The Power of Modern Spirituality

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This book was my Christmas gift to many of my friends. Those who have started reading it, have, without exception, commented on the directness, elegance and simplicity of William Bloom’s writing style (and two of these people are published writers themselves). I enjoy his style largely because he is one of the few people I know who actually writes conversationally: he writes like he talks.

William has been one of the leaders of the holistic spirituality movement in the United Kingdom. He has been associated with Findhorn and was one of the founders of the Alternatives program of speakers and workshops at St. James’s, Piccadilly, in London. He has spent the last twenty or so years teaching concepts of holistic spirituality, spiritual companionship and approaches to education and psychology that include, not ignore, the spiritual element in human life.

This book captures the key concepts of holistic spirituality and “how it works” in language that anyone can understand, whether scholar or seeker.  It’s fun to read because of William’s style, but incomparably deep and universal in its wisdom. It’s a great book to read at the beginning of a new year.

William Bloom:  http://williambloom.com/

Foundation for Holistic Spirituality:  http://www.f4hs.org/

 

 

Great Acting Illuminates “Driving Miss Daisy”

Saw DRIVING MISS DAISY, the NY production with James Earl Jones, Vanessa Redgrave and Boyd Gaines. I had a crush on Gaines in the seventies, when he toured with Houseman’s Acting Company. He was very beautiful when he was young, and he’s aged very well. Plus he’s become a really wonderful actor.

It’s a near-perfect production. Such a beautifully written script, deceptive in its directness and simplicity, calling more than most plays for deep, quiet actors. I was a little skeptical about such a powerful presence as Jones (I’d seen him as Othello and as Big Daddy) playing a subservient Negro of the 1950s, but he was bloody brilliant. I don’t know how he made his frame so rounded and small, but he did. And his voice was low and raspy. Plus that gloriously expressive face. What a performance.

Redgrave was letter perfect; looked the part and never lost the accent for a single second. Her face, too, was full of expression. She lost her place in the first scene, and there were two or three seconds that seemed like a half hour before she found the line, but after that she was pretty amazing. Particularly at the end, when she’s in the wheel chair, she was completely believable. The final scene was heartbreaking and heart-filling at the same time.

Gaines… well, he’s become a real actor, in spite of his pretty face. (I’m always impressed when  a very pretty actor, male or female, turns out to be more than just their good looks. It’s so easy in the business to become famous by being pretty instead of being good at your job.) His part is actually the most demanding. He has to be transformed from a shallow, over-bearing son, patronizing both his mother and the Negro he hires to be her chauffeur; to a real mensch.

Of course the average English person could not appreciate the huge significance of the white man holding out his hand to shake the black man’s in early 1960s Georgia, but that scene made tears spring to my eyes. It’s followed immediately by the scene where he wins the Businessman of the Year award from the all-white “business association” in Atlanta — significant because he is a Jew — and that’s followed immediately by the scene where Daisy wants him to go to a dinner for Dr. King, and he just can’t bring himself to do it for fear of losing the business his father had built up. It’s so deftly written, and the twists and turns would be unbelievable in the hands of a less skilled actor. I was very impressed, and it’s hard these days for an actor to impress me. After 50+ years of  theatre-going, I’m pretty jaded. 

Christmas Anticipation – Advent Art for Children

Today my advent calendar arrived. Usually I buy next year’s advent calendar at the after Christmas sales, but this year I didn’t. So today I got a nice surprise on my doorstep.

I’d been thinking about Christmas for a while already. I need to start early because almost all of my friends are in the USA and I’m in England. I have to give myself time to wrap and mail the packages to arrive in time for Christmas. Of course, I have a longstanding tradition with two friends of always sending presents late, birthdays as well as Christmas. We just seem do things late for each other. But for most people I try to mail in plenty of time for the celebratory date.

Advent – What does it mean? Traditionally, church-wise, it is the four weeks before Christmas, a period of hope and patient waiting for the birth of the saviour. Readings at church services focus on the coming of the messiah, on the prophecies of his entrance, on Mary’s pregnancy– themes directly related to the Christian experience of Jesus’s incarnation.

I go with that. But I go further, or try to. I feel advent as a time of hope, yes, but hope for more than an event ratified by faith. I hold hope that we –all humankind– will experience a sense of Oneness with each other; that we will, even if only for a day, or only for an hour of the day, see peace as a possibility and joy as our natural state of being.

Advent calendars are fun. We didn’t have them when I was growing up, but since my twenties, when I was first on my own, I’ve had one almost every year. I don’t mean the chocolate ones which, to my mind, are a mockery of  the calendar’s purpose, which is to give a small reminder each day of the momentous event that is coming on December 25th.

For children, turning the idea around is a great idea: In a pocket sized notebook, the child draws a picture each day of an item we see at Christmas. These might include holly, mistletoe, fir trees, candy canes, candles, winter clothes like mittens or mufflers, reindeer, Santa Claus and so on. During the last week or so, the child draws the elements of the stable–animals, the manger, Mary and Joseph, and then the baby on the 24th. The drawing and talking about what the drawing is and what it means gives children time to think about the deeper meaning of Christmas and to understand why it is important.  And it’s fun. 

 

Quakers: A Good Introduction

A Light That is Shining, by Harvey Gillman

2nd edition, 1997, Quaker Books, London

I read this book recently and it’s a wonderful discovery. In just 86 pages, with a great list of suggestions for more reading at the back, it gives a brief history of the Religious Society of Friends  (Quakers) in Britain.  Written in a straightforward, chatty style, it covers the founding of the Society and its early struggles, comes right up to the 20th century, and then lays out briefly the structures and procedures followed by Friends in modern Britain.

Harvey Gillman writes with authority, having worked at Friends House –the London headquarters of the RSoF– for many years. His style is decidedly readable, with a wry sense of humour as well as the abundant facts at this fingertips.  Although the history of Friends in the USA and many of the current practices  are different, Americans couldn’t find a more concise and readable summary than this one of the early history of Quakers.

I was particularly interested in the grotesquely expansive bureaucracy of the Society in Britain — the committees, boards, chain of command, etc. that seems to me to be stifling the core truths and historical practices of Friends. Gillman did not disappoint, giving a succinct summary of the various committees and bureaucratic procedures that were in place in the 1990s.

Highly recommended for people interested in Quakers who need a good place to start. It’s short (I read it in less than two hours) and fun to read, and full of information, giving the reader a good sense of whether s/he wants to know more or not.

Real Help for Veterans – August 6, 2011

Swords into Plowshares and Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance are sponsoring a FREE  seminar to help VETERANS returned from combat duty.  For full details, call 415-655-7246.

Dr. Fred Luskin, head of the Stanford University Forgiveness Project, will give a powerful, specially designed seminar to heal the wounds of war. It is 100% free and is open to veterans only. Advance registration is highly recommended. Confidentiality guaranteed.

The seminar will be on August 6, 2011, from 1o:oo a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon, California.  To register, phone 425-655-7246.