor to go to sleep on. 10:00pm here should be 6:00am Nina time.
Anil…first laugh of today was your “yellow” book joke. Har, har. I have a resolution to put more humor into my life. Thanks for the help!
Anil, you must know that Ken has often, I repeat often, said that you could get exactly the same experience reading the yellow pages as reading the Course. Everything is intention, inner willingness to listen, really listen. Ken could be talking about forgiveness or reading from the yellow pages (as he says) and you could get the same thing. So you’re really bang on the money!
Okay, opening page 1,
Mr Aarts,
then Mrs. Aastin, …
Hmm. Kinda lacks something, dun’ it?
Good morning everyone….
……oh boy i love colourful discussions – oh heck i just love colour and especially wearing them and eating them…. sometimes i find myself eating just yellow food like bananas and pawpaw and cheese and eggs and corn. For breakfast i love a big salad of deep greens and bright reds, and far far underneath i can feel my inner cannibal trying to devour the very colours themselves.
The other day when i went out i wore all lavender even to my hat. A lady in the street spoke to me and said i was dressed like the Jacaranda trees which are all out in flower at the moment. They are SOOOO beautiful. I have no idea if you guys have them over there?
I was never one to worry about whether a certain colour suited me or not. In fact i have always found that to be a peculiar way of thinking.
On closer examination i realized i love all the colours of the rainbow specifically. I dont wear grey, black or maroon or dull colours. Although this special love didnt constitute a problem for me, still i wanted to know what was underneath it.
It wasnt simply a case of wearing bright colours to get my specialness needs met. Often i wear my prettiest clothes at home and change into something dull to go out { tee hee}, so that explanation didnt entirely satisfy me.
One day i realized that i was in love with the rainbow itself, the electro-magnetic spectrum that is. It is possibly the prettiest symbol of our ego world, universally appealing, so totally innocuous, so gentle and comforting and reassuring after the storm.
How clever to hide my hatred of God who doesnt do colour, in such a cunning way.
love to everyone and big hugs too
dear Bernard –
Yes, I do remember your mentioning that one other time – in fact, I first heard that Ken nugget from you (and then subsequently I remember reading it somewhere else on-line, or in one of his books – can’t remember). Actually, the memory of that nugget was what flowed through when I made that Yellow joke (: –
I wrote it out fast, thought it funny.
And then spent the rest of the day *traumatized* (at various points) that I had offended someone with it, (inspite of Pam and Laura’s reassuring laughs) – in fact, until I heard from Nina and Winnie this morning, i was petrified that I had offended them.
And then I remembered Debbie last night, during one of those “difficult” bouts – and her comment at the Monastery about sometimes you write something in the “right” mind, then afterwards your “wrong mind” takes over and re-interprets what it was that you wrote so many moons ago !! and really hours these days feel like years !! (:
Anyway, whew !!
is all i can say – glad that little tempest in a tea-cup passed without too much of trouble (: – still waiting to hear from Lisi though (;
love you all,
a
Oh Anil! Like you and Bernard I already heard that nugget from Ken, and as an assiduous Ken´s student I heard not only that, but that the Course is only a bunch of paper and words and that if we don´t contact with the love that inspired it, better use it to fire our chimney. Your joke was good and I, laugh, too, at it. I don´t think even Jesus care if his book is blue or yellow or green, he only wants that it helps us to awake from this dream and remember that we are in reality listening to his words in the mind, being the blue book only a temporal symbol of his love.
Lots of hugs to all, have a great Saturday,
Lisi
Anil, I think if Bill Thetford was picking a color today, it might be a rainbow colored book — I love the message that bodies in all forms (human or books, etc.) are not real.
hugs, katrina
Lisi, beautifully said.
I love that expression “tempest in a teacup”! It’s such a great description of the entire ego world, ‘such a big deal about nothing’. But… what if the “I” that I think I am is part of that nothing…? And the belief in this little bit of nothing is preventing me from seeing a real big Something?
Did someone mention tea ? yes please…i`ll have mine without the storm ….
My little grey bird hasnt arrived yet Nina.. Speaking of birds, when i go for a walk, part of it takes me through the cow paddock where the plovers {biggish grey birds} nest on the ground and dive bomb any poor sap who walks remotely near.
I see them in the distance honing in on me and i start trembling inside {i`m a big sook} I quickly put up my umbrella and as they come closer i start twirling for extra oomph and even though i also wear a hat and jiggle my brolly too, i am all goosebumps.
What i find interesting about this is that every morning without fail, i know i am going to be under direct attack and it makes no difference that its source is non-human.
So there is no surprise and i have plenty of time to mindfully reflect that i set this up and that this is a call for love….. my call for love too…and that these are not agents of a revengeful God.
Just past the plover zone there is a clump of wild raspberries, its kinda like the reward for walking the gauntlet and then yonder past that is a spot where they park a market caravan when its not in use. It`s gaily painted and has big calligraphy letters, advertising its wares. I love to just stop there and trace the letters in the air…. one day i`m gonna write beautifully or forgive myself trying {tee hee}
big hugs to everyone ! xoxoxo
Tea, why yes I will have some too. Sit down and refocus on HS instead of computers. Oh and raspberries yum. Thanks Winnie.
Winnie, that little grey bird may be found in night-dreams tooo – or in a painting…
I see you walking through those bird-congregations…I am just reading about Tenzin Palmo, this formidable English girl who became a Buddhist nun and lived in a cave for 13 years in the Himalayas…one day she left her cave, she saw huge circles of vultures all over hillside. She took a big breath and said her mantra – Om Mani Padme Hung – just keeping her mind on Love – and they let her pass through them uninterrupted…that is a great image – these circles within circles of vultures – I think she wasn’t expecting anything special, but felt safer saying her mantra –
and i also remember the book Mowgli: he addressed each animal “you and I are of the same blood” – no separation –
also wonder how it would feel to tell them birdies “You are Spirit, healed and whole and innocent – all is forgiven and released -”
just talking to myself WinWin, I really love the image of you swirling your brolly fearlessly traversing the bird-field