Spiritual Notebook: Quakers shine new light on life and death issues

SUMMARY Yesterday our local (nonsectarian) Quaker Meeting showed how meeting by Zoom, driven by the coronavirus threat, creates an opening to a new expression of spirit. This new expression of spirit will remain important even after the virus abates, important in preparing us for more permanent changes on earth related to the new massive expansion of internet technology. We actually had three meetings by Zoom in a row. First was a renewal of the early “drop in” meeting, our first drop in meeting in the Zoom area, with just three of us (but when the Zoom password gets sent out to others it may grow again.) Next was regular silent “Meeting for Worship”, the third I have attended by Zoom Finally, there was a “Second Hour” discussion with Emily Wirzba of Friends Committee for National Legislation (FCNL), which TODAY strikes me as humanity’s best hope to take the kind of actions we need to avoid extinction by worst case climate change (euxinia, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvteE6smrF0&t=417s). Thoughts from the Two Previous Meetings At our first Zoom meeting, it was clear that some people felt very cut off by the new “social distancing” rules. Very cut off and lonely. Did meeting by Zoom create the kind of human connection which would overcome that feeling of isolation? In fact, this is a very deep and important problem, not only for Quakers now but for the whole world as the internet becomes more pervasive: http://ilp.mit.edu/conference.jsp?confid=260&tabname=agenda (Changes really are coming to the whole world internet, much bigger and sooner than most people assume. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6togqN9Cvt4.) And so, I raised the question: can we LEARN (in brain and soul) how to attune more deeply with other people on the call just by looking at their faces (and our memory of them), as we would in the same room? It is a VERY important skill to work on. (At Werbos.com/religions.htm, I post links to other images whih can also serve as gateways to reaching out and attunement, a fundamental part of how our noosphere and souls work.) But ALSO we can REMEMBER and bring up in our deepest consciousness the full “five-dimensional memory” of what it felt like in that very specific room, the Langkey Hill meeting room, which has developed real and powerful invisible connections worthy of preservation. (I did not mention the book Sanctum Celeste by Bernard,,, but it is another example of how we can build real meeting foci in our souls and our noosphere of great importance in building connect ions and enhancing dialogues. Now that I think of it, Pynchon’s novel Gravity’s Rainbow also describes such a place in the noosphere, quite realistically.) YET in those meetings, via Zoom, we were also surprised at times by images of trees, birds, and even a cat. This reminded me that, though the meeting room is a kind of great gateway to the most general human part of the noosphere, it is a positive bit of progress to reach out more emphatically to other life in our noosphere. In one of those weeks, the birds were ever so prominent suddenly, coming from so many directions, including a remote tribe along the Amazon (zooming in thanks to visitors from Rio with A/V) and NSF people seeing curious bird behavior during their walks… not to mention our own esoteric back yard and other Quakers. The Drop In Meeting In the past, in the hour before Meeting for Worship, we were led by Steve (former math professor at George Mason) in discussion of two to four page readings from MANY sources, from old Quaker sources, to Buddhism, to Taoism, to shamanism, to Bible, to scholarly work, etc., etc. Yesterday, Laurie, an another amazing person from Meeting, set up the Zoom and the password, though I barely figured out how to log in in time, and I do hope we can bring in more people next time. Still, deep and intense discussions of just three people can be very worthwhile in any case. In past weeks, Steve has described himself as a “Catholic Quaker,” and we heard equally form John, a “Buddhist Quaker,” but our meeting is very clear that all are equally called and free to express their views. (Technically, free EXCEPT to seek anger and conflict or to oppress OTHER people, but I do not recall any real problems that way here. I do recall hearing that there were business meetings where the Ministry and Worship Committee had to ask for calm when there was a discussion of Arabs and Israelis, in discussing such policy positions.) Before the meeting, Steve and Laurie had agreed that this week would focus on the book of Matthew, chapter 10, last few verses, maybe just one line from chapter 11. Steve noted that during this month of quarantine, he had read deeply into writings of a Quaker imprisoned in the Tower of London, bearing up under the “Fourteen stations of the cross.” (Similar feelings to quarantine?) He highlighted the verse in Matthew telling us we must bear up our own cross, to join the path of Jesus. But what did this really mean? Laurie commented that heavy dependence on ANY ancient books was not so meaningful to HER on her spiritual path, because real connections to real living people are the key for her. After this became a bit tense, I broke in and asked: “Is this because we are using Zoom, which is not so familiar to us, instead of being in person? People on listserv lose human connection even more, and go nuts, but even for us, is the level of natural human attunement and mutual support reduced by the lesser degree of spiritual attunement over the internet?” Steve and Laurie said no, that they could connect this way, but that the real issue is one of different points of view. And so we needed to get into those points of view. I agreed BOTH with the most important points by Steve and by Laurie. I said that the words “bear your cross” reminded me especially of the hardworking, devout and very very warm grandmother I had of Bavarian origin, and of a large ground level chapel we visited in Munich a few years ago which had unique vibes reminding me so much of my grandmother (unlike other churches and cathedrals and temples we have visited all over the world.) It was NOT about stumbling and getting back up (as in some of those stations, but simply carrying.. a certain kind of deep duty full of real spiritual energy, warmth and determination, and calm and responsible. But I went on to say… it is not just attunement with living people here and now. I mentioned my visit to Kohunlich (and Facebook post!) a few years ago, connecting to a whole civilization. As I discussed that experience, Laurie agreed that the people do not have to be right there right now, so long as there WAS a real spiritual energy there emanating form people fully alive and active in spiritual level. When Laurie spoke of the central role of spiritual CONNECTION for her, I agreed emphatically, and mentioned the first sanzan shrine I link to at Werbos.com/religions.htm, the shrine of connection. Steve mentioned a beam of light coming down… but I did not have time to discuss the SECOND major shrine, but I mentioned we have actual photos of such a beam of light in the same album. Discussing our quarantine experience, Laurie mentioned how Noah attuned more with higher levels than with his neighbors, after HE had to shift HIS lifestyle. But time ran out, and it was time to shift to Meeting proper. “Meeting for Worship” Typical Langley Meetings would include three people getting up to speak (following tight guidelines on when to speak) , but a normal range would be zero to six. This one was more like six. (The previous were not so “talky.”) I regret that I took notes only by scribbling on paper. Why not use a table computer? At least on Zoom, with microsphone muted, Idid not have to worry about disturbing others by the sound of taking notes, either of what other people said or by “messages” just for me or a few. (Only messages for most of the meeting should be voiced at that time.) Betty Smallwood, who founded Friends Community School (FCS) of Maryland years ago, spoke about her experience as she waited to move into Friends House, delayed by the virus stuff (but still joining them by Zoom). It seems lonely, but is not SO lonely, when she ascends to a high place where she can have a dialogue with “her shadow,”. And she talked about the pain of challenge to her patience, waiting for her new residence to be ready for her. Pardee, who has been liberated by this Zoom connection (versus being unable to leave his elder residence under lockdown), gave a poem the previous week: Rejoice! You are sown into the fabric of the universe. You are one of the red threads of God, Knit into yourself, your family, your friend, your enemy, and your Lord. Don’t pull out the thread! But follow it outwardly into the world And inwardly into your soul. When I spoke, I mentioned that I had posted and commented on Pardee’s poem at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/biological-physics-and-meaning, and that an important leader of yoga thought was included in that discussion. This time, Pardee spoke again, and briefly noted that patience is so much easuer and more natural when one is quietly “resting the spirit” (which I interpret as the samadhi experience I discussed more in those posts, and which was a big part of my feelings just that morning before Meeting). I also mentioned how powerful the feelings like loneliness and disconnection are across the entire noosphere at this time, and that we can hold those feelings without letting them hold us. Another person said that people (like Betty?) would not feel so lonely if only they could open their eyes and see how we are “swimming in souls, all around us all the time.” That reminded me of my mother’s last year of living in my brother’s house. (OK, it also reminded me of a time many decades ago when I praciiced “astral travel” a lot and got into a lot of situations where some older people, glowing white, could see me, but others could not, and the others thought the glowing ones were getting crazy.) My mother, an authentically deeply sensitive person who herself started to get that kind of glow, seemed to be going crazy because SHE was haunted by … projections?... of people linked somehow to my nephew Ben who was going through hard times. Swimming in spirits is all well and good, but WHICH spirits on what terms for what? I was also reminded of my experiences in Japan, linked to at Werbos.com/relisions.htm and associated further details not yet posted, not like what this guy described. I later told Luda that the relation between my mother and Ben at that timre reminds me of the video movie What Dreams May Come, which I even recommended to her at that time. At some point, Laurie and Georgia spoke of the “communion of saints,”another important venue of connection. AND… one woman (I apologize I forget who)… spoke of her postman story, the most inspiring message of all yesterday. Yes, he was just a mailman. But somehow he brought a kind of PRESENCE or GLOW. Somehow that presence changed the feelings of her whole household, creating a feeling of joy and life, which sounded like special qi and connection which has often been so central to my own will to live and to do. It reminded me of Shaw’s Back to Methusaleh, the act of MANIFESTATION and how THAT act connects. After meeting, we usually have an “Afterthoughts” section, but not this day. My previous meeting, Adelohi of Maryland, had a “Joys and Concerns” session after Meeting, but here it is “Holding the Light” (like healing or praying for suffering people, incredibly long last week as many now suffer). I was deeply moved by what Georgia said about her husband, who is having,problems which reminded me of my mother (who also had POCD to complicate things), and I couldn’t help standing up and mentioning the great Passages novel of Connie Willis, probing deeply =into what happens to people who go through what her husband and my mother went through. (My brother, sister and I agree we have contact with our deceased mother which indicates she is recovering. ) Betty’s comment about a “special place” also reminded me of the one and only Rosicrucian Zoom I have observed, which was quite different from the book by Bernard, More like what Betty had in mind. But this is not the place to record what I experienced in THAT Zoom. At announcement time, many ways to use Zoom have come up, but none like the “international Quaker Business Meeting for Peace” which I proposed during afterthoughts time of my first Quaker Zoom. Quaker Business meetings are supposed to be HSALF the usual deep meditation and connection, but half focus on a particular issue or issues. Second hour on Climate Change This second hour was especially important to ME in “maintaining will to live,” as I described in some detail in my post earlier today at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/biological-physics-and-meaning. But perhaps this is not the place to elaborate. It gave me hope that FCNL **MIGHT** mobilize the all-important next generation, and build the all-important new connections both in mundane discussions and in deep connections between people and disciplines, necessary to surviving the steady drift towards human extinction by euxinia. It was nice to Zoom between us and the leader of the FCNL national efforts on climate and energy. We had a chance to get into real depth, and our friends from Africa and from World Bank drew us into kind of vital substantive issues without which climate advocacy becomes destructive BS. (Could Sanders be more effective than Trump in controlling the aberrations of his own base? Let us pray, but FCNL is in the MIDDLE in any case.) We were reminded that”There is hat of God in every person, even legislators,”That it is an INTERNATIONAL challenge, and that activating the spirit even in US politics may be our best hope for the kind of dialogue which could really save us all. But the details belong perhaps in a different, more technical post. This is long enough anyway.