Message-ID: <17781044.1075860901474.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 12:58:39 -0800 (PST) From: john.watson@pdq.net To: kimberly.watson@enron.com Subject: FW: [ordinarylife] The Most Important Question of All Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: John Watson X-To: Watson, Kimberly X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Kim_Watson_Mar2002\Watson, Kimberly\E-mail Bin X-Origin: Watson-K X-FileName: kwatson (Non-Privileged).pst FYI. ILY. SYLT. HFACdS. JW. -----Original Message----- From: clarencekerley [mailto:Bill@bkspeaks.com] Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 2:53 PM To: ordinarylife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [ordinarylife] The Most Important Question of All ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas To Help You Live a Happier Life ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PREVIEW for January 27, 2002 And SUMMARY of January 20, 2002 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Folks - Because of numerous factors, you are receiving not only the preview for this coming Ordinary Life gathering but the summary of what was done on January 20 as well. First, for what is coming up: Over the past several years our relationship with our sister church in Cochabamba, Bolivia has been growing stronger. The Ordinary Life gathering has provided, for several years now, scholarships for people who wanted to go do building and medical work there. As you know, one of St. Paul's clergy - Diane Wimberly - is spending a year there. Two other folks in our community, Dr. Wilson and Nora Boots, go regularly to work there. Year before last we provided a substantial amount of money to help complete building a medical clinic there. Now they have specifically, through Diane, turned to us with an appeal for assistance. In order to give you the information needed to make a decision about this, I've asked Richard Wingfield to come and speak to us about his two trips there. He will be showing photos and videos of the work there and explaining to us some of what the need is. I'll read you Diane's letter to our gathering. There will also be an opportunity for you to see if making the next trip to Bolivia is something you would like to participate in. I sincerely hope you'll come to learn about and provide feedback on this important work. Much love, Bill Kerley ====================================== At our last gathering I spoke about the responses to the questionnaire that was posted here last September. We had a high percentage of returns and each questionnaire was carefully analyzed. Edward Harris did an enormous amount of work putting this questionnaire together and analyzing it. After hearing the responses last week, we had some dialogue about the future direction of Ordinary Life. It was very helpful to me and I thank those of you who were present. Then I talked about the importance of questions, told a story about the most important question of all, and left you with a couple of major one's to ponder. What follows is a full text of that part of our time together. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Big Question(s) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Here is a prayer someone sent me: I want to thank you, Lord, for being close to me so far this day. With your help, I haven't been impatient, grumpy, judgmental, or envious with anyone. But I will be getting out of bed in a minute and I think that I will really need your help then. Amen We do need all the help we can get, don't we? One of the ways help comes to us, but which we don't usually recognize, is through questions. For example: Are you here with a purpose? What would have to happen for this time we spend together today to be a worthy investment of your time? I'm always wondering about things like that. [What followed at this point of a summary of the questionnaire responses and dialogue about that.] Questions are very important. Every morning when you get up, you start your day with questions. At least this seems to be the case. Perhaps the first one is, "Is it really time to get up? Seems like I just went to sleep." Then they begin: "What am I going to wear?" "What's for breakfast?" "Will I be in time for the meeting?" "How am I going to get it all done today?" "Who will prepare supper tonight?" "How's the market doing?" Perhaps one of the things that differentiates is the quality of questions we ask ourselves. I want to read you the story of the most significant question you can ask - of yourself or of someone else. This is an old, old story. This version of it comes from Dawna Markova's wonderful book, "I Will Not Die an Unlived Life." Immediately after her father died, she realized that even in his own opinion, he had not really lived his life but merely existed. As part of her grieving, this poem came out of her - I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, To allow my living to open me, To make me less afraid, More accessible; To loosen my heart Until it becomes a wing, A torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance, To live so that which came to be as seed Goes to the next as blossom, And that which came to me as blossom, Goes on as fruit. It is very important when you hear this story to hear it as a parable, a metaphor, about your inner life and living. If you want to pursue this more, read Robert Johnson's book "He." By the way, Robert Johnson's biography is out and I highly recommend it as supplementary reading to what these gatherings are all about. The title of that book is "Balancing Heaven and Earth." It will both inform and inspire you. Now, here is the story: "In the center of space and time, there lived a king in a castle. His name was Arthur, and he had been mortally wounded. Though his heart sill pumped blood, he never left his chamber, for he had fallen under an evil spell. He no longer cared a whit for the fortunes of his people or his lands. All of his kingdom lay fallow. Everyone's souls seemed to be suspended. The people went about their daily tasks lethargically, as if they were all in a trance of some kind. They had lost all sense of purpose. "The story now shifts to a cottage in the woods not far from the castle. A very naive, fatherless young man name Parsifal had just come of age. While walking through the forest, he encountered a bevy of the king's knights riding along the road. He was so awestruck by their shining appearance that he immediately wished to become one such as they. Over the objections of his very strict mother, Herzelaide, he set off for the castle. "Parsifal was struck dumb, however when he reached King Arthur's castle. Instead of the glorious Camelot he had expected, he found himself in the middle of a wasteland, where everything was sterile. He discovered that the king had been wounded in the groin, and had lost the power of re-generation. The King's courtiers, moving about listless, did nothing about the terrible situation that had befallen them. "Parsifal was given a horse and weapons so he could battle with a formidable knight who had bested all of Arthur's champions. Astonishingly, Parsifal won and took the armor of the fearsome foe. Some said it was mere luck, but the consensus was that the young man's innocence conferred a divine blessing on him. "Parsifal wanted desperately to help his king, but he, like everyone else, had no answers as to how to heal the wound. His mind was filled with questions, which flowed from the gift of his innocence, but he dammed them up, remembering his mother's constant injunction not to embarrass people by asking questions. And so Parsifal left the count on a quest for the Holy Grail. "The legend then relates how he ventured down many a blind path and false trail in his search, but finally he glimpsed the Grail and, as a result, felt the King's pain in his own heart. On the first of May, he rode his magnificent white charger back to Arthur's castle. He rushed to his king, who was at Death's door. With compassion in his heart, he overcame his previous hesitance and knelt beside his monarch. A question rose to his lips and spilled over as it were wine. "'What aileth thee?' A blinding light flashed, and in an instant the spell was broken. The king's heath was restored, the land and all its inhabitants were renewed. Arthur and the other members of the court turned to Parsifal and in honoring him, the King gave this toast, 'If you falter, never forget, that verily every day holds the promise of a new redemption!'" Questions can be dangerous. They can take you to and over the edge of the safe world we normally live in. "Is my spirit dying in my marriage?" "What is my life really about?" "Will I die an unlived life?" All new and original thought begins with a question. Can we embrace the unanswered? Can we live in the mystery? Here is a very important question for you to ask yourself: "What is likely to happen to me if I keep living my life exactly as I am?" And, then: "Is that what I want?" So here are two questions I leave with you: The first is by Meister Eckhart and was written several hundred years ago: "What good is it to me if Mary gave birth to the son of God fourteen hundred years ago and I do not give birth to the child of God in my time and in my culture? We are all meant to be mothers of God. For God is always needing to be born." The next question comes from Mother Teresa: "What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?" The answers to these and other questions stirred in your today will, of course, have to come from you. No matter where you go this week, no matter what happens, remember this: You are carrying precious cargo. Watch your step. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ordinary Life is a gathering that provides an opportunity to develop an enlightened heart and an awakened mind to the reality of the present moment. The gathering meets on Sunday mornings at 9:45 am in Fondren Hall at St. Paul's UMC - 5501 South Main, Houston, Texas and is taught by Dr. Bill Kerley. If you would like more information - Contact Bill Kerley - E-Mail - Bill@bkspeaks.com Web - www.bkspeaks.com Voice - 713-663-7771 Fax - 713-663-6418 Mail - 6300 West Loop South, Suite 480 Bellaire, TX 77401 ====================================== If someone has forwarded a copy of this newsletter to you and you would like to subscribe, send a blank e-mail addressed to ordinarylife-subscribe@yahoogroups.com You can access the archives of all the Ordinary Life newsletters by going to http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/ordinarylife You can add someone you know would be interested in receiving these on- line newsletters by sending that information to - Bill@bkspeaks.com I'll make sure they are added immediately! 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