The Art of Losing: Maundy Thursday

As I googled "stripping the altars" for Maundy Thursday, I came up with a link to a good article "Stripped Bare: Holy Week and the Art of Losing" in the May 16, 2012 issue of Christian Century. It was so good that I posted it on FB, which seems to be looked upon more frequently than this blog. I hope you'll read it.

The author of that article, Richard Lischer, pointed to a poem by Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), a new poet for me.

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster. I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. —Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant 
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15212#sthash.SpPvsGvI.dpuf

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant 
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15212#sthash.SpPvsGvI.dpuf

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant 
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15212#sthash.SpPvsGvI.dpuf

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant 
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15212#sthash.SpPvsGvI.dpuf

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant 
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15212#sthash.SpPvsGvI.dpuf

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant 
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15212#sthash.SpPvsGvI.dpuf

2014 Books: "Zealot"

I am definitely a reader, but also a procrastinator: So far in this third month of 2014, I have only listed one book I have read this year even though I have read many. I will try to write about some of these books in the coming weeks. This won't be in consecutive order though!

Today I feel triumphant for finishing the book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan. Daughters AE and KA in Seattle sent it to me as a surprise some months ago, whenever there was all that hoopla about FOX News inadequately interviewing author Reza Aslan.

I put off reading it because I'd already spent years reading about the historical Jesus, both at Oblate
School of Theology and on my own. However, with our priest liking it and so many members of the Wisdom Class wanting to read it, I read it and am glad I did.

It is very historical, with lots of documentation. In fact, the author has 50 pages of expanded notes at the back of the book (219-272).  All that impresses me; I have always liked to read notes, especially extensive ones like these. Aslan sets the stage very well for the reader to imagine what the politics and culture were like in the time of Jesus and afterwards. This is important for people to read.

I found it especially interesting how he draws comparisons to Paul's view of Jesus and the experiences of those in Jerusalem who knew him in his life at the end of the book. I learned more than I ever knew before about "James the Just," the brother of Jesus, who was called "Bishop of Bishops" in Jerusalem before the decimation of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 c.e.

Zealot is an interesting book to read, one that will create questions that may be old or new to each reader. As a review by Dale B. Martin in the NY Times reveals:

"A real strength of the book is that it provides an introduction to first-century Palestine, including economics, politics and religion. Mr. Aslan uses previous scholarship to describe the precarious existence of Jewish peasants and the lower classes, and how the Romans and the Jewish upper class exploited the land and the people. He explains not just the religious but also the economic significance of the Temple, and therefore the power of the priestly class controlling it. 

“Zealot” shares some of the best traits of popular writing on scholarly subjects: it moves at a good pace; it explains complicated issues as simply as possible; it even provides notes for checking its claims. 

"But the book also suffers from common problems in popularization, like proposing outdated and simplistic theories for phenomena now seen as more complex."

(Go here to read the entire review.) 

I am glad I read it; I learned some new things; I want to investigate some aspects mentioned.  This will be a good book for our weekly book study group, the Wisdom Class, because it will prompt a lot of questions and discussion. It will be slower reading than usual, since it is more of a scholarly book, but they successfully read The Case for God by Karen Armstrong a few years ago.

Zealot is a good book to read for historical information of the area and times of Jesus; it is one that will prompt more questions, discussion and research.

A Different Thanksgiving

In honor of my vegan and vegetarian daughters:

And here is an article about new trends in the American diet concerning such holidays as Thanksgiving.

Can Christianity Be Saved?

Huffington Post recently featured an article by Diana Butler Bass asking "Can Christianity Be Saved?"

Bass points to the decline of mainline churches, including Roman Catholic, in the USA, but she positively points out:

"Unexpectedly, liberal Christianity is--in some congregations at least--undergoing renewal. A grass-roots affair to be sure, sputtering along in local churches, prompted by good pastors doing hard work and theologians mostly unknown to the larger culture. Some local congregations are growing, having seriously re-engaged practices of theological reflection, hospitality, prayer, worship, doing justice, and Christian formation. A recent study from Hartford Institute for Religion Research discovered that liberal congregations actually display higher levels of spiritual vitality than do conservative ones, noting that these findings were "counter-intuitive" to the usual narrative of American church life. 

"There is more than a little historical irony in this. A quiet renewal is occurring, but the denominational structures have yet to adjust their institutions to the recovery of practical wisdom that is remaking local congregations. And the media continues to fixate on big pastors and big churches with conservative followings as the center-point of American religion, ignoring the passion and goodness of the old liberal tradition that is once again finding its heart. Yet, the accepted story of conservative growth and liberal decline is a twentieth century tale, at odds with what the surveys, data, and best research says what is happening now. Indeed, I think that the better story of contemporary Christianity is that of an awakening of a more open, more inclusive, more spiritually vital faith is roiling and I argue for that in my recent book, Christianity After Religion."

Creativity and Connections

 

I have met thoughtful, interesting people through blogging. I consider them to be my friends. Now I find connections with them through Facebook and Pinterest. 

The soaring birds from the keys of a piano indicate creativity and maybe even ascending ecstasy and this was posted by Philomena Ewing, whom I first met at Blue Eyed Ennis.

This connected with an interesting article that artist Sybil Archibald posted on Facebook about creativity. I met her through her blog where she states that "making art is my spiritual path."

I also posted the article "The Creativity Crisis" by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman on Facebook where Quaker Dave, one of the first bloggers I ever met when I started blogging in 2006, posted it and said he was going to share it with his fellow teachers. High praise!

I've never felt I was "creative" but didn't know how to become so. Now that I am taking piano lessons, I understand that my brain has to be exposed to and grown in new connections for growth to occur. It seems like there has to be some foundation of structure, though I think some artists emerge out of "nowhere." Mistakenly, I thought that one was BORN with creativity or not, which meant that I was NOT. Plus, I isolated creativity to the arts and not other areas.

It is wonderful learning new things and ways of being!

Here is glimpse of "The Creativity Crisis:"

"Overwhelmed by curriculum standards, American teachers warn there’s no room in the day for a creativity class. Kids are fortunate if they get an art class once or twice a week. But to scientists, this is a non sequitur, borne out of what University of Georgia’s Mark Runco calls “art bias.” The age-old belief that the arts have a special claim to creativity is unfounded. When scholars gave creativity tasks to both engineering majors and music majors, their scores laid down on an identical spectrum, with the same high averages and standard deviations. Inside their brains, the same thing was happening—ideas were being generated and evaluated on the fly.

"Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put into homeroom. The argument that we can’t teach creativity because kids already have too much to learn is a false trade-off. Creativity isn’t about freedom from concrete facts. Rather, fact-finding and deep research are vital stages in the creative process. Scholars argue that current curriculum standards can still be met, if taught in a different way."

The article is worth reading, so go to "The Creativity Crisis."

Power of Words

Someone who is brave enough to use her words wisely is Sister Joan Chittister:

"Silence About the Global Treatment of Women is Disquieting."

Garden of Liminal Space

Father Ron Rolheiser, president of Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX and member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate writes a column. Today's is the first of six in his Lenten series:

"There's never a good time to die, to bid final good-byes, to lose health, to have a heart attack, to be diagnosed with terminal cancer, to lose friends, to be betrayed, to be misunderstood, to lose everything, to be humiliated, to have to face death and its indescribable loneliness. That's why there's a powerful resistance inside us towards these things.

"We can take consolation in knowing that this was the case too for Jesus. He didn't face these things either without fear, trembling, and the desire to escape. In the Garden of Gethsemane "he sweated blood" as he tried to make peace with his own loss of earthly life.

"The Garden of Gethsemane is, among other things, "liminal space". What is this? Anthropologists use that expression to refer to special times in our lives when our normal situation is so uprooted so that it is possible precisely to plant new roots and take up life in a whole new way. That's usually brought about by a major crisis, one that shakes us in the very roots of our being. Gethsemane was that for Jesus.

"It's significant that Jesus didn't go straight from the last supper room to his crucifixion. He first spent some time readying himself. What's incredible in his story is that he had only one hour within which to do this inner work.

"Imagine this scene: You're relatively young, healthy, and active. You've just enjoyed a festive dinner with close friends, complete with a couple of glasses of wine. You step out of the dining room late at night and you now have one hour to ready yourself to die, one hour to say your final good-byes, to let go, to make peace with death. Sweating blood might be a mild term to describe your inner turmoil. This would surely be an intense hour.

"And so it was for Jesus. That's why his liminal time is often called his "agony in the garden" (an apt term to describe real "liminal space".) What's interesting too is what scripture highlights in his suffering in Gethsemane. As we know, it never emphasizes his physical sufferings (which must have been pretty horrific). Instead it emphasizes his emotional crucifixion, the fact that he is betrayed, misunderstood, alone, morally lonely, the greatest lover in the world, with God alone as his soul mate.

"And what's burning up his heart and soul in Gethsemane? Jesus, himself, expresses it in these words: "If it is possible, let this cup pass from me!" His resistance was to the necessity of it. Why death and humiliation? Couldn't there be some other way? Couldn't new life somehow occur without, first, dying?

"In the Garden, Jesus comes to realize and accept that there isn't any other way, that there's a necessary connection between a certain kind of suffering, a certain letting go, a certain humiliation, and the very possibility of coming to new life.

"Why that necessity? What do we ultimately sweat blood over? Perhaps Job put it best: "Naked I came into this world and naked I leave it again." We are born alone, without possessing anything: clothing, a language, the capacity to take care of ourselves, achievements, trophies, degrees, security, a family, a spouse, a friend, a reputation, a job, a house, a soul mate. When we exit the planet, we will be like that again, alone and naked. But it's precisely that nakedness, helplessness, and vulnerability that makes for liminal space, space within which God can give us something new, beyond what we already have.

"There are times when we sense this, sense its necessity, and sense too that one day, perhaps soon, we will, like Jesus in the Garden, have to make peace with the fact that we are soon to exit this life, alone, but for our hope in God. That's Gethsemane, the place and the experience.

"Our own prayer there, I suspect, will be less about necessity than about timing: "Lord, let this cup be delayed! Not yet! I know it's inevitable, but just give me more time, more years, more experience, more life first!"

"To feel that way is understandable and, if we're young, even a sign of health. Nobody should want to die or want to give up the good things of this life. But Gethsemane awaits us all. Most of us, however, will not enter this garden of liminal space voluntarily, as did Jesus ("Nobody takes my life, I give it up freely!"). Most of us will enter it by conscription, but just as really, on that day when a doctor tells us we have terminal cancer or we suffer a heart attack or something else irretrievably and forever alters our lives.

"When that does happen, and it will happen one way or the other to all of us, it's helpful to know that we're in liminal space, inside a new womb, undergoing a new gestation, waiting for new birth - and that it's okay to sweat a little blood, ask God some questions, and feel resistance in every cell of our being."

Friday Five: Woman Edition

For today's RevGalBlogPals Friday Five, Revkjarla brings us this:

So, since I am in the WR mode, let's talk about women in your life!

1. Name a woman author you very much love to read.
Terri put down lots of mystery authors, whom I also love. However, I would like to add Jacqueline Winspear (author of Maisie Dobbs mysteries) to that list, along with Dorothy Sayers. I admire Karen Armstrong, too, and want to read more of her books.Other female spiritual writers I like to read are Emilie Griffin, Beatrice Bruteau, Ruth Burrows, Kathleen Norris.

2. Name a woman from the Bible with whom you would like to enjoy a nice long coffee talk.
Widow of Nain, Samaritan woman, Mary.

3. Name a famous woman from history with whom you would like to have lunch.
Queen Victoria, Julian of Norwich, Madame Curie, Cleopatra (after reading the recent "biography" of her).

I liked Purple's suggestion of the women who worked for women's right to vote. The person that kept coming to mind is not famous, but I'd like to have dinner with my mother's mother, who was a suffragette. I never knew her and would like to have a chat with her.

4. Name a living famous or infamous woman with whom you would like to go out to dinner.
Suu Kyi; I wish I could have sat in a dinner with her and Hillary talking recently!

Newsweek has a wonderful edition this week of the "150 Fearless Women in the World."

5. If you could be SuperWoman (o.k., I know you already ARE) what three special powers would you like to have? 
Endless energy, instant relocation abilities, healing.

More Mysteries!!

I have recently discovered two new mystery writers I like, who have multiple books in their series. In fact I went to the library today and checked out eight books! (They are not due until Jan. 3, so I should have time after Christmas to read them more diligently.)

The first was a book loaned to two other people, one of whom passed it on to me--the first Charlie Moon mystery. I had not heard of these until now, and the author has been writing them since 1994 (one a year). the first one is The Shaman Sings by James D. Doss. I had six of these books in my Amazon shopping cart immediately after finishing that book last night, but I checked at the public library first today, which was the financially responsible thing to do. Now I have deleted them all from the cart. By using the library, I got copies much more quickly, though I must admit I was lucky that so many were on the shelves ready to be checked out. I'm also glad I did not succumb to the temptation of downloading them to my Kindle!

Even though this is a "Charlie Moon" mystery, he did not appear until the end, though his Aunt Daisy, an Indian shaman, was in the beginning of the book. There is also a small town Colorado sheriff who eventually meets both of them in solving the mystery. Charlie Moon is a (Ute) Tribal Police officer. Mystery, Indian mysticism and humor are all mixed in to make a good read.

It was a happy surprise that I found the other author, because I was first attracted by the cover drawn by Edward Gorey (1925-2000) at the independent Book People store in Austin. Then I read the employee's blurb about The Sybil in Her Grave, which got me to buy the book. This is the last mystery written by Sarah Caudwell (1939-2000) and was published posthumously. I am only 1/3 through the book but want to read the three others written by her. The hero of these books is Hilary Tamar, a professor Oxford, whose sex is never revealed. The elegance of language is beautiful, with humor and wonderful plots.

12 Gifts of Christmas

I just came across "The 12 Gifts of Christmas," a list of kind things to do for strangers for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. It would be most appropriate to post this 12 days before Christmas, but I'll probably forget, so here it is:

12 Gifts of Christmas by Trista Wilson and here is her list:

THE 12 GIFTS OF CHRISTMAS:

DAY 12: (DECEMBER 13)-- Buy food for a homeless person (or someone in need). This does not have to be expensive. $5 should cover lunch.

DAY 11: (DECEMBER 14)-- Write a kind, hand-written letter to someone that changed your life for the better. And no, I'm not talking about an email or a text...I'm talking about snail mail people. ;) (This can be to a childhood friend, a teacher from the past, or even an old baby-sitter that impacted your life for the better.)

DAY 10: (DECEMBER 15)-- Pay for the person's order in line behind you in either the coffee drive-thru, fast food, a tollbooth, train ticket, etc. (There are a LOT of options here...)

DAY 9: (DECEMBER 16)-- Put grocery carts away in a random parking lot for other shoppers or find carts that others have left behind. It will help the employees out by bringing them indoors where they belong.

DAY 8: (DECEMBER 17)-- Write a letter of thanks to the armed forces. (Yes, even if you don't support the war. Remember that these people are risking their lives daily in order to ensure our safety and Freedom).

Here is the address:

A Million Thanks
17853 Santiago Blvd. #107-355
Villa Park, CA 92861

DAY 7: (DECEMBER 18)-- Buy or bake something for a neighbor. You may know them well, you may have never even introduced yourself. So here's your chance;)

DAY 6: (DECEMBER 19)-- Buy a $5 or $10 gift card for a grocery store, gas station, coffee place, etc. Leave the gift card on a random park bench or windshield of someone's car.

DAY 5: (DECEMBER 20)-- Do something kind for the elderly. This can be anything from helping them to their car with heavy groceries, holding the door open for them, volunteering at a retirement home, or even raking their leaves.

DAY 4: (DECEMBER 21)-- Tape quarters to a vending machine. So simple, yet so convenient! I honestly cannot count how many times I have wanted a snack or a soda, but could not dig up that last quarter to satisfy my craving.

DAY 3: (DECEMBER 22)-- Leave a generous tip for a server, barista, or bartender--along with a nice note. This will most likely make their night. Having been in all three of these positions, I know how easy it is to get discouraged when guests are difficult and do not tip. This could turn their entire day around!

DAY 2: (DECEMBER 23)-- Purchase a gift card at a local grocery store (of any amount). Turn around in line, and hand it to the first person you see. Then walk away. No explanation is needed. I'm sure their expression will say it all.

Day 1: (DECEMBER 24)-- YOUR turn to choose a random act of kindness. I thought it would be fun to see the different ideas everybody comes up with for this last day before Christmas. Be creative. The sky is the limit. =)

Trista like you to document this and if you do so, please email your blog address and the account of your experience to CHAINLINKS08@GMAIL.COM.

If you'd like to get involved online on Facebook, go to
https://www.facebook.com/events/315454065150001/

Or just try one or all twelve activities now or on the dates indicated. Show you care!

Moscow, Russia

Painting on the wall of the Russian United Methodist Seminary in Moscow.

With only one day to tour Moscow, we visited the Methodist Seminary in Moscow and toured the city on a bus on Nov. 3, 2011. Read about the seminary here.

This building is the Russian United Methodist Seminary.

This was right before a holiday (Unity Day) and so the traffic was quite congested. It turned out that Red Square was closed to the public, because groups were rehearsing for the upcoming military parade for the following Monday:

I later learned that:
"Thousands of Russian soldiers and military cadets marched across Red Square to mark the 70th anniversary of a historic World War II parade.The show honored the participants of the Nov. 7 1941 parade who then headed directly to the front to defend Moscow from the Nazi forces. The parade Monday involved about 6,000 people, many of them dressed in World War II-era uniforms."

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Russia-marks-anniversary-of-1941-military-parade-2256020.php#ixzz1dp7k1Rfc

We took the metro (subway) to the train station where we met our bus and got our luggage. The artistry of the metro stations was amazing, with statues, mosaics, interesting ceilings. In the Revolution Square metro station, there are bronze statues depicting Soviet workers. One has a dog that is reputed to give you good luck if you rub its nose, which we all did:

Then we boarded a train from Moscow to Vologda, a trip that took us almost 8 hours. We slept in cars which had four bunk beds and arrived at 5:30 am the next day.

Write a letter, a note, a postcard!!

Since new meds are helping my hands feel better (from RA symptoms), so that I can again write notes with a pen, I am newly aware of the demise in letter-writing. I don't write like I used to, but recently I sent out postcards to a few friends. Mail that is personal is such a surprise to find in one's mailbox.

So I went to look at a site I visit infrequently Letter Writers' Alliance, which sent me on to Write a Letter.org, which directed me to the following article by Adam Schwartz, which was posted on April 26, 2010.

Keeping Alive the Lost Art of Letter-Writing
by Adam Schwartz

For thousands of years, letter writing has been the primary form of human communication. Now, with e-mail and text messaging, mailed correspondence is becoming as obsolete as film and LPs.

Just as those old technologies have their fans, though, a quiet subculture of people is keeping alive the art of writing letters the old-fashioned way. This group includes not only people who grew up before computers gained prominence, but also the under-30 set—and they’re invigorating the practice with pen-pal clubs, hip stationery, and letter-writing groups. Those of us who have been seduced by the speed and convenience of instant communication are missing out on one of life’s pleasures, they claim.

Loves Lotsa Mail

Letter writers find like-minded souls through the Letter Exchange, which publishes a print bulletin three times a year for its 400 members who are looking for pen-pals. According to Lonna Riedinger, co-director of the operation, members’ ages range from 20 to 80, with most in the 40- to 70-year-old range. They don’t accept listings from the lovelorn or from prison inmates, but only from regular citizens who simply enjoy writing and receiving letters.

Members can submit a listing in a variety of categories including genealogy, health and wellness, philosophy, and daily life. This appeared under the “Potluck” category:

“Midwest pen pal gal loves lotsa mail! Likes 60s music, old diners, postcards and recipes. Write today!”

That Belongs In A Letter

Because receiving a personal letter is so rare these days, it can feel like a gift. Handwritten letters are especially prized.

“If you write me a letter by hand, I know in a way that cannot be faked, that you put more effort into it,” says Margaret Shepherd, author of The Art of the Personal Letter: A Guide to Connecting Through the Written Word. E-mail may be great for routine tasks, she says, but not for special occasions like thank-you notes: “For anything special, it’s nothing special.”

Shepherd is no Luddite. She routinely sends text messages to her grown daughters. It’s the letters she’s received from them, however, that hold a special place in her heart. She fondly recalls one:

“‘Mom, the last three weeks have been really hard for me. You’ve been a big help.’ Now, that really belongs in a letter. I’ve still got those letters.”

Hope For The Penmanship-Challenged

For those who are afraid to write letters because of bad handwriting, Shepherd has good news. “You’re more critical of your handwriting than anyone else will be. You’ll find that most people feel, when they receive your handwriting, that’s it’s still infinitely better than e-mail. I think even the worst handwriting has more going for it than the best e-mail.” Handwriting preserves the personality of the hand that wrote it. “When I see your handwriting, I know it’s you.”

But what if your handwriting is truly illegible? Is there any hope for improvement? “Absolutely,” says historian and professor Bruce C. Smith. Smith claims to have taught thousands of children and adults alike develop beautiful cursive and print handwriting using a method that he’s called Smith Hand. It’s an improvement over the Palmer and D’Nealian Methods, he says. Clear handwriting is easy, as long as you don’t write way you were taught in school.

“The biggest problem that comes from the traditional methods is writing large, circular letters. You have to extend your fingertips away from your palm in order to make these larger, awkward letters. If you keep your fingers up close to your palm, and write narrow—up and down—you’ll find that you can write much more rapidly, much more easily, and your hand doesn’t tire out. You can do a much better job.”

Overcoming The ‘Block’

Even if you’ve improved your handwriting, there’s always the fear of “writer’s block.” In The Art of the Personal Letter, Margaret Shepherd offers rules of thumb on how to write all sorts of letters, from letters of advice to letters of apology to break-up letters. Her rule of thumb for writing a love letter?

“Talk about us, then talk about you, and only then, talk about me.”

No Wi-Fi Required

Young people are writing letters for a different sort of experience they get from electronic media. Twenty-eight year old graphic designer Kathy Zadrozny of Chicago uses Twitter to keep up on what’s going in the stationery field, but she’s also a frequent letter writer. Her goal? To “resurrect the art and elegance of letter writing.”

Zadrozny co-founded 16 Sparrows, an Internet stationery store that sells her line of quirky paper products. (The store’s motto: “Where sarcasm is folded in half.”) She also co-runs the Letter Writers Alliance, which offers its members a pen pal swap and such retro letter-writing products as vintage, uncancelled postage stamps.

“We really need to continue having letter writing in our society. It is an integral part of how we communicate,” Zadrozny says. “Just because technology is coming to a point where everything is instant doesn’t mean that we can’t allow the slower things to run parallel to that.”

Zadrozny calls herself a “vintage enthusiast,” but says others don’t have to be retro to get into the letter writing habit.

“There are definitely a lot of people I know of who are very into technology, who just like letter writing because it’s taking break away from their everyday. It’s almost like a little bit of a vacation for them to sit down with a pen and paper.”

Those who feel they don’t have enough time to write letters, says Zadrozny, need to rethink the way they see letter writing. Letter writing can be done anywhere, anytime—no Wi-Fi necessary. “You can write a letter on a bus, or while waiting in line. It’s a good use of your time. And whenever you see mailbox you can just mail it off.”

The Letter Writing Club

Letter writers in Vancouver, British Columbia, have the option of writing in a group with other like-minded folk. The Regional Assembly of Text, a hip stationery boutique in that city, holds a letter-writing session it informally calls “the Letter Writing Club” on the first Thursday evening of every month.

For about three hours the store is closed to customers while the letter writers take over. The store owners set up twelve manual, portable typewriters. They make tea and cookies. The sessions attract some 25 to 30 people, ranging in age from 10 years old to over 60, with most in their late 20s to mid-30s.

The store’s co-owner Rebecca Dolen says they began the sessions to encourage people to write letters. “I think that it’s such a wonderful thing to receive a letter in the mail. We thought if we gave people the opportunity and the motivation to do it, maybe we would get more letters out there.” Participants appreciate the opportunity to write in a group. “We get a lot of thank-yous,” says Dolen.

A Typewriter Renaissance

“People really enjoy using the typewriters. We get a lot of comments about the difference between writing a letter and sending and an e-mail. Most people have a lot of fun.”

Dolen believes that letter writing makes for better thinking.

“When you’re sitting down to compose a letter,” she says, “you really have to think about what you’re going to say, formulate your sentences before you start writing. There’s no delete key. There’s no going back and fixing mistakes, which keeps it sincere and lovely.”

Speed Is Relative

Even if you’ve improved your handwriting, overcome your writer’s block, and found time to write, there’s still the problem of all those days and weeks it takes to get a reply to your letter. But is ‘snail mail’ really so sluggish? Or have we just become impatient?

“Ninety-six percent of local mail gets there overnight,” says Norman Scherstrom, a spokesman for the United States Postal Service. The average length of a cross-country mail delivery isn’t too shabby either: three days.

Perhaps it comes down to one’s attitude. To people who are accustomed to the speed and ease of instant electronic communications, waiting weeks for a reply is intolerable. Letter writers, on the other hand, relish the days or weeks that take place between mailing a letter and getting a reply. The delay creates one of the joys of mailed correspondence: anticipation.

Writing Slow Makes The Mind Quick

Scherstrom, a former schoolteacher, shares Rebecca Dolen’s opinion about letter writing’s ability to train the mind. “Speaking makes a quick mind, reading makes a full mind, and writing makes a precise mind,” he says. “The act of writing—narrowing your thoughts and double-checking them and getting them to say exactly what you want—is a wonderful intellectual exercise, and letter writing promotes that.”

“I’m afraid that some of these modern forms of communication—whether it’s quick e-mails or Twitters—really don’t improve the precision of the mind. I fancy them more like speaking. They might help to make the mind a little quicker, but they will not improve its precision.”

So write a letter, stick a stamp on it, and drop it in a mailbox—if you can find one. You know those blue collection boxes that used to be on about every third street corner? Because of the overall reduced use of the U.S. Mail, last year the Postal Service removed 2,400 of them.

~~~~~~~~

A postcard is quick!

Spoon Theory

This cutesy image goes along with a blog called But You Don't Look Sick.Com, which perfectly describes how I appear to most people these days, even myself when I'm under the influence of prednisone. More pointedly, the girl with the spoon is emphasizing The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino. I wrote about this on my RA blog, which I hope you will look at sometime.

I think the Spoon Theory applies to anyone who is under stress, ill, or depressed. The story narrator explains to a friend how fatigued she becomes, because she is given daily a certain number of spoons. If she uses the spoons for too many activities, she runs out of spoons and thus has no more energy.

It is a simple story, but illustrates how energy is easily used up when it is not replenished. (That reminds me of the 12 Step acronym HALT--Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired--If you are experiencing any of these, you should pay attention and take care of yourself!)

Go and read The Spoon Theory.

Swami Abhishiktananda

Abhishiktananda
(Fr. Henri Le Saux)
1910-1973

Henri Le Saux grew up in Brittany, France and excelled in his studies, which continued after he joined the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Anne of Kergonan when he was 19 years old. He felt particularly drawn to the Greek Fathers, especially Gregory Nazianzen’s Hymn to God Beyond All Names:

You who are beyond all, what other name befits you?

No words suffice to hymn you. Alone you are ineffable.

Of all beings you are the End, you are One, you are all, you are none.

Yet not one thing, nor all things. . . . You alone are the Unnameable.

Such Emptiness was a prelude to his call to India, which became an obsession around 1934, when he was only 24 years old, before his ordination. It took 14 more years of persistent asking, writing, and waiting before Henri was sent to India (in 1948), which he never left. He traveled in India and struggled with his Christian faith and the mystical experience of advaita (non-duality).

"He remained a priest, and he remained a Benedictine monk but he was a long way from the average expectations of a Catholic priest. He was beyond all structures, yet he remained a disciple of Jesus. As far as the church is concerned, he never left it but he did become distanced from it. He came to see more and more clearly the false duality of the church, for instance, in regarding people as active or contemplative. In the end even the Mass became unimportant: he could celebrate or not. Everything was divine, so it didn't really matter. But when he did say Mass, it was a momentous occasion, for he was at the level of knowing beyond any words." (38)

De Boulay, Shirley. Swami Abhishiktananda: Essential Writings. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2007.

The other night when I could not sleep, I found an old used copy of Abhishiktananda's book "Saccidananda: A Christian Approach to Advaitic Experience." I am currently reading it again (for the "first" time) and then re-discovered Shirley Du Boulay's book on my shelves, too. So I am newly intrigued by this amazing mystic who experienced Christ from the depth of Hindu spirituality.

Google ABHISHIKTANANDA to find out more about him. A good resource is here, with a collection of articles by him here.

And what prompted me to start writing about him was this quote that I boldly highlighted in Du Boulay's book:

"Only to the extent that you are not attached to any thought, to any point of view, to anything at all, that you do not desire or fear anything, that you do not feel delight or sorrow in anything--only so can the void be created in your intellect. If I am worried about what will happen tomorrow, about what I will have to decide tomorrow, I will not be able to reach this void. I must have absolute faith in this mystery of the beyond into which I throw myself. Whether I call it Christ, Shiva, Parama-atman does not matter. Total acceptance that someone is there to receive me, to take complete charge of me, or rather that in the end I will find myself set free from all my present limitations."
~~July 27, 1955, Diary

De Boulay, Shirley. Swami Abhishiktananda: Essential Writings. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2007.

That's detachment.

Holy Saturday: The Space Between

Christine Valters Paintner writes of Holy Saturday as "The Space Between."

She starts off her article like this:

Don't surrender your loneliness so quickly.

Let it cut more deep.
Let it ferment and season you as few human
Or even divine ingredients can.
Something missing in my heart tonight
Has made my eyes so soft,
My voice so tender,
My need of God
Absolutely clear. ~ Hafiz

"Holy Week invites us into a world full of betrayal, abandonment, mockery, violence, and ultimately death. The Triduum, those three sacred days which constitute one unfolding liturgy, call us to experience communion, loss, and the border spaces of unknowing. Holy Saturday is an invitation to make a conscious passage through the liminal realm of in-between.

"I love the wide space of Holy Saturday that lingers between the suffering and death of Jesus on Friday and the vigil Saturday night proclaiming the return of the Easter fire. For me, Holy Saturday evokes much about the human condition—the ways we are called to let go of things or people, identities or securities and then wonder what will rise up out of the ashes of our lives. The suffering that we experience because of pain or grief or great sorrow and we don't know if we will ever grasp joy again. Much of our lives rest in that space between loss and hope. Our lives are full of Holy Saturday experiences.

"In their book The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan write:

Easter completes the archetypal pattern at the center of the Christian life: death and resurrection, crucifixion and vindication. Both parts of this pattern are essential: death and resurrection, crucifixion and vindication. When one is emphasized over the other distortion is the result. The two must be affirmed equally.

"Before we rush to resurrection we must dwell fully in the space of unknowing, of holding death and life in tension with each other, to experience that liminal place so that we become familiar with its landscape and one day might accompany others who find themselves there and similarly disoriented. The wisdom of the Triduum is that we must be fully present to both the starkness of Friday and to the Saturday space between, before we can really experience the resurrection. We must know the terrible experience of loss wrought again and again in our world so that when the promise of new life dawns we can let it enter into us fully in the space carved by loss. As the great poet of Hafiz reminds us, we must let our loneliness "cut more deep" and "season" us, so that we are reminded of our absolute dependence on the Source of all."

Go HERE to read the rest of her piece on Holy Saturday, with these suggestions to try today:

"Much of our lives are spent in Holy Saturday places but we spend so much energy resisting, longing for resolution and closure. Our practice this day is to really enter into the liminal zone, to be present to it with every cell of our being.

"Make some time on Holy Saturday to sit with all of the paradoxes of life. Bring yourself as fully present as you can to the discomfort of the experience. Rest in the space of waiting and unknowing and resist trying to come up with neat answers or resolutions. Imagine yourself on a wild border or standing on a threshold, knowing that you cannot fully embrace what is on the other side until you have let this place shape and form your heart. When you notice your attention drifting or your mind starting to analyze, return to your breath and the present moment. Allow yourself to feel whatever arises in this space. Honor the mystery."

God in our emptiness

When Feeling Down and Out

by Ronald Rolheiser

"At the end of the day our task is to recognize that God is in the silence, the frustration, the loneliness, the emptiness of our lives.

"We should never be shocked at our own emptiness, nor should we run from it and think that God is dead. God is in the emptiness. But the God who is found there is not God as we imagine Him. The God we find in loneliness and emptiness is the real God, the God that nobody can look at and live because that God is too real, too ineffable, too infinite, too unnameable, too wild, and too much pure fire to be captured in any concepts, words, imaginations, or even feelings. That God, of course, can be met and known; but, this side of eternity, perhaps that God is most easily met precisely when our own words sound flat and empty."

Go here to read the rest of the article.

If you would like to receive Fr. Rolheiser's twice-weekly column via email, subscribe here.

Thomas Merton's 96th Birthday

Thomas Merton
by David Mah

Blue Eyed Ennis prompted me to post about Thomas Merton today, because of her enriching post about his birthday. Just before I looked at her blog, I had been talking to a friend in Houston who mentioned reading about Thomas Merton. These connections brought this contemplative to mind, especially as he is so often quoted, even though he died in 1968.

“The things I thought were so important – because of the effort I put into them – have turned out to be of small value. And the things I was never able to either to measure or to expect, were the things that mattered.” (Thomas Merton)

First off, where I found the icon picture was here, which has a short article entitled "Father Louie and the Little Sister." and then Blue Eyed Ennis has various quotes and links on her post. Please look!

"Joseph and Mary's Advent Vision"

A couple sat outside their destroyed home in Gojra, Pakistan
(in August 2009)

"When I think of them, I imagine a gentle young couple in dire straits in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq or Haiti. In my image, they have no money, no possessions, no home, no healthcare, no bank account, no car, no job, and no prospects. But they do have hope. Their hope is in God."

This is how Father John Dear described Mary and Joseph in his column entitled "Joseph and Mary's Advent Vision."

"Joseph and Mary, poor in possessions but rich in faith and hope, envision a God of love and peace and God’s reign of love and peace, so they could envision and say ‘Yes’ to their Christ of love and peace. There is the Advent story in a nutshell."

by Amos Ferguson

Go here to read Father John Dear's article.

Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

Today is the first day of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. I did not know about it until my mother was diagnosed with it in 1992 and died 43 days later. She was a fit woman at 72 years of age, who had recently retired. This was a shock to us all.



New research suggests that pancreatic cancer growth rate may allow time for early detection, which was unheard of in 1992.

"It has been well established that a huge hurdle in treating pancreatic cancer patients is the late timing of diagnosis. For the vast majority of patients, diagnosis takes place when surgical resection is no longer an option, and often these patients already have metastatic disease, or tumor cells that have spread elsewhere in the body." (This was true for my mother.)

"By studying the genetic changes and analyzing the growth rate of the cells, Dr. Iacobuzio-Donahue and colleagues were also able to establish, for the first time, a timeline during which the tumor forms and progresses. These processes occur over an extended period of time, suggesting that pancreatic cancer does not immediately grow rapidly or aggressively."

There's hope, totally unexpected from my limited perspective.

FOX News

My naivete is showing in that I only learned today that FOX News pays Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, so FOX interviewers are asking questions of fellow employees of FOX. . . I would expect slanted questions to be queried. . . .instead of impartiality.

Paul Krugman wrote a recent editorial about this.

"With Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee all making moves indicating they may run for president, their common employer is facing a question that hasn’t been asked before: How does a news organization cover White House hopefuls when so many are on the payroll?

"The answer is a complicated one for Fox News. (See: GOP's struggles play out on Fox)

"As Fox’s popularity grows among conservatives, the presence of four potentially serious Republican candidates as paid contributors is beginning to frustrate competitors of the network, figures within its own news division and rivals of what some GOP insiders have begun calling “the Fox candidates.”

"With the exception of Mitt Romney, Fox now has deals with every major potential Republican presidential candidate not currently in elected office.

"The matter is of no small consequence, since it’s uncertain how other news organizations can cover the early stages of the presidential race when some of the main GOP contenders are contractually forbidden to appear on any TV network besides Fox."

Above comes from a September 27, 2010 article by Jonathan Martin and Keach Hagey.