Fireside IV
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.
This is the fourth installment in the Fireside discussion series. After we reach 900 comments, the page takes too long to load on your computer, and so we start another fresh page. To review previous discussions, we keep the old pages (Fireside I and Fireside II) which you can find under the ‘Village’ tab on the navigation bar at the top of screen under the image of the tree.
Happy almost Birthday to Lucas! If I wait to post this for the 18th it will probably get away from me. Sounds like Shoba went all out to create a magical day for Lucas. Probably having in-laws around for these kinds of productions is good timing and you can hang back and just enjoy along with Lucas. Kids parties are awesome…just need to create a time and place and they make the magic happen with their overflowing Joy! Or as Nina alluded to, the Sugar is the Magic and lets hope its full effects didn’t kick in till all the kiddies went home (:
You know what this means now Anil?
The Standard for Birthday Parties has been set.
How to outdo Birthday # 3?
Oh, the added pressure of having a Birthday so close to
Jesus’ Birthday-not easy for the parents-I feel for ya.
Hope you took lots of Pics.
xoxo Annie
Thanks, Annie.
It is his birthday now. The 18th. Big day in my life. Forever. and each month. I think I have counted all 36 of his “monthly” birthdays since his arrival. Even before he arrived, I knew the number 18 was big for me. The co-incidence of it being exactly a week before J’s “supposed” b-day is also something magical for me.
I used to(still do) joke with Shobha that L was the second immaculate conception (: She went all out to produce this party. Started planning 3 months ago. He had a great time. Was still talking about it a day later. And yesterday, threw a tantrum because *he* wanted to *move* his “friendly monster” birthday cake to the second apartment we’ve taken on rent in the same building for my parents. Kids – I tell ya. Can’t live with them, or without them (;
Today is his birthday celebration at school. At 9:30 am. His mum and grandmum will attend. Unfortunately, I can’t. I have the biggest week of my career this week. (Working on a fairly important project, one could say the most important project of my business career to-date)
So the battle in my mind rages on, although it is much more gentle battle now. To spend time with my son (and family), or to spend time making more money to make the nest more comfortable.
Or is that just a mask for my desire to make more money, feel more successful and consider myself God of my own universe, having finally succeeded in overthrowing my Creator ?
Good thing I am in the Fireside, how much can a man ramble on about his world without feeling some semblance of tiredness ? and how long can the readers persist in going through line after line of material irrelevant to their lives ? (=
I don’t know, but I’m willing to put it to the Test with this post (=
So, Annie, that’s where we are now. In the last unaddressed point of my ramble, I have to sorrowfully )= admit that I took no pictures at all. But I’m sure someone did (:
SO, moving on, Nina dear, glad that my purchase and post were meaningful to you. I still can’t tell you exactly what is different. I think it will take some time to unravel, perhaps after I’ve finished reading the book.
And going by past patterns of how I resist something, it might take a year or more to unravel.
I do however eventually finish every book I purchase. That’s why I purchase fewer books these past few years than I did in the past. Also, because the spiritual buffet has come to an end for me.
ACIM is the way I’m going, although I tend to look around at various teachers of ACIM, and their articulations of the Course. Most of them are good, but some of them are so far off the mark, that I don’t feel like calling them ACIM teachers (many of them re-interpret the course to say that there is an external world, and that the course is speaking metaphorically when it is says “There is no world” Huh ??? (=
. I guess they have their own path, and I should keep to myself and my own internal guide on such matters ! (=
I’ve been wanting to learn spoken and written Japanese for a long time. (I speak it conversationally). Yesterday I had the idea that I could start reading the Blue Book in Japanese and teach myself the written language simultaneously. Went to the acim.org site in between meetings and that was fun to be able to integrate it into my work day in that way.
Alas, the Japanese version is still under translation and has not yet been released. So that plan is apparently not ripe yet for me ! (=
All right, my friends, I hear ya. I think I have tested your patience enough. I will take your leave now. And many thanks for the forbearance ! (=
Love,
Anil
Great sharings, I’m really enjoying it all. Many thanks to everyone.
Anil, I sent you an email on 27th November. It’s not urgent. I think this is a good place to catch your attention. I also sent you a little package in the (snail) mail to your Amber Road address – I hope it’s the right one. Hope it arrives. If the Course is not available in Japanese, it appears that Gary’s first book is, and might be easier to read initially. Here’s the publisher’s info:
Kawade Shobo Shinsha Publishers
2-32-2 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku
Tokyo, 151-0051, Japan
Publisher Contact: Toshio Motegi, chief editor: email: motegi at kawade.co.jp
Publisher Website: www dot kawade.co.jp/english/
I like your questions about making money vs. spending time with family. Perhaps the trick is feeling that everything here is a just a scene we’re strolling through, whether it’s a family scene or money-making scene, and we can walk through all of them with that same loving, caring detachment. Either way, there is a risk of always feeling we’re in the wrong place doing the wrong thing and should be doing something else, or doing ‘better’. That’s just the nature of believing all this is real; that belief is immediately followed by the feeling of guilt and inadequacy. It’s just the show we learn to watch kindly and patiently, believing it all less and less as ‘time’ moves on.
Have a great day, everyone.
Enjoyed the ramble Anil (:
I’m imagining the friendly monster cake is delicious…Thank You Lucas for sharing.
And Hello Bernard-miss you! And a gentle hug for you and Pat.
And gentle hugs to all as I stroll thru our Holiday Village.
Things are peaceful …like in the Christmas Carol- Silent Night.
Going Deep into the Silence-I’ll meet you There.
mele kalikimaka from our beautiful north shore
much aloha and mahalos for all the daily check ins and sharings and stories and goings on
it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas!!
the whales have arrived and can be seen spouting about out in the ocean
the surf is up and can be heard thundering along all through the day and night
the brilliant full moon makes it like daylight at midnight
we enjoyed the haleiwa christmas parade … thoroughly small town fun … the local septic truck gets a standing ovation as it appears in the parade … it is painted with green leaves and geckos, then has some christmas lights very unprofessionally added on
mom and I are doing fine … every day we have our adventures and accomplishments
every day I still walk on the beach and visit the resting turtles and share alohas with so many people that live in the bushes along the beach
love to our acim village and villagers
all these different lives going on in all places around the planet
there’s a stray black condo cat that wanders about in his condo kingdom, he’s suddenly arrived at the foot of my bed and curled up for a warm cozy rest … what an honor
he’s the vision of “going deep into the silence”
aloha
much aloha to all of you
I love you
Peggy. what a visit
bring cuddles and honors from me, will you
and a warm Christmas hug to you from me
Nina
I liked that pic on Monk/ Jamie’s site… of the snow-covered bridge…. with the christmas lights…. love the feeling that captures so beautifully!
I can send it to you if you like,Anne
Ah, yes, where were we ? …..the Fireside has been silent for a while, I see Nina and Tex were here, reminiscing about our days at the Monatery of the Mists…
let’s see now, Annie’s slightly hardy coffee beans are not around – good thing I am not a coffee connoiseur, am sure hardy is to the right word for the taste she likes, perhaps robust ?…anyway, some of that creamy coffee beans are around, so I’ll just grind me some, and start heating up some milk, nothing like hot milk for coffee…Peggy, Lawrence some for you ?
Right, so to finish my ramble, by the way there is a typo in the Garden, I meant to write “it is *not* uncomfortable” which my iPad Mini autocorrected to something that sounds like the opposite of what I intended, so much for Technology, but I shouldn’t complain too much, its allowing Hawaii, Pittsburgh and Singapore to meet in the FireSide near Toulouse ! (=
And it’s always more fun to feel wonder than to feel crabby, wish I could always remember that !
Soooo…like I was saying, it’s very interesting, and quite lovely, my parents have been here for almost three weeks now, my only sibling, my sister arrives with her son and hubby today, so my entire immediate family will be all together for the next 10 days until the 3rd of Jan. I don’t think we have ever had a family reunion of this sort, the last time so many of us were together for so Lon was probably our wedding in July 2007.
When I watch my family together, I know why God couldn’t have made this world, we all love each other very much, but each member of this family is so strong-willed, and each ones preferences so different in terms of eating choices, ideal temepratures for the thermostat, preferences on where to go, or which country to live, it’s like a mini United Nations here ! (=
With a lot more affection of course, I have never been to the United Nations HQ, but I imagine thereis a lot more politics, and international strategy, being practiced there than just the simple love, and desire to get along.
So it is a lovely family I have,and its strange to say, but I’m quite sure I chose them, that I chose to be born to these particular two individuals, who in their advancing years are becoming more like little children, and must like we love our little ones, even when they drive me bananas with their incessant requirements at times, so also, the time has come for me to become more like a parent for my parents, to love them, and take care of their every requirement, to cherish them and let them know some small measure of the love they brought me up in.
They are still far from requiring daily care, and I pray that they don’t, more for their sake than mine, they worry about being a burden to us, the next generation, my sister and me, but it will be no burden to me, should it so pass, that they requireme to bathe them everyday, and take care of their bathroom needs. I will gladly do it, for as long as it is required, and I will have no complaints in that regard.
They are wonderful people, and have been excellent parents, and I am grateful for the time I getto spendwththem each day these days..it is a fitting end to 2013.
So, my dear Peggy and Lawrence, thanks for inspiring me to go deep into my reflections on family. I wish you both, and everyone I this lovely Village, a very Merry Christmas ! Just like Jesus would have celebrated ! He liked to be of good cheer, and so can we all….
Love, Anil
aloha … such good sharings
happy love shared about family and life and love and jesus and friends and this lovely village
yesterday mom and I went back over to the aulani for a lovely lunch and whale watching
the resort was indulgently lusciously fabulously decked out for christmas … christmas in hawaii is a funny thing … barefeet and bikinis and everyone happy and at the beach … surrounded by christmas decorations
the lights and love and magic and garlands and trees and decorations are everywhere …
mom has had several falls so is in a rather fragile state … she’s on the mend and will be fine … is fine … but it certainly brings home the depth of love and care and personal contact one has with another’s heart
christmas means more to me this year than I can ever remember … it’s like “I GET IT!” this is why we do all this
this is the spirit and meaning of it all
this is why we decorate and create magic
this is why we give so much
this is what it is to believe in the magic of christmas
this is why everything is made so beautiful and colorful and full of lights
this is why we love kids so much
they see the magic and simply love it
mom’s up, I gotta go
love to you all
mele kalikimaka!!
Getting all ready for Christmas! My husband, Harmon, is not at all into decorating, thinking up gifts, shopping, wrapping, especially wrapping. So he spent all last week getting truckloads of firewood for our daughter and for us, even cleared a load of oak from the neighbor’s trimmed limbs. It was green, of course, so he took it to the ranch and exchanged for a load of aged wood. The ranch is an almond and nut farm so they sold lots of baskets with different nut packets. He bought a number of those and spent the rest of the week delivering them to friends.
And today he has driven down to Ventura to fish for the day.
In the meantime I am tring to get all the gifts wrapped, house decorated, tree finished, last feast items gathered and prepped. Trying not to foment a grievance here — nevertheless, weedling your witness at how I’ve been wronged, hah, hah.
My new baby girl comes to visit on Christmas eve. Halleluah!! Her dad will head back the following Sunday, and I will have another week pretending to be a new mommy. The spirit is so willing that it revs up my body strength. Harmon says that it gives me a purpose and that energizes me. Well, it lasts for about a week and then i start to wobble and slink. I have to chuckle at the serendipity of Grandma’s nighttime bathroom calls and Grandbaby’s nighttime bottle calls. Obviously meant for each other. So, if I don’t get back before the assigned culmination of festivities you will know wha’s up.
End of another year, as many family as we can gather with, it’s a Festivus for All of Us, when we put up banners and lights to remind us of Love. There is no Love but God’s, and yours and mine and everyone’s!
“I bless you, brother, with the Love of God which I would share with you.
For I would learn the joyous lesson that there is no love But God’s and yours and mine and everyone’s.”
Nina, I love it when you refer to Alan Dolit. He and his archangel-like wife, Margaret, were my first Course teachers. I had gotten the blue book and read it and was mind blown and found they had a course group about 5 miles away in Paso Robles. It was about 10-15 people at first. But as groups go it would fluctuate. Many times I was the only one there. On those occasions, i would sink into their ultrasoft couch, deeper and deeper until Alan would say, just put your feet up and relax. Then as I lay there like a session on Freud’s couch, we would take turns reading sections, with Alan stopping for his stories or answering my wonderings, and Margaret leaping for the joy it all meant.
When Harmon talks of being nearer to his fishing grounds, i dream of moving to Oceanside and living next door to the Dolits!
How lucky you are to have met them, Katrina. His stories are so fun and joyful, such gems. And he always makes me laugh.
Night all
much love and hugs
Pam, thinking of you with love
Nina
Really looking forward to the peace and quiet of a new start…reading the workbook with my Village People here!
I have a new job that is so bad, I am having escape fantasies of moving to California and starting my life over… I am glad I am not younger and richer…. I would move and find out (years and tears later) that THAT way doesn’t work either!
(A) I get right up to the brink… the edge… the dawning of what it all means – then
(B) something happens and (C) I start over,…..but *this* time absolutely certain and determined to *get it*…
I am soooo ready to stop being sick and tired of being sick and tired!
Ugh, my sisters and brothers, and others! Just ugh!
Tex, that is tough. Having a job that grinds and winds through the day with no relief In sight is probably one of the tougher things to deal with, at least to my mind. I don’t know what else to say, wish you well, and hope it gets as easy as it can get.
Looking forward to the Jan 1 begin, I may join the bus late, but I will join in. I also want to thank you for starting the site you did many years ago, it inspired me, for various reasons to join in around April and do the workbook that year, 2011 ? Or was it 2010?
No matter (=, thank you, just the same….
Merry Christmas Eve everyone….
Love,
Anil
Anil – thanks – I know enough about the Course to know that this is what I made up and I will be *damned* if I can’t fix it! So I am learning to laugh at my silly self and kinda (yet earnestly) work on forgiving everyone I see and think about.
Don’t know why I am so anxious to start the WB… I guess I think it will “save” me…. I never get through it … perhaps this year will be “my” year! (hahahahah)
Lots of love to everyone here in our splendid little home. Many thanks for still being part of my dream, and for this community we have maintained now for over three years.
PS A new post on the home page.
aloha … mahalo … happy christmas eve
mele kalikimaka
bernard … this calm and peaceful place you write about
well said, much appreciated
so be it
we are all already home … in a safe place … loved and serene
abundant blessings and grace abound
joy to the world
oh come let us adore him
may your days be merry and bright
silent night
may the spirit of christmas shine
much love and ho ho ho to one and all
listen listen for the sounds of christmas are all around
do you hear what I hear??????
God jul alle sammen!
I had one of the best Christmas eves ever ( we celebrate the 24th) My daughter and son in law invited me to their new home – my daughters first “own” Christmas, where she decorates the house and creates her/their special flavor – it felt completely magical,sincere and genuine – I felt so welcome! And I got to experience my son-in-law as such a complete mirror of the child in me that still is quite split off – and the beauty is that we truly see each other now, and therefore can stop the wildest unconscious acting out, just allowing each other to be aware that right NOW we’re stuck in some tremendous painful place, and just let it be – just a hand on his arm, his eyes calmly smiling, and then I found myself saying things I never had spoken before, the atmosphere just shivered in such a beautiful way – if Disney had made a film of that scene. it would have been a sparkling space around us with myriads of tiny diamond sparkly stars – it felt like my blood became champagne
such a blessing it is to have someone faithfully act as your reflection, and forgiveness allows it just to be seen and released
and blessed
My daughter gave me a strange soft ball to place under the spine: The TOGU workout Redondo-Ball. That must have been invented my Jesus:) -one places it, almost inflated, under the spine, bended legs and just allows oneself to be aware of the whole spine. NOTHING TO “DO” – just being aware of what this does to the spinal system. It felt like coming alive – all self-striving/expectations just lifted off like vapor. The body felt rested. And when it feels rested, the consciousness feels free.
It is amazing to feel the amount of attention and awareness that has been bound up in tensing these spine-places, to keep something in hiding. Now it opens like a rose, there is PEACE and SPACE and just being. The Love that embraces all of that – oh
happiness
Sharing this happiness a love with my family
Blessings for the new year, looking forward to read the comments and the experiences with the lessons
warmest hugs
Nina
God Bless Us Every One (and lots and lots of love and hugs to my dear Village brothers and sisters)
lawrence
{{{{{{{{{{{Merry Christmas my beloved Village Family}}}}}}}}}
Happy Boxing Day ! Everyone ! (=
Tex, the Course has indeed saved my life. Or more indeed, in those extreme moments of pain and despair or fear or anxiety – we/I do seem to have so many moods, eh ? (= -a phrase from the daily Lesson will pop into my mind and bring with it some inexplicable, imperceptible yet tangible peace.
My latest favorite phrase from the Workbook is….
:: Without forgiveness, is the mind in chains, believing in its own futility ::
Bernard, thanks for the nice new home page post for Christmas. The serenity of that presence, often elusive for me, yet somehow just a thought away. So far, and yet so near ! (=
Ciao ciao.
What does Boxing Day mean,please?
Nina, I love you and your book. It is funny how certain phrases trip us up. I wondered about that at first myself. I think our little brother and giant and spiritual brother means simply boxing of the gifts for Christmas and the holidays.
I have only just really dented the your book because this is our busy season with our online store. Our grown children come home for Christmas and two of them have made us grandparents one a little over two years ago and one just a few months ago.
We go back more than a few years ago now and your presence, knowledge, spirituality and love and forgiveness, are a gift to us all. Anil’s comment about starting to read your book some posts back rang true to me.
There is pain and Love and forgiveness and a understanding that only experience brings, but sharing makes it ours as well, those of us that have known you from the DU sight know the pureness of you sharing. DU the Monastery and now the Village are a gift not taken lightly by me.
I want to thank all of you who have read the posts or who have posted. You are, at the risk of sounding corny, you are the wind beneath my wings.
I must help Sharon clean up, the kids went to Pittsburgh to do some visiting and will be back later tonight.
I have been going through some tough times as of late and haven’t been myself. There are others here who don’t post as much as they used to who are going through some tough too. You are in my thoughts and prayers and I thank you for your silent presence.
Bernard my brother I read your up lifting email your latest sharing. You are also a gift to as all and a born writer and teacher. I will keep you in my prayers and my wish for you is to have the time and energy to keep on keeping on, spread the word my friend.
Jesus was a man who saw the face of Christ in every One he met, and remembered who he was. Some where in the the Bible it says, and I have always gotten chills when I read it. “Hear O’ Israel, The Lord our God, The Lord is One.
May the peace of this beautiful season find us all.
God Bless Us Every One!
lawrence
Nina dear, Boxing Day is a national holiday in Canada and other parts of the erstwhile British empire. The exact origins are unknown, but in googling it to find an answer to your question, it seems like our good friend Sir Lawrenece has got a good handle on it. Apparently, it has to do with the boxing of gifts that are given the day after Christmas to those who are poorer in material possessions.
Apparently… I paste below the excerpt of what my hasty research revealed…
The best clue to Boxing Day’s origins can be found in the song “Good King Wenceslas.” According to the Christmas carol, Wenceslas, who was Duke of Bohemia in the early 10th century, was surveying his land on St. Stephen’s Day — Dec. 26 — when he saw a poor man gathering wood in the middle of a snowstorm. Moved, the King gathered up surplus food and wine and carried them through the blizzard to the peasant’s door. The alms-giving tradition has always been closely associated with the Christmas season — hence the canned-food drives and Salvation Army Santas that pepper our neighborhoods during the winter — but King Wenceslas’ good deed came the day after Christmas, when the English poor received most of their charity.
The End.
(=
That’s how my son finishes reading his stories in his delightful singsong voice. The End. (=
But wait, his father has more to say (= …..
So, Nina, thanks for asking the question, for years I’ve said Happy Boxing Day without quite knowing the origins ! (=
Also, like Sir JP Lawrence says, happy that you had your best Christmas ever, or one of the best, to quote you correctly ! We had a good Christmas too, first time my immediate family were all together for Christmas, Shobha was very happy, Christmas has always been a meaningful tradition for her growing up in Brazil.
For me it was interesting watching my ego in action. I don’t mean I lost my temper or threw a tantrum or any such thing, (although my Mum can easily get me to that point with her overbearing (to me) love), but just watching my own incessant thoughts, as the conversation flew all over, everyone in my family likes to talk, and my sister and brother in law get the highest marks for self-restraint and being good listeners….(=
Soit was like a Thanskgiving movie kind of Christmas, with lots of love, and a fair bit of misunderstanding, and everyone, at least to some degree, feeling like, why, oh why, can’t my family understand me ?
An exercise in Separation and Atonement all rolled into one. That’s duality I guess ! (=
Sir JP. I like that name, and as long as it is not one of those phrases that trip you up, I would like to continue to use it ?….
I am sorry to hear that you have not been feeling yourself, that is a tough place to be, I have been out of sorts myself, and its no fun, being separated from oneself. I have been thinking of Pam a lot more than I mention here, and I hope she is doing as well s possible in those painful circumstances. I wish I could say that we are all safe in Heaven, having a painful dream of Separation, with my degree of conviction, but I don’t think I can.
The world is in our face all the time, but I can remember the lesson I am on currently these last few days, and I end on that note….
:: Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free ::
Anil I always used to say “it is what it is”. Fear binds the world indeed, but it motivates us to find another way. We all have struggled to find a better way. It is what brings Big Blue into our lives and forever changes us and our view of the world.
We must not forget that we are at home and as far as believing in the day to day of this world we have made, well it is what it is. We know it is not our reality but as long as we believe that it is real then we do our best to to do our best in the circumstances we find ourselves in.
All we really have to do is believe in our chosen path enough to practice what it sets done as the truth. I believe at a certain point our heart wins over our intellect. The mind at this point will adjust our focus to the truth of who we are. In the mean time we just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Only our children believe enough in me to take seriously enough what I have told them about the course. Sharon has always had a blind faith and it serves her well. Our children will all have Masters degrees and some will go on for their doctorates. The beauty of that is that they live with a mom who could be a Disney mom, good, trusting and filled with love, and a crazy dad driven to find his true home.
Learning love here under difficult circumstances, and holding on to the belief that there is a better way. Good night my dear friend., what you described about your family gathering is being played out in countless homes.
I am very tired and going to bed, thanks for sharing. I too thought of Pam and then Katrina and there are more of course. I have on my desk one of the gifts my son gave me and it is “The Pocket Thomas Merton” the first lines I read were, “Part One describes the distinction between our false and true selves, between the pseudo-identities we posses as conditioned members of society and the person we truly are, known only to God.
Tell me what the Sir JP is fine as long as you tell me what the JP stands for. I have missed some posts with the crazyness of the last fear months.
My Love to you and yours.
God Bless Us Every One
lawrence
Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day and lets not forget Kwanzaa!! (:
My Computer needs professional attention and I have had not time to tend to it.
Almost crazy that I have been without an internet connections for what feels like forever but its only been 11 days. Using my sons computer now that he is out for the night…need to catch up on some correspondences. Also can’t talk on my cellphone …the text option works and I can only talk using speaker option…there has been some sort of electrical short circuiting here in the Simone household.
It’s all good!
Looking forward to the New Year.
Lots of Love and Blessings to All,
Annie
I have my little knickers on and a really nice frock – ready for school! I am a little early. I want to get all the pencils sharpened so I can poke things with them as I stare out the window and daydream – when I should be paying attention to class.
Oh- look – a squirrel!
I have a few questions that I need/want answered before we start class. Kinda things that will help me catch up and we can all be on the same page.
Where is this class? Am I in the right room?
Help! Oh, look – a pony!
One of the best things when I’m feeling low, aka, like a body, is to come to this village and find a message from one of the Villagers. Like now.
Several new messages to read and savor ! yay !
Now I don’t feel low any more (=
sir JP Lawrence, that refers to Just Plain (JP) Lawrence, which is the way you signed of one of your posts when the prior one had someone, perhaps Annie, perhaps moi, referring to you as Sir Lawrence.
So, Sir JP Lawrence kinda combines all that…(=
Annie, you’re right, it does feel like a lot more than 11 days that you’ve been gone. Each day feels like a lifetime without you ! Your ‘farewell’ post I thought you were saying you we’re going to meet us in Deep Silence, I took that to mean that you were going to be one of the silent ones for a while. Guess your Internet connection caught on, as did your computer and your cellphone, eh ? (=
Tex, the Mayor is the rightoneforthatkindof directions, but I’m going to guess that the Village Square is where the philosophical talk usually happens..? Bernard ? Sire ? (=
Dear ACIM Villagers, it is with a heavy heart that I learned that our beloved teacher Ken Wapnick passed away yesterday. I still hope this is a misunderstanding from my side ?
I know there is no death in Reality and now Ken is closer to us than ever before but right now I can’t stop crying.
Love & Hugs
Hedda
Just checked the facim site. You are right, Hedda.
=(
This is terrible news !
Ps. You were in my thoughts this a.m. Didn’t expect that we would be communicating with this bad news. Hugs to you and all.
Anil
here is what is says:
Kenneth Wapnick passes 12/27/13
The Foundation for Inner Peace honors our long relationship (almost 40 years) with our brother, Ken, with so much Love.
from the FACIM website:
It is with the utmost sorrow that we inform you of the death of Dr. Kenneth Wapnick on Friday December 27, 2013. He died peacefully at home with his beloved wife Gloria and family at his side. The family will have a private service and plans are being made for a forthcoming public memorial.
“There is no death. The Son of God is free.” (W-pI.163)
“Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather that I did not die by demonstrating that I live in you.” (T-11.VI.7:3-4)
*
At first, my heart started to bounce really hard, then came a wave of sadness, then a huge huge joy.
His script is over
Peace is with him
He is Home
He is not lost
We have not lost him
he is right here
in the heart
Alan Dolit’s last:
I had a dream in which Jesus and I are watching rats in a maze running to and fro. There are technicians or scientists in white coats who are writing down their observations. Every so often someone would do something to stimulate the rats either by giving them food or shocks or female rats and record the reactions of the rats. Jesus said “interesting, but does anyone ask the rats if they want to be in there in the first place?” And then somehow we are no longer watching rats, but people. And funnily enough the people are running through the maze and are also being given shocks or rewards but of a more sophisticated nature. However they are totally unaware of being in a maze. Jesus asks the same question. “If they had a choice would they remain in the maze? “
They do have a choice. Life is not meant to adjust to it, but to wake up from it. This is such an obvious question, and yet one that no one asks. That’s when the realization hits. I am dreaming this whole thing up. I have created this nightmare in which everyone is really me asleep. And I too am really asleep and need someone, like Jesus, who is awake to waken me from the dream.
Anil, maybe you somehow “heard” me while I was writing the sad words. My father passed in October and now my spiritual father passed away. Right now I’m sad and grateful at the same time…..
Dear friends, I set up a page this morning for those who wish to share their thoughts about Ken’s passing, entitled Memorium. But it’s fine if you wish to write your words here, too. I shall be writing a note to everyone as soon as I’m able. This is very unexpected news that has left many of us quite lost. Our hearts are joined as one, both in sorrow, and in the deepest love and kindest remembrance of a love that definitely was not of this world. I hold your hand, and feel your warm hand in mine.
Yes, Hedda, I do believe that our (yours, mine and our other fellow Villages) minds are indeed connected, and that this Village is not our only means of communication. Quite possible that I “heard” what you were going through.
Kens passing has turned out to be a tough day for me, I guess my feelings were buried deep, I found myself tearing up inexplicably while walking home from the Internet cafe where I first heard your posting of this news, Hedda.
Waking up from this nightmare is what we all have to do, I guess.
Good night, for now, and love and hugs to all.
I have never met Ken but felt a true love for the gentle spirit of the man who left such a large body of work that we my be guided home. I believe he lives more freely than we do now and that Jesus has welcomed him home. For those who believe in reincarnation in the illusion we appear to live in, well I don’t think he will be coming back.
I feel for those of you who know him personally, for sometimes the heart overwhelms the mind and the sadness is a burden that must be carried, but this too will pass. May God grant us all the understanding of true life.
God bless us every One
lawrence
So sad, no words.
Now is Ken’s most holy purpose done.
For he has come. He has come at last.
Into Christ’s Presence has he entered now,
And be us glad and grateful it is so.
–adapted from the Epilogue of Absence from Felicity (2nd Ed)
Hello My Dear Friends,
I’m needing to connect with others who will let me remember Ken Wapnick in an understanding and communal way. One word to describe him would be “kind.” His passing is bringing up questions to me as to whether it is ever possible to reach the level of kindness he gave me? I’m feeling a gap…when what I want to feel is sameness.
I had three different occasions of hearing him speak in person. On two of those occasions, a couple of memorable things happened. When I attended the four hour seminar that he gave at the Unity Headquarters in south Kansas City…I so wanted to make some sort of contact with him, and I had a question about what he was saying in the seminar about the forgiveness process…but I couldn’t bring myself to go up front and talk to him during the break or maybe time ran out and the speaking resumed before I could get there? Anyway, I made a point of approaching him at the end of the seminar. When I got up there, I was having trouble forming the question, so all that came out of my mouth was, “thank you.” He swooped at me and gave me this great big hug…maybe in some ways to put me at ease…that I had a question and couldn’t quite get it out. Something told me that he was seeing me as he saw himself. That made it easier to ask the question.
The second time I made personal contact was when I traveled to Temecula CA for a week long seminar that he was teaching. Two things happened that week. I had an aisle seat and when he was passing by, he reached out and grasped my arm with a wide grin on his face. Then I did an odd thing later in the week. Something was happening in the room where we were all mingling about and talking and there were several around him where he was shaking the hand of someone seated, and I went up to him and rubbed his arm in an endearing way. Ordinarily, if you do something like that, it gives notice and the person turns to you to see what it is you want or who’s-rubbing-my-arm? KW did not turn to me…it was as if he didn’t feel it…as if body sensations is something he had overcome…didn’t register with him. Somehow, I understood what was going on…that it was not KW ignoring me or slighting me…but me being shown that someone can actually reach a point where he is oblivious to external stimuli such as someone rubbing at your arm. That amazed me…and maybe told me a little about KW’s level of mind training and where he was in his “getting it” about ACIM.
Guess what I’m feeling is some mixed thoughts. Could this have been a person who came across as the same as those around him…but showed subtle hints that he was so very advanced? Perhaps it was my interpretation and how I saw him? I’m feeling glad that I had those encounters…yet they fade to what? A not wanting to let him go?
I understand it was time…but selfishly wish I could have had one more encounter…
Long Absent Laura The Toddler Student
Good to hear from you Laura . I guess we will only know how advanced Ken was/is when we wake up ourselves but for me he was so very advanced the way he always just wanted to be the same as us. He never put himself above us. I’ve been thinking and thanking him a lot since yesterday and out of the blue came a song into my head that I haven’t heard or remembered since it came out maybe 20 years ago, it is : Melanie C: I turn to you ( the original slow version). It made me smile because now I know I can turn to Ken and J in my mind and have double backup 😀 !!
Laura, so good to hear from you.
I remember a beloved professor who reacted exactly like Ken did when you touched him. He was once in discussion with others, and I think he wanted to keep the togetherness-flow with the one he was talking to. If he would have turned to look at me, it would have broken the flow he had going with the other. That was my feeling of it, and I might of course bee wrong.
My teacher is a man that is constantly hugged by all his students. Often you could see a student going over to him and just wrapping her/his arms around him, and sit down like that. If he was speaking with another, it always was like the hugger was not there – but not as a “reaction” in any way – just choosing his focus.
So reading you, my thoughts were: he so knew you were there – he had just grabbed your arm in a loving way – but right now, he choose to have undivided attention to the person speaking to him.
The sun is just going down here.
Laura, I wish you would return to the workbooklessons the first of January. I miss you.
Squeezing you arm lovingly
yours
Nina
Anil,
I just looked and looked at Bernard’s photo of Ken. For mew, it is the most beautiful photo of him I ever saw. That lightness – thanks, B!
I heard the church bell toll in the town square yesterday.
Surprised and at the same time Not to hear of Ken’s passing.
Knowing a huge shift just occurred in the world of illusion – my mind raced to all of Ken’s beloved family (immediate and of course extended). We being part of that extended family have been blessed to have witnessed the Truth that he dedicated his life to. The loss is huge on the physical plane. The message, the music of his lifes’ work however lives on till the end of time. May this extended Family and our deep love and appreciation bring some comfort to those closest to him.
He was such a tireless servant of God and that level of dedication can only be sustained by Grace. He was at One with Our Heavenly Father and at the same time at One with Us All. An open channel, a glimpse here in the Illusion of our rightful place in Heaven.
Grateful to have this Village to connect with. Looking forward to honor his life and life’s work with the world at large. I know that our journey into the workbook come January has already taken a more serious dedication for me because of his passing. I’m sad to say that it is so-but there it is.
The one line that I have heard him say in lectures past is; “Stop with the Baby Business”. Looking back now, he knew he was preparing to leave us soon…
Gently Hugs to My Village Family
Annie…great summation of many things I’m feeling about Ken. Thank you for that! Hedda, a shout back at you! Nina, I love your professor story…thanks for the Workbook Lesson invitation. I will see. Current study is one section of the text per day. Do want to connect again. 🙂
Hugs to you all.
LTS
My heart is full of gratitude for Ken and his teachings. I attended one workshop in Temecula “the world is neutral” and that teaching continues to unfold (I had a great opportunity to practise after an UPSET that happened this fall.)
Also much gratitude to Jamie and Bernard and all the villagers here, everyone joined in this remembering process.
Blessings to All
Bev
Annie and all… I am anxious to do the workbook and “firm up” my notes and life in the Course… it is so much at the center of my every thought… we can be sure the Baby Business Classes will start up in earnest in just a few days!
This is a great time to start again since I really don’t know what any thing is for! Including this.
Bernard, is there anyplace here that we can post a pic of Ken? Kind of a remembering page? Maybe it would be like lighting a candle. I have a couple to start – anyone else? Or is that too “hokey”?
tex, I have such a lightning a candle page at my blog. See right menu
http:// leelotchka44. wordpress. com/
I hope the link goes through – you’ll have to close the gaps
You’re all invited to light candles there whenever you want. For whomever you want to bless.