Husband Father Teacher Pilgrim

Sharing our world

Sharing our world with other creatures.

The picture on the left, is the pile of left overs from the rodent feast on the grapes on the grapevine the night before.

Our yard is a strata title block. The original block belonged to a retired farmer. Its full of fruit trees and there is a large grape vine that has ended up in our yard. There is plenty of tucker for small creatures.

Usually the word "rat" brings a reaction of disgust from most people. There are good reasons for that. The rat has been the carrier of deadly disease. Yet the rat is always with us.

The cat is always with us too. This fellow in the second picture sitting a safe distance away, but bold enough at that distance to sit there while I took its photo. We don't own a cat but the neighborhood cats have worked out between them who owns our yard.

The cats stay out of the backyard mostly. That is the domain of the Jack Russel terrier who lives with us.

Between the cats and the Jack Russel the rats get a hard time. We used to poison and trap the rats but that has its own problems.

At this stage, I think, we all seem to have an understanding with regard to the environment we share. Even, If it it means cleaning up the left overs from another creature's evening meal.

New Monasticism and Anabaptism Conference

This coming weekend there is a conference in Melbourne that I would love to go to. Its purpose is to explore the connections between the Anabaptist network and the Neo-monastic movement.

Some of the speakers and participants are people that I would very much like to spend time with and explore ideas with.

My wife and I looked seriously at me going. We priced Airline tickets and considered the logistics.

But in the end timing beat us.

It is the weekend before all staff are due back at school. I would begin the year tired and with a head full of ideas and a gut full of emotions that would need to be worked through and processed.

Loading myself with this kind of burden right at the beginning of a school year would not be wise.

I take heart in the fact that the Peace Tree folk will be there and will be able to feed the results of the conference into the Perth Emergent/Radical/Anabaptist networks in various ways over time. All of us will benefit from that.

Catching up with Harry

My friends garden
Originally uploaded by montgorp.

I spent a very pleasant morning this morning working with Harry in Peace Tree's garden.

Peace Tree, for those of you that don't know, is a small community that lives in Lockridge, Western Australia. They attempt to model alternative ways of living that are more gentle on the earth and other people than mainstream culture.

I have known Harry for a while and enjoyed catching up. I found our conversation this morning most refreshing. It was great to have my hands in the dirt and my mind in philosophy.

I've heard it said that every Scottish farmer is also a philosopher. I like that: the combination of earth and mind.

I haven't seen Harry much in the last couple of years. My work has kept me away, as it has kept me from many things. I want to change this. So, I am trying to lay down some habits that will help me have a more balanced life. Staying closer in touch with my friends is one of the habits I need to cultivate.

Harry and I have agreed to catch up again in the same way next month. I am looking forward to it.

We are not alone

I have been looking for and tracking some Jewish spirituality sites.

We who are Christian may not immediately resonate with the thoughts and practices of our Jewish brothers and sisters. But give yourself a few minutes to listen and I am sure that you will find a deep empathy with our common experience of God's loving presence in the world. 

This morning I discovered this piece by a Jewish writer on the spirituality of Yom Kippur. It begins thus...

JUDAIC WISDOM: Nurturing Jewish Spirituality:

Beth Keil of Green Acres is glad there is a time of the year when Judaism asks people if they are living with integrity.

During Yom Kippur, she says, it takes courage to look within and ask: Am I kind? Can people count on me? Am I who I want to be in the world?

In seeking spiritual connection beyond a single day, she's found a practice -- Seventh Path Self-Hypnosis -- that connects her to a sense of unity and love.

"It's like drawing water from an inner well or being able to have the feeling of being embraced by God," Keil says.

Further on in the article

"€œPeople are looking for ways to experience the still, quiet voice of God€" Cowan says.

This for me is what the contemplative journey is about... to experience the still quite voice of God. 

As I write this I recall that I do have profound sympathy with the Jewish faith. I seriously considered converting to Judaism out of my pagan youth. i saw there a profound respect for the human condition and an honest search for a real and living God.

The apostle Paul's warning always rings in my ears. We gentiles of "The Way"€ are a wild branch grafted into the already existing olive tree (Romans 11:17-25) For my part,  I want to continue to respect the tree that nurtures me.

{Life's Journey}