Sunday, August 31, 2008

2008-08-30

After Morning Offering, which Mick and I shared with Mel and Aaron, the Homecoming Circle gathered under the big tent for our presentations. Gary had put my segment first, so I offered my thoughts on the uses of adversity, describing how I came to begin writing my Holly Journal and having a chapel time each day all to myself.

Steve T presented next, sharing his wry comments on the trials and tribulations of life in service to others. This topic was vastly popular! We ran behind in time because of the energetic discussion, so I volunteered to make shorter work of Bob R’s topic than the appointed half hour.

Bob had asked me to present for him on the topic of increasing the numbers for harvest, riffing off the latest volume of Handbook for the New Paradigm, Messages for the Ground Crew. I described the basic concept, which is that we have the power to change our reality by the way we live and envision our lives. I shared the prayer, “I am a human being. Help me to become.” And I talked about the power of persistent envisioning.

Melissa next offered her thoughts on her experiences on Avalon, moving from urban to rural on the spiritual path. Everyone was fascinated by her being solo on Avalon and getting so incredibly much done there. She talked about the challenges of breaking into the closed country culture and finally being seen as belonging, and about defining and redefining success and failure.

Next up was Vince, a newcomer to the Homecoming experience. Vince has been studying with Steve and Lorena's TCLOOSG (The Chicago Law of One Study Group) for some time now, familiarizing himself with the Law of One. Vince had a great presentation to offer about his experiences with meditation and its use towards his understanding and amelioration of pain.

Then Scott offered readings from www.wingmakers.com and led us in a visualizing exercise, exploring the qualities of divine love. I never could draw a lick, but I enjoyed the sharp pencil and the exercise of the visualization. Mick and I were drawing two different visualizations, but oddly enough, our drawings were very similar.

Aaron presented a segment on witnessing, isolation and the challenges of living in an environment of mental imbalance. She talked about her garden, where she lives in public housing, and how she spent all summer planting and tending pretty flowers for all the 200 inhabitants of this housing unit to enjoy, when a gang of goons tore up her flowers and planted some tomatoes instead. They did not share these tomatoes. Even a planting plot can become political and go from service-to-others to service-to-self!

Steve M then presented a segment on the topic, “Does the Law of Confusion or Free Will Give Rise to Science?” We wandered through his landscape of new physics and mathematics, mesmerized by the boldness of his theory. He is aiming towards the writing of a book on this subject eventually.

Jeremy W gave us a challenging segment on the political implications of the Law of One. There was a spirited debate, which was just what Jeremy had hoped for, as he has been working with these ideas, with no one to bounce them off of, for a long time.

Lastly for the day, Lorena passed out a booklet containing the correspondences between two prisoners and her, and discussed the L/L Research newsletter for prisoners, The LOOP (Law Of One for Prisoners). Lorena produces this newsletter as part of her prison ministry for L/L Research. It was most inspiring.

We ended our day together by enjoying a lovely meal at The Bristol. We offered the Gaia Meditation on the way home from the restaurant, and I gave the closing prayer. Then Mick and I enjoyed a late shower and a date, exchanging much loving energy.

We will hear the last seven presentations tomorrow.