Deep breath. I feel inadequate to express the enormity of this precious visit. It took my heart, gently embraced it and said "here, breathe!"
Susan & Klaus & I met at the Findhorn Foundation in northeast Scotland in 1993. It is an international spiritual community and education center that began in the early 1960's; those unfamiliar with it can readily score its history online. Susan & I worked in Cluny dining room; Klaus worked in Accounting. They fell in love and married; we all grew to be friends. After years of Christmas cards and invitations to visit them, I did.
I spent a very long time vehemently dismissing my "new age years." I think that one of my core issues now is not to dilute my relationship with the Risen Christ but to consciously breathe in a similar manner to Thomas Merton's open-hearted ecumenism. Focus ought not translate to closed-mindedness; attention need not grasp at rigid dismissal. I'm not advocating polite whitewashing or avoiding conflict at all cost. I'm a mere mortal learning sometimes clumsily that "your God" and "my God" need not be glaring at one another in the Shootout at the OK Corral.
One of the many gifts of my time at the Foundation is the emotional intimacy I encountered there. When people asked you how you were, they stopped what they were doing and wanted to know. Really know. How you really are. I stopped saying "fine, thank you," although I do that now. We began our work shifts with a time of speaking personally with one another called "attunements." One might glower that it reduced efficiency. This is not The American Way! It altered my inner landscape however in a manner that stays with me today. My visit with Susan & Klaus in a sultry Atlanta suburb brought back memories, healed old wounds (not every day was bliss and joy) and reminded me that love is a grace of God. Here are some more photos! (I hope your browser gets along with my MobileMe Galleries! If there are glitches, downloading the latest version of Firefox could help. The photo opps might cough and splutter on older software.)
Susan has worked with the Chattahoochee Nature Sanctuary over the past decade. The photo album linked to this post includes a visit with some of their rescued wildlife. I've waited for years to get that up close and personal with owls, for those of you recalling my Seattle folk-Celtic trio of the same name. I even got to scratch the back of Camden's head! We also visited the Holy Spirit Monastery in Conyers. The merging of dualism was not lost on us as we wandered the grounds and saw a snake in a tree. A large nest was high above in the branches. It was lunch time for all including us as we joined the retreatants in a silent meal. Jesus, the Goddess, the black snake and the tame geese all nodded that day.
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