Last weekend my wife, Liz, and I were sat on the concourse at Kings Cross railway station in London, drinking coffee and waiting for our train, north, back home. A young man materialised at our side; a suddenly still figure in the shifting mass of folk in transit. He had a newspaper in his hand. Turns out he was homeless and selling the paper was the way he kept body and soul together. “It’s a really good alternative to the mainstream media”, was his sales pitch. The paper was called Dope. The front page was taken up by the legend, “Already Against the Next War”. I have it here. On the inside cover a strap line informs the reader that the paper is published, “in solidarity until everyone has a home and nobody lives in a cage”. It counsels the reader to “Let this radicalise you rather than lead you to despair”.
Dope is a kind of anarchist patchwork quilt comprising freshly written pieces and extracts filleted from texts of the tradition. We were reading bits and passing it back and forth between us on the train to Hull. I can’t remember whether Liz or I came to the last piece first. No matter. The concluding story was written by a woman who had opened a community bread making business. She named her enterprise, The Conquest of Bread, after the book written by the great libertarian-pacifist anarchist Peter Kropotkin.
I guess the bread-maker doesn’t know this, but she shares her reverence for Kropotkin with Servant of God Dorothy Day. However, she may well hear all about that link soon enough as the bread-making takes place in a small bakery in Hull. And, given that Liz and I are currently reading, The Conquest of Bread, after our morning prayer; and, as we are currently seeking some kind of encounter with local anarchists that we might re-engage politically during this weird time we have exchanged e mails with the baker.
Your latest offering landed in our in-box as we began our baker-outreach thing. Got to say, I love it, Jack. Our struggle is to find the language necessary to radicalise the faith and spiritualise the
anarchy. The attendant problems this endeavour encounters has been my major preoccupation ever since we quit the Catholic Worker. Still thinking. Don’t want this to get too long and clunky. So, et me quit, here. I may have suggested this before, but you really ought to read Jacques Ellul; Christianity and Anarchism, and The Meaning of The City, are slim but indispensable volumes. I would argue, strongly, that much the same could be said for Peter Kropotkin’s, The Conquest of Bread.
John, I really enjoyed reading your comment and googled Dope magazine straight away, but got to a magazine published in Seattle and mainly dealing with how to grow dope and other related issues. I don't mind, but I think you are referring to another publication perhaps. Would you be up for publishing a link, please? I find the idea of a UK network like that exciting and it would be great to find out more.
Hi anna; this is a belt & braces reply. I think I have sent you the relevant website but just in case I got that wrong, here it is again: https://www.dogsection.org/category/dope
As someone who has taken more than a passing interest in anarchism in the recent past but now finds himself taking his first tentative steps on the Christian path, this post was a joy to find.
I have an unread copy of Christianity and Anarchism, thanks to Paul Kingsnorth pointing me in the direction of Ellul, that has been buried in a pile of other unread books for some time.
I shall take this post as a little nudge that now may be a good time to read it.
Thank you John. Greetings from the other side of the Pennines!
Thank you for this thoughtful piece 🧡 Nearing 60, having done such things as started a school of sustainability, facilitated for Occupy, represented the incarcerated at standing rock, gone through Al-anon, and come out of decades of yoga with the jewel of a simple daily 40 minute meditation practice, I have come to these same conclusions. Being only a few years into my contemplation practice, I am finding much loosening of neurosis and an expansion of the understanding of what it is to “hold space” for others. I still struggle with how to expand this into larger local efforts-projects but I trust that will come in time 🙏🏼
L'AC- My hope is that any one of us can begin, by starting very small--a mustard seed, as it word. It may be challenge enough to find even one or two people willing to begin something like what is proposed here. But it isn't insurmountable. If it is, we are in worse shape than even I think.
From what you say in your comment, you might be a very good candidate to begin something. The larger local effort, I think, will come--or not--from very small and good beginnings.
Growing up on a small hill farm in South Wales I remember well how communities supported each other. They gave their time and effort to help those in need, knowing that when the time came that help would be there for them. No money exchanged hands, ever. And even today those principles and practices are still alive though not as obvious to the outside onlooker. A stray sheep having got mixed up with the neighbours flock would be brought home. And then the kettle would be on the stove and fresh baked bread and cheese on a plate, with conversation going on well after the sun had gone down.
Richard- This is good to hear. And I do trust that this kind of true community persists. At least on the outskirts. I saw it still alive in Ireland 20+ years ago. I hope it still thrives.
It is for those of us who have lived in the system all our lives that need to find a way to find this type of thing again. In many ways it's what you don't even know is missing that haunts you the most.
My hope is that if a fuller human reality can be recovered it will be done at the smallest levels, with very modest beginnings. It can't be directed and managed or it will get throttled before it even can begin to grow.
But it is probably a more natural occurence in rural areas than in the densely populated. Which is why those inclined who can get out, probably should. -Jack
The only place in the Bible where the kingdom of God or Heaven is explicitly defined is in Romans 14 where it says the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit and speaking of anarchy in its highest sense - “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” 2 Corinthians 3:17. So I get what Berdyaev is saying above
For a time my family were part of a house church. We rotated weekly between 3 different homes and shared a meal afterward. One man in this group was in recovery via Narcotics Anonymous. He was always working with newer members (of NA) and very involved in their day to day well being -- phone calls, rides, advice, encouragement. Most of what I know about the 12 steps is through him. He would always encourage us to read more about the program but I never did.
I've been contemplating this mentality of control and ideology recently from the angle of agriculture. There are those who idealize hunter-gatherers as uniquely in tune with the natural world. Then there are the permaculture idealists who have been mocked for making it sound like if you plant a perennial food forest, you only have to walk outside and open your mouth for food to fall in. I think we can all agree that the state of agriculture is horrifyingly far off from the scale and balance that feels acceptable.... but how much control and manipulation is too much? As you say, we won't map it out without getting out there and making a go. Wendell Berry says, we need to re-ruralize because rural land is the site of the problem, of our disconnection to nature. If the people who are concerned and longing for healing don't go to where the problem is happening then all their talk and writing can't begin to help.
Now, I have been planning on getting into dairy on a very small scale. In reading a couple books about this I have been amazed to learn that artificial insemination of dairy cows is the norm even on very 'natural', small scale, idealistic farms. This strikes me as one of those lines that shouldn't be crossed. I mean, the semen from a few prize bulls is being used across the whole country to father almost all the dairy cows. How do cows feel and should that matter at all? nevermind all the technological wrangling needed to facilitate this process: "It only cost $300 per year to keep 2 cryogenic tanks of liquid nitrogen where we can store bull semen rather than all the expense, hassle, and danger of managing bulls." I don't mean to downplay that keeping a bull or several is no joke.... Anyhow, it strikes me as a fine example of how we will need groups of people, accountability, and to have at the fore of our consciousness what we want to avoid and the willingness to work hard and trust God in order to follow a different path from the standard of efficiency, control, profit, and preference.
Chris Smaje has been discussing Genesis and farming on his blog (Small Farm Future https://smallfarmfuture.org.uk/?p=2003). He is someone who also helped me to think through the whole question of annual vs perennial food systems. He suggest we need to accept that our longing to be "one with nature" may be tragic in essence because we live in a fallen world, and that we need to accept our role as a patch-disturbing species like elephants or beavers. We may have to plow the soil and to breed plants or animals for our own ends. Working out the right and wrong, finding the balance, requires the community you suggest. Obviously in a situation of declining cheap energy people will be doing whatever works, and that may be brutal, but we want to hold a different ideal. I like the 12 steps for this.
Clara- I find this fascinating. Obviously there is more to learn about running a farm than I can even begin to be aware of. But from what you say I can see that even at a smaller scale there are decisions to be made about how to proceed. That technology can allow an easier and more efficient route than going natural. I don't doubt a bull is a force to be reckoned with.
As an aside, years ago friends and I went to a drive-through "safari" in of all places, New Jersey. Besides being depressing and pathetic (e.g., people feeding the baboons junk food out of their cars) I was initially surprised at how much smaller all the animals were, such as the rhinoceroses. Then it hit me, "these are all females!" If you had a male rhinoceros in such a place things would get exciting *real quick*.
One of the last music gigs I played was at Goat Farm (sic). The mama goats and babies were out in their pens and were a big attraction. The he-goats were off in some enclosure that, as I recall, was covered over. It was like they were radioactive or something.
But I digress.
In my own ignorance and naivete perhaps I have long been drawn to the Natural Farming of Masanobu Fukuoka. I came across his ideas years ago and was immediately drawn to it philosophically. Of course I lived in an apt in a city so I wasn't going to be doing much farming, natural or otherwise. But I would still like to try it, before I shuffle off this mortal coil. . I would like to see for myself what is possible--should I ever get a patch of land to try it out.
It will be interesting to see what the cultural and communal life is like in Troy (yes, I am assuming this move will happen!). How much does the rural life allow for mutual help and community that is much more difficult in dense population? Will anything like I am proposing in this post even be necessary?
For all the ominous signs emerging from the megasystem, there are also signs of hope.
Yeah, I'm attracted to Fukuoka style do-nothing farming also. I also have tried no-till, non-pruned fruit trees a la Sepp Holzer etc. I think there is some truth in it but there are always trade-offs in productivity or convenience and if we needed to feed ourselves we'd need to take more control, at least at times. How to exercise that "authority" in a loving way and keep it from crossing over into hubristic control or domination?
"How to exercise that "authority" in a loving way and keep it from crossing over into hubristic control or domination?"
This is the question for the ages. Though I talk of Anarchy, I am a believer in natural authority and hierarchy that are oriented to doing things well and for the good. These are necessarily ad hoc and for the duration to the task at hand. It's when those harden into systems and structures that cannot be questioned even when they inevitably stop doing things well and for the good that I am no longer on board.
I was raised in the last days of the agrarian midwest small farm culture. As a kid I would hear occasionally of dairy farmers killed or injured by their bull. For some reason dairy bulls are more aggressive, especially Jersey bulls. My dad’s red angus bull (a beef breed) was placid. Boars were manageable. Male goats have a strong odor and are absurdly horny , even when the females aren’t in season. Rams can be dangerous, roosters and tom turkeys bothersome and aggressive.
You are right. I am a retired goat farmer/cheese maker. The dairy goat bucks smell so strongly of skunk that the milk from the does is tainted if they are in pens nearby... not to mention that they cause visiting children to ask their parents embarrassing questions.
I wonder if there is also a human technocratic replacement for the Elder, the ‘Leader with The Vision!’ I think our desire for a Strong Leader is in essence technocratic in that it appeals to the Left Hemisphere’s lust for ‘Control’, ‘Success’ (read measurable outcomes), etc. This is why Anarchy terrifies, for fear also belongs to the LH, yet in the end our journey begins with a crucified King . . .
This is a good question. Is a LH dominated society more prone to the Visionary? I would think so. The LH seems easier to hijack and manipulated, and probably far less willing to admit that this could be so. To cultivate the RH life there would need to be something far more subtle and deeper than the self-proclaimed Visionary who has a system that will do it for us.
The Elder is the archetypal guide to the RH and knows it can't be forced or made automatic.
I am just riffing here, but it seems plausible to me.
I think that there is a significant distinction here to be made perhaps between Visionaries and Vision. Maggie Ross translates Vision as Beholding - perceiving in a sense the Whole, RH. So ‘without Beholding the people perish’. Visionaries - Strong leaders don’t do subtlety and depth - they’re very Clear in detail about The Vision.
Your point about the Elder knowing it can’t be forced or made automatic gets this. There is a ‘faithfulness towards’ in the Elder archetype which by the way fits McGilchrist’s understanding of truth. The Leader / Visionary thinks they’ve grasped (LH) the Truth, there is no journeying deeper.
In this respect reading stories from my former addict friends, the sense of continued growing into Health / Salvation is significant, the idea that The End lies beyond.
I have been thinking about this last statement, almost as if it were a koan.
As you walk towards the horizon one inevitably gains experience of the ground covered. But nonetheless, the horizon remains the horizon, it never changes and in a way you never get any closer, or farther away from it.
anna, I tired to reply to this in order to suggest that if you wanted to exchange e mail addresses we would be happy to develop a conversation with a like-minded soul. Oddly, that message seems to have been delivered to Jack. I say, 'oddly', but it was obviously my ineptitude. Anyway, if you fancy getting to know a couple of ageing, ex-Catholic Worker, Roman Catholic. Pacifist, Anarchists we could exchange e mail addresses. Solidarity. John & Liz
Well, my geography is more than a little shaky, but I guess you could draw a diagonal line on a map of England from Hull to Hastings. Anyway, Liz and I are more than happy to be in contact with fellow travellers. So, if you fancy the idea of beginning a conversation with a couple of ageing Roman Catholic, Anarchist, Pacifists give us a shout any time you want to exchange e mail addresses. x
Nov 25, 2022·edited Nov 25, 2022Liked by Jack Leahy
Hi, Jack,
I think I have managed to articulate my uneasiness with your emphasis on contemplation so I am making an attempt here to do so. I believe you are a believer in Jesus, if you weren’t I wouldn’t be sharing this. To me the pointing to contemplation as the means seems to be a subtle dethronement of Jesus by a mental method as being the savior and source of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said it is the Spirit that gives life. Prayer is a continuing result of John 7:37-39 not the source. We are told to pray in the Spirit. We pray because of the joy of having the Holy Spirit. As sons of God filled with the Holy Spirit we now go aside to pray as the Son of God did because we have free access to God, “we go forth in joy and are led forth in peace” I don’t see the step by step contemplative path in the Bible, but a free giving of the Spirit from God through Jesus and the results thereof. Galatians 3:2-5
I had a l’esprit de l’escalier moment French for thinking of something else to say on the way out on the stairs, so I came back to edit. I can agree there is a feedback element in prayer - “building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” Jude 20. Paul warns us to begin where we should begin and rely on the Spirit not human effort Galatians 3:3. I pray we all have a clear taste and knowing of the comfort of the Holy Spirit to enliven us. “How much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
Jeff- I do know that many knowledgeable, devout and wise Christians are wary, or even opposed, to contemplation. I see it very simply: be still and know God. Knowing in a way so intimate that it is an unknowing, that God can be grasped finally in Love and not through rational understanding. So in that sense it is a mental activity, but letting go of trusting in my mental activity and allowing myself to be receptive to the Holy Spirit.
Contemplation is, therefore, a consent to the Divine action within us by the Holy Spirit, not anything fundamentally that I do or create through effort. If this is a dethroning of Jesus it is a curious one as I have experienced in myself the growth--however glacial and uneven this growth may be--of the fruits of the Spirit. Few things have matched contemplation for me in this regard. One of the prayers I say before and after silent prayer is "Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like your heart." Not I, but Christ who lives in me.
I don't know if that clarifies anything or not, but that's how I see it.
I appreciate your comment. I hope you are well. -Jack
Yes, “be still and know I am God” That’s my entry point too, to stop and still myself. But things don’t stay still for me. The Spirit rises and away I go. I usually begin standing - Mark 11:25 and action happens, what you see in Psalms, Acts, 1 Corinthians 14, Hebrews 5:7, Revelation 4&5. Times of stillness in the Presence may happen also. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers” Ephesians 5:18. I see contemplation as a type or kind of prayer not the highest, deepest or most advanced or most effective but an equal type of praying in the Spirit. I would reword anarcho-contemplative to anarcho-worship/prayer communities with silent, still contemplation as one of the approaches - more or less practiced or not all depending on the community.
Though I focus more on the contemplative path in my posts, it's not as if I forgo all activity. Right now, and for however long it lasts, I have been given time to focus more on stillness and solitude. But I go to the Liturgy here for worship. I am part of the community of monks with whom there is ongoing discussions about various concerns, much of which show up in my posts.
At some point, I assume I may return to the workaday world and will have to rebalance all of this. It is clear to me that contemplation and stillness will be a part of my life whatever happens next. If I do return to the world, one thing I would like to do is form a small group of people to get together not only for communal silence, but for shared meals and discussion, etc. This would be modeled on what I have experienced here at the monastery.
I think we might be saying similar things though with different emphases. I like your broadening of anarcho-contemplative to anarcho-worship/prayer. I think that is a good way to see it.
Nov 28, 2022·edited Nov 28, 2022Liked by Jack Leahy
Yes, I am more in the Pentecostal/evangelical part of the Christian spectrum. At one point I was more liturgical - Anglican/Episcopal and dabbled in the Jesus Prayer, contemplative stuff and then moved away from that. Tongues as an aspect of my personal spiritual activity is prominent. I have my own group of fellow travelers who in turn have their own individual spiritual expression.
Hi, Jack, you invited input in footnote 11, as you know I am a fan of the 12 step approach, especially the first three steps, and it’s anarchist communal style of governance. I wish society as a whole was a blend of the anarchist communal and distributism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism And as you know from past comments I am not a fan of the contemplative system and think there is something better. But to talk this through with clarity and care and closeness would require face to face and time. So I don’t know what to do. Reminds me of this scripture - Moses would talk with the Lord face to face as a man does with his friend.
Jeff- I agree. The internet has its limits and we will have to find a way to bring this conversation from the virtual to the face to face. If you know of something better than contemplation I am all for it. I know for myself that the contemplative path has made a tremendous difference in my life. But I see no need to argue about it. We need to help each other build something in whatever way we can and it will look different in different places. I don't know how plausible it is for your or anyone's particular circumstances, but it isn't implausible to start local groups--of even 2 or 3 people--to start discussing it. The face to face conversation itself can be the beginning of an answer. -Jack
I am blessed to have my close group of 3-4 I am going along with on the path, along with a good number of others on the same path in differing levels of intimacy and closeness with me.
Jeff- This is very good to hear. With all this talk of a Benedict Option, for example, it seems like there was hope for some "master plan" we could all follow. I think it will need to look like exactly what you describe and are doing. Beautiful. -Jack
Addendum to the above, the glue of fellowship is a shared knowing of the Spirit of God received as gift through Jesus Christ “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” Romans 8:2 I , First John 4:13-16 comes to mind
I read 'megasystems of technique' and had the sensation of cold mercury pouring down my back. Thank you for this horrible excellent phrase. Sadly, it will be very useful in describing that which we were not made for but are nevertheless headed towards.
Caroline- It might be foolish to think we will, or even can counteract the kind of forces gathering that are seeking to control...well, everything. My hope, however distant, is that we can find small ways to find one another again, i.e., the local and the uniquely personal rather than in ideologies and systems. I see in the 12-steps a possible model, one that will need to be adapted, in how we might do that. But this won't be solved, if it will be solved, on the internet. It isn't exactly clear to me yet but something different is being asked of us. -Jack
I wholeheartedly concur. I have spent the weekend discussing such real-world possibility with Liz Slade, who heads the Unitarian Church here in the UK. There is a grand desire among ordinary people of good heart, whether religious or not, that relationship to each other and relationship to earth be rebuilt around care and reciprocity, rather than the instrumentalist thrust of the megasystems of technique. So, when I say we are headed towards this, I think that those who think they are at the helm are indeed leading us that way. However, you are right that this will be resisted using all the wise tools at our disposal: an adapted 12 step, grassroots organising, families who simply refuse to comply, internal transformation in individuals and movements, and all the other ways we can opt-out of becoming meat cogs in the engine room of an implacable vessel heading toward destruction. I personally have hope, (but that may be because I gathered sea beet, rosehips and chestnuts this month, so feel somewhat replete.) Sometimes only the foraging mind can set me right. Warm greetings from chilly Dorset.
No worries, Jack. I will be keeping a weather eye out for every in-coming communique from SinW. And, whenever you require tutoring in the ways of righteousness your everso humble servant will take up the quill. As far as SoGDD goes, the literature is not great. She wrote her own partial auto-biography, 'The Long Loneliness' , which is worth a look. Her biography (really an extended essay) on the co-founder of the Catholic Worker, Peter Maurin (the man she always referred to as her 'teacher') offers lots of insights into her thinking. But, if you really want the real flesh and blood Dorothy Day, warts and all, you need to read her published diaries, ' The Duty of Delight'. If you want to read a good context piece on the radical catholicism of the time, I can recommend, 'Disarmed & Dangerous: The Radical Lives and Times of Daniel & Philip Berrigan' by Murray Polner & Jim o'Grady. Peace on ya, kid! John.
OK, Jack. Seems like my work here is done! It's been grand. Thanks for the ride. Keep The Faith. And remember these immortal words of Ursula La Guin: "We live in capitalism - its power seems inescapable. But so did the divine right of kings". Blessings, me dear.
John- Thank you for being here. I hope you might still pop in from time to time to give an update on your bread-make connection . And thank you for all the food for thought, and the book recommendations. I will be purchasing those shortly, I hope. Oh, and one last thing: I have read a couple of short biographies of Dorothy Day. What would you suggest for a deeper and broader view of her life, though and work?
Patrice- I have her Poustinia on my to reread list. A book that has had a great impact on me. I would periodically do such retreats in my apartment by turning off the internet and staying my spare room for a weekend. A loaf of bread, a gallon of water and a few books. Not the same as being in a cabin in the woods, but it was something.
When I think about an anarcho-contemplative community somewhere, I see it as essential that there would be the possibility for time for such solitary prayer.
Certainly doing such things as growing your own food, or burning your own wood on your fire might possibly soon be labelled terrorist acts, undermining The Great Leap Forwards. As for my eating the beef and lamb raised on my brother's paddock . . . In an inversion of that scene from the Matrix 'I know this steak exists, nothing is fooling me into thinking otherwise, and that knowledge is bliss'
Never forget that when Ghandi was making salt it was considered such an act against The Machine which killed many bold enough to try . . . ‘Stay in your lane!’ takes many forms
Oh, by the way, Jack, I was very taken with the title of the post. These words of Jesus have been very much on my mind of late as part of a collection of texts where we unconsciously insert extra words. Here the unconscious addition is 'as few as' - i.e. 'where as few as two or three are gathered', yup this whole Christian gig even works for those who can't really get along to belong to BIG church :-) Whereas, I think that there is something in the 2 or 3 which any more dilutes. Once you get to four, the dynamics of attention shift and those involved become less so, mere observation is more and more the name of the game. With 2 or 3 it is easier to name your weakness. Beyond that the temptation to some kind of performance and sense of 'I'm not really good enough/radical enough/whatever' enough grows. True accountablity with Love becomes less real - perhaps? And as I htink you said on PK's latest essay thread, there's not all that many around willing to own up to their addiction to the machine . . .
I have been a parishioner at a fairly large church. It was easy to get lost. Even if you had a good conversation with someone, there was no guarantee you'd meet him or her again. I have had a much better time connecting with people at smaller parishes. In a smaller parish it is easier to slowly connect over time as you obviously see the same people week to week.
I spent the first half of this year meeting with a bible study small group of Evangelical Anglicans (sic!) hosted by the friends I was staying with. There were about 10-12 adults (and a whole passel of kids). There was a real sense of connection, and it was amazing how insights could build as we discussed a particular passage. Insights I highly doubt I would have come to solely on my own.
But this is all to say that I think that even at those numbers things can be somewhat abstract. Two or three may be the limit of the kind communal intimacy we all crave. That may be the best number for truly sharing our lives. Obviously this happens in families, but these days there are more of us without a family of our own. Related to the idea of the "anarcho-contemplative community" is that of what could be called a micro-skete. 2 or 3 who gather to sit in silence together, to share meals and truly discuss their lives that anything larger makes cumbersome--or a performance as you noted.
My fear is that we have become alienated from our alienation, so to speak. Or as so many people I know, so broken by so many transient and utilitarian (to put it mildly) relationships, that though they long for connection, that may not feel, or be capable of it. This is where something like the 12-steps and contemplative practice offers some hope for that to change and to be healed.
And even these micro-skete can come together in slightly larger groups as appropriate. But as you said in a previous comment, the church can help by rediscovering its vocation as that of healing. And that as Christians, this is all of our vocations as well, in whatever form it might take. -Jack
Last weekend my wife, Liz, and I were sat on the concourse at Kings Cross railway station in London, drinking coffee and waiting for our train, north, back home. A young man materialised at our side; a suddenly still figure in the shifting mass of folk in transit. He had a newspaper in his hand. Turns out he was homeless and selling the paper was the way he kept body and soul together. “It’s a really good alternative to the mainstream media”, was his sales pitch. The paper was called Dope. The front page was taken up by the legend, “Already Against the Next War”. I have it here. On the inside cover a strap line informs the reader that the paper is published, “in solidarity until everyone has a home and nobody lives in a cage”. It counsels the reader to “Let this radicalise you rather than lead you to despair”.
Dope is a kind of anarchist patchwork quilt comprising freshly written pieces and extracts filleted from texts of the tradition. We were reading bits and passing it back and forth between us on the train to Hull. I can’t remember whether Liz or I came to the last piece first. No matter. The concluding story was written by a woman who had opened a community bread making business. She named her enterprise, The Conquest of Bread, after the book written by the great libertarian-pacifist anarchist Peter Kropotkin.
I guess the bread-maker doesn’t know this, but she shares her reverence for Kropotkin with Servant of God Dorothy Day. However, she may well hear all about that link soon enough as the bread-making takes place in a small bakery in Hull. And, given that Liz and I are currently reading, The Conquest of Bread, after our morning prayer; and, as we are currently seeking some kind of encounter with local anarchists that we might re-engage politically during this weird time we have exchanged e mails with the baker.
Your latest offering landed in our in-box as we began our baker-outreach thing. Got to say, I love it, Jack. Our struggle is to find the language necessary to radicalise the faith and spiritualise the
anarchy. The attendant problems this endeavour encounters has been my major preoccupation ever since we quit the Catholic Worker. Still thinking. Don’t want this to get too long and clunky. So, et me quit, here. I may have suggested this before, but you really ought to read Jacques Ellul; Christianity and Anarchism, and The Meaning of The City, are slim but indispensable volumes. I would argue, strongly, that much the same could be said for Peter Kropotkin’s, The Conquest of Bread.
John, I really enjoyed reading your comment and googled Dope magazine straight away, but got to a magazine published in Seattle and mainly dealing with how to grow dope and other related issues. I don't mind, but I think you are referring to another publication perhaps. Would you be up for publishing a link, please? I find the idea of a UK network like that exciting and it would be great to find out more.
Hi anna; this is a belt & braces reply. I think I have sent you the relevant website but just in case I got that wrong, here it is again: https://www.dogsection.org/category/dope
Solidarity and Compassion. John & Liz
Perfect, thank you John and Liz. Greetings from a wet and cold Hastings x
As someone who has taken more than a passing interest in anarchism in the recent past but now finds himself taking his first tentative steps on the Christian path, this post was a joy to find.
I have an unread copy of Christianity and Anarchism, thanks to Paul Kingsnorth pointing me in the direction of Ellul, that has been buried in a pile of other unread books for some time.
I shall take this post as a little nudge that now may be a good time to read it.
Thank you John. Greetings from the other side of the Pennines!
Only just found this, Andrew. Sorry. Hope you dig Ellul. His book on the city is a monster. Keep the faith.
Thank you for this thoughtful piece 🧡 Nearing 60, having done such things as started a school of sustainability, facilitated for Occupy, represented the incarcerated at standing rock, gone through Al-anon, and come out of decades of yoga with the jewel of a simple daily 40 minute meditation practice, I have come to these same conclusions. Being only a few years into my contemplation practice, I am finding much loosening of neurosis and an expansion of the understanding of what it is to “hold space” for others. I still struggle with how to expand this into larger local efforts-projects but I trust that will come in time 🙏🏼
L'AC- My hope is that any one of us can begin, by starting very small--a mustard seed, as it word. It may be challenge enough to find even one or two people willing to begin something like what is proposed here. But it isn't insurmountable. If it is, we are in worse shape than even I think.
From what you say in your comment, you might be a very good candidate to begin something. The larger local effort, I think, will come--or not--from very small and good beginnings.
-Jack
Thanks for the vote of confidence 🙏🏼
Growing up on a small hill farm in South Wales I remember well how communities supported each other. They gave their time and effort to help those in need, knowing that when the time came that help would be there for them. No money exchanged hands, ever. And even today those principles and practices are still alive though not as obvious to the outside onlooker. A stray sheep having got mixed up with the neighbours flock would be brought home. And then the kettle would be on the stove and fresh baked bread and cheese on a plate, with conversation going on well after the sun had gone down.
Richard- This is good to hear. And I do trust that this kind of true community persists. At least on the outskirts. I saw it still alive in Ireland 20+ years ago. I hope it still thrives.
It is for those of us who have lived in the system all our lives that need to find a way to find this type of thing again. In many ways it's what you don't even know is missing that haunts you the most.
My hope is that if a fuller human reality can be recovered it will be done at the smallest levels, with very modest beginnings. It can't be directed and managed or it will get throttled before it even can begin to grow.
But it is probably a more natural occurence in rural areas than in the densely populated. Which is why those inclined who can get out, probably should. -Jack
Absolutely agree with you Jack. And Charles Eisenstein has written much on the 'gift economy' which I found fascinating.
The only place in the Bible where the kingdom of God or Heaven is explicitly defined is in Romans 14 where it says the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit and speaking of anarchy in its highest sense - “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” 2 Corinthians 3:17. So I get what Berdyaev is saying above
For a time my family were part of a house church. We rotated weekly between 3 different homes and shared a meal afterward. One man in this group was in recovery via Narcotics Anonymous. He was always working with newer members (of NA) and very involved in their day to day well being -- phone calls, rides, advice, encouragement. Most of what I know about the 12 steps is through him. He would always encourage us to read more about the program but I never did.
I've been contemplating this mentality of control and ideology recently from the angle of agriculture. There are those who idealize hunter-gatherers as uniquely in tune with the natural world. Then there are the permaculture idealists who have been mocked for making it sound like if you plant a perennial food forest, you only have to walk outside and open your mouth for food to fall in. I think we can all agree that the state of agriculture is horrifyingly far off from the scale and balance that feels acceptable.... but how much control and manipulation is too much? As you say, we won't map it out without getting out there and making a go. Wendell Berry says, we need to re-ruralize because rural land is the site of the problem, of our disconnection to nature. If the people who are concerned and longing for healing don't go to where the problem is happening then all their talk and writing can't begin to help.
Now, I have been planning on getting into dairy on a very small scale. In reading a couple books about this I have been amazed to learn that artificial insemination of dairy cows is the norm even on very 'natural', small scale, idealistic farms. This strikes me as one of those lines that shouldn't be crossed. I mean, the semen from a few prize bulls is being used across the whole country to father almost all the dairy cows. How do cows feel and should that matter at all? nevermind all the technological wrangling needed to facilitate this process: "It only cost $300 per year to keep 2 cryogenic tanks of liquid nitrogen where we can store bull semen rather than all the expense, hassle, and danger of managing bulls." I don't mean to downplay that keeping a bull or several is no joke.... Anyhow, it strikes me as a fine example of how we will need groups of people, accountability, and to have at the fore of our consciousness what we want to avoid and the willingness to work hard and trust God in order to follow a different path from the standard of efficiency, control, profit, and preference.
Chris Smaje has been discussing Genesis and farming on his blog (Small Farm Future https://smallfarmfuture.org.uk/?p=2003). He is someone who also helped me to think through the whole question of annual vs perennial food systems. He suggest we need to accept that our longing to be "one with nature" may be tragic in essence because we live in a fallen world, and that we need to accept our role as a patch-disturbing species like elephants or beavers. We may have to plow the soil and to breed plants or animals for our own ends. Working out the right and wrong, finding the balance, requires the community you suggest. Obviously in a situation of declining cheap energy people will be doing whatever works, and that may be brutal, but we want to hold a different ideal. I like the 12 steps for this.
Clara
Clara- I find this fascinating. Obviously there is more to learn about running a farm than I can even begin to be aware of. But from what you say I can see that even at a smaller scale there are decisions to be made about how to proceed. That technology can allow an easier and more efficient route than going natural. I don't doubt a bull is a force to be reckoned with.
As an aside, years ago friends and I went to a drive-through "safari" in of all places, New Jersey. Besides being depressing and pathetic (e.g., people feeding the baboons junk food out of their cars) I was initially surprised at how much smaller all the animals were, such as the rhinoceroses. Then it hit me, "these are all females!" If you had a male rhinoceros in such a place things would get exciting *real quick*.
One of the last music gigs I played was at Goat Farm (sic). The mama goats and babies were out in their pens and were a big attraction. The he-goats were off in some enclosure that, as I recall, was covered over. It was like they were radioactive or something.
But I digress.
In my own ignorance and naivete perhaps I have long been drawn to the Natural Farming of Masanobu Fukuoka. I came across his ideas years ago and was immediately drawn to it philosophically. Of course I lived in an apt in a city so I wasn't going to be doing much farming, natural or otherwise. But I would still like to try it, before I shuffle off this mortal coil. . I would like to see for myself what is possible--should I ever get a patch of land to try it out.
It will be interesting to see what the cultural and communal life is like in Troy (yes, I am assuming this move will happen!). How much does the rural life allow for mutual help and community that is much more difficult in dense population? Will anything like I am proposing in this post even be necessary?
For all the ominous signs emerging from the megasystem, there are also signs of hope.
-Jack
Yeah, I'm attracted to Fukuoka style do-nothing farming also. I also have tried no-till, non-pruned fruit trees a la Sepp Holzer etc. I think there is some truth in it but there are always trade-offs in productivity or convenience and if we needed to feed ourselves we'd need to take more control, at least at times. How to exercise that "authority" in a loving way and keep it from crossing over into hubristic control or domination?
"How to exercise that "authority" in a loving way and keep it from crossing over into hubristic control or domination?"
This is the question for the ages. Though I talk of Anarchy, I am a believer in natural authority and hierarchy that are oriented to doing things well and for the good. These are necessarily ad hoc and for the duration to the task at hand. It's when those harden into systems and structures that cannot be questioned even when they inevitably stop doing things well and for the good that I am no longer on board.
I was raised in the last days of the agrarian midwest small farm culture. As a kid I would hear occasionally of dairy farmers killed or injured by their bull. For some reason dairy bulls are more aggressive, especially Jersey bulls. My dad’s red angus bull (a beef breed) was placid. Boars were manageable. Male goats have a strong odor and are absurdly horny , even when the females aren’t in season. Rams can be dangerous, roosters and tom turkeys bothersome and aggressive.
You are right. I am a retired goat farmer/cheese maker. The dairy goat bucks smell so strongly of skunk that the milk from the does is tainted if they are in pens nearby... not to mention that they cause visiting children to ask their parents embarrassing questions.
Wow!, so one might literally lay down ones life in refusing to go along with the A. I. trend?! Maybe avoid jerseys or something.
I wonder if there is also a human technocratic replacement for the Elder, the ‘Leader with The Vision!’ I think our desire for a Strong Leader is in essence technocratic in that it appeals to the Left Hemisphere’s lust for ‘Control’, ‘Success’ (read measurable outcomes), etc. This is why Anarchy terrifies, for fear also belongs to the LH, yet in the end our journey begins with a crucified King . . .
This is a good question. Is a LH dominated society more prone to the Visionary? I would think so. The LH seems easier to hijack and manipulated, and probably far less willing to admit that this could be so. To cultivate the RH life there would need to be something far more subtle and deeper than the self-proclaimed Visionary who has a system that will do it for us.
The Elder is the archetypal guide to the RH and knows it can't be forced or made automatic.
I am just riffing here, but it seems plausible to me.
I think that there is a significant distinction here to be made perhaps between Visionaries and Vision. Maggie Ross translates Vision as Beholding - perceiving in a sense the Whole, RH. So ‘without Beholding the people perish’. Visionaries - Strong leaders don’t do subtlety and depth - they’re very Clear in detail about The Vision.
Your point about the Elder knowing it can’t be forced or made automatic gets this. There is a ‘faithfulness towards’ in the Elder archetype which by the way fits McGilchrist’s understanding of truth. The Leader / Visionary thinks they’ve grasped (LH) the Truth, there is no journeying deeper.
In this respect reading stories from my former addict friends, the sense of continued growing into Health / Salvation is significant, the idea that The End lies beyond.
I hope you are well
Blessings
Eric
Or, you can’t grasp the horizon, you can only walk towards it
I have been thinking about this last statement, almost as if it were a koan.
As you walk towards the horizon one inevitably gains experience of the ground covered. But nonetheless, the horizon remains the horizon, it never changes and in a way you never get any closer, or farther away from it.
‘Do not hold on to me’ . . .
anna, I tired to reply to this in order to suggest that if you wanted to exchange e mail addresses we would be happy to develop a conversation with a like-minded soul. Oddly, that message seems to have been delivered to Jack. I say, 'oddly', but it was obviously my ineptitude. Anyway, if you fancy getting to know a couple of ageing, ex-Catholic Worker, Roman Catholic. Pacifist, Anarchists we could exchange e mail addresses. Solidarity. John & Liz
Well, my geography is more than a little shaky, but I guess you could draw a diagonal line on a map of England from Hull to Hastings. Anyway, Liz and I are more than happy to be in contact with fellow travellers. So, if you fancy the idea of beginning a conversation with a couple of ageing Roman Catholic, Anarchist, Pacifists give us a shout any time you want to exchange e mail addresses. x
John- If I weren't 2/3rds of a large continent and an ocean away, I would take you up on that. But alas! I hope you are well. -Jack
Hi, Jack,
I think I have managed to articulate my uneasiness with your emphasis on contemplation so I am making an attempt here to do so. I believe you are a believer in Jesus, if you weren’t I wouldn’t be sharing this. To me the pointing to contemplation as the means seems to be a subtle dethronement of Jesus by a mental method as being the savior and source of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said it is the Spirit that gives life. Prayer is a continuing result of John 7:37-39 not the source. We are told to pray in the Spirit. We pray because of the joy of having the Holy Spirit. As sons of God filled with the Holy Spirit we now go aside to pray as the Son of God did because we have free access to God, “we go forth in joy and are led forth in peace” I don’t see the step by step contemplative path in the Bible, but a free giving of the Spirit from God through Jesus and the results thereof. Galatians 3:2-5
I had a l’esprit de l’escalier moment French for thinking of something else to say on the way out on the stairs, so I came back to edit. I can agree there is a feedback element in prayer - “building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” Jude 20. Paul warns us to begin where we should begin and rely on the Spirit not human effort Galatians 3:3. I pray we all have a clear taste and knowing of the comfort of the Holy Spirit to enliven us. “How much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
Jeff- I do know that many knowledgeable, devout and wise Christians are wary, or even opposed, to contemplation. I see it very simply: be still and know God. Knowing in a way so intimate that it is an unknowing, that God can be grasped finally in Love and not through rational understanding. So in that sense it is a mental activity, but letting go of trusting in my mental activity and allowing myself to be receptive to the Holy Spirit.
Contemplation is, therefore, a consent to the Divine action within us by the Holy Spirit, not anything fundamentally that I do or create through effort. If this is a dethroning of Jesus it is a curious one as I have experienced in myself the growth--however glacial and uneven this growth may be--of the fruits of the Spirit. Few things have matched contemplation for me in this regard. One of the prayers I say before and after silent prayer is "Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like your heart." Not I, but Christ who lives in me.
I don't know if that clarifies anything or not, but that's how I see it.
I appreciate your comment. I hope you are well. -Jack
Yes, “be still and know I am God” That’s my entry point too, to stop and still myself. But things don’t stay still for me. The Spirit rises and away I go. I usually begin standing - Mark 11:25 and action happens, what you see in Psalms, Acts, 1 Corinthians 14, Hebrews 5:7, Revelation 4&5. Times of stillness in the Presence may happen also. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers” Ephesians 5:18. I see contemplation as a type or kind of prayer not the highest, deepest or most advanced or most effective but an equal type of praying in the Spirit. I would reword anarcho-contemplative to anarcho-worship/prayer communities with silent, still contemplation as one of the approaches - more or less practiced or not all depending on the community.
Jeff-
Though I focus more on the contemplative path in my posts, it's not as if I forgo all activity. Right now, and for however long it lasts, I have been given time to focus more on stillness and solitude. But I go to the Liturgy here for worship. I am part of the community of monks with whom there is ongoing discussions about various concerns, much of which show up in my posts.
At some point, I assume I may return to the workaday world and will have to rebalance all of this. It is clear to me that contemplation and stillness will be a part of my life whatever happens next. If I do return to the world, one thing I would like to do is form a small group of people to get together not only for communal silence, but for shared meals and discussion, etc. This would be modeled on what I have experienced here at the monastery.
I think we might be saying similar things though with different emphases. I like your broadening of anarcho-contemplative to anarcho-worship/prayer. I think that is a good way to see it.
I hope all is well. -Jack
Yes, I am more in the Pentecostal/evangelical part of the Christian spectrum. At one point I was more liturgical - Anglican/Episcopal and dabbled in the Jesus Prayer, contemplative stuff and then moved away from that. Tongues as an aspect of my personal spiritual activity is prominent. I have my own group of fellow travelers who in turn have their own individual spiritual expression.
p.s. I was meditating on Col 3 this morning, so your comment resonated with that.
He Jack, saw this and thought of you:https://radicaldiscipleship.net/2018/04/25/recovery-from-the-dominant-culture/#more-14280
John- Well it is something of a relief to know I am not a lone kook after all! Thank you for this.
I also take some inspiration from the combination of centering prayer and 12 steps.
https://cp12stepoutreach.org/ -Jack
Hi, Jack, you invited input in footnote 11, as you know I am a fan of the 12 step approach, especially the first three steps, and it’s anarchist communal style of governance. I wish society as a whole was a blend of the anarchist communal and distributism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism And as you know from past comments I am not a fan of the contemplative system and think there is something better. But to talk this through with clarity and care and closeness would require face to face and time. So I don’t know what to do. Reminds me of this scripture - Moses would talk with the Lord face to face as a man does with his friend.
Jeff- I agree. The internet has its limits and we will have to find a way to bring this conversation from the virtual to the face to face. If you know of something better than contemplation I am all for it. I know for myself that the contemplative path has made a tremendous difference in my life. But I see no need to argue about it. We need to help each other build something in whatever way we can and it will look different in different places. I don't know how plausible it is for your or anyone's particular circumstances, but it isn't implausible to start local groups--of even 2 or 3 people--to start discussing it. The face to face conversation itself can be the beginning of an answer. -Jack
Hi, Jack,
I am blessed to have my close group of 3-4 I am going along with on the path, along with a good number of others on the same path in differing levels of intimacy and closeness with me.
Jeff- This is very good to hear. With all this talk of a Benedict Option, for example, it seems like there was hope for some "master plan" we could all follow. I think it will need to look like exactly what you describe and are doing. Beautiful. -Jack
Addendum to the above, the glue of fellowship is a shared knowing of the Spirit of God received as gift through Jesus Christ “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” Romans 8:2 I , First John 4:13-16 comes to mind
I read 'megasystems of technique' and had the sensation of cold mercury pouring down my back. Thank you for this horrible excellent phrase. Sadly, it will be very useful in describing that which we were not made for but are nevertheless headed towards.
Caroline- It might be foolish to think we will, or even can counteract the kind of forces gathering that are seeking to control...well, everything. My hope, however distant, is that we can find small ways to find one another again, i.e., the local and the uniquely personal rather than in ideologies and systems. I see in the 12-steps a possible model, one that will need to be adapted, in how we might do that. But this won't be solved, if it will be solved, on the internet. It isn't exactly clear to me yet but something different is being asked of us. -Jack
I wholeheartedly concur. I have spent the weekend discussing such real-world possibility with Liz Slade, who heads the Unitarian Church here in the UK. There is a grand desire among ordinary people of good heart, whether religious or not, that relationship to each other and relationship to earth be rebuilt around care and reciprocity, rather than the instrumentalist thrust of the megasystems of technique. So, when I say we are headed towards this, I think that those who think they are at the helm are indeed leading us that way. However, you are right that this will be resisted using all the wise tools at our disposal: an adapted 12 step, grassroots organising, families who simply refuse to comply, internal transformation in individuals and movements, and all the other ways we can opt-out of becoming meat cogs in the engine room of an implacable vessel heading toward destruction. I personally have hope, (but that may be because I gathered sea beet, rosehips and chestnuts this month, so feel somewhat replete.) Sometimes only the foraging mind can set me right. Warm greetings from chilly Dorset.
No worries, Jack. I will be keeping a weather eye out for every in-coming communique from SinW. And, whenever you require tutoring in the ways of righteousness your everso humble servant will take up the quill. As far as SoGDD goes, the literature is not great. She wrote her own partial auto-biography, 'The Long Loneliness' , which is worth a look. Her biography (really an extended essay) on the co-founder of the Catholic Worker, Peter Maurin (the man she always referred to as her 'teacher') offers lots of insights into her thinking. But, if you really want the real flesh and blood Dorothy Day, warts and all, you need to read her published diaries, ' The Duty of Delight'. If you want to read a good context piece on the radical catholicism of the time, I can recommend, 'Disarmed & Dangerous: The Radical Lives and Times of Daniel & Philip Berrigan' by Murray Polner & Jim o'Grady. Peace on ya, kid! John.
OK, Jack. Seems like my work here is done! It's been grand. Thanks for the ride. Keep The Faith. And remember these immortal words of Ursula La Guin: "We live in capitalism - its power seems inescapable. But so did the divine right of kings". Blessings, me dear.
John- Thank you for being here. I hope you might still pop in from time to time to give an update on your bread-make connection . And thank you for all the food for thought, and the book recommendations. I will be purchasing those shortly, I hope. Oh, and one last thing: I have read a couple of short biographies of Dorothy Day. What would you suggest for a deeper and broader view of her life, though and work?
Be well. Blessings to you and to Liz. -Jak
to Dorothy Day I beg you to add something by her friend Catherine deHueck Doherty if you do not yet know her.
Patrice- I have her Poustinia on my to reread list. A book that has had a great impact on me. I would periodically do such retreats in my apartment by turning off the internet and staying my spare room for a weekend. A loaf of bread, a gallon of water and a few books. Not the same as being in a cabin in the woods, but it was something.
When I think about an anarcho-contemplative community somewhere, I see it as essential that there would be the possibility for time for such solitary prayer.
Thank you for the reminder. -Jack
Certainly doing such things as growing your own food, or burning your own wood on your fire might possibly soon be labelled terrorist acts, undermining The Great Leap Forwards. As for my eating the beef and lamb raised on my brother's paddock . . . In an inversion of that scene from the Matrix 'I know this steak exists, nothing is fooling me into thinking otherwise, and that knowledge is bliss'
Never forget that when Ghandi was making salt it was considered such an act against The Machine which killed many bold enough to try . . . ‘Stay in your lane!’ takes many forms
I’ve just realised that this is on the wrong Substack- I was commenting on PKs latest 🤣
You were on a roll, either way...
Oh, by the way, Jack, I was very taken with the title of the post. These words of Jesus have been very much on my mind of late as part of a collection of texts where we unconsciously insert extra words. Here the unconscious addition is 'as few as' - i.e. 'where as few as two or three are gathered', yup this whole Christian gig even works for those who can't really get along to belong to BIG church :-) Whereas, I think that there is something in the 2 or 3 which any more dilutes. Once you get to four, the dynamics of attention shift and those involved become less so, mere observation is more and more the name of the game. With 2 or 3 it is easier to name your weakness. Beyond that the temptation to some kind of performance and sense of 'I'm not really good enough/radical enough/whatever' enough grows. True accountablity with Love becomes less real - perhaps? And as I htink you said on PK's latest essay thread, there's not all that many around willing to own up to their addiction to the machine . . .
Eric-
I have been a parishioner at a fairly large church. It was easy to get lost. Even if you had a good conversation with someone, there was no guarantee you'd meet him or her again. I have had a much better time connecting with people at smaller parishes. In a smaller parish it is easier to slowly connect over time as you obviously see the same people week to week.
I spent the first half of this year meeting with a bible study small group of Evangelical Anglicans (sic!) hosted by the friends I was staying with. There were about 10-12 adults (and a whole passel of kids). There was a real sense of connection, and it was amazing how insights could build as we discussed a particular passage. Insights I highly doubt I would have come to solely on my own.
But this is all to say that I think that even at those numbers things can be somewhat abstract. Two or three may be the limit of the kind communal intimacy we all crave. That may be the best number for truly sharing our lives. Obviously this happens in families, but these days there are more of us without a family of our own. Related to the idea of the "anarcho-contemplative community" is that of what could be called a micro-skete. 2 or 3 who gather to sit in silence together, to share meals and truly discuss their lives that anything larger makes cumbersome--or a performance as you noted.
My fear is that we have become alienated from our alienation, so to speak. Or as so many people I know, so broken by so many transient and utilitarian (to put it mildly) relationships, that though they long for connection, that may not feel, or be capable of it. This is where something like the 12-steps and contemplative practice offers some hope for that to change and to be healed.
And even these micro-skete can come together in slightly larger groups as appropriate. But as you said in a previous comment, the church can help by rediscovering its vocation as that of healing. And that as Christians, this is all of our vocations as well, in whatever form it might take. -Jack
Our healing is in that of which we are most afraid
Vulnerability
Feels like death
But true connection is Life
Interestingly the two most consistent indicators of longevity are human and ‘natural’ connection- we might perhaps also add Spiritual
You can’t open your heart to the world, despite the fraudulent claims of FB etc.
It only has one door through which One might go in and out
The Third holds the space - Triangle, not line - and prevents the incurvatus in se which can happen with two. Three are Life . . .
My observation of 12 step told me that only those who are at the end of themselves know the joy of true healing
Refusal of vulnerability is the true ‘locked-in’ syndrome. Pride is our jailer, yet Christ has harrowed Hell, our inmost dungeon
I totally get the ‘alienated from our alienation’ point, yet we are made for connection and though the way Is hard and narrow ‘a few’ do find it
On those few, as perhaps MCG suggests, hang all hopes
We have to walk with the light we have
Apologies for the disconnected ‘thoughts’