Most of us were at the Black Forest on Monday when I shared the outline of the preparation we will undertake for the gathering a week from Monday.  This goes to one heart of the Christmas experience which is the coming of the chosen one.  My invitation to you is to put yourself in the position of THE CHOSEN ONE, for indeed, you are, and to reflect therefore on the following:

Why have you come to this place and time; what is your message?

Please, then, consider this with gravitas and write your response on a Christmas card to bring with you.  The cards will be placed together at the beginning of the gathering to be selected and shared later in the evening.  Clearly, we can’t know who the recipient for the card we prepare will be but we do know that the recipient will be a CHOSEN ONE.
 

Thank you for your blessings.

Tom
 

Why did I come to this place in this time?

I came to this place in this time to Love and be Loved,

to experience the richness and the vast depth and wealth

in every respect of all that it means to Life on planet Earth.

I came to experience the beauty of the forest and the marvels of nature,

The comradeship of friends and Woollys, to play and to share thoughts and ideas,

I came to experience the passion of love, romance, and sexuality.

I came to experience living in a loving family and to create children

and to learn what it means to love them and be supportive of them,

to help educate them and to be a role model for them.

I came to learn and to teach, and to share what I have learned in order to help others grow.

I came to experience music and rhythm

and learn how to play in perfect unison and harmony with others,

to learn what it means to be perfectly at one, in the Oneness,

I came to experience guilt and shame and the outer limits of sanity and insanity.

Of illusion and delusion.  Of fear and depression, to experience the depths of loneliness,

the void of voids, the totality of nothingness.

I came to experience the agony and the wrenching pain of divorce

and the separation and loss of a relationship

and of losing a loved one to illness, disease, and death.

I came to learn what it means to be wealthy in spirit, mind, and financial resources.

I came to help others be wealthy in spirit, mind, body, and financially as well.

I came to learn how to share and give of my wealth to others,

and to experience the joy of giving.

I came to live life and to live it abundantly. 

And I have received all that I have asked for and much much more. 

I have been treated like a King and I have been given a vast kingdom

and I know that I am very very fortunate and that I have much to share and to give back.

I have loved this Life and Life has loved me beyond my greatest imagination.

I want to dedicate the rest of my life to helping others: 

my wonderful and beautiful wife, my Mother in Law, my relatives, my children and grandchildren,

my Woolly brothers, my clients, my neighbors, community, State, Country, and World. 

I have so much love and wealth to give and I want to share it with everyone.

What is the message I came to give?

Love your life and Love yourself without guilt or regret.

You are given all that you have asked for and more. 

You may not at first understand why you are receiving what you are receiving,

but somehow, or perhaps because of some experience

or lack of experience in a previous lifetime,

you are now receiving all that you have asked for.

So, Love yourself immensely and as your capacity grows to love yourself,

you will have also grown in Spirit and you will have more to give. 

So give and give freely.  

Let your Compassion grow and it will grow as you learn to Love yourself more.

You are free to Create anything you want. 

Indeed you often create without knowing or understanding what you create or how you create it. 

But, you are always creating. 

So instead of chaos, confusion, pain, agony or death -

Create beauty, harmony, goodness, compassion, wealth,

and abundance for yourself as well as for others.

In short, Love yourself. Love others.

Create beauty.

Be grateful.

One of the Chosen Ones

Top

Brother Tom -

The Soul of the Work

Fernand Pouillon, French architect and author

This selection was read at the beginning of the evening.

Creation happens when boldness is released at the very moment that something brilliant is done. Timidity produces nothing of value, and the timid are legion. They think of themselves, of other people, and of what people might say. They wonder if they are sufficiently original or sufficiently with the trend. They do not do what they like. The pusillanimous creator with a critical eye says: "No, that's not enough," or "No, that's too much." That "too I much," that "not enough" has to satisfy and flatter and be the soul of the work; it is a great deal to ask of it. Drawing with the right hand and holding back with the left, keeping an eye on one's own eye-that's too many eyes. Courage lies in being oneself, in showing complete independence, in loving what one loves, in discovering the deep roots of one's feelings. A work must not be a copy, one of a group, but unique, sound and untainted, springing from the heart, the intelligence, the sensibility. A real work is truth, direct and honest. It is simply a declaration of one's knowledge to the world. In architecture, the only guides are craftsmanship and experience; all the rest is instinct, spontaneity, decision, the release of all one's accumulated energy. Never is one's courage courageous enough, never is one's sincerity sincere enough nor one's frankness frank enough. You have to take the greatest possible risks; even recklessness seems a bit halfhearted. The best works are those that are at the limits of real life; they stand out among a thousand others when they prompt the remark: "What courage that must have taken!" Enduring work follows from a leap into the void, into unknown territory, icy water or murderous rock.

from The Stones of the Abbey, translated by Edward Gillot. p. 80.