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Jan Phillips � Tidings of Comfort & Joy � December 2007

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The Earth will be going on a long time
Before it finally freezes;
Men will be on it; they will take names,
Give their deeds reasons.
We will be here only
As chemical constituents-
A small franchise indeed.
Right now we have lives,
Corpuscles, Ambitions, Caresses,
Like everybody had once-
 
Here at the year's end, at the feast
Of birth, let us bring to each other
The gifts brought once west through deserts-
The precious metal of our mingled hair,
The frankincense of enraptured arms and legs,
The myrrh of desperate, invincible kisses-
Let us celebrate the daily
Recurrent nativity of love,
The endless epiphany of our fluent selves,
While the earth rolls away under us
Into unknown snows and summers,
Into untraveled spaces of the stars.
 
~ Kenneth Rexroth ~
In the Beginning



******************
Two thoughts from my morning prayers today:
We don't need to be saved.
We need to be spent.
We don't need to be redeemed.
We need to be invested.
******************



Who is the listener when you're talking to yourself?
If you are listening,
who is talking?






"Know thyself" is not the final truth; 'let thyself be known' is also of great importance.
Ranindranath Tagore






Humans evolve through the metabolism of experience.
Deepak Chopra







There is no rung of human life on which we cannot find the holiness of God everywhere and at all times.
Martin Buber






A human being who has not a single hour for his own every day is no human being.
Rabbi Moshe Leib






I don't think you can become an individual in the real, classical sense of the word, until you've emancipated yourself from collected hatreds.
Laurens Van Der Post






A litle girl goes into the woods each day for hours on end. Her mother asks her what she does in there for so long. The girl says,
I go into the woods to talk to God."
The mother says, "Honey, you don't have to go into the woods. God is the same everywhere.
"God might be, but I'm not," says the girl.


In Peg Vernon's Holiday letter, she quotes a friend of hers who says:
"We all have to resolve the Shiite-Sunni conflicts within ourselves."
This means we'd need to love ourselves totally, without condition...our bodies, our minds, the works. Can you? Will you? Is it clear why the world needs you to?



When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of love and truth has won.
Mahatma Gandhi




Every application of iur intention is an act of creation.
Dr. William Tiller




You either do or do not. There is no try.
Yoda




Greetings!
Now that the big rush is over, I'm hoping you're breathing deeply again. It's been an interesting season, given that I've just finished three books* by Marcus Borg and Bishop John Shelby Spong that deconstruct so much of the traditional "Christmas" and Jesus mythology. I noticed it especially when my Mom and I went to a local shelter with our fiddle and guitar to play music while the women trimmed the tree. Our entire repertoire of carols referred to ideas and images that are being refuted by scholars in all fields (e.g. born in Bethlehem, virgin birth, Divine Child, miracle-worker, etc). These are exciting and challenging times for the spiritually-attuned. Reminds me of my first theology class in the Postulate where a gifted Jesuit guided us through the difficult experience of distinguishing our faith from our learned beliefs. Faith, he said, was something that WE create from our lived experiences and commitments. It is about our ultimate concerns in this life, what we are willing to live for. It's not about what happened then. It's about what's happening now.

It doesn't matter to me if Jesus was born of a virgin, in Nazareth and not Bethlehem, if he did or did not raise Lazarus or himself from the dead. What matters is that his life was a perfect example of compassion, of non-judgment, of unwavering awareness of his own and everyone's connection to the Source. We'll never know what he really said, but we can be sure that his life was a stand for peace, forgiveness and ultimate hospitality.

A Catholic priest and practicing Buddhist once told me in his monastery in the Japanese Alps that Jesus was the EVENT of Buddhist thought. It was a novel idea and helped me bridge those two traditions, which is all I'm ever looking for...bridges between the opposites, connecting links that ignite the next creative combustion. Certainty is over-rated. In matters of faith, it's a silly concept and not nearly as useful as awe and mystery. 

In my preteen years, I once started a fistfight with a Baptist boy who said Christ wasn't born on December 25. During those years, I was also praying that God would let me be a martyr, so I could prove my love for Him (sic). I wonder now at the similarities between me then and terrorists now. I was so sure back then. They are so sure right now. And based on what? Old texts. Bad translations. Unoriginal thinking.

Watch your reactions as new info comes your way that threatens some of your deepest beliefs. Hold on to what you know from the living of your life and do not argue over things you have not experienced. In the matter of faith, as with our feelings, there can be no right or wrong. It simply is what it is. People will know what you believe by how you live your life. When you're gone, what will they say you stood for? What is the living evidence of your own true faith?

*Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith and Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary by Borg
and Jesus for the Non-Religious by Spong
Facilitator Training in San Diego
January 11-13, 2007
(Friday evening-Sunday noon)
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There are two spots left for this training. It's for people who are ready to harvest their own experience, discern and declare what they are experts in, and learn how to produce and promote workshops where you share your own wisdom and unleash the wisdom of others.
Free download of the Facilitator manual Circling when you register. Cost is $400. Limited to six people.

What you will leave with:
� an ability to speak clearly of your own gifts and expertise
� a sense of readiness to do that which your life has been preparing you to do
� a beautiful photograph of yourself to use in your promotional materials
� everything you need for a flyer that announces what you are offering, who ought to come, how they will benefit and what they will pay

If you want to know if it's right for you, call me and I'll help you figure it out, 858-571-1417.
To  register, [email protected]



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Upcoming Workshops 2008

Click here for schedule of workshops

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A boy tells his dad he's going across the street to help his friend who broke his bicycle.

The dad says, "You don't know anything about fixing a bicycle. How can you help?"

"I'm not going to help him fix his bike. I'm going to help him cry."

Our stories are the best tools we have for transformation. Pay attention to your life. It's loaded with stories. Harvest them. Share them. Feed the multitudes. They're your loaves and fishes.

Happy NEW Year!

Love, Jan
 
CD cover buy 5 or more CDs, get 40% off
(email [email protected] for this offer)

The last cut on my CD, All the Way to Heaven, is a bonus track...the words to The Artist's Creed from Marry Your Muse. I've just uploaded a video of this cut to youtube, in case any of you forget from time to time that you are born to create, that it is your creative work that heals you, and that it is in your own and others' creations where you find yourself and the clues to why you are here. Here's a link to the video and one to the CD on my website in case you haven't heard it yet.

Click here to watch the video

Click to hear more of Jan's music